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Witness #3 Pt. 2: Two witnesses - their death  

Thoughts on the Passage

The first woe (5th trumpet)– mankind gets a taste of hell – the kingdom of darkness. They choose that over the Kingdom of God.

The second woe (6th trumpet) –God removes His restraint on the evils of war, oppression and disease. They choose that over the Kingdom of God – and reject the witnesses God gives of the cost of rejecting His Kingdom.

Today’s passage shows how mankind rejoices over the death of the two witnesses. They see the witnesses as the source of their trouble – and have a party at their death! The expression “shooting the messenger of bad news” is a good description of mankind’s response. They reject God and His kingdom – and they reject God’s people who declare the truth about God’s kingdom and the kingdom of darkness. 

The problem is that God keeps showing the world that He honors His children and their faithfulness in declaring His Kingdom. Here we see God gives life to the witnesses – and then honors them in front of the world by calling them to heaven and releasing a powerful quake. The world gets the message. Some see this calling up of the two witnesses as the coming rapture of the righteous – that is possible, we do not know if the early church understood this this way or not.

Note, the two witnesses lay dead for 3 ½ days. This number (1/2 of seven) keeps coming up again and again. It is the same as the 42 months and 1260 days we saw yesterday (half of seven years). God keeps telling mankind that the time of their rebellion is short – it will be finished very soon. It goes from years and is now down to days. The time for kingdom transfer (this last 3 ½) is nearly complete.

And the third and final woe (7th trumpet) is about to come.

Prayer

Father, as we see the death of these two faithful witnesses, we are reminded that our message is not well received by the world. The world sees us as the cause of their problems. They do not see their sin and rebellion as the cause of their suffering. This blindness can only be healed by You. There are people who will repent and seek Your forgiveness; we know this because heaven will be filled. So Father, in the midst of the rejection we face, give us a heart for these people. In the midst of celebrating Your justice over unrepentant evil, give us Your heart of compassion for all the people. You died for them, You love them, and You want them to choose Your kingdom of light. Give us a willingness to pay the price so that they see this clearly. In Jesus Name, Amen.