Reasoning Through Revelation. Day 41, The Two Witnesses, Part Two

Yesterday we were told that the two witnesses will give their testimony for 1260 days. People will want to harm them to shut them up, but John told us that when anyone tries to harm them "fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies". They will have the power to perform signs and wonders while they preach the gospel in order to lend authority to the message they're preaching. 

When the period appointed for their ministry is finished, they will be martyred for their faith. Our text today says: "Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them." (Revelation 11:7) We're going to talk about who this beast is, but first I want us to stop a minute to take note of the fact that he has no power over the two witnesses until they finish their work. He would have liked to take their lives on the very first day they started preaching, but God wouldn't allow it. 

The same is true in our own lives. Satan would love to take us out of this world so we can no longer give our testimonies about Christ, but he can do nothing to shorten the appointed lifespan God has set for each of us. I think we can do things that shorten our lifespans or that diminish our quality of life. God has given us free will and sometimes we make bad health choices. But the devil can't lay a finger on us without God's permission. For example, Satan had to ask God for permission to bring trouble into Job's life. He couldn't interfere in Job's life unless God allowed it, and God only allows things to happen to His children if those things serve a purpose that line up with His will for them. In Luke 22 the Lord Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked to sift the disciples like wheat, but that He had prayed for their faith to stand strong. I take that to mean that God was going to allow some "sifting" but that Jesus was praying for them to come through the test with flying colors. We don't want to get so caught up in thinking about the terrible beast from today's passage that we forget about God's protective hand on those who are His. Many times Satan has asked the Lord to do this or that to you and me. Many times he's been denied. And when he hasn't been denied, we can rest assured that the Lord Jesus was praying earnestly for us to stand strong and to come through with flying colors.

Now who is this beast from the Abyss? Some scholars say he is Satan while others say he is the Antichrist. Later in Revelation we will meet an "unholy trinity" made up of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. Satan is going to try to mimic the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I can't say for sure which member of the unholy trinity this beast from the Abyss is, but I tend to lean toward the theory that he is Satan. As we get farther along in our study we will find John witnessing the emergence of the Antichrist onto the world scene. When we get there we'll discuss the symbolism of why he sees the Antichrist coming from the sea. He doesn't come out of the Abyss. In our text today we are told that the beast who kills the two witnesses comes up out of the Abyss, so I think he is Satan himself, especially since we already saw some demonic, unearthly things coming up out of the Abyss in Revelation 9. Since the Antichrist is believed to be human, we wouldn't expect him to emerge from the Abyss. In addition, if we take a look at Luke 8, we find a horde of demons pleading with Jesus not to send them into the Abyss when He casts them out of a possessed man. They desperately want to inhabit a body, probably so they can do more harm on the earth, but their pleading indicates that the Abyss is the abode of fallen angels. Based on these things, I think the beast who kills the witnesses is Satan, but we can't be positive because John doesn't identify him as Satan.

People from all over the world will be able to see the bodies of the two witnesses lying on the street in Jerusalem, and this is something that wouldn't have been possible in John's day. He doesn't even try to explain how people from every nation will be able to see them. He couldn't have understood the technology that would allow millions of people to see this sight on their televisions, computers, and smart phones. "Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city---which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt---where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because the two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth." (Revelation 11:8-10) 

We know these men die in Jerusalem because John tells us they die where the Lord was crucified. He figuratively refers to Jerusalem as "Sodom and Egypt" because in the Scriptures these names are used as examples of sin and idolatry. John may be referring to Jerusalem as Sodom and Egypt because the Lord was rejected and killed there, or he could be referring to the terribly wicked spiritual state of the people who will be inhabiting Jerusalem in the last days. We've already learned that the Antichrist will desecrate the third temple, set up an image of himself there, and insist he be worshiped. The Jewish people who live in the nation of Israel (those who are religious, at least) will refuse to bow to the image and they will have to flee Jerusalem to remain alive. When we began Chapter 11 we were told that the Gentiles would trample Jerusalem during the 1260 days of the ministry of the two witnesses, meaning these Gentiles will have control over the city. These are not Gentiles who came to faith in Christ during the Great Tribulation but are Gentiles who continue to live in rebellion toward God.

It has long been considered the ultimate act of contempt to allow the bodies of one's enemies to remain unburied. Many ancient cultures didn't think it was enough to kill their enemies; they wanted to inflict one final insult by leaving the bodies exposed. There are several instances in the Bible of bodies being left exposed in order to further heap abuse on a person after his death. There are instances in the Bible of people from Israel and Judah bravely retrieving the bodies of their dead to put a stop to such indignity. The wicked people of the world are going to gloat over the death of the two witnesses so much that they won't want their enjoyment curtailed by having the bodies out of sight.

These people are going to celebrate the death of the witnesses because they were tormented by them. I think mainly they were tormented because the truth the witnesses preached was troubling their hearts. The gospel says that we are all sinners who need a Savior. People who want to only do their own thing and live the way they please don't want to be told they are sinners. They don't want to be told there is a holy God who will someday judge their actions. If they can convince themselves there is no God, then they can't be sinners. And if they aren't sinners, then they don't need a Savior. These people are going to be overjoyed when they don't have to hear the message of the two witnesses anymore. They are going to celebrate by giving gifts to each other. Quick-thinking entrepreneurs may even create merchandise to commemorate the death of the witnesses. All kinds of wacky and tacky things may go on sale immediately after the death of these men. In my area of the country, we had a major blizzard in March of 1993, and while the snow was still on the ground I saw merchandise in the stores that said, "I survived the blizzard of '93." I can easily picture those who hated the witnesses callously enjoying wearing T-shirts and buttons that celebrate the death of the two preachers.

The celebration won't last long. "But after three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on." (Revelation 11:11-12) The Lord resurrects them and calls them to heaven in a similar manner in which He took the church (those who were still alive at the rapture and those who were already dead prior to the rapture) to heaven. The world has viewed the bodies of these men for three and a half days. There is no doubt they are dead. They haven't moved or breathed. Their bodies have begun to decay as they lay in the public square of Jerusalem. While people are watching either in person or on their various electronic devices, the men come back to life and are called to heaven to be with the Lord. Imagine the shock! Imagine how quickly the celebratory parties come to a screeching halt. How to explain such a thing? Some of the people who witness this and who survive the event that happens next will repent and turn to the Lord.

"At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed during the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon." (Revelation 11:13-14) The Lord mercifully appointed the two witnesses to preach to the world so the inhabitants of earth would have an additional 1260 days in which to repent. Even after people rejected the message of the witnesses, they were given another chance to repent when they witnessed the miracle of resurrection followed by a tremendous earthquake. The seventh trumpet is about to sound in tomorrow's passage. Time is drawing very short now for the people on the earth.