Two Witnesses Death & Rapture!
Revelation 11:7-14
Two Witnesses Death & Rapture!
Revelation 11:7-14, When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
The Witnesses Resurrected 11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell.
In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the
rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Revelation chapter 11 is another interlude. We are in this seven-year period called the time of tribulation.
A future time just prior to the return of Christ to establish His earthly kingdom. This time began to unfold as seven seals were broken, seven seals that sealed a scroll. That scroll was the title deed to the earth. As each seal was broken, another phase of judgment occurs.
As we have seen seal number six was broken but before number seven, there was an interlude, a pause before the final and most severe judgment, the judgment of the seventh seal. Soon we will be looking at seven bowl judgments.
The seven seal judgments stretch across seven years. The seven bowl judgments happen rapid fire right at the very end of the time period, one right after the other. We will study six of them, and then we will see another interlude. There will be an interlude just before the seventh bowl, as there was before the seventh seal.
We have gone through six of them, and now we are in the interlude before the seventh.
So, in each case there is a pause, or an interlude before the final and seventh judgment. This pause is a long one. It takes up Revelation 10:1-11:14. The Lord again and again reminded His people Israel that their day of salvation would come.
Leviticus 26:44-45, Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.’” Nothing is going to change the unbreakable promises of God.
Jeremiah 31:35-37, Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): 36 “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.” 37 Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord.
God is saying that there is nothing that is going to cause Me to turn My back ultimately on Israel.
Isaiah 62:6-7, I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, 7 And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. You just keep petitioning God until God acts, restores, and redeems Jerusalem.
Isaiah 66:8-10, Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labour, She gave birth to her children. 9 Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the Lord. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God. 10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, And be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; Am I going to come right up the moment of Israel’s glory and not let it happen? No.
Isaiah 66:11-13, That you may feed and be satisfied With the consolation of her bosom, That you may drink deeply and be delighted With the abundance of her glory.” 12 For thus says
the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, And be dandled on her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
Great simple language to describe Jerusalem, a redeemed nation, a redeemed city that suckles the whole world. Giving them the milk of truth and righteousness in the day of her own restoration. The day will come when Israel will be born in a day.
Has God cast away His people? A thousand times no.
Romans 11:25-29, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” 28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Paul is saying that there is a promise to the nation Israel of their ultimate salvation. Their hardening is only partial. It is only temporary. The day will come when all Israel will be saved. This is God’s covenant with them when He promised to someday take away their sins.
This is a matter of God’s choice, and the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. All Israel will be saved is a very important one. There will be a marvellous fulfilment of God’s unbreakable promises to the fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Numerous times the Lord reiterated this promise. In chapter 10 we noted that truth will be preached. There will be the responsibility of some, not only to write, but others to preach, so that people can believe. In chapter 11, even during that time, Israel will be saved.
The time of Jacob’s trouble, which is known as the tribulation time, will become the time of Jacob’s salvation. This is the comforting truth of Revelation chapter 11. During the tribulation that Israel will be saved.
The last events of the tribulation will be the great movement of God that causes the most immense reaction in Israel to saving truth. Already we know a 144,000 Jews have been saved, and they are witnessing missionaries all over the globe. They have been sealed to witness during the seven-year period.
They are protected from death. They go about the world proclaiming the gospel truth. Already we know that they have had an effect: Gentiles have believed, Jews have believed. In chapter 11 we meet two other preachers, and they are the ones who really are used by God as the instruments of the final harvest of the nation Israel. This is right before the very end of the day of the Lord.
They are identified for us as two witnesses. There is going to be a tremendous response. It will be at the preaching under the power of these anointed two witnesses. V 3, And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
These two men will preach warning. They will preach judgment. They will explain the coming wrath of God. They will explain what is going on at the present time, since judgments have already been going on through the first of the seals and then the first of the trumpets and are about to break out in the final bowl judgments.
They will be calling for repentance. They will be calling for belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are clothed in sackcloth, the garments of sorrow, mourning, humility and penitence. V 4, “They are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.”
The imagery here with the olive trees and the lampstands parallels Zechariah’s prophecy, chapters 3 and 4. Two olive trees and two lampstands represent Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the ruler. They were the two men that God used in ancient Israel with the power of the Spirit to rebuild and revive Israel after their captivity.
God raised up those two olive trees, those two lampstands, Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the ruler, to be His instruments to bring revival and rebuilding to Israel.
They were then the agents, the human agents of God’s divine and ancient restoration of Israel physically and spiritually. They were the golden pipes through which the Holy Spirit’s power flowed. Like them, there will be in the end time two witnesses.
Two other men through whom God will flow in Holy Spirit power to bring about renewal, salvation, restoration of Israel, and the bringing in of the glorious kingdom. God used two men in ancient Israel, God will use two men in the future.
Who are they? Moses and Elijah come back to earth. They will be two very powerful servants of God. V 5-6, And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.
They will be violently hated for preaching judgment, wrath, vengeance, and repentance.
Some will repent at their preaching at first, but as the great tribulation moves on to the sixth trumpet, people don’t repent.
Revelation 9:21, And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
When they refuse to repent, they will curse the preachers of repentance. But God is merciful. Just before the final blowing of the seventh trumpet which contains the seven bowls, which is the final rapid-fire holocaust. Leading up to Christ’s return and the establishment of His kingdom, which involves the destruction of all the ungodly, before that happens, the Lord sends two final, powerful witnesses.
➢ Like Enoch and Noah before the flood. ➢ Like Moses in Egypt before the judgments, ➢ Like John the Baptist before the Messiah. God mercifully sends preachers to warn. Now people are going to try to harm them. However, if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies.
The word “devours,” consumes.
If anyone would desire to harm them in this manner, he must be killed. It is necessity, it is absolute necessity.
Why? Because they must be invincible. The message must be sent loud and clear. People have done that, and they have been burned instantaneously. They are to be invincible, because God doesn’t want their preaching stopped. It is very important to the salvation of the nation Israel and to others.
Many are going to die that way. There is going to be effort after effort created to try to get rid of them. But everybody who tries will be instantly ignited and turned into ashes. Many are going to want them dead. The world will endeavour to find strategies that can do the job. They will be unsuccessful because these two are invincible.
They have the power to shut up the sky, in order that the rain might not fall during the days of their prophesying. They are going to prophesy for 3 ½ years. We could conclude by that that it’s not going to rain in the second half of the tribulation.
It is not going to rain for the duration of their prophecy, 3 ½ years. Elijah shut up the heavens for three and a half years. They have the power over those waters to turn them into blood, just like Moses did in Exodus 7:20.
The waters have already been devastated. The second and the third trumpets just devastated the waters.
Revelation 8:8, Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the rivers and springs, became bitter like wormwood, which meant they were no longer useful to drink.
Revelation 8:10, Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
The waters have already been devastated, and now it hasn’t rained. Now whatever water there is left, if they want, they can turn into blood. They will smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire.
Their power is awesome. They make Samson look like a weakling.
- They preach repentance,
- They preach salvation,
- They preach grace,
- They preach forgiveness,
- They preach judgment to come, and
- They are absolutely unstoppable.
Everybody in the world knows about them. Every night on the news it’ll be there constantly. Effort after effort must be made to destroy them. Every time anybody gets near them, they are consumed by fire from their mouths.
Until when? V 7, When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. They are immortal, They are death defying. But only until their allotted time is done.
The word beast this is the first mention in the book of Revelation of the beast. There will be 35 more mentions. Satan has been at work for all the 3 ½ years trying to do this. This beast is none other than the Antichrist who made a pact with Israel at the beginning of the seven years, desecrated the temple at the midpoint, set himself up as God, and has been ruling the world since. As much as he could be ruling the world with it being overrun by demons and the wrath of God.
Revelation 13 later will repeat his career through the tribulation. But the beast who is Antichrist comes up out of the pit. His home, the origin of his passion and character is hell.
- He is demon-possessed.
- He is Satan-empowered.
- He is a man.
But he is empowered by the pit, the abyss, hell itself. Antichrist is victorious over these two preachers. The world is so glad that they are finally dead. V 8, And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
The great city is Jerusalem.
Revelation 21:10, And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
It is the holy city. Here it is called the great city Jerusalem.
- There it is the heavenly,
- Here it is the earthly. ➢ Sodom, a city. ➢ Egypt, a nation.
He also identifies it as Sodom and Egypt. The two most wicked places. Synonymous with wickedness, immorality, oppression, violence, and godlessness. How sad that these men are killed in the city, which was God’s city, the city of God’s people but it has become better titled Sodom and Egypt.
Why were they killed there? The reason they were killed because that is the place where the great majority of their preaching goes on.
They are the instruments that God uses to proclaim the saving gospel to Israel in the end that causes Israel’s ultimate belief in their Messiah. By this time Gentile power under the Antichrist will have overrun Jerusalem.
The temple will have been desecrated. The Antichrist will set up his satanic rule there. Godlessness will reign so that that place is no different than Sodom, and Egypt. Both terms being synonymous with the ultimate in pagan wickedness.
Jerusalem identified as where their Lord was crucified. The Jews will still be in their land, and that is where they are preaching when their death comes. “Their dead bodies are in the streets.” That city once holy, once again in the future to be holy, is now vile and in the streets of that city, their bodies lie.
V 9, Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves.
How will they do that? Television and Internet. That couldn’t have been true before the invention of television. The whole world will watch them decay. Three days is enough to see some severe decay. When Lazarus had been in the tomb only four days.
John 11:39, Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
The unrepentant, unconverted masses will gloat with the Antichrist and give the Antichrist glory. Because he was able to kill these two whom no one could kill, but by whom many died. The brutal display of hatred shows how hardened they are as they let those bodies just lie in the street decaying.
That was done in ancient times. When pagan people wanted to dishonour their enemies, they would leave their corpses lying in the street. That was the ultimate dishonouring of someone.
Deuteronomy 21:22-23, “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but
you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. God says you bury him the same day he dies. But here is a wild celebration. The beast has killed these two preachers, and the world has a party.
V 10, And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Happy dead witnesses day. There will be a wild party.
Do you see how deep the world has plunged into hellishness? Demons, 200 million of them, running all over the earth. The pit has belched out bound demons who have been bound for centuries, to join the ones that have been loose.
Cataclysms on the earth and in the heaven, the wrath of God, the wrath of Antichrist massacring all who oppose him. During all these horrors, the devastation of fresh water, salt water, plants, animals, people, in the midst of all of this, what the world is angry about are two preachers of truth.
When they are dead then it is a party time. Those who dwell on the earth. A technical term for the unconverted. It is used 12 times in the book of Revelation referring to the unbelieving. The whole world by satellite TV joins the party, and they make merry and to be of a jolly mind.
How can they be happy in that mess? They are happy, because these men who confronted them about their sins, iniquities, and the judgment of God are dead. Their emotional response certainly parallels their spiritual condition. Amazingly, they start giving presents to each other because of the relief.
V 10, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. The ungodly rebels, the unrepentant sinners, followers of Antichrist are so sick and so weary of the power of these two, that they put on a party like the world has never seen.
This has got to be the biggest party the world has ever known. This has got to be the ultimate festival.
- They don’t hate Antichrist.
- They don’t hate Satan.
- They don’t even hate the demons destroying them at the same time as much as they hate these two.
Resurrection. V 11, Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
Can you imagine some reporter standing there? They were dead. Having a worldwide party to celebrate the death of these. Suddenly they are getting up! The breath of life from God came into them, they stood on their feet right in the middle of the party.
V 11, and great fear fell on those who saw them. They went into an immediate paralysis. The party is over. They come again. Unimaginable panic and fear. They stand on their feet.
They are not going to preach again. V 12, And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. Can you imagine just the panic worldwide as that is replayed on television over and over?
These two witnesses just went up. It’s a personal two-man rapture. I think they will be smiling as they go.
Wouldn’t that be a perfect opportunity to preach? Why didn’t the voice say, ‘Now preach, and maybe they will listen’?
Luke 16:31, But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” Signs and wonders don’t make the gospel believable, the Holy Spirit does.
They were raised, and at the perfect moment when everybody into the signs and wonders concept would say, “Now preach,” they just smiled and left, with everybody watching.
God punctuated their little two-man rapture. V 13, In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.
When it says a great earthquake, it means a great earthquake. They have been having them for seven years. But this is one a great earthquake. V 13, In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, The term that is used here in the Greek could refer to men of name, or men of note, or leaders, people of distinction.
There are some who believe that it could be an earthquake that devastates all the important buildings that house the leaders of Antichrist’s operation, and they are all destroyed. It is a very select earthquake in the sense that it kills the right seven thousand people. This may be the devastating destruction of his whole coterie.
V 13, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The last of the Jews who are then living coming to faith in their Messiah. An appropriate point for them finally to fulfil Zechariah, to look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as an only son, and for a fountain of blessing and salvation to be opened unto Israel.
There it is, in Jerusalem. Certainly, the dominant population of Jerusalem is Jewish. It is an appropriate way at the end of verse 13 to describe Israel’s salvation.
Revelation 9:20-21, But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. Rest of them don’t repent when the sixth trumpet comes. They are beyond it. Their hearts are hard.
But here, these who were terrified gave glory to the God of heaven. The others refused to do that. They refused to glorify God, and they blaspheme God.
The Jews in that moment do what the Gentiles have been asked to do throughout the whole period.
Revelation 14:7, saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” Fear God and give Him glory.
Revelation 16:9, And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. Giving in glory was responding with fear and repentance. V 13, “They gave glory to the God of heaven” That was a saving response.
They were fearing God, worshiping the true God, repenting of their sin, because that is how glory is given to Him. Giving glory to God is an appropriate response. They had heard the preaching of these men for a long time.
They had heard the preaching of the 144,000. The gospel was available to them.
Finally in that moment, the remaining remnant of Israel is described as believing. Luke 17, cleansing of the ten lepers. Only one of them came back.
Luke 17:18-19, Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” A born blind was healed by Jesus in John 9. The Pharisees called him and asked him to give glory to God.
John 9:24, So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”
The Jews were saying to him, “You need to respond to God in a proper and appropriate way.”
Acts 12:23, Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. Herod was struck by the angel because he didn’t give God the glory. Giving God glory is the proper worship, the proper response, the proper fear, the proper repentance.
At this point we have that culmination then of Israel’s salvation. The interlude ends. V 14, The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. ➢ The first woe the fifth trumpet. ➢ The second woe was the sixth trumpet.
➢ The last woe will be the seventh and final trumpet. He is saying that Israel will believe. After that comes the rapid-fire bowl judgments which compromise the seventh trumpet that make up the end. Then the Lord returns.
We have come then to a climactic point when we see the belief of Israel.
Acts 3:19-21, Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Peter preaching that when you repent and you return to God, the times of the kingdom, the Messiah will come. He will institute the period of restoration promised in ancient times.
You repent, the King will come and set up the kingdom. V 13, is the final expression of the faith of the nation Israel. They are regathered, restored, converted. Final judgment comes in rapid succession and the King arrives, destroys the nations of the world and all the ungodly, and sets up His kingdom just as the prophets said.
Now as we come then to the seventh trumpet, we come to the very end. Why does the book go on and on from there? Because it summarises. Goes back and describes the career of Antichrist. Describes the one-world church, Describes the one-world economy.
Goes back historically in ways that fill in that seven-year period. The seventh trumpet that is blown starting in verse 15.