Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. © Copyright 2010 - 2017   All rights reserved. Daniel 11 Explained (condensed ‘one page’ commentary) ‘Matthew 24’ Explained (must match Revelation) The ‘Seals’ Explained (Revelation timeline revealed) Seven Churches Explained (Past & Present Church Prophecy) Note: ‘Sitemap’ shows a complete list of all pages (by category). ‘Homepage’ gives 3 simple steps + timelines + summary. Current Events from Daniel 11 (matching the Middle East) The Abomination (Daniel 11:31) done Recent Events ISIS - Saudi - Turkey (Daniel 11: 24-27) Final Events to the Abomination (Daniel 11: 28-30) Shiites re-take Persia + America’s Role Begins (Daniel 11: 21-23) soon done done Two Witnesses in Revelation Introduction   The two witnesses are two ‘real men’ who come down from heaven, immediately after the rapture, and prophesy (explain truth) of God’s plan for earth.  They will arrive in Jerusalem, dressed in “sackcloth”, which represents mourning, because earth will be in its worse distress that man has ever seen. (Matthew 24:21)  No one will be able to harm the two witnesses, until they are done prophesying, because they will have extraordinary powers.  Revelation 11:3-6 “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.  4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.” Who are the Two Witnesses?   It seems logical to me that the two witnesses are Enoch and Elijah because they are the only two people, in the Bible, who are known to have gone to heaven without dying.  Since, “man is destined to die once” (Hebrews 9:27), and the two witnesses are killed at the end of the 1260-days, then that would be their first time to die.  The exceptions are of course Christians who are still living at the time of the rapture. (1 Cor 15:51 & 1 Thess 4:17)  Anyway, it would seem that God knew, from ancient times, that Enoch and Elijah would be needed, as part of His plan in Revelation, so they didn’t die.    Elijah was known to wear a “garment of hair and a leather belt” (2 Kings 1:8), so sackcloth wouldn’t be a drastic change.  “Fire from their mouths” is probably not meant literally.  The “fire” probably means God’s Word from their mouths, but Elijah is known for calling “fire from heaven”, which “consumed” (or devoured) 100 soldiers, who were sent to get him. (2 Kings 1:10 & 12)  Elijah is also known for prophesying that it would not rain, until he gave the word (1 Kings 17:1), which he did, after calling “fire from heaven” in another demonstration of God’s power. (1 Kings 18:22-45)    As for the second witness, I’ve heard more than one person say that the two witnesses were Moses and Elijah, probably because that’s who appeared on the ‘Mount of Transfiguration’ (Mark 9:2-4), but that wouldn’t be right because Moses died on earth, once already. (Deuteronomy 34:5)  He obviously didn’t stay dead, because he appeared to Jesus and he’s probably one of the 24 elders, but he wouldn’t come back to die a second time.  I admit that not much is known about Enoch, except that he was in the 7th generation and “he walked with God” (Genesis 5:24), which is only said about one other person in the Bible: Noah (Genesis 6:9).  Therefore, Enoch is in some rare company, so I’m sure that he’s qualified to be the second witness.  Note: There’s actually a Book of Enoch, with over 100 chapters (twice as many as Genesis), but it’s not included in the Bible.  Fragments were found with the Dead Sea scrolls, which describe Enoch as God’s first prophet, who dealt with the fallen angels. Revelation 11:7-12 “Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.  11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.”  What do Post-tribs say?   Post-tribulationists try to explain away the two witnesses because, in their scenario, they would have to prophesy for 1260-days, before Jesus’ return.  If that were literal, then two men, clothed in sackcloth, with extraordinary powers, who prophesy for 1260-days, and are killed and remain in the street for 3.5 days, before ascending to heaven, would be a sure give-away that Jesus was coming, and it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.  (The same goes for the antichrist and mark of the beast, which are also after the rapture.)  Anyway, I actually had a self-proclaimed scholar with an “Associate Diploma in Christian Ministry – W.A.B.C.”, who assured me that many other scholars shared his belief, tell me that the two witnesses were the Christian Church and Messianic Jews.  First of all, Messianic Jews believe in Jesus, so they are technically Christians, so that’s still just one.  Secondly, Revelation 11:6 (above) starts with, “These men”, which couldn’t be much clearer.  The post-tribs try to use a lot of symbolism to explain away the extraordinary powers, deaths, and laying in the streets, but a person has to use common sense to discern what in Revelation to take literally and what to take symbolically.  Frankly, when they try to insert the “churches” into those verses, their explanations just sound like gobble-goop.  To me, explaining things in Revelation away, just because they don’t fit your timeline, is the same as “subtracting” from Revelation, which is expressly forbidden by God. (Revelation 22:19)  Therefore, don’t believe anything that post-tribs say, particularly about end times, because they change ‘God’s prophecy’ in Revelation, making themselves by definition ‘false prophets’. What else is happening during that time? (Proof that the two witnesses come after the rapture)   Simply put, the two witnesses come after the rapture because they come after the 6th Seal, which is the rapture in Revelation because it matches Matthew 24:29-31. [see Matthew 24 There’s also a “Proof of Rapture” page that explains why the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls must be sequential, not overlapped as post-tribs try to explain, which creates contradictions The Trumpets can’t start until after the 7th Seal (Rev 8), which is a half-hour of silence, after the 6th Seal (rapture).  The two witnesses prophesy during the same 3.5 years that the Trumpet plagues take place, because the 7th Trumpet sounds after they ascend to heaven.  Revelation 11:13-15  [after they ascend to heaven] At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. 15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet …”    Of course, the antichrist, who leads the 10-horned beast, gains power during the same  42-months (Rev 13:5), because it’s that beast who kills the two witnesses, after they prophesy for 1260-days. (Rev 11:7 – quoted above)  The antichrist is injured, either in battle or the earthquake, yet lives, because the false prophet (2-horned beast) does everything on his ‘behalf’, and makes everyone worship the ‘first’ beast (or its leader, the antichrist). (Revelation 13:12)  Yet, that starts going beyond 42-months, into the middle of tribulation. [for more details, see: “kingdom of the beast”] Unhappy Gentiles   Also, during the same 42-months, gentiles will flock to Jerusalem to see the two witnesses, probably because they’ve been told that gentiles can still get to heaven, after the rapture.  However, I don’t think so.  I think that’s a misunderstanding that has been passed down for generations.  I explain more details on a separate page, but the two witnesses are obviously not telling people how to get to heaven, which would be pleasant news.  On the contrary, the two witnesses “torment” people on earth, because the truth obviously hurts.  People are so glad, when the beast kills the two witnesses, that they “gloat over them” and “send each other gifts.”  That’s probably why they end up worshipping the beast (Rev 13:8), because the truth that the two witnesses were giving depressed them so much.  Revelation 11:1-2  [beginning of the chapter] “I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.   John is told to “count the worshippers” because the 144,000 Israelites (12,000 from each tribe) are given the seal of God on their foreheads. (Rev 7:1-8)  They are the ones who are martyred, in Revelation 14, and become priests during the 1000-years, in Revelation 20, not the gentiles.  It’s clear that the gentiles are “excluded” from the count, and “trample” doesn’t sound like an affectionate description.    I’m not trying to be mean; I’m just trying to alert people of the truth, so they will take this opportunity, before the rapture, to accept Jesus and be saved from all the pending heartache.  After all, God is going to conduct end times as the Bible was meant to be understood, not as people have mis-interpreted for their own benefit.  For details, see: “Will people be saved after the rapture?”  Related video: Post-Rapture Timeline (No 3rd Temple before Rapture) (51 min.)  New: 5-22-2018 
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