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2. The Death of the Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:7-10)
REVELATION 11:7-10
7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
When the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, a star fell from heaven (Revelation 9:1-2). To the angel was given the power to open the shaft of the abyss to hell (key to the bottomless pit). Since then, hell is no longer closed, but open, spewing out her impure, evil spirits upon all nations of earth. They flow today out of countless TV screens into the hearts and minds of fascinated viewers!
Into the middle of the end-time woes, demonic deception and world wars, the risen Lord will send His two witnesses, who, like Moses and Elijah, will tell of His power and holiness to the children of Jacob. These two spirit-gifted messengers of the Lamb of God will in no way be commissioned, like Jesus and His apostles, to accomplish miracles of healing. Much more, they will call plagues of the wrath of God over His chosen people, in that the nation does not want to be converted to their crucified Messiah.
For at least some of the hearers, however, the distressing call to repentance of the two servants of Christ will bring about true repentance. But on the whole, the message and threats brought by the two specially commissioned servants of Christ will meet with rejection from the nation.
Nevertheless, Satan will be forced to see how more and more individuals within the demon-enticed nation, having had the message of law and gospel, judgment and grace pressed upon them, repent and openly confess Jesus as their Messiah. As a result, he will see himself forced to draw upon his mightiest weapon, and send forth his beast from out of the bottomless pit. The appearance of the last antichrist will be brought about through the working of the two preachers of repentance in Israel. The antichrist will only be able to appear openly as a person, however, after the testimony of the two witnesses has been completed. No one will be able to do them harm until they have faithfully delivered their message. In similar fashion was the temptation of Jesus. After 40 days and nights of fasting He was weak in body, and in just this situation the evil one came to personally test Him. Likewise, the two witnesses will stand before the animal from the bottomless abyss, having seen little obvious success from their deployment, in spite of the miraculous plagues.
The son of the evil one will receive the right to wage battle against the two envoys of the Lamb, to tempt and test them through trickery and force. He will seemingly win the battle in close combat. He cannot, however, overcome them spiritually, but only kill their bodies. He will trumpet his pseudo-victory throughout the whole world, and will claim to be stronger than all of God's messengers, stronger even than the Lord Himself. He will blaspheme God and His Lamb.
As visible evidence of his power, he will publicly exhibit the corpses of the two witnesses in Jerusalem. In worldwide TV everyone will be convinced of this, when they see the dogs licking the blood and gnawing on the bodies of the two who were “invincible”. No one will protest against this inhuman wrong, for all the nations will have suffered under the strict judgments of these two messengers of Christ for 1260 long days. Especially the withholding of rain will have driven many to the verge of despair.
The masses will gloat over the powerlessness of the two witnesses, will jeer at and curse them. Many will laugh, celebrate, and give gifts to one another. They will enjoy to the full their victory over God and His hated messengers. They will believe that once again they can act and practice the deeds they desire with impunity. Their victory will be celebrated as boundless freedom, a freedom even from God! Some will mock the words of the dead, cynically repeat their warnings and threats of punishment. Their dead corpses will be shown close up on TV for three-and-a half days.
John calls the city in which Jesus Christ, the lord of the two witnesses, had been crucified “Sodom and Egypt”. The two witnesses will, in fact, have ruthlessly exposed the moral perversity of Jerusalem and the spiritual adultery of its residents. In the meantime, homosexuality has been judiciously legalized in Israel! In the following chapters of his revelation the prophet never again refers to Jerusalem as the “Holy City” (Revelation 11:2). Rather, he compares it with Egypt, the symbol of mass idolatry, magic and necromancy, where previously every Pharaoh had been a medium for demons and where once again today women marry evil spirits (jinn).
The worship of money, trust in stockpiled ABC–weapons, a card file worldwide net of influential relationships, and the hidden power of Free Masonry are far more powerful in Israel than many realize. All the spirits of the world are to be found in Jerusalem! Their lord and master will send his beast from the abyss to them, in order to bring to completion his goal of ruling the world from the place where Jesus was crucified. The numerous mergers of companies, banks, countries, churches and religions will prepare the way for him.
The two dead bodies will, however, even without words, speak unmistakably loud. The two witnesses had remained faithful to their resurrected Lord to the bitter end. They had washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb and not loved their lives to the point of death. They had believed and confessed the words of Jesus, who had said to them: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
The witnesses will have, before their death, powerfully testified in word to the eternal life of all those dead in Christ, and of His resurrection power in His followers (John 3:16; Philippians 1:21-25; Revelation 14:13, etc.). Therefore, the beast will want to prove to those who had been influenced by their words that the two really are dead. Flies will swarm over their decaying bodies, and in the heat they will stink horribly. Through this display, the memory of them and the impression their preaching made should be morally destroyed, extinguished and wiped out. Any remaining fear or belief of their message is to be eradicated.
Beginning at the time the beast appears from out of the abyss, the treatment of the saints of Jesus Christ is to be bestial, even dreadful.
PRAYER: Righteous Lord Jesus, You forced the antichrist to appear as a beast coming up out of the abyss when a few of the members of the Old covenant had repented, and You allowed him to kill Your two witnesses and let their dead bodies decay in Jerusalem that the spirit of the antichrist might be uncovered. Help us to recognize his coming, and give us power to continue in You at any price.
QUESTION:
- What is the clear evidence of the beast's coming from Hell?