Little is taught by Bible prophecy teachers about the role of the two witnesses of Revelation 17. They arrive on the scene sometime after the Rapture and they witnesses from Jerusalem for 1260 days.<\/p>\n

Bible prophecy teachers correctly point out that the last seven years starts with Israel signing a covenant but they seem to overlook the fact that the ministry of these two prophets also marks the beginning of the last seven years. The great tribulation is the result of the world’s rebellion against the message that His anointed prophets bring. Had the world repented and received their message they would have received God’s kingdom.<\/p>\n

During the first half of Daniel’s 70th week of years these two prophets of God become the central focus of the entire world. The message they give and the world’s rejection of it is the very reason the lawless Beast\/Antichrist rises to power. He will oppose the Lord’s kingdom.<\/p>\n

Rev 11:3\u00a0 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days<\/strong>, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.<\/strong> 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. 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. 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.<\/strong> 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. 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. 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.<\/strong>
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The passage implies that the world will not like what the prophets are proclaiming and they will seek to kill them. After they finished their 1260 day testimony the Beast Son of Perdition is allowed to come up from out of the underworld and he kills them. The world then throws a great party because God’s prophets have been killed. Have you pondered about what these prophets said and did to make the world respond in such a manner? By the way, the viewing of their dead bodies by the nations of the world could only occur in our generation.<\/p>\n

The Revelation passage says these prophets are the two olive trees standing before God. Zechariah 4:14 also mentions the same two olive trees standing with God. These two men walked with God but they had not yet died because we are told that the Beast kills them. Only Enoch and Elijah were taken alive to heaven. Some think one is Moses but Moses died and God told Moses they he would not be allowed to set foot on the promised land while in his natural body. These natural men give their message from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

They were in the presence of the Creator so they will be telling the world the truth about Jesus and the plan of God for Israel. The world will reject their message. Revelation makes it clear that the whole world will be told the truth before the end of the age. The plan of God will be told by His prophets and later by the angels. The people of the world can accept or reject their message but rejecting it reaps eternal consequences.<\/p>\n

The two prophets obviously will be telling the world that Jesus is the Messiah and that the world needs to repent because the time for the Lord’s kingdom on earth has come. I suppose they will be saying something like what John the Baptist preached, “repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand”. They also will make it very clear that when Jesus returns the Jews will receive their promised kingdom and the Jews will rule the earth from Jerusalem. The Jew hating world will not welcome that message. They will seek to kill them.<\/p>\n

I also think they will be telling the world that the Kingdom of the Jews ruled by Jesus will require all to repent of their sins, make Jesus Lord, and keep His commandments. Today we see people in the world celebrating their sins in their lawless rebellion against God’s order. They will refuse to submit to the God of heaven. They instead will exalt the Antichrist and reap the consequences.<\/p>\n

The message of the two prophets will be rejected by the world early in their ministry but the world will be powerless to stop them until the 1260 days of their testimony are completed. Anyone that tries to harm them brings swift supernatural judgment on themselves.<\/p>\n

The Temple will either have just been rebuilt or it will be under construction during their ministry. The outer court will be trampled down by Gentiles for 42 months (Rev 11:2). Therefore, it looks to me like the Temple grounds will be under the administration of Rome for the first half of the last seven years.<\/p>\n

The two prophets have a great deal of control over the earth in the days of their ministry. They can turn water into blood, prevent it from raining and they will have the power to call down plagues and judgments on the earth as often as they wish.<\/p>\n

These prophets know that calling down judgments is got going to get people to repent so there must be some other reason for the judgments. Perhaps they are telling the nations of the world to send their Jews back to Israel and the nations are refusing to comply? The nations will fear that complying would lead to the Jewish kingdom that they so oppose.<\/p>\n

When Israel was delivered from Egypt we saw two such anointed figures. Moses and Arron where telling Pharaoh to let the Hebrews people go. Pharaoh’s continued refusals brought increasing judgments on Egypt. Pharaoh eventually let the Hebrews depart but he then came after them to kill them all. It seems that something similar is happening here. What happen in Egypt may be a foreshadow of what will happen on a world scale in these last days. No wonder the world fears and hates the two prophets and rejoices when they are killed.<\/p>\n

After the two prophets lead out the Jews from the nations, Satan’s Beast rises out of the Abyss, kills the two prophets and deceives all the nation to come against Israel to kill all the Jews. The nations of the world will agree to send their armies to kill all the Jews because they do not want the prophecies of the two witnesses to be fulfilled. The great tribulation in the second half of the last seven years is that rebellion against God’s plans for Israel playing out.<\/p>\n

The world wants to kill all the Jews but God will judge the nations based on how they treat Israel. The world did not love the truth that the two witnesses gave, so they will receive the lie (Beast\/Antichrist).\u00a0Babylon the Great set up by the Antichrist is nothing less than a lawless counterfeit substitute kingdom of God. It is a replacement for the Jewish kingdom from Jerusalem that God plans.<\/p>\n

People and nations that will not repent will bring destruction on their own head when the Beast leads them to oppose God’s kingdom plan. Even those surviving the great tribulation will be judged by how they treated the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel preaching the gospel of the coming kingdom. None that opposed the Jewish kingdom will be allowed to enter the kingdom. That is what Matthew 25: 31-46 is all about.<\/p>\n

The message the world should hear is that when God sends two prophets that validate themselves by calling down judgments they should heed them and not oppose them. The God of creation is not going to change His mind and He cannot be defeated.<\/strong> The Jewish Messiah will come to Jerusalem and rule the world from Jerusalem. The great tribulation with the destruction it brings comes as a result of the world rejecting God’s message delivered through the prophets. The world will replace truth with the lies of the Antichrist.<\/p>\n

God sends His prophets before judgment. The two prophets of Revelation are key in understanding last day events. The world could have repented and received Jesus and His kingdom but they will refuse to do that. The great tribulation judgements carried out by angels comes as a result of man’s rebellion against the oracles of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Little is taught by Bible prophecy teachers about the role of the two witnesses of Revelation 17. They arrive on the scene sometime after the Rapture and they witnesses from Jerusalem for 1260 days. Bible prophecy teachers correctly point out … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[54,42],"yoast_head":"\n