Revelation 11:7-14

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Rev 11:7  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.
Rev 11:8  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.
Rev 11:9  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.
Rev 11:10  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.
Rev 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.
Rev 11:12  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.
Rev 11:13  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.
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

Introduction

We have demonstrated that the bottomless pit is the abyss or the sea of our flesh from which we are all drawn. This ‘sea’ or ‘abussos’, as it is in the Greek, is the flesh and its desires which are within all men. If that really is true, how then is it possible that the two witnesses can “rise up out of the sea… finish their testimony” and still be killed by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit”? We covered this subject of the bottomless pit in our study of Rev 9 and will not repeat that study here, except to reread that verse and to remind ourselves that the bottomless pit is in us all by nature, and the smoke from that pit darkens the sun and the air in every generation of mankind.

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

As we consider these verses here in Rev 11, we once again just naturally slip into the frame of mind of the natural man who can only see one event following another, instead of seeing the words of God from a heavenly perspective as spiritual words, which are unchanging and always applicable in every generation of mankind. What “unchanging” means is that the words of God apply to every generation, so that “the beast [ is] ascending out of the bottomless pit” in every generation of mankind. The bottomless pit within us may be destroyed by the brightness of the coming into our hearts of the knowledge of Christ and His Word. But as that bottomless pit is destroyed within the two witnesses in every generation since Christ, it is also simultaneously being strengthened and perpetuated in the next generation of those who are now rejecting that very same witness to the testimony of the words of Jesus Christ as those words continue to proceed out of the mouth of the two witnesses of every generation. As an example of this Christ was asked if Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah. Here is His answer.

Mat 17:10  And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mat 17:11  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Mat 17:12  But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
Mat 17:13  Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

What it all amounts to is the simple fact that we all live the life of the first Adam, with all that is within him, and then in God’s own time and mercy, we will also live the life of the Second Adam, the life of Christ, with all that is in Him. What is so little understood is the fact that this is all accomplished within us and is expressed in prophecy in types and shadows, in signs and symbols and in parables. What is so little understood is that God’s elect are not exempt from one single word of God. “All things are ours…, it is near…, even at the door…, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled” is true in every man of God, in every generation of mankind (1Co 3:21-22; Mat 24:34-35). These New Testament statements are based upon this revelation found throughout the Old Testament.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Ecc 9:3  This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

The apostles of Christ, remained faithful to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to the end of their “course [ Greek, aion – age] of this world”. But before they were faithful, they too, “were by nature children of wrath, who denied him with an oath, and persecuted His disciples.”

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course [ Greek, aion, age] of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised [ us] up together, and made [ us] sit together in heavenly [ places] in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [ his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Mat 26:73  And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

“In time past you [ and I] walked according to the age of this world.” But Christ did not die just for those who were alive in His days on this earth in a body of flesh. He died for all men of all time, and He prayed specifically for all those who would hear the words of those who believed on Him.

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

So Christ’s disciples endure from generation to generation, and in this manner the two witnesses endure from generation to generation.
But this principle is also true for “the children of disobedience” who “are of their father the devil”, which is just another name for the beast that “ascends out of the bottomless pit.” In every generation he too, will ascend out of the bottomless pit and will be killing God’s two witnesses who are tormenting them that are upon the earth.
We must remember that those two witnesses are symbols of all who witness for Christ in every age of mankind. We need to remember that the great city wherein our Lord was crucified, is later in this book called Babylon the Great, where the blood of all of the saints, meaning the blood of Christ, is found.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Rev 18:24  And in her [“Babylon the great, the mother of harlots”] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

“The blood of the prophets and saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth” certainly includes Christ, and all those who are in Him. We are both those murderers, and later we become those who are murdered and are killed by the harlot of chapters 17 and 18. So then “Babylon the great” is the type of God’s harlot church, and the symbols which explain all of this prophecy are all taken from the Old Testament scriptures concerning God’s own people as they turn themselves away from their own Lord.

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Same chapter only 8 verses later we read:

Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Still speaking of “the vision… concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in this same chapter we read this.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

These are words proceeding from the mouth of God which we must live by. Our flesh, in turn, by the grace of God, will be killed, and will die, by the fire of the mouth of the two witnesses. That fire is, of course, the spirit, which is “the words which Christ speaks to us” (Joh 6:63). Here is the result of that fire.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

As we saw last week, the death of the ‘two witnesses’ was ‘read of, heard of, and kept’ by those who first read the sayings of the words of this prophecy in the day John put these words to paper and pen.

Rev 11:7  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.
Rev 11:8  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.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

This entire 11th chapter is just a part of “those things which are written therein” which must be read, heard and kept by all who are given the grace to keep the words of this prophecy. This entire prophecy does nothing less than expand upon the words of the prophecy of Mat 24, which makes the same point.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, ( whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Only if God grants us “eyes that see, and ears which can hear” that we are that beast within “the holy place”, and we are that “man of sin” who sets himself up as God within that “temple of God”, will we ever know what is meant by the words “whoso reads let him understand… for the time is at hand.”

 Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [ the day of Christ’s coming to His temple within us], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

None of the apostles changed their doctrine from church to church. What Paul taught these Thessalonians “when he was yet with them” was that “you are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you”, which is what he had taught the Corinthians (1Co 3:16-17).

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [ our crucifixion and resurrection with Christ] that he [ the man of sin] might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [ Greek, withholds] will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

“They that believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” is our ‘old man. 2Th 2:6 is fulfilled in Rev 11, when the two witnesses are killed by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit when their testimony is finished.” You and I have been that beast which killed those witnesses, and you and I in turn become those two witnesses who will be killed by that beast.
This is speaking of “all [ who are] in Adam”. It is also you and I who have “in times past” been sent “strong delusion and believed the lies” of Babylon, and killed God’s witnesses and left their dead bodies unburied in the streets of our great city where our Lord was crucified.”

Rev 11:9  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.
Rev 11:10  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.

As we saw last week, we are “the earth”, and we are “those who dwell on the earth” and who rejoice and send gifts to one another to celebrate our liberty from having to hear the words of these men of God. But the rejoicing of our flesh over the man of the spirit is soon turned to sorrow when we witness our resurrection with Christ “in the days of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound.”

Rev 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.
Rev 11:12  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.
Rev 11:13  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.

Here is why we rejoice at the death of God’s elect. Here is how we are sent the “strong delusion” which causes us all to rejoice at the death of the true witnesses of Christ. This is how God sends His wrath upon us while we are “abiding in His wrath”.
This is the reason why we never realize that we are deceived until we “look behind” ourselves to see this great revelation.

Psa 78:49  He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

So when we read [ with understanding] about all the plagues of God’s wrath which are cast upon the earth in the seals, trumpets and vials, we now know how that is being done. ” He casts upon us the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble by sending evil angels among them... [ who] transform themselves into angels of light”.

2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

The symbols of these verses

So here are the symbols of verses 7-14.
1) The two witnesses finishing their testimony,
2) the beast ascending out of the bottomless pit making war against and
3) killing Christ’s two witnesses,
4) their dead bodies lying unburied,
5) in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,
6) where also our Lord was crucified, 
7) the people, kindreds, tongues and nations,
8) see their dead bodies,
9) three days and an half, and do not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10) Rather they rejoice over the death of Christ’s two witnesses, and send gifts one to another, celebrating the fact that these witnesses of Christ, who had been tormenting them, were at this time, having no effect in the streets of the great city where also our Lord was crucified.
11) But after three and one half days, God’s witnesses are raised from their state of death,
12) causing great fear to fall on those who see them.
13) At this point the two witnesses hear a voice from heaven telling them to “Come up here”, and so they
14) “ascend up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies see that they have done so.
15) It is at this point that there is a great earthquake, and the entire event begins to be repeated again, as
16) a tenth part of the city falls and
17) seven thousand men are killed in that earth quake, and the rest are frightened, and give glory to the God of heaven.

Having established that these are words which are for those who are given to “understand what we read” (Mat 24:15), and having established that those who read and hear are to keep these words (Rev 1:3), we will now simply list each symbol and the scriptures which define how that symbol is to be understood and kept.
1) The two witnesses finishing their testimony, like all of these symbols and indeed all of God’s Word, is something which is always “near, even at the doors, and does not pass away”.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

So it is we who first, by believing the doctrines of “many fall prophets”…

2) … ascend out of the bottomless pit, within us, to make spiritual warfare with the truths which proceed from the mouths of God’s witnesses.<

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [ places].

By simply withstanding their testimony we are guilty of…

3) … killing God’s two witnesses. We need not kill any one literally, and the two witnesses are not literally two in number, neither do they need to be literally killed in order to “keep the things which are written therein”. Here is all that must take place literally for these verses to be spiritually lived and kept by us all.

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

4) Their dead bodies lie unburied, because at this time in our lives, the word of God, which commands us to love our enemies and bury our dead, and to bless and curse not, means nothing at all to us in our rebellious condition. God’s commandments are all ignored in favor of gloating over our dominance, while we are in great Babylon, over the witness of God’s Word. The phrases “their dead bodies shall lie in the street of that great city” and “shall not suffer their bodies to be put in graves”, are both a type and a shadow of rebellion against the commandments of God which requires these things of us. Burying our dead is spiritually the sign and symbol of forgiving our enemies. We use the English phrase to this very day “Let’s bury the hatchet”, and we simply cannot, at first, do so.

Deu 21:22  And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
Deu 21:23  His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God😉 that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

5) “In the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt” is the city of God within us which has spiritually rebelled against His rulership and His commandments. Both ‘Sodom and Egypt’ typify each of us as we are smarting under the rulership of our first love.
Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew and the son of Abraham’s own brother, typifies our own flesh before we become Abraham. Lot typifies us as we “pitch our tent toward Sodom” and eventually end up sitting in the gate of Sodom, judging Sodom, being grieved with the sins of Sodom, and attempting to save and improve a doomed city, which in the end we, having become Abraham, are forced to “come out of” and stand afar off and watch the smoke of Sodom arise from the fields of the plains. That is the spiritual significance of calling the city where our Lord was crucified, Sodom.

Gen 13:12  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
Gen 19:28  And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
Isa 1:8  And the daughter of Zion
is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

As Israel, God’s first born Son, we cry out to be delivered from Egypt, but just as Lot had come out of the land of the Chaldeans just to “pitch his tent towards Sodom,” so too, as God’s Israel, we must come out of Egypt, just to end up rebelling against God “ten times” and wanting to return to Egypt.

Num 14:3  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

We are the ones described by these phrases: “Let us return to Egypt… and have not listened to my voice… and burned incense to graven images”. That is the spiritual significance of God revealing to us that we are first “spiritually called Sodom and Egypt”. Here is what Isaiah said of Jerusalem in his day.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

6) “Where also our Lord was crucified” is also speaking of us and our rejection of and our part in the crucifixion of our Lord. Our Lord is crucified by the “murderers of the faithful city which has become a harlot”, as explained by Isa 1:21. Both ‘Sodom’, and ‘Babylon’ are types of “the city where our Lord was crucified”. They are all types of us. We first hate God’s witnesses, and in so doing become a harlot city which is full of murders. While God’s rebellious people are called a rebellious wife, they are also called Gomorrah and “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth.” It is in this city that all of God’s prophets are murdered. In other words, this all takes place within you and within me.

Rev 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead [ was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

You and I are “the earth”, and it is within each of us that our Lord is crucified. It is each of us who are “chief of sinners”.

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Gal 1:13  For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
1Ti 1:15  This [ is] a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

If we place the death of Christ upon the shoulders of others, then He did not die for our sins. If we see ourselves as His persecutors and the persecutors of His church, and if we see ourselves as “chief of sinners”, then we will have no trouble seeing Christ as dying for our sins, and then we will know that we are that great city where also our Lord was crucified.” If ever we are given to see that spiritual Truth, then we will have no trouble understanding that all.
7) “The people, kindreds, tongues and nations” within the streets of that great city where our Lord was crucified are all of the affiliated false doctrines which are also within each of us, supporting each other and rejoicing that each and every one of all these “people, kindreds, tongues and nations” are now free from the constant scrutiny and torment of those who remain faithful to the words of our Lord.
“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”.
We rejoice because we can now…
8) … see their dead bodies, and because we know that no one within us will now be tormented by having to hear their words. We gloat over their dead and ineffective bodies, and we do so the whole three and one half years they are in the streets of our great city. That time is said to be…
9) …”Three days and an half”, during which we do not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. These “three days and a half” are not the last three and one half days of one thousand two hundred and sixty days, or forty and two months or three and one half years, rather, just as Pharaoh’s two dreams of the cows and the corn “are one”, so too, three and one half days, and one thousand two hundred and sixty days, forty and two months and time, times and half a time, are all one period of time which symbolizes both the time we are the rebellious recipients of this witness, as well as the time we bear witness concerning the words of this prophecy. It is also during that period of time that we all…
10)  … Rejoice over the death of Christ’s two witnesses, and send gifts one to another, celebrating the fact that these witnesses of Christ, who had been tormenting us, were at that time, having no effect in the streets of our great city where also we have crucified our Lord. An outward demonstration of what we all are guilty of within, at our own appointed time, is watching two multi- millionaire television ministers literally donate 10,000 dollars to each other’s ministries, while condemning and belittling what they refer to as “heresy hunters who are more concerned with doctrine then they are with love.” We are all guilty of justifying our own sins and rejoicing over the witness of God’s word.
11) But after three and one half days, just as it seemed that the flesh had won the battle, an event which was parenthetically prophesied back in chapter ten begins to take place. “In the days of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God” begins to come to its end and to begin to fulfill its purpose. This is referred to as God’s witnesses being raised from their state of spiritual death.  Let’s put these two verses side by side and observe how they are to be understood as one and the same event.

Rev 10:7  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.
Rev 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.
Rev 11:12  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.
Rev 11:13  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.
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Rev 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.

The destruction of all of “the people, kindreds, tongues and nations” within “the streets of that great city where also our Lord was crucified”  causes…
12) …”Great fear to fall on those who see them.” “Those who saw them” and “their enemies” are all the self- supporting lies and false doctrines which support Babylon the great and empower her to kill the witness of God’s Word within us. The loss of their dominance over our lives and minds brings them great fear within us.

Psa 47:3  He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
Psa 106:34  They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds😉
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.

Principalities and powers… the rulers of the darkness of this age”, are “the people, kindreds, tongues and nations” within “the streets of that great city where also our Lord was crucified”.
13) At this point the two witnesses hear a voice from heaven telling them to “Come up here.” Here is how that happens to those who are given to witness to the truth of these words.

Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Eph 2:6 and raised us up together, and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,
Eph 2:7 that in the coming ages He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

It was “when we were dead in transgressions”, while we were still in the process of persecuting the disciples of the Lord, that we were struck down on our own ‘road to Damascus’. Only then does “the seventh angel begin to sound and the mystery of God begins to be finished” within us, so that we, as God’s two witnesses, are both buried with Christ, and raised in newness of life to witness to the very people who we were only yesterday.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Why does our natural man want to place all of this prophecy at the end of the age of Adam’s domination over the kingdoms of this world? It is because “they are spiritually discerned, and he cannot see the things of the spirit for they are foolishness to him” (1Co 2:13-14).
Nevertheless, for the man who is able to discern the things of the spirit”, Rom 6:3-4 is the fulfillment in down payment form of Rev 11:12. It is in Christ that we are “made to sit together with Him in the heavens.” It is at this point that all who know us, within and without, become aware that we are not who we once were, and they become witnesses to the fact that we…
14) …”Ascend up to heaven in a cloud, and as our enemies see that they have done so. That “cloud” in which we ascend is the same as the words of witness which are also called ‘fire’, which proceeds out of the mouth of God’s witnesses. It is God’s own words, which we are now beginning to be able to spiritually discern. It is the same cloud that has always witnessed to the truth of the words of God.

Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38  ( Of whom the world was not worthy🙂 they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It is at this point, having been “made to sit with Christ in the heavens” (Eph 2:6), that there is…
15) …”A great earthquake”, and this entire event begins to be repeated again as the persecution of the risen Christ within us requires a new “Saul of Tarsus” to persecute the new “Paul the apostle” who is now a witness of “the exceeding riches of His grace”, the grace of Christ “in the ages to come.”

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly [ places] in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Here is Eph 2:7 in the Analytical Literal Version of the New Testament.

Eph 2:7 so that He should show in the ages, the ones coming, the surpassing riches [ fig., abundance] of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus! (ALT)

Here is how this verse is translated in the Concordant Literal Version.

Eph 2:7 that, in the oncoming eons, He should be displaying the transcendent riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.(CLV)

Remember Christ has declared that we, just like He is, “are the light of the world”. He also declared that “as He is so are we in this world,” and remember also that it was only five verses earlier, in this same second chapter of Ephesians, that we were told that every sinful life of mankind is an age, or an “eon of this world”.

Eph 2:1  Also you– being dead in the trespasses and the sins,
Eph 2:2  in which once ye did walk according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, (YLT)

So it is that as our old man is destroyed by this great earthquake, our new man increases and is renewed day by day, and it is the renewal of our new man which continues to destroy our old man and cause him to decrease.

Joh 3:30  He [ Christ in me] must increase, but I must decrease.

That is described as…

16) … a tenth part of the city falls and seven thousand men are killed in that earthquake, and the rest are frightened, and give glory to the God of heaven. The number ten in all of its forms, is the maturing and perfecting of this flesh, and seven is the completion of the destruction of this mature old man. At this point we are indeed “giving glory to the God of heaven… for His wonderful works to the children of men.”

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Now we have been prepared to become the recipients of all the fury of the old man which this great earthquake begins to kill and to crucify on a daily basis.

Summary

Let’s reread the verses we have covered today.

Rev 11:7  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.
Rev 11:8  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.
Rev 11:9  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.
Rev 11:10  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.
Rev 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.
Rev 11:12  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.
Rev 11:13  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.
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; [ and], behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

Now let’s briefly summarize the meaning of the symbols of these verses. They are…

1) The two witnesses finishing their testimony, we saw is the end product of the revelation of Jesus Christ, who is “the end of our salvation.”
2) The beast ascending out of the bottomless pit making war against God’s two witnesses is the beginning of this revelation, where we are that beast and all we are interested in that this point in our walk is the…
3) … Killing [ of] Christ’s two witnesses, by rejecting their fiery words, and persecuting and belittling their testimony before this world.
4) “Their dead bodies lying unburied” as we rejoice over our rejection of their testimony and their witness to the words of God.
5) “In the streets of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt”, is in the ways of this world within us which has rejected the ways and streets of the true Jerusalem, which will become our mother when we repent of our sinful streets of Babylon the great where we have rejected and killed our Lord and His disciples and witnesses.
6) “Where also our Lord was crucified” is again within us. It is we who have so disesteemed our Lord and have crucified Him. That is “where also our Lord was crucified”.
7) The people, kindreds, tongues and nations are all within the city where our Lord was crucified, As such they are the symbols of all the supporting lies and doctrines with which we have withstood the fiery testimony of our Lord’s two witnesses.
8) We see their dead bodies, because we are in rebellion to our Lord’s commandments to love and forgive our enemies, and we certainly consider these two men to be our enemies, so we are gloating over their dead bodies and their inability to save us from ourselves.
9) “Three days and an half, and do not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.” Again, whether it is days or years or months, the time we spend rejecting the testimony of the two witnesses and the time we spend as the two witnesses is the same. Whether it is expressed as three and one half days or one thousand two hundred and sixty days, both are in the same chapter, speaking of the same experience, and as Joseph told the Pharaoh, concerning Pharaoh’s two separate dreams concerning the cows and the corn, “the dream is one”. In this case ‘the time is one’, and that one time is the time in which we are considered to be dead by those who are in that city where our Lord was crucified. That time is the whole of the time of our testimony.
10) “They… shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another” all because of the death of Christ’s two witnesses. This is us as we celebrate the fact that these witnesses of Christ, who have been tormenting us with the words of God, are now having no effect in the streets of our great city where also we are crucifying our Lord.
11) But after three and one half days, God’s witnesses are raised from their state of death. Just as we have given ourselves over to the desires of our flesh and have denied our Lord with an oath, and have done so three times, we are granted repentance, and we go out and weep bitterly. Just as the flesh seems to have won it all and the voice within us has been silenced, we are raised up from among the walking dead…
12) … Causing great fear to fall on those who see us. Yes, we have been “crucified with Christ, nevertheless we are now alive, and living by the faith of Christ. Our new life causes all who know us to fear, just as all the “people and kindreds and tongues and nations” within us, fear the day of their demise and the waning of their influence in our hearts and minds.
13) At this point the two witnesses hear a voice from heaven telling them to “Come up here”, and so they…
14) …”ascend up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies see that they have done so.
15) It is at this point that there is a great earthquake, and the kingdoms of this world are shaken, as we are delivered from the dominion of sin in our lives, and as this entire event begins to be repeated again “in the oncoming ages” (Eph 2:6).
16) “A tenth part of the city falls” is the death of all that appeals to our flesh in that city within us where our Lord was crucified.
17) Seven thousand men are killed in that earthquake, and the rest are frightened, and give glory to the God of heaven. Seven is the completion of the process of the destruction of the great city within where our Lord and all saints are killed and crucified. The remnant give glory to the God of heaven because the fall of this city is the birth of “Christ in you… and having this treasure in earthen vessels.”
Next week, if the Lord wills, we will be informed of the days when the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound, and we will see that this seventh angel is simply the filling up of the wrath of God that has been being displayed by all the evil angels which have already been sent to us through the seals and trumpets that have been this book to this point.

Rev 10:7  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.
Rev 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.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Rev 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

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