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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 126
THE TWO WITNESSES
And I will
give power unto my two witnesses, and they
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth
(Rev. 11:3).
The passage now
under consideration introduces the famous two witnesses.
Immediately we must battle against the false images of the carnal mind. This is no more and no less than a spiritual
dynamic released in a dramatic fashion as a poetic drama.
There has been much speculation about the identity of these witnesses. Some try to make them literal, two individual men,
even going so far as to name them, declaring they will be Moses and Elijah, or Enoch and
Elijah, or some other combination. But the
whole language is figurative! There is no
literal temple of God in the earthly Jerusalem, nor are there two individual men speaking
as Gods witnesses there, either! Subsequent
verses tell us who they are, what they must do, who rises against them, and what the end
of their ministry is.
Before
discussing who the two witnesses are, I would
draw your reverent attention to whose the two
witnesses are! The symbolic angel who
commanded John to measure the temple now declares, And I will give power to MY two witnesses, and they shall prophesy
There is no doubt in my mind that the voice here is
the voice of none other than our Lord Jesus Christ! We have shown in a previous study that
the angel here is a figure for our Lord. The
fact that the voice speaks not merely of two witnesses, but specifically of my two witnesses unto whom I will give power reveals clearly that the Christ is
speaking! We find a very similar expression
from Jesus when He tells His disciples, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth
(Acts 1:8).
It would be
profitable here to mention again the great truths found in the opening verses of chapter
eleven of the Revelation. The city of
Jerusalem stands for Christendom in the broadest sense of the word, inclusive of every
person, church, denomination, organization, and movement which calls itself Christian. Lying outside of both the court and the
temple the city
symbolizes the false church, that part of what is called the church, but which at the same
time does not truly know the Lord by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost. The outer court, on the other hand,
represents a segment of the church composed of those who are born again of the Spirit and
enjoy a true relationship with the Lord, yet at a great distance from His full truth,
wisdom, presence, power, and glory. The temple
proper signifies the true body of Christ, the called and chosen elect of the Lord, who are
following on to know the Lord in all His glorious and eternal reality! These stand in the most holy place and have entered
into intimacy of fellowship and vital union with Christ!
These are Gods temple people. It is in this setting that the two witnesses
appear and a testimony arises from the midst of Gods elect!
God says that
nothing can be established without the two. Two in scripture is the number of witness. It is laid down in the Old Testament that
everything must be established by two or three witnesses.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for
any sin
at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the
matter be established (Deut. 19:15). When
the Pharisees sought to discredit the testimony of Jesus by charging that His was but one
testimony, therefore He was merely bearing witness of Himself, and His single witness was
invalid, He countered with the observation that He was, in fact, two witnesses because of
the oneness between Him and His Father as evidenced in the works that He did. Jesus said to them, It is also written in
your law that the testimony of two men is true. I
am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me
(Jn. 8:17-18). So there is a concept here. These two witnesses are Gods WITNESS PEOPLE! The witness they bear is by the Spirit and the
Word! Let it be known that not only does man
have impact upon God, but man will have impact upon man.
Truly the Lord is telling us, The sign of a witness shall be
established and my witness shall be established and shall testify of me. And they shall stand and withstand and I do give
them power. God has never left Himself
without witnesses among mankind. Among other
things, God is actively in the witnessing business! Just
think for a moment what could God do that would be more important than to be in the
witnessing business? He is in dead earnest
about it; He means business; and He spares no time, energy, or effort to bring forth His
witness in the earth! Here in the book of
Revelation God has two particular witnesses. These
two witnesses are powerful, they are great, they are important, and they are wonderful!
In order to
better understand this prophetic witness-ministry let us go back to Revelation 10:11 for a
moment. And he said unto me, thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and
nations, and tongues, and kings. And
he said unto me
Who is this me? There is no doubt about the fact that it is John. The question follows who does John
represent? All through the book of Revelation
John is the one experiencing all the events that transpired!
Can we doubt that John represents the true elect of God who must also
experience within themselves every dealing of the Father revealed in the visions given to
him? John stands for you, my precious brother,
my dear sister, as the Christ upon the earth today! And
he said unto me, thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations,
and tongues, and kings. The word prophesy
literally means to speak under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. This is someone speaking the living word of the Lord! Immediately
we step into chapter eleven where the two witnesses are said to prophesy and
their testimony likewise goes out to the peoples and kindreds and tongues and
nations (Rev. 11:9). Can you not see the
mystery? Both the two witnesses and John
represent the very same thing they portray to us a realm of PROPHETIC MINISTRY!
Have you ever
been called to testify as a witness to an accident? A
witness is simply one who reports what he has seen, heard, and experienced. He shares personal knowledge and firsthand
experience. The testimony of an eyewitness can
be weighty and convincing. Many a juror has
been swayed by the testimony of a credible witness. The
early believers were eyewitnesses of the majesty and glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ! With great power they bore
witness to what they had seen, heard, and experienced!
And their witness shook kingdoms and turned the world up-side down! For some people, witnessing means marketing God
as if God were the latest digital camera or houseware item you shouldnt be
without. They view witnessing in a way like
doing door-to-door sales, and some methods of witnessing even involve going door-to-door
trying to convince strangers that they need God. But
such witnesses have no power! They are not a
prophetic voice! They are the messengers of
religion! But the apostle John prophesies of
that which he has seen in the Spirit and of what he knows by the Spirit! A prophet, we are told, was originally known as a seer. The
prophets in the Old Testament days were all of a long line of men of God who were called
seers (I Sam. 9:9). Seers
men who see into the realm of spirit
became known as prophets, men who speak and articulate the message from
God according as they have seen it in the Spirit and
by the Spirit!
Our text assumes
our familiarity with the fourth chapter of Zechariah.
Many people say they cannot make sense out of any of these prophecies. I do not wonder!
Zechariah himself, asked by the angel, Dont you know what these
things are? replied, No, my lord, I do not! Neither Zechariah nor John is describing literal
historical events but truth depicted by symbols. In
the Revelation the two witnesses have a strange and tragic career. They are called my two witnesses and, to add to the
difficulty of interpretation, they are said to be the two olive trees and the two
lampstands which stand before the Lord of the earth (Rev. 11:4). Two mysterious figures, spoken of as witnesses,
to make confusion more confounding are explained as olive trees and lampstands! But John, who knew the Hebrew scriptures well, and
who thought in terms of them, is being used by the Spirit to bring the ancient prophecy of
Zechariah up-to-date. John understood, and he
expected those to whom he wrote, who knew both the letter and the spirit of the word, to
understand the reference to two olive trees and two lampstands.
Zechariah was a
young man, a young man with a vision. In fact,
he had ten visions! God called and chose him,
and raised him up in a day of discouragement and defeat.
A small remnant of Israel had returned to the desolated land following the
Babylonian captivity, less than 50,000 returned. Jerusalem
lay in rubble and ruin. The enemies in the
land were pressing in upon them. And they were
disillusioned by failure. To get a picture of
that day, we can go back to Nehemiah who was a contemporary of Zechariah. Nehemiah gives us a birds-eye view. When he came to Jerusalem he made a survey of the
city. He saw the tremendous work required to
clear the debris of the city and rebuild it. The
almost insurmountable difficulties that these people had to overcome were incredible. But Nehemiah gave the people his report and
encouraged the people to believe God and go to work.
So God raised
up, among others, this young man Zechariah. He,
too, encouraged the people to rebuild. He gave
them a vision, showed them there was divine purpose behind all this, and that what they
were doing was fitting in with Gods overall purpose for His people. It was at this time that Zechariah received the
vision we referred to earlier. Zechariah
records it in these words: And the angel which
talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and
said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I
have looked and, behold a lampstand all of gold,
with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps on it, and seven pipes to the seven
lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side
of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof (Zech. 4:1-3).
The vision is
very simple, as you can see. It is identified
with the lampstand in the holy place of the tabernacle.
In this vision the prophetic ministry is represented as a golden lampstand
(called a candlestick in the King James Bible) having seven branches, each bearing a light
for Gods priesthood. Those seven
branches receive their oil from a single bowl, and the oil for this bowl is supplied by
two olive trees, one on either side. The
purity of the oil they burn is represented by the fact that it flows into the bowl
directly out of the living, growing trees! Here
we are in the region of the Spirit there is no intermediate process of gathering
the olives and pressing out the oil. This
reveals the great truth that the fuel of prophetic ministry flows direct from the tree to
the flame. The witness is fed by perpetual
streams of that heavenly oil, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which is represented by
the olive tree. The word is thus a living word, the living word of God!
This oil is the oil of Gods anointing and the light it produces is
the illumination of the present-truth word of the Lord!
The unity of the seven lampstands is typified by the common bowl from which
each gains its supply of oil. How beautiful a
picture of the work of Gods present truth shining forth through the power of the
indwelling spirit of life and light!
To these things
the word of the Lord bears faithful witness. Two
is the number of witness. Thus, the two lampstands and the two olive trees simply reveal the great truth that
these are the representations of Gods witness
of Himself in the midst of all who are called His people. It is not because two individuals are meant! The lampstand in the tabernacle and temple was
symbolic of the priesthood of God shining, with their knowledge of God and their
testimony. Light, in its spiritual meaning,
signifies understanding, truth, and reality. Light
is illumination, the revelation of the living word of God!
Through Thy precepts I get
understanding
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path
(Ps. 119:104-105). It is the spirit that quickeneth
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (Jn. 6:63). Of this great truth the apostle Paul testified, In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ
should
shine unto them (II Cor. 4:4). The
light of the two lampstands is thus the revelation
of the living word, the present truth of God!
When
Zechariah saw in vision the two olive trees he had no inhibitions about asking questions. There was no reluctance on his part, if he didnt
understand something, to say so. So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked
with me, saying, What are these, my lord (Zech. 4:4). Now exactly what is he asking? He says, What
are these? Yet he was familiar
with the lampstand and the olive tree! He knew
what they were and he understood the meaning of them.
His question is, What does this vision mean for me and Gods
people right now this lampstand flanked by the two olive trees what is the
purpose behind it? Now the angel draws
him out. Then
the angel who talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No my lord (Zech. 4:5). In other words, the angel said, You mean to
tell me you dont know what this means? This
man Zechariah is as honest as the day is long, and he says, Well, I dont know,
and Id like for you to tell me. And
I am of the opinion that a great many of us, if we didnt have an explanation, would
still be in the dark as Zechariah was until the explanation was given to him. Here is the
explanation, the divine meaning of the
lampstands and the olive trees! Then he answered and spoke 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! (Zech. 4:6).
Notice that this
is Gods message to Zerubbabel through Zechariah.
Now who is Zerubbabel? He was
the head of the tribe of Judah at the time of their return to Jerusalem after the
seventy-year Babylonian captivity. He is the
one who led the first group of his people back to their homeland, as described in the book
of Ezra. Zerubbabels great work was that
of rebuilding the temple, but the work was dogged by danger from the outside and
discouragement from within. God is giving this
vision of present-truth to strengthen the faith of Zerubbabel and there are two elements in the meaning of the vision, and may
our Father make this powerfully real in the hearts of all who read these lines: This is
the WORD of the Lord, saying, the temple will not be built by might nor by power (an
army), but by my SPIRIT, saith the Lord! That
is what the two items in the vision are! They
are the WORD of the Lord saying that the temple of God can be built only by the SPIRIT of
God! Can we not see by this that the
lampstands signify the Word of the Lord and the
olive trees signify the Spirit of the Lord! The two
witnesses are the SPIRIT and the WORD! That
is the mystery.
In the vision of
Zechariah the two olive trees are called the two anointed ones standing before
the Lord of the whole earth. In the vision of
John both the two lampstands and the two olive trees are said to stand before the
Lord of the earth. The meaning is, that
they stood, as it were, in the very presence of God as in the tabernacle and
temple, the golden candlestick stood before the ark upon which radiated the
glorious presence and power of Yahweh. The
truth that the Holy Spirit is making known to the Lords elect is that the ministry
of the two witnesses is in the holy place, standing before the most holy place, preparing
the way for entrance beyond the veil! The oil
that was in the Old Testament used for anointing represents the Holy Spirit. The oil of the olive trees represents the anointing! The
lampstands represent the anointed Word! And I will give power (unction) unto my two witnesses, and they
shall prophesy!
This is the Word of the
Lord, saying
it is by my Spirit! This is beautiful indeed!
But the olive
trees and the lampstands are not the Spirit and the Word apart from a people it is indeed a people, a
two witness company, an anointed body of people bearing the present truth of God, just as
all the prophets of old were anointed by the Spirit to speak the present truth of the
Lord. The two witness company is called
prophets and they are commissioned to prophesy. This
further identifies them as an ANOINTED PROPHETIC MINISTRY!
This does not mean merely that they must speak concerning the future. I have met men who believed they personally were
Gods anointed end-time prophet and they were always prophesying
judgments upon cities and nations famines, pestilence, storms, earthquakes,
revolution, terrorism, rise and fall of governments, etc.
They thought that made them end-time prophets. Alas, many of their prophecies failed to come to
pass and some were proven wrong almost before the ink was dry on the paper! A prophet is simply a person who speaks for someone
else. Just as Aaron is called Moses
prophet in scripture, so the prophets in general are persons who speak for someone else. These two witnesses are uniquely the LORDS
PROPHETS, they speak for Christ the Head and they are a people who speak His living word! I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy!
Like the two olive trees, they stand feeding the lamp of truth. Like Elijah, the type of all true witnesses in
times of spiritual decline, they have power to shut the heavens. Like Moses, they have power to turn water into
blood and to smite the earth with plagues. Their
words, like Jeremiahs, are consuming fire burning up the dross and revealing the
gold. These are just vivid ways of saying that
this is a prophetic ministry in the power of the Spirit and the Word!
The
vision of sonship is not fulfilled through self-promotion or self-effort. In my more than sixty years of ministry, I have met
many who claim to be mentioned in the Bible! There have been those who have claimed to be Moses,
one of the prophets, John the Revelator, Elijah, or even Zerubbabel or the two witnesses! Two or three times I even had people tell me that
they were the Lord Jesus Christ! It is heady
wine, indeed, for those claiming religious credentials to discover themselves
in the Bible!
When a religious leader claims before his followers that he is mentioned, personally mentioned in the same way great
prophets and patriarchs are mentioned then he can lay claim to divine credentials, and this aura of mystical
spiritual credentials gives him unique control
over his followers. Many years ago the Chicago
preacher, healer, and founder of Zion, Illinois, John Alexander Dowie, because of the
phenomenal ministry and great miracles the Lord poured through him, came to believe that
he personally was Elijah the prophet who was to come and restore all things, preparing the
way for the second coming of Christ. With his
beard, ceremonial robes, powerful preaching, and world-wide following, he could well fit
the part in the eyes of undiscerning men. But
he suffered a serious stroke, his kingdom fell into discord, Zion city revolted against
him, his cousin-wife divorced him and accused him of polygamy, and he died a painful
death. Many thousands of people believed that
the prophet and healer, William Branham, was Elijah, the seventh angel of the book of
Revelation with the final message for the church, to prepare the bride of Christ for the
rapture, and that he was the forerunner of Christs return. But he was killed in a tragic car accident more
than forty years ago now!
The two
witnesses have manifested on more than one occasion, I met them, a man and his wife,
in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1972. They shook
the dust off their feet against the city of Las Cruces when they packed up their tent and
left town. I met another of the two witnesses
in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the spring of 1974. That
set of witnesses later split up, the elder
witness excommunicated the younger witness from his church, and the dismissed witness came
to Texas and founded his own organization, which I have heard later dismissed him from the
movement on the grounds of sexual immorality. Incidentally,
neither of these two witnesses were clothed with sackcloth, they both wore the finest
clothes, ate the finest food, and flew around the country in their own jet airplanes!
PROPHETIC MINISTRY THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD
Clearly, the two
witnesses are not a man and his wife, nor two contemporary preachers, nor yet two Old
Testament prophets returned to earth in physical bodies!
It is my deep conviction that the answer regarding just who these two
witnesses are lies in the words of the angel to Zechariah when Zechariah posed the
question, What are these, my lord? He
then says, 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. Can we not see the secret truth revealed in these
words? The lampstand and the two olive trees
were THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE WORD that was sent to empower Zerubbabel to raise up the
temple of God! The Word empowered by the Holy
Spirit is Gods prophetic witness which
flows out for all the ages!
The greatest and
most powerful thing on earth is witness
the witness of the Spirit and the Word which God has raised up in the earth to testify of
Himself and to accomplish His plan and purpose! In
I John 5:8 we read, And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and
the water, and the blood. The Spirit
then is one of the witnesses, even as the writer to the Hebrews states, The Holy
Ghost also is a witness to us (Heb.
10:15), and The Spirit itself beareth witness,
(Rom. 8:6), and It is the Spirit that beareth witness
(I Jn. 5:6). In the apostle Johns first epistle we find that
Jesus Christ came by water and blood (I Jn. 5:6). So the water and blood both witness through Him who is the living Word, the divine
Logos. Therefore the two witnesses become the
Spirit and the Word! This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all
the world for a witness unto all nations
(Mat. 24:14). Of course men are the human
agents through whom this witness becomes effectual, YE
shall be my witnesses, and in this
connection we remember how our Lord sent His disciples two by two (Mk. 6:7). After the day of Pentecost the apostles often
traveled in twos, Paul and Silas, Paul and John Mark, etc.
Two, as we have shown, is the number of witness required by law and approved
by the gospel. It was and is and ever has been
the purpose of God to bring forth a PROPHETIC ARMY, in whom the spirit of prophecy moves
to unfold in the written word and in the spirit realm the living Word of God. This is that Elijah which is to come
and who is to restore all things a company of prophets, a many-membered prophet!
There is not a
man or woman on earth who is qualified to teach or speak Gods word until that word
has been quickened to him by the Spirit. And no word uttered by man will ever be effectual
in the lives of the hearers until that word is energized to go forth as a Living Word.
There is a tremendous value in words even in the natural realm. All words are either creative or destructive. All that happens every day in the world is
accomplished through the power invested in
words. All the business transactions of men
and nations are carried on by the power of words. All
the political and economic ideologies that have shaped movements and determined the course
of history and the destiny of billions of people and races and empires have first issued
as words which form their consciousness within the minds and wills of men, who then
actively create out of them the external form and substance of them. The whole Communist empire, for instance, with all
its legislative, judicial, and military institutions and powers was inspired and produced
out of the energy of words spoken or penned by
a man by the name of Karl Marx. Words written
on paper are powerful enough to imprison or put to death a man, or to release him. Words on paper are powerful enough to join a man
and woman in marriage, or separate them by divorce. Many
words on paper are sufficient to make one exceedingly wealthy or to make one penniless, to
start a war or to bring peace, to establish a kingdom or to dissolve an empire. Everything works and moves by and through the power
of words. All words spoken form some level of
consciousness within man which in turn forms the world we live in. But none of these words produces life unless they are energized by the spirit of life from God! Many words gender death.
The mystery of
God is not far-off in heaven somewhere. GOD IS
THE WORD AND THE WORD IS GOD. Furthermore, THE
WORD IS THE SPIRIT AND THE SPIRIT IS THE WORD. The
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (Jn.
6:63). Words are the most powerful thing in
creation! All things, visible and invisible,
were created by Gods Word with the moving of His Spirit. And God said,
Let there be
(Gen. 1:3). And
the Spirit of God moved
(Gen. 1:2). We are not born again by the spoken word, we are
born again by the Word which is energized by the Spirit, the Spirit and the Word in union
the LIVING WORD! Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever (I Pet. 1:23). The spoken
word is not Christ, and the scriptures are not
the Living Word.
Of the seven
churches of Asia in the opening chapters of the Revelation, only two of them received no
indictment from the Lord, nor were they told to repent.
It is my conviction that these two churches, the church in Smyrna and the
church in Philadelphia, represent the Lords elect and chosen remnant in the earth
throughout the church age. They also
correspond to the two witnesses in chapter eleven! We
know that a candlestick signifies a church. There
are two churches out of the seven that received
no condemnation or reproof from the Lord, and were given only great and precious promises. Of the two witnesses it is testified, And I
will give power unto my two witnesses, and they
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing
before the God of the earth. Two candlesticks!
Two churches! Two given a
special standing
before God! Ah, Smyrna and
Philadelphia, what a calling you have!
On the personal
and individual level the two witnesses are the Spirit
and the Word. The
two witnesses speak of the awesome power and word of authority given to the Lords
elect on the pathway to sonship! The two
witness company is not the manifest sons of God, for the manchild of chapter twelve of the
Revelation represents the manifest sons of God who are caught up unto God, and to His throne (Rev. 12:5). Upon the throne of the Father the manchild, the
manifest sons of God, rules all nations with a rod of iron (Rev. 12:5). Furthermore, the manchild, the manifest sons of
God, receives his authority and dominion under the seventh
trumpet, where the mystery of God, which is the mystery of Christ in you the hope of
glory, is finished. The two witnesses,
however, receive their ministry of power and authority under the sixth trumpet and they ascend up to heaven in
a cloud. They are caught up to a
heavenly place of glory, but not to the
omnipotence and dominion of the throne! When they are caught up nothing is said about a
throne. In addition, the two witnesses are
overcome by the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit, and they are killed. But the manchild is never overcome, for he rules
over all things!
There is a
glorious prophetic realm, prefigured by the two
witnesses, that Gods called and chosen elect enter prior to the manifestation of the
sons. Since the great move of God that came in
1948 and the years following, I have been, with many who read these lines, and thousands
of others besides, a glad partaker of the glory of that prophetic realm of ministry. It was indeed a heavenly realm of signs, wonders,
and miracles! It was also a blessed realm of
enlightenment and revelation from God! I have
tasted of the power and glory of that realm by the prophetic anointing of the Spirit! From it has come the revelation of manifest sonship
and many other marvelous truths of the kingdom purposes of God! Through it we received the call to sonship! But that prophetic and revival realm ends, and it
has for the most part already ended! And after
the two witnesses, or the two candlesticks realm, the very next thing on Gods
prophetic agenda is THE BIRTHING OF THE MANCHILD! Thats
where we really are in Gods great
program of the ages. Isnt it wonderful!
Elijah is an Old
Testament type of one of the two witnesses. If
you look at the ministry of these two witnesses you will find that one of them has a
ministry like unto Moses, and the other has a ministry like unto Elijah. The ministry of Moses was to bring Gods
people out of Egypt, that is, out of the world, out from under the taskmasters and cruelty
of slavery to the world system, the flesh, and the devil.
Moses delivered the people of Israel from their bondages, from the tyrannies
that ruled over their lives. The ministry of
Moses was a deliverance ministry! The other ministry is prefigured by Elijah, where
the prophet said, The God who answers by fire, let Him be God! Elijah was a ministry to the people of God who were
already in the land of promise, but they were idolaters, they were worshipping Baal.
Elijah was a ministry that brought people into right relationship with God and dealt with
their idols, that is, the false religious images in their minds and hearts, false ideas
about God. Moses delivered the people from the
ungodly oppressors over them, and Elijah delivered the people from the idols within them
and brought them to righteousness, purity, and perfection.
In the great
move of the Spirit that came in 1948, what kind of ministry did we have? There were two
streams of ministry in that visitation, one stream was a deliverance ministry, while the other stream was a prophetic flow.
There were mighty deliverance ministries that arose in the land, great
crusades attended by tens of thousands of people in every major city of the nation and
around the world. Powerful deliverances were
wrought, thousands of people were healed of every manner of sickness and disease,
delivered from habits and addictions of every kind, saved out of sin and the world and
worldly ways, great signs, wonders, and miracles were performed in the name of Jesus
Christ, demons were cast out, and untold thousands of people were baptized in the Holy
Spirit. This was a Moses ministry, and
multitudes of people were led forth out of the house of bondage, out of the spiritual
Egypt of this world! But where are the great
deliverance ministries today? Where is William
Branham, Jack Coe, A. A. Allen, Oral Roberts,
Tommy Hicks, Thomas Wyatt, the Voice of Healing evangelists, and many others? They are all gone!
They have passed from the scene, either by death or by apostasy. Their great tents are folded. The lights have been turned out. The glory has departed. The few who remain are on the decline. They still have the name that they are alive, but the power is gone,
and some, in an effort to keep their momentum going even after the Spirit has fled have
become deceivers and charlatans.
The second
stream, which first began to flow in the outpouring of Latter Rain in Canada and quickly
spread around the world, was a prophetic flow. This was truly an Elijah ministry! It was more than deliverance, it was divine
quickening, it was days of heaven on earth, it was the voice of God speaking to His
people, it was the song of the Lord, heavenly choirs of praise and glory which, as George
Hawtin described it, echoed down the corridors of the soul and re-echoed among the
battlements of heaven! It was revelation, it was the edifying of the body of Christ, the
Lord establishing a people unto Himself, bringing the call to sonship, let us go on
to perfection, till we all come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ! The ministry of
this stream is an Elijah ministry that says God is going to answer by fire! God will burn everything that will burn, shake
everything that can be shaken, remove everything that is shaken, and then we will receive a kingdom that cannot be
moved! God is dealing with our idols, all our
false religious images and false Babylonian doctrines and ways. He is dealing with those things we have given life
to the image of the beast all the religious idols made by our hands. We have given life to a whole religious realm, by
our emphasis on things other than Christ we have given life to demons, devils, carnal
methods, fleshly techniques, man-made systems, external religious observances, and a
thousand other things done in the name of the Lord that have not been born of His Spirit. The Elijah ministry is designed to break the
religious bondage in His very own people. These
are the most subtle of all bondages. So God
has caused His called and chosen elect to turn away from all their idols, for the Lord has come in the
power of His Spirit and He has answered by fire!
Both of these
ministries are corporate ministries, not just
individuals. Its not a one man show, its
a many-membered company! They are witnesses. Two
witnesses. Two
streams of revelation, glory, and power. In the mouth of two witnesses a thing is
established! And what is the thing He
establishes? He establishes that holy
thing that is to be formed and birthed in us, even the Son of God! Thats the holy thing God is establishing in the earth
through the ministry of His two witnesses! Each
ministry in the body of Christ, on whatever level it is, will fulfill that calling for
which they are chosen, but in the spirit I see a ministry of the manifest sons of God that
surpasses that of the two witnesses. The two
witnesses are the two anointed ones that stand before the Lord of the earth,
they are also called the sons of oil, and these empty themselves, as we will
see later on, into a greater ministry to follow as Elijah prepared the way for the
greater Elisha, as Moses prepared the way for Joshua, as David prepared the way for
Solomon, and as John the Baptist prepared the way for the firstborn Son of God, so does
the two-witness ministry prepare the way for the woman to bring forth the manchild! (Rev. 12:1-5).
The very fact of
what the Lord has been doing among His elect through the past sixty-five years reveals to
our wondering hearts that we are about to enter a new and glorious unfolding of His
purpose in the earth. There has been the
sending forth of a chosen few to prepare the way for Christ. These have announced the coming of the King, the
many-membered Christ body, the sons of God. The
revealing of Gods sons comes after this time of announcement. The process of announcing has been a time of
killing and pulling down, as well as a time of planting and building. Gods pre-elected and pre-ordained witnesses
have been for many years now preparing the way for the glorious Christ who will bring the
kingdom of God to pass in all the earth and will rule in mercy, truth, and great power! This time of witness has evoked great anger in some
and great expectancy in others. Many who are
bound within the walls of religious Babylon have rejected, opposed, and withstood Gods
witnesses, but multitudes have accepted gladly the testimony of the witnesses with singing
and great rejoicing!
The following
words of confirmation by brother Carl Schwing are so very precious. The voice of Elijah is being heard among the
sons. His words defy all the teachings of the
prophets of doom. He is here to silence the
blind leaders that minister for hire, to tear down every human idol, and to overturn the
altars of Babylon. He brings to us the
consuming fire of God, to purify and to make holy the sons of his God. All mixture
is to be removed. He calls to our inner son to
come forth from the tomb of flesh and to ascend unto the realms of the pure and the free;
to gather in the presence of our Father and to receive from His mind the life-giving words
of truth and freedom. He sends us to a fallen
and moaning creation
to set the captives free and to give light to all who grope in
darkness, and to declare to all creation the power and glory of the Fathers
everlasting kingdom. This is the hour when
Elijah passes the mantle to the sons of God, covering them with the divine unity of the
Father, and placing upon them the garment that was removed from our father Adam in the
long ago. Be still, my beloved, glorious
things are transpiring in the heavenlies
be still, I say, for most glorious things
are transpiring in the kingdom of God. Hallelujah!
THE POWER OF THE WITNESSES
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. They 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
(Rev. 11:5-6).
The reference to
shutting heaven that it rain not, is associated with the work of Elijah, when he closed
the heavens in the days of Ahab, the king of Israel. The
reference to inducing various plagues is a reminder of the ministry of Moses who brought
the ten plagues upon Egypt in order to secure the release of the people of Israel from the
house of bondage. In view of the fact that
these prophecies are couched in highly symbolical and figurative language, and in view of
the fact that John deals with spiritual events and
manifestations, while describing them in symbols and pictures, we must allow these
metaphors and phrases to typify the spiritual
significance intended by the Lord!
For example, if
we insist upon the literal return to earth of Moses and Elijah to fulfill the vision, we
miss the point altogether! John is not
referring to the actual prophets but to the qualities which they express. It was Moses and Elijah which stood with Jesus on
the mount of Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah
had the ability to challenge the established order of their day and lead Gods people
forward into the purposes of God, so the witnesses are also credited with that ability. Just as John the Baptist came in the spirit
and power of Elijah but was not by any means the physical man Elijah, so we see here
a spiritual prophet company or a spiritual prophetic ministry
typified by the Old Testament ministries of Moses and Elijah. Furthermore, we should not expect the devouring
of their enemies with fire out of their mouths, shutting the heavens that it
rain not, turning waters to blood, and smiting the earth with
plagues, to be done in the literal, outward way of Moses and Elijah, but in a
deeper, more meaningful spiritual fulfillment. The witness of their work will be seen through the
visible body of Christ on earth as a testimony to the Lords people still dwelling in
the earth-realm of Babylonian bondage. In
this light, smiting the earth with plagues
speaks of smiting the earthiness and carnality that grips and
controls so many of the Lords people! Thank
God for the plagues!
The destruction
wrought by the two witnesses against their foes, does not consist in literal fire
proceeding from their mouths or in some cosmic calamities brought down on the heads of
their enemies, for such a carnal, childish interpretation of such majestic symbol is a dry
and barren thing compared to the deep spiritual truth and light the Spirit brings. Fire out of their mouths. Do you believe that is really, literally going to
happen? Do you think the day is coming when we
will open our mouths and flames of fire will literally leap out of our throats? There are some, Im sure, who relish the
thought of having such a ministry! But notice, dear friend, that these witnesses are
clothed upon with sackcloth which is a
type of humility, repentance, and brokenness. In
the Revelation, we have much about white robes; here is something about black robes! We read about the sun becoming as black as
sackcloth of hair (Rev. 6:12). Sackcloth was
made from the hair of goats and camels and for that reason, it was very dark and coarse in
texture. Sackcloth was generally the garb of
the poor, and was also used for mourning. As
long as the witnesses remain clothed in their sackcloth, as long as an humble, broken, and
meek spirit accompanies their witness, they retain their power!
The fire
of God is a glorious spiritual reality! Our God is a
consuming fire! Daniel says that a fiery stream issued and came forth from before
Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is compared to
fire: He is like a refiners fire. The Holy Ghost is also a fire into which the Lords
people are baptized! And the ministering servants of the Lord are
likewise represented as a flame of fire (Heb.
1:7). Now hear the prophet Jeremiah when he
declares, Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I
will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this
people wood, and it (his fiery words) shall devour
them (Jer. 5:14). And again, Is
not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord;
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? (Jer. 23:29). It seems obvious to me that the imagery of fire
proceeding out of the witnesses mouths and devouring their enemies is drawn directly by
the Holy Spirit from these words in the prophecy of Jeremiah! The fire that comes out of their mouths is a
burning word of authority, it is their prophesying the word of God in the power of the
Holy Spirit which burns and consumes all the opposition of those who fight against it. Thats the fire! Arent
you glad!
You know, if
someone were to take a blow torch and touch the flame to your body, you wouldnt like
it. As your flesh began to melt you would
scream in excruciating pain! Thats the
exact image the Holy Spirit would impress upon us. These
two witnesses with a ministry like this would you receive them? They speak with such power that if you try to
resist, their word will burn you up! Is
this an imagination, or is that what is really written by the prophet of God? It is written there, and it is surely Gods
way of dealing spiritually with the obstinacy of man!
The phrase, devoureth their enemies, in the Greek says, it
eats up or consumes the adversaries. Multitudes
of believers get confused about the meaning of these things because of literal, carnal
thinking. They suppose the two witnesses are
two physical men, as Moses and Elijah, that send literal flames of fire out of their
mouths and instantly cremate other living people. But
the symbols of the Revelation never mean what they appear to be in a literal way. They point to something else. The enemies that are devoured
are not flesh and blood people, but the true enemies
within each of us that old man of sin, the carnal mind, the flesh nature which
always resists both the Spirit and the Word! It is not the wicked physical men God is out to
destroy in this day of the New Covenant of grace and salvation, but the wicked
nature of old Adam that dwells in mankind!
Have you ever
heard anyone say, That preacher just burns me up! I have. Thats
how the word of God seems to us when it comes in power and it is also how it works in us! As
fire warms, illuminates, purifies, beautifies, and destroys, so the living, burning,
authoritative word of the Lord warms, illuminates, purifies, beautifies, and destroys. The power to cause fire to proceed from the mouth,
is the power to speak in the might of the Spirit and change things, change men! What revealing light of revelation is contained in
the gracious words that issued from the lips
of the Lord Jesus when He said, For God sent not
His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. The
Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives, but
to save.
Our wonderful, all-powerful Redeemer and Saviour is not in the business of
devouring the wicked people of earth, either now or during some supposed
future tribulation period. Oh, no! God is not out to destroy wicked men in a physical
way but He will certainly consume the man of sin, that wicked
one which sits in the temple of God which we are,
whom He shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and
shall destroy with the brightness of His appearing
(II Thes. 2:3-10). Every saint of God should
dissuade himself of the notion that there are wicked people whom God shall destroy, and
sweet Christian people who are going to make it. God
is destroying the wicked nature of the Adamic man in those who oppose His Christ! God has a wonderful plan and purpose! The carnal minds of unspiritual men twist and
distort the deep spiritual revelation of the Lord into all kinds of wild and weird imaginations but thats
not where the truth and reality lie!
Let us digress
for a moment. Those who are devoured
by the fire from the mouth of the two witnesses are those who try to hurt them. If any man will hurt them, fire
proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies. This may sound strange at first! We have already seen that the witnesses do not
kill their adversaries in the literal sense of the word. The question follows what does it mean to
hurt the two witnesses? Can they
be hurt by persecution or by tribulation? Do
you hurt them by inflicting physical pain, by casting them into prison, torturing them on
the rack, or slandering them? If the killing
were literal and physical, then we could assume that the hurting is also literal and
physical. But such cannot be the case! They are not hurt by persecution or torments
afflicted upon them physically. They have
learned of their Lord that they need not fear those who can kill the body, but cannot kill
the soul. And therefore these two witnesses
can never be hurt in the physical sense of the word!
To
hurt them you must get at their spiritual existence. You
must fight with them spiritually. You must make them waver, stagger, vacillate, or
apostatize from their pure walk in the Spirit of God.
You must lead them to renounce their vision, to be silent about the word God
has entrusted to them, to compromise with the religious systems of man for some advantage. Then indeed you hurt them! Oh, how the religious unceasingly seek to hurt the
elect of God! They attempt to gainsay their
words and make them of none effect, or lure them into some form of Babylonian religious
system. But if that is attempted, the fiery
word of the Lord proceeds out of their mouth and in this manner the mouths of the
adversaries are stopped and they are put to
nought! The fire is not their own word, but
the living word of God that is in their mouth. The
opposition and cunning cannot be successful, nor can it stand. In this manner they fight the battle. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through
God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ (II Cor. 10:3-5).
It shall not hurt them! Arent
you glad!
In closing this
message I am impressed to share the following quote from one of Stephen Jones
writings. In 2001 I received a prophecy
from a friend about the power of the flame.
It was from Isaiah 47:14. I did
not understand what this was about until recently. This
verse is in the context of the fall of Babylon. Behold they have become like stubble, fire burns them; they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame; there will be no
coal to warm by, nor a fire to sit before! The
word power is from the Hebrew word yad, which
is also from the Hebrew letter, yod. It means an open hand, a work or deed. The word flame is lehabah, feminine for lehab. Strongs
Concordance says it means to gleam, a flash; figuratively a sharply polished blade or point
of a weapon.
This is
where the New Testament gets the idea of the sharp, two-edged sword coming out of
Jesus mouth. Revelation 1:16
says, out of His mouth came a sharp
two-edged sword. Revelation 19:15
says, And from His mouth comes a sharp sword,
so that with it He may smite the nations. It
is a flaming
sword, as we see in Revelation 11:5, for this same sword is in the mouth of the
two witnesses: And if anyone desires to harm
them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. James 3:6 also refers to the tongue as a
fire. So this was well-known symbolic language
in biblical times. Thus, Revelation 18:8 says
of the great harlot of Babylon, For this
reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will
be burned up with fire; for the Lord who judges her is strong. The fire or flame comes from the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). Paul
listed it with the armor of God for anyone involved in spiritual warfare.
A final
word about the word lebabah and lebab (flame, or point of the sword): It is the
Hebrew word leb (heart) with the letter hey in the middle of it. Recall how God put the hey in the middle of Abrams name to make it
Abraham. When the hey comes in
the middle of a word, it indicates revelation or inspiration of the Spirit. It is the breath of God! Leb
means heart. Lehab literally conveys the idea of the Holy Spirit
in the heart, as well as the revelation of the heart.
This is the root idea behind the power of the flame. It manifests the heart of God! The intent of His heart is brought into the world
through Gods hand (yad) working by the
sword of the Spirit to consume all that is not of God!
end quote.
To be continued
J. PRESTON EBY
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