Prophecy
9
The Two
Witnesses –
Revelation 10:1-11:19
_____________________________
Revelation
10:10-11
And
I took the little book out of the
angel’s hand, and ate it up; and
it was in my mouth sweet as honey:
and as soon as I had eaten it, my
belly was bitter. And he said
unto me, Thou must prophesy again
before many peoples, and nations, and
tongues, and kings.{10} So,
I ate the little book. There came a
rush, a heightened experience unlike
anything I had ever known. There was
an explosion of truth and knowledge
in my mind. It was as though I saw
and understood many new things. Words
cannot describe the elation and joy
that I felt. God’s love,
character, ways, and plans were as
sweet as honey in my mouth, but I
soon discovered that proclaiming the
words of Jesus produced great
bitterness.[30] Few
people wanted to hear them. In fact,
almost everyone seemed hostile toward
me. I felt like wearing sackcloth and
sitting in ashes, my grief became so
great.[31]
{11} Jesus
spoke to me as though I was one of
the 144,000,[32] “You
must prophesy again before[33] many
peoples, nations, languages, and
kings.”
The phrase,
“must prophesy again”
indicates the gospel of Jesus –
in its present form – has become
contaminated. Therefore, a purified
gospel[34] must be
proclaimed again to the whole world.
The little book Jesus gave John
contains the words which the 144,000
will speak. God’s servants will
not dilute or deviate from these
words.[35] They
will clearly present the truth about
Jesus and His salvation with no
ambiguity. The unvarnished truth will
be told and sin will be called by its
right name. The gospel of Jesus is
powerful, like a double edged sword.
It separates people from each other
(it separates honest-in-heart sheep
from darkness-loving goats). The
kingdom of God is like a great
magnet. The pure in heart are
attracted to it, but people with
hearts of stone are unaffected.
God’s children are people who
love and exalt righteousness and
truth as He does.[36]
Each member
of the 144,000 will eat the same
little book that John ate. Even
though they will not know each other,
the 144,000 will proclaim the same
gospel; a gospel that is pure and
undefiled by men’s opinions. The
Holy Spirit will anoint their lips
with coals of fire, just as the Lord
anointed the prophet Isaiah’s
lips.[37] The
144,000 will speak with power and
penetrating clarity to every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people as the
first four trumpets devastate the
Earth. The effects of the trumpets
will traumatize and overwhelm the
remaining inhabitants of the world.
People will truly fear God for a
short time. This fear will silence
nations and people so that everyone
can hear and consider a gospel that
is unlike anything they have heard
before. During the Great Tribulation,
a numberless multitude of
honest-hearted people will abandon
their religious heritage and do
whatever He asks once they know that
God is truly speaking. God’s Two
Witnesses will validate the testimony
of the 144,000 and a numberless
multitude will be sealed. God’s
love for sinners is beyond
understanding. He really loves us!
Revelation
11:1-3
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. 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. And I will give power unto my
two witnesses, and they shall
prophesy a thousand two hundred and
threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth.{11:1} My
first experience as one of the
144,000 was painful and difficult.
Jesus handed a measuring stick to me
and said, “Go measure my temple.
Go into the inner court and see who
‘measures up’ to the terms
and conditions of the eternal gospel
because I want to know who loves me.
Billions of people attend religious
services each week, but in truth, I
do not know them.[38] Present
the gospel to the inner court and if
they refuse to measure up, drive them
out.
{2} Exclude the
outer court because it will be used
to collect the Gentiles. They will
trample on my holy people[39] for
forty-two months.”
{3} Jesus spoke
again to John. “To validate your
testimony, I will give power to my
Two Witnesses, and they will prophesy
for 1,260 days, clothed in
sackcloth.”
Before
Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D.70,
the temple in Jerusalem had two
courts. Gentile converts to Judaism
worshiped in the outer court.[40] The
inner court was reserved for Jews and
those converts who had achieved a
“purified” ancestry. Using
this imagery, John was sent to
measure the inner court because it
contains worshipers who say they know
God. Before the temple was destroyed
in A.D. 70, the outer court contained
people who God loved, but they did
not have the same privileges and
opportunities given to those in the
inner court. God designed this
separation to give Gentile converts
time to assimilate into His ways
before He gave them full rights as
members of Israel.
The two
courts in this prophecy represent
Christianity (the inner court –
sheep) and all non-Christians (the
outer court – goats). Currently,
Jesus has sheep in both courts and
the devil has goats in both courts.
During the Great Tribulation, Jesus
will purify the inner court through
the testimony presented by the
144,000. Those people who accept the
testimony of the 144,000 will be
persecuted. Persecution will cause
the goats to run out of the inner
court. Meanwhile, the gospel will
attract God’s sheep who live in
the outer court. At the end of the
1,260 days, all of the Lord’s
sheep will be found in the inner
court and all of the goats will be
found in the outer court.
The book that
John ate contains the gospel of
Christ, words that must be spoken
throughout the world as a testimony
to all nations. John was given a
measuring stick and sent to the inner
court to measure the temple and count
the worshipers. The measuring stick
indicates judgment. The 144,000 will
prophesy (preach the gospel) and the
honest in heart will embrace it and
“measure up.”
Honest-hearted people will also hear
the gospel and join with the
worshipers in the inner court.[41] This
migration between the two courts is
an important concept to understand.
At the end of the Great Tribulation,
all of the saints will be gathered in
the inner court and all of the wicked
will be gathered in the outer court.
This separation process will produce
much sorrow and bitterness. Families
will be broken apart and many close
relationships will end because of the
sword of Christ’s gospel. Those
in the outer court will hate those in
the inner court and will persecute
them.[42] The
outer court occupants will trample on
God’s holy people for forty-two
months, thinking that they are doing
God a service.[43] This
painful process made John’s
stomach turn sour during the vision.
The phrase,
“clothed in sackcloth”
means the 1,260 days will be a time
of anguish, mourning, and
discouragement.[44] Please
study this text: “The man
clothed in linen, who was above the
waters of the river, lifted his right
hand and his left hand toward heaven,
and I heard him swear by him who
lives forever, saying, ‘It will
be for a time, times and half a time.
When the power of the holy people has
been finally broken, all these things
will be completed.’ ”[45] When we
examine Prophecy 11 we will discover
that 1,260 days equals “a time,
time and half a time.” We will
also discover that there are two
separate and distinct time periods of
1,260 days. One period occurred
between 538 and 1798 and the other is
in the future. Because of Rule Four,
one time period is translated a day
for a year and the other is not. When
these two time periods are added
together, God’s people are
persecuted for a total of seven times
(periods of time). According to Daniel 12:7, the 1,260
days granted to the Two Witnesses
will end “when the power of the
holy people (the 144,000) has been
finally broken.”
God’s
Two Witnesses are eternal and
omnipresent. They have always been
and they will always be. They serve
several purposes. One purpose is to
detect sin and rebellion. The Two
Witnesses report to the Father
everything they see and this is why
they are called
“witnesses.” God’s
first witness is two perfect laws;
represented by the two lampstands.
The highest laws in the universe are:
You shall “Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest
commandment and the second is like
it: Love your neighbor as
yourself.”[46]
The following
concept may surprise you, but a law
is a witness.[47] A law
defines the will of the lawmaker and
using personification; the law
measures the actions of those who
live under its obligation. If a
person fulfills the intent of the
law, he measures up to the law. The
law also testifies to the lawmaker
whether a person is with or without
fault. If a person fails to fulfill
the intent of the law, the law
testifies the person does not measure
up to its requirements. He falls
short because he has done evil.[48] The
Bible is clear on this point,
God’s laws are His witnesses.[49]
The two laws
of love are not hard to understand,
but they are impossible to obey
consistently because our carnal
nature stands in opposition to them.
Our thoughts and actions naturally
spring from love for self. If we try
to obey the law because it is the
law, compliance will not necessarily
fulfill the intent of the law. Paul
wrote, “If I give all that I
possess to the poor and surrender my
body to the flames, but have not
love, I gain nothing.”[50] It is
possible to show piety and generosity
without having love. Everyone is
capable of deception and history
teaches that religious leaders are
among the worst. Because everyone has
a carnal nature, we do not naturally
love God with all of our heart, mind,
and soul. Further, it is not natural
to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Those in power usually love power
more than they love others. To
fulfill the two laws of love that God
has imposed on mankind, we must
receive a new heart and a new mind
each day. This daily transformation
is compared to being “born
again” and our need of this
transformation brings us to the
ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy
Spirit is God’s second witness.
The Holy Spirit reads our minds. He
knows our thoughts, affections, and
motives. Nothing is hidden from the
Holy Spirit. (Remember, the four
living creatures in Revelation
4 and 5 are covered with eyes!)
The Holy Spirit faithfully reports to
God everything that He hears and
sees. He is a living witness! If a
person hears the gospel of Jesus and
sincerely wants a new heart and mind,
the Holy Spirit makes it happen.
Through the transforming ministry of
the Spirit, things the sinner used to
hate, he will love and things he used
to love, he will hate![51] Each
time a sinner petitions the Lord for
a pure heart, the Lord sends the Holy
Spirit with another dose of
transforming power. The Bible
describes the daily process as
crucifying the carnal nature so that
God’s love can reign supreme in
the “born again” life.[52]
The only act
which God cannot forgive is
blaspheming (insulting) the Holy
Spirit.[53] When a
person knows to do right, but does
not do it, the law testifies without
prejudice or deviation that the rebel
is a sinner. If a person refuses to
obey the Holy Spirit’s
“prompting from within,” or
if a person refuses to do what the
Holy Spirit says is holy and right,
the Holy Spirit testifies to Jesus
that the sinner is defiant. The
Spirit knows a defiant rebel when He
sees him because He reads each
sinner’s heart![54] So, a
defiant rebel is condemned by the
testimony of two witnesses.[55] If a
person knowingly and persistently
defies the laws of God, eventually
the Holy Spirit will abandon that
person because the Holy Spirit is not
permitted to overrule defiance. When
the Holy Spirit abandons a person
because of defiance, the sinner has
committed the unpardonable sin.[56] When
the Holy Spirit finally abandons a
defiant rebel, that person will have
no further interest in doing what is
right. That person may think that he
is free to do whatever he wants, but
instead he has been given over to
destruction. His carnal nature will
lead him deeper into sin and his
degenerate behavior will eventually
lead to demonic bondage.[57] A
person abandoned by the Holy Spirit
is selfish, cruel, narcissistic, and
a predator. Such a person has no
feelings or compassion for others. He
has no peace or happiness. When the
heart of a rebel becomes hard as
stone, it cannot be transformed, even
by Almighty God, unless the rebel
repents. Without the ministry of the
Holy Spirit, repentance is
impossible!
To appreciate
the eternal role of God’s Two
Witnesses throughout His universe, we
must understand that in God’s
economy, no one is condemned on the
testimony of one witness. In other
words, God’s laws of love and
the testimony of the Holy Spirit must
be in perfect agreement. God’s
two laws of love measure behavior,
defining righteousness and
unrighteousness, and the Spirit reads
our hearts and knows our motives. God
requires the law and the Holy Spirit
to perfectly agree about a person
before a defiant rebel can be
condemned to death. If a person does
something wrong (violates God’s
law), but the Spirit (who reads the
heart) testifies that the deed was
done in ignorance, that person is not
condemned in God’s sight![58] God is
so good! His generosity never ends!
God does not condemn anyone who is
ignorant of sin; however, God will
condemn a person if he refuses to do
the good that he knows he should do.[59]
During the
time of Moses, two or more witnesses
were required to condemn a person to
death.[60] During
the Great Tribulation, the same holds
true. Here is the process: God will
ensure that everyone hears His
demands. The 144,000, through their
ministry, will proclaim God’s
two laws of love. The Holy Spirit
will deeply impress every person that
obeying these two laws is God’s
will. The 144,000 will perform signs
and wonders to affirm that God’s
two laws are holy and true. After the
clearest evidences of God’s will
have been set before the people, and
after the Holy Spirit has done
everything possible to convict people
that God’s laws are righteous
and true, God’s Two Witnesses
will condemn everyone rejecting the
gospel of Jesus. Ultimately, defiant
rebels will be put to death. They
must die because of rebellion.
Once
God’s Two Witnesses agree that a
person should be condemned, there is
no higher court for further appeal.
Down through the centuries, various
judicial systems on Earth have
offered defendants the right to
appeal their case to a higher court.
A defendant might hope for a better
outcome if he can show that the first
trial was not conducted properly or
perhaps he can bring new or better
facts to a second trial. However, in
God’s judicial system, there is
no higher court. There are no appeals
because God’s Two Witnesses
never make a mistake. They cannot be
fooled with lies or clever arguments.
If a person is clearly informed about
God’s will and he chooses to
rebel against it, that is his
privilege. However, the law will
testify that his actions were evil
and the Holy Spirit will testify that
his heart was defiant. When a person
rebels against the Holy Spirit’s
inner push to obey God’s will,
the Holy Spirit detects the
resistance. If a person insists on
defiance day after day, a time will
come when the Holy Spirit will report
to Jesus that there is nothing
further that can be done. Defiance
produces a sin that is unpardonable.
During the Great Tribulation,
God’s Ten Commandments will
measure our actions. The Holy Spirit
will see our motives. Together, they
will report to Jesus and He will pass
judgment on each person. Everyone who
surrenders to the will and love of
God will be given the gift of
sanctification and sealed. The sinful
nature will be removed. Everyone else
will end up hopelessly selfish and
totally defiant. All of the wicked
will end up at the same place –
committing the unpardonable sin. All
rebels will be destroyed at the
Second Coming.[61]
