Prophecy by Two Witnesses
Two groups of Christian witnesses
In Rev, 11:3-12, we get a revelation of two witnesses. The messages in this wonderful book of Revelation are allegorical and need to be interpreted prophetically. No literal meaning ought to be applied to the allegorical symbols and signs. We have been taught that in the last days two witnesses including Elijah would appear; they would bring fire from heaven; they would be ultimately killed by the Antichrist and their dead bodies would be seen by the people of this world, etc.
This passage reveals two kinds of Christian witnesses. Let us note that these two witnesses are not literal two persons in flesh. One group openly witnesses the living Christ through various visible ministries whereas the other group witnesses Him through their invisible ministries. An evangelist belongs to the former category whereas a house-wife, a prayer intercessor, is of the latter category.
Two olive trees and two candlesticks
Their lives would be like “two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth”. They are not in the Heaven but are living in Christ Jesus before the God of the earth. Both these groups are the olive trees because their lives are holy and righteous. Their lives radiate the very life of Christ Jesus. Where do they stand? They stand before the God of the earth.
Dear Christian, you ought to be in either of these groups. If your life is holy and righteous, you will be indeed of “My two witnesses”. You should live Christ on this earth. If you are a lukewarm Christian keeping one leg in this world and the other leg in the Kingdom of Christ, you will never be of “My two witnesses”.
Power to prophesy
If you are of “My two witnesses”, you will receive God’s power to “prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days”. God will give you power to prophesy to the world. Being filled with the power of the resurrection of Christ Jesus, you will prophesy unto the dry bones. You will prophesy of God’s healing power to the world. You will prophesy of God’s miracle working power to the world. “Prophesy” means convey through your words of mouth the way of salvation through Christ Jesus to the perishing world. Christ will be preached by you in the power of God. As you preach Christ Jesus, the power of God will be manifested through your words of mouth. It will create new things in the lives of the people who hear your words. All the people of God redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus are indeed prophets of God to the world because they have the message of God concerning salvation through the blood of Christ Jesus.
You should prophesy, clothed in sack cloth. This is all the more important. You should have humility before God and man. Once you lose humility, you cannot prophesy.
No power on this earth can hurt you. If any man hurts you, “fire proceedeth out of” your mouth and devours the enemies of the Cross. If any anti-Christian organization attempts to persecute you, you need not do anything at all to take revenge upon them because fire to destroy them would proceed from our very mouth through which you preach Christ Jesus. You should know that you are of His two witnesses. Until and unless you know the truth that you are of the two God’s witnesses, you cannot have an upper hand over your persecutors and you cannot be a conduit of God’s power. One who persecutes you will be made powerless by the God of the earth and he will be like a dead person.
Prophetic period
You prophesy “a thousand two hundred and threescore days”. Let us not attribute a literal meaning to this number. Prophetically speaking, this period of prophecy or ministry is a life long one. There is no retirement in God’s ministry. I believe the ministry of Billy Graham has almost completed this prophetic period. Many servants of God could not finish their courses successfully. William Branham, a mighty prophet, fell by the wayside due to false doctrines. Many servants of God did run well in the beginning but in due course had backslidden either due to the vanity of this world or due to false doctrines.
Power to shut heaven
If you are of “My two witnesses”, you will have power “to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days” of your prophecy. Christ has given you authority to shut heaven in His Name so that the blessings of God “rain not” upon those who are instruments in the hands of the Devil.
You have power to destroy the work of the devil by shutting heaven upon those whom he is using for the extension of his kingdom. Many human beings held in captivity by the devil work for him. They have all the resources of this earth to promote his kingdom. Please note that God is revealed here as “the God of the earth”. You ought to command in the Name of Jesus Christ for the resources of this earth to be taken away from the Devil and given to the Kingdom of God. Until and unless you stop the devil from plundering the resources that are meant for you, you cannot do your ministry effectively. Command that the heaven be shut on those who work for the devil.
Power over waters
You have power “over waters to turn to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as” you will. Waters of affliction that affect every person on this earth can be turned into the life giving blood of Jesus Christ. Every suffering person can be turned over to the Kingdom of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Every body on this earth does suffer in flesh. Nobody is exempted from bodily suffering, be it a rich person or a beggar. Let these waters be changed into the eternal life in Christ Jesus. Suffering only brings a person nigh to God. The Bible is the Word of comfort. No other book on this earth can offer divine comfort.
Power to smite with all plagues
You have power “to smite the earth with all plagues”. You have power to command “all plagues” to afflict the earth due to divine judgment. God afflicted the Egyptians with all plagues to deliver His people from the cruel hands of the Egyptians. Egyptians are typical of the powers of darkness or the evil spirits that roam about this earth. Plagues from the Kingdom of Christ immobilize them every evil spirit or demon that works against the people of God in every nation. You have no power to kill Satan or his demons. But you have power to bind or destroy his work on this earth because you stand before the God of the earth. You have power to bring plagues against the Antichrist and the False Prophet.
Plagues are the powerful tools in your hands to fight the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Aggressive and travailing prayers, words of prophecy and spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit that you can unleash against the kingdom of the devil.
You smite the earth that is ruled by the Devil who “was cast out into the earth” (Rev.12:9). Please note that you are not smiting the human beings living on this earth. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Gal.6:12). In other words, you smite the kingdom of the devil on this earth with all plagues at your will. At your will, you can play havoc with the kingdom of the devil on this earth.
Beast making war
As and when you cease to witness the living Christ, “the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against” you and shall overcome and kill you. The Antichrist will attack those witnesses “when they shall have finished their testimony” and not before that. As long as you are on this earth, you should prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sack cloth to them that dwell on this earth. So long as the words of eternal life proceed from your mouth, the devil cannot come nigh to you because fire proceeds from your mouth and because you wage an offensive war against the devil. Once you cease to prophesy or speak words of life, the devil has an upper hand over you with the result that you have to wage a defensive war. The devil overcomes and kills you in a spiritual manner. You will reach a stage where you lose your faith in God and will thus become a dead Christian. You will experience a spiritual death. You will not be a live Christian but a dead Christian.
Dead bodies of Christian witnesses
The dead bodies of these two Christian witnesses “shall lie in the street of the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified”. The spiritually dead Christians lie in the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. Today there are many dead Christians killed by the Antichrist and his False Prophet that do not lie in the heavenly places but in Sodom and Egypt. Their life is not different from those wicked people that inhabited Sodom and Egypt. By their spiritual death or backsliding, they have crucified afresh Christ Jesus. They have put the Christ on His Cross so that the power of God may not be manifested through the crucified Christ.
The whole world “shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves”. If the witnessing Christians have backslidden and overcome by the devil, the latter would take the maximum advantage out of this great fall by telling the whole world about their fall. If any Christian minister used by God mightily has backslidden and become spiritually dead, the devil would grab this golden opportunity and do maximum publicity propaganda in the whole world. He would not allow their dead bodies to be buried. He would not allow the matter to be forgotten by the people through his sustained propaganda publicity.
Rejoicing over the death of Christian witnesses
Those who “dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the earth”. Who are they that “dwell upon the earth”? These are the people that are attached to this earth. In other words, they are the enemies of the Cross. These are not the people of God who live as strangers in this world. The two witnesses tormented them by shutting heaven on them. These people of the earth who were engaged in promoting the kingdom of the devil were put to heavy losses by these two witnesses. These two prophets have brought divine judgment on the kingdom of the devil, which has in turn affected their material prosperity.
These people rejoice over the fall of “My two witnesses”. They make merry and send gifts to one another. When the people of god have ceased to work for God, the devil takes hold of the people that dwell upon the earth and makes them worship him and idols. These people in captivity send gifts to one another. Gifts for the people of this earth are worldly riches and idols where gifts for the people of God are the Holy Spirit. During the period of slackening of evangelical work, there will be proliferation of idol worships by the people of this earth. This will spread like a wild fire.
Revival after three days and a half
After three days and a half, the Spirit of God revives these dead witnesses. Three days and a half mean a very short period of death against the long period of prophecy. Every Christian backslides at one point of time or the other in his/her life. This period of spiritual death is very short.
The revived Christian witnesses stand upon their feet. “Great fear fell upon them which saw them” when dead Christians are revived. The people that dwell upon this earth are going to see a great revival of our churches in the whole world.
The revived Christian witnesses heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, “Come up hither”. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. During the revival that is going to be witnessed by the whole world, the revived Christians will ascend up to heaven so as to be seated in the heavenly places with God. They will be covered with the glory of God. Their ascension into the heaven and their seats in the heavenly places will surprise their enemies. They will behold the exalted position of the revived Christians.
- Job Anbalagan