The Two Witnesses

When will this Tribulation end? During the interlude between the 6th and seventh trumpet, God gives us extra, encouraging information about His plan for the end.

In the next 42 months, the “Time of the Gentiles” will run out. in Luke 21:24, Jesus talked about how Jerusalem will be overcome by Gentiles in this last half of the Tribulation. Their hostility towards Israel will peak when the Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel. A vicious anti-Semitism will follow, concentrated on Israel.

John is told to measure the temple and measure (count) the worshippers, as God prepares to retake the scene. The Jews will have recently rebuilt this temple in Jerusalem, putting us back on Old Testament ground.

During these 42 months, we meet two witnesses who prophesy for God in sackcloth. We don’t know who they are (except that they are human). It might be Elijah, since he was predicted to return (Malachi 4:5; Matthew 17:11). John the Baptist may be the other. Both knew what it was to oppose the forces of darkness and to stand alone for God against impossible odds. John the Baptist witnesses for the New Testament; Elijah witnesses for the Old Testament.

These two witnesses are lights before the powers of darkness and will likely appear in the first half of the Tribulation up until the Beast appears. The Holy Spirit fills them with miraculous power to call fire down from heaven (sounds like Elijah in 1 Kings 18:38 and 2 Kings 1:10). John the Baptist also announced the One who would baptize with fire (see Matthew 3:11). They also can control rainfall, turn water into blood, and strike the earth with any plague.

In spite of the opposition, the two men are immune to all attacks until their mission is completed. (By the way, all of God’s people are until God accomplishes His purpose through them.)

They will prophesy for God for 1260 days, and then their testimony will be complete. Then, and only then, will God allow their lives to be touched. Halfway through the Tribulation, the Antichrist, also known as “the Beast,” will get the whole world under his control and kill these two witnesses. (The Greek word for witness is martyr.) They will be killed on camera in Jerusalem, the same sad designation, “where also our Lord was crucified” (v. 8). Their bodies (carcasses) will be left on the street like roadkill.

As their bodies rot in the street, the world will be watching. They’re startled to hear the witnesses are dead. Some will be skeptical. All the television networks will have their cameras trained on their bodies. For the days they lay there, the world will celebrate. People will give gifts to each other like it’s the Devil’s Christmas.

Then three and a half days later, while the world watches, God will breathe life back into the witnesses and they’ll stand upon their feet (literally, “resurrect”). Everyone will hear a voice from heaven say, “Come up here” (v. 12). And the witnesses will be caught up into heaven in a cloud of glory.

In that exact hour, a huge earthquake shakes Jerusalem, killing 7,000 people of prominence. In the aftermath, some turn to God, overwhelmed by His power; others are filled with terror; and still, others are furious because God is judging sin, going against the lie they believed that God never punishes evil.

This ends the second woe. The third woe begins when Satan, one of the personalities, is cast down to earth. You can just imagine the havoc that will cause.

Next: A broad outline of coming events ushers us to the door of eternity.