Chapter 15.12
Two Witnesses
Revisited
Symbolism – The Dual Nature – The
Two Olive Trees – The Two Lamp Stands
Systematic Theology – Double Dose of the Holy
Ghost – Former & Latter Rain
A SYMBOLIC look at the end
times;
God dispatches 144,000
evangelist
plus Two Witnesses
First
Word
The
Seven Year Tribulation period has already begun. 144,000 Jewish
Evangelist have already been
commissioned by God for the last time to evangelize the world with the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ. Then Two Witnesses in
addition to the 144,000 appear during the LAST 3 ½ years of the tribulation period which Revelation
referrers to as the last 1,260 days.
The purpose of
the two witnesses, is to display the power of God, and foretell the great
events of wrath to come; they are the Watchman on the
Wall. Jew and Gentile alike will come to the Lord
because of their testimony.
Systematic
Theology argues for various reasons that that the two witnesses will come
from ancient times perhaps raised back to life from the dead, someone like Moses,
or it may be two that never died that will come down from heaven; which could
be Enoch
and Elijah,
or maybe even a prophet from the New Testament like John the Baptist. Some scholars present Peter and Paul; others say James
and John
and even others perhaps Paul and Elijah; HOWEVER this Word Study
will not go anywhere near this
concept.
Nowhere in the
Old or New Testament does scripture state that “Two Prophets” will return to
earth to bear witness; this concept is just well meaning conjecture.
This
study will look SYMBOLICALLY at
the book of Revelation. What do the Two Witness symbolically represent? Come and let’s reason
together, after God has just commissioned 144,000 evangelist...
why in the world would He now decide that He needs just two more?
This study will surely mess with your Belief System and I will not press you to embrace my BS...
BUT JUST
THINK ABOUT IT.
Why Two Witnesses
The
Law of Moses requires Two Witnesses for
a thing to be established as true.[1]
ü
God has spoken ONCE; then
TWICE, His word is Two Witnesses of His power.[2]
ü Jesus is one
witness and the Father is the second witness.[3]
ü The Messiah is
the first Witnesses and the Gospel is the second witness.[4]
ü
The Old Covenant Church is one witness and the
New Testament Church is the second witness.
ü Jesus sent the
disciple’s out Two
by Two.[5]
ü There were Two
Angels that witnessed Jesus’ death.[6]
ü Two Angels witnessed
the translation of Jesus.[7]
ü There were Two Bears (Two
Witnesses)
that brought judgement on a mob of 42 teenagers.[8]
NOTE: Forty two
months (42 teenagers) is 1,260 days
or the last 3 ½ years of the tribulations
when the Two
Witnesses will testify. (By the way, A Biblical year was 360 days, not 365)
ü
There were
“Two Witnesses” parallel in the OT, when
God’s servants Zerubbabel and Joshua, were chosen to reclaim and rebuild the
Jewish temple after the Babylon captivity. The Lord God almighty said; “Not by might,
nor by power, but BY MY
SPIRIT”.[9]
It was God‘s
Spirit that accomplished the work; HOLD THAT THOUGHT…
Let’s begin
We first encounter the mention of
the Two
Witnesses in the book of
Revelation where they are IDENTIFIED symbolically as Two Olive Trees and again as Two Lampstands. I didn’t say this; God did, so the first order
of business is to unpack the symbolism of the Two Olive Trees and Two Lampstands.
Revelation
11:3-4 - Two Witnesses, Two Olive Trees, Two Lampstands
3 And I will give power to my TWO WITNESSES, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, (42 months) clothed in
sackcloth."
4 These are the TWO OLIVE TREES and the TWO LAMPSTANDS that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Two
Olive Trees
Symbolically the Two Olive Trees represent the WORD OF GOD and are the two
anointed ones who STAND before the
Lord’s throne.[10] Only Elijah[11]
and Elisha[12] used
the words; “the Lord God before whom I STAND”.
Interestingly some translation of the
Bible render the words “Two anointed Ones” as “Two sons of Fresh Oil”... From the Olive trees passes the oil to the Lampstands... The Menorah lampstand was used in
the tabernacle to give LIGHT to the priest
as they carried out their priestly duties.
The Olive Oil is the messengers of God such as
Enoch & Moses, Elijah &
Elisha, Peter & Paul, James & John
and by the grace
of God; you &
me.
Two Lamp Stands
Jesus is identified as the Light of the
World.[13] God
identifies the Lampstands
as the Church. The Lampstands converts the Olive Oil into LIGHT to guide the
footsteps of the church congregation; the believers. (The Seven Lampstands mentioned in Revelation are the Seven
Churches; Seven in scripture is the number for completeness)
Revelation 1:20 – The Lampstands are the
Churches
20 As for THE MYSTERY of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden
lampstands,
the seven stars are the angels (or pastors) of the seven churches, and
the SEVEN LAMPSTANDS are the SEVEN CHURCHES.
(ESV)
Dual Nature
Since the Two Witness are identified as the Word of God and the Church,
we can pick up on the symbolism that
the Two Witnesses have a DUAL NATURE. This can be noted by;
The Dual Nature of the Olive Tree;
ü Jesus is the VINE and the Believer is the BRANCH.[14]
ü Elijah represented the
“Former Rain”
the PLANTING of the Spirit of God[15] and Elisha represented the “Latter Rain”; the HARVESTING of the Spirit of God.[16] The Dual Nature [17]
ü Moses represented the “LAW”; he turned WATER in to blood and
Elijah
representing the “PROPHETS”
who
shut
up heaven and stopped the RAIN.[18]
Here’s
where we are;
in the beginning the TORAH was divided into
TWO PARTS by its dual nature.
1)
We have the LAW with its messengers to the Old Covenant church, and later a new
dimension
2)
was added with the PROPHETS and its messengers to the New Testament Church.
Sidebar
Interestingly the Two Witnesses will be dressed in Sackcloth portraying the
nature of humility; some of the LEAST shall be first
in the kingdom.[19]
The Two
Witnesses; the MESSAGE as well as the messengers
will DIE for a period of time; they are the Christian
schools, the institutions and churches that are presenting the
message
and DARKNESS will cover the earth, a dark time of ignorance of God’s Word.[20]
But then the LIGHT of
God resurrects
His inspired
Word,[21]
the Gospel
message and folks began to read
it again and share it, but then the Two Witnesses are
taken up and hidden in a cloud[22]
just like when Jesus was taken up.[23] Sadly the Two Witnesses will
remain dead to most of the world... It’s almost over folks; the Holy Spirit begins to move...
This will be what is called the LATTER RAIN, where the harvest is GATHERED in.
The Take Away
In our World play, in
the first
act; we find the creation of the world began with “God the Father” center stage; then in the second act of
the play, we see “God the Son” center stage with the building of the Kingdom of God and in the
last act of the play, “God the Spirit” is center stage; the play will
come to an end with the harvesting of souls... that would be what we are currently
approaching.
An Angel told Zachariah concerning the
rebuilding of the temple that symbolically the lampstand and the two olive trees represented the SPIRIT
OF GOD.
He did NOT say the trees
represented any persons living or dead. The
rebuilding of the Temple (God’s Church) would not be
built by might, nor by power, but by God’s Spirit.[24]
We can see by example that God placed the spirit of
Elijah on John the Baptist;[25] so
consider in your Belief System that in the end
times it might be that the Spirit of Elijah and Elisha might be placed on anyone living today that God
chooses; that would be the messengers as well as the message.
Elisha Ask Elijah, “Please let there be
a DOUBLE portion of your spirit upon me”.[26] What if in the last days we get a DOUBLE PORTION of the Spirit of God. We will have graduated with honors;
With
a BA... BORN AGAIN and a DDHG... A DOUBLE DOSE OF THE HOLY GHOST
ü What if in the
last days; the Believers
are ONE witness, presenting the same
message as the disciples of the early church,
ü and the SECOND witness is the Signs
following them confirming their testimony of Jesus Christ.[27]
I’m
not asking that your Belief System embraces this; but JUST THINK ABOUT IT.
The
last day’s witnesses will not be the rich
and famous, but the common everyday man and woman of God endowed with a Double Dose of the Holy Ghost who care about those that are perishing.
Life
is choice driven... You
can be a witness if you want to.
JUST THINK ABOUT IT
IT’S IN THE BOOK
[1] John 8:17-18 – Why Two Witnesses? – The Law requires it.
[2] Psalm 62:11 – God has spoken once, then twice; it
is His power
[3] John 10:30 – Jesus and God; the TWO are one
[4] Deuteronomy 19:15 – Two Witnesses establish
truth
[5] Luke 10:1 – Jesus sent
out the witnesses TWO by TWO
[6] John 20:12 – Two Angels witnessed the slain body of Jesus
[7] Acts 1:10 – Two Angels witnessed Jesus translation
[8] 2 Kings 2:24 – Two Witness bears; Judgment
42 boys/months
[9] Zechariah 4:6 - Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit
[10] Zechariah 4:13-14 – Two anointed ones (olive trees)
STAND before the Lord
[11] 1 Kings 17:1 – ELIJAH said; The Lord God before whom I STAND
[12] 2 Kings 3:14 – ELISHA
said; The Lord God before whom I STAND
[13] John 8:12 – Jesus is the light of the world
[14] John 15:1-2 – Jesus is the Vine; The Believer is the branch
[15] Joel 2:28 – Latter Rain; God pours out the Holy Spirit
[16] James 5:7 – Latter Rain; The coming of the Lord
[17] Deuteronomy 11:14 – The Former Rain and
the Latter Rain
[18] Revelation 11:6 – Dual Nature; Law and the Prophets
[19] Luke 13:30 – Some who are last shall be first
[20] Isaiah 60:1-2 - DARKNESS shall
cover the earth but The LORD will arise upon you and His Glory seen on
you
[21] Deuteronomy 11:14 – The Latter Rain gathers
in the harvest
[22] Revelation 11:12 – The Two Witnesses and
the Message is resurrected
[23] Acts 1:9 – Jesus was lifted up in a cloud
[24] Zechariah 4:5-6 – The Two represent the Spirit of God; not by
might, nor by power, but by MY SPIRIT, says the LORD of hosts
[25] Luke 1:17 – God placed the spirit of Elijah on John the Baptist
[26] 2 Kings 2:9 - Please let there be a DOUBLE portion of your spirit on me, a DOUBLE DOSE OF THE
HOLY GHOST
[27] Mark 16:20 – They preached with SIGNS
confirming
the word
No comments:
Post a Comment