Prophecy
9
The Two
Witnesses –
Revelation 10:1-11:19
_____________________________
The
Sequence:
Revelation
10:1-4
And
I saw another mighty angel come down
from heaven, clothed with a cloud:
and a rainbow was upon his head, and
his face was as it were the sun, and
his feet as pillars of fire: And he
had in his hand a little book open:
and he set his right foot upon the
sea, and his left foot on the earth,
And cried with a loud voice, as when
a lion roareth: and when he had
cried, seven thunders uttered their
voices. And when the seven thunders
had uttered their voices, I was about
to write: and I heard a voice from
heaven saying unto me, Seal up those
things which the seven thunders
uttered, and write them not.{1} I
was standing on Earth when I saw a
mighty angel[13] descend
from Heaven. He came alone. This was
not the Second Coming. Jesus was
robed with a dark cloud and no one on
Earth could see Him but me.[14] He had
a rainbow above His head[15] and the
brilliance of His face was like the
Sun. His legs glowed like fiery
pillars of molten metal.
{2} He held a
little book in His hand that was
open. As I watched, Jesus planted His
right foot on the sea and His left
foot on the land. His posture and
position indicated sovereign
authority over land and sea. There
was a bold confidence about Him, like
that of a military general. It
appeared that Jesus had come to Earth
to conduct specific business.
{3} He gave a
loud command, like the roar of a lion
and seven thunderous voices spoke.
{4} I clearly
heard and understood the seven
thunders and I was about to write
down their testimony, but a voice
from Heaven said, “John, do not
write down the words that you have
heard.”
It may seem
strange that John was forbidden to
write down the testimony that he
heard, but there is a simple reason
for this. John, as one of the
144,000, heard Jesus speak seven
times. During the Great Tribulation
those who have been sealed along with
the 144,000 will hear and understand
Jesus’ words as they roll like
thunder throughout the Earth. Jesus
will speak seven times and those who
understand His words will know for
themselves that they have been
sealed! The saints will be greatly
encouraged by each thunder to
patiently endure. To the rest of the
world, these seven events will be
frightening, sounding like a deep
rumbling in the Earth or peals of
rolling thunder,[16] but
they will not hear Jesus’ voice.
Revelation
10:5-7
And
the angel which I saw stand upon the
sea and upon the earth lifted up his
hand to heaven, And sware by him
that liveth for ever and ever, who
created heaven, and the things that
therein are, and the earth, and the
things that therein are, and the sea,
and the things which are therein,
that there should be time no longer:
But in the days of the voice of the
seventh angel, when he shall begin to
sound, the mystery of God should be
finished, as he hath declared to his
servants the prophets.{5} Then
Jesus raised His right hand toward
Heaven.
{6} With a loud
voice He swore an oath in His own
name,[17] as the
Creator of Heaven and everything that
is in it, the Earth and all that is
in it, and the sea and all that is in
it,[18] He
said, “There will be no more
delay![19]
{7} But in the
days when the seventh angel is about
to sound his trumpet, the mystery of
God will be completed, just as he
announced to His servants the
prophets, the 144,000.”
This scene
will occur shortly before the censer
in Revelation
8:5 is cast down.
When this event occurs, Jesus will
declare the end of God’s
patience with mankind. Then, the
fourth seal will be broken and the
censer at the Altar of Incense will
be cast down. The four angels who
have been waiting (since 1994) will
be released to hurt the Earth.
God’s redemptive wrath will
begin.[20] Wicked
places all over the world will be
punished for degenerate and decadent
behavior.[21] The
144,000 will begin proclaiming the
eternal gospel on Day One of the
Great Tribulation and all who repent
of their sins and embrace Jesus as
their Creator and Savior will be
tested, sealed, and saved.[22]
The
“mystery of God” that will
be completed just before the seventh
trumpet sounds is the sealing
(removal of the carnal nature). Prior
to the Great Tribulation, all
born-again believers received the
Holy Spirit as “a deposit,
guaranteeing what is to come.”[23] In
other words, the righteousness of
Christ has been imputed to God’s
children ever since sin began. During
the Great Tribulation, the
righteousness of Christ will be
imparted to God’s children.
“The seal of the living
God” described in Revelation
7:2,3 is the
outpouring of the fullness of the
Holy Spirit given to everyone who
faithfully worships Jesus, the
Creator.
This seal of
God will be given first to the
144,000. The seal of God will not be
a visible stamp. This seal is like a
lock that keeps the sinless nature in
and the carnal nature out. Remember
how the tomb of Jesus was securely
sealed so that His disciples could
not steal His body.[24] The
seal of God is similar. When the
curse of sin is removed from each
saint, the door will be sealed. The
seal of God can be compared to a king
putting a wax seal on an important
scroll. Once the scroll is written
and sealed, the document cannot be
changed. Similarly, during the Great
Tribulation, God will test each
living person to see who loves Him
with all their heart, mind and soul,
and his neighbor as himself. After
the sinner is tested and found
faithful, God will perform a miracle.
He will remove the carnal nature from
that sinner and put a seal on his
forehead. This action indicates that
sin will have no further influence on
that person.
The sealing
described in Revelation is the final
step in sanctification. When Jesus
removes the carnal nature and applies
the seal of God to a sinner, this
indicates a complete transformation[25] has
occurred. The 144,000 will be the
first to experience this final step.
Consider how this process works: Step
one begins when a sinner surrenders
his will to Jesus (to go-be-do as the
Holy Spirit directs) and receives
Christ as his Savior.
Jesus immediately covers the
sinner with His righteousness (this
process is called “justification
through faith”). Step two
quickly follows. God requires that we
turn from wickedness and walk in
righteousness with Him! If a sinner
is willing to undergo the sanctifying
process, fights the good fight of
faith and is an overcomer, Jesus
keeps the sinner covered with His
righteousness so that in God’s
sight, the sinner appears to be a
saint. (This process is called
“sanctification through
faith” – see Appendix A.)
God’s willingness to cover
sinners with Christ’s
righteousness is called “imputed
righteousness.” Ever since Adam
and Eve sinned, God has been imputing
righteousness to sinners.[26]
The judgment
of the living will occur during the
first 1,260 days of the Great
Tribulation. Since the 144,000 are
the firstfruits of the harvest, they
will be the first people to be
judged, purified, and sealed.
Currently, when we surrender our will
to Jesus and receive Christ as our
Savior, our surrender is less than
perfect because the carnal nature is
present. Paul, after being a
Christian for about thirty years,
reminds us in Romans 7 that it
is impossible for anyone having a
carnal nature to perfectly keep it
subdued. The power of sin is greater
than our best intentions and efforts.
Even worse, it is possible to sin and
not even know it! This explains why
sanctification on Earth is an endless
process. As we learn and overcome, we
grow in Christ. We are cursed by the
power of sin from within and the
minute that we overcome one sin,
another one pops up! God understands
the problem and He has a profound
remedy.
When a person
dies, there is nothing further to
worry about because a dead person
cannot sin again. When the dead in
Christ are resurrected to enjoy
eternal life, they will receive a
nature that has no proclivity toward
sin. I highlight this point because
the judgment of the living (which
takes place during the Great
Tribulation) poses a problem.
Everyone having a carnal nature will
sin if given enough time. God’s
solution to this problem is
unbelievably generous and dramatic.
During the Great Tribulation, God
will test each of us to see if we
love Him with all our heart, mind,
and soul and if we love our neighbors
as ourselves. If we pass the test,
Jesus will remove our carnal nature
(that pesky attraction for sin that
lives inside us) so that we can be
set free of sin’s power and
attraction. The righteousness of
Christ will be imparted (actually put
within us). Then, Jesus will put His
seal on us so that His righteousness
within us does not change. I am sure
one of the favorite songs of the
saints during the sealing will be
that old gospel song written by Fanny
Crosby, “Redeemed how I love to
proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. Redeemed through His
infinite mercy, His child and forever
I am!” The sealing is “the
mystery of God” that He will
accomplish just prior to the seventh
trumpet.
When their
sinful natures are removed, the
144,000 will be a perfect reflection
of Christ’s character and so
will everyone else who receives the
seal of God. God’s saints will
be free of sin’s power. They
will be living examples of what God
will do for any sinner, no matter how
degenerate or evil a person may be or
may have been. He will give
righteousness to those who pass the
test of faith and will completely
transform him or her into a new
person! Addicts, prostitutes, liars,
thieves, murderers, and sinners of
all kinds will see a living example
of what they too can become through
Christ. The really-really-really good
news during the Great Tribulation is
that God is willing to give the gift
of sanctification to anyone putting
their faith in Christ!
Prior to the
1,260 days allotted to the Two
Witnesses, God’s gift to mankind
has been described as
“justification.” When the
judgment of the living begins, God
increases His gift to the faithful by
imparting the righteousness of Jesus
to each sinner. This is the gift of
“sanctification.” Words
cannot describe the joy that
“eleventh hour” sinners
will experience when they receive the
riches of God’s grace and are
set free from sin’s power. The
seal of God will keep every
sanctified sinner safe from falling
back into the clutches of sin. Revelation
7:1-4indicates that the
first people to receive the seal of
God will be the 144,000. Revelation
14:4 reveals that the
144,000 will be the firstfruits of
the end time harvest. Therefore,
people who choose Christ as their
Savior throughout the Great
Tribulation will be sealed like the
144,000 because the harvest and its
firstfruits are always identical.
(For example, if the harvest is
barley, the firstfruits are also
barley.) The sealing process will
remain operational until the 1,260th
day ends. Five days later, the
seventh trumpet will sound.
A person who
has a sinful nature cannot enter
Heaven. Many Christians have just
assumed that the redeemed will
receive sinless natures at the Second
Coming and this assumption is true,
but only for the righteous dead.
However, for the living, their carnal
nature has to be removed prior to the
seven last plagues because the
intercession of Jesus will end on the
1,260th day of the Great Tribulation
(see Prophecy 12) and the Second
Coming occurs on the 1,335th day.
Ever since the day that sin began,
there has been an intercessor in
Heaven for sinners![27] For six
thousand years the righteousness of
Christ has been imputed to everyone
who lives by faith[28] and
when the righteous dead are
resurrected at the Second Coming,
each will be given a sinless nature
and a new body. However, a day is
coming when the offer of redemption
will end and there will be no further
intercession in Heaven, because an
intercessor will no longer be needed.
All of God’s saints will be
sealed!
Revelation
10:8-9
And
the voice which I heard from heaven
spake unto me again, and said, Go and
take the little book which is open in
the hand of the angel which standeth
upon the sea and upon the earth. And
I went unto the angel, and said unto
him, Give me the little book. And he
said unto me, Take it, and eat it up;
and it shall make thy belly bitter,
but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as
honey.{8} While
I was thinking about the mystery of
God, I heard a voice from Heaven
speak to me. It said, “John,
take the little book from Jesus’
hand.”
{9} I went over
to where Jesus was standing and asked
for the little book. He said,
“Take it and eat it. It will
taste as sweet as honey in your
mouth, but it will turn your stomach
sour.” I asked Jesus what was
written in the little book. He said,
“This little book contains my
words. You will speak my words during
the Great Tribulation.”[29]
