Revelation 11 - The Two Witnesses (notes)

Revelation 11 - The Two Witnesses

Sequence of Events

1. The 2nd 3 a half years of the tribulation are mentioned from Rev. 11 to 19.
2. Chapter 12 is a parenthetical explanation.
3. Chapter 13 is a description of the two beasts.
4. Chapter 14 is a parenthetical prophecy.
5. Chapters 15 & 16 deal with the last woe started by the last trumpet.
6. Since chapter 12,13 and 14 are parenthetical we can better understand the events of the tribulation if we put 15 right after chapter 11.
7. Chapter 17 deals with the religion of the whore.
8. Chapter 18 describes the down fall of the great city of Babylon.
9. Chapter 19 tells about the advent of Jesus to the earth, bringing the second half of the tribulation period to an end and ushering the Millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ.

During The First

• Three and half years the antichrist has been at peace with Israel. He helped rebuild the temple for the Jews.
• In the second half of the tribulation satan is kicked out of heaven and enters the heart of the antichrist.
• As a result he breaks the seven year treaty in the middle and begins war to wipe out the Jews.

In The Place where the temple stood the Muslims built their own mosque, the Dome of The Rock between A.D. 687 and 691. Believing the sight from which their prophet Mohammed was take up to Heaven. It is the 2nd most holy place in Islam.

During The Six Day War of 1967 Israel captured from Jordan the old part of Jerusalem where the Mosque stands. Today Israel has finished preparations to rebuild the temple and is ready to start any time.

But The Jews who cannot even go near the present Mosque, will start a war with the Muslims when they decide to tear down the Mosque to make room for the new temple. They can not succeed without the help of a Unified Europe.

There Are Two Types of People Among The Jews

1. Pious people who fervently worship God through Judaism.
2. But there are also those who ridicule Judaism, denying the existence of God.

In order to separate those two types of people, John measured the temple and the altar and counted the worshippers with a rod like reed. However God tells John to measure the court outside the temple. Some believe that God will only save those who worship inside the temple.

The antichrist has been making preparation for his rule of the world in the first 3 & a half years of the tribulation. Now he will change his shape into a “beast” and for the remaining 3½ years rule with full authority. Then he will break the seven year treaty he had made with Israel and set up his own idol image in the altar of the temple forcing the Jews to worship it. Daniel 9:27 mentions this and so does Jesus in Matthew 24:15-16.

The Two Witnesses

Clothed in sackcloth appear and prophecy for 3½ years. The 144,000 Jews sealed by God on their foreheads to be preachers are seen no more. They have been taken up into Heaven where they praise God. Now it is time for the two witnesses to come and prophesy.

What Will Be Their Message?

1. That people receive salvation by faith in Jesus Christ through the blood of the cross.
2. That the antichrist is not the Messiah but a wicked criminal, the son of perdition.
3. They will bear witness of the imminent judgment of God. How the antichrist will hate these two messengers. He will grind his teeth with vexation, taking revenge by killing them.

Who Are The Two Witnesses?

Some say it is Moses and Elijah or John and Enoch. I don’t know and I don’t pretend to know.

If Anyone

• Tries to hurt them while they are prophesying “fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner.”
• They have the power to shut the heavens 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.

When They Accomplish their prophetic mission the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit fights against them and overcomes them and kills them.

• Their bodies lie in the street of Jerusalem for three and a half days (symbolic of the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation).
• The pagans of the earth will rejoice over them and will even give gifts to each other.
• God resurrects them from the dead.

Now The 7th trumpet is sounded and worship breaks out in Heaven because the judgments of God are righteous and just because God is perfect and when He judges it is always right and just.