(Revelation) Two Super Witnesses — Willie Mullan

The Seven Trumpets and the Judgments of Revelation

Now we're at this great 11th chapter this evening, and looking very carefully at the first 14 verses. Book of the Revelation, chapter 11, going through from verse 1 to the end of verse 13. Just turn back for a moment to chapter 8.

And you remember this. We'll do this quickly. And when he, that is, when he, the Lord Jesus, had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour, and I saw, that is, John saw, John the apostle saw, the seven angels which stood before God.

And to them were given seven trumpets. And from that point onwards, you find these angels sounding these trumpets at different times. You can see in verse 7, the first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood.

And they were cast upon the earth, and the third part of trees was burnt up. Then in verse 8, the second angel sounded, and as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood, and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

And then at verse 10, the third angel sounded. Verse 11 says, the name of the star is called Wormwood, and the third part of the waters became wormwood. Verse 12, the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten.

And you remember, when we were looking at this, I pointed out to you that in this time of great tribulation, that the third part of everything on the earth and the third part of everything around the earth, the ships and the fissures, and the third part of everything under the earth, the great wells and waters which we so much need.

And the third part of everything above the earth, the sun and moon and the stars, are all going to be affected by this blast of the fury of the wrath of Almighty God against this poor old planet of ours.

And so four of the angels with the trumpets have sounded. Then as we looked at chapter nine, the fifth angel sounded, and you remember that was the paragraph where these demons were loosed upon this earth of ours.

And this battle-scarred, blood-stained, burned earth of ours, men and women became possessed by demons. And what a dreadful hour that was. And in the latter part of chapter nine, we found that four fallen angels who had been carefully locked away by God were let loose, and their one craving and ambition was to kill men.

And a fourth part of all on the earth were killed by these fallen angels. And so that's six of the trumpets, just one to go. When we came to chapter ten, we found it was a hypothetical portion, and we had a look at it last week, and we found that it was revealing to us our wonderful Lord planting one foot on the land and one foot on the sea, and about to take possession of this incursed, war-stricken world of ours.

And now that takes us on to a second part of that parenthetical portion. If you can see what I'm doing, I'm trying to get you to see the seven angels, and four of them sounding in chapter eight, and the other two sounding in chapter nine.

But the seventh one doesn't sound just yet. Chapter ten's a parenthetical portion. Let me not see the Lord about to take possession of this war-torn earth. And then just before the seventh one sounds, there's something else the Lord must reveal to us.

The Bitter Little Book and the Temple’s Measurement

And that's the portion that we're after this evening. It's still parenthetical. You remember the angel, and remember the angel is the Lord Jesus, and we explained this last week. And verse nine of chapter ten said,.

And I, that is John, went on to the angel and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And of course this is exactly what the book of the revelation does for all of us who are really taking it in.

You know, it's really thrilling to see the things that God's preparing for them that love him. And yet as he readjusts this sin-stricken world of ours, and has to do it by the power of his mighty wrath, sometimes we tremble.

It's really bitter. And the Lord Jesus said to John in verse eleven,. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood saying, You see, I don't know exactly why they put the chapter in there, because I don't think it should be there.

It's just spoiling the thing. But the angel is talking to John, and the angel is going on talking. But there was given a reed unto John, and the angel stood saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and then that worship therein.

But the court which is without the temple, leave out and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles. There's a great word for you. And the holy city shall they tread on the foot forty and two months.

Three and a half years, forty-two months. Three twelves is thirty-six, and six is forty-two. And I think that perhaps more arguments have arrayed themselves around these first two verses than any other two verses that I know in this book.

I remember getting some Bible readings in one of the universities at Kennedale when I was there, and an old fellow came up to me, and I understood afterwards that he'd got a lot of letters to me, and he said to me, You know, you're talking nonsense.

I don't mind you saying that to me, but you have to be prepared for the consequences, you know, because I'm not as soft as I look. I know I look soft standing up here. I can't help that. That's just the way I look.

I said, Well, what do you mean when you say I'm talking nonsense? He said, Well, this holy city here, you're trying to make it out that this is Jerusalem, and that this is the Jewish temple, and that the Gentile nations are going to have it for a certain time.

I said, That's exactly what I believe. That's right. And dear, this is not the holy city, the old Jerusalem. This is the holy city, the new Jerusalem. Don't be clever off the mark. So I said, We'll take it that it is the new Jerusalem, this new planet that's going to come down from God out of heaven, that's going to be the eternal home of all the believers.

We'll take it that you're right. Do you think that the Gentiles will tread it on their foot for forty-two months? I said, We'll have a look at another verse that's here, and this is what it says here, verse eight of our chapter, but we'll come to it properly.

This is just what I said to him. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. And that's the only place in the chapter where we dare take in anything that we would call spiritual in that sense.

Because when God wants you to spiritualize, He's telling you. So I stopped and asked Mark Ehrlich, Will there be dead bodies in the new Jerusalem? That's a simple question. A kid can ask that, you know.

There's going to be dead bodies, and I mean dead bodies. He looked at the other side of his eyes like a dog that was fed up with dinner now. And then I have to read it to these fellows, you know. It says in verse eight, And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom, and indeed the Jerusalem that we know tonight.

It's a Sodom in a certain sense. And make no doubts at all about it. It's becoming like Egypt just now. But here's a statement that you can't misunderstand. He's talking about the city where also our Lord was crucified.

What would you do with a fellow who couldn't read that? Surely our Lord wasn't crucified in the new Jerusalem, I said to him. Frankly, having to say a silly thing like that to a man with letters of evening.

I said, you know, when some of you academic boys open your mouth, you just let me see how ignorant you are. If you have any diplomas at home hanging on the wall, take them down and stuff them into the empty bit that's in your head, will you?

Well, you see, if you look for trouble, you will always get it. Because I don't mean to take any nonsense from anybody, but I don't mind learning at your feet, you know. But you will not be allowed to talk nonsense.

You'll need to know what you're coming up about, you know. Because I'll tell you, past five seconds or so, I don't think that anybody goes on with that now. Frankly, trying to read the new Jerusalem, the eternal city, into that.

It's the city where our Lord was crucified. I don't think there's any problem with anybody in this meeting, bless you. You see, it's telling us something right here, isn't it? That when the Lord takes the church out of this world one of these nights, and this time of great tribulation begins on this earth, and the Antichrist is revealed, the Jewish nation will have built its temple again.

Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Antichrist

You know, there's a gentleman in the meeting now, and he gave me a little slip of paper some time ago. Sam McCormick's sitting over there, and I wouldn't like to lose this. It says on this bit of paper before me, the New York Times recently carried a full-page ad, full-page ad, for the purpose of collecting funds for the rebuilding of Solomon's Temple.

The ad was sponsored by Orthodox Jews. All these Orthodox Jews in America, they get together, they put a full-page ad in the New York Times. They're collecting funds for the rebuilding of Solomon's Temple.

And it's not very long ago that they burned the old mosque that was there, the Mohammedan mosque. I think they got somebody to burn it for them. I think they tried them for burning, and I guarantee you'll not find them in Job tonight.

But they've got the ground now, and I can tell you that they're preparing stones in the quarries just now. Cosman Solomon built this temple long ago. The stones were all prepared long before, brought down numbered, and put up just like fun.

And if the Lord took the church away tonight, the Jewish temple would appear before very long. Because the Gentile nations, you know, will have to have their say. And for 42 months, which is three and a half years of the tribulation, the Gentiles will tread the court of this temple.

You know, when we were looking at the Antichrist some time ago, let's just put your finger in the page and go back to 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Now, I don't want to read the chapter because I'll explain all the phrases and that will keep me back.

But it talks about the man of sin being revealed. It says in verse 3, let no man deceive you by any means, for thus they shall not come except they come a-falling away first, and thus man of sin be revealed.

That's one of the titles for the Antichrist, the man of sin. He's called the son of perdition. What's this then? Who opposes and exalteth himself above all that is called God, all that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God.

Oh, they'll need to build a temple, won't they? And I can tell you that if the church goes tonight, the Jews will build a temple and they'll build it on the spot where Solomon's temple was. They haven't read enough.

For the Antichrist will make a covenant with them and they'll think he's the savior of the nation, won't they? And at last he'll enter into their temple and he'll sit in their temple as God. And you know, we've got the spot in the book of the Revelation where this tribulation has got to this speech, where the first angels have sounded and there has been a lot of destruction on the earth, and the demons have been let loose, and these murderous fallen angels have come, and now the Lord's just letting us see what's going to happen as far as the Jewish nation is concerned.

Remember, we're on Jewish ground here. When you talk about the temple and you talk about the altar and you talk about the cross, you're on Jewish ground. I hope you know that. And when you talk about Jerusalem, where our Lord was crucified, you're in the center of the Jewish nation, aren't you?

So he's just letting us see, it's a parenthetical portion, and he's letting us see that he's coming to put his foot on the ground and he's coming to put the other one in the sea, and he's going to put the measuring rod across the temple and the nation, because he's going to take the whole planet land and sea, and he's going to take the whole nation.

That's just what he's showing. Now, the great bit of the parenthetical portion is, at the first sin time, even when the Antichrist is here, even when the Jewish temple is here, even when the Antichrist's empire is treading the courts of the Jewish temple, God is going to send two witnesses for this world, and they're going to be two real characters.

The Two Witnesses as Literal Prophets

So we're going to think very specially about them this evening. You know, once when I gave a lecture somewhere about this, there was some other duke came along at the end of the meeting and said to me, you know, you think that these are two men, but I think that these are the Old and New Testaments.

That's what you call spiritualizing. You say, so they say. I'll tell you another word for it. I said to him, now when will the Old and New Testaments lie dead on the streets of Jerusalem? When? Would you like to tell me who will kill the word of God?

Because I can tell you that Jesus Christ said it liveth and abideth forever. Why you do get some dukes, they think they're brilliant enough. You only need to test them out a little bit with the chapter you're in, and you'll have them in a fix.

Don't leave the chapter and you'll have them all right. Now the fellow said to me once, these two witnesses that are here, this must be the Church and the Gospel. Well now, who's going to kill the Church?

Oh, I know she's come through a storm or two, but I can tell you something. Before one storm was ever laid, the Master said, upon this rock, and it was the rock of Peter's confession of himself. He said, on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Not for you to talking about it being killed, when the Master talks like that. No, I don't think that sort of crack will do at all. And if you're one of those fellows that runs off into spiritualizing every little thing, just please go with me through the chapter and see how great a fool you are, will you?

So, we're going to have a look at these two. Verse 3. We're at chapter 11, verse 3. And I will give power unto my true witnesses. And it's easy to see that the angel that's talking must be the Lord Jesus.

Because he says, I will give power unto my true witnesses. And they shall prosper, say, a thousand, two hundred, and three, four days. How long is that now? Well, it's 42 months. If you take 42 and multiply it by 30, you've got your number.

It's the same thing. You see, when we talk about the calendar year, we talk about 365 days. When we talk about the solar year, we say 365 and a quarter, and thus we have one day every four years extra.

But when you talk about prophetic years, there are 360 days in a prophetic year. And if you work it out that 30 days are to the month, and there are 42 multiplied by 30, you've got your number. It's the 42 months.

It's the three and a half years. It's the same thing. But mark it that the Lord Jesus is saying that he's going to put two witnesses down on this planet and they shall prophesy right through every hour of the tribulation.

You know, you can write something over them. They're immortal. For their work is done. That's what the old jurors used to believe, you know. And I can tell you these two fellows can enjoy themselves in the tribulation for the Lord has promised that we'll be there for three and a half years.

They're two individuals. I think we must establish that first of all. Look at verse 10. And they that dwell on the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another. We'll explain that in a moment.

Because these two prophets, somebody argued with me once, they might be man and wife. Not on your life, they're not. These are two prophets. There is not a prophetess here, you know. Two prophets, if you got it or will you get it.

They are two individuals. They are two men. They are humans, do you see it says in verse 7? And when they shall have finished their testimony, and the word finished will have to be looked at carefully in a moment, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them, and their dead bodies.

I want you to get the word bodies. These are men. These are two prophets. These are witnesses for the Lord in the tribulation. They will have a time of service, but then the Lord will allow them to be killed, and we'll get into that in a moment.

And their dead bodies, they have bodies, bodies that can be killed. They're two mortals. I want you to get the hold of that, because all that's very important, you know. They are two personal, individual, prophetical, mortal, and I must say, Jewish witnesses.

I think they're two Jews. This is the whole thing is Jewish. It's got to do with the Jewish temple, and it's got to do with the Jewish nation in the particular part of the tribulation that we're reading about.

But we'll tidy it all up as we get along. Have a look at this bit. They are two powerful witnesses. You see what the Lord said in verse three, I will give power unto my two witnesses. And it says, verse five, I'll read it carefully, it'll save preaching, and if any man will hurt them, I'll proceedeth out of their mouth.

And that's real power, isn't it? I'll dishonoreth their enemies. Watch the phrase again, and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. Will God give them power to kill? Yes! Yes, he does.

Divine Power, Warfare, and Miraculous Signs

Well, you know, I got a lot of stick out of a little book I wrote recently when I said that if some enemy came against this province in war, that I should go to war, and I would, you know. Because I got a lot of stick for that.

Yes, when Hitler was coming, it took men to stop him, you know. And if our gallant men hadn't have gone, you wouldn't be here tonight. You might be in the far side of Siberia in some lumber camp. Of course, of course we would go to war.

I would have no quibbles in my conscience about going to war, none whatsoever. An old fellow who was the conscientious objector came in to rattle me once. And I took him on over into another chapter that we're not very far from there.

You see, chapter 12. And I read this verse to him, verse 7, and there was war in heaven. Actually, the phrase is, there was war in the heavens. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought on his angels.

I said to the old fellow, do you know who Michael is? He says he's the archangel. I said, do you think he's as holy as you are, or do you think you're holier than he is? Because they can tell you he went to war.

You'd better talk to him when you get home. I can tell you that God is giving two witnesses power to kill. You work it out whatever way you like. I'm only teaching what's in the book. And I'll tell you, God will give them power.

But they're not just running around killing. Which way? There's two phrases in the verse. Look at it. Verse 5. And if any man will hurt them. And in the same verse. And if any man will hurt them. Why, God gave them power, didn't they?

God gave them fire power. There'll be two tremendous caricatures. Of course, some of the scientists, you know, just wonder if power can come out of a man, if fire can come out of a man at all. Friend, when God's at the other end of the problem, there's no problem.

You know the argument about Balaam's ass. The scientist examined a donkey's throat, every bit of it, scientifically. And then he said, it can't speak. It's impossible for it to speak. You know, the Bible doesn't say that the ass speaks.

The Bible says the Lord Jehovah made the ass to speak. You know what the wee fellow said to the schoolmaster? The old schoolmaster was a modernist. He said, it's baloney. The ass could never speak. And the wee fellow jumped up.

He says, sir, if you make an ass, I'll make it speak. Yes. Sure the Lord that made it. You're not going to limit him now, are you? He'd be quite capable of making the ass speak, and he'd be quite capable of making the fire come.

When you bring God into it, it solves these problems. But the point is quite clearly here that God will give them power. And you look at that it's fire power there. See verse 6. These have power to shut heaven, but it will not in the days of their prophecy.

You know, there was a man on this very earth once upon a time. He was called Elijah the fish-bite. He was just the sort of country fellow from Gilead. He came from a little village called Fish Bay. Once when I was away down at the Jordan with an old arm of guides beside me looking across at Gilead, I said to him, is there a village over there called Fish Bay?

He said, what do you know about fish? I said, I know that's where Elijah came from. He was called Elijah the fish-bite, isn't that right? That's why he was called the fish-bite, because he came from Fish Bay.

Just a country yokel from across the river, you know. But I'll tell you this, he had power, power to shut the heavens. For what period? Three years and six months. Exactly. The modernists don't argue about it, because it's down in history.

Yes, that's power that God gives, you know. And you notice this, that these men had not only power to kill, power to shut the heavens, but verse 6 reads again like this, these have power to shut heaven that it reign not in the days of the prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood.

That happened in the days of Moses, didn't it? And to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. And of course, the man who tries to spiritualize this will have to work a bit with the word earth, won't they?

Because the plagues are coming on the earth. I don't know how they get out of the subject altogether, they must be dense. I think that you can see quite clearly that these are two personal witnesses, they're two individuals, they're two prophets, I shall prove in a moment, two Jews.

They're two powerful witnesses. Of course, it's already established that they're two prophetic witnesses, isn't it? Two men, two Jews. Now, who are they? That's always been the big question. And that's not very easily answered, I may assure you.

Elijah and Enoch as the Possible Witnesses

And I wouldn't want to be dogmatic about it, either. Some of the greatest scholars that ever lived have been divided here about this. One or two things we must state this evening. You know, when you're looking at this world's history, and that is going from in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and that's going on down until time shall be no more.

If you look at this world's history, you must, of necessity, divide it like this. You must divide the period before Christ died, because before Christ died certain things could take place. And you must see after Christ died.

That makes a great division. Before the cross, and after the cross. And I think that while you're dividing time into those two sections, you must make the dividing line a very broad one. You must make it in the days of his flesh, just as broad as thirty-three and a half years.

And I believe that if you keep this in mind, you'll learn a whole lot of things. You see, before Christ died, it was appointed unto men once to die. That's very true, that's exactly what Hebrews is quoting there.

Now after Christ died, the same wonderful truth, hold good, but we may not all freeze, you know. Oh, there's a change now, son. I may not die at all, you know. Oh joy, oh delight, should we go without dying.

See, I'm not looking for the undertaker. I'm looking for the upper taker. I may not die at all. That's just the difference that Christ's death has made. And you know, Christ's not robbing the book of anything, because he died for me.

There's no blunders about it or anything like that. You see, way back in that period before Christ died, when it was appointed unto men once to die, there were two men who didn't die. Just two of them.

No more, no less. You remember that Enoch walked with God, and that God translated him. He was not followed. God just took this man off altogether. Translation, you know what it is, took him right off.

Now he never died. He didn't die in a period when it was appointed unto men once to die. Of course, you know that Elijah didn't die. Elijah was taken up to heaven in the world, and up to heaven is actually the wording.

He didn't die. I'm wondering, is God going to bring these two back so that they'll die? It may well be so. You see, in this period in which we're living, while if Jesus dies, we shall all die. No doubt that's all about that.

But the blessed hope is in our breath now. That's a wonderful thing, you know, that God planted in the church. It's the blessed hope that we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

What a wonderful thing that would be. You see, why I said that you have to make the thing as broad as 33 and a half years, because that's a special period of this world's history. That's a period when God was on his own planet.

He made the world. The world was made by him. He was in the world that he had made. The world didn't know him. God was manifest in flesh. And in that period, you know, if he takes the notion, he can defeat death, and he can call the others out again.

He can let them die again. You see, this is a special period. Don't you forget that now when you come around with your arguments, because that will solve a whole lot of your problems if you just get it balanced out properly.

Just make a difference before he died and after he died, and make a difference or predict when he was here, because I could tell you a whole lot of things that happened when he was here that will never happen again.

I believe, and I wouldn't be God but it, I believe that these two witnesses are Elijah and Enoch. They're two out of a period, and they should have died, but they didn't. Did God take them away for this purpose?

Will God allow them to come back again? Will he give them this venerated piece of service? Then they must die. Die they will. Yes, I think this is very wonderful, and it thrills me. Let's get this a bit settled.

The Witnesses’ Death, Resurrection, and Ascension

These are two persecuted witnesses. You know, it says in verse 5, and if any man will hurt them. You know, the whole empire that belongs to the beast or the Antichrist will be against these, because these prophetic witnesses and individual prophets of the Lord are giving them great trouble in that period.

You can see that verse 9 says, when their bodies are lying dead in the street, and they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations, and don't forget the nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in the graves, which would tell you that they're real bodies.

I wonder why the smart aleck read this, but when you talk about graves and bodies, you must be talking about individuals, mustn't you? Will the whole world really see them? I think the whole world will be compelled to see them.

I think this is where your TV is going to come in. You know, we're working with TV now, and you can put it on or put it off as you like, and sometimes I'm compelled to put it off, and sometimes I'm compelled to put it on for those things I need to see.

But there's a day coming, and it's not very far distant, when the government of the land will compel you. See, I was reading to you the other night where they're working out an invention in America just now, where they'll be able to turn on your TV in your home and make you listen, and they will also be able to see if you are listening, and if you don't, you'll be in trouble.

So I think that this old box in the corner will be used very much by the Antichrist. The whole world will have to worship, and he will see that they worship. And the day that he overcomes these two witnesses, why, this will be on morning, noon, and night, that the whole world will see they're dead.

All the nations are going to see this. There, verse 8, their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city where also our Lord was crucified, and they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half.

And I don't want to miss that. I'll come to it in a moment. You know, they'll be so wicked that they will not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another.

It'll be a sort of Christmas day every day for a lot of days, because these two boys are finished, because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth. Now, watch this a bit. Verse 11, and after three days and a half, the Spirit of life from God shall enter into them, and they stood upon their feet.

Boy, if you'd been watching the TV for about five or six days, you know, or three and a half a day, and here they are lying dead on the street, and everybody's happy, and everybody's rejoicing. We're rid of them.

And in full view of the nations, they rise and stand on their feet and look around. I'll tell you, you'll scare this whole world. And if there are any Russellites in the place tonight, and you boys do not believe in bodily resurrection, you're off the pool now.

Is this bodily resurrection? I'm challenging you, and I dare you to refute it. These are bodies, are they or are they not? These are dead bodies, are they or are they not? These are dead bodies standing on their own two feet, are they or are they not?

That's bodily resurrection. And I'll tell you, the whole world will see it. And I'll tell you, it will scare the world too. You see, after three days and a half, I think that was well done. Because if we're going to have bodily resurrection, you know, and this bodily resurrection is to continue for all eternity, then our Lord must have the preeminence.

That was only three days for him. He's got to beat these fellows. Yes, he was only three days and three nights. You need to count it out very carefully. And don't be counting it by English time, please.

You need to count it by Jewish time. And the Jewish day began at night, you know, for your information. But if I get into counting that for you, you'll be counting twelve on the clock before we're out.

Three and a half days, and then they rose again. Now watch this very carefully. It says,. And after three days and a half, the Spirit of light from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

You could understand that. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up, heaven. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud. Is that bodily ascension? Quick now, because the Russellites don't believe that either.

Friend, this is bodily resurrection, and this is bodily ascension. I think there's no argument at all. I want you to get this bit. Verse thirteen, And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell.