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.