Prophecy
9
The Two
Witnesses –
Revelation 10:1-11:19
_____________________________
Now that we
have identified the prostitute (the
great city, Lucifer’s theocracy)
which will be established during the
sixth trumpet, let us return to the
phrase in verse 8 that says,
“their bodies will lie in the
street of the great city.”
Lucifer’s theocracy (his great
city) will encompass the whole world.
Therefore, the street of the great
city cannot be a geographical spot or
street. When the 144,000 [the arms
and legs of the two witnesses] are
slain, their dead bodies will be
found all over the world. The wicked,
because of defiance and hatred of
God’s servants, will refuse to
bury them. Later on, however, the
table will turn and Jesus will
resurrect the 144,000, vindicate them
in the presence of their enemies and
take them to Heaven. During the seven
bowls, Jesus will prove to the wicked
that Lucifer and his great whore have
nothing to do with the God of Heaven.
The ten kings will discover
Lucifer’s deception during the
fifth bowl and they will turn on him
and burn his prostitute (theocracy)
with fire.[119]
Lucifer’s
whore is described as “a great
city” because in Bible times
certain cities were fortified as
cities of refuge.[120] No one
dared to live very far from a city in
Bible times because there was no
other means of protection. Marauding
tribal kings looted and plundered
everything they could steal and they
made slaves of everyone who could be
captured. It is interesting that Cain
feared for his life after killing
Abel and he was the first person to
build a city.[121] During
the Great Tribulation, the saints
will put their faith in Jesus. They
will obey the gospel of Jesus and
depend upon the Lord as their city of
refuge.[122] On the
other hand, the wicked will trust in
Lucifer and they will depend on him
as their great city of refuge.[123]
Revelation’s
story personifies the people of Earth
as a tale of two women and two
cities. During the Great Tribulation,
the inhabitants of Earth will be
required to make an informed choice
between two different forms of
government. Choice will determine
citizenship. One government, directed
by Jesus, will be based on God’s
two laws of love. The other
government will have an arbitrary
dictator. Those willing to put their
faith in Christ will be eagerly
accepted into the city of God
(personified). Those defying
God’s demands will be
“herded” out of fear of
death or persecution into a great
city (personified) that offers
temporary refuge, but there is no
safety in the arms of a whore. She
cannot be trusted. She is immoral.
She always sells out to the highest
bidder.
Trampling
on the Holy City 42 Months
Revelation
11:2 indicates
Gentiles will trample on the holy
city for 42 months. What does this
mean? New Jerusalem is a city in
Heaven. It is holy because God dwells
there.[124] The
language in verse 2 does not point to
New Jerusalem or the ancient city of
Jerusalem located in the Middle East.
(At one time, ancient Jerusalem was
said to be a holy city because God
dwelled there, but Israel’s
rejection of Messiah caused God to
destroy the city.) The phrase,
“holy city” in Revelation
11:2 must be compared
to “the great city,” the
whore, in Revelation 17. The wicked
at the end of the world are called
“the great city” and the
saints are called
“the
holy city.” The reason for
dividing the people of Earth into two
cities is “refuge.” Every
believer in Jesus is granted
citizenship in God’s kingdom
when he surrenders to the authority
of Jesus.[125] His
refuge is in Christ and even though
he may die, he knows he will not
perish.[126] The
Bible is clear. The holy city
in Revelation
11:2 and the saints
in Revelation
13:5 will be trampled
on for 42 months.[127] Repetition
and enlargement clarify the meaning
of this phrase.
Sodom,
Egypt, and Jerusalem
Figuratively
speaking, the prostitute
(Lucifer’s counterfeit
theocracy) is called Sodom, Egypt and
Jerusalem (the city where our Lord
was crucified) and for good reason.
Sodom was notorious for sexual
perversion and immorality[128] and
Egypt was notorious for hardness of
heart. Pharaoh was given the clearest
evidences of God’s will, yet he
hardened his heart ten times![129]Those who
rush to join Lucifer’s
counterfeit theocracy and receive his
tattoo “666” will have the
same attitude toward God as did
Pharaoh (in Egypt) and the perverts
in Sodom who insisted on having sex
with the angels who had come to
rescue Lot. Think about this:
Defiance toward God’s laws of
love requires the death of God or the
death of those in defiance. There can
be no compromise. The leaders of
Israel appeared to be very righteous
in the eyes of ordinary people, but
when Jesus came to Earth, He revealed
that they were hypocrites.[130] Even
though the Pharisees put on a great
show of piety, many of Israel’s
religious leaders were totally
corrupt, sexually immoral, and
hardhearted.[131] For
fear of humiliation, loss of power,
wealth and position, Jewish leaders
crucified Jesus.[132] If He
had been allowed to live, Jesus would
have exposed their sinful actions to
the people and the people would have
destroyed them.[133] Jesus
said, “Everyone who does evil
hates the light, and will not come
into the light for fear that his
deeds will be exposed.”[134] The
same will be true at the end of the
1,260 days. The attitudes of the
wicked during the Great Tribulation
will mirror Egypt (hardness of
heart), Sodom (unrestrained evil),
and Jerusalem (where Jesus (the
Truth) was crucified).
The
Sequence Continues
Revelation
11:10
And
they that dwell upon the earth shall
rejoice over them, and make merry,
and shall send gifts one to another;
because these two prophets tormented
them that dwelt on the earth.{10} The
inhabitants of the earth will gloat
over the death of the Two Witnesses.
They will celebrate by sending each
other gifts, because these two
prophets had tormented those who live
on the earth.
At the close
of the 1,260th day most, if not all,
of the 144,000 will be dead –
their testimony silenced. Many of
God’s saints will also be dead.
At the 1,260th day, the population of
the world will be half of what it was
when the Great Tribulation began. The
whole world will be in shambles, but
instead of shuddering with fear for
what is about to happen (the third
woe), the wicked will be elated! They
will rejoice and be jubilant because
the Holy Spirit no longer torments
them.[135] The
annoying prophets (the 144,000) who
continually stirred up controversy
and condemned their evil ways will be
gone. At last, the conflict for souls
between Christ and Satan will be
over. God’s Two Witnesses have
reported everything to Jesus and each
person has been judged. To celebrate
their Pyrrhic* victory over truth and
righteousness, Lucifer will declare a
great global holiday. Four days will
be dedicated to rejoicing and
celebration. The wicked will
interpret the slaughter of one-third
of mankind and the establishment of
Lucifer’s counterfeit theocracy
as a glorious development because
there will be no more opposition.
Other than small numbers of saints
hiding in caves and remote places
around the world, only those having
the tattoo on their right hand will
be alive at this time in Earth’s
history. Resources (food, energy, and
the necessities of life) will last
longer now that the population of
Earth has been greatly reduced.
During the celebration,
Lucifer’s grandest lie will be
presented to cheering crowds. The
devil will triumphantly announce the
beginning of a thousand years of
peace and happiness. The wicked will
rejoice and “God’s”
millennial reign will be declared.
The crowds will roar with approval
and excitement.
*Note: The
phrase “Pyrrhic victory” is
named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus,
whose army suffered irreplaceable
casualties in defeating the Romans at
Heraclea in 280 B.C. and Asculum in
279 B.C. After these wars, Plutarch
quotes King Pyrrhus as saying,
“If we are victorious in one
more battle with the Romans, we shall
be utterly ruined.” Even though
King Pyrrhus won two battles against
the Romans, he did not make a dent in
the number of soldiers that belonged
to Rome’s army. Ultimately, he
lost his kingdom because the price of
victory robbed him of the soldiers
necessary to defend his territory.
Hence the ironic term, “Pyrrhic
victory.”
Verse 10
describes the Two Witnesses as
“two prophets” and if it
were not for the larger context of
personification (the two lampstands
and two olive trees), the context in
verse 10 could indicate the Two
Witnesses are two human beings. This
oversight has lead many Bible
students to erroneously conclude that
the Two Witnesses are two people.
There are two reasons why this
conclusion cannot be true!
First, let us
suppose that at the 1,260th day, the
Two Witnesses are two people living
in Washington D.C. What impact would
the deaths of these two people have
in Russia, Australia, and Germany
given the fact that Lucifer and his
forces just killed 1.75 billion
people for refusing to receive the
mark of the beast? (Remember, the
infrastructures of travel and
communication will be practically
non-existent at the time. How long
will it take for news of their death
to travel around the entire world?)
We know that the wicked will
celebrate for 3.5 days when the 1,260
days end, but why should the wicked
rejoice over the death of two
prophets when there are 144,000
prophets? Actually, the wicked will
not celebrate the death of two
prophets, they will celebrate their
freedom from the Holy Spirit’s
torment! This is a key point that
many Christians do not understand.
Do you
remember the note that Pilate’s
wife sent to her husband when he was
about to condemn Jesus to death? She
wrote, “Don’t have anything
to do with that innocent man, for I
have suffered a great deal today in a
dream because of him.”[136] The
Holy Spirit tormented Pilate’s
wife by revealing the identity of
Jesus to her and I am sure that her
unsolicited note haunted Pilate for
the rest of his life. During the
Great Tribulation, the Holy Spirit
will torment the wicked as He
tormented Pilate’s wife. The
Bible says, “There is no rest
day or night for those who worship
the beast and his image, or for
anyone who receives the mark of his
name.”[137] During
the sixth trumpet, the Holy Spirit
will cause every wicked person to
suffer enormous guilt. The torment
will be awful. The Holy Spirit will
do everything short of violating a
person’s will to save that
person from the penalty of sin. While
this torment is occurring, the
144,000 will proclaim a fourth and
final message from Jesus, “Come
out of her, my people, so that you
will not share in her sins, so that
you will not receive any of her
plagues; for her sins are piled up to
heaven, and God has remembered her
crimes”[138]and in spite
of these divine endeavors, millions
of people will rush forward to be
among the first to receive the tattoo
on their right hand (the mark of the
beast). When a person receives the
tattoo, the Holy Spirit gives up and
departs. There is nothing further
that He can do to save that soul. As
the Holy Spirit withdraws from the
wicked, any desire or conviction
within them to do right also leaves.
Lucifer will seize this opportunity
and beginning on the 1,261st day of
the Great Tribulation, he will lead
the wicked into a victory festival!
This uninhibited celebration will
parallel, in a perverse way, the
exuberance which the Jews experienced
after destroying their enemies in the
days of Queen Esther. In fact, many
Jews still celebrate Purim by giving
gifts to each other to mark their
nation’s victory over their
enemies![139]
Second, the
Bible calls the Two Witnesses
“two prophets.” We need to
consider the Greek word prophetes.
The word is usually translated
“prophets,” but the word
includes a broader meaning, such as
“an inspired speaker” or
“one who speaks for God.”
Abraham is the first man in the Bible
to be called a prophet,[140]but Noah
could also be called a prophet
because he was an inspired speaker.[141] The Two
Witnesses are called two prophetes
because they will be inspired
speakers. They will speak for God.
When ordinary men and women are
enabled by the Holy Spirit to speak
words they could not say on their
own, these people are called
prophetes.[142] In
fact, the 144,000 are called
prophetes in Revelation
10:7 and they are
separately identified from the saints
in the book of Revelation[143] in
several places. We have already
learned in this study that God wrote
His two laws of love on two tablets
of stone. These two stones are called
“the Testimony” and they
reside in “the Ark of the
Testimony” because the Ten
Commandments testify. They declare
what pure love will do and will not
do. The Ten Commandments have a
divine origin and they speak for God,
therefore the Ten Commandments (the
two lampstands) are one witness and
this witness can be called a
prophete.
The two olive
trees represent the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit is a prophete because it
speaks for God. The Holy Spirit will
impress God’s two laws on the
hearts of people. Their common
objective is conviction – a
moment of truth which requires a
pivotal decision. Empowered by the
Holy Spirit, the 144,000 will speak
with authority as did Jesus and John
the Baptist.[144] God’s
Two Witnesses will work through
144,000 prophetes and Jesus will pass
judgment on the living according to
their response. Even if the Two
Witnesses were two people sent from
Heaven, their deaths at the end of
the 1,260 days would have no more
impact on the whole world than did
Jesus’ death. When we consider
the population of the whole world in
A.D. 30, very, very few people
rejoiced at the death of Jesus.
