THE TWO WITNESSES
Few subjects in the book of Revelation have caused as much speculation as the prophecy of the Two Witnesses spoken about in chapter 11.
As the fulfilment of this prophecy, some Churches believe that at a future time two people will emerge from among their ranks and prophesy for 1260 days. Others believe that two prophets from the past will reappear, e.g. Moses and Elijah, for this same period of time.
On the other hand, many believe the prophecy covers a period of 1260 years. Using this interpretation method, a variety of explanations have been put forward. Some see the Two Witnesses as the Jewish and Gentile components of the Church, others identify them as the true ministry going out in pairs to testify against the Roman Catholic Church, and still others teach that they refer to the Old and New Testament Scriptures being suppressed by Catholicism.
The intent of this article is to show that the true identity of the Two Witnesses can be brought to light from the Scriptures and historical facts.
Notice this passage of Scripture in Revelation 11:
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.
3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
In verse 1, John, who wrote the book of Revelation, is told to “measure the temple of God”. What exactly does this mean?
The Church is referred to in Scripture as a spiritual Temple (I Cor 3:16). In Revelation 21 we see this spiritual Temple in its completed form after Christ’s return.
The history of the Church is foretold in the seven successive Church era messages of Revelation 2 and 3. As the specific delineations of these seven eras are not given, they need to be "measured", i.e. carefully studied in the light of history, to work out their correct time periods. In each Church era message, we are given specific information to enable us to do this measuring. See the page “THE TRUE CHURCH ERAS” for more on this.
In verse 2, however, we find that a particular length of time pertaining to the physical "court" outside the Temple, i.e. the Temple Mount, and the "holy city", Jerusalem, does not need to be measured by us. It is already given as "42 months", which is equivalent to 1260 days. As explained on the page "DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS AND TIMES", a month in a prophecy is counted as 30 days, and so 42 x 30 days equals 1260 days.
In verse 3, a second period of 1260 days is assigned to the Two Witnesses.
Therefore, two periods of 1260 days are spoken of here.
Most people in the Church of God are familiar with the “day for a year” principle of reckoning prophecy which is found in the Scriptures (Num 14:34, Eze 4:6). This is also explained on the page "DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS AND TIMES".
When applying this principle, each of the two 1260 day periods denotes 1260 years. It will be shown below that these two periods are consecutive, a fact confirmed by both history and Bible chronology.
Therefore these periods together equal 2520 years, a length of time frequently referred to in Scripture as "seven times". Again, this is explained on the page "DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS AND TIMES".
2520 years, or "seven times", is the exact length of time that the people of God were to be punished for disobeying His laws, according to Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24 and 28.
Revelation 11:2 says in regard to the court outside the Temple, “it is given unto the Gentiles”, but the literal Greek says, "it was given unto the Gentiles". Young's Literal Translation here reads "was given". Green's Interlinear Bible also says "was given". The Companion Bible has a marginal note in this place saying "is = was".
This raises the question: When was the Holy City given unto the Gentiles? The answer is simple: when the Babylonians captured it. All seven successive Gentile powers that captured Jerusalem: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Seleucid Empire, Rome, and Mecca/Medina (Islam), came to power within the first 1260 year period, the one mentioned in Revelation 11:2. This period ran from 575BC (see the chronological chart on the home page for proof of this date) until 685AD. For further information see the article "THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES".
During the second 1260 year period, from 686 until 1945, a sequence of ten Islamic dynasties and three "Christian" powers ruled Jerusalem at the same time that the Papacy ruled from Rome. This is explained further below. It is this second period that is referred to in Revelation 11:3.
Revelation 11:3 tells us that the Two Witnesses will prophesy, but what do they prophesy about?
Notice this passage of Scripture in Daniel 7:
Daniel 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words (blasphemy) against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time (three and a half "times", i.e. 1260 years).
From these verses we learn that a "horn", or power, shall arise amongst ten other powers, and shall be guilty of blasphemy and the persecution of God's "saints" for a set period of 1260 years.
Who is meant by the term "saints"?
Saints refers to those set apart by God for His own purposes. It can refer either to God's physical people or His spiritual people. Both are set apart by God and both are called saints in the Scriptures. The context has to bear out which is intended, and we will see that here the physical saints, Daniel's countrymen, the Jews, are intended.
What is the identity of the blasphemous "horn" said to arise amongst ten other horns?
In the early fourth century Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople. The city of Rome speedily declined in significance from that point on, never to rise again as a military stronghold. However, as a spiritual centre the city grew steadily under a long succession of men with the title "Bishop of Rome". These Bishops of Rome, over time referred to as Popes, were allowed to be selected by church officials in Rome, but needed to be confirmed by the emperor residing in Constantinople before being sworn into office.
In 684 however, Emperor Constantine IV waived the requirement of Papal confirmation by the emperor, permitting Rome from that time onward to select and install its Popes independently. The first Pope so elected was Pope John V in 685, making his first regnal year 686. From this point on the Papacy became an independent power, or in Bible language, a "horn".
From 686 until 1945 there were 1260 inclusive years during which the independent Papacy influenced many "Christian" nations to persecute millions of people it deemed to be heretics. Prominent among the victims were the Jewish people. Jews were greatly tormented through a variety of means, including inquisitions, forced migrations, pogroms, crusades, and finally the Holocaust.
Although many different groups (including true Christians) were persecuted during this 1260 year period, we will see further below that the events that occurred at the end of this period unmistakably identify the Jews as the people referred to in Revelation 11:3.
This 1260 year period is the same one prophesied in Daniel 7:25 during which the saints, i.e. the Jews, were to be given into the hands of the horn referred to in verse 24 as "another" and in verse 8 as "another little horn", i.e. the Papacy. Therefore Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 11:3 refer to the same period of time.
Looking back at how history has unfolded we can see that the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11:3 were in fact a living fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniel 7:25.
Thus it can be concluded that the Two Witnesses are the Jews.
Additionally, the blasphemous little horn is also depicted in Revelation 13:5 as "a mouth", clearly denoting the Papacy. Therefore Daniel 7:25, Revelation 11:3 and Revelation 13:5 all refer to the same 1260 year period, from 686 until 1945 inclusively.
We can now see why John is told in Revelation 11:2 that the Holy City "was given" unto the Gentiles for 1260 years, but that God "will give" unto His Two Witnesses another 1260 years. From John's standpoint in history, in the first century AD, the first period had already started but had yet a long way to run, while the second period was still far off in the future.
This complex prophecy shows a great degree of design.
We need to understand that God is THE great mathematician.
He tells us to do things "in order" (I Cor 14:40), because that is exactly what He does. He does everything with planning and precision.
That includes the duration of the punishment of His people.
To reiterate: The first 1260 year period saw all seven successive Gentile powers, i.e. the seven heads of the "beasts" of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 and 17, capture the city of Jerusalem. These were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Seleucid Empire, Rome, and Mecca/Medina (Islam). The second 1260 year period saw independent Papal rule from Rome, and its accompanying persecution of the Jews, during the time when Jerusalem was ruled by the "ten horns", all of which grew successively out of the seventh head of the "Beast", Mecca/Medina, which captured Jerusalem in the year 638AD. See "DANIEL 2 - INTERPRETATION ERRORS" for more information.
These ten horns were ten Islamic dynasties that ruled over Jerusalem, three of which were defeated by the "little horn" (Dan 7:8), i.e. Catholicism/Christianity, also described as the "eighth" head of the "Beast" (Rev 17:11). The little horn became the eighth head of the "Beast" when it first conquered Jerusalem in 1099, as the First Crusade succeeded in its mission.
The ten horns and the three manifestations of the little horn are:
1) The Umayyad dynasty, based in Syria, which ruled Jerusalem from 661 till 750.
2) The Abbassid dynasty, based in modern-day Iraq, which ruled Jerusalem from 750 till 878 and 904 till 939.
3) The Tulunid dynasty, based in Egypt, which ruled Jerusalem from 878 till 904.
4) The Ikhshidid dynasty, based in Egypt, which ruled Jerusalem from 939 till 969.
5) The Fatimid dynasty, based originally in modern-day Tunisia and afterwards in Egypt, which ruled Jerusalem from 969 till 1073 and 1098 till 1099.
6) The Seljuq dynasty, based in modern-day Iran, which ruled Jerusalem from 1073 till 1098.
While under Fatimid rule, Jerusalem was captured by the first Crusade, led by Godfrey de Bouillon, in 1099, starting the first period of rule over Jerusalem by the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8, which lasted until 1187.
7) The Ayyubid dynasty, based alternately in Egypt and Syria, which ruled Jerusalem from 1187 till 1229 and 1244 till 1260. The Ayyubid ruler Saladin defeated the Crusaders in 1187.
Ayyubid ruler Al-Kamil surrendered Jerusalem to the sixth Crusade under Frederick II in 1229, which was the second period of rule over Jerusalem by the "little horn". This period lasted till 1244.
Ayyubid ruler As-Salih, with the help of the Kwarezmians, besieged and recaptured Jerusalem in 1244, ending Christian rule until 1917.
8) The Mamluk dynasty, based in Egypt, which ruled Jerusalem from 1260 till 1516.
9) The Ottoman Empire, based in modern-day Turkey, which ruled Jerusalem from 1516 till 1831 and 1840 till 1917.
10) The Alawiyya, or Muhammad Ali dynasty, based in Egypt, which ruled Jerusalem from 1831 till 1840.
The Ottoman Empire was defeated in 1917 during WW1 by the third emergence of the "little horn" referred to at the time as "The Last Crusade", when a combine of British Empire forces re-established Christian rule over Jerusalem. The British remained there until May 1948.
How did the Jews become the Two Witnesses?
The explanation begins in I Kings 11:26-36:
I Kings 11:26 Then Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose
mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.
27 And this is what caused him to rebel against the king: Solomon had built the Millo and repaired the damages to the city of David his father.
28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.
29 Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field.
30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces.
31 And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you
32 (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),
33 because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David.
34 However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.
35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you - ten tribes.
36 And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there'".
Israel was composed originally of twelve tribes. The tribe of Joseph was split into two, making thirteen tribes, but the tribe of Levi was set apart by God for His service. Therefore, when dividing up the land in Joshua's time, only twelve tribes received land. Levi was given towns to live in, within the territory of the other twelve tribes.
At the time of the fulfilment of Ahijah's prophecy, Jeroboam was to receive ten of the tribes. Solomon's son Rehoboam was to receive one tribe in addition to the one of which he already was the leader.
If there are twelve pieces in total and one king is to receive ten, obviously the other will have two.
Which two is made abundantly clear in verse 36:
For David to "always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem", one of the two tribes would have to be Judah, for David is of the tribe of Judah.
For this to happen in Jerusalem the other tribe would have to be Benjamin, because Jerusalem is in the territory of Benjamin (Josh 18:21-28).
After King Solomon's death, Ahijah's prophecy came to pass. Solomon's son Rehoboam made himself so unpopular that ten of the twelve tribes broke away from him to form the Kingdom of Israel, with Jeroboam as their first king. Rehoboam was left with only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, together called the Kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital. Over time, many people from the tribe of Levi joined them, as did a substantial number from the other tribes. At their core however, they were the people of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, located in their allotted territories.
The account of the division of the nation of Israel into the ten tribes of the Kingdom of Israel and the two tribes of the Kingdom of Judah can be found in I Kings 12 and II Chronicles 11. In I Kings 12:20 it says that initially only the people of the tribe of Judah followed Rehoboam, but the very next verse and the remainder of the chapter show that the tribe of Benjamin joined them.
In I Kings 12:21-24 it states, "When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, ‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your kinsmen the people of Israel. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me’””.
And II Chronicles 11:11-12 adds that Rehoboam "made the fortresses strong, and put commanders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. And he put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin".
See also II Chronicles 11:1-3, 15:8-9 and Ezra 4:1, 10:9 for further examples of where the Kingdom of Judah is shown to consist mainly of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
After the division of the nation, the two Kingdoms continued as separate entities for around two and a half centuries until the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, and its people taken into captivity. Just over 120 years later the Kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians, and its people also went into captivity. However, whereas the nation of Israel did not return to their land and were absorbed into other nations, a substantial number from the nation of Judah returned to the Holy Land and renewed their covenant with God.
It is these people, known as the Jews, who continued to be witnesses for God. They held to God’s Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, and therefore were set apart from all other people. It was the Jewish nation that Jesus Christ was born into and who for the most part rejected Him as their prophesied Messiah. As a result, they were once again decimated by their enemies and scattered among the nations for the remainder of the time of Gentile domination that God had foretold (Lev 26:33, Lk 21:24).
While exiled among the nations, the Jews held tenaciously to their religion, and so they were witnesses for God during their sojourn in those countries. In particular they witnessed to the fate that had befallen them because of their disobedience to God.
With all this information in mind, let’s look at Revelation 11:1-14.
(My comments are in brackets).
Revelation 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod (a measuring rod): and the angel stood, saying, rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein (the true Church through the ages, as delineated by the Church era messages in Rev 2 and 3).
2 But the court which is without the temple (the Temple Mount) leave out, and measure it not; for it is (it was) given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city (Jerusalem - the capital of Judea) shall they tread under foot forty and two months (1260 years, from 575BC until 685AD, during which all seven Gentile powers, the seven heads of the "Beast", came on the scene to rule Jerusalem).
3 And I will give power ("power" is in italics, and so not in the original text) unto my two witnesses (Judah and Benjamin - the people of Judea, i.e. "the Jews"), and they shall prophesy (they shall fulfil the prophecy of Dan 7:24-25, being "given into the hand" of the little horn) one thousand two hundred and threescore days (1260 years, from 686AD until 1945AD, making 2520 years together with verse 2), clothed in sackcloth (a time of mourning from suffering the worst of persecutions, like the innumerable banishments and pogroms, the murderous Inquisitions, the Crusades and the Holocaust. The website biblebelievers.org.au lists 109 regions and countries where the Jews have historically been persecuted and from which they have been expelled. More than a hundred of these occurrences were specifically during this second 1260 year period. See the list here.
4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth (all Israel was God's olive tree (Jer 11:16) and was meant to supply the oil to be a light to the world. As 12 tribes they could be seen symbolically as 12 olive trees. Zechariah speaks of two olive trees (Zech 4). This identifies the two, because after all Israel had gone into captivity and been removed from their land, it was mainly a remnant of the two southern tribes that had returned from Babylon, and it is these that Zechariah is speaking to. At that time in history, Ezra 4:1 and 10:9 both mention "Judah and Benjamin" as being the people then living in the land. The people of Levi are described as "divisions" living among them (Neh 11:36). These together became "the Jews", witnesses of God to the world, preserving God's Word and fulfilling its prophecies, clearly revealing the existence of our Creator).
5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth (God's punishment comes on those who persecute His people, when His people pray to Him for deliverance), and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed (a perfect literal example of this is found in II Kings 1:9-14, where fire proceeds from God in response to Elijah's request).
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 (this is highly figurative language, but history shows that those who persecute God's people and His Holy City are themselves cursed).
Here are some examples:
* Babylon was punished for the destruction it brought on Jerusalem, as foretold in Isaiah 13 and 14 as well as Jeremiah 25, 50 and 51. It was completely destroyed by the Medes, and its original site never inhabited again.
* Catholic/Christian Europe, which was guilty of the most abominable persecutions of those they considered to be heretics, was struck by the Black Death in the mid-1300’s. This was foretold in the Thyatira Church era message (Rev 2:18-29). "Jezebel", who targeted both Christians and Jews, failed to repent and paid the price. (See the page "THE TRUE CHURCH ERAS").
* When nearing the end of their 2520 years of punishment, the Jews were subjected to the greatest atrocities ever perpetrated against them, at the hands of Nazi Germany. The result was that the number of German WW2 deaths exceeded the number of Jews killed by the Germans, and their country was left in ruins.
Here are some Scriptures that pronounce the punishment of the enemies of God's people:
* “I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zech 12:3).
* “Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey” (Jer 30:16).
* “Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish” (Isa 41:11).
These are just a few of many Scriptures which testify that those who come against God’s people or God’s city pay a heavy price.
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 (approximately six million Jews were killed in World War 2, at which time they "finished their testimony" in regard to the 1260 year period of Dan 7:25 and Rev 11:3, and their time of being in "sackcloth" (v3) came to an end).
8 And their dead bodies (the surviving Jews, figuratively dead) shall lie in the street of the great city ("Babylon the Great", i.e. the "Christian" nations led by Rome, the former seat of the Roman Empire, as described in Rev 18), which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where (whereby) also our Lord was crucified (hundreds of thousands of surviving Jews were stranded all over Europe, many of them unable to return to their pre-war homes).
9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations (the people of the world, i.e. those depicted by "waters" or the sea - Rev 17:15) shall see their dead bodies (being cut off from the Holy Land makes them figuratively "dead" as a nation - see the contrast with verse 11) three days and an half (three and a half years, between 1945 and 1948 - see verse 11), and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves (many people did not wish these survivors of the Holocaust to have a place of rest, or a homeland, anywhere in the world).
10 And (But) they that dwell upon the earth (the earth of Israel or "eretz Yisrael", as the Jews say; contrasted here with the people of the nations in verse 9) shall rejoice over them, and make merry (no one else was particularly happy to take in Jews, but their fellow Jews already in the Holy Land were overjoyed to bring them "home"), and shall send gifts one to another (ships, crew, organisers, money etc. were sent from Israel to ports all over Europe to facilitate this 20th century exodus as foretold in Isa 11:11-16; the returning Jews were a "gift" in themselves, providing much needed labourers, men of fighting age, as well as capital, to Israel); because (so that) these two prophets tormented them (tormented the Arabs and the British; the latter were in charge of "Palestine" at this time) that (also) dwelt on the earth (the British forcefully tried to prevent the Jews from reaching the Holy Land in large numbers, but when years of fighting Jewish resistance groups, with all the loss of life involved, became too much for them, they withdrew from the land).
11 And after three days (WW2 ended in Europe in May 1945; the State of Israel was declared in May 1948, precipitating Israel's War of Independence) and an half (in November 1948, the war in Jerusalem having come to an end, Israeli commander Moshe Dayan and Jordanian commander Abdullah el-Tell drew a map which outlined the boundaries of the ceasefire in Jerusalem) the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet (the Jews began to repopulate God's Holy City, Jerusalem); and great fear fell upon them which saw them (miraculously, three and a half years after the Holocaust ended and with it the 2520 years of their national punishment, the Jews were on their feet again as a nation, in possession of much of Israel and the greater part of the city of Jerusalem, to the utter amazement of all who witnessed it).
12 And (For) they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither (to Jerusalem). And they ascended up to heaven (i.e. heaven on Earth: God's dwelling place on Earth) in a cloud (in great numbers); and their enemies beheld them (in 1950 the Jewish parliament (the Knesset), having been established in Jerusalem, issued the "Law of Return", allowing all Jews to return to their homeland, Israel. "Those who fulfilled this sacred Jewish aspiration by reaching its shores were termed olim - 'people who had gone up' " - quoted from "Second Exodus" by Venia Hadari (p xiv). The Hebrew noun describing this practice is Aliyah. The United Israel Appeal website states: "Aliyah is a Hebrew word that means to 'go up'. While originally it referred to ascending to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish Feasts, today it has come to mean the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel. Aliyah is simply the migration of Jews back to their ancestral homeland").
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake (i.e. a war - see for instance Joel 2:9-10), and the tenth part of the city fell (after the 1948-49 War of Independence, the Jordanian controlled part of Jerusalem was estimated at 11.5% of the total city of Jerusalem), and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand (Jewish deaths in the War of Independence were approximately 6400, but in the decades leading up to this point, hundreds more Jews lost their lives in their struggle to regain the Holy Land. They included Haganah, Irgun and Lehi resistance fighters killed in ongoing battles against the British occupiers of the land, and also many Jewish civilians killed in clashes with Arabs. The Wikipedia page "List of killings and massacres in Mandatory Palestine" also mentions 415 Jews killed during the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt): and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven (God was glorified through their victory).
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly (the second woe ended in 1950 with the proclamation of the "Law of Return". Remarkably, this agrees perfectly with Dan 12:7 which describes a 1260 year period connected to "when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end" (RSV). Daniel 12:11 describes the starting point of this period as when "the abomination that makes desolate is set up". If we go back 1260 years from 1950, counting inclusively, we come to 691AD, the year of the construction of the Dome of the Rock, the ultimate long-term desecration of Jerusalem. Daniel 12:11 also states that this "abomination of desolation" would be set up when "the daily sacrifice shall be taken away". Ever since the destruction of the Temple in 70AD, daily prayers had replaced physical sacrifices. When the Muslims built the Dome of the Rock and made the Temple Mount an Islamic "holy site", non-Muslims were banned from praying there. This ban on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount is the removal of "the daily sacrifice", and the main reason why for so long the Jews have prayed at the Wailing Wall, rather than on the Temple Mount. See the concluding comments of the page "Bible Chronology" for more on this).
Let's go to Revelation 9 which sheds more light on this subject.
Revelation 9:12 says that the first "woe” (or fifth trumpet), is past, and then begins describing the "second woe” (or sixth trumpet), which we have just seen come to an end in Revelation 11:14.
Revelation 9:12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar
which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an (lit. "the") hour (meaning a specific point in history), and (for) a day, and a month, and a year (a duration of 32 inclusive years, from the start of WW1 in 1914, until the end of WW2 in 1945. In a prophecy involving the duration of a prophesied event, a "day" pictures a year, a "month" pictures 30 years, and a "year" is a year. See the page "Days, Weeks, Months, Years and Times" for more on this), for to slay the third part of men (approximately a third of all Jews in the world were killed in the latter stages of this period, i.e. in the Holocaust).
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them (the combined number of mobilised men during the two world wars was approximately 200 million: over 70 million in WW1, and nearly 130 million in WW2).
17 And thus I saw the horses (tanks, armoured cars etc.) in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates (armour) of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone (red, blue-grey and yellow-brown - colours used on German vehicles for camouflage): and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths (cannons and guns protruding from their turrets) issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 By these three (mainly using these three substances, but employing a variety of methods) was the third part of men killed (there were approximately 17 million Jews in the world prior to this period; about 6 million died), by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone ("sulfur" - NIV), which issued out of their mouths (referring to bullets, poisonous gas used in some extermination camps, and exhaust fumes from diesel engines employed in other extermination camps as well as in gas vans).
19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents and had heads (hoses and their connection devices running from exhaust pipes into gas vans), and with them they do hurt.
20 And the rest of the men (the rest of the Jews) which were not killed by these plagues yet (still) repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (the Jews in general never saw this as a punishment permitted by God, in the way Daniel saw the Babylonian captivity, and have never repented of rejecting their Messiah).
For a more detailed explanation of the above passage of Scripture, see the page "THE HISTORICAL SEVENTH SEAL (THE SEVEN TRUMPETS)".
Notice that Revelation 9:12-21 and 11:1-13 both lead up to the same point in history, i.e. the time just after the Second World War with the resettlement of the Jews in the Land of Israel and their capture of the greater part of Jerusalem.
Revelation 10 confirms this timing.
In Revelation 10:2 a "little book", or scroll, is said to be open. Clearly, with the fulfilment of so many major prophecies around the time of the two World Wars, the fact that this book is open indicates that from that time onwards it would be possible to understand these prophecies mentioned in this particular place in Scripture.
The seven thunders mentioned in Revelation 10:3 must also be related to this same time period, as Revelation 10 is placed right in the middle of the account of the sixth trumpet.
In Revelation 10:6 we find the often quoted, but much misunderstood phrase "time no longer", which most translations, excluding the KJV, incorrectly render as "no more delay". In Leviticus 26 God warns Israel four separate times that if they disobey Him they will be punished for "seven times", referring to four periods of 2520 years. These periods of punishment are pronounced on the descendants of both Israel and Judah. Judah's loss of sovereignty and first captivity commenced in 575BC. Daniel 4 gives the account of Nebuchadnezzar being transformed into a "beast" for "seven times", which is symbolic of the "Beast" powers, described in the book of Daniel, trampling down Jerusalem and the Jews for 2520 years. This is the same 2520 years of Judah's punishment foretold in Leviticus 26:24, which is discussed further on the page "THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES". In 1945 this period of Judah's punishment came to an end and there was "time no longer".
In other words, Judah's "times" were fulfilled.
Jesus says in Luke 21:24, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled". In 1945 those "times" came to an end and, as explained above, the Jews' time to regain their land speedily followed.
Although we are not told what is said by the "seven thunders" that accompany the angel with the little book in Revelation 10:3-4, it might well have been a reference to the seven times of punishment. This would fit perfectly with the angel saying in verse 6 that there was to be "time no longer", meaning that the "seven times" of the Gentiles treading down Jerusalem and the Jews had come to an end.
In Revelation 10:8-10 John is told to take the "little book" and eat it. When he does so it tastes sweet in his mouth, but makes his stomach bitter. This is remarkably similar to Ezekiel's experience, as described in Ezekiel 2:8--3:14. There, this prophet is told to eat a scroll that tastes sweet but makes his spirit bitter. Whereas Ezekiel was given this vision at the time when the nation of Judah had just begun its 2520 years of punishment, John's vision pertained to the end of those 2520 years.
For both Ezekiel and John the ingestion of God's words was a bittersweet experience: bitter because of all the suffering that would be endured by the Jews, but sweet because in due course their time of punishment would come to an end, and God’s promised blessings to Israel would prevail.
Further Prophetic Fulfilment
Following on from the major prophetic fulfilments detailed above, another long-term prophecy was fulfilled soon afterwards:
As explained, there were 2520 years from the first capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 575BC until the last year of the Second World War in 1945, as foretold in Leviticus 26:24. However, eleven years after its first capture Jerusalem was again conquered by the Babylonians after Zedekiah's rebellion, at which time the city was largely destroyed and most of the Jews taken into captivity.
What happened 2520 years later, as foretold in Leviticus 26:28? This takes us to 1956, when, as a result of the Second Arab-Israeli War, a.k.a. the Suez Crisis or Sinai War, in which Israel, Britain and France fought against Egypt, the Jews were expelled from Egypt. As a consequence, a second wave of Jews migrated to Israel. In subsequent years other Arab countries also expelled most of their Jewish inhabitants.
In addition to fulfilling the prophecies of Leviticus 26, these two waves of migration were also a remarkable fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah 11:11, where returnees are foretold to come to Israel from Assyria (Germany), and Egypt, and other mainly Arab lands.
Exactly the same event is prophesied in Isaiah 27:13: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet (the sixth trumpet) shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria (Germany, as well as other European lands), and the outcasts in the land of Egypt (as well as other Arab lands), and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem".
Therefore, just as there were 2520 years from the first fall of Jerusalem, when Jehoiachin was king, until the end of WW2, after which large numbers of Jews made their way back to the Holy Land, so also there were 2520 years from the second fall of Jerusalem, when Zedekiah was king, until the return of many more Jews to Israel after the Second Arab-Israeli War.
In other words, 2520 years after the first wave of Jews went into Babylonian captivity, the Jews were released from their European (eighth head of the "Beast") oppressors. And, 2520 years after the second wave went into Babylonian captivity, the Jews were expelled from the Arab countries (the seventh head of the "Beast") where they had been dwelling.
Closing Comments
It is important to realise that major prophecies have major fulfilments.
Often this has not been understood. For example, one current Church of God “prophet” explains the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel 8:13-14 as having begun at the time of Herbert Armstrong's death, after which the "prophet" wrote a booklet that was read by his own son 1150 days later!
In this day and age, one might expect to find something like that from the world, but to encounter such self-glorification in the Church of God is astonishing. How can Christians have such big opinions of themselves as to believe that they are personally prophesied about in Scripture?
Herbert Armstrong also believed that his rise was foretold in Scripture, and yet he did not understand the prophecies described in this article. Even though he was in a perfect place in history to grasp these things, he couldn't see that the re-establishment of Israel fulfilled major prophecies in the book of Revelation. Nor did he have a good understanding of Bible chronology and how it relates to prophecy.
Why didn't he understand, if he was who he claimed to be?
Read the pages "THE END TIME ELIJAH" and "THE TRUE CHURCH ERAS" for more information.
The fact that the Jews have been God's witnesses to the world shouldn't be a surprise to us.
It is really just stating the obvious. The "lost ten tribes" of Israel couldn't have been witnesses, because they lost their identity and so became unrecognisable to the world. God's Church was hidden away for most of its history for its own protection. The Jews however, have always been in plain sight wherever they have lived.
God said that the Jews would be punished for 2520 years and this was done in full public view, exactly as you would expect for those called "witnesses".
They preserved and carried with them the Scriptures that testify to their fate. They witnessed to their Creator's existence and the accuracy of His Word, in particular its prophecies, and continue to do so.
In Isaiah 43, God Himself reveals who His witnesses are. In verse 10 He tells Israel, "You are my witnesses". In verse 12 He makes this even clearer by declaring, "you are my witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God". He repeats the same message in Isaiah 44:8. When ten of Israel's twelve tribes were dispersed and lost their identity, they ceased to be witnesses. The remaining two tribes, however, held on to many true teachings of God, including the Sabbath commandment that witnesses to Him as Creator. Through the centuries, God openly fulfilled His prophecies in these two tribes. In verses 5 and 6 of Isaiah 43, God says that He will gather these same people from the East, West, North and South. And that is exactly what He has done.
In Revelation 11:3 it says that the Two Witnesses prophesy for 1260 years, but that doesn't mean they witnessed only during that prescribed time. They have always been God's witnesses. However, it was during the 1260 year period from 686 till 1945 that they were given into the hand of the "little horn" as stated in Daniel 7:25. Before 686 the Papacy was not an independent power and so it was not yet a "horn", and in 1945 this last remaining "Beast" power finally lost its control over the Jews.
Please see the page "THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES" for more information on this.
I believe the above to be a logical explanation of prophecy against the backdrop of history. The "little book" of Revelation 10 is now open because with the progression of time the fulfilment of the prophecies has made it possible to understand them.
To reiterate: major prophecies have major fulfilments. No one from our time is going to be able to say, “How could I have known about that?”.
These prophecies have been fulfilled out in the open, through well-known, historical events. Therefore the Churches of God have no excuse.
One might conclude now that the Two Witnesses have come and gone, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Jews remain God's witnesses to this day.
What has come and gone is the 1260 year period during which they fulfilled the specific prophecy they were foretold to fulfil in Revelation 11:3:
"And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth" (NKJV).
Please read "THE HISTORICAL SEVENTH SEAL - THE SEVEN TRUMPETS" to see the Two Witnesses in their full historical context.
(To listen to my 65 minute presentation on The Two Witnesses on YouTube - please click here)