Rev 11:5-7 Life and Death of the Two Witnesses 11/13/2005 ßà
#1. The Fire of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:5, Mat 10:28)
#2. The Power of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:6, Gen 3:17)
#3. The Death of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:7, Dan 7:25, 8:24, 1John 4:3, 2Thes 2)
Please open your Bibles to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Rev
11:1 (2X). If you include the two sermons of Dan 9:24-27, we have spent
already 4 sermons on Rev 11, and we are not even half way. What makes this
chapter so difficult is that it is a mix of symbols and real literal stuff. And
yet it is very important that we understand this chapter very well. Two
weeks ago, when we considered the first two verses in this chapter, we came
to the conclusion that
Let us pick up the context, beginning at verse 1 of this chapter,
Re 11:1 ¶ And
there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise,
and measure the
Re 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Re 11:3 ¶ And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Re 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Re 11:5 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.
Re 11:6 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.
Re 11:7 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.
Re 11:8 And
their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which
spiritually is called
As their name already indicates, the two witnesses must bear testimony
of the truth and of the name of Jesus Christ. The church with its ministry is
placed as a testimony in the world, to declare to the world that all are in
need of salvation from their slippery slide into Hell, and that there is
salvation only by grace through faith in the saving work of Christ crucified. That
is the sole calling of the church. Some
people believe that they can witness just by their actions, or by their
lifestyle. Well, first of all our actions are not so perfect all the time. And
the unsaved world watches every move we make. And they are quick to catch us in
our not so good works every time. Secondly if Mary thinks that she can witness
to her neighbor just by her actions, then on the Last Day when the angels pick
up that neighbor and cast him into Hell, he wonders “Why was Mary such a good
person?” No, it is certain that witnesses must speak. A silent witness
is impossible. Moreover, the witnesses are called to prophesy. And thus they
are called prophets. What must they prophesy? Must they prophesy the
future? Certainly the church must bear testimony in the world of the future
Judgment that is coming on all the unsaved, and of the future glory that is
coming on all those who have become saved, and that they will be elevated to the
status of children of God. But that is not the only thing prophets must do. A
prophet must also speak the words God has given him or her. Just like
Aaron was the prophet of Moses in Ex 7:1, so the church is called to be
the prophet of Christ, and the prophet of Christ speaks for Christ, on His
authority and in His name. And this is also indicated by the symbolism of the
candlesticks and of the olive trees. The purpose of a candlestick is that it
may give light; and the two olive trees supply the oil that is necessary to
keep the candlestick burning. They both must be witnesses in the world and
mouthpieces of Christ. But at the same time they must witness in the church,
before the people of God, so that the people of God may receive more light to
shine for the Lord of the whole earth. This is the task of the two witnesses, who
are also called “the witnessing church”. We are members of “the witnessing
church”. And what will be the content of our message? We find our
commission in the Bible, the Word of our God. We stand before the Lord of the
whole earth. We are servants of the Lord of the whole earth. And thus we will
speak of nothing else than that which our Lord has commissioned us to speak. We
speak of Christ and His atoning blood. We speak of Christ crucified as
the only way to redemption from the state of sin and the only way to receive
the righteousness that God requires for entrance into His holy heaven. That
blood is the witness to the glory of God in the midst of a world of sin.
And thus, there is no hope in man, but only in the blood of the Redeemer.
Therefore we openly condemn all efforts to seek salvation outside of that
atoning blood, and we openly condemn the preaching that man can save himself by
making a decision to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. We
bear the name of Christ in two ways. In the first place, we bear that
name to fields where it never was mentioned before, over all the world. In our
missionary efforts we carry the sound of that name before all people and nations
and kindreds and tongues. But secondly, we also bear that name into our
immediate surroundings. We bear that name in the midst of
#1. The Fire of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:5, Mat 10:28)
Re 11:5 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.
Wow! Could this mean that we will be literally fire-breathing witnesses? Would we be so powerful that we can kill our enemies at will? And you can see that this is altogether anathema to the concept of followers of Christ. The followers of Jesus Christ are not going around zapping people with fire so that they will immediately be condemned to Hell. Instead we want them to live, so that they eventually may come to repentance, if God wills. And secondly, if we would indeed be able to zap all our enemies, then no one would be able to touch us and kill us, like we read in verse 7. And so we realize that these two witnesses do not literally kill those who come against them. This fire must have a spiritual meaning But then the killing must also have a spiritual meaning, and this spiritual meaning of killing must be carried through consistently in verse 7, where the two witnesses are killed. Let us then consider that the two witnesses kill with the fire that proceedeth out of their mouth. God emphasized it here by saying it twice in verse 5. It is as if the Lord were afraid that it should be misunderstood, so does He emphasize it. Not by the sword, nor by the strength of their arm, but by the fire that comes out of their mouths are their enemies, who try to hurt them, killed. What does it mean to hurt these two witnesses? How can the church possibly be hurt? Do you hurt the church by persecution and tribulation? If that were the case, then this verse must be understood in the literal sense of the word. And if this verse is to be understood literally, then these witnesses literally kill their enemies, and take their lives away. But that would be altogether contrary to Christ’s command to His disciples. Besides, you do not hurt the church by persecution. You do not hurt the people of God by doing them physical harm. You cannot even hurt them by taking their lives away. As a matter of fact, these witnesses are willing to lose their lives for Christ’s sake. They have learned of the Lord Jesus in Mat 10:28, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul”. Therefore these two witnesses can never be hurt in the physical sense. But you CAN hurt these two witnesses if you touch them in their spiritual existence. If you make them waver in their testimony, or if you lead them to deny Christ, or if you make them renounce the truth, or if you make them to be silent in regard to the Word of truth, then indeed you have hurt them. And so, what does it mean that the two witnesses are:
If anyone tries to silence the Word of truth, fire proceedeth out
of the mouth of the two witnesses, and in this manner the opponents are killed.
No, not killed in the literal sense, but their arguments are silenced. That is
what the killing really means: They are silenced by the words that come
out of their mouths. Please turn to the prophecy of Jeremiah, Jer
5:14 (2X). You find Jeremiah right after Isaiah. We must not think of the
fire that Elijah called for in 2King 1, when Elijah called for fire upon
the captain and his fifties, for that fire came down from heaven; it did not
come out of his mouth. Where in the Word of God do we read that fire
came out of the mouth of a prophet? We find it in Jer 5:14. In this
chapter of Jeremiah God is very angry at the people of
Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
The context of Jer 5:14 is that of the lies proclaimed in the name of the
Lord. We should be careful to note that “you” and “ye” always
refers to a plural number of people, whereas “thou” and “thee”
refers to a singular person. And thus God says in verse 14, “Because ye,
the people of
Jer 5:15-16 Lo,
I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of
Jer 5:17 And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
Historically God refers to the nation of
#2. The Power of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:6, Gen 3:17)
Re 11:6 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.
We have here a plain reference to Elijah and Moses, and what they
did. But we have already concluded that Elijah and Moses would not be
reincarnated. What did these two prophets do that was so remarkable? When the
glory of God was at stake, the prophet turned water into blood in order
that the people of God might be delivered out of
Please turn in your Bibles to Rev 8:3 (2X). Let us look again at the prayers of the saints. According to Rev 8, what is God’s answer to the prayers of the saints? When the prayers of the saints are offered upon the altar in heaven, how does God answer these prayers? We read in Rev 8:3-5,
Re 8:3-4 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
Re 8:5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
The result is: voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, caused by
the fire taken from this altar of incense in heaven. This means nothing
else than that the prayers of the saints are answered by judgments from heaven.
Just as heaven was shut because of the prayer of Elijah, so the judgments on
the earth in the NT time come in answer to the prayers of the saints. They
pray, “May Thy Kingdom come”. That Kingdom must come through tribulation
and through all kinds of plagues and calamities. And the saints know it. And
the more they become conscious of this, the more they also pray for the coming
of the Kingdom, even though they know that their prayers will cause more
calamities to come. The world certainly is not conscious of that fact. But when
the world increases in wickedness, when the blood of Christ is trampled
under foot more and more, when the people of God shall be subjected to
greater tribulation, and when the people of God shall have gained a
clearer insight into the Word of prophecy, and when they understand that
it is through judgments and plagues that the Kingdom must come and be
completed, then they shall also more deliberately pray for these plagues
to come on the wicked world. Do not think that this is strange. It shall become
very plain to all the people of God that the world has departed from God and
from His precepts. The world does not want to know what God says in the Bible.
The world does not care, for they believe that all things go on as usual indefinitely.
It shall become very plain that the blood of Christ and the name of the Most
High are trampled under foot. And the time will come when the people of
God shall consciously and deliberately employ the power which they have in
Christ Jesus. Just like Elijah prayed that God might withhold His blessings
from the apostate people of
#3. The Death of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:7, Dan 7:25, 8:24, 1John 4:3, 2Thes 2)
Re 11:7 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.
This is the first time that this beast is mentioned here in this prophecy of Revelation. And yet it seems that this beast was well known by the church. He is called The Beast, and he is known to the church from primarily two sources. The first source is from the Epistles of 1John 2 and 4, and 2John 7, and the second source is from the prophecy of Daniel 7 where this beast is pictured, having ten horns. And from among the ten horns arises another horn, a little horn, who destroys three of the horns and who becomes more terrible than all the rest of the creatures, speaking blasphemous things against the Most High, and warring against the saints of God, and prevailing against the saints of God. And the saints are given into his hand until time and times and the dividing of time has passed. This little horn is mentioned again in Dan 8 where God says of him that “he shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. From this we learn the following: In the first place, the beast in Rev 11 is not the same as the dragon that is mentioned in Rev 12. He is closely connected with that dragon, but he is not to be identified with him. Nor is the beast in Rev 11 the same as the king of the locusts of Rev 9:11, also called the angel of the Bottomless pit, for in Rev 11 it is a beast with an earthly form, whereas in Rev 9:11 it was a spirit. Secondly, here we have the first mention of the Antichrist, who is identical with the little horn from Dan 7 and 8. Thirdly, this Antichrist rises up out of the Bottomless Pit, meaning that he finds his spiritual origin there, although he will appear in human form. Just as we may say that the saints are hid with Christ in God, and that their walk is in heaven, so also Antichrist is hid with Satan in Hell and has his origin in the Bottomless Pit. Fourthly, it is to be understood that the power of Antichrist exists all through the NT dispensation. We read in 1John 4:3, “Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” Antichrist does not just rise out of the Bottomless Pit at the moment when the two witnesses have finished their testimony, but he was already in the world at the time that John wrote his 1st Epistle. Similarly, in Dan 7 the fourth beast already exists before the little horn arises. But just like the power of the fourth beast in Dan 7 culminated in the little horn, so also the power of Antichrist shall culminate and finally rise against the people of the Kingdom of God. Therefore it is in this connection that we now understand that the Antichrist, although existing throughout the entire NT period of time, shall toward the end be allowed to gain strength and make war against the saints of the Most High, and be allowed to overcome them.
Now we need to address the statement that this beast shall rise against
the two witnesses after they have finished their testimony. God tells us
in the 2nd Epistle to the church at Thessalonica, in chapter 2, that
there is a power that holds back the Antichrist so that he cannot appear before
the God ordained time. He cannot manifest himself yet in his full power. The
power which holds him back is undoubtedly the Spirit of God working out the
decree of God. The power of Antichrist may not come to its full manifestation
until the prophesying of the church shall have been completed. This implies two
things: In the first place, it implies that the Gospel must have been preached
to all nations. It does not mean that the Gospel must have come to every
individual still living on this earth, but that it has spread over all the
earth and come within reach of all nations. For example, the Gospel may not
have reached each individual on the