Getting Started with
the Book of Revelation
“For the
revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of
the end and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait
for it; it will certainly come and
will not delay.”
Habakkuk
2:3
l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l
page 4
The Two Witnesses
The Two Witnesses are
the Bible and the Holy Spirit, and
the 144,000 will be the arms and legs
of the Two Witnesses. The 144,000
will present Bible truth, and the
Holy Spirit will convict
honest-hearted people (in every
religion) with the truthfulness of
that testimony. The Holy Spirit will
do everything possible to move people
into submission to the will of Jesus;
even empowering the 144,000 to
perform miracles. They will present
three simple testing truths from the
Bible and these testing truths (found
in Revelation 14:6-12) will separate
those who listen to God’s Spirit
from those who do not. Eventually,
the influence of the Bible and
the Holy Spirit will be killed during
the Great Tribulation!
Jesus said the Father
accepts the worship of those who
worship Him in spirit and truth.
(John 4:24) In other words, God
accepts the worship of those who
humbly submit to His demands. If our
will is more important than His will,
then we have become an enemy of God
(anti-Christ), because our Creator
has a higher claim over us than we
have over ourselves! When we become
willing to go, to be and to do all
that God demands, Jesus said it is
like being born again. (John 3) The
Holy Spirit does His best to bring us
into perfect harmony with God’s
commands and will.
Because Jesus speaks
for God, He is called “the Word
of God.” (John 1:1) People who
worship Jesus in spirit and truth
must be open-hearted (to the Spirit)
and open-mined (to the advancement of
truth) so they can mature in Christ.
When a person rejects the Spirit and
refuses to accept the clearest
evidences of truth, God can do
nothing else to save that person. By
the time the seventh trumpet sounds,
the influence of the Two Witnesses
will be terminated. Their work will
end because everyone will have made
their decision for Lucifer or Christ.
Many people, like one-third of the
angels in Heaven, will choose to
follow Lucifer and believe his lies.
Consequently, the Two Witnesses, the
Holy Spirit and the written Word (the
Bible) will condemn them to death. (2
Thessalonians 2:9-12; Jeremiah 7:28;
9:5; Daniel 8:12; 2 John 1:1.2)
In Revelation 11, the
two olive trees and two candlesticks
(the Holy Spirit and the Bible) are
personified as two human witnesses
who will speak to the whole world.
Personification is used in Revelation
11 for an important reason. In Bible
times, a person could not be put to
death on the testimony of one
witness; a minimum of two witnesses
was required. (Deuteronomy 17:6;
Hebrews 10:28) During the Great
Tribulation, the 144,000 will
forcefully and clearly present the
demand to worship God; every person
who refuses to submit to the
influence of the Holy Spirit and obey
God’s fourth commandment will be
condemned to die, because of
defiance. No person will perish
because he refuses to listen to one
of God’s 144,000 servants.
People who reject the Holy Spirit and
God’s truth will commit the
unpardonable sin and be condemned
because of open rebellion. (Matthew
12:31) Many people think the Two
Witnesses will be Moses and Elijah,
but Revelation’s story does not
have 144,002 spokespersons for God.
Revelation’s story is about two
divine witnesses from God (which
cannot fail) empowering 144,000
servants.
The Rise and Fall of
Babylon
After the “shock
and awe” of the first four
trumpets occur, chaos and lawlessness
will follow. The mayhem that occurred
after the war between the United
States and Iraq in 2003 is a
miniature example of this coming
upheaval. Political leaders of all
nations will immediately respond to
God’s overwhelming destruction
by imposing martial law. Fear and
anxiety will rule the day. Religious
leaders will declare those events as
“Acts of God,” and they
will move quickly to establish a
coalition of religious and political
authorities to discuss developments
and options. The consuming issue will
be the question of how to appease God
so that His judgments will cease.
Because every government will be on
the brink of a collapse as a result
of God’s judgments, religious
and political leaders from all over
the world will agree that a
“crisis government” is
necessary to deal with God’s
demands. The Bible calls this coming
crisis government,
“Babylon.”
Ironically, Babylon
will immediately attempt to appease
God by imposing “sin-less”
laws. These laws will, at first,
prohibit sinful behaviors that were
previously permissible. Eventually,
laws mandating the worship of God
will be imposed, but the diversity of
humanity will prove to be an
insurmountable obstacle! How should
God be worshiped? Which religion has
the truth about God? Every religion
has a different view of God’s
requirements. To resolve this sticky
problem, laws will be enforced in
each nation that reflects the
majority view of God. In other words,
in countries where Catholicism is
dominant, laws mandating the worship
of God will favor Catholic theology.
In countries where Islam is dominant,
laws mandating the worship of God
will favor Islamic theology. Because
of the overwhelming destruction of
the first four trumpets, in the
United States, the Bill of Rights and
constitutional freedoms will be
suspended. The laws of Babylon will
stand in direct opposition to the
fourth commandment and juxtaposition
of conflicting laws will put the
people of Earth in an agonizing
situation. If people obey God, the
authorities will punish them for
violating the laws of Babylon. If
people obey the authorities of
Babylon, God will punish them for
violating His law. Babylon will
severely persecute the saints for 42
months and ultimately, Jesus will
destroy Babylon at the Second Coming.
The appearing of the
Antichrist
About 890 days after
the Great Tribulation begins (or
two-thirds of the way through the
1,335 days of the Great Tribulation),
the fifth trumpet will occur. This
event will prove to be awesome.
Lucifer will be allowed to physically
appear on Earth. The devil will be
allowed to leave the spirit realm to
physically appear before human beings
to bring sin’s drama to a close.
Lucifer is the dreaded Antichrist. He
will masquerade as Almighty God. He
will perform great signs and wonders,
and demand the worship that belongs
only to God. Billions of wicked
people will believe, on the basis of
his miracles and signs, that he is
really God. To ration scarce
resources during the Great
Tribulation, the devil will divide
the people of Earth into groups of
one thousand. Then, during the sixth
trumpet, demons will kill a third of
mankind to silence opposition against
Lucifer, and he will assume absolute
control over Earth. In order to buy
and sell, the remaining two-thirds of
the wicked will consent to wearing a
tattoo on their right hand showing
the number 666. This number indicates
the bearer belongs to the two-thirds
who were spared from death (666 is
two-thirds of 1,000). The devil will
then exalt himself as King of kings
and Lord of lords, only to be
destroyed by THE true King of kings
and Lord of lords at the Second
Coming.
The Seven Last Plagues
The seventh trumpet
marks the close of the gospel call.
The influence of the Two Witnesses
will be terminated at the end of the
1,260 days. By that time, most, if
not all, of the 144,000 will have
been slain. Jesus’ offer of
salvation will end and the seven last
plagues will begin. The seven bowls
will fall exclusively on people who
have the mark of the beast. The seven
last plagues will last for seventy
days. Seven judgments will be poured
out on the wicked for two reasons.
First, Jesus intends to avenge the
suffering of His innocent saints. He
will punish the wicked for the cruel
treatment and the murder of His
saints during the seven trumpets.
Second, Jesus will display the wrath
of God against obstinate rebellion so
that through eternity, everyone will
know how God’s wrath against
defiance is demonstrated.
The Second Coming
When Jesus appears,
three events happen in quick
succession. First, the Lord will
resurrect the righteous dead. Second,
the living righteous will be caught
up with the resurrected saints to
meet the Lord in the air while the
wicked watch. Last, Jesus will cast
the devil and his regime into a lake
of fire. Then, Jesus will speak a
powerful command and the wicked
people of Earth will die. Ironically,
the same voice that raised the
righteous dead to life will put the
wicked to death.
The 1,000 Years
During the 1,000
years, the saints will be taken to
their home in Heaven to reign with
Christ. (John 14:1-3) Reigning with
Christ means the saints will share
Christ’s authority. They will
have the authority, along with
Jesus, to determine the amount of
restitution (suffering) that each
wicked person must provide. The
wicked will then be annihilated in
the purifying fire that will fall on
Earth at the end of the thousand
years. In other words, justice will
be completely extracted from every
wicked person before he is allowed to
die. This is the golden rule: As you
did unto others, it will be done unto
you. (Leviticus 24:19-22; Deuteronomy
19: 18-21)
A New Heaven and a New
Earth
At the end of the
1,000 years, the saints will descend
to Earth in the Holy City, New
Jerusalem. The wicked will be
resurrected to see their Maker and
face their punishment, which was
determined by the saints during the
thousand years. The seventh seal will
be broken and the contents of the
Book of Life will be presented for
everyone to see. A world of many
languages and religions will see that
Jesus Christ is Almighty God just
like the Father. The lies of the
devil will finally be proven false.
The defiance of the wicked will be
seen for what it really is,
selfishness. Jesus will see to it
that everyone understands why He
judged them as He did. When the
wicked discover there is no hope for
recovery, the devil will arose them
to make war against Jesus and His
holy city. Jesus will then call fire
down from Heaven and eventually the
wicked will be annihilated. Fire will
purify Earth of sin. When the
greatest sinner (Lucifer) finishes
suffering, Jesus will create a new
Heaven and a new Earth and the saints
will live happily ever after.
