Prophecy
9
The Two
Witnesses –
Revelation 10:1-11:19
______________________________________________
These and
other Bible texts have given many
people the idea that Jesus received
the kingdom of this world when He
ascended, but apocalyptic prophecy
indicates this is not the case. The
book of Daniel teaches that Jesus was
found worthy to receive sovereign
power in 1798.[165] Because
the book of Daniel was sealed up
until the time of the end,[166] the
disciples and the apostle Paul could
not possibly know certain things
about the future. However, the
disciples did understand that Jesus
would be given all authority and the
kingdom of this world, but no one
could know the truth on this matter
until the book of Daniel was
unsealed.
All Bible
writers have one flaw in common. They
try to put everything shown to them
in vision within the context of their
knowledge or life span. Of course, an
infinite God is not limited by time
or our knowledge. So, the limitations
of Bible writers are not a problem
once we understand the four rules
that govern the interpretation of
apocalyptic prophecy. For example,
Peter, John, Paul, and James had no
idea that 2,000 years would pass
before Jesus returned to Earth. Look
at their thoughts: Paul wrote,
“What I mean, brothers, is that
the time is short. From now on those
who have wives should live as if they
had none.”[167]John wrote,
“Dear children, this is the last
hour; and as you have heard that the
antichrist is coming, even now many
antichrists have come. This is how we
know it is the last hour.”[168] Peter
wrote, “The end of all things is
near. Therefore be clear minded and
self-controlled so that you can
pray.”[169] James
wrote, “You too, be patient and
stand firm, because the Lord’s
coming is near.”[170]Obviously,
these godly men would not have
written such things if they had known
that Jesus’ return would be
2,000 years in the future.
Earlier in
this book, we examined Revelation 5.
We found that Jesus was found worthy
to receive the book sealed with seven
seals in 1798 for several reasons.
Jesus also began breaking the seven
seals on The Book of Life in 1798. We
have examined the alignment of the
third seal with 1844, the alignment
of the fourth seal and the
commencement of the seven trumpets,
and the alignment of the fifth seal
with the sixth trumpet. After the Two
Witnesses complete their work, the
144,000 will be taken to Heaven and
then the seventh trumpet will sound.
What a privilege and honor for the
144,000 to be there and see Jesus
receive the kingdom which the Father
will give Him. This is why the angels
and the elders rejoice! “The
kingdom of the world has become the
kingdom of our Lord and of his
Christ, and he will reign for ever
and ever.”[171]
Revelation
11:16-18
And
the four and twenty elders, which sat
before God on their seats, fell upon
their faces, and worshipped God,
Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord
God Almighty, which art, and wast,
and art to come; because thou hast
taken to thee thy great power, and
hast reigned. And the nations were
angry, and thy wrath is come, and the
time of the dead, that they should be
judged, and that thou shouldest give
reward unto thy servants the
prophets, and to the saints, and them
that fear thy name, small and great;
and shouldest destroy them which
destroy the earth.{16} The
twenty-four elders, who were seated
on their thrones before God, fell on
their faces and worshiped Him,
{17} saying:
“We give thanks to you, Lord God
Almighty, the One who is and who was,
because you have exercised your great
authority and have now begun to reign
[as King of kings and Lord of lords].
{18} I also
heard the elders sing a passage from
Isaiah: “Come near, you nations,
and listen; pay attention, you
peoples! Let the Earth hear, and all
that is in it, the world, and all
that comes out of it! The Lord is
angry with all nations; his wrath is
upon all their armies. He will
totally destroy them, he will give
them over to slaughter. Their slain
will be thrown out, their dead bodies
will send up a stench; the mountains
will be soaked with their blood. All
the stars of the heavens will be
dissolved and the sky rolled up like
a scroll; all the starry host will
fall like withered leaves from the
vine, like shriveled figs from the
fig tree. My sword has drunk its fill
in the heavens; see, it descends in
judgment on Edom [my enemies], the
people I have totally
destroyed.”[172]
The elders
continued, “Oh Lord God, we give
thanks to you, the time has come for
avenging the sacrificial blood of
your martyrs. The number permitted to
die during the fifth seal has been
completed. The time has come to
reward your servants, the 144,000,
who stand before your throne. The
time has come to reward your waiting
saints on Earth and all who reverence
your holy name; both small and great.
Mercy has ended and justice has come.
Destroy the whore and all who belong
to her, destroy those who ruined the
Earth with violence, hostility,
murder, sexual immorality and every
evil known to mankind.”
Revelation
11:19
And
the temple of God was opened in
heaven, and there was seen in his
temple the ark of his testament: and
there were lightnings, and voices,
and thunderings, and an earthquake,
and great hail.{19} When
the elders finished, I looked up into
the sky and saw a marvelous sight. I
was not alone as everyone on Earth
could see God’s temple in
Heaven. Words cannot describe the
dazzling glory that radiated from His
temple. Inside the temple, in full
view of everyone, was a golden box.
Our eyes were drawn to that box
because brilliant beams of light
flashed from it. A loud voice said to
the inhabitants of Earth, “Look
at the Ark of God’s
covenant!”
There has
been considerable debate through the
centuries on the whereabouts of the
Ark of the Covenant. The Bible
indicates the temple veil in
Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom
when Jesus was crucified,[173] but the
Ark of the Covenant was not found in
the Most Holy Place in
Jerusalem’s temple! God
evidently took the Ark of the
Covenant to Heaven for safe keeping
after Israel rejected Messiah. For
reasons why I believe that the Ark of
Moses has been taken to Heaven for
everyone to see at the seventh
trumpet see this reference.[174]
The Ark of
the Covenant was a small box overlaid
with gold. God had it built shortly
after Israel was delivered from
Egypt. God had this special box made
so that Israel would have a resting
place for the two tablets of His
Testimony, His covenant with mankind.
When the Ark of the Covenant was on
Earth, no one saw it other than
Israel’s high priests – and
only then, once a year on the Day of
Atonement. God prevented Israel from
seeing the Ark of the Covenant
because He did not want Israel
worshiping a golden box or the two
tablets of stone. Because the Ten
Commandments are based on two laws of
love, God’s law is not effective
unless it is written in the hearts of
His subjects.[175]
Jesus will
reveal the Ark of the Covenant to
everyone on Earth at the seventh
trumpet (1,265th day of the Great
Tribulation). God’s two laws of
love are called a covenant (a
promise) because they declare what
pure love will do and will not do.
When God’s two laws are written
in a person’s heart, that person
naturally lives in harmony with
everything the law declares![176] The
first four commandments reveal what
pure love for God will produce and
the last six reveal what pure love
for your neighbor will produce. In
other words, at Mount Sinai, God
wrote a promise on two tablets of
stone. He declared what pure love
will produce within man if man will
follow the prompting of the Holy
Spirit.
Many people
claim to love God, but who determines
what pure love will do? Love for God
is not pure unless it produces
results that conform to the first
four commandments. Love for our
neighbor is not pure unless it
produces results that conform to the
last six commandments. This is why
the Ten Commandments are called a
covenant. God promises that pure love
will produce everything that is
written in the Ten Commandments. When
the carnal nature is removed,
God’s children will naturally do
what is written in the Ten
Commandments! This is why Paul wrote,
“Love is the fulfillment of the
law!”[177]Until the
carnal nature is removed, God’s
children cannot consistently do what
is written in the Ten Commandments,
even though it is their greatest
desire. This is why the sealing
process is so important. During the
Great Tribulation, everyone will be
tested. Jesus wants to see who loves
God and his neighbor with a pure
heart. God will generously reward
everyone who passes the two tests of
love. Their carnal nature will be
removed. God will then put a seal on
that person and he will be free from
falling back into the power of sin!
Consider
this: A person can obey the Ten
Commandments without fulfilling the
Ten Commandments. For example, a
person may not commit murder because
the law says that murder is
forbidden. Of course, avoiding murder
(even if the action is not out of
love) is beneficial for society, but
avoiding murder is not the full
intent of the law. The promise in
God’s covenant is this: If you
love your neighbor as God loves you,
you will never have a desire to
commit murder. You would rather die
for your neighbor than take his life.
Thus, pure love fulfills the intent
of the law and as a covenant, the Ten
Commandments predict how pure love
will be expressed in the human heart!
According to
God, love is not a loosely defined
sentiment that everyone defines to
his own satisfaction. God governs the
universe according to two eternal
rules of love that are clearly
defined. The world has all kinds of
ideas about love, but God’s
definition of love is all that
matters. God is love. This means that
the actions of the Godhead are a
demonstration of what love is and is
not. Three co-eternal members of the
Godhead live within these two laws
and on the basis of their combined
powers, they guarantee these two laws
will never be amended and they will
never cease to exist. The
Father’s goal is to bring fallen
man back into harmony with these two
laws so that our union and communion
with the Godhead might be perfect!
God’s
two laws of love are so important
that Jesus Himself descended to Mount
Sinai to speak the Ten Commandments.
To keep “the Testimony”
from being altered by fallen man,
Jesus wrote the two laws of love on
two tablets of stone with His own
finger. Moses knew the Ten
Commandments were a covenant. Moses
understood that if Israel surrendered
to the ministry of the Holy Spirit,
He would fill them with God’s
love and the outcome would be a
nation reflecting God’s two
great commandments. When pure love is
present, the obligation of law goes
unnoticed! Think about this: Adam and
Eve did not have a single conflict
with God’s laws of love before
they fell, because God’s laws
were written in their hearts and
minds. After Adam and Eve fell, they
immediately came into conflict with
God’s laws of love at every turn
because the carnal nature is hostile
toward pure love. “The sinful
mind is hostile to God. It does not
submit to God’s law, nor can it
do so. Those controlled by the sinful
nature cannot please God.”[178]
God
Shows the Ark of the Covenant to the
World
Revelation
11:19 says, “Then
God’s temple in Heaven was
opened and within His temple was seen
the Ark of His Covenant. . . .”
When we consider the timing and
setting of this event, we have to ask
what is the purpose and significance
of showing the Ark of His covenant to
the world? Before we proceed into
this explanation, please review the
sequence of events surrounding this
amazing revelation:
- The
Two Witnesses are killed on
the 1,260th day.
- The
wicked will celebrate for 3.5
days.
- All
of the wicked will be wearing
the mark of the beast.
- The
144,000 will be resurrected
and taken to Heaven.
- Seven
thousand of Lucifer’s
officials will be killed by
an earthquake.
- The
Ark of the Covenant will be
seen and. . . .
- The
seven bowls will begin
immediately.
Jesus will
show the Ark of the Covenant to the
world at the appointed time because
it contains His two laws of love, the
Ten Commandments, written on two
stone tablets with His own finger. In
other words, Jesus will show the
wicked “the Testimony” that
condemned them. God wants the wicked
to see “the two highest laws of
the universe,” the laws they
rejected, despised and defied. Like
King Belshazzar, the wicked will
clearly understand that their actions
have been examined and they did not
measure up.[179] The
seventh trumpet marks the end of the
judgment of the living. It also marks
the commencement of the third and
final woe: The seven last plagues.
To put this
event in a better perspective, we
need to examine the origin and
God’s purpose for the Ark of the
Covenant. Notice what Moses said to
the Israelites before entering
Canaan, “The Lord gave me two
stone tablets inscribed by the finger
of God. On them were all the
commandments the Lord proclaimed to
you on the mountain out of the fire,
on the day of the assembly. At the
end of the forty days and forty
nights, the Lord gave me the two
stone tablets, the tablets of the
covenant.”[180]
When Moses
came down from the mountain, “He
[Moses] took the Testimony [the Ten
Commandments] and placed it in the
ark, attached the poles to the ark
and put the atonement cover over it.
Then he brought the ark into the
tabernacle and hung the shielding
curtain and shielded the ark of the
Testimony [from view], as the Lord
commanded him.”[181] The Ark
of the Covenant was “holy”
because “God’s
presence” protected the Ark.
Whenever the Israelite priests
carried the ark from one location to
another, the rest of the camp had to
keep a distance of a thousand yards
between themselves and the Ark of the
Covenant.[182]
Millions of
Christians have been led to believe
the Ten Commandments were nailed to
the cross with Jesus. They believe
the Ten Commandments were part of
“the old covenant” which
was abolished when Jesus died. But
ironically, most Christians believe
that nine of the Ten Commandments
should be obeyed! So here is the
question: If the Ten Commandments
were abolished at the cross, why does
God show the golden box containing
the Ten Commandments to the world at
the seventh trumpet?
