Steve
Can you elaborate on the timetable of events, and how they match up together, of the 2 witnesses and the Gog Magog war?
Frank Farrar
MYREPLY
Dear Frank,
You asked for an elaboration of the timetable of events involving the Two Witnesses and the Gog Magog war. Here is my current understanding. I need to include the subject of the “beast” power in my response to your question. The beast power reigns for 42 months (Revelation 13:5), a period of three and 1/2 years. The Two Witnesses’ ministry lasts 1260 days (Revelation 11:3), which is also 42 months (based on a 30-day month). I believe these two prophecies will be fulfilled concurrently. This would create a situation where two mighty prophets of God confronted the two servants of the Devil (the beast and false prophet). This would echo the “2 vs. 2” precedent of Moses and Aaron confronting Jannes and Jambres in the time of the Exodus (II Timothy 3:8).
Even though the beast power will dominate the world, there will be a power on earth greater than any power within the beast and false prophet. Revelation 16:1-11 shows that the kingdom of the beast and even the very “seat of the beast” are plagued by this greater power. The beast’s kingdom will be plagued with water turned to blood, great heat that scorches the earth with heat, with darkness and severe pain. Who will be doing this? Revelation 11:6 prophesies the Two Witnesses will be able to turn water into blood, and plague the earth with plagues “as often as they will!” These are not two people that anyone will want to have as enemies! Notice that the Two Witnesses will be able to call forth the very plagues prophesied in Rev. 16 to befall the beast’s domain. I think the connection is clear. The Two Witnesses will be plaguing the beast’s kingdom and the beast’s “seat” itself, so they have to be concurrent timetables. The Two Witnesses will plague the beast power even as Moses and Aaron plagued Egypt just before a great deliverance occurred. The beast power will be furious, of course, and will try to kill the Two Witnesses. Rev. 11:3-5 prophesies the Two Witnesses will be invulnerable to such attacks…for three and 1/2 years.
Rev. 11:5 states that if anyone seeks to “hurt” the Two Witnesses, their attackers “must” be killed. Verse 11 states the Two Witnesses will fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah 4 about two olive trees typified by Joshua and Zerubbabel. Zech. 4:7 prophesies that a “great mountain” (marginal reference in my KJV Bible states an alternate meaning is “military power”] will become a “plain” before the power of the two olive trees. In other words, the Two Witnesses will “flatten” any military force sent against them. No wonder the beast will hate the Two Witnesses as no other. After the three and 1/2 years are over, the beast power will be allowed to slay the Two Witnesses (Rev. 11:7). The deceived world will think the beast and false prophet are “messiah” figures and the world will celebrate the deaths of the Two Witnesses (Rev. 11:8-10). This sounds very much like the prophecy of I Thessalonians 5:3 that “sudden destruction” will come upon the world in the latter days after a period when “peace and safety” have been declared. What is that sudden destruction?
The world will be shocked back into reality when the Two Witnesses are resurrected to life after three and 1/2 days. In this day of live webcams, I anticipate that there will be live webcams fixed on the dead bodies of the Two Witnesses. The beast power will likely insist on it to “prove” they weren’t Divinely called or empowered. However, their resurrection will shock the nations. The Two Witnesses are taken up into the heavens as their enemies watch, and a great earthquake strikes the city of Jerusalem where their dead bodies lay unburied (it has to be Jerusalem due to the wording of verse 8). Rev. 11:14 tell us the “2nd Woe” ends when the Two Witnesses leave the earth and that the “3rd Woe” will come “quickly” afterward. I believe the “3rd Woe” is the “sudden destruction” prophesied in I Thessalonians 5:3. That is when I believe the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel 38 will be fulfilled.
Russia, China, Iran and their allies may be planning to attack the western world even now, but the arrival of the beast power and the Two Witnesses will put a halt to their plans and timetables. Russia and China respect power and the will to use it. The Two Witnesses will possess both, so Russia, China and their allies will bide their time. When the Two Witnesses are dead and resurrected, the Gog-Magog alliance will strike the western world’s nations soon afterward.
In Matthew 25:1-13, the return of Jesus Christ is likened to the coming of a “bridegroom” to claim his bride (the believers). Revelation 19:9 prophesies that there will be a “marriage supper of the Lamb” after his return. This, I believe, takes place in the heavenly realm while the earth descends into the global world war which would end all fleshly life on earth unless Jesus Christ returned (Matthew 24:22) with his saints to stop the carnage and set up the Kingdom of God/Millennium/Messianic Age. Revelation 19:11-21 foretell the intervention of Jesus Christ and his heavenly army will occur immediately after the “marriage supper of the Lamb” in Revelation 19:9-10
Do not envy the brief period of reign by the beast power. After being plagued during the three and 1/2 year ministry of the Two Witnesses, the beast is soon embroiled in a world war after their resurrection. Then Christ returns and the beast and the false prophet are quickly executed by Christ (Rev. 19:20). Their armies will be killed and their dead bodies will be eaten by the beasts and birds (Rev. 19:18-21). This language matches perfectly the conclusion of the Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel 38. After Divine intervention occurs in Ezek. 38:20 (the “presence of God” comes to the earth) and God slaughters the armies of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38:20-39:7), the beasts and birds devour the carcasses of the slain armies.
One final word about the fate of believers in the latter days. The parable about the bridegroom in Matthew 25:1-13 reveals that the believers will be surprised that the bridegroom (Christ) returns much earlier than they expected. Those who have a strong relationship with their Lord and have a good supply of the Holy Spirit (the “oil”) are called “wise virgins” and they are invited into the marriage supper with the bridegroom. They are “taken” while the foolish virgins are “left” outside. This fits the context of other prophecies about the latter-day church. Matthew 24:40-41 says some are “taken” and others “left.” Revelation 3:7-13 prophesies that some believers will be protected in the latter days from the evil times while others are left to experience trial and martyrdom (Rev. 3:14-22). Rev. 12:10-17 shows that there will be some believers protected and some will not be protected. The protected saints will be spared for “a time, times and half a time.” Many Christians assume this means three and 1/2 years. I disagree. The literal Greek does not specify “years” as the correct meaning. It simply refers to three and 1/2 periods of some unit of time. Revelation 11 prophesies the power of the Two Witnesses will be ended when they are slain by an enraged beast power and their bodies will lay dead for three and 1/2 days. It is logical that believers who are not protected by God will be slain by the beast power during the three and 1/2 days that the Two Witnesses lie dead (and unable to protect the saints anymore). How can you be sure that you will be “taken” or “protected” instead of “left” and “unprotected?” Read my new article at this website about Jesus Christ’s Five Warnings to Latter-Day Believers. Those who take heed to Christ’s warnings will be “sheep” who are protected and/or taken.Those who ignore Christ’s warnings will be goats and they will face martyrdom at the hands of an enraged beast power when the Two Witnesses die.
Your inquiry was brief, but it took time to answer given its broad scope. World events indicate we may be entering a time of global political/economic upheaval from which the global (and globalist) beast power will emerge. Believers should take heart if this occurs. If the beast power emerges, the arrival of the Two Witnesses will be imminent. The power that God will delegate to them will dumbfound the world. For an in-depth study re: the Two Witnesses, please read my article on this subject at the Articles link at this website.
One final thought. When the beast powers arrives, the ability to send forth the word of God via the internet will likely be cut off at some point. There will be a “famine of hearing the Word of God” (Amos 8:11-12). If you want to save aspects of Christian teachings from the internet for future reference, you better make “hard copies” now.
