02.32. LECTURE No. 32 -- Rev_11:3-12
LECTURE No. 32 -- Revelation 11:3-12
More About the Two Witnesses - What the Scriptures Say About Elijah - John the Baptist and Elijah Compared - The Disciples Question "Why Then Say the Scribes That Elias Must First Come?" - Jesus’ Answer to This Difficult Question - The Real Solution to the Problem Is the First and Second Comings of Christ - A Forerunner Necessary for Each Advent of Christ - Jesus Knew What Would Happen - Both John the Baptist and Jesus Told the Truth - Who Will the Other Witness Be?
IN our last lesson, which was based upon Revelation 11:1-3, we discussed the fact that in the end of the present dispensation, when Christ begins to repossess the earth, the first place that He will measure and appropriate unto Himself, through the assistance of His Saints, will be the Temple of God in Jerusalem, and the Altar, and them that worship therein.
We also considered the fact that the Gentiles are to be rejected because of their unbelief and their failure to turn to God in this age of grace, during which time they have been privileged to hear the gospel.
We learned also from Romans 11:1-36 that the Jews “If they abide not still in unbelief shall be graffed in, for God is able to graff them in again. Concerning this dispensational change the Apostle Paul said in Romans 11:25,
“I would not, brethren, that ye should ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
In our last lesson we also read the account of the Two Witnesses recorded in Revelation 11:3-12. Therefore we shall not repeat the passage, but shall take it for granted that most of our readers are familiar with the details of this account.
Two important facts, concerning these witnesses, are revealed in Revelation 11:3-4 of our lesson text, where the angel said to John,
“I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sack cloth. These are the two Olive Trees, and the two Candle Sticks, standing before the God of the earth.”
Now, let us remind you again that these two witnesses were individuals with personalities and were not the Old and New Testaments, or certain systems, or agencies, as some would have us think.
Enoch and Elijah In our last lesson we identified these two witnesses as Enoch and Elijah, whom Christ will send back to the earth after the Church has been completed and raptured away to be with Christ, to witness and testify against the deeds of the Antichrist and the false Prophet during the coming time of Tribulation, which will be forty and two months, or a thousand two hundred and three score days.
Difference of Opinion The exact identity of these two witnesses is not given in the Word itself. There is room, there-fore, for a difference of opinion as to who they may be, so all we can do is to say who we think they are, and give our reasons.
So far as the divine record is concerned, Enoch and Elijah are the only two men who were taken to heaven without dying.
Therefore, they would be the only two persons now in heaven who could come back to this earth and witness and prophesy and be killed as required in the account of the two witnesses given in Revelation the 11th chapter.
Concerning Elijah Before we pass on to the work of these two witnesses, we want to speak either concerning their identification.
First let us speak of Elijah.
In Malachi 4:5-6, it says,
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
These words are all the more impressive when we realize that they are the last words of the Old Testament. We need not be in doubt, therefore, concerning the fact that Elijah, who was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind without dying, will be one of these two witnesses, and that God will send him back to the earth as a forerunner of the great and terrible day of the Lord, to witness and prophesy before the second coming of Christ in His revelation, at which time the wicked of the earth are to be overthrown.
Some object to identifying Elijah as one of these witnesses because they think that John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy concerning the return of Elijah. Therefore let us look into the gospels and see what we can do to clarify this mistaken idea.
Because of what was stated in Malachi 4:5-6, concerning the return of Elijah, the Jews who lived just preceding the first advent of Christ, had the right to expect the return of Elijah to the Earth to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest God should come and smite the earth with a curse.
It was perfectly natural, therefore, that when John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, that the Priests and Levites from Jerusalem came and asked him who he was. In John 1:20-23, it says,
“And He confessed, and denied not; but confessed I am not the Christ. And they asked Him, what then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that Prophet? And he answered, No! Then said they unto him, Who are thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What saith thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the Prophet Esaiah.”
These words are clear and to the point, and should not leave us in doubt. John openly confessed that he was not the Christ, and that he was not Elijah! The Disciples Question
It is perfectly natural therefore that as the disciples were coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and Jesus had commanded them not to tell the vision which they had seen to any man, “Until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead.” His disciples asked Him saying, “Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come?”
Jesus’ Answer to the Question
Now to this very unusual question, Jesus gave a very unusual answer! In Matthew 17:11-13, it says,
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things, but I say unto you, That Elias is come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.”
Now it would seem sure enough as if we are up against it! Those chronic unbelievers who always want to say that the Bible is full of contradictions, think they have us in a corner here. What better stock in trade could they have than something like this? In the first place John the Baptist said He was not Elijah, and Jesus said to His disciples, “That Elias is come already” and His reference was to John the Baptist.
Certainly, we could not think for one moment that John did not know what he was talking about. Neither can we believe that Jesus was mistaken in His opinion of John. What then is the answer to this seeming contradiction? The Solution to the Problem The answer and true explanation to this very difficult problem lies in the fact that Israel’s Messiah was to come, not only once, but twice.
In the Old Testament there were two groups or strains of prophecy concerning Israel’s Messiah.
One group of prophecies, of which Isaiah 53:1-12 is an outstanding example, revealed that Messiah would come and be despised and rejected, suffer humiliation and be crucified in order to make atonement for the sins of the world.
The other group of prophecies revealed that Messiah would come as a great King, to sit upon David’s Throne and rule over the earth in justice and in judgment for everyone. An example of this is found in the book of Daniel 7:13-14, where Daniel said;
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him, and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
Isaiah 53:1-12 The sad thing is that the Jews either did not understand such prophecies as Isaiah 53:1-12, which revealed a suffering Messiah, or else they deliberately passed over such passages, because they wanted the kind of Messiah described by the Prophet Daniel, and by other Prophets of the Old Testament.
In consequence when Jesus came at His first advent, in humility, and in suffering, and reproach, they did not accept Him. Because of their theology they were only looking for one appearing of the Messiah, and only one! The Disciples Did Not Understand A study of the New Testament will reveal that even the disciples of Jesus, who had followed Him during the days of His earthly ministry, were of the same opinion. Although He had plainly told them that He must be rejected by the Chief Priests and the Elders, and be crucified and rise again on the third day, they still did not understand these things.
Even after His crucifixion and resurrection the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were still bewildered and confused as to why Jesus had been rejected and crucified, and they said, of Christ, “But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel.”
And Jesus found it necessary to rebuke them, saying, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe, all that the Prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”
It is plainly evident, therefore, that neither the Jews of Jesus time, nor His very own disciples, understood the tremendous fact of the two comings of the Messiah.
Before Jesus went away He made this clear to His own disciples, but the Jews, because of their unbelief, still do not understand that Jesus whom they rejected was their Messiah in deed and in truth, who came in fulfillment of such Prophecies as Isaiah 53:1-12r, to suffer and die and rise again, in order to make an atonement for the sins of the people, and that this very same Messiah will come again with power and great glory to rule and to reign, as promised by Daniel, and other Prophets of the Old Testament. A Forerunner Was Necessary
Now, if Christ was to come twice, once to suffer and to die, and rise again, and then, many centuries later, come again to rule and reign, it is natural to believe that He would have a forerunner to prepare the way for His appearing, both at the time of His first advent, and at the time when He would come again at His second advent, and that is exactly the question we now have before us in seeking to identify these two witnesses.
Now let us return to Matthew 17:1-27 where the disciples, on the way down from the Mount of Transfiguration, said to Jesus, “Why say then the Scribes that Elias must first come?”
In the answer which Jesus gave, when we understand that Messiah was to come twice, it is plain to see that He referred to both events. His first answer to their question was, “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.”
There is no question but what His reference here was to the time of His second advent, which was then, and is yet future. In that statement He confirmed to His disciples the statement of the Prophet Malachi, in Malachi 4:5-6, where he said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart; of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Elias Is Come Already But in Matthew 17:12, Jesus continued His answer by saying, “But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.”
And in Matthew 17:13, it says, “Then the disciples understood that He spake unto them of John the Baptist.”
Concerning John the Baptist
Now before we can understand the reference which Jesus made here to John the Baptist, we must turn to Luke the first chapter, where we have an account of the birth and the divine commission of John the Baptist, given to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, by the Angel, who announced to Zacharias at the time of his vision that John the Baptist was to be born.
In Luke 1:15-17, the Angel said of John the Baptist,
“He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine or strong drink; and shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the Children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Thus, my friends, we see that John the Baptist was not Elijah in person, but that he ministered as the forerunner of Christ, at the time of His first advent, in the spirit and power of Elijah!
What Jesus Said In Matthew 11:12-15, Jesus said,
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets in the law prophesied until John, and if ye will receive IT (namely the KINGDOM) this is Elias, which was for to come.”
In other words, both John and Jesus had preached to the Jews that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, and even so it was, in the person of Jesus, who was Himself the King from heaven.
Therefore, Jesus said, “If you will receive IT (not John, but the Kingdom which John preached) this is Elias which was for to come.” In other words, if the Jews of Jesus’ time had believed the preaching of John Baptist, concerning the Kingdom, and concerning Jesus, as the Messiah of Israel, John would have fulfilled at that time, the prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6, which referred to the coming of Elijah, to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.
But since the Jews did not believe the preaching of John concerning the Kingdom, and did not believe his witness and testimony concerning Christ as the Messiah of Israel, John did not succeed in turning Israel nationally to the Lord, and the prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6 remains unfulfilled to this very day.
Jesus Foreknew What Would Happen
Jesus understood all of these things.
He knew beforehand that the Jews would reject Him, and that He would be crucified and buried, and that He would rise again from the dead on the third day and after forty days would ascend into heaven.
He knew all about the Church Age, or the present day of Grace, which would intervene between His first advent and the time when He would come again.
He knew that during this period the Church, which His Body, would be called out through the preaching of the gospel from among both Jews and Gentiles, who would believe on Him as the Son of God, and as the Messiah of Israel, and as Saviour of the world, and after all should be accomplished, that God would send Elijah the Prophet, as the forerunner of His second advent, as stated in Malachi 4:5-6.
It was perfectly right, therefore, for Him to say, in Matthew 17:11-12, “Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.” Referring, of course to His Second advent.
In view of the fact that the people were refusing to believe the preaching of John the Baptist, who had come as the forerunner of His advent in the spirit and power of Elijah, it was perfectly right, and within the bounds of scriptural teaching for Him to say, “That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.”
John and Jesus Both Told the Truth
Thus, when John the Baptist denied that he was Elijah, he told the truth, for he was not Elijah in person, but was ministering in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when Jesus said that Elias is already come, he could say this of John the Baptist without stretching the truth in the least, because the spirit and power of Elijah were upon him.
Therefore, our conclusion is that both John and Jesus spoke the truth, and there was no contradiction whatever in what they said when we understand that Christ was to come two different times, once to suffer and to die, and to rise again, which is already past, and once to rule and reign with power and great glory, which is still future!
Since it was foreordained that He should come twice, it was necessary that He should have a forerunner preceding each advent to prepare the way of the Lord. John the Baptist was the forerunner who ministered preceding Christ’s first advent, in the spirit and power of Elijah, and before Christ comes again at His second advent, God will send Elijah, the prophet, as the fore-runner of Christ to prepare the way for His coming.
Thus we see that the answer to this seeming contradiction in the scriptures lies in the fact that Christ was to come twice, and when we understand the Word of God, there is absolutely no difficulty in believing the words of Malachi 4:5-6, where God said,
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Who Will the Other Witness Be?
Now, let us see if we can identify the other one of these two witnesses who is to come and prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sack cloth.
Enoch or Moses?
Some think the other witness will be Enoch and some are rather inclined to believe that it will be Moses. Personally, it is my conviction that it will be Enoch, and I think most Bible expositors agree on this interpretation. Enoch and Elijah were both judgment prophets. Let us remember that Enoch lived in the wicked days before the flood, and walked with God, and prophesied to the people concerning things to come. This is confirmed in Jude 1:14-15, where the Prophet referred to Enoch, saying,
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of thee saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
It is not difficult, therefore, to see that Enoch was a great Prophet of judgment, and we know that he stood alone in those wicked days before the flood, “and was not, for God took him.”
It is not difficult, therefore, to believe that Enoch and Elijah will be the two witnesses who are mentioned in Revelation 11:1-19, who will come back from heaven and witness against the Antichrist and false prophet during the Tribulation period of forty and two months, during which the Holy City will be trodden under foot by the Gentiles, and during one thousand two hundred and three score days, which is exactly the same length of time. This is to be the exact duration of the Tribulation Period.
Now, I see that in our lesson, we have not advanced very much in our study, so far as our lesson text is concerned, but, if in our lesson we have in any degree been able to bring light upon this difficult subject, and have in any measure been able to clarify your minds concerning what seemed to be a contradiction in the scriptures, we are very glad indeed, and shall count our time well spent.
If those who are prone to disbelieve the Word of God because of its seeming contradictions have been made to realize that the Bible does not contradict itself when once it is properly understood, we shall rejoice and be very glad indeed.
~ end of lecture 32 ~