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Have you ever wondered and meditated on this part of prophecy? Just what does the Bible have to say about them?
Sometime ago I realised that the two witnesses are referred to in Revelation 11. When I read through the whole chapter one verse stood out to me very vividly. Revelation 11:11 states “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”. The connection of the two witnesses standing on their feet, and the matching of this visually to the digits, made for a very strong memory. Immediately I knew I could always remember where to find this scriptural reference because each witness had two legs represented by each digit of the number 11. Made perfect sense to me. Love God’s humour because I think He uses humour and gives us ways to remember things such as this example. Thinking about where I may have got this idea from, I remembered that here in Australia the caller in the game of Bingo always refers to 11 as “legs eleven” because the number 1 looks like a leg and a pair look like 2 legs.
All of the sermons I listened to on this topic, over the first decade of my walk with God, mentioned that the two end time witnesses were men. I simply listened and did not question this aspect, nor did I scrutinise or search the scriptures to determine if this was indeed the case. In hindsight I blindly believed these teachings. It did not matter to me if they were men. It never even occurred to me that they could be women, or one man and one woman. More importantly I was interested in the details of their mission.
One day I was challenged by another baptised member when we were discussing this topic while sharpening iron (Proverbs 27:17). He suggested I take another look to show him, more importantly, myself, where the scripture refers to the two witnesses as both being men. I deliberately decided to do what the Bereans did and really search out the scriptures to see if it is so, just as the teacher preached (Acts 17:11). It really was a revelation when I found out that nowhere did God mention that they were men. God did not say they were women either. He referred to the two end time witnesses as “they” and “them”. Could this be deliberate? Could God want us to take note of each and every word contained in His Holy Bible? The more I read the Bible the more I find myself noticing it is a matter of what God says, and what He does not say. Humans tend to read into things, jump to conclusions, and get in the way. Now I know it is always best to keep things simple and not complicate matters.
The Day God’s Word Literally Jumped Out At Me
Not too long ago as my memory serves me, and soon after my baptism into God’s Church, one of my biggest trials came. The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing and I am finally ready to share what actually happened to me without any fear. I need to provide a WARNING here that what you are about to read involves a supernatural event and is quite remarkable, even unbelievable — unless it happened to me as first hand experience, I perhaps would be skeptical too. After my calling the devil used several supernatural events to scare me away from God and from keeping the Sabbath. Perhaps these will be shared one day but now is not the time for those accounts.
However it is time to declare God’s great goodness! Psalm 66:16 does just that with “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul”.
God caused a mighty miracle to occur for me so that I was saved from the clutches of the adversary. Only a year or so before my calling, I was actively following the devil, mostly unwittingly while living a pagan lifestyle in the world. I went through a stage early on in my conversion when I was unbalanced and heavily into prophecy. It was incredibly interesting and I wanted to know! This trial was intense and urgent. It took all of my concentration and meditation on God’s Word, being still (Psalm 46:10), and actively listening, or tuning in to God, to resist the magnetic pull of the enemy.
It was March/April 2008 and about 12 months after my baptism. For a full 3 days I wanted my will — to stay home from work and read a book another member gave to me about prophecy. However the still small voice in my head (pricking away at my conscience) kept letting me know, that to stay home from work when I was not ill, and to call in sick to have time off to read this captivating book, is a lie and that is sinful. How I wanted to ignore this knowledge that I did not actively hear in words, but actively knew. I marveled at how persistent it was but not overpowering. God never forces Himself on anyone. We always have a choice.
I knew I had a choice to make and ultimately it was my decision based on free will. Suddenly I found myself wanting this one thing more desperately than I have wanted anything in my life. It was so powerful and it felt good. Mere words just cannot describe the urgency, the pull, the frantic rushing of the need to read this book in its entirety. I had read about one third and saw nothing wrong with it but then again I now know I was young in the faith and could not discern truth from error. There seemed to be a lot of truth in this “prophetic” book and that is how these self proclaimed prophets deceive. After all, the devil knows scripture incredibly well, and that is how he can twist and subtly change it, so that those who do not have a deep relationship with God can be fooled.
There is no doubt about it. God was protecting me and I had no idea. I did not ring in sick to my employer as I kept thinking to myself that it would be wrong. To tell a lie is sinful. Even though I wanted to do this, thankfully I did not. I think that is why God saved me. I listened to God over the forces of evil. God was persistent but quiet. The adversary was urgent, pushy, noisy, and came with a lust for knowledge that felt good. I was walking on a tightrope and didn’t even know it. How dangerous it was, and I was oblivious to the danger. I was focussed on how nice this feeling felt to read the book containing all this “truth”. At the very height of the cloak of deception that hovered all around me in a frenzy of urgency, I spoke to another member in our congregation over the phone to see what his thoughts were on the book in question.
He admonished me lovingly by saying “Deanne don’t you remember the scripture in Mark 13:32 and 33?” “Yes” I replied “I remember that one, of course I do”. Even so, I wanted to put this to one side and almost ignore it in light of new information. He said to me “Let’s just open up our bibles and read it together”. And so we did. As I read aloud the words contained therein the word YOU came off the page in capital letters and travelled up to my face so that YOU was before my very eyes almost touching them and then went back down into the Bible again as it normally appeared as lower case “you”. I could not contain myself. I kept saying “Wow, wow, wow, did you see that?!!! The word “you” jumped off the page and almost touched my face. I can’t believe it. Wow, wow, wow!!!” Of course I did believe it! My spiritual brother excitedly told me he believed me. Only then did I fully realise that a spell had been broken and all the rushing, the urgency, the noisy pandemonium had ceased. When it started exactly I do not remember, but I fully realised in this moment that I had been under some great deceptive power that almost deceived me to destroy my relationship with God.
The scripture in Mark 13:32-33 says “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for YOU do not know when the time is”. God brought me back down to earth, as it were, with a merciful awakening. I was not to fixate on exactly when Christ returns and not to predict or try to figure out when this will be. My time and efforts were to be used wisely. I got the message in a very profound way. I guess I needed something dramatic to snap me out of the deception I could not see. God will work in whatever way He needs to in order to reach those whom He calls. He is not limited by human frailties and human passions. We must resist taking matters into our own hands to try and figure out things He does not want us to know just yet. God knows best. Lesson learned.
What the Bible Reveals About The Two End Time Witnesses
Likewise with the two end time witnesses, if God wanted us to know who they are He would have revealed this. Whether they are men, women, or one man and one woman we simply are not told. Can you imagine living knowing you will be an end time witness? That would be incredibly distracting or just too much information to process. It may have the power to cause fear, interfere with decisions made, influence us and put us instead on a course of self destruction through perceived power and pride. The two would be prime candidates for being led directly into Satan’s deception. Instead we are told that they are clothed in sackcloth which symbolises great humility. Of one thing we can be sure. If we see someone proclaiming themselves to be one of the two witnesses, we can be 100% certain that they are NOT.
It would not surprise me in the least if the two end time witnesses were one man and one woman; perhaps a married couple so humble and serving God in all that they do. Just going about His business each and every day in their simple lives. Not needing fanfare, any praise, certainly not worship or adulation. Perhaps one will be from the line of David while the other from Aaron’s lineage? Maybe an Ephramite and a Mannassahite? We will all just have to wait and see. It is interesting to stop and ponder while meditating on end time events. In the big picture scheme of things it is not important but what is important is for God’s faithful to wait, watch and pray, and all will be revealed eventually to them, according to His purpose and in HIS time.
While studying about the two end time witnesses I read through the preceding chapter of Revelation 10 where scripture talks about John eating the little book. This is in Revelation 10:8-11. I had always wondered why the little book tasted sweet like honey in John’s mouth but it makes his stomach bitter. Suddenly it dawned on me that as God’s word comes forth out of John’s mouth; the message is pure, sweet, and righteous. However, the sensation of a bitter stomach refers to the prophesying again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings...a very hard message to accept, and the vast majority of the world does not want to hear it. In fact the world hates God’s message.
And so, immediately after this scripture enter the two end time witnesses in Revelation 11. They will be given power by God to prophesy 1,260 days. Many will want to harm them but God protects them (read Revelation 11:5-6). After their mission of prophesying God’s message to the world, they will be killed, their bodies left in the streets unburied for 3 and a half days. That is how much these two will be hated and despised. The overwhelming contempt from people will prevent anyone from wanting to give them a proper burial. Their bodies will begin to decay in the streets while the world rejoices over their death by having a worldwide party, giving gifts to one another, making merry, and rejoicing over their demise (Revelation 11:7-10).
God brings them back to life after the 3 and a half days finish and in full view of the world. People were convinced they were dead forever. Not so! You can read of their ascension into heaven in a cloud while their enemies looked on in Revelation 11:11-12. What an amazing account of the two end time witnesses!
For us, God’s elect, we must take one day at a time proving all things from God’s word and avoid thinking about exact dates. This is a futile exercise and can interfere with living an abundant life which is what God chooses for us (John 10:10). We would do well to heed God’s final words to us in Revelation 22:18-19 “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book”.