Two Witnesses ...

John picks up right where he left off continuing the vision description from chapter ten of his book of revelations of Jesus Christ in chapter eleven.  We remain in the interlude, between the sounding of the sixth trumpet and that of the seventh.  We remain in the midst of the second woe.  In what has just transpired we learned that a small opened book would be eaten or studied with great intent.  The results would be immediately as joyful to us as is possible, but would soon be followed by a great disappointment.  Despite being warned of this outcome, history demonstrates we follow its path with its predictable results.  But these are, and continue to be, revelations … of Jesus Christ.  It must be Christ who is revealed to us in the interpretations of these scenes and symbolisms.  It must be His redemptive mission that is the highest priority for us to understand in what we read, what we study, and what we discern from the passages penned by John.  To that end, he continues to relay what he sees.

John continues with verse 1 … “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. [verse 2] But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”  First, John is given a measuring rod, a yardstick for practical purposes, and told to measure the temple of God.  For what purpose we might ask.  Is John supposed to measure the dimensions of the building in heaven itself?  But then, he is also asked to measure the altar, and them that worship therein.  The altar would be comparatively smaller than the building it resides within.  The dimensions of the people would hardly seem relevant.  However, a census of the worshippers might provide value.  Or perhaps what is measured or to be evaluated by John are the results of the work of the Holy Spirit in this inner sanctum.  The worshippers here are those closest to God, closest to Christ.  Perhaps they have discovered through the study of the word, and of the prophecies, the redemption Christ is offering to us all.  Perhaps it is these who the mystery of God is finding fulfillment within as they are being transformed into the creations He intended us to be.  There is a distinction between those who are here, and those who are without.

The second verse makes this distinction apparent.  John is told “not” to measure it.  While those who are in the courtyard of the Temple are in fact nearby, they have not attained the same level of results as those who have entered the Temple itself.  They have a measure of understanding, but not one that has been transformational to them.  They are not referred to as saints, or believers, or true followers, but instead as Gentiles – those not born (or born again) into a true understanding of salvation.  Instead, they trample underfoot the Holy City to which they have been invited for a period of 42 months.  John is told not to measure or evaluate them, because they have refused to be transformed and there is nothing of value to evaluate.  They are near the temple, in fact just outside of it, but their proximity has done nothing to inspire them to accept real transformation.  Instead they will take the blessings they have been given, the knowledge they have been given, and the places they have been blessed to be in, and trample them underfoot.  They will ignore, disregard, and belittle the things of great value.  They will deface, mar, and defame, what should have been precious to them.  They will do this and act this way for 42 months, or 3.5 years, or 1260 days.

But redemption has always been His goal.  Our Lord does not wish us to lose that which we have been given.  He will NOT leave us to the state we have chosen, nor to the fate we deserve.  So John introduces hope, a remedy for the condition he has just seen as he continues in verse 3 … “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. [verse 4] These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.”  First the time period for which power will be given to these 2 witnesses will be exactly as long as the Gentiles are trampling blessings underfoot.  During this time, the witnesses are to have a mission, to try to alter the behavior of those in the courtyard, near to the temple, but refusing to enter into it.  The two witnesses bear testimony of our God, and prophecy on His behalf, but they do it in sackcloth for the entire duration of their mission.  While hope emerges in the messages that point us back to our God, and our redemption.  It comes clothed in sadness.  Sackcloth was the clothing worn to mourn the dead.  When grief was at its pinnacle, when man could feel no lower, when he felt most abandoned and alone, we would don the garb of sackcloth as raiment and put ashes on his own head.  The witnesses have a great mission, but they are not conducting it in open celebration, but rather in mourning.  For our spiritual condition has become like death.

The fourth horseman of the fourth seal when it was opened was pale and death rode upon him.  The condition of the church was nearly dead during this time.  Access to the word of God was restricted as Jezebel of Old Testament times had done to Israel before in her day.  The two witnesses have their mission, they have been given power so as not to be completely extinguished.  But they wear the clothing of those in mourning for the dead.  They bear the great hallmarks of profound sadness, as the Gentiles continue to trample their blessings underfoot. 

The two olive trees, the two candlesticks that stand before the God of the earth, who could they be? The Psalmist tells us that … Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path.”  The word of God is described with two characteristics, both as lamp and as light.  What has changed since the first coming of the Messiah has been an evolution or revolution in the word of God to us.  Instead of only a collection of His word through the mouths of His prophets of the Old Testament, now comes a collection of His words through the mouths of His new prophets in the form of the New Testament.  The angel has only recently told John in chapter ten that he must prophecy again.  John is identified personally as a prophet of God, and his revelations are to be studied once again.  While the word of God was greatly distressed throughout the dark ages, with relentless attacks from the Catholic church to keep it secret, constrained, and not available to the masses, it yet somehow survived.  The efforts of the Waldensians who copied precious texts with meticulous care and distributed them as far as they were able, kept the word of God alive, both Old and New testaments in the darkest period of church history there ever was.

While the sixth trumpet is sounding to wake us from spiritual slumber, to point out to us our need of a savior, two witnesses for God attempt to prophecy and call us to redemption.  It happens while the poison doctrines of the scorpion locust army infect the world, causing men to prefer death over life.  They share a commonality between Atheism, Islam, and apostate Christianity; that man can save himself without need of a savior, by the power of his own will and decisions.  While many die in wars fought in the name of our God, while the witnesses clothed in sackcloth continue their work.  In the darkest part of our spiritual history, when the church instead of being a beacon of light and love to the world, has elected to become a corrupt self-seeking center of power and greed; the two witnesses will remain ever on the scene attempting to bring the Gentiles out of the courtyard and in to the temple.  As the word of God was relayed through the mouth of His prophets, so the 2 witnesses stand alone against the decay that has infected the purported followers of Christ.  They call us back to dependence alone upon our Savior.  We cannot buy our redemption.  We cannot will our perfection.  We must put our faith in Christ to see us redeemed and remade.

John continues to describe what the two witnesses are capable of as he continues in verse 5 … “And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. [verse 6] These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.”  Despite the best efforts of Satan to see the voice of the word of God silenced, it will not be so.  The fire of the Holy Spirit convicts the souls of those who seek redemption at the feet of Jesus Christ.  The fire of destruction awaits those who will not find an escape from the slavery to self that Christ alone can free us from, if and when we let Him.  We must be devoured, whether our carnal nature in order to be remade, or our physical entities to find the bliss of non-existence as our relief from slavery to self.  One way or the other, we will be devoured; how much better to be consumed by the fire of the Holy Spirit and remade into the creations we were intended to be.

If we “hurt” the word of God, whether by polluting it with our own selfish motives, or by attempting to use it to gain control over others; we will find ourselves victims of our designs.  We will die, having never been transformed, having never tasted the freedom He offers.  We cannot hurt the word of God, turn away from our Savior, and still find redemption.  Jesus Christ, of whom these revelations testify, is our only hope of salvation, our only method of redemption.  The witnesses attest to this.  If we attempt to use them but deny the divinity of who they point to, we cut ourselves off from the source of salvation, and leave ourselves no way to be redeemed.  Such was the choice of Mohammed, who elected to see Christ as only another prophet, not the way in which to be saved.  Such is the choice of modern Christians who abandon dependence on God, and believe in the American idealism that tells them they can will and work their way to perfection.  Such is the belief of Seventh-Day Adventists who prize the strict adherence to a list of rules of what to do and not do on every Saturday, but deny Christ access to their heart to teach them what it truly means to love others.  Such is the doctrine of Atheism that teaches us there is no greater god than ourselves and our own potential.  When we “hurt” the word of God, we “must” in like manner find ourselves victims of our own designs.

The word has power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy.  Here is a direct reference to the days of Elijah when it did not rain for 3.5 years.  During this time King Ahab and more specifically Queen Jezebel hunted for the life of God’s prophet.  She sought to keep the word of God from reaching the people of God, and the consequence was the withholding of rain.  In our case, this is the withholding of spiritual rain, or spiritual blessing, of the spiritual water of life that never runs dry.  When we turn from our savior Jesus Christ, and look to ourselves we lose the water of life we so desperately need.  When we harden our hearts as the Pharoah did, believing himself to be the only god that matters, we find the waters turned to blood.  We kill each other in the name of God, and blood runs like water in the streets.  The crusades and wars fought during the times of the Ottoman empire, the period of the sixth trumpet were based in this kind of false religious fervor.  To convert the infidel at the point of the sword, or perform an inquisition to purge the Islamist of his apostasy does nothing but turn the waters of life into blood.  The slain become too many to be counted.  And the world is no better off.  And through it all remain the two witnesses clothed in sackcloth mourning the dead who did not need to die.

John continues to describe what he sees in verse 7 … “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. [verse 8] And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.”  When the word of God is rejected, when it is no longer heard, when it is no longer something we embrace – its testimony is finished.  The doctrines of the Father God and general adherence to the traditions of Abraham, but devoid of the Savior, denial of the divinity of His Son, lead to a false system of worship.  Islam during the course of the 1260 days or years if applied the prophetic principle, takes control over Jerusalem more than once.  Even today the city is divided between the Jewish faith, Islam, and Christianity.  It is the city “were also our Lord was crucified”.  And now is also known as Sodom, and Egypt.  It is here where the “dead bodies” of the witnesses, both Old and New testaments of Jesus Christ are disregarded.  The Jewish faith denies the Messiah has come.  The Islamic faith denies that Christ was anything more than prophet.  The Christian faith of the day, puts its faith in the infallibility of the Pope, and introduces mechanisms such as paying for salvation, and the reverence of works of art that become nothing more than idols to replace that which is unseen.  ALL reject the pure testimony of the two witnesses who call us to Christ to alone find our redemption and singular path to God.

John continues in verse 9 … “And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. [verse 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.”  Whereas the two witness performed their work clothed in sackcloth, because they mourned the unneeded death they contended against; the behavior of those who reject this message of salvation is anything but sad.  They do not bother to bury the dead, but intend to make “sport” of them.  They intend to desecrate the bodies of these witnesses, to continue to poke fun at them; to continue to scoff.  The people who have rejected the salvation they were offered through Jesus Christ make merry, sending gifts to each other, throwing parties, and conducting commerce.  Those who reject salvation, see the sacrifice of self as torment.  Those who are slave to serving self, see only the next thing they might acquire that could possibly please self.  To deny self in any way is seen as torture and torment.  This is the nature of addiction.  This is the nature of slavery from which there is no escape but Christ or death.  Having rejected Christ, what is left to them now, is only to celebrate that no-one continues to ask them to give up their pain, and find life.  They would rather wallow in their pain, and call it fun.

John continues in verse 11 … “And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.”  The time of the partying of those who rejected the message of salvation of Jesus is limited to only 3.5 days, or 3.5 years if we apply the prophetic principle.  It is comparatively shorter than the 1260 days, 42 months, or 3.5 years in which the two witnesses clothed in sackcloth gave their original message and testimony and prophecies of Jesus Christ.  What was once denied, the power of Christ, is now reaffirmed.  The Holy Spirit breathes new life into the two witnesses and they stand upon their feet.  The invention of the printing press has the unwitting effect of taking the heretofore restricted word of God, and making it commonplace throughout the world.  What was rejected in Jerusalem, in Sodom, and in Egypt now springs to life once again.  And the enemy of souls trembles at what he fears the most.

John continues in verse 12 … “And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. [verse 13] And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. [verse 14] The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.”  The two witnesses now point the way of ascension up to heaven.  The method of our departure is foretold, we are to ascend in a cloud with our enemies watching in full view.  The testimony of the word of God results in our submission to Jesus Christ.  While our enemies watch, we are transformed by His love and His power into the creations He intended us to be.  We are made perfect while the world watches and it causes them great fear.  There is a great earthquake, a tenth of the city falls, 7000 men are slain, those who remain are afraid and give glory to the God of heaven.  This sequence of events we do not fully understand.  Perhaps it is still on our horizon; for it does occur immediately before the seventh trumpet sounds.

As the second woe finally ends, what has been revealed to us about Jesus Christ?  Do we see that modern man is not exempt from misunderstanding scriptural interpretation as found in the story of the little scroll?  Do we see that all scripture points to Jesus Christ as our method of salvation, and without Jesus there can be no way of finding God as evidenced in the story of the two witnesses?  Do we find the mystery of God fulfilled in us as given through the mouth of the prophets to be our transformation once and for all into the creations He intended us to be?  Throughout all the stories and possible interpretations of the trumpets, the sixth falling during these last days, is the ever-present call of Jesus Christ to find His peace, His love, and our transformation through His power alone.  We are NOT called to the folly of war in His name.  We are NOT called to find our salvation in our mirrors.  We are called to awaken from our spiritual slumber and embrace Him alone as our source of redemption and ultimate perfection.  It is to happen in our day.  It is to happen BEFORE he returns.  We are in the period of the sixth trumpet, not of the seventh, that is still to come.  Our transformation is not something that happens only as we emerge from our physical graves to go home with Christ.  It is to happen right now, as we emerge from our spiritual graves of self-reliance, having finally accepted that Jesus Christ alone is our only salvation.  This transformation will be witnessed by His enemies, and it will cause even them to give glory to God.

And now we are ready to resume the study and conclusion of the trumpet series …