Rev 11:15-19, Part 2 – The Seventh Trumpet

Now Is Come Salvation

[Study Aired Nov 15, 2024]

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.

In our last study we took note of the fact that the seventh trumpet is the only event among all the seven seals, all the seven trumpets, and all seven vials, which does not immediately describe the actions which this trumpet produces. Notice how this seventh trumpet, unlike any of the other six trumpets, is first alluded to in chapter 10:

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 10:8  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.
Rev 10:9  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.
Rev 10:10  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.
Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

We are told that this trumpet eventually fulfills the mystery of God, but the same verse 7 of chapter 10 also reveals that this seventh trumpet is a process which requires a certain number of days to be fulfilled.

In chapter 11 we are actually given the fruit which is produced by this seventh trumpet… “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ”, but before the kingdoms of this world can become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, it is revealed that a “manchild”, who was “to rule the nations with a rod of iron” must first be born of a harlot woman, which ‘woman’ was to spend “a thousand two hundred and sixty days in the wilderness, while her “manchild” was caught up unto God and His throne”.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

But before that manchild can become mature he must first come to see himself as the beast of Revelation 13, which arises up out of the sea of all flesh. He then matures into “a second beast with two horns like a lamb, but which speaks as a dragon:

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

“The earth and them that dwell therein” includes you and me and all the rest of mankind:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Three sixes is not the number of “a man”. There is no article in the Greek. The Greek simply reads…”it is the number of anthropos…” and ‘anthropos’ is the Greek word for ‘mankind’. Mankind’s creation began on the sixth day along with all the rest of the beasts of this earth. Consequently ‘mankind’ has been branded with the number six, signifying his incomplete state ever since the beginning of his creation:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Being ‘incomplete’, which is the spiritual significance of the number ‘6’, mankind is universally afflicted with the false doctrine of “free will”. Mankind is therefore incapable of understanding that he must be brought to “cease from his own works as God did from His”, before he can “enter into the Lord’s rest” and thereby become complete, which is the spiritual significance of the number seven:

Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

The thirteenth chapter of Revelation reveals that the Lord’s Christ must come to see himself as an incomplete and hopeless beast before he can enter into the Lord’s rest and be complete in the Lord, who is in the process of making man in His image. But there is chapters 14 and 15 still to be revealed to the Lord’s elect before he can enter into His rest.

Revelation 14 begins with a snapshot of the completed product, 144,000, of “the firstfruits unto God and the  Lamb:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault [they are the complete and finished product] before the throne of God.

However, mankind cannot be completed by the work of this all important seventh trumpet, until he has been judged, because God’s judgments, whether in this age or in the great white throne judgment, always teach men to become righteous:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

To that end, Revelation 14 tells us of the work of the three angels ‘flying in the midst of our heavens’. ‘Three’ signifies the process of being judged.

These three spirits are working our judgment in our heavens. The first angel brings the gospel to us. That good news includes the fact that “the hour of His judgment is come” upon us. The second angel destroys the very foundations of Babylon in our lives, and the third angel’s work is to pour out the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God upon us, and to torment the Lord’s very elect with the fire and brimstone which is His Word and His doctrines. That torment and judgment takes place “in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of The Lamb”. The work of this third angel causes the smoke of our torment to ascend up for the eons of the eons giving us no rest day nor night while there is any tendency at all to worship the beast and his image within us:

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, [Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:]
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

The work of the third and final angel concludes with these words, which let us know exactly to whom these words are addressed:

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

The point that is being made is the imminence of the work of this seventh trumpet. “NOW is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ”.

This inheritance is all ours even now but only in down payment form.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [the downpayment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

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.

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.

For all who are “found worthy” to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection, this kingdom and this reign is now. “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Rev 12:10)

The judgment of Revelation 14 is the judgment of “the very elect” and it is the product of the pouring out of the seven last plagues of the Lord’s wrath upon the kingdom of the beast within the Lord’s elect which is described in great detail in Revelation 15-16. That ‘wrath of God’ is His judgment which transforms the beast within the Lord’s elect into the four beasts and the four and twenty elders of Revelation four and five.

Where are the four and twenty elders?

Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

When we know what the four beasts and the four and twenty elders symbolize, we need not to even ask that question, because the four beasts and the four and twenty elders symbolize one and the same thing. Asking ‘where are the four beasts’ is like asking ‘what happened to the seven cows’ of Pharaoh’s dream, while discussing the the seven ears of corn. The cows and the corn are both symbols of the one point that is being made. There will be seven years of plenty, to be followed by seven years of famine.

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

So too, the beasts and the elders are one. The seven angels and the seven priests are one, and in this entire prophecy God is showing us what the Lord is about to do.

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

And what is God about to do? It is the very next verse, and it is to be “read… heard… and kept, for the time is at hand”.

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Christ has “given us a kingdom” just as His Father has given Him a kingdom, and like Him we are to “reign on the earth… for the time is at hand.” “Every creature in heaven and on earth” will worship God, and the four beasts do so continually.

Rev 4:8  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Those who have been given “eyes within” know that the four beasts are always worshiping God

Rev 19:4  And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

But when is this worship emphasized and made especially evident? It is especially evident at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when the kingdoms of this world “within” is seen by those who are “full of eyes within” to fall and “become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ”.

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.

What a wonderful day that is when the conquering king takes control of His own rightful kingdom which has been in the hands of wicked husbandmen for so long. Everyone will, in their own time, bow their knee and confess that our Lord is Lord over the man of sin “to the glory of God”.

Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Every part of our being rejoices at the time of this great event.

Rev 5:13  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

God’s wrath is, was, and will come before the dead are judged

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.

How few it is that realize that they are born and live their lives under the wrath of God until the day they believe on Christ. If “the time of the dead that they should be judged” means the resurrection that immediately precedes the millennium, and you do not experience the death and resurrection which is the revelation of Jesus Christ here and now, then you will not be in that resurrection that immediately precedes the millennium, and you will not be one of the priests and kings who will rule with Christ over the kingdoms of this world.

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.

This truth is demonstrated with two verses of scripture. It is a rare person who even sees the apparent contradiction between these two verses of God’s Word.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

It is “in judgment” that God pours out His wrath upon all of our ungodliness and unrighteousness. Let’s read it again: “keep the things that are written therein, for the time is at hand… and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged…” (Rev 11:18).

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Death must precede judgment. Only those who are “full of eyes within” can even begin to see that those who “are appointed once to die and then be judged” are us. It is we who are the first to die to our old man through the judgment of our old man, and that dying and that judgment has begun at the house of God and we must “die daily” and be crucified with Christ daily:

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

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.

It is we who are “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and it is we who are “buried with Him in baptism” (Rom 6:3-4), even as we live and are being judged in these dying “earthen vessels”.

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.

The ‘world’ that is within us and the ‘world’ that is without us are both bent on the destruction of “the seed of the woman”,  (Rev 12:5). There are many other titles given to the “seed of the woman” who is also called “a manchild who is to rule the world with a rod of iron”, but they are all titles of “the very elect” of God.

Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

While God is in the process of destroying our old Adam by replacing him with a “New Adam” who is called “the last Adam”, it is not our prerogative to “destroy the earth”. That is a task that has been delegated to those who are called ‘the seed of the serpent’ and are said by our Lord to be “of their Father the devil”.

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Who is it that our Lord says will bruise His heel? Who is it that seeks to destroy the manchild as soon as he is born? It is each of us when we are “those Jews which believe on Christ, but are still “of our Father the devil”.

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

This is us when we were “of our father the devil”, even as we thought we “believed on Christ”. This is us when our “man of sin” is standing in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God. This is us as the wrath of God is being poured out upon our ungodliness and unrighteousness and we are made to admit that “I am the man” (2Sa 12:7). This is us when we come to see that “Them that destroy the earth” are those who are seeking the life of our Lord Himself.

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.

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

What is found within the ark of His covenant?

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.

These are the closing words of the introduction of the seventh trumpet. “The temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of His testament.”

What was in the ark in the temple of God? Here is the first and the last account of the contents of what “was seen in His temple [in] the ark of His testament”.

Deu 10:5  And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

1Ki 8:9  There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

Within the ark of the covenant was the law of God. That was the basis upon which the covenant was contracted. Israel contracted with God to keep His laws, and our Lord agreed to be their God. That is the same way we are married to our Lord today. That is how we become His bride. We agree to “do the things He says… and fulfill the law of Christ”. If we don’t do the things He says, then we are not His wife, and He is not our Lord.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

That is what is meant by “there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament”. If we have our Lord living within us, then we will be doing the things He says and we will be doing “the will of our Father which is in heaven”. It is “the things which He says” which are the “lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake”. It is “the things which He says” which are the “great hail” which will “sweep away the refuge of lies”.

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Summary

We have seen that “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ” is primarily to be understood as first happening within, as the image we are is destroyed by Christ as we decrease daily and He increases daily within us.

We have seen that “our Lord and His Christ” is speaking of us as those who are anointed of and are sent out by Christ, just as He was anointed of and sent out by His Father to save this world.

We have demonstrated that the four beasts and the four and twenty elders are one and the same symbol of God’s elect, just as the cows and corn both meant the same thing in Pharaoh’s dreams. Thus, when we are told that the four and twenty elders fall down and worship God when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, we are being told that the four beasts also fall down and worship our Lord and our God.

We have seen that it is God’s Word which is the fire of His wrath which is, was and will be poured out upon all of our ungodliness and unrighteousness, and we saw that this is all being announced and being done even as we are beginning to take the land away from the giants who have for so long dominated our land. This is the significance of the imminent judgment in every generation which is this seventh trumpet, which has already begun to take the kingdom of this world and “by little and by little” transform it into the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ.

Finally, we saw that this is all accomplished by the Words of our Lord being within us and destroying by its great ‘heat’ all that can be burned out of us, as we learn to “do the things that our Lord says”.

Next week, Lord willing, we will begin to see what we are given to understand in the first of the four chapters which separate this introduction of this seventh trumpet from the chapter which reveals to us the exact nature of the judgments of the seven last plagues of this seventh trumpet. It will be the beginning of chapter twelve, concerning the woman, the manchild she is prophesied to bring forth, and the dragon who is right there seeking to destroy that manchild.

Rev 11: 15-19, Part 1 – The Seventh Trumpet

[Study Aired Nov 10, 2024]

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.

Introduction

There is an emphasis on this seventh trumpet which we have not seen on any of the other seals or trumpets and which will not be seen in any of the coming seven plagues. Except for this seventh trumpet, all the seals, trumpets, and vials are all introduced and then immediately described. Here are a couple examples each of both the seals and the trumpets:

Here are the first two seals:

Rev 6:1  And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
Rev 6:2  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Rev 6:3  And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:4  And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

Here are the first two trumpets:

Rev 8:6  And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

That is the way all the seals and the trumpets are introduced, all except this seventh trumpet. Like Joshua’s seventh trumpet, this ‘seventh trumpet’ is much more productive than all the previous six trumpets. Here is that contrast in the story of Joshua’s seven trumpets as Israel terrifies Jericho for seven days:

Jos 6:13  And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
Jos 6:14  And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
Jos 6:15  And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
Jos 6:16  And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.

This is the only part of this revelation of Jesus Christ which is first alluded to with great anticipation in chapter ten:

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.

Then it is introduced and announced a second time here in chapter 11, but this introduction and announcement is separated from the complete revelation of the details of this seventh trumpet by chapters 12-15. We will not see what this seventh trumpet actually is until we get to chapter 16 where the seven vials which fill up the wrath of God begin to be poured out upon the Lord’s elect. So, this grand introduction is separated from the chapter which describes its actual fulfillment by five whole chapters – chapters 11-15. Why is this seventh trumpet given such a magnificent and portentous introduction? It is because of what this trumpet portends. Look at what we are told occurs at the sounding of this trumpet:

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ;

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.

As always, this is to be viewed primarily with spiritual “eyes within”. The primary meaning of this verse to those who would “read, hear and keep the things written in the words of this prophecy” has to do with the destruction of the kingdom of the beast and the kingdom of the “man of sin” who sits on the throne of God within the hearts and minds of God’s elect. While it may sound like this is an instantaneous event, the campaign of the land by Joshua and Israel, along with the fact that there are five whole chapters between “the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound” (Rev 10:7), and the description of the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God in chapter 16 demonstrates clearly that this trumpet and the things that it portends are a process of which the “begins to sound” of this seventh trumpet is merely the beginning. “The seventh angel sounded” is in the aorist tense. “There were great voices in heaven” is in the aorist tense, and “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ” is also in the aorist tense. What that tells us is that this seventh trumpet, which is the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God against our rebellious, self-righteous old man is the process of the decrease and daily death of our old “man of sin” and the birth and increase and life of our “second man Adam… Christ within us, the hope of glory”.

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, 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.

While the natural man sees the story of the fall of Jericho as a lesson in the history of Joshua’s and Israel’s conquest of the land, the mind of the spirit sees that story as the commencement of the campaign of entering into “the kingdom of God within you” through much tribulation, chastening and scourging, which will on a daily basis eventually effectuate the destruction of our old man by decreasing the giants in the land, which ‘land’ signifies our hearts and minds within our ‘vessels of clay’ earthly bodies.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The whole of Babylon recognizes that Israel’s journey out of Egypt is a type and a shadow signifying the Lord’s people coming out of this world of sin. The churches of Babylon understand the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River, signify our baptism into the death of Christ and our own dying to sin. But that is as far as they can go. They have not been given to see that the giants in the land are a type of persistent sin in our lives, with which we were not prepared to do battle when we first came out of Egypt. This is to be a long and drawn out battle, to be fought in the land of promise.

Exo 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Deu 7:22  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

“Until you be increased” means until “Christ in you…” is increased to begin to rule over all of the enemies of the Lord’s people. Here is this same spiritual statement in the New Testament:

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

So the sounding of these seven trumpets is our introduction to the beginning of the campaign of the land in which Christ must increase as the giants within us are decreased and destroyed “by little and by little”. These trumpets are not at the end of this campaign, they are at the beginning, right after we have come out of the wilderness of Babylon and have begun to subdue the land of promise. Notice the “seven trumpets” in each account:

Jos 6:2  And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Jos 6:3  And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Jos 6:4  And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.

Who do these “seven priests” symbolize? They symbolize the seven priests who are also called “seven angels” here in the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Where are these seven angels called priests? Here are the verses which make that clear:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him [“One of the seven angels”]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Where are these seven angels called priests? They are called priests with seven trumpets in Joshua 6:4. These seven angels tell us they signify our fellowservants, they tell us they signify our brothers and them which keep the sayings of this book, but where are they called priests? Here is where they are called priests. Here is who the seven priests with seven trumpets in Jos 6 foreshadow and symbolize.

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Only those who are given “a new name” are aware of that name, and only those who are these seven angels are aware that they are God’s seven priests with seven trumpets. It is we who are fellowservants who are keeping the things written in the book of this prophecy:

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

The word ‘kingdoms’ in Revelation 11:15 is the Greek word ‘basileia’. It is Strong’s number G932, and we are told in Strong’s that it comes from G935. It appears in the New Testament 164 times, and the King James Concordance has it translated in the singular 158 of those 164. I have 28 English translations on my e- sword, and of those 28 only five use the plural here in this verse. All the other 23 have this in the singular.

In Rev 18 we have both G932 and G935 in the same verse, so we will look at that verse to get a sense of how this word ‘basileia’ is to be understood.

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth [932] over the kings [935] of the earth.

Here G932 is translated ‘reigns.’ So it appears that the thought of this verse in Rev 11:15 is that the reigning or rulership this world has become the reigning and rulership of our Lord and His Christ. Adhering to Rev 1:3 telling us to “keep the things written therein”, this verse is nothing less than another way of saying what these verses tell us:

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us

Col 1:26  [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Our Lord and His Christ

“Our Lord and His Christ” are right now sitting together on the throne of God because Christ has taken His proper position on His throne in the heavens in our hearts and minds. Of course it is all the work of God, but it is He who has declared that we are seated with Him on His throne, ruling the kingdoms of this world.

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:

Here is Eph 2:6 in the International Standard Version:

Eph 2:6 raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly realm in Christ Jesus, (ISV)

Where is Christ seated?

Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

What a great and precious promise we are now granted, in Christ. We are, even now, in earnest, overcomers in Christ who can sit with Christ on His Father’s throne in the heavenly realm, and “the kingdoms of this world are even now, in earnest, become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”, because He is now living His life within us, “His Christ”, and He has subdued, and is now reigning over, the kingdom of this world within us.

This phrase “His Christ” refers to those who Christ has anointed and sent forth just as His Father anointed and sent Him forth. Christ’s Father sent Him to be the savior of this world, and Christ has sent us forth to do the same job.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Here are Christ’s own words concerning our calling.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Christ was with His Father even while He was on this earth, just as we are seated with Him in His Father’s throne while we are on this earth.

Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

It is while we are in these clay vessels that we possess this treasure in earnest. It is while we are in these vessels of clay that we are seated with Christ in His Father’s throne in earnest, and it is in these earthen vessels that we are given to rule this kingdom in earnest, “that the power may be of God, and not of us.”

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Luk 22:29 And I appoint [present tense] unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed [aorist] unto me;

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [present tense, active voice], that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

This is all accomplished through Christ being in us and living His life of being rejected and persecuted within our flesh. This is the secret which has been, and is still, hidden from all the generations of mankind, except for those “His saints” in whom Christ dwells.

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

What does “Christ in you” mean? This is what that means. It is two verses earlier.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Like our own Savior, we too, are called to “fall into the ground and die, to die daily, to be buried with Him in baptism, and to be raised up together with Him to be sent forth as His Father has sent Him to becomes “saviors upon Mount Zion…”

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

“The kingdom shall be the Lord’s”, but Christ is now “both Lord and Christ”.

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

That is a very important verse of scripture, because Christ is now “both Lord and Christ” signifies that through Christ that we too, are ‘Christed’ and are His anointed, “His Christ”. The Lord has told us that He has sent us just as His Father sent Him. Since His Father gave Him a kingdom and since His Father sent Christ to be the Savior of this world, Christ in turn has given us a kingdom and has sent us to be “Saviors upon Mount Zion”. That is why we read that “the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ”, and that is why we see the phrase “His Christ” three times in the New Testament.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

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 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

The point that is being made is the preeminence of this seventh trumpet. If we do not live out these plagues of this trumpet in this age we will not be in the first resurrection:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

“NOW is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ”. This inheritance is all ours even now in down payment form:

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

In our next study we will concentrate on the urgency of living out this seventh trumpet:

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.

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Rev 11:7-14, Part 2 – The Resurrection Of The Two Witnesses

[Study Aired Nov 8, 2024]

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.

Today, Lord willing, we will come to see how we are first the harlot city, “the city wherein our Lord was crucified”, before we “come out of her”, and in time we become the Lord’s two witnesses who are lying dead in the streets of that great city…

6) “Where also our Lord was crucified” is also speaking of us and our rejection of the Lord and our part in His crucifixion. Our Lord is crucified by the “murderers who are in the faithful city which has become a harlot”, as explained by:

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.

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

Both ‘Sodom’ and ‘Babylon’ signify “the city where our Lord was crucified”. They are both types of us while we are in the churches of Babylon. We first hate God’s witnesses, and in so doing we become the harlot city which is full of murderers. 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.

This is but a repeat of what Christ said of Jerusalem:

Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

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 we cannot claim that He died for our sins. That self-righteous spirit of iniquity (Eze 33:13) is exemplified by “those Jews which believed on [Christ]” but wanted to kill Him.  Signifying all of us, they could not see themselves as slaves of sin, and just like every Christian who feels justified in physically fighting their fellow man to preserve God, family and country, they were not even aware that they wanted to kill Christ:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

If we first see ourselves as His persecutors and the persecutors of His church, and if we see ourselves as having our part in His crucifixion and then  also 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” before we can “come out of her” and become Christ’s two witnesses. 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”. While we are still in Babylon 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 symbolic three and one half years they are “lying dead in the streets of our great city”. That time is signified as…

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 all of its multiples, signify the same thing as ‘one thousand two hundred and sixty days’, ‘forty and two months’, and ‘time, times and half a time’. They all signify one half of what is complete. The new man is not complete until he has both gone into and then come out of Babylon. All these symbols signify the same period of time. The first half of our experience signifies the time when we are the self-righteous, rebellious recipients of the Lord’s witness against the kingdom of our old man. The last half of our experience signifies the time we begin to bear witness concerning the words of this prophecy. It is during that first 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 by turning His grace and the knowledge of His sovereignty into lasciviousness.

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, and the spreading of the gospel’. We are all guilty of justifying our own sins and rejoicing over our ability to stifle the witness of God’s word with our self-righteous false doctrines.

11) But if the Lord has predestined us to be His firstfruit elect, 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 be completed, and the Lord’s own will begins to fulfill His own purpose in our lives as the apostle Paul tells us:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

This is referred to as being “raised with Him to newness of life” within the lives of God’s witnesses who are dying daily to their old man while simultaneously 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.

“The voice of the seventh angel” is the seventh trumpet which signifies the beginning of the pouring out of the seven last plagues of the wrath of God upon the kingdom of our old man and upon all of our self-righteous false doctrines of the great harlot, Babylon, in our lives. “In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should… [signifying that the mystery of God begins to] be finished”. In other words, the second half of our completion begins, and Christ begins to live His life within us as our old man begins to die because, “the mystery of God is Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half [the first half of our complete experience] 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.

While “the [outward] kingdoms of this world” will indeed become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ (vs 15), we will not have a part in that momentous event unless an inward “seven [Not three and one half, but ‘seven’] thousand men begin to die in our inward earthquake, signifying the appearing of Christ into our life which begins the destruction of “that man of sin” within us and the kingdoms of our own old man begin to be “destroyed by the brightness of His coming”:

2Th 2:8  And then [“when the seventh angel shall begin to sound”] 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:

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”. “Them which saw them” and “their enemies” signify all the self-supporting lies and false doctrines which support ‘Babylon the great’ and empower her to kill the witnesses of God’s Word within us. The loss of the dominance of all those “idols of our hearts” (Eze 14: 1-9) over our lives and minds brings great fear within us. The physical battles fought by Israel against her enemies in the Old Testament signify all the inward struggles we endure in our heavens. Here are examples of the outward Old Testament battle contrasted with the inward heavenly warfare we endure in the New Testament:

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” within each of us.

13) At this point the two witnesses hear a voice from heaven telling them to “Come up here”. This 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.

Our warfare is spiritual and inward if we are in Christ. But as self-righteous Babylonians we are all signified by Saul of Tarsus who is still living in the first half of our uncompleted experience, and in that position we hate the True Christ and His doctrines:

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 ourselves 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 the words of Christ “are spiritually discerned”, and our old man “cannot see the things of the spirit for they are foolishness to him” (1Co 2:13-14).

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Nevertheless, for the man who is granted to discern “the things of the spirit”, Rom 6:3-4 is the fulfillment in down payment form of Rev 11:12.

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.

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.

It is in Christ that we are “made to sit together with Him in the heavens”. That cloud is Christ’s Christ, His witnesses, His body. It is at this point that all who know us, within and without, become aware that we are not who we once were, and in that sense they become witnesses to the fact that we…

14) “…Ascend up to heaven in a cloud”, and as our enemies see that we have done so and we are not the self-righteous Pharisee we once were. That “cloud” in which we ascend is the same as the words in the mouths of the Lord’s witnesses.   That cloud is God’s own “cloud of witnesses”, who are now beginning to be able to spiritually discern how “the holy spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual”. It is the same cloud which has always witnessed to the truth of the words of God.

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

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”, which occurs in our lives, 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 who 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, signifies the end product of the revelation of Jesus Christ, who is “the end of our faith… the salvation of our soul” (1Pe 1:9).

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 not yet aware that we are that beast and all we are interested in at 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. This signifies our time of deception by the false doctrines of Babylon.

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 new mother when we are finally granted to see our own self-righteous, rebellion against the words of Christ and repent of our sinful walk in the 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 despised 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 self-righteous false doctrines with which we have withstood the fiery testimony of our Lord’s two witnesses.

8) We see the Lord’s witnesses as 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 are both “three and a half” which are both required to birth and to complete our new man. 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 same time in which we kill the Lord’s witnesses before we are considered to be dead by those whom we witness to, in that city where our Lord was crucified. The two ‘three and a halves” sum up the time that is required to complete our new man.

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 unwittingly crucifying our Lord.

1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

11) But after three and one half days, God’s witnesses are raised from their state of death. Only after 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, are we 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, when we are “seated with [Christ] in our heavens” (Eph 2:6) 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 (Rom 6:14) 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” signifies the death of all that appeals to our flesh, signified by the number ‘10’. The fall of that great city is within us “where also our Lord was crucified” by our own hands.

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”. “Our Lord and His Christ” are signified by “the remnant [who] give glory to the God of heaven”.

In our next study, if the Lord wills, we will be informed of the days when the seventh angel 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 the subject of 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.

Rev 11:7-14, Part 1 – The Beast Overcomes And Kills The 2 Witnesses

[Study Aired Nov 3, 2024]

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

The “beast… ascends out of the bottomless pit”, which is “the abussos”, G12, in the Greek. We have demonstrated that the bottomless pit signifies the abyss or the sea of flesh from which we are all drawn.

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

This ‘abussos’ is the flesh and its desires which are within all men, including the flesh of the two witnesses. If that really is true, how then is it possible that the two witnesses can “ascend up out of the bottomless pit”, the ‘abussos’ and “rise up out of the sea… [G2281, ‘thalassa’], finish their testimony” and still be killed by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit”? ‘Abussos’, and ‘thalassa’ are two Greek words for the same thing, the sea. 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, including each of us in our own order.

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, chronologically, 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.

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

What “I change not” 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 is being destroyed by the brightness of the knowledge of Christ and His Words and doctrines coming into our hearts and minds. 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 even 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 “predestinated” 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), “each in his own order”:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

All men will die to their old man, but we will all experience that ‘death’… in [our] own order”.

Those who “die daily (1Co 15:31), offer [their] bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), [and are] crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), die first and will not “be hurt of the second death” (Rev 2:11), and ‘the second death will have no power over them’ (Rev 20:6) because they have already fulfilled that experience “in this present time”. Those who have died to their old man and all of his desires in this present time do so because they are given to be judged in this present time:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves [in this present time], we should not be judged [at the great white throne judgment].
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged [now in this present time], we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world [to the great white throne judgment of all the rest of mankind].

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? [They will be judged at the great white throne/ lake of fire/ second death, judgment.]

That is why Christ tells us:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [in the first resurrection at the beginning of the thousand year reign of “our Lord and His Christ”, Rev 11:15 and Rev 20:5-6]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920, ‘krisis’, judgment, the great white throne judgment of Rev 20:11].

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 made to be 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”:

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course 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.

But Christ did not die just for those who were alive in His days. 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 through the testimony of His disciples:

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 “My Words shall not pass away” 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 first, 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.

In the 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 (Mat 4:4, Luk 4:4). Our flesh, in turn, by the grace of God, will then be ‘killed daily’, and will die daily (1Co 15:50), 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” (Jer 5:14 and 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 in our last study, 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 we must be read, hear and keep. All who are given the grace to do so will “keep the words of this prophecy for the time is at hand” to do so (Rev 1:3). This entire prophecy does nothing less than expand upon the words of the Lord’s 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 24:15  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: )

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 also taught the Corinthians (1Co 3:16-17). This inward ‘temple of God’ is the same ‘temple’ Paul had in mind when he said this to these Thessalonian Christians:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, 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? [That “ye are the temple of God”]

Therefore these Thessalonians knew exactly what Paul meant by these words:

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [our crucifixion by this world with Christ, and our resurrection with Christ] that he [the man of sin] might be revealed in his time.

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. [When ‘the iniquity of our old man is full’ then Christ comes to destroy him]

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, withholds the coming of Christ] will let [will withhold the coming of Christ, as revealed in the next two verses], 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 first our own ‘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 is doing the killing of those witnesses, and you and I in turn become those two witnesses who will be killed by that beast.

In this case, our ‘death’ is not the “dying daily” death of our old man. In this story our death “in the street of the great city” is “the savor of death” which we are to “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit”. This is where you and I are at this very moment in the eyes and the nostrils of those in the great city of Babylon:

2Co 2:14 Now thanks be to God, Who always gives us a triumph in Christ, and is manifesting the odor of His knowledge through us in every place,
2Co 2:15 for we are a fragrance of Christ to God, in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing:
2Co 2:16 to these [those “in the street of that great city”], indeed, [we are] an odor of death for death, yet to those [in Christ we are] an odor of life for life. And for this who is competent?
2Co 2:17 For we are not as the majority, who are peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God in Christ, are we speaking. (CLV)

It is “all [who are] in Adam [who suffer the curse of] strong delusion [and who] believe a lie”. “All in Adam includes you and I who have “in times past” been sent that “strong delusion and [have] believed the lies” of Babylon, and have spiritually killed God’s witnesses and left their dead bodies unburied “in the street of the great city… 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.

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. (Eph 2:6)
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”.

But those evil angels do not appear to be evil angels:

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 as good as dead, having no effect in the streets of the great city wherein 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 earthquake, and the remnant 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 false 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 the testimony of the two witnesses, which we all do while believing and teaching the doctrines of Babylon, we are thereby 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 to “keep the things which are written therein”. Here is all that must take place literally for these verses to be spiritually lived out and spiritually 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) If we hate the doctrine of the Lord’s witnesses then we have murdered them and their dead bodies lie unburied, because at this time in our lives, the word of God, which commands us to love our enemies (Mat 5:44), and bury our dead (Deu 21:23), and to bless and curse not (Rom 12:14), means nothing at all to us in our self-righteous, rebellious condition. God’s commandments are all ignored in favor of gloating over our physical dominance over the witnesses of God’s Word , while we are in great Babylon. 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 and has become a harlot (Isa 1:21). Both ‘Sodom and Egypt’ typify each of us as we are smarting under the rulership of our first love.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. [Haters of The Truth, 1Jn 3:15, and those who bring us that Truth]

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 spiritual 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. [“Spiritually called Sodom and Egypt”, Rev 11:8]

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 [you] 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 once again 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.

Notice that it does say… “the faithful city”, just as Christ says “They have received… the words you gave me” just before the apostles forsake Him and leave Him to suffer His fate on the cross:

Joh 17:8  For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee,

The point of all scripture is that all men are first unfaithful, before the Lord causes them to be faithful.

We will pause at this point and continue our study of these verses concerning the Lord’s faithful witnesses in our next scheduled meeting.

Rev 11:5-6 Part 3 The Power Of The Two Witnesses

[Study Aired Oct 27, 2024]

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Christ tells us that we are all born spiritually dead and in need of a Savior.

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Luk 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

After we have acknowledged our spiritually dead condition as the first Adam, of the earth, earthy and corruptible, then we can say with the apostle Paul:

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.

Eph 2:1  And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Continuing with the signs of Christ’s coming and the smiting of the earth with all plagues:

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

The “many who are deceived” are the same as the “many who were made sinners”. It is all inclusive, and common to all men.

Rom 5:19  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars… nation will rise against nation, but this is not yet the end of the age, it is instead, just “the beginning of sorrows”. If we believe that all of this is for those sinners out there who are left behind while we are spared these sorrows, and plagues, then God has simply blinded our eyes to the words “ye” and “you” throughout this prophecy, which is given in answer to His disciple’s question, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?”

Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

How often will God’s elect “smite the earth with all plagues”? Like Christ, His elect seek only the will of His Father. Here is a list of those ‘plagues’ and those sorrows with which “they smite the earth as oft as they will”, and which we should expect, since they are the sorrows which Christ tells His disciples to look for as the sign of His coming and the end of this age:

Mat 24:9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Mat 24:10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations [by the two witnesses]; and then shall the end come.

So the end of this age does not come till after we have been delivered up, afflicted and killed. This ‘death’ is the same as the death of God’s two witnesses. So the end does not come until we have been deceived by many false prophets, we have been overwhelmed by iniquity, and have “left our first love” (Rev 2:4). The end does not come until after we are “hated of all nations for Christ’s name sake”. The profound truth of what we have just read is that the end does not come until we have “endured to the end.”

What else happens before the end of the age comes?

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:)

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.

So “the abomination of desolation” for those who “read and understand”, occurs before the end comes, as does also the “great tribulation”.

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25  Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Christ’s coming is “as the lightning that comes out of the east and shines even to the west”, “for” or ‘because’ the eagles gather only at the carcase, the dead bodies, which have died to this world, “before the end comes”. For all those who “read and understand”, these are the same “dead bodies” as the dead bodies of the two witnesses of this 11th chapter of Revelation.

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.

Continuing with His answer to the question, ‘What will be the sign of your coming and the end of this age’, Christ tells us:

Mat 24:29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Joe 2:32  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

It is both that period “before… and immediately after the tribulation of those days” that the Sun in our heavens is darkened by the smoke that arises out of our bottomless pit, and the great earthquake such as never was, nor ever will be, comes as the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven which appears to us and shakes us out of our sleep of spiritual death. That is what is required to bring every son to God.

Mat 24:30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

When do all of these things take place? When is the sign of Christ’s coming and of the end of this age? When are those who hurt God’s two witnesses killed by the fire from their mouths? Here is Christ’s own answer to this question.

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.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

“This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” tells us that “the sign of the Son of Man in heaven” comes and causes all the tribes of the earth to mourn before “this generation passes, and all these things are fulfilled”. That is the doctrine of Jesus Christ, here in Mat 24, in 2Th 2:6-12, in Heb 12:6-7 and here in Revelation six.

Rev 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Summary

We have seen that the spiritual significance of:

1) fire proceeding out of the mouths of God’s two witnesses is the word of God in their mouths, and

2) that is the fire that kills their enemies, and we have demonstrated that none of this is literal, and that therefore Christ’s two witnesses do not violate His doctrines by killing those who would hurt them with the fire from their mouths. The fact is, that we have seen that it is we who are first killed by that fire.

We also saw that:

3) the power given to the two witnesses to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, is again, nothing more or less than understanding the nourishing words of Christ as the rain which they are, and as they relate to our own experience of first denying Him and His doctrines, during the days of the prophecy of the two witnesses in our own lives. We saw that we, just like Christ’s apostles, we all think we understand His words during the time of His testimony, but in reality the heavens are shut, and we “understand not”. Just like Christ’s apostles, we all first deny and reject Him as our Savior.

Mat 13:49  So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
Mat 13:50  And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:51  Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.

The Truth, of course is that “they understood not” till their conversion after Christ’s resurrection, and after their own spiritual ‘resurrection’.

Mar 9:31  For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
Mar 9:32  But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Luk 9:43  And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,
Luk 9:44  Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.
Luk 9:45  But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.

We saw that:

4) to turn waters to blood is the spiritual way of telling us that God’s Words, which are the nourishing waters of life, will destroy us when we are denying that they speak of us, and that they will continue to work against us till we acknowledge that it is we who must live by every word. God’s Words are “turned to blood”, and condemn us of the blood of Christ, till we acknowledge that we are that man who denied our Lord while cursing and swearing that we “know Him not”. Just like Joseph’s brothers, we are condemned until we acknowledge that it was we who nailed our Lord to the cross.

We know that we are first ‘the earth’ which is smitten with all these plagues:

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Finally we have seen that:

5) to “smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will” is “the word of the Lord” which is but a continuation of that same work of destroying our old man and any sense of self righteousness that may remain in our ‘earth’. We have seen that we are the earth, and that until we “hear the word of the Lord” concerning our own culpability in every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and our guilt in shedding the blood of Christ, the work of “smiting the earth with all plagues”, will continue in light of this Truth:

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.

Since we are to “see all of these things”, and we are to know that “it is near, even at the doors”, and “this generation will not pass till all these things be fulfilled”, it becomes obvious that it really is God’s firstfruits who first experience the “one event that is common to all men”, and who must be those who first “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and keep the things written therein, because all things are ours”.

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.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

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.

There is but “one event” and there is but one fiery Word of God. However there are two very different resurrections and “the first resurrection… of life” at the Lord’s appearing at the beginning of the thousand year reign, is far superior to the second “resurrection of judgment” over 1,000 years later at the great white throne judgment/ lake of fire/ second death (Rev 20:7-15).

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [Greek, ‘Krisis’, judgment]

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [1,000 years earlier] was cast into the lake of fire.

Next week, Lord willing we will continue our study here in Rev 11. As is always the case, to see these words as words which are compatible with the third verse of chapter one is foolishness to the natural man, but we will see next week that these “things written therein” were as applicable in John’s day as they are today and will be tomorrow. Here are our next verses:

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 11:5-6, Part 2 The Power Of The Two Witnesses

[Study Aired Oct 25, 2024]

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

It is good to remind ourselves that we are the earth before we are caught up to the throne of God in heaven.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

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.

We need to remember that “all things” means the good and the evil, all the seals, all the trumpets, and all the vials, are ours to read, hear, and keep:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

If we are to read, hear and keep the things written in this book then we need to remember that we are all the natural man before we are given the mind of Christ:

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

As “the Lord from heaven” you and I are “the savor of death” to all who are in Babylon, for the entire time of our “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” testimony.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2Co 2:15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
2Co 2:16  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

“The savor of His knowledge”, how Jesus Christ tastes and smells, is made manifest by His elect. We must remember Christ’s own definition of who ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ is.

Mat 25:40  And the King [Christ] shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Like John here in the book of Revelation, Saul of Tarsus is also a type of us before we become “the savor of His knowledge”. We are all first “the children of disobedience”, and we all first “persecute Jesus of Nazareth”. Only after we acknowledge this truth can we become “Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ”, who is persecuted by later spiritual ‘Sauls’.

So, from a Biblical perspective and indeed from Christ’s own perspective, if He has taken up His abode in us, we are “Jesus of Nazareth”, and as such we are His “two witnesses” with all the power we read of here. We are also the target of all the persecution “in the streets of that great city wherein our Lord was crucified”. How do we “bare record of the word of God”? How do we “bear record of the testimony of Jesus Christ”? We do so by “reading, hearing, and keeping the things written therein, because the time is at hand” to do so. (Rev 1:3)

Here is this same event of “killing them with fire from their mouths” in other “lines, and precepts, here a little and there a little:”

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [“the rain from heaven… the sign of Christ’s coming and the end of this age”] that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, withholdeth {the rain}, same Greek word translated as “withholdeth” in preceding verse] will let [ withhold], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked [who withholds] 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 [Through the words in the mouths of the two witnesses] shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [be killed]
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Christ killed those who would harm Him in Mat 13:10-15 by simply informing the disciples that the multitudes were not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Mat 13:1015). These were the same multitudes who cried, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” It was “those Jews that believed on Him”:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

It is our old man who must first be deceived and die, before he can possess the words of fire which are the words of life, and have those words of fire in His mouth.

3) The two witnesses have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy

Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

We have seen in our study of Revelation chapter four that the phrase “a door was opened in heaven” is the symbol of exponential growth in the knowledge and understanding of the things of the spirit. Conversely “the power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy”, means that those who witness for Christ will not at first understand the witness they are given. Christ’s own disciples signify this time of our lives. They were with Him 3 ½ years and the heavens were shut and it rained not during the time of Christ’s prophecy. The same was true of “those Jews which believed on Him” and yet “sought to kill [Him]”.

Christ had the power to speak life-giving words and yet kept it from raining in the days of His prophecy by blinding the eyes of those to whom He was speaking, and taking away their ability to hear His Words. It wasn’t so much that they would not hear as much as they were not given to hear His life-giving Words which are called ‘rain’ here in Revelation 11:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. [No rain in the 1260 days of Christ’s prophecy]
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. [No rain in the days of His prophecy]
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

No one who comes to the scriptures reads them and immediately understands what they are reading. It varies from person to person, but we all spend a spiritually symbolic three and one half years, trying the spirits and sometimes actually trying to disprove what we are coming to see.

The clearest example of this verse is the fact that Christ witnessed to his own disciples for three and one half years, including telling them that He Himself would be “hurt”, and they did not understand. They were with Him “a thousand two hundred and three score days”, and “they understood not… in the days of His prophecy”.

Mar 9:31  For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
Mar 9:32  But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Christ’s disciples could not believe that their fellow Jews would kill their Lord, much less understand that it would be they themselves who would deny Him, just as it is hard for us to see that it is you and I who see Christ as our King and yet, at first, we still want Him and His doctrine dead.

Joh 12:16  These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

Once again, these words are for us, and it is we who live both sides of this spiritual coin and experience both edges of this spiritual “two edged sword”.

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

We are first “those Jews which believed on Him”, and this is also us in our own appointed time, when we deny our Lord, cursing and swearing and blaspheming His name before the heathen. This is who we all once were while believing the lies of that great city wherein our Lord was crucified:

Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

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.

It is we who are first the children of disobedience and “of our father the devil”. It is we who at first “cannot understand Christ’s words” (Joh 12:16), and who want to kill him and His words. It is the knowing and revealing of this truth which is meant by:

4) … The two witnesses turning waters to blood

What are ‘waters’ in scriptural and spiritual terms? As we have seen over and over again, a two-edged sword cuts both coming and going, and the words of scripture have both a positive and a negative application within us, depending on whether they are speaking of the destruction of our old man or the increase of the new man. In spiritual reality, both are positive, because both are essential to the fulfilling of the Lord’s plan in our lives, but it is still a “sharp twoedged sword” which will “divide asunder the soul and the spirit”. It is still “bitter in the belly” and this Truth “kills” our old man.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

In scriptural and spiritual terms, ‘waters’ means (on the negative side of this two-edged sword) the waters of peoples and the doctrines of those peoples, on which the great harlot, Babylon, sits and rules over those people. Those words and doctrines of the peoples of Babylon lead only to death.

Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter [in our belly, Rev 10:10].

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

The positive application of the word ‘waters’ in scripture is the words and doctrines of Christ and those words in the mouths of those who are His Christ, which words are words and doctrines of life.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

The turning of ‘wells of waters into blood’ is the revelation that we all first turn the truths of Christ’s words into lies as we reject His Truths and twist those words into lies which we use to cover the idols of our hearts (Eze 1:1-7). It is the very same thing as hurting and killing Christ and His elect, by abusing and twisting His words of life into the false doctrines of Babylon, which produce death. “The dream is one”, and those who twist Christ’s command to love thine enemies into ‘Love only your personal enemies, but not your national or your criminal enemies’, are condemned by Christ’s doctrines. Turning waters into blood by our misunderstanding and our disobedience to God’s words is what we all do before we are transformed into those who know Christ’s words, and who then turn waters into blood in a positive way, by “mortifying the deeds of the flesh” and remaining faithful to the Lord’s words in the face of the pressures of the harlot who tries to force us to conform to this world, by the threat of spiritual death and by the rejection of the “many called” of the multitudes and majorities of Babylon.

The very first people who do this, and who drink of Christ’s blood and deny Him, are Christ’s own apostles who deny Him. It is His own elect, to whom belong “all things, things present and things to come” and who “live by every word… of God” and who “keep these things written in this prophecy”. (1Co 3:21-22, Rev 1:3, Mat 4:4)

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. [within you, Luk 17:20-21]

Drinking Christ’s blood is acknowledging that it is we who have shed His blood, and that He has died, and shed that blood for our sins. It is we who first deny Him:

Mar 14:27  And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
Mar 14:28  But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.
Mar 14:29  But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
Mar 14:30  And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mar 14:31  But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

Refusing to acknowledge this is to “turn the waters [of God’s] word into blood”, and to “hurt” and to “kill” God’s two witnesses. It is we who all do “all things” because “all things, things present and things to come, are ours”, both the words of life, and the words of death.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

5) The two witnesses are given power to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

When Christ’s apostles later asked the same question concerning the time of the coming of the kingdom of God which the Pharisees had demanded of Christ in Luk 17, His answer to His disciples was the prophecy of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Here again in Mat 24, we will see the fire proceeding out of the mouths of God’s witnesses to destroy our old man before we are resurrected with Christ, to have that fire in our mouths. The fire that proceeds out of the mouths of the two witnesses, and the smiting of the earth with all plagues as often as they will, are again one and the same because “the dream is one”.

It is also here in the 24th chapter of Matthew that we learn that all of this, including “smiting the earth with all plagues”, is within and is read, heard and kept in “this generation” which “reads, hears and keeps the words of this prophecy”. Let’s see how this is done.

Mat 24:3  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

The word ‘world’ here is translated from the Greek word ‘aion’. Christ’s disciples are simply repeating the same question the Jews had earlier asked about “when the kingdom of God should come” and now they add, “and what should be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” It is here in one of the most famous prophecies of scripture that Christ reveals that “all these things shall be fulfilled… in this generation,” whenever “this generation” is “reading, hearing and keeping the things written therein”. (Mat 24:15 and 34 and Rev 1:3)

The first thing Christ gives us as a sign of His coming is that many would come in His name, and in doing so they will be in the process of deceiving many. It is these very words of fire, pointing out that the multitudes are deceived, which proceeds out of the mouth of Christ and His witnesses, which destroy all who fail to acknowledge that we are all, in our turn, “smitten with the plagues” which are our part in living out this deception.

Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

“Take heed that no man deceive you” is like saying, “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is in the middle of the garden, you shall not eat of it.”

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Both Mat 24:4 and Gen 2:17 are “words of fire” coming out of the mouth of God’s two witnesses. Just as all who deny they are blind will remain blind,…

Joh 9:40  And [some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

 … so also will all who deny that they have been as deceived as walking dead men and must be killed by these fiery words out of the mouths of God’s two witnesses. “Take heed that no man deceive you” is nothing less than a prophecy that you and I will be deceived, just as ‘do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ is a prophecy that God knew Adam would fulfill and He had already prepared the sacrifice of that sin.

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

So much for the false doctrine of ‘free will’. It is not possible to have a sin offering in place “before the world began” without knowing in advance that Adam would disobey the Lord’s commandment to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God has always been on plan A. He really is in the process of “working all things after the counsel of HIS OWN will”, which includes giving His kingdom to His Son who in turn shares that kingdom with His elect body:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

The “we” of verse 12 is those who were “called in Christ before the world began”. It is the two olive trees and the two candlesticks who faithfully witness to The Truths of the Word of God, all the while “despising the shame [of] being hated of all men”:

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

We will pause our study at this point and pick it up in our next study of the power given to us as the two witness discussed in these two verses:

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Rev 11:5-6, Part 1 – The Power Of The Two Witnesses

[Study Aired Oct 20, 2024]

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Introduction

In our last study we learned that the two olive trees signify the same thing signified by the “four beasts”, the “four cherubims”, and the two candlesticks. They, one and all, signify Christ within His elect who are destined to be kings and priests who will rule with Him over the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years followed by the judging of all men of all time at the great white throne judgment.

If we were to take these verses at face value as the natural man does, then they would be telling us that if any man attempts to hurt God’s elect, “fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies, and must be killed in this manner”, and furthermore God’s elect also have the power to “shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will.”

The producers of the movie ‘Left Behind’ presented all of this as literal, physical events with literal fire coming out of the mouths of the two witnesses, killing those who would do them harm. It is the mantra of most seminaries that if any prophecy can be taken in a literal sense, then that is the way to take it. That is the doctrine which produced the film entitled ‘Left Behind’ in which the two witnesses literally breathed fire upon their enemies and killed them, literally!

But wait a minute. How can God’s elect do any of these things as His witnesses with the testimony of Jesus Christ, considering the very doctrines of Christ teach the very opposite of what we have just read?

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Remember how disgusted Christ was with James and John when they wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan village which had refused to accommodate them for one night:

Luk 9:51  And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
Luk 9:52  And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
Luk 9:53  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
Luk 9:54  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
Luk 9:55  But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of [The spirit of the law of Moses].
Luk 9:56  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

Didn’t His apostles teach the very same doctrine of loving our enemies? Here is what Paul taught.

Rom 12:14  Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

Here are John’s own words in His first epistle:

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

The Truth is that no one in whom Christ has taken up His abode would ever think of “killing his enemies with [literal] fire”. Nor would he ever even think of literally “smiting his [neighbor or his enemies] with all plagues” or literally “turning his [neighbor’s] water into blood”.

It is obvious, considering the sum of God’s Word (Psa 119:160), that those who have been given eyes that see, and ears that hear the hidden wisdom of God, will understand that these two verses are not to be understood as outward literal statements. This is a book which has been signified, with signs and symbols of things which are intended to be ‘kept’, and inwardly “kept” by those who are given to “read, and to hear, and to keep the things which are written and signified in this book”:

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.

Only those who are sincerely asking, “How do I personally “live by every word” (Mat 4:4), and how do I personally “keep the things written therein” (Rev 1:3)”, will have any hope of understanding how God’s two witnesses can burn up their enemies within, with the armies of the nations within, with fire from their mouths. Only the few chosen will be granted to understand how the Lord’s witnesses can “smite the sinful earth within, with all plagues, and turn the waters within, into blood, and still love their enemies and do good to those who persecute them”.

What then is the meaning of…

The symbols of these two verses?

The symbols of verse 5 are: 1) if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of the mouths of God’s two witnesses, and 2) and they kill those who would hurt them with the fire from their mouths.

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

The symbols of verse six are: 3) the two witnesses have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, 4) to turn waters to blood, and 5) to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

So let’s begin by asking, What is the spiritual meaning of…

1) If any man will hurt them fire proceeds out of their mouth?

Here is the Biblical definition of what is being discussed when scripture speaks of fire in one’s mouth.

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

This is the exact same wording we find in:

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

That is the ‘manner’ in which their enemies are “killed”. They are killed with the words of God, in the mouths of those who are faithful to those words. “In this manner…”  is not at first an outward statement for any man. Remember this admonition at the very beginning of this prophecy:

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.

True servants of the Lord are never violent nor vengeful:

2Ti 2:24  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
2Ti 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

If we are to “keep those things which are written therein” then it is we who first “oppose ourselves”, and who place ourselves in opposition to the words of Christ. If we see ourselves only as ‘the two witnesses’ with the fire of the Lord’s words in our mouths and do not take these words as an admonition against our own self-righteous and rebellious ‘first man Adam’, then we are no better than the self-righteous Pharisees who asked Christ if He considered them to be spiritually blind:

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

The message for all of us in John 9, is that we are all born spiritually blind by default:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

If we are granted to see ourselves first as the wood, hay, and stubble fuel for the fire of the Lord’s words, then we can confess that we really are born spiritually blind, and are by nature fuel for the fire of the Lord’s words which burn up our wood, hay, and stubble, and will kill our rebellious, self-righteous, old man, then in time through that dying process we will be born again as Christ’s fire-breathing two witnesses having “kept [all] the things written therein” (Rev 1:3).

No “servant of the Lord”, no “disciple indeed” would ever literally kill anyone with literal fire coming from their mouths. Only the most spiritually blind would fail to remember that this prophecy is a “signified” prophecy, designed to be kept a secret from the multitudes who come to Christ (Mat 13:10-15). Far from literally killing anyone, this is the doctrine of Christ and His apostles:

2Ti 2:24  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
2Ti 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

So when you hear a “great man of God” say “The first thing I’m going to do at the resurrection is walk up to Adam and punch him in the face”, you should be able to discern that this is not “the gentle, meek… servant of the Lord” that Paul is speaking of here. Yet that is a word for word quote from the mouth of a big name minister with a mega church in Houston, Texas, here is the United States.

“The gentle… meek servant of the Lord” remembers that it is not someone else who was first taken by the snare of the devil. “That man” (2Sa 12:1-10) was you and me. It is we who first withstand the words of Christ, then it is you and I who later, after we repent, we become those who “instruct those who oppose themselves” to the words of Christ and are taken in “the snare of the devil.” As a repentant sinner we have no interest in being anything but “gentle unto all men… that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil”.

If we allow ourselves to forget for one moment the fact that God’s kingdom comes first within and that we “live by every word” (Mat 4:4), and that we are commanded to “keep the things written” in this prophecy (Rev 1:3), then we will automatically do what the natural man always does, and think of ourselves only as the two witnesses, and we will see ourselves only as those with the fire in our mouths devouring our enemies. But the truth, which is the sum of God’s word, is that “all these things must come to pass in this generation”, and that they are “all ours”.

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)

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.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Like the spiritually blind Pharisees, until we are given to see that we are all first spiritually blind, then we will remain as spiritually blind as those who want to harm the Lord’s elect. If ever we are granted to see our own culpability, only then are we granted the privilege of becoming the Lord’s elect who are being hurt by the men of this world. So it is with all the symbols of verse 6 of this 11th chapter of Revelation, and with the rest of the symbols of all scripture.

The only way to know how any of the eight different symbols of these two verses are to be understood is to remember how we are instructed to view this prophecy at the very beginning of this book. As we have so often said, the first three verses of chapter one are the key to understanding this entire prophecy. Here are those verses:

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
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.

If we fail to apply those verses to our understanding of the words of our study today, we will be forced to ignore and to violate the doctrine of Jesus Christ who told us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us.

Luk 6:27  But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Luk 6:28  Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

Seeking to harm God’s two witnesses is something we all, as natural men, do and keep within our own selves when we reject and withstand the words of God’s witnesses. We do and keep these words, by rejecting those who first bring to us this witness of God’s fiery, spiritual, purifying words.

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

So it is we who first persecute and “hurt” God’s elect, because we are all “first natural” before we, by God’s grace, become those same elect witnesses who are on the receiving end of this “hurtful… daily dying” experience which is “written therein”. This is all us because “all things, things present and things to come, are all are ours”:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Those two verses of 1Co 3 never made sense to me when I believed that there was a physical “place of safety” for God’s elect where the things written in this prophecy could be avoided. Those two verses cannot make sense to anyone who believes in any form of exemption from the things which are written in this prophecy because “things present and things to come” would certainly include these “things which must shortly come to pass”, of which we were told in the first chapter of “the book of prophecy”, “All [these] things… are ours… to read, hear, and keep”.

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.

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.

None of us are born believing on Christ, so we really are “shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin” with “the wrath of God abiding on us”, as we “hurt” God’s two witnesses.

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

2) The two witnesses kill those who would hurt them with the fire from their mouths

So here we are as the first man, as the natural man. It is these words which pronounce us as dead and kill us. The apostle Paul agrees with the apostle John.

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course [Greek, aion, age] of this world [Greek, kosmos, 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 [Greek, way of life] 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.

Col 3:5  Mortify [“kill”, Rev 11:5] therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

“Afterward that which is spiritual”:

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.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

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.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, [We have been killed by the fire in the mouths of the two witnesses] and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Those verses overlap, but we are first to see ourselves as “children of wrath, even as others… having walked… as children of disobedience” before coming to be “dead and buried with Christ… killed” by the fire that proceeds out of the mouths of the two witnesses.

To those in Babylon, we are said to be “the smell of death” and not even worthy of being buried.

2Co 2:16  To the one [the many called of Babylon] we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? [“but Christ { who} lives in me”]

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.

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

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

“Three days and an half” and three and one half years or “a thousand two hundred and threescore days”, here in this same chapter, “are one” just as the cows and the corn in Pharaoh’s dream “are one”.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, [three and one half years] clothed in sackcloth.

Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

We will pause our study at this point and continue with the significance of these two verses in our next study.

Rev 11:4, Part 2 – The Two Olive Trees

[Study Aired Oct 18, 2024]

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

The apostle John is referring to “the two olive trees” of Zechariah 4:

Zec 4:1  And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
Zec 4:2  And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
Zec 4:3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
Zec 4:4  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
Zec 4:5  Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Zec 4:7  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Zec 4:8  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Zec 4:9  The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

5) It is through the spirit and the Word of the Lord, typified and signified by the pouring out of oil of these two olive trees and into the seven golden candlesticks, that the mountain, which is this world in us, becomes a plain. This is the very same mountain which the “faith of a grain of mustard seed” can destroy and cast into the sea. Christ, in His saints, signified by Zerubbabel, will finish the building of His temple, “which temple we are”.

Mat 21:21  Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Let’s just believe what we are told and accept the fact that these two olive trees are “the Word of The Lord”, a type of Christ including Christ in His body, through which He builds His church. That is the very meaning of “This is the Word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel…”, coming from these two olive trees.

6) This Temple of Zerubbabel seems small and insignificant when compared to the first temple, just as the things of the spirit are always vastly undervalued when compared to the things of this world. These are “the days of small things”, but these “small things” will become a mountain that will fill the whole earth:

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

Dan 2:34  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

These are “the days of small things” because it is the precious “few chosen and faithful”, who will be used to redeem and save the many called. “Who has despised the day of small things”? It is “Those seven, [the seven golden candlesticks which are the seven churches, and the two olive trees and the two candlesticks], they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” What is the earth? It is God’s own people who have turned their backs to their own spiritual husband. It is you and me at our own appointed time.

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

“Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” (Isa 28:9-13), we are learning that Christ also has a Christ whom He has sent to do what His Father sent Him to do.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Christ is not being negligent or passing the buck. He is rather, revealing that we, His body, are “Jesus of Nazareth”.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

This knowledge requires a rude awakening, and the gift of eyes that see and ears that hear things that cannot be received by carnal babes in Christ. It is not revealed all in one verse or even all in one chapter or in one book of God’s Word. This is “hidden wisdom” given only to those who have been given to understand that they are ‘the man’ who killed Christ, and took His wife (as David killed Uriah, a type of Christ and took Bathsheba), and it is revealed only to those who are given to know that “the chief of sinners… Saul of Tarsus”, signifies  the man they we see in the mirror every morning.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isa 28:13  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

It is Christ in His repentant saints who are “the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth”, and those eyes are “eyes of fire” which are finding and destroying every sin and weight within which so easily besets us, and who see the “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” design of the hidden wisdom of the word of God.

1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect [Greek, ‘being perfected’]: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery [Greek, ‘a secret’], even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Rev 1:14  His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

Rev 2:18  And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;

Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

Rev 4:8  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

These are inward eyes, and this is their function:

2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

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,

It is here in Zec 4 that we learn that the seven candlesticks, which are the seven churches, are also “the eyes of the Lord”, and “the seven spirits of God” in the heavens, “which run to and fro through our whole earth”.

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven lamps [golden candlesticks]; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Rev 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

What else are these seven candlesticks? They are those who comprise the seven churches.

Rev 5:6  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Where else do we see “two… olive trees” in scripture? Could these two olive trees also be the symbols of this very same body of Christ?

1Ki 6:23  And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.

Who are these cherubims? As we saw in our study of Revelation four, these cherubims are just another symbol of those who have “the word of God to Zerubbabel”. They are the same as the two olive trees that empty the golden oil out of themselves and into the golden pipes that take that golden oil to the seven candlesticks which symbolize the seven churches!

Without completely rehearsing our study of Revelation chapter four, we should remember that these cherubims, like all of the secrets of God’s Word, are revealed to us line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. The cherubims are first introduced to us as the cherubims who “guard the way of the tree of life with a flaming sword”.

Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The next time we see them is in the book of Exodus as two cherubims which cover the mercy seat above the ark of the covenant. That is followed by this description here in 1Ki 6 of the two cherubims “within the oracle”, meaning within the holy of holies, at the west end of the temple. It is here that we discover that these two cherubims are “made of olive trees”.

But the revelation of what these cherubims symbolize is still not complete. The next time we read of the cherubims is in Ezekiel 1 and ten, where we are informed that they are actually surrounding the throne of God, and they each have four faces; the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox and the face of an eagle. But the final revelation of who these cherubims symbolize is found here in the book of Revelation, in chapter five, where they themselves tell us who they symbolize, and who it is that must “keep the way of the tree of life.”

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

So the two cherubims are now four cherubims and instead of having four faces each, they now each have individual faces. But the four individuals have the same four faces that we saw on each cherub in chapters one and ten of Ezekiel. Here in Revelation five, one cherub has the face of a man, one cherub has the face of an ox, one has the face of a lion and another has the face of an eagle.

Now we learn that these two cherubs which cover the mercy seat are but an earlier symbol of those who have the word of God. These two cherubs are made of olive trees, and as “covering cherubs”, they also “stand before the God of the earth.”

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

But there is more about to be noted regarding the two olives trees, right here is this same 6th chapter of  1 Kings.  We see that the two doors to the holy of holies are also made of olive trees, and they even have the cherubims carved  upon them, to let us know for certain that “the dream is one”.

1Ki 6:31  And for the entering of the oracle [the holy of holies] he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.
1Ki 6:32  The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees.

This tells us that the only way into the holy of holies is to go through the two doors of olive tree. Do two olive trees have any place in the doors that lead into the holy place which is before the holy of holies? Let’s see what the scriptures teach.

1Ki 6:33  So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall.
1Ki 6:34  And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door [were] folding.
1Ki 6:35  And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered [them] with gold fitted upon the carved work.

In the tabernacle of Moses there was but one candlestick with seven lamps, “all one beaten work of pure gold”:

Exo 25:34  And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers.
Exo 25:35  And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.
Exo 25:36  Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. [‘Beaten’, signifying the trials of “the Lord and His Christ”, Act 4:26; Rev 11:15]
Exo 25:37  And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.
Exo 25:38  And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
Exo 25:39  Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.
Exo 25:40  And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount. [That ‘pattern’ is Christ, 1Pe 2:21]

In Solomon’s temple, two more candlesticks with five candles each were added, one on either side of the candlestick with seven candles:

1Ki 7:49  And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,

“Five on the right side, and five on the left” refers to either side of the seven branches of the original Mosaic candlestick, which is not mentioned here in the construction of Solomon’s temple because it had already been made by Moses. “Before the oracle” is where the seven-branched Mosaic candlestick was also located. It is on the south side of the tabernacle… “before the oracle”:

Exo 26:35  And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table [of shewbread] on the north side.

2Ch 4:19  And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables whereon the shewbread was set; [“on the north side”, Exo 26:35]

2Ch 4:20  Moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle, of pure gold; [“on the south side”, Exo 26:35]

It appears that the two five-branched candlesticks, signifying grace through faith, on either side of the seven-branched candlestick, are “the two candlesticks” mentioned in:

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

“What are these two olive trees?”

For the second time, Zechariah asks the angel that has awakened him, “What are these two olive trees?”

Zec 4:11  Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
Zec 4:12  And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
Zec 4:13  And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:14  Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

The purpose of this entire chapter is to make clear that these two olive trees “are the two anointed ones, that stand by the [Word of] the Lord of the whole earth”. ‘Two’ signifies witness, and ‘candlesticks’ signify the churches. ‘The two witnesses’ therefore signify the witness of the churches in this dark world.

Summary

What now have we learned about these two olive trees which are also called ‘the two candlesticks’, here in Rev 11? What we have learned is that the seven horns and seven eyes on the slain Lamb are the seven spirits of God which, we are told in this fourth chapter of Zechariah, are the same as the seven golden candlesticks, which candlesticks we are told in Revelation one, are the seven churches. But it is here in this same fourth chapter of Zechariah that we discover that these seven golden candlesticks are also the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth in “the day of small things.”

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven [golden candlesticks]; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

We have also learned in Zechariah four that these two olive trees and two candlesticks are “the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel”, and the word of the Lord according to Joh 6:63, is spirit.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

So in the final analysis, the “plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel” and the “reed like unto a rod” which is given to John, and the seven candlesticks and the seven horns and seven eyes and the seven spirits of God and the seven churches and the two candlesticks and the two olive trees and the two witnesses and the fire that proceeds out of their mouths and the eyes like fire, are all one and the same. They are “the Word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel” by which we measure and plumb and judge ourselves to see and to know whether Christ really is living His life in us.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

If Christ really is living within our hearts and minds, then the eyes with which we examine and judge ourselves will be “eyes… as a flame of fire” doing what fire does.

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

So who are these two olive trees and two candlesticks and two witnesses? They are “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations”. They are “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). The two olive trees, and the two candlesticks and the two witnesses are all the same thing. They are all of God’s anointed witnesses who have lived and faithfully witnessed to the Truth which is His word, since the death and resurrection of our Lord. These two olive trees and two candlesticks and two witnesses are Christ living His life in His “few” and His “rejected” and His “small things” Christ. These two olive trees and these two witnesses are all those who are given to “lie dead in the streets of that great city where our Lord was crucified” and who are “filling up in their own bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ, for His bodies sake which is the church”.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of [Greek, ‘the’] Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

In our next study, Lord willing, we will cover verses five and six, which tell us of the power given to those who are given to be the witnesses of Christ. Here are verses five and six:

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Rev 11:4, Part 1-The Two Olive Trees

[Study Aired Oct 13, 2024]

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

Introduction

Here is verse three’s description of these two olive trees and two candlesticks:

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

So God’s “two witnesses” are also called “the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth”. The phrase “the two olive trees and the two candlesticks” with the article, lets us know that this refers to something with which those who are reading, hearing and keeping the things written in this prophecy are already familiar. This is not the first time these things have been discussed. These two witnesses are ‘the two olive trees and the two candlesticks; the ones who are standing before the God of the earth’. The fact that it is thus worded also tells us that those for whom this prophecy is intended are the few chosen to whom such words mean much more than what they say. This section of scripture reveals to us that those who know they are to keep the things written in this prophecy also understand that this is a book of symbols and that those to whom it is given will know what “the two olive trees and the two candlesticks” and God’s “two witnesses” all symbolize. We are casually informed, “These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth”, because the spirit speaks only “in demonstration of the spirit and power of God”, and those who know what that ‘spirit and power’ are, will become familiar with the verses of scriptures which reveal the meaning of all the symbols of the things written in this prophecy.

1Co 2:4  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Before we speak “in the demonstration of the spirit and power of God” by referring to the scriptures which reveal the meaning of the symbols of verse four, we will list the symbols of this verse which we will consider today.

The symbols of this fourth verse are 1) two olive trees, and two candlesticks, 2) standing before the God of the earth.

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

1) Two olive trees, and two candlesticks

Remembering the principle revealed to us by Joseph, we know that these two symbols are one:

Gen 41:15  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
Gen 41:16  And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

Here is what God gives us to “understand” both dreams and visions, including this vision given to John of the symbols of this book of this revelation of Jesus Christ in us. This is a principle that will help us to understand all prophecy.

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
Gen 41:27  And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.
Gen 41:28  This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

The dream is one, and it is “doubled… [and given] twice” because “God will shortly bring it to pass”. Is this only true of the way the Lord dealt with Pharaoh at that time, or is He the same God when telling you and me to keep the things written in this prophecy? The answer is that God does not change. He is always the same, and just as the cows and the corn were one dream, so also the two olive trees and the two candlesticks are one vision which will shortly come to pass in the lives of all to whom it is given to “read, hear and keep the things written in the words of this prophecy.”

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

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.

We saw last week that the never changing God always uses the number ‘two’ as the symbol of witness. We gave the scriptures which establish this truth and will not repeat them here. But we will ask why these “two witnesses” are called “the two olive trees and the two candlesticks”, as if it is assumed that those reading the sayings of this prophecy would already have heard of “the two olive trees and the two candlesticks”. Are these phrases used earlier in the scriptures? Are “the two olive trees and the two candlesticks” mentioned already, and is there anything we can learn about who they are from those earlier verses as we have learned from the story of Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams? The answer is, Yes, indeed, we need not speculate about who “the two olive trees and the two candlesticks” are. Here is where they are first mentioned. The fact that they are mentioned again here in Rev 11 and are ‘doubled twice’ to us is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring these ‘two witnesses’ to pass in the lives of those who are given to “read, hear and keep the things written in this prophecy”.

The two olive trees revealed in Zechariah four

As noted earlier, the article appears twice in this verse indicating that John assumes everyone knows what part of the Old Testament he is referring to:

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

A simple search for the phrase ‘two olive trees’ takes us to the only other place in scripture where this phrase appears:

Zec 4:3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
Zec 4:11  Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?

Now we need to see what Zechariah tells us about “the two olive trees”. We will let the scriptures reveal who these “two olive trees” signify:

Zec 4:1  And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
Zec 4:2  And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which [are] upon the top thereof:
Zec 4:3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
Zec 4:4  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
Zec 4:5  Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Zec 4:7  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Zec 4:8  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Zec 4:9  The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
Zec 4:11  Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
Zec 4:12  And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
Zec 4:13  And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:14  Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

Now let’s compare Zec 4:14 with Rev 11:4.

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

As Joseph told Pharaoh, “The dream is one, And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass”, which is just another way of saying:

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.

The phrase, “the two candlesticks” is inserted to let us know that, from God’s perspective, every part of “His body which is the church” (Col 1:24) is working in His service as part of His “two witnesses” because we are made to know that ‘candlesticks’ signify ‘churches’ in the first chapter of this book:

Rev 1:20  The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

What does this have to do with you and me? This is what that has to do with you and me:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek – tupos, types of us]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

But are these things not also written for the admonition of the people by whom they are written? The answer in no, not at this time. The day will come when all men, including those by whom these things are written will become those who “shall… live by every Word of God”, but today is not that day. These words are only for ‘all men’ as they come to know Christ and His Father. Here is how the spirit explains this part of the Lord’s plan through the pen of the apostle Peter:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Now before we go on, let’s glean all we can from what is revealed to us here in Zec 4 about these ‘two olive trees’, which are also called ‘two candlesticks’ in Rev 11:4.

1) The first thing we need to notice is that we have to be awakened from sleep to be shown who these two olive trees are.

Zec 4:1  And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,

Once we realize that it is we who “must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4), that knowledge is, in itself, an awakening, and we can now begin to realize that the reason all ten virgins “slumbered and slept” is that we are all first the foolish virgins who do not take enough of God’s spirit, and then we will all, in our own appointed time, become the wise virgins, who tell the foolish virgins to go and buy their own oil (Mat 25:1-13). “All things [really] are ours, [and] there [really] is [only] one event to the righteous and to the sinner” (1Co 3:21-22, and Ecc 9:2).

2) The next thing we are told is that it is through these two olive trees, also called two candlesticks, that all seven of the candlesticks receive the golden oil to provide the light for the temple of God.

Zec 4:2  And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
Zec 4:3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.

What are these seven candlesticks? This is what they symbolize:

Rev 1:20  The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

So, are we talking about 2 candlesticks, or are we talking about seven candlesticks? The answer is, we are talking about both because we always seek the sum of God’s word, and in that ‘sum’ we must consider both the complete church within us, and we must also be concerned with witnessing to that complete church. So we are both 2 and we are 7, and in the final analysis, we are told that the entire “kingdom of God is within you”.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

3) The direct answer to Zechariah’s question, “What are these [two olive trees], my lord?” is “This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord”. Here is that question:

Zec 4:3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right [side] of the bowl, and the other upon the left [side] thereof.
Zec 4:4  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What [are] these, my lord?
Zec 4:5  Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

So the two olive trees are those who are faithful with “the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel”. Just a little later we will learn that these two olive trees “empty the golden oil through the two golden pipes out of themselves”, and into the seven golden candlesticks.

Zec 4:12  And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

The “golden oil” signifies the spirit and Christ tells us that His Words are the spirit:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

4) Zerubbabel, who constructed the second temple, the temple to which Christ came, is an Old Testament type of Christ. Here is the Old Testament type and shadow of what Christ is doing in us:

Zec 4:7  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Zec 4:8  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Zec 4:9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.

It was Christ who was sent to build the church of God, and He said “I will build my church”. So Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ and “His Christ”  is both the builder and the foundation of His own house.

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

In our next study we will consider how Zerubbabel, typifying Christ, uses us to build His church:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me [and you] for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Rev 11:1-3, Part 2 – Leave Out The Court

[Study Aired Oct 11, 2024]

Rev 11:1  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.
Rev 11:2  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.
Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Introduction

We concluded our last study by demonstrating that ‘the court’ of the Temple was the area where the multitudes of the nation of Israel could come to worship their God, but the multitudes were never permitted to go beyond the brazen altar at the front of the temple. Only the priests were permitted to wash in “the sea of brass” that stood between the brazen altar and the temple. No one but the priests were ever permitted to enter into the holy place within the temple, and no one but the high priest was ever permitted to enter into the holy of holies at the west end of the tabernacle and temple, and that was done but once each year on the day of atonement.

All priests are Levites of the tribe of Levi, but not all Levites are priests. Only the sons of Aaron were priests, and they alone had access to the temple and the holy things of the temple.

In the New Testament it is only those who are faithful to the words of our Lord who are “disciples indeed”:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

6) The Gentiles?

In scriptural terms there are only two groups of people, and those two groups are Jews and Gentiles. So once we establish who is the one group, we will know automatically who the other group is. From Rev 11:2 and the rest of scripture, we know that no Gentile is ever allowed to enter into the temple of God:

Rev 11:2  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.

So it is essential that we come to know who scripturally is “a Jew” and who scripturally is “a Gentile”.

Before we look at the verses which give us our answer to this question, let’s remember what Christ told the Samaritan ‘woman at the well’.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

If we can believe Christ, then we can believe Paul when Paul agrees with Christ when he tells us this:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God.

It is given to very few to believe that an outward physical Jew “is not a Jew” in the eyes of God. But that is nevertheless, the doctrine of scripture. Here is how Paul presents this same truth in Eph 2:

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

“Both are now one” and the fact that “there is neither Jew nor Gentile” does not mean that there are no longer Jews in Christ. What it does mean is that those who were once excluded by virtue of physical birth can now be “called uncircumcision” and are now ‘the true circumcision’ if they are in Christ.

Gal 6:15  Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do– submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!
Gal 6:16  All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God— his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them! (MSG)

So those who walk by Christ’s rules are the true Jews, and those who say ‘Lord, Lord’, but do not do the things He says, are the true Gentiles.

1Co 10:20  But I [say], that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

All false doctrines are “the… sacrifice [of] the Gentiles… to devils.” It is all explained in this same second chapter of Romans quoted earlier, where we are told that “an outward Jew is not a Jew”.

Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God.

I ask rhetorically, If there is no respect of persons with God then why are we told “to the Jew first”? The answer is that Paul is speaking of both in spiritual terms just as John does when he tells us:

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the [spiritual] Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Our next question is…

7) What is the holy city?

If the scriptures are true and “he is not a Jew which is one outwardly”, then it is also true that Jerusalem is not Jerusalem which is outward, but the holy city also “is inward, in spirit, and not in the flesh”.

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

We have already demonstrated that whatever is under one’s feet has been subdued by that person. So our question is: What is the holy city which is trodden under the foot of the Gentiles for forty and two months?

While the whole world waits for physical Jerusalem to be conquered by the Gentiles, the truth of God’s Word is that “the time [was] at hand [2,000 years ago for] the holy city” to be “trodden under the foot of the Gentiles”,  and it has always been being trodden under the feet of the Gentiles inwardly, just as surely as “he is a Jew which is one inwardly.”

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.

So what is “the holy city” which is at this very moment being trodden under the feet of the Gentiles? It is all those who are true to Christ. The holy city is those who are faithful to Christ and His doctrines. The holy city is the bride of Christ. Here are those who are today being trodden under the foot of the Gentiles:

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Christ’s “bride” is the same as God’s “dwelling place”, and that dwelling place is within us.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The “New Jerusalem” is “the tabernacle of God.” Therefore, if you and I are God’s elect, then the tabernacle of God, the New Jerusalem, is within God’s elect, as indeed the Lord Himself tells us the whole of “the kingdom of God is within you”.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

It is those who are true to the name and doctrines of Christ, those who are “hated of all men” (Mat 10:22), who are “trodden under the feet of the Gentiles forty and two months”. But exactly…

8) What is forty and two months?

‘Forty and two months’ is the same as ‘one thousand two hundred and sixty days’. That just happens to be the same length of time God’s “two witnesses” of the very next verse are allotted to do their witnessing. It is not called ‘forty and two months’, but it is the same span of time expressed in days instead of months.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

“Forty and two months” is also the same thing as “a time, times, and half a time” or “three and one half years”. We will discuss those words and that way of wording this span of time when we come to them.

It is most instructive now to notice that the time allotted to the beast to blaspheme the name of God is the exact same span of time allotted to the Gentiles to trod the court of the temple under foot, and it is expressed in the same words.

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

As Joseph told the Pharaoh, “the dream is one”:

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

The time God’s elect are trodden under the feet of the Gentiles and the time the beast blasphemes the name of God are also the same length of time, and just as Joseph and all Egypt lived through both the years of plenty and the years of famine, we also live through the years of blaspheming the name of God and the period of being trodden under the feet of those who blaspheme the name of God. In other words we all must “read, hear, and keep” being blasphemers before we become “the holy city” trodden under the feet of those Gentile blasphemers. After all, “all things… written therein… are ours”:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

If indeed ‘all things are ours’ then we are first “the children of disobedience” who “tread under foot the court of the temple” and ‘kill’ the Lord’s elect. Afterward, if God is merciful, we are transformed by the Lord’s “workmanship” (Eph 2:10) into those who, as our Lord was, are the temple of God and who are tread upon and spat upon by ‘the Gentiles’.

Mar 14:65  And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

The symbols of the third verse are…

9) My two witnesses

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Christ tells us that we are never to condemn or judge a brother at the word of a single witness. Instead, our judgments are to be based on the witness of “two or three”.

Mat 18:16  But if he will not hear [thee, then] take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

2Co 13:1  This [is] the third [time] I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

Peter tells us that this principle is also to be used when reading the Word of God.

2Pe 1:20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private [Greek – idios, its own] interpretation.

Since the revelation of Jesus Christ is to be read, heard and kept because the time to do so has been “at hand” for the past two thousand years, God’s two witnesses are, and always have been, any and all of His elect who remain faithful to the Word of God. This will become especially clear in our consideration of the “two olive trees” in our next study.

10) A thousand two hundred and three score days

As mentioned above, it is not a coincidence that the period of time allotted to these two witnesses, is the same period of time allotted to those who trod under foot the court without the temple. The wording is different but the time and the message is the same. Instead of ‘forty and two months’ as the trodding of the temple court and the time of the blaspheming of the beast, the time allotted to God’s two witnesses is expressed as ‘a thousand two hundred and three score days’. These are the same words used to express the three and one half years the “woman [who] brings forth a manchild” is nourished in a place “prepared of God… in the wilderness.

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days.

What is the spiritual significance of this period of time? If ‘seven’ is the Biblical number signifying that which is complete, then ‘1260 days’ or ‘forty and two months’, or ‘a time, times and half a time’, are all symbols of that which is only half completed. But if, as the scriptures declare, Christ’s testimony was cut short “in the midst of the week” of years, then His testimony, and His witness, as well as His afflictions, are filled up in us as “His body which is the church.”

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

Our testimony, witness and afflictions fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our bodies for a thousand two hundred and three score days.

Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

“The word of God” and “the afflictions of the Christ” are both “fulfilled [and] filled up in our bodies which are the church.”

Our last symbol in this week’s study of these first three verses of Rev 11 is…

11) Clothed in sackcloth

Why are we told that God’s two witnesses are “clothed in sackcloth”?

In scripture, sackcloth is the attire of those in deep mourning. Here is the first time in scripture this phrase is used, and it makes clear the meaning of “clothed in sackcloth”. It is the story of Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery and leading Jacob to believe that Joseph had been killed by a beast. Here is Jacob’s reaction to that terrible lie:

Gen 37:34  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

When Joab maliciously murdered King Saul’s captain, King David forced Joab to mourn for Abner.

2Sa 3:31  And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David [himself] followed the bier.

But the question remains, why are God’s two witnesses “clothed in sackcloth”? If we can remember, this is all still part of the sixth trumpet, and the reason these symbolic “two witnesses” are “clothed in sackcloth” as the symbol of those who witness to what they have “read, heard, and kept [in] the things which are written therein” and in that “little book in the hand of the great angel”, is because of what is in that little book.

Eze 2:9  And when I looked, behold, an hand [was] sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10  And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

We all just naturally think that God’s wrath is for some evil person out there in the world. We must be given to see ourselves as the church of Laodicea who thinks of herself as rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing when in reality she is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”.

The little book that Ezekiel ate was full of lamentation, mourning, and woe, and Ezekiel 9 reveals a little of the lamentation, mourning, and woe we must eat and experience, in the bitterness in our bellies:

Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
Eze 9:8  And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? [The seven last plagues of Revelation 15-16.]

This is what Christ calls “gold tried in the fire”, but it is not a marketable commodity for the natural man.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

This 18th verse of Rev 3 is addressed to the church of Laodicea and to “he that hath an ear to hear.” In other words, it is for you and me, if indeed we have been so blessed. The message is that we all think, like the church at Laodicea, that we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, when in reality we are poor and miserable and naked and blind, before we repent and buy of God gold tried in the fire and eyesalve that we may see.

Summary

We have covered 11 symbols in this study.

The symbols of the first verse are:

1) A reed like a rod, which we saw was an implement for measuring, and we saw that Christ is the reed by which those who are in His temple will be measured.
2) The temple of God was our second symbol and we reviewed the verses in 1Co 3 which state plainly that we are that temple and that the spirit of God dwells in that temple.
3) The altar of God, our third symbol, where we saw again that it is the cross and is the symbol of our lives being offered to God as a living sacrifice.
4) Them that worship in that temple is our fourth symbol, and is the symbol not just of us, but of all the kingdoms, powers and principalities within us which must all be subdued and placed under the foot of the great angel with His foot on the sea and the earth. “Them that worship therein” are the doctrines within us which must be subject to the doctrine of Christ.

Rev 11:1  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.

The symbols of the second verse were:

5) The court without the temple, which we saw was that part of our own lives when we are “without the temple” and are not yet the sons of Aaron and are not yet worthy to handle the holy implements of the temple. “The court that is without the temple” symbolizes that part of our life when we are “yet carnal… babes in Christ”, unable to receive anything more than the milk of the word.
6) The Gentiles, was our sixth symbol, and they symbolize the same thing as those who are in the court which is without the temple. Gentiles symbolize all who are incapable of receiving the things of the spirit.
7) The holy city is our seventh symbol, and we saw that it symbolizes the bride of Christ, who is subjected to and forgiven of whoredoms before she becomes Christ’s bride.
8) Forty and two months.

Rev 11:2  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.

We saw that this length of time is the same as three and one half years and we saw that three and one half years is half of the complete witness of seven years. We saw that the other half of the week is the other afflictions of Christ which we fill up in our bodies:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

The symbols of the third verse are:

9) My two witnesses, which we saw are simply the Biblical symbol for those who, down through the years, have been the faithful witnesses to the truths of the doctrines of Christ. We saw the scriptures which demonstrate that God requires a second witness to establish the truth of any question which arises, including questions concerning His own Word.

Our tenth symbol was:

10) A thousand two hundred and three score days, and we demonstrated that these words describe the same period of time as ‘forty and two months’ but are used in describing the time allotted to the two witnesses and the period in which the woman who brings forth the manchild is nourished of God in the wilderness. We pointed out that the ‘one thousand two hundred and sixty days’ of God’s witnesses, corresponds to the ‘forty and two months’ of the time allotted to tread down the court of the temple, and we were reminded that Joseph told the Pharaoh that the different details of Pharaoh’s dream were really saying the same thing. That being the case we, like Joseph, will live through both the time of the treading down of the court without the temple, as well as the time allotted to the two witnesses, just as Joseph lived through both the good years and the years of famine. “All things are yours” (1Co 3:21-22).

Our last symbol was:

11) Clothed in sackcloth. We demonstrated that this symbol is completely compatible with the “lamentations, mourning and woe” revealed in the writings of the little book with which this sixth trumpet is concerned.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Eze 2:9  And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10  And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

As even King David mourned the loss of King Saul, “the Lord’s anointed”, we too, will mourn the loss of and the destruction of our old man, who is also God’s anointed, “first man Adam”.

2 Sa 1:16 David said to him, “Your blood is on your head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord’s anointed’.”

In our next study, Lord willing, we will discover the power of the testimony of the two witnesses.

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.