11:11 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.
God’s Spirit revives them. Many
preachers insist they are beheaded but the text doesn’t say that so we should
not take that too dogmatically. Of course, the picture of them standing up and
picking up their heads and carrying them is dramatic but may not be true. They
were overcome by the beast, killed, and then rose again from the dead.
The is the third time that the
phrase, “Come up hither,” is used in the Bible.
Proverbs 25:7 For better it is
that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put
lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.
Revelation 4:1 After this I
looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I
heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither,
and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Is this three translations or
raptures; one of Old Testament saints in;
Matthew 27:52 And the graves
were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his
resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
New Testament Jew and Gentile
Christians in;
1Thessalonians 4:13 ¶ But I
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the
Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep. 16 For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
And then, here, with these two
witnesses? There are questions with this theory of interpretation. Are there
three translations or raptures or are these last two referring to one event and
are we forcing the Bible to fit into our preferred interpretations. A
translation is a type of resurrection and there is a question of what happened
to the saints of Matthew 27. Did they ascend in a cloud like Christ? We are not
told there but here we are told in regard to Christ.
Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out
of their sight.
What I think is, is that the
resurrection of the Old Testament saints in Matthew, the translation of the
church, and the ascension of the two witnesses are three completely separate
events. While some insist that the ascension of the two witnesses represents in
symbol a third, Jewish rapture I believe that takes a bit of twisting the text.
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