Bible Study

Well, it looks like we're ready to begin our Bible study tonight. We'll go ahead and ask Mr. McNeely to ask God's blessing on the study, and then we'll go from there. If you'll all please bow your heads. Our Father in Heaven, we come to your presence this evening, looking to you and Jesus Christ, our High Priest, for your guidance and direction, not only upon this study, but, Father, in all aspects of our lives. We do need that daily on a continual basis, Father. We cannot have that with—we cannot succeed without that guidance. And we're grateful, Father, that we can come together here in a midweek Bible study and look into Your Word and understand some of the deeper aspects of it. And as we're studying these prophecies tonight, Father, we just ask for Your guidance in our understanding, in our speaking, to be able to convey Your teaching, Your truth, and Your Word, and to handle these words very, very carefully. So we are grateful for this evening and certainly for the turnout we have here. And pray that those who are tuning in from other parts of the country and will listen to this later would be inspired and encouraged too. We ask for Your guidance and commit the study into Your care. And we thank You in Christ's holy name. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, it's good to be with you. We'd like to welcome all of those here in the room with us live, as well as all those who are watching on the web. I guess our webcast seems to be working. Is that right? We hope it is. We hope it is. We had a vote of confidence from our webmasters, and that vote of confidence was… I hope it's working. So we do hope it's working. Sometimes I think we do take it for granted that we are so blessed to live in an area where so many of God's people live within just a few miles of each other, and we forget the wonderful opportunities that we have to fellowship together. You know, especially on a night like tonight when the world is out there being crazy and into their spiritism and occult and honoring the odd things of this world and its satanic influences, we can come together and have a Bible study. We can come together and fellowship. And so many, even those that are watching on the web, are far apart from each other. We know we have many in Canada that watch the webcast, watch the Bible studies. We welcome them. We're glad they're online. Many across not only the United States, but we've received emails from… I think I've got one as far away as Ireland, that try to tune in and watch, and then many others that watch later.

And so what a wonderful blessing it is for us to be able to come together and appreciate the chance for fellowship and studying together in a live atmosphere, and so many out there that have to tune in on the web in order to hear God's Word. So, I certainly pray for God's people everywhere. I was asked to make one announcement. Those of you that are watching via the web tonight, if you're watching it in real time, you may see ads on your screen. Don't worry about that. We're not selling the truth or doing anything like that. We're using a different service tonight for streaming this out on the web because the servers we normally use are in New York, and they were impacted by Hurricane Sandy. So they're trying out a kind of a temporary, free, new service for five hours tonight, I believe. And in doing so, you may see some ads go across there. So we're not trying to add another revenue stream to the Church's income, at least that way. But so if you see that, know what it is. Yeah, and with that in mind, a number of you had asked about members that might be in those areas that have suffered some difficulties with the hurricane and the resulting storm. At the present time, which we're early on in this whole crisis, we're not aware of any members that are needing immediate assistance. And so as we hear of those things, if there are any, we'll certainly keep you posted. There is a blog on our website at ucg.org. If you look at the blog page, ucg.org blog slash blog, there's another section that's praying for those in the path of Hurricane Sandy. I believe you'll be able to find that on a drop-down menu. Is that right? Anyone? Sure. A big. Okay, it's really big.

Easy to find, even I could find it. Is that right, Tom? Okay, if I can find it, then you can. We're going to try to keep you posted there. So if you have any questions, you can go on to ucg.org on the blog page and look at any updates, and we'll try to post any needs and specific prayer requests if there are any for members that might need some help. Certainly we want to be praying for those just in general that have been affected by this vast storm. It really is amazing to get our attention as we think about how much we need God's protection. Very much so. Well, we should get right into this Bible study. Everyone's come to find out certain information tonight, I'm sure, as we go into Revelation chapters 11 and 12. Yes, we're going to start with chapter 11.

As you get into chapter 11, probably called one of the most difficult chapters in the Bible. Some scholars will identify it as that, and many others will say it's the most important chapter in the Bible. There is much information here. It's kind of an inset chapter, a chapter that isn't advancing the story in that sense. In a way, it's kind of a stand-alone section in the Book of Revelation. I think if you read through chapter 11, you'll find that it's almost a synopsis of the end times. It's taken from the perspective of the two witnesses, but as we go through it, you'll see how it goes in a summary type of a sense through the tribulation, and how it shows those three and a half years from the perspective of the two witnesses, and what's happening in their circumstance and their difficulties as they relate to the beast, power, and those types of things. So if you think of it in those terms, we almost have the time of the tribulation compacted in this particular chapter. Try to keep that in mind as we go through, because I think it's an important aspect of chapter 11. And keep in mind also that as you come to the very end of the chapter, there's a specific reference at the end of the chapter to the third woe that says the second woe has passed, behold, the third woe is coming quickly. That brings it back right at that event, is the actual second coming of Christ. That's already referenced in chapter 11.2 with the coming of Christ and other events. So you have, as Steve said, you've got a kind of a backdrop of a three and a half year period, but during this period there's a lot going on that's covered in other parts of the book of Revelation. And so we'll probably refer to some of those, but you just have to understand that this is kind of the front row of a lot that's going on and on a very big stage, prophetically, at this critical time. And it doesn't really pick up again until about chapter 15 with the seventh trumpet plague after you have another couple of inset chapters in the story. So there's actually more to understand here than one might realize. Yeah, as we were looking at this particular chapter, we realized we're not sure exactly how far we'll get tonight, so we'll just dive into it and get as far as we get. That's kind of the plan for tonight. On the most optimistic side, we were supposed to do chapter 11 and chapter 12, but we're hoping to get to the two witnesses at least, which start in verse 3. So we better start! That's our goal. All right, at the very beginning of the chapter it starts out, then I was given a read like a measuring rod. So here we have the Apostle John given this read.

It's literally like a ruler, or maybe you'd think of it as a yardstick. Some different scholars would say this is like a nine-foot measuring rod. And so some of the translations say a read, but just in that sense, it's to measure something. And this angel says, rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.

And so this is a rod that isn't going to bend. It's going to take an accurate measurement. And as it's measuring, what does it say it's supposed to measure? It says, the temple of God, it says the altar, and those who worship there. So is it a place? Is it a rebuilt temple?

And that John's seeing in a vision, what exactly is he referring to?

There's two possibilities. Keep in mind that when John was writing this in the 90s A.D., the second temple, which had stood during the time of Christ and the apostles, had already been destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans. And so that temple was gone, but John's seeing something that's more visionary, not exactly as it literally in that sense in terms of looking at it on a landscape. But there's also a possibility to realize that when Paul writes about the temple in Corinthians, he's referring to the body of Christ. And he's referring to a spiritual temple, which is the church being built up into a spiritual temple. And that is the New Testament teaching, certainly post-destruction of the temple, the actual literal temple. And so some feel that this is actually talking about a measuring or an accounting of the church, which I think has an application to understand as well. But very quickly, he does get into a very literal application to the temple mount and the temple and an activity in that area in this setting of the three and a half year period of the tribulation. Yeah, the interesting thing when you mentioned measuring the temple, measuring the church, in that passage in 1 Corinthians 3, 16, it says, Don't you know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

So Paul makes that very specific reference that we are the temple. We house the Spirit of God. If we're baptized and we've received God's Spirit, we are the temple. We're, in a sense, the Holy of Holies. God's Spirit is in us, just like His Spirit, His presence was in the Holy of Holies when the tabernacle or the temple stood. And then there is that little comment there that he makes at the end of verse 1. He not only says the temple of God, the altar, but he says, Those who worship there, those who worship there, and certainly if we claim to be God's people, that would be us. And the other thing that favors that interpretation as well is when you say, the temple of God. Can you call a temple that would be set up by Jews of the day in the future? If there's a temple rebuilt, would that really be the temple of God? If God's presence isn't there, that would be a difficult stretch to say that that would be considered the temple of God.

And so, just another thing to consider as we look at that very first verse there as well. On verse 2, it says, But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it. So there is a section not to be measured. For it has been given to the Gentiles. Now, this brings it down to a more literal sense, or at least a specific application, because what John would have understood, what we should understand, is that the... Remember, there were two temples that we're really concerned with in Jerusalem. The first temple was that built by Solomon, destroyed by the Babylonians. The second temple, rebuilt by the Jews that returned to Jerusalem, but also then completely refurbished by Herod the Great, a much larger grander edifice that stood at the time of Jesus and the disciples. The second temple had what is a court here given to the Gentiles. It was called the court of the Gentiles. And it was where Gentiles could go into the temple area, but only up to a certain point. And they could not go past that point, closer into the court of Israel and the women and the holy place, unless they were Jewish. And so, they couldn't go there. If they did, they were subject to being stoned. There was even a sign there. The court of the Gentiles only existed in that second temple. There were no plans given to Solomon by God for the first temple to have a court of the Gentiles. There was not one in the first temple. And so, this was only given applied to that second temple. But John very quickly moves really beyond that and I think helps us to understand that he is explaining something that then applies to the yet future events that take place in this Temple Mount area. And Jerusalem as a whole says, they will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months. And so, speaking of a Gentile occupation of the city and the temple area for a period of three and a half years, for 42 months, as he introduces the concept of the two witnesses. So, this puts us into some of the prophetic statements that we have from other books of the Bible. One in particular is back in Luke 21, where Jesus was talking about Jerusalem being surrounded by armies. Turn over that one?

Yeah, Luke 21 and verse 20. We know this scripture, this part of the Olivet prophecy.

And Jesus' famous statement about Jerusalem being surrounded by armies. Verse 20, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you know that its desolation is near. So, this is one of those, as we go back to verse 11 and chapter 11 and verse 2, the city being tread under by the holy city underfoot for 42 months by the Gentiles, then this is where we see what Jesus said in Luke 21 applies.

He says that there will be armies in Jerusalem and this desolation is near. It's imminent. Then he tells those who are in Judea to flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and those that are in the country not enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that things which are written may be fulfilled. And then down in verse 24, they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be let away captive into all nations. Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

So, you link this then back to verse 2 and the setting that we are talking about, a period of three and a half years when there is going to be an occupation of Jerusalem by some foreign powers that don't belong there. They are not representing God, and they are not doing God's work. This is actually during the time of the Tribulation when the beast and the false prophet, through some means, will have an agreement that allows certain control over Jerusalem and this area of the temple. Now, this is what is really being described here. To think about that in terms of our geopolitical structure today is almost how in the world would something like that happen?

But this is talking about an occupation, not in a necessarily hostile way, but probably through some type of an international agreement because of a crisis point that has been reached in Israel, Jerusalem, and the Middle East that provokes a solution by some outside powers that bring some armed forces in in a peacekeeping role, perhaps, and also political and religious figures exercising influence in the city, unlike anything that we see today. This is, again, totally off-the-wall thinking to the current geopolitical mood of the Middle Eastern crisis in Jerusalem and the Palestinian issues and all the arguments that go on in Jerusalem and Israel all the time regarding this very, very, very small plot of land, which is probably the most contentious piece of real estate in all the world and in all of history.

And this is the setting, then, for what is building up to the revealing of two witnesses. It is amazing how much information is in just a very short couple of verses here. And one of the biggest challenges in Revelation is sorting out what is actually reality of what's happening and what are some of the metaphors and some of the symbolic aspects of what's being said here. And so when we look at the temple, we see this very interesting connection to the people of God being measured. And most oftentimes we'll think of, are we measuring up to the standard of God?

You know, are we going to be counted as those that are God's people? And in a sense, I think we can also understand this section to imply that God is measuring His people in order to protect them, in order to preserve them. Because if we remember, as this being a little bit of a synopsis of Revelation, earlier on, we read back in chapter 3 how God's people are sealed for protection. And He watches over them and guards them.

And so that idea comes up a number of times. And so, I don't think it only applies to measuring the standard, but also measuring the people in a sense of wanting to preserve them and protect them as well that falls into that. Because of this unbelievable force, this Gentile force now that has taken over the city, going to rule that city for three and a half years. And of course, that's an interesting scenario in itself. How many times three and a half years comes up? We've got 42 months mentioned here. We know the time of the Tribulation to the return of Christ is three and a half years as well.

We're going to talk about the two witnesses, and they're going to be on the scene for three and a half years as well. And so that number keeps coming up, representing that time period from the Tribulation to the return of Christ. And so this concept of the Gentiles treading out the city, the city is underfoot, certainly harkens back to other times when that happened. So we could go back to the time that Israel or Jerusalem was conquered, and you had Antiochus come in and sit in the temple.

And there are some interesting connections there as well that I think we'll probably get into a little bit later. There's one other prophecy. Well, it's actually the same all of it, prophecy, but Matthew 24, the account here, adds one other dimension that we should bring in at this point in verse 15 of Matthew 24. Jesus said, Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads let him understand, and let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

And he goes on in this section here to discuss the severity of those days. Jesus is referencing a very specific event that will trigger many of the events that we see throughout the book of Revelation. And this is one specific trigger that he mentions, this abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

This goes back to the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel, where that very detailed and intricate prophecy was given there that foretold a setting up of an abomination of desolation, which did happen as a type during the time of the pre-Christ era, during the time of the Antiochus Epiphanes, who brought into the temple an idol, offered a swine, a pig on the altar, and desecrated the temple, and made a desolation of the holy place that had to be cleansed.

And so Christ referenced that to show that when you see it, it's going to happen again, and some type of a desecration of a holy place, something that is holy, and has been dedicated and consecrated as holy, will take place to trigger these events and comes as a warning. So it's another aspect to watch as part of this whole scenario. And that seems to be that literal connection then between these verses and what's going to happen in the future, that at some point sacrifices will be reestablished, and they'll have to come to an end before the return of Christ.

And so that connection comes into play in those verses as well with this gentile power, the beast power, in control of Jerusalem. All right, shall we go on to verse 3 then? Everybody's waiting for you. They're waiting, all right. It says, I'll give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth.

So here we have the two witnesses appear on the scene. When did they appear on the scene? Well, that number, you've got the 1,260 days, 1260, comes out to three and a half years, which mirrors that 42 months that we just read about as well. We see them appearing at the time that the Great Tribulation begins. So if you were to chart it all out, those events would be happening simultaneously at the same time.

And so we see that they appear there, and who are they? It says, they're God's witnesses. It says, my two witnesses. Who's doing the speaking here? Well, God's giving this revelation. He's revealing this, and so he makes it very clear that these are His witnesses. And I think sometimes we forget what a witness really is. What is a witness? It's someone that's going to testify. It's someone that, we think of it these days, you appear in a courtroom, and you have to give testimony. Well, these two witnesses are going to testify to the fact that God is God, and that they will give testimony to the court of this world as God holds this world accountable for the crimes it's committed.

And so these two witnesses will stand and witness on behalf of God and the true way. So it's pretty remarkable when you think of it in a courtroom kind of a sense. Yeah, they are two witnesses. Keep in mind that with what is going on here, and we're told from especially Revelation 13 and other prophecies too, there are going to be two key figures that Satan has witnessing for his way to the world, and they are called the Beast and the False Prophet. Revelation 13 goes into more detail about these two beings, a very powerful political figure, and a very influential religious figure, the Beast and the False Prophet.

They are in a position of power, control, and influence in Jerusalem, backed by an army in the guise of a benevolent, let's say a peacekeeping force, just to speculate a little bit to kind of fill in, paint in some of the details that have been brought in, allowed to come in, or forced into the political situation here to bring about some solutions, to bring about some stability in a very unstable situation. And as events transpire, the true nature of this power comes to be known, because in Revelation 13, when that will be going through in detail, I'll just reference it, there are miracles that will be performed by this religious figure.

A great power. And that, of course, be happening during the same time period. During the same time period, as we're talking about here with these two witnesses. So God brings in His two witnesses. That's the point I'm getting to. Satan has his two witnesses, to use that term, and God says, these are my two witnesses. And God's witnesses will oppose the beast and the false prophet during this period of time.

And so no wonder God says, don't be deceived, because they're going to, the beast and the false prophet, talks about lying wonders, miracles that seem to really be legitimate miracles.

And we'll probably talk about some of those things in a minute as well. But then you've got God's witnesses as well that are able to do some phenomenal things. So how are you going to be able to tell the difference? How can you know and not fall into that problem that Christ talked about, about the potential of being deceived? That's a big issue.

Yeah. You need to go no further than verse 3 and understand at least with this one point, let's go ahead and address this. These are God's witnesses. He knows they speak for Him. They appear on the scene when He is ready for them to appear on the scene. And because of what they say and what they do, as we go on to show that they will have power in verse 6 to shut the heavens so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecies. So they will make predictions and things will happen at their word. So there's not going to be any doubt as to who they are.

No, not at all. Not at all. If you look at verse 5, it says, if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth. Do you think they'll have to say, I'm one of the witnesses? I don't think so. Probably not. I won't have to say, I'm one of the two witnesses. I've been reading this verse for a long time and have had it read and talked to me a long time over my years in the church, as I have many of you. And I have had a number of people have their faces put to these two witnesses. Well, maybe so and so will be one of the two witnesses. Well, maybe so and so will be one of the two witnesses. And you know what?

Everyone that I've seen had a face put to and a name put to these two witnesses, they're dead.

Or they're convicted felons.

All right, so let's just get it all out here right now. You know, every person, you look at the beast and the false prophet, the two witnesses on the other side. Over the years, I've seen a lot of names and faces put to those. Well, it could be this person, could be that person, could be this political fear, could be this religious individual. You know what?

Guess what? They're all dead. Everyone I've heard, they're all dead. The last one I heard oh 25, 30 years ago, this particular religious figure, this could be someone who could fill the bill of the false prophet. He just died in August. Scratch him off the list.

And then the other day, somebody sent me a link to a piece of literature put out by one of the other groups. I was paging through it. It was all about prophecy. And they had a full-page picture of another individual, another political figure that they're watching to see if this person could become this powerful political figure called the beast. They're watching. I thought, how stupid?

Haven't you learned anything? Haven't we learned anything in all these decades?

Don't put a name to it. Don't try to put a face to it. And certainly don't print that.

Those mistakes have been made. We don't need to do that again. God says they're His two witnesses. Anyone who makes the claim that they're one of the two witnesses is just being foolish, unscriptural, and certainly a false prophet because nobody in their right mind would want to step into that job, number one, and when you read what happens to them.

And you just really stop and think about what they are going to have to endure and deal with for this three and a half year period. It is not going to be an easy job. There's going to have to be some type of support system for it. These are not two people that are going to walk in out of the Judean desert dressed in sackcloth. I know it says that they are clothed in sackcloth, but I take that to be the sackcloth of a godly humility. They're not going to be wild-eyed fanatics that are just going to walk into Jerusalem and then walk back out in the desert, then come back in in another week or two and make another proclamation. This is going to be something that the world will know that these are two unique individuals and they cannot be dismissed. They will be current and they will be relevant, but God will reveal who they are in His own good time and way. Any effort to try to figure that out has always crashed and burned.

At least we've set that to rest here for tonight. We're not going to tell you who they are tonight.

All you people came out to find that question out tonight. Sorry to disappoint you. It should be obvious who they are. Actually, he did the television program on the two witnesses, so he is the expert on the subject.

I don't know about that. But I think it does make an interesting point. Now, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be watching. It doesn't mean that we should be ignorant of what's happening in the world. Not at all, because we still have to be discerning. We still have to be on our toes. We still have to make sure that our spiritual life is in order so that we're going to have the ability with God's help to discern what is right and what is evil. Because it is going to be so exceptional that Christ said that even the elect could be deceived if it were possible. So yes, we have to be on our toes. It is interesting that there are two witnesses.

It harkens back to Deuteronomy 19, where it talks about in the mouth of two or three witnesses, you know, an object, a situation is verified, and it's established. This matter is established. And so here God is bringing an accusation against this world. These two witnesses will stand up against the entire political system of this world. And that's one half. The other half is, they're condemning the world's religious system as well. So they're two-fold witness against the political and the religious system. So there you've got the beast and the false prophet that are the epitome of that system that they are going to be standing up and witnessing against. And you can see by what authority they're able to do that in the descriptions in the next couple of verses. Because it compares them in verse 4. It says, they're the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And so here they are with this comparison between two olive trees and two lampstands. And of course, once again, hearkening back to the temple and the accoutrements that were in the temple, whether it's the candlesticks or the lampstands, and the oil, the oil that would come from these two olive trees. And of course, olive oil is a very pure oil. Even today, it's known for its golden purity. And so what would that be symbolic of?

Holy Spirit. That's right. When we anoint today, we use a little bit of olive oil. Not that there's any magical power in the olive oil, but it's symbolic, representative of God's Holy Spirit. God accomplishes His will through His Holy Spirit. And so these two olive trees are accomplishing the will of God's standing testimony before the political and religious systems of this world by the power of God's Holy Spirit. And so they fulfill that symbolic spiritual representation of those two olive trees. And verse 4, this representation is taken from Zechariah chapter 4. The entire chapter of Zechariah speaks to these olive trees and lampstands standing before God.

Do you want to read some of that? I won't read all of it. I'll just refer to it back in Zechariah 4. The angel who talked with me came back and awakened me as a man who was awakened out of his sleep. And he said, What do you see? And I said, I'm looking, and there is a lampstand, solid gold with a bowl on top, and on the stand seven lamps and seven pipes to the seven lamps. Verse 3, Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at the left. And so here's this imagery of the two olive trees that John brings into chapter 11 and verse 4 that stand before God. It comes right out of Zechariah 4 here.

Then he goes on to go further. And what's interesting here, down in verse 6, a well-known verse that we quote in many different contexts. This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, God's servant at that time, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain, and he shall bring forth the capstone who shouts of grace to it. Not by might or by power, but by my spirit.

The oil of these lampstands flowing here is oil is the symbol of God's Holy Spirit. And again, we see that the work that is done, the witnessing and the testimony is by God's power and by His spirit. And we always have to put that back to God. That's why God says they're my two witnesses. In Zechariah 4, you pick up again down in verse 11. I answered and said, What are these two olive trees at the right of the lampstand and its left? And I further answered and said, What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes? They answered and said, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my Lord. And so he said, These are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth. And so again, it takes you right back to Revelation 11 and verse 4, where we find the connection between this vision in Zechariah and John's vision here. The two are tied together perfectly. Yeah, you've got a duality here. You've got Zeruah Vell and what was it? Joshua, the high priest, representative coming back, rebuilding the temple, physical temple being rebuilt. Fast forward to the future. You've got the two witnesses that are standing before this world in a spiritual sense with the power of God's Spirit, representative of those two olive trees. And of course, the two lampstands. What do the two candlesticks do in the temple?

They light it up. They light it up. Where do they be? Lights to the world. And what keeps those candlesticks burning? The source. Instead of being a physical source in this sense, God's pointing to the spiritual source. God's the power behind His two witnesses. And so we see that very symbolic. They're to be the light to this darkened world of humanity. And so these very special servants of God, appointed by God, are given power that flows through them by God's Holy Spirit. And so they can testify and witness against this world.

Now, verse 5 of chapter 11 says, if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies.

And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. So again, there's going to be a great deal of opposition and some real signs that will affirm God's two witnesses, His witnesses, as having more than just words. Now, I know the thought that came to me. Again, sometimes we get into all these petty squabbles as among the, let's just say, the greater church of God. We're better than you are. We're more righteous. And I'm this and I'm that and you're not. I'm it and you're not. We get into these little petty things. And we have to endure that. We certainly have to be wise as serpents, harmless as doves, and it is the sign of the times. But you know what? When it comes down to this point in God's plan, there's going to be no question who His two witnesses are. And the argument is going to be all over.

And whoever's made whatever proclamation and grand, prideful boast as to who and what they are will not make any difference. Because at this point in the story, it's going to be very, very plain. Which gets us back into what does the Scripture tell us. Let's stick with that.

And not get into vain speculations or proclamations that try to outdo one another and make some group or some individual better than, more righteous than, or more erudite or whatever than anyone else. Because when these things begin to happen, it's going to be very plain. And it's going to astound the church who have been faithful at this point in time and God's people who have clearly hewed to the biblical line in an honest, transparent, seamless way to discern right from wrong, sin from unrighteousness, false from truth.

One of the interesting sections then as we get into some of the things that these two witnesses are doing, where it talks about fire proceeding from their mouth that's devouring their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. And then it goes on showing some of the other miracles they're able to perform. It says in verse 6, these have power to shut heaven, so 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. So not too many people I know at this time can do this sort of thing. I mean, these are amazing things that harken back to other witnesses. You know, who was the one that was known for turning the water into blood? Well, God did it, but He used Aaron and Moses to do that, didn't He? All the way back in Exodus 7. And it gives us, I think, a little bit of insight into the time frame and what's happening, the perspective of the world. Because you would certainly think if somebody can stop the rain, somebody can turn the water to blood, everybody's going to go, wow, these are powerful men of God.

Right? Wrong. It's not going to happen. Even back in Exodus, it tells us the perspective of the world, doesn't it? If you look back at Exodus 7, it talks about Moses and Aaron going before Pharaoh.

In verse 20, Exodus 7, it says, Moses lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river inside of Pharaoh, inside of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. So an amazing miracle condemning these pagan Egyptian gods. So the fish die, the river stinks. Well, they're all convinced that this must be of God, right? Well, no. Verse 27, it says, then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments. So they started matching these miraculous things. Is it possible? In the future, a similar thing could happen.

That the two witnesses perform amazing miracles, and they're countered by the beast and false prophet doing similar types of miracles. Seems like it could be very possible. We see that mirrored throughout Exodus. Yeah, we do. And if you turn over to Revelation 16, you'll see that at this point in time what will be taking place. Verse 13, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. And so this is what will be taking place. Again, Revelation 13 shows this to be the matter as well. So there's going to be this point-counterpoint competition between Satan's two witnesses and God's witnesses at this particular time. And you look in verse 6, they have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy. The only other prophet that we have in the Bible that had that power was Elijah who did that. And think about that in terms of power. It's not going to make you a very popular person to shut the rain for not one season, not two seasons, but for three seasons or more. Now, we've had little pockets of drought the last few years in the United States, and we have our little mini-droughts, and we see how difficult that can be. But none of us have had to ration our water or gone to the faucet and turned it on, and it wasn't there. We haven't had it that bad yet. That's really bad. And when you don't have water for a few days, if you own a well and it goes out, you begin to feel it. Our natural disaster like Hurricane Sandy shuts down the water supply for a while, you begin to hurt. Think about that for a long period of time. These individuals are not going to be popular, and the hatred that is already there toward God, it seems, is going to be focused upon these two beings. If you go back to Revelation chapter 9 and verse 20 and 21, at this point in time after a number of other plagues and the trumpet plagues, it doesn't bring about repentance of mankind. They continue on. Verse 21 says, they did not repent of their sins, listed here. This doesn't bring them to their knees. And now you look at what is done through the work of the two witnesses. This hatred is going to be distilled and focused upon these two individuals. Again, they're going to have to have a support system in some way to support them and back them. I don't necessarily personally look at this as just two isolated individuals who just suddenly walk into Jerusalem and walk out. That perhaps gets into more than what the Scripture tells us, but their work is not going to be a popular work. Yeah, I think that's an important thing because it seems very literal, this whole section of Scripture, because we can make these comparisons. We can make that comparison between Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest. Now we can make those comparisons between Elijah and Moses, doing these same miracles. Those weren't just ethereal things. Those were real things that happened. And so we see the duality involved in that, that this seems like a real thing. We know that the beast and false prophet are going to be misleading people, and they're going to be performing these lying wonders. And it just fits so well with the entirety of Scripture from the time of the Exodus with Moses to Elijah, where he was battling Ahab and Jezebel.

What was he doing? Well, he was calling fire down from heaven. He was causing the rain to stop. Moses called fire down from heaven when the earth opened up. What was that? Number 16, I think it is, where the earth opened up and the fire came down and destroyed the people. And so we see those are literal events. There's no reason for us to think otherwise.

Now a lot of the scholars will tell you it's other things. Some will say, well, the two witnesses are the Old Testament and the New Testament. And they try to put it off as just not even a real event, just that it's a symbolic thing that's going to come about. But I think it's really a stretch to say that and to relegate this only to some spiritual type of thing, spiritualize it away, in other words, rather than realizing that this is a literal event or literal events that are happening over this period of time.

And once again, it's interesting that they can shut up the waters. They can cause the rain to stop. Connection back there with Elijah was three and a half years. Also another interesting connection between those events as well. So I think that's important to realize. Yes, there's lots of different interpretations out there. Some think that Elijah and Moses will be resurrected and they'll be the two witnesses. Obviously, no possible connection between that and Scripture. But people come up with lots of strange ideas. But when you look at what Scripture says and how it's mirrored throughout, it makes a whole lot of sense that that's what that's talking about.

These are literal servants of God that are witnessing against the world. One other Scripture to just bring in to the flow here is 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, where Paul describes this individual. Man of sin, verse 3, talks about it is being revealed. That day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed. He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped so that he sets his God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And then it goes on to describing it as a lawless one. You will have signs working in verse 9 of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders, unrighteous deception among those who perish.

And we have always understood this to be connected with the false prophet of Revelation chapter 13. And so again, just understand that this is the enormous influence teaching of this false religious system that comes to one final manifestation in this time period prior to Christ coming to deceive many. And it is speaking to a literal individual who is somehow bringing together what appears to be a godly righteous worship that deceives the world.

And keep in mind, Christ even said that if it were possible, even the very elect would be saved. And so we're talking about a literal being claiming to be God sitting in some type of a holy structure that is claimed of God or by God or to be of God. And it deceives many people in that way. So this is a literal event, time in the place of Jerusalem at this particular period of time.

And those who are of the true spiritual temple that God is putting together, the elect, will not be deceived by that. Alright? So sometimes we need also realize we don't need to be deceived by false interpretations of something like 2 Thessalonians 2 in advance. Because some people I know feel that are thinking about somebody sitting in the Church of God claiming to be God.

Well, I've never heard that. And I've never believed that that's what that particular what Paul was referring to, not when you put together all of the scriptures of this particular period of time. I think it almost fits in pretty well with the concept they're witnessing against the world, but they're also doing these plagues that will hopefully cause people to repent. That people will repent and turn to God, because that's really the purpose behind it, not only to condemn the system, but also that people would hear and turn and repent and follow God.

Because the power they're witnessing against is Satan himself. And through all of this, Satan is being worshipped. That's the ultimate goal of Satan, that he can take over God's responsibility. And of course, the false prophets sitting in the temple, that all brings honor to Satan. He wants to be worshipped. And so Satan is the power, the instigator behind all of this. And of course, when they finish their prophecy, then it turns to what his reaction is going to be when his wrath is unleashed. We see that in the next verse.

We might want to just touch on these couple of questions, since we're kind of just talking about that at the moment. We were talking about the temple.

We had a couple of questions that obviously the web must be working, so that's a good thing. And so we had talked about the temple having the sense that it's a spiritual thing, that the temple we are, God's temple, in the reference to 1 Corinthians. And so then the question came in is if this abomination of desolation that we were talking about is a figurative thing as well, that there's some abomination in the people of God, I think is what the question is referring to there. Or the other one says, is it a physical temple?

One thing to understand, certainly we are the spiritual temple, as he read from 1 Corinthians chapter 3, that is God's structure, Christ's structure that is being put together at this time.

When we come to this concept of, I think the question is, is there a physical temple building or stone-type building? The one thing that is clear about what will be taking place in Jerusalem, a quote from out of the 70 Weeks Prophecy, is that there will be some sacrifices. You don't always have to have a temple to have sacrifices. They had certain sacrifices, even in the temple area, before they rebuilt the temple and became the second temple in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. But an altar consecrated to that could serve that purpose without having a full-blown physical stone structure that would be a temple to fulfill some of these prophecies. I think we've always felt that that in itself would set the stage for these things to take place, including the abomination of desolation, through an altar that could be set up. I know all the stories that are there about the desire of the very conservative Jews to go up on the Temple Mount, make sacrifices. Preparations have been made for the accoutrements of all the Temple, the clothing, the priesthood, all the instruments and everything, and even down to the cattle, the red heifers, and everything else. Every year there's a group that wants to do it, but they don't do it. They haven't been able to do it to this point. And yet there is this strong desire, and there's a whole setup to accomplish that from a Jewish perspective.

Where and how that could play into it, you have to be seen. Like you mentioned before, would it be possible that in order to have some semblance of peace in Jerusalem, that the Jews would be allowed that to happen, that they could establish some sacrifices? We're not told enough details to know that for sure, but maybe that would be part of the agreement that they would be allowed to do that. I think Daniel 12 points to that, that that sacrifice, and it seems to be a literal one, will be set up, which seems to be a literal then abomination of desolation that would take place as Christ forecast in Matthew as well. Now, on the other hand, can there be a spiritual sense of that, that we as God's people could be defiled? You know, I think that's something that we certainly have to be careful of as well, because we cannot be taken in by the false prophets that are going to appear on the scene. We've got to make sure we have a relationship with God and we're close with God, so that we're not deceived by these things that are going to be happening. Because I think, in that sense, could we then fall away? And so, when we're asked that question here, instead of an actual temple, you know, could it be a physical reference to the, or a spiritual reference, a figurative reference to us? And I think it can be. I think it can be. It's just one of those things that reminds us of the many facets of God's Word that can be applied in so many ways. So we have to make sure we've got our act together and have a right relationship with God as well. Okay, where did we leave off then? Verse 7. Okay, we're going to have to worry about those ones for the moment then. No. Okay. Okay, yes, that's right. We were talking about the plagues. They're mirroring Moses and Elijah, looking to that time as well from Zerubbabel setting up the new temple being rebuilt, a physical thing to the spiritual thing. It's also interesting that, as you look at this amazing power that they have, could it be that as the Janus and Jamborees mirrored Moses and Aaron's miracles, that the beast and the false prophet could mirror God's two witnesses? Very possible. When they finish, though, we see the beast ascend out of the bottomless pit. It says, we'll make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. Now, can you imagine if these sets of miracles are happening, what is the world's perspective going to be?

I would think there would be some sense of who's right, who's wrong, which one is right.

Well, if the beast overpowers the two witnesses and kills them, it would seem obvious then the world might say, well, these must be the righteous ones because they're still alive. These other guys were overcome and they're dead. And that would in some ways seem to settle the argument. And, of course, the power behind this beast, the bottomless pit, who's the one that's going to be cast in the bottomless pit? Well, we know that's Satan, the ultimate king of the bottomless pit. Revelation 20 talks about that as well. And so, that's going to be some very, very confusing times for this world. Who knows? Maybe the accusation will be those two guys were the beast and the false prophet. Can you imagine? Could be. Hard to say. But you know it's going to be very difficult to discern the truth unless you're close to God and you're right with Him. And so, we see that they finish their testimony, they do the job that God's called them to do, and then they're overcome. And so, we see these two witnesses blamed possibly for the torment because of all the difficulties that's been going on for this three and a half years. Could it be that Satan inspires the accusations to fly against those two witnesses to blame them? Because if they've stopped it from reigning, well, that's an easy way to blame them. So, they're not only responsible for the rain, they're responsible for the bad economy.

They're responsible for all these other challenges that we... So, you see how the guilt could just be poured out on them and people could be taken in by that. And so, I think that's an important aspect of what could be happening as well at that time. And of course, they suffer the ignominy of the fact that their dead bodies are just left out there, just left out in the street. So, in verse 8, it says, they'll lie in the street of the great city, which they're talking about Jerusalem there, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. I think one of the translations says it's a boulevard. So, if you can imagine a main thoroughfare and you've got a couple of dead bodies laying out there, no wonder the place is called Sodom and Egypt. And that's not like the Sodom and Gomorrah sense of the physical sins that they were all about. That may be part of it, but what's the greater sense? Spiritually speaking, I mean, this is the center of the false religion, it seems. And so, when you look at it from that sense, spiritually, Jerusalem has become Sodom. And it says they're all going to be able to see that. People from tribes and tongues and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. So, this is going to be a big deal. If the world knows about Hurricane Sandy, this is something that's going to far outshine that because the whole world has been suffering for three and a half years, and this seems to be part of the culmination of this whole time period. You know, when you look at the description here, of course, all people are going to be watching them and seeing this. Verse 9, then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put into the graves. That just speaks again to the disgust that people will have for their work and all that they have said and feel that perhaps, as Steve speculated, that if they feel that these are indeed the beast and the false prophet, then they don't even deserve a good, quote, Christian burial. They don't deserve any respect whatsoever, and they are allowed to be looked at. And, you know, you think in history when people rise up and throw off a dictator, a tyrant, sometimes they will parade that body through the streets. We've even seen that in recent years.

And it shows just, again, just how this pent-up rage is expressed by hanging their body out in full public view like the Italians did with Mussolini when they finally caught up with him and other others. You know, Muammar Gaddafi just was a more recent example in Libya.

Something that's built up over years, as this case will be for over three years, this will be the result of that. And something changes in people when they get to that point. And this will be something people will watch and see. And obviously, we know the technology can make that possible. Well, is that tie in with some of the events we've seen in Egypt, other areas of the world where these dictators have been overthrown?

It gives us a little bit of insight to verse 10, where it says, Those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them. How can you rejoice over someone being brutally murdered and left to lie on the streets? Well, what's the interpretation? And what's their view of these people? Well, they think they're evil. They think they're bad. They must think their death was justified. And so you see the celebrations. We look at death to the Great Satan, America, and some of these countries where these things have happened, and people are rejoicing over those things. Rejoicing over incidences like Benghazi or situations like that. And so it helps us to realize how bad it's going to get. It's going to get that bad that people are going to rejoice. It says, Make Mary, send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. And so we can get a sense for that, just looking at world events that are going on right now, and that the world will certainly celebrate. And of course, many years ago, sometimes it's interesting to read old commentaries from the 1800s, trying to interpret how the nations would see their dead bodies. How in the world would that come about before television? I read an old commentary one time that they said they've solved the problem that the teletype was invented. And so by code, by tapping out, they could all see the dead bodies, because the message would go around the world by that. And so we could get a whole lot better perspective on that today. We used to say we could watch it on our TV, but now you could take your phone out of your pocket. Watch it on your smartphone. You could watch it there, and who knows what's on the horizon in the next short period of time. Which is a marker to understand the setting for this, which is it couldn't have happened before this time. This could have been something applied to John's age, because they would not have been able to see that throughout the world in John's day. And the technology, just like that of potentially wiping out all human life, did not exist before 1945 with the bombs. Something like this couldn't happen before our modern technological age, in which we're now living. And so then it goes on in verse 11, after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

Probably an understatement, don't you think? Well, that would be pretty scary to see that happen, especially after the whole world had recognized their death and celebrated their death. And now, they're alive again. And so, an amazing situation that comes about, it says, and then it says, they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, Come up here. And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

Maybe just finishing a little bit here, it says, the same hour there was a great earthquake, a tenth of the city fell in the earthquake, seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. Probably another understatement that, yes, people are going to recognize there's something fantastic going on here. And so, if we keep in mind once again that this chapter is a synopsis of what's happening during the Great Tribulation to the return of Christ, we get to the end of the three and a half years. What happens at the end of the three and a half years? Christ returns, right? Christ is going to return. So, we have an interesting scenario here with the death of the two witnesses. They are resurrected, at least initially it seems back to a physical life. We have the breath of life. But then verse 12 says, they heard a loud voice from heaven. Or could we say they heard a shout? Where do we hear of a shout?

In reference to the return of Christ. Well, if we go back to 1 Thessalonians 4, we know that there's going to be a shout and the sound of a trumpet, and Christ is going to return. Could it be that this is coinciding with the resurrection of the saints, the first fruits, being resurrected at this very time? Because they're told, come up here. And it says, they ascended to heaven in a cloud. What happens in 1 Thessalonians 4? We rise to meet Christ in the air. In the clouds. And Acts chapter 1 also talks about where He's going to come back in the way that He left and meet Him in the air.

And so, when you put that together, is that referring to that time? I think it's a possibility. Is it possible that the shout that is going to be echoed throughout the world is, come up here? I don't know. Maybe that's a possibility. And so, as they ascended, is that strictly only talking about the two witnesses? Or is it possible there's more, because we see their enemies saw them. And of course, what do the saints do as they return to the earth with Christ?

They're going to fight those who fight against Christ. Now, I'm not saying that's a strict interpretation, but I think it's an interesting possibility of what's going on here, especially as we think of this chapter in terms of a synopsis of the entire tribulation up to the time of the return of Christ. And so, some very interesting things that are happening during these events. And so, we see in the same hour, then there's this great earthquake. A tenth of the city fell, and many, many people were killed at that time as well.

But then there were others who were afraid, and it seems that they turned and gave glory to God. It seems that those who give glory to God, recognized by the resurrection of these that they looked at for three and a half days, that something here is not right. That perhaps the veil is lifted off of their eyes, and they realize that indeed these were servants of God, and they at least confess that something that they had not done prior to then to that point as a result of that event taking place.

And as they come back to life, if they watch them and revel over them being dead, then they're going to be amazed at being resurrected at the time that so much else is taking place as we get into here in verse 14 and then 15 with the seventh trumpet. Ankerberg Because it goes right on then as it's completing the story. The second woe is passed, and now it sets up the seventh angel sounds. And, of course, that's the return of Christ. So is that all one event that's happening at the same time?

Or it could be possible that they come up there just before this happens as well. So in verse 15, we have the seventh angel sounding. There were loud voices in heaven. Now we know in other chapters of Revelation we're going to get a lot of details in this, because we know that seventh trumpet is divided up once again.

So we had the seals, and then we get to the seventh seal, and then that's divided up into trumpets, and then we get to the seventh trumpet, and that's divided up into seven last plagues. So there's a number of things going on. But remember, this is a synopsis. This is just a short little section that's summarizing things. So we just get right down to it then in verse 15 where it says, the seventh angel sounded. And what happens? The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever.

And so things wrap up, it seems, really quickly from that point on, and we get to the conclusion of the matter. And so He just goes right on into it, and He says, the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces, and they worshiped God. And we see more fantastic things happening. What did they say?

We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged. And of course, we know after the return of Christ and the white throne judgment, those things are going to be happening as well. It says, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.

So we have the twenty-four elders singing almost a little synopsis here of what's happening at the return of Christ. Then verse 19, the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. So if you want to know where the ark of the covenant is, that's where it is.

It's not in Washington? It's not in Washington, in a warehouse. It's right here, not there.

It's interesting, when you look at the ark of His covenant, you think about the things that were in the ark. We know God's commandments. The Ten Commandments were in the ark. Always an amazing connection between those. Here it becomes very obvious it is seen. Of course, that would have been an unheard of thing back at the time of the temple of the tabernacle, because the only one that saw the ark on a yearly basis would have been the high priest. But now this is visible. This is visible for all. And of course, the covenant that He certainly may be talking about, in a sense, the covenant between God and His people, the ark of His covenant, representative of that. It's just an amazing occurrence here that we know that those laws that are in that ark now are going to be written on our hearts and on our minds.

And now we've got this opening, in a sense, this spiritual sense of completion to the plan of God, that all then becomes obvious and it's seen then. And maybe in a sense of being seen is a sense of being understood as well. John is wrapping up quite a bit here from verse 15 on through verse 19.

Comment on verse 19. Just remember that what Moses was told to build was according to a pattern in the heavens, we're told in the book of Hebrews. So what is seen here in this vision that John has of the temple of God opened in heaven, the ark was seen there. If that's what he's seeing, this is the true ark. It's not the one that was in the temple of Solomon. I adjust a little bit when I say that this is where it really is because of the movie, The Raiders of the Lost Ark, popularizing that in our recent years. But if this is what John saw, then it would have to be the true ark, which the physical ark was a pattern of, just as everything else was. But keep in mind that this is such a quick summation of the return of Christ, the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and His reign forever and ever. And these elders and this shouting and proclamations and adulation that goes on here before God really opens up what is the seventh trumpet or this third woe that verse 14 says is coming quickly. What is ready to happen here is the pouring out of those last trumpet plagues of the third woe or the seven last plagues, which when you get to those who will be doing the Bible study that night, will go through those. But a few pages ahead, you realize those are pretty severe plagues, and life cannot survive very long once that begins to be poured out. And so what we're seeing, what is being said here is for the events to move quite rapidly to the actual appearance of Jesus Christ and His coming and the resurrection of the first fruits and these plagues being poured out, it will be in a very, very short period of time. And so, again, you've got an inset chapter of chapter 12 and chapter 13 and other events going on here in chapter 14 as well, which we've always understood to be these inset-type chapters of events that will be taking place really in the backdrop to what we've read here in chapter 11 during this period of time. And then when you get into Revelation chapter 15 and 16, especially 16 with these bowls being poured out, life is not going to exist very long. Remember, Christ said those days are shortened. No human flesh will be saved. So you're moving very quickly to the time of Christ's return. And as I like to term it, the intrusion of eternity into time and space.

And everything begins to change. With the appearance of Jesus Christ and the time of the resurrection, and we just read what it says to the two witnesses, come up here. We tied that into 1 Thessalonians 4 and the resurrection of the saints, the dead in Christ, and those who are alive and remain and is coming. And those events that take place. We are talking about the spirit world, eternity, where Christ and the Father dwell. They dwell in eternity. And it's unlike anything we can imagine. John uses language that was only on his lips, yes, inspired by God's spirit, yes, in vision. But he was using language to try to describe something that he wasn't prepared to do and he didn't even have the language of his day to do it. And at times, he's getting a glimpse of eternity. And he gets it in a way that no other servant of God ever had, as he sums up this revelation. And with the appearance of Christ, his Apokalupsas, his revealing, his parousia, his coming, everything is different. All things change.

So what we begin to read about with these other events from verse 16 and 17 and 18 and 19 and pulling these things in and trying to understand them from our limited perspective, we should always be very, very careful not to read into Scripture more than what is there. When we get into certain subjects, and sometimes people try to get into scenarios to try to read into Scripture, things that are not there or certainly are not clear, to try to come to new truth, to come to new understanding about these events, and quite frankly, try to explain eternity on the same linear timeline that we try to, as we try to piece together all these events leading up to the actual appearance of Jesus Christ. Once Christ sets foot on the Mount of Olives, once that appearing takes place, all things change. Don't try to fit time and space into some of those things that are just only alluded to and we get a glimpse of, and sometimes just a statement and not a full exposition, because it will be enough for you and I to get there. And once we're there, it'll be worth it. We will see Him as He is, where we can't do it now, and we will understand eternity as it is, where we can't do that now. I always like to try to caution people to be very careful in balancing these aspects of Revelation, to know when John's speaking symbolically, when he's speaking literally, be able to piece it all together from all the other Scriptures, to put together a balanced scenario, always tempering it with the fact that God hasn't revealed at all right here. And what He has revealed, even the understanding is incomplete in some ways, but there's enough of the frame and the outline there to whet our appetite and to realize that, wow, it's going to be worth it.

And let's not try to read into what's not there, try to create other scenarios about things like the marriage supper and the actual timing of Christ's return and all these other events. Things move very rapidly from this point on. And where we think we have certain understanding, we may not understand it all clearly. We are trying to peer through a glass darkly, even as Paul said. And believe me, if the Apostle Paul, who was granted a vision of the third heaven, then turned around and wrote and said, we see through a glass darkly. If he said that, then let's realize that we're looking through maybe at times even a darker glass than the Apostle Paul.

And temper ourselves and temper some of our conclusions that we come to.

I know one of the things we strive to do, especially at ABC, both Terris and I teach a little bit at ABC, and as we go through sections of the Bible, we always try to relate it to life today. What's the lessons that we can learn from some of these things? And we read through some of these just fantastic descriptions of what lies on the horizon and this job that the two witnesses are given to do. And as we think about that, how does that relate to us? What does that mean for me today? That's an amazing responsibility that God gives these two people to carry out. But we can't just look and say, well, that's only for them. They're the only ones that are going to have an important job to do. Because for you and I, we have a job to do as well. God's given us a job, every one of us. Because there's times in our lives we face difficult surroundings, we face difficult situations. And no matter what's troubling around us, no matter what our life brings us, no matter what difficulties we face, no matter what trials we're suffering through, we have to be an honor to God. Our life has to be honoring to Him and His way. God's judgment against sin never changes. It never changes. It's always unacceptable in the sight of God. And God is going to make that right in the future. And so we should be a witness against sin in our lives today.

Because we have God's Spirit. He's given us that spiritual oil. And so we have the power of God's Spirit to overcome sin. So we have the power through God's Spirit to be a witness for righteousness in our lives today. Isn't that an awesome thing? Yeah, that's just an amazing thing. So we don't have to wait for the two witnesses to recognize that fact and testify against sin. We can be a lampstand. We can be a shining light. We can be that lampstand that shines the light of God's true way. And no matter how difficult it is, we have the promises. He says He's not going to leave us. He's not going to forsake us. He says it's not by might. It's not by power. But it's by His Spirit that we can accomplish these things. And He promises, just like He's going to ultimately deliver the two witnesses, He promises to deliver us too. So even in this tremendous story of the two witnesses, there are personal things that we can take to heart and begin to apply more thoroughly in our lives as well. So I think we can read this chapter and make that commitment, be rededicated that much more thoroughly, to live God's way right now in our lives that much more thoroughly. If I can make one more comment on the two witnesses, again, God says they're mine. They're my two witnesses. And so He controls them. And they're like any other prophet of the Bible. They are not appointed by themselves. They're not appointed by any other body of people. A prophet who appeared, such as an Amos, who was a sheep herder in Tukkoh, and got the call to go to Samaria and prophesy against the house of Israel. He essentially, as God motivated him, chose him, called him to do that. He didn't take it to himself. In fact, you read Amos and he didn't want it. Jeremiah didn't want his job. No real legitimate prophet of God sought it. But when they understood that they couldn't run from it, when they knew that the hand of God was upon them, they knew then that they had to speak God's words to the king, to the people, to whomever, and prophesy what God said. But they were God's prophets. And no man can take that to himself. We must always be careful about that. And even as we write, we talk on television and say these things. We speak with conviction, and speak from the heart. We speak God's word. We don't claim to be prophets. We know that that's what God says. We have to, quite frankly, temper some of the things that we might want to say, or feel sometimes people think, cry aloud and spare not. And I say that in a right way, because my dear, departed mother, a long-time church member, used to shake her finger at me and say, we need to cry aloud and spare not. She quoted that verse. And yes, we do. It's in a right way, but we are aware of this. We have to be very careful not to cross over a line that God is not drawn for us or put us there. And a prophet is one who is appointed by God. They're not self-appointed.

These witnesses stand in a prophetic office unlike anyone at any point in time in history.

And I say that just for us all to understand that. Sometimes, again, people make proclamations and say that they are something that, quite frankly, let's just be blunt. They're emperors that are standing there stark naked, and they're not who they say they are.

And we just need to be careful about that. Okay. Maybe rather than get into chapter 12, we might maybe save that for next time. I don't know if we've got a couple of questions. I had a question here that kind of ties in to some of the summary that we were just saying. This one might be too much to be able to get into tonight. Okay. This is pretty straightforward. The question is, what does it really mean to give God your whole heart? Can you explain that in the simplest form for me? That's about the only form I have is the simplest form. So we'll try to do the best we can. If you give God your heart, you're giving Him your all. You're everything that you are. You love God. He is your being. The apostle Paul certainly said that his life was Christ, that he was crucified with Christ. To live is Christ. So if I'm giving my heart, my goals in life have to match with what God's standard is. That I love God so much, when I understand what God wants me to do, I'm going to do it. So when I begin to understand about the Sabbath, that means I'm going to obey Him. When I understand that I've got to overcome my lack of patience, that I'm going to start doing the best I can to follow God's standard. So when we love God, it means that I'm seeking Him not only emotionally with my heart, but also logically with my thinking. And that it changes who I am, changes my thinking. So that our thinking is changed, so that we're striving in every way in our life to mirror what God would have us do. And maybe, I don't know if you got anything to add to that, but pretty simple, I think. A few questions, again, on this topic that we were talking about here. One question has come in. Is the United States gone as a nation at the point when the two witnesses come on the scene? Gone as a nation, I'm not sure what they mean by that. The time of Jacob's trouble, the ascendancy of the Israel, Joseph will have come to an end when these powers come on the scene that the two witnesses are involved with. This beast power and this other system that rises called Babylon in the later chapters. And we've always felt that our work, as what we've been called to do in the church, would not be done in the same way at that time, and the two witnesses would finish that. And that during that time of the tribulation, that the structure and the power structure would have been altered to the point where the United States would not have that power. To say it will be gone, I think there will be a nation, the United States, but it will not be operating with the same power on the world scene that it has done in our lifetime because of the certain prophecies of Jacob's trouble and to those nations at that time.

The other question here are the two witnesses now spirit and will later become physical? Scripture seems to read as though they are before God now. I would take it that that question is coming from what Revelation 11 verse 4 says that these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. I would not read into that that they are standing before God now as spirit beings and then will become physical beings. That's not what is said here or in any other place in Scripture. So that would, I think, be reading into the Scripture something that is not there. By standing before the God of the earth, they are standing for Him, representing Him as physical instruments, witnesses in this way who are subject to all the pulls of the flesh and ultimately death as the Scripture says here. But they are standing before the God of the earth in a very unique way as the Zechariah 4 vision says about those olive trees. They are standing in a symbolic form in the vision that the prophet had there. But to say that they are before God as a spirit being and then come here, that's not taught by Scripture. You have a hard time reconciling then. How are they killed? How does spirit play out? Well, the question is they later become physical. They are now spirit and later become physical.

Okay. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, especially with the two witnesses.

Do they just appear on the scene and they were just created at that moment? Or, I think, if you look today, could they be on the scene already? Could they be alive on the earth today? And we have this indication that God gives them the power that suddenly they have that commission to do this, that they could be alive and well even right now. And yet, until God gives them the task to accomplish, then that comes the time that they appear on the scene. And I would quickly add that there's no scriptural precedent for that with any other individual who's stilled as a prophet or anywhere near this. Elijah did not. John the Baptist did not. I mean, they were born and grew up and appeared on the scene. It came out of nowhere. And Christ the perfect example for that, too, as well.

Okay. I think that was at the last one?

No, there was another one, but I think it would take a bit longer than we've got.

So I'll have to save this one for next time, then. I was really looking forward to getting into chapter 12. Can I come back and do that one? Can we kind of hold that one off or…? We talk too much. Ah, that's what it is. Okay. This was a synopsis, but some of our words weren't really a very good synopsis. So that's one of the things they tell us on our dailys. Tighten it up a little bit. Tighten it up. So we'll try to do that as we go forward. We'll leave chapter 12, 13, maybe for next time. Really appreciate you all coming and joining us tonight. We're going to make it at least an annual affair here at the home office to have some time. And maybe we'll have to have food every Bible study. We'll have a bigger turnout in that regard. Well, thanks for joining us on the Web, too. Have a good rest of the week, and we'll look forward to the Sabbath. Good night, everyone.