Revelation 11, verses 4 to 6, fire proceedeth out of their mouth

 

11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

Zechariah 4:2  And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: 3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 4  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? 5  Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. 6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Who are these two witnesses that represent God on earth? We have a hint in the episode where Christ is transfigured before a small group of the Apostles, as He gives them a taste of how He will appear to those in His millennial reign on earth.

Matthew 16:28  Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. 17:1 ¶  And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 3  And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias [Elijah from Greek] talking with him. 4  Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

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.

People clearly try to interrupt the efforts of the two witnesses and this is how they are dealt with, a supernatural weapon before noted in reference to God.

Psalm 18:8  There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

Remember that Elijah called fire down from heaven.

2Kings 1:9 ¶  Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. 10  And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 11  Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. 12  And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

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.

These extraordinary witnesses have a great deal of discretion on what they will do, having the ability to cause drought, power over waters to turn them into blood, and unleash plagues, as much as they want. We should note these events that follow as which ones come from them. That’s three and a half years of power to cause immense suffering.

Genesis 8, verses 6 to 12, the raven and the dove

 

Genesis 8:6 ¶  And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7  And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8  Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9  But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. 10  And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11  And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12  And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

Forty days is a period of testing and fasting in the Bible among other things but more importantly of waiting on God, as Noah must do here. See Moses, Elijah, and Jesus’ experiences.

Exodus 34:28  And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

1Kings 19:8  And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

Matthew 4:2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

There is a symbolic significance to sending out a raven and a dove although the literal meaning is that Noah did just that. As mankind is about to embark on a new beginning on an earth that is being reborn the raven, a bird that is forbidden to be eaten under the Law given to Moses later, is sent out of the ark. Ravens are scavengers and predators so, presumably, this one would have found something to eat.

Ravens are given the task to feed Elijah in a time of drought in 1Kings 17:1-7. God is said to provide their food in Job 38:41 and Psalm 147:9 and Luke 12:24.

And yet, they, along with owls, bitterns, and cormorants are among the unclean birds that represent the desolation of Idumea in Isaiah 34.

The dove with the olive leaf in her mouth is a powerful motif in western civilization representing making peace and Christ uses the dove in contrast to the serpent in Matthew 10:16 with the serpent representing wisdom and the dove representing the harmless nature of the Jewish witnesses for Him to Israel so that no one could mistake Christ’s message to be rightly delivered by the sword. The Catholic Church and Spain and the Anglican Church and England did much abuse to the Scriptures by their evangelization of the world by conquest, murder, and slavery. In this, the dove represents the witness for Christ, the essence of which is peace with God, to a world that has been convulsed and destroyed by sin and an alienation from our Creator.

The Holy Ghost descends like a dove on Christ. Many Christian artists have represented the Holy Spirit, though, by the dove with the olive leaf, or usually branch, in its mouth.

Luke 3:22  And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

Christ is our peace with God, making of Jew and Gentile one new man, reconciling us both to God.

Ephesians 2:14 ¶  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Also, both good and evil, sacred and profane, proceeds from the Ark onto the earth, represented by the dove and the raven. Mankind will visit his sinful nature and his desire to walk with God upon this earth throughout history, both sides of his character.

There are an enormous number of sermons that have been made and can be made regarding the significance of the raven and the dove.

Revelation 11, verse 3, and they shall prophesy

 

Revelation 11:3 ¶  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 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. 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. 7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10  And they that 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 on the earth. 11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12  And they 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. 13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Breaking this passage down verse by verse;

11:3 ¶  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

This mirrors the second verse of the chapter in that the two witnesses will prophesy 3 ½ years based on the ancient 360 day year. The two witnesses, said to be prophets in verse 10, will preach God’s word for the future during the time of the Tribulation. Remember, power is authority, not just strength.

Luke 4:36  And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

 

1Corinthians 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

 

Revelation 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

 

Sackcloth is a reference to coarse material like putting on burlap from old feed bags for farm animals as a sign of mourning.

 

Psalm 30:11  Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

 

Psalm 35:13  But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

Genesis 8, verses 4 and 5, upon the mountains of Ararat

 

Genesis 8:4 ¶  And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 5  And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

The mountains of Ararat is an enormous mountain system or massif rising 17,000 feet from a base of plains that are already 2-3,000 feet high. It is crowned by Mount Ararat consisting of two volcanic cones, long dormant, called Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. The ice cap that covers Mount Ararat is 17 square miles and 350 feet deep while the massif itself, the mountains of Ararat is 25 miles in diameter. It would have been, if I am understanding the information correctly, in ancient Armenia.

Jeremiah 51:27  Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.

Mount Ararat is located in extreme Eastern Turkey. Some have claimed to have seen the remains of the Ark on that mountain but travel has been difficult there partly due to the geopolitical situation in that area with Armenia, formerly of the USSR, and Iran so near. Still, a number of expeditions have failed to produce conclusive remains of Noah’s Ark, although supposed eyewitness accounts are very interesting.[1]

Still, whether or not Noah’s Ark has been seen should not impress a Bible-believer who has faith in the written word of God and needs no relic to confirm or bolster that faith in an argument. Relics like the Shroud of Turin and the possible remains of Noah’s Ark tickle the fancy of people who do not believe the Bible explicitly and are always searching for the place where the Hebrews landed after crossing the Red Sea or claiming to have found, during the Crusades, a piece of the spear that pierced Christ’s side and on and on. Stick with the Bible as all of the archaeologists’ spades and shovels in the world will never dig up most of history which is lost in the dust as long as this earth lasts. Do not hinge your faith on the finding of an object that you think verifies your belief. If you need relics to confirm your faith you have a weak faith indeed.

John 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Still, it is a fascinating thought to imagine where mankind issued from after the Flood.

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[1] Mount Ararat – Noah’s Ark Search, http://www.noahsarksearch.com/ararat.htm. (accessed 8.4.2016).

 

Psalm 116 comments

 

Psalm 116:1 ¶  I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. 2  Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. 3  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. 4  Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. 5  Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. 6  The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. 7  Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. 8  For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9  I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

 

This is one of those Psalms you just want to memorize and recite. Jesus speaks of the importance of loving God as the great commandment in the Law given to Moses in a reference to Deuteronomy 6:5.

 

Matthew 22:34 ¶  But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment.

 

Paul refers to the love for God.

 

Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 

1Corinthians 8:3  But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

 

John also speaks of a love for God.

 

1John 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

 

The famous founder of Methodism, John Wesley, wrote a sermon once about how he didn’t feel he was a real Christian until he was able to actually love God.

 

The Psalmist here, in context, states that he loves the Lord because God listened to him, believing that God has answered his prayers. We have that privilege, to be able to come before the throne of the king of the universe itself at any time and at all times, and to be heard.

 

Verse 3 has its parallel in Psalm 18.

 

Psalm 18:4  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 5  The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. 6  In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

 

The Psalmist declares that God delivered him out of his trouble and he is praising the Lord. Many of us can relate a time when we were delivered from something after a plea to God. It can be as simple as a car accident where you uttered a, “God help me,” or maybe it was something that seemed about to happen that you knew was a disaster going to happen and you dropped to your knees and prayed sincerely. God took care of you, if you will admit it. We should be praising the Lord our whole lives for his mercy and grace toward us in that we are still alive and can praise the Lord in the land of the living.

 

Psalm 116:10 ¶  I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: 11  I said in my haste, All men are liars. 12  What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? 13  I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. 14  I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. 15  Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. 16  O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. 17  I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. 18  I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people, 19  In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

The trouble the Psalmist was in seems to be caused by other people. He is bitter at what they have said and states that he hastily said that all men were liars. He acknowledges God for all of His mercy and the good things He has provided the Psalmist. This can easily be us in our affliction caused by the gossip of others, cruelty, or unfair and unreasonable treatment by them.

 

The Psalmist’s response is to lay hold on the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD Jehovah. For we Christians the context for us is our eternal salvation.

 

Romans 10:8  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

 

    12 ¶  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

He promises to make good the vows he made to God publicly in his distress. Then there is this great verse;

 

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

 

Some commentators have said that God’s people are so precious to Him that He regards their life on earth and the doorway of death to the life to come as of particular value. Our death, our entry into the eternal state of being with Him, is a precious thing to our God. God does not take our lives lightly, nor does He hasten our deaths as we would expect once we are delivered from this present, evil world, but He keeps us here to glorify Him before the world.

 

The Psalmist declares that he is God’s servant, His loyal servant. He will call on God’s name and honor his word before God. Then it brings us back down to the context which is the Old Testament and the Law, focusing on the center of Israelite life in Jerusalem, the capital of David’s kingdom.

 

There are a lot of things about this Psalm that we can pray, that we can claim, some great truths. In my mind these Psalms can be a great comfort in times of our distress. I hope you feel the same way.

 

 

 

Revelation 11, verses 1 and 2, it is given unto the Gentiles

 

Revelation 11:1 ¶  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. 2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

There is a literal temple here, as the Gentiles will tread its outer court for 3 and a ½ years, which is the time of the Great Tribulation as it was the time of the great drought of Elijah’s time, as that number of months is the number of chapters in the book of Job, a book about God’s person suffering. John is writing, according to scholars, at least two or more decades after the temple of Christ’s time, the second temple, was destroyed.

Ezekiel writes about a third temple as his description does not seem to fit either Solomon’s temple, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, or Herod’s version, destroyed by the Romans in AD70, decades prior to this writing. There was a group of devout Jews who called themselves the Temple Mount Faithful, whose website was templemountfaithful.org. They wanted to set the cornerstone to rebuild the temple. When their leaders die there will be others, you can rest assured. So, it is not an unknown impulse in modern Judaism to rebuild the temple.

The temple is being measured except for Solomon’s Porch, the outermost court, which is the only place that Gentiles, even Roman citizens in Herod’s day, were allowed to come providing their behavior was good. It is mentioned in John 10:23; Acts 3:11; 5:12. Notice that the worshippers in the temple are also being measured. Jerusalem, along with the outer court, are tread upon for this period of time.

Luke 21:24  And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Daniel 12:7  And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

In Daniel there are interesting additional times mentioned of 1290 days and 1335 days and 2300 days which are thought by some to be a reference to years. In fact, the founder of the Millerites who eventually became the Seventh Day Adventists used these as years to get to an end times date in the 1840’s.[1]  These days as years have also been used to add up to 1776, as the founding of America, to justify making the United States to be the stone that was cut without hands that became a great mountain and covered the whole earth in Daniel 2:35, 45.[2] There is a great danger in trying to set the exact date as the calendars don’t match up, having changed since then, and prophecy is twisted to fit the agenda of the speaker on it so often. Remember what Jesus said to His disciples;

Acts 1:6 ¶  When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

To gleefully say, “Aha! Then, since God didn’t say day or hour I can know that!” is the beginning of a journey down a long and confusing road as many preachers did when they announced that it would all happen in the year 2000.

Here, Paul mentions this time.

Romans 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be 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.

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[1] Ruth Alden Doan, The Miller Heresy, Millennialism, and American Culture (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1987), 33

 

[2] Fountain E. Pitts, A Defence of Armageddon or Our Great Country Foretold in the Holy Scriptures In two discourses, Delivered in the Capitol of the United States, at the request of several members of Congress, on the anniversary of Washington's birthday, 1857 (Baltimore: J.W. Bull Publishers, 1859),23. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12264015W/A_defence_of_Armageddon

 

Genesis 8, verses 1 to 3, the rain from heaven was restrained

 

Genesis 8:1 ¶  And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 2  The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; 3  And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

And God remembered Noah does not say, in this context, that God forgot about him but that God revisited him, brought him back into play, turned His attention to him. In pre-1611 dictionaries something remembered was something worthy to be mentioned, thought about, or spoken of, not as it is often today, something I had forgotten but has now come to mind.

Genesis 19:29  And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

Genesis 30:22  And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

After, or even during, the hundred- and fifty-days God causes a wind to pass over the earth and the waters asswaged meaning, as this context states, abated. The wind caused the waters to diminish much as wind now causes wet ground to dry out. This would have been a powerful wind as the speed of the wind flowing across the water also affects how fast it will dry. This drying out process did not stop with the emergence of dry land again.

Some modern scientists theorize a time when the earth was nearly covered in water although, as with most of modern theory they put this time in a remote, unapproachable, and I might add, unproveable distant past. They talk about an explosion of life and the appearance of dry land but they put it in a different order and at a different time than God’s testimony in the Bible reveals.[1] Of course, as with all pursuits dependent upon a philosophy, in their case atheistic materialism, the evidence is interpreted in accordance with one’s worldview unless the light of the Holy Spirit shines through one’s clogged thinking. God says one thing, they say another. Believe God.

The earth has been undergoing a drying out period for the last several thousands of years as indicated by the formation of such places as the Sahara Desert which is thought by some to have gone, about 5,000 years ago, from a very wet place to a very dry place, and it is growing yearly.[2]

Nevertheless, volumes of fossils that had once been ocean life have been found in the heights of mountain ranges around the world, showing that those peaks were once under water and while that evidence is interpreted differently by an atheist it clearly shows the veracity of the Bible to anyone with an open mind.[3]

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[1] University Of California - Davis. "When The Earth Dried Out." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/02/020208075438.htm  (accessed August 2, 2016).

 

[2] Becky Oskin, “Sahara went from Green to Desert in a Flash,” LiveScience. April 5, 2013.

http://www.livescience.com/28493-when-sahara-desert-formed.html. (accessed August 2, 2016).

 

[3] Carol Marie Tang, “Tethys Sea,” Encyclopaedia Brittanica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Tethys-Sea. (accessed August 2, 2016).