Before moving into the actual content of this writing I would encourage
a little review. First, and above all,
you might need to read the previous blog posting “The Rapture Question”.Until
you have discovered that there is no pretribulational “rapture” of the entire
church body you are totally handicapped in understanding the difficult passages
presented in the Revelation. If by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit you
have gotten past that barricade to your understanding then I would recommend
that you read two more blogs. First, the
“man child” blog will teach you that the main body of the church will pass
through the great tribulation. Then move on to a more recent posting entitled
“Measuring the Temple”. If you can comprehend from these three blogs what is
happening here at the beginning of the tribulation then you will be able to
understand the ministry of “My Two Witnesses” beginning at Revelation11:3. If
you have received your spiritual nurture in the mainstream evangelical churches
you very likely are going to have difficulty in grasping these concepts because
these truths are unknown in today’s fundamentalist churches. What you really
need to do is order a copy of my title: These
Prophets and the Revelation to equip yourself with a complete understanding
of end time biblical prophecy. But since you do not have that information in
hand we will have to move forward anyway with as much as we can without it.
The
topic of Revelation 11:1-12 is a preparation for a ministry of the gospel of
the kingdom throughout the world to be accomplished in a period of three and
one-half years. This fact is verified by Jesus at Matthew 24:14 where we read:
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the entire world for a
witness to all nations; and then shall the end come.” Evangelicals in general
do not understand that the resurrection of the saints does not take place until
”immediately after the tribulation of
those days”( Matt. 24:29- first phrase).
So
what is seen first in the passage after the measuring of the temple is that the
Lord is going to empower his witnesses to carry the gospel message to the
entire world before the end of the age. The
next problem to overcome is that if we interpret literally that there are only
two people to accomplish that feat which by any sense of reason is impossible;
then we must come to understand that the two witnesses represent a spiritual
principle by which God has always operated. Most evangelicals would say that it
is Moses and Elijah or maybe it is Enoch and Elijah. The principle of two
witnesses and testimony to all truth in order for it to be conveyed is that
first the Lord must have people who are walking and speaking according to the
Holy Spirit. Now then those people, however many they may be, have access to
the second witness which is the Holy Spirit. When I write this blog if the
Spirit of God does not testify to you that these words are truth then you have
no ability to understand what I am saying. If the Holy Spirit says “amen” to
your spirit then you know that it is truth.
The
time of the tribulation is one of great difficulty and one of total persecution
of the people of God (3 1/2 years) because the enemy through the Antichrist is
seeking to destroy anything which bears testimony to the reality of Christ. So
we do not interpret that literal fire is coming from the months of the
witnesses. (11:5). It is a metaphor. (Compare Jer. 23:29). Nor do we interpret that they have power to
stop it from raining for three and one-half years. It is that the Spirit of the
Lord in them testifies to the word of God coming down from haven. Read the
power given to Elijah at I Kings 17:1 and context and then understand that its
usage in this context is being portrayed in metaphor. The same is true of the
ministry of Moses in delivering the Israelites out of Egypt. Then there were
physical miracles being performed because the Holy Spirit was not then
operating in the same way that He is now under the new covenant. It is written
and understood in metaphor.
As
the testimony of these witnesses is completed, each one individually, the beast
“shall make war with them, and shall overcome them and then kill them.”(verse
7). This activity of the ministry of the gospel and the martyrdom of the saints
will last over the entirety of the three and one-half years. (comp. Dan
11:32-35) The word days in verse 9 should have been translated years because
the translators did not completely understand the context. Look it up in a concordance
and you will see that the translation of the word is governed by the context.
The context here it is 31/2 years, forty and two months or one thousand two
hundred and three score days.
We
see in verse ten that the world will be rejoicing over their death even sending
gifts to one another. Their joy and elation will be but for a short time
because we see that at the end “the
Spirit of life entered into them and they stood upon their feet: and great fear
fell upon them which saw them.” Why? Because the resurrection is
occurring. (comp. vs 11-12) “And
they heard a great voice from heaven saying come up hither. And they ascended
up to heaven in a cloud: and their enemies beheld them.”(Compare this with
I Thes. 4:13-17, not the “rapture “as dispensationalists teach, but rather the
resurrection. See also Matt. 24:29-31- same event).
This
is a brief explanation of the passage. Much more detail can be found in my book
Thee Prophets and the Revelation as well as many other insights explaining the
words of the prophets. If you really have an interest in learning the truth of
end time events you may find it here as well as in the book. Unfortunately, you won’t find it in your
church.
David Lance Dean
other blogs referenced at:
theseprophets.blogspot.com
