AN EXPOSITION OF THE TWO WITNESSES – PART 9
September 17, 2018
The abilities of the two witnesses, to carry out the work they have been given the authority to accomplish by the testimony of God, is outlined in Revelation 11:5,6. Please bear in mind that these abilities, according to the Greek text, does not necessarily infer that they will use them. It simply states they have the abilities and authority to use them, if they so desire. The President of the U.S. has the authority and ability to unleash atomic weapons, but he may never choose to do so. It is the fact that he has both the authority, and the ability, to do so, which has kept our enemies from launching them against us.
Revelation 11:5
And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Kenneth Wuest’s translation of this verse gives the best understanding of it I have yet encountered.
Revelation 11:5
And if, as is the case, anyone desires to injure them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and indeed consumes their enemies. And if, as is the case, anyone shall desire to injure them, it is a necessity that in this manner, in the nature of the case, for him to be killed.
The “fire” coming out of their mouth, used as a figure in the Old Testament as “fire” coming out from the lips of a prophet, does not mean literal fire will flow from their lips like a circus flamethrower. I believe this “fire” used in Revelation 12:5 is of the same character as the “fire” from the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet.
It refers to the word of God from their mouths foretelling what terrible fire is to come down upon the enemies of Israel.
Jeremiah 5:14
Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Jeremiah 23:28,29
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. [29] Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
I rather suspect the two witnesses, as prophets located in the Negev with Israel, will be warning their enemies that if they launch weapons of fiery mass destruction again Israel, they will do the same to them. The brimstone and fire that comes down so often from heaven, following the sixth seal, is an unleashing of natural phenomena by God from His creation, and this is the 1260 day period of the testimony of the two witnesses before Armageddon. The two witnesses will, at times, ask God to produce volcanic eruptions in specific areas in response to the actions of Israel’s enemies.
Revelation 11:6
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
James 5:17-18
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. [18] And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
Just as it was absolutely necessary for Jesus and His first disciples to perform miracles to show they were from the God of Israel so will it be necessary for the two witnesses to do the same to prove they come from the same God. The happenings of verses five and six are limited to 1260 days, according to verse three, so the elimination of rain from the atmosphere will happen in this time period. I suspect the rain will be stopped from Dan to Beersheba, where the armies of Antichrist will be located. However, it may be stopped over the entire earth, or in many selected areas. Also, the future plagues are likely to be made up of earthquakes, famine, and pestilence. It appears God will advise the two witnesses before these plagues occur, then they will pass it on as His word to the occupants of the world. The miracles listed in verse six were actually performed by Moses and Elijah during their lifetimes. In the vast majority of miracles performed by Moses and Elijah, God let them know beforehand what was going to be done to their enemies, and they went and told them the word God had given them. Although some of these things may be as often as “they will,” I suspect most of them will be announcements of what God has told them He is about to do.