Prophecy
9
The Two
Witnesses –
Revelation 10:1-11:19
_____________________________
Revelation
11:11
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.
{11} But
after the three and a half days a
breath of life from God entered them,
they stood on their feet, and the
people celebrating their death were
struck with terror.
The Two
Witnesses will remain dead for 3.5
days. Jesus will resurrect them in
the presence of their enemies and He
will take them to Heaven. There is
evidence indicating the 144,000 could
be taken to Heaven on a Sunday
because first fruits were presented
to God on the first day of the week.[145] For
example, in Numbers 28:26, a
presentation of firstfruits took
place at the feast of Pentecost which
always fell on a Sunday.[146] We know
that Jesus was resurrected on Sunday,
and He ascended to the Father that
morning as the first fruits of the
dead.[147] If the
144,000 are resurrected, taken to
Heaven, and presented to God and the
Lamb on a Sunday, this is consistent
with first fruits being offered on a
Sunday. The Bible does declare the
144,000 will be the first fruits of
the coming harvest.[148]
The three and
a half days can be easily
demonstrated using an example with
actual dates. Suppose, for sake of
discussion, that the 1,260th day of
the Great Tribulation ends on
Wednesday, sundown, February 4, 2015,
in New York City. Remember, that with
God, a day begins and ends at sundown
– local time.[149]Suppose the
wicked in New York City gaze upon the
dead bodies of God’s prophets
for three full days – Thursday,
Friday, and Sabbath. Also, suppose
the 144,000 are resurrected at dawn
on Sunday morning, February 8, 2015.
The elapsed time would be three and a
half days. Although the actual date
of their resurrection is unknown at
this time, we do know that the
144,000 are the firstfruits of the
coming harvest and it is possible
they could be taken to Heaven and
presented to God and the Lamb on a
Sunday, the first day of the week.
Imagine the
anxiety that will overwhelm murderous
revelers when they actually see the
resurrection of God’s prophets.
Words cannot possibly describe their
terror when they see the dead awaken
and stand up. The 144,000 will shine
with the same glory that radiated
from Moses when He descended Mt.
Sinai. The courage and bravado of the
wicked will melt. Fearing for their
lives, the wicked will run for cover
like cockroaches when exposed to
light.
Revelation
11:12-13
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.
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.{12} Then,
a loud voice spoke from Heaven to the
144,000: “Come up here.”
And immediately, the 144,000 ascended
to Heaven in a cloud while their
enemies looked on.[150]
{13} At that
very hour, there was a severe
earthquake and a tenth of the great
city (that is, a tenth of
Lucifer’s government) was
destroyed by the earthquake. The
ground swallowed up the highest
ranking administrators within
Lucifer’s government (all seven
thousand of them).[151]
This text may
indicate that Lucifer’s
government will consist of 70,000
officials. If so, each king (there
will be ten kings) may rule over
7,000 officials. When the 144,000 are
resurrected and taken to Heaven,
7,000 of Lucifer’s highest
officials will perish. I believe this
divine event declares, “Game
Over.” Maybe Jesus will destroy
7,000 demon possessed officials who
were known and feared for their
inhumane cruelty. Regardless,Lucifer
and his officials used their power to
destroy God’s people and now
Jesus will use higher power to
destroy them. The earthquake will
terrify the surviving saints, but
they will rejoice and give glory to
Jesus because they know He is about
to end their misery and suffering!
Lucifer’s government will be
badly damaged by the loss of this
leadership, but Lucifer will not
care. The celebration will end
abruptly and a cloud of heavy worry
will fall on the wicked.
Revelation
11:14
The
second woe is past; and, behold, the
third woe cometh quickly{14} Then a
loud thunder came from Heaven. A
voice said: “The second woe has
passed; the third woe is coming
soon.”
Prior to the
seventh trumpet, the gospel of Jesus
Christ will reach every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people. When the
1,260th day arrives, everyone on
Earth either has the seal of God or
the mark of the beast. The saints
will have their carnal natures
removed and the wicked will have
committed the unpardonable sin. What
a contrast! After 3.5 days of
celebration, the seventh trumpet will
sound on the 1,265th day, perhaps a
Sunday. Jesus will resurrect the
144,000 and take them to Heaven. The
seventh trumpet will sound in Heaven
shortly after the 144,000 arrive in
Heaven and an earthquake will swallow
up 7,000 of Lucifer’s officials.
The seventh trumpet marks a very
important transition in Earth’s
history. All that remains is the
execution of justice. Remember,
during the Great Tribulation there
will be no justice for God’s
people. Therefore, Jesus avenges
their suffering and death. Over a
period of seventy days, the wicked
and ultimately, planet Earth itself,
will be totally destroyed.
Jesus has
several purposes for the seven bowls
and we will examine them when we
study Prophecy 14:
1. Jesus will
use the first five bowls to
incrementally undo Lucifer’s
deception. Jesus will unmask the
devil because He wants every wicked
person to recognize and acknowledge
that the glorious being masquerading
as Almighty God is the devil himself.
As you can imagine, forcing defiant
people into this position will take a
great deal of pain.
2. Jesus will
use the seven last plagues to punish
the wicked for defiance. No sovereign
can tolerate open and defiant
contempt within his kingdom. The
wicked must be punished because they
deliberately insulted and willfully
defied the commandments of the
Creator of the Universe who is King
of kings and Lord of lords. For 1,260
days the clearest evidences of
God’s will and truth were set
before all mankind, but the wicked
refused to hear God’s servants
and they blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
They willingly and knowingly refused
to obey Almighty God. Not only this,
they tortured and killed God’s
saints knowing that what they were
doing was wrong! Now, the table
turns. Almighty God will deal with
these rebels. For seventy days, they
will suffer in the extreme and there
will be NO mercy! The defiant cannot
escape drinking the bitter dregs of
God’s wrath.[152]
3. Finally,
Jesus will repay the wicked for the
suffering which they heaped upon His
people. Justice demands that the
golden rule be applied. This rule
declares: “As you did unto
others, the same will be done unto
you.”[153] The
pain and suffering, sorrow and death
imposed upon God’s saints during
the Great Tribulation will be the
equivalent of war crimes in
God’s sight. Therefore, Jesus
will punish the wicked for crimes
against humanity. Remember that the
punishment inflicted on the wicked
during the seven bowls does not
affect or eliminate the restitution
which will be extracted from the
wicked at the end of the 1,000 years.
The second
thing that must be discussed before
considering the horrors of the third
woe is that God’s anger with the
wicked is limited by His two laws of
love. God does not extract revenge
beyond the demands of justice.[154] God
faithfully adheres to His two laws of
love. Righteousness and justice are
the foundation of His throne.[155] Restitution
is a cornerstone of God’s
government of love. This is why God
said in the Old Testament, “But
if there is serious injury, you are
to take life for life, eye for eye,
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot
for foot, burn for burn, wound for
wound, bruise for bruise.”[156] By
closely studying God’s actions,
we see what pure love is and what
pure love does and how pure love
behaves – under all
circumstances. God is righteous and
pure; He demands the highest
standards of conduct for Himself and
from His creation.
Seventh
Trumpet Sounds
Revelation
11:15
And
the seventh angel sounded; and there
were great voices in heaven, saying,
The kingdoms of this world are become
the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his
Christ; and he shall reign for ever
and ever.{15} I
heard the seventh trumpet sound and I
heard loud voices in Heaven say,
“The kingdom of the world has
become the kingdom of our Lord and of
his Christ, and he will reign for
ever and ever.”
Some
Christians believe that Jesus
received the kingdom of this world
when He ascended to the Father after
His resurrection. There is some
confusion on this topic, so please
consider the following:
In the
beginning, Jesus created everything
in the universe for the Father.[157]Jesus is the
creative agent of the Godhead, but
everything He created belonged to the
Father. When Adam and Eve sinned,
they were to be immediately executed
because the Father has “a sudden
death law.”[158] The
wages of sin is death by execution,
but Jesus went to the Father and
offered to be executed in man’s
place. The Father told Jesus that His
plan for man’s redemption
required a perfect substitute. In
other words, if Jesus perfectly
carried out the Father’s will,
sinners could be saved if they put
their faith in Christ’s
atonement and did their best to carry
out the teachings of Jesus. (see
Appendix C.) The Father also promised
to give the world to Jesus if He
successfully carried out His plans.
On the day
that Adam and Eve sinned, Jesus
relinquished His rights and
privileges as a co-eternal member of
the Godhead to the Father. Jesus
subjected Himself to the
Father’s will and Jesus became
known as the Son [the subject] of
God.[159] The
title, “Son of God” does
not mean that the Father created
Jesus or that Jesus is not equal to
the Father. Jesus is fully God just
like the Father. The Hebrew word ben
(son) means subject – as a child
is subject to the will of his parents
or a citizen is subject to his
nation’s constitution or the
will of His king. Jesus humiliated
Himself [subjected Himself] to the
Father’s will for man’s
redemption and this is why the title,
‘the Son of God’ means,
‘the Subject of God.’ Four
thousand years after sin began, Jesus
came to Earth to carry out the will
of the Father in His flesh[160] and
just before going to the cross, Jesus
prayed these words:
“Father,
the time has come. Glorify your Son,
that your Son may glorify you. For
you granted him authority over all
people that he might give eternal
life to all those you have given him.
. . . I have brought you glory on
earth by completing the work you gave
me to do. And now, Father, glorify me
in your presence with the glory I had
with you before the world began. I
have revealed you to those whom you
gave me out of the world. They were
yours; you gave them to me and they
have obeyed your word. . . . For I
gave them the words you gave me and
they accepted them. They knew with
certainty that I came from you, and
they believed that you sent me. . . .
All I have is yours, and all you have
is mine. And glory has come to me
through them.”[161]
When Jesus
ascended to Heaven on Resurrection
Sunday, the Father did not give the
kingdom of the world to Jesus as many
people think. Instead, He made Jesus
the head of the church. Paul wrote,
“And God placed all things under
his feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church.”[162] During
the first century following the
ascension of Jesus, the disciples
believed that Jesus had been given
sovereign power over everything and
they also believed that Jesus would
shortly return to Earth. This
understanding was not harmful, but it
was not fact. Just before Jesus
ascended to Heaven, He spoke to His
disciples: “Then Jesus came to
them and said, ‘All authority in
Heaven and on Earth has been given to
me. Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit.”[163] The
disciples heard these words, but they
did not understand that the authority
given to Jesus was limited to His
church. The apostle Paul also thought
that Jesus had received all authority
after returning to Heaven. Paul did
not understand the timing of
apocalyptic prophecy when He wrote,
“And he [the Father] made known
to us the mystery of his will
according to his good pleasure, which
he purposed in Christ, to be put into
effect when the times will have
reached their fulfillment– to
bring all things in heaven and on
earth together under one head, even
Christ.”[164] (See
commentary on Prophecy 2 for further
discussion of the time when Christ is
given sovereign power.)
