Rev. 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
Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. John is given a measuring rod and told to measure the temple. Generally anytime that you are given a measuring rod and told to measure something, it is usually being measured for judgment or punishment. So this gives us some information, it tells us that the temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt at the beginning of the Tribulation period. That lets us feel like the Antichrist is coming with a peace plan that will allow the Jews to rebuild their temple. Building the temple is an interesting thing, you see a lot of people feel that building the temple is an impossible thing to do because of the Mosque that sits on top of the Temple Mound. You see the Mosque here with its golden dome, and down in the lower portion of the picture you see the last remains of the original Jewish temple that was destroyed by the Romans. The temple has to be built on this exact original location. Orthodox Jews cannot destroy another mans holy place. This golden domed temple is a Muslim holy place. The Orthodox Jews can't even walk around up on the Temple Mount in fear that they could stumble into the location of the Holy of Holies, and God would kill them. I think that the devil really thought he had Israel bottled up when he planted that Mosque there. That devil probably thought that where the Mosque was built would be the exact location of the Holy of Holies, and it would keep the Jews from ever rebuilding their temple again. If the Jews were to try to take the mound and remove the Mosque there are about a Billion Muslims that would sound a battle cry, and try to kill every Jew in the world. That Mosque is the Muslim s third most holy sight. It is all just a counterfeit to try to defeat the purpose of God. Something has happened, since the 1967 war, that Israel won placing them in control of the Temple Mount, more and more pressure is being placed upon Israel to build the new temple.
These little coins represent that it is time to rebuild the temple. There is a temple organization called "Temple Mount Faithful" dedicated to rebuilding the temple, and there is a school where they are training the high priest. They have discovered all sorts of things through archeology and historical readings, so that they can replicate the original temple worship.
A critical item that must be present is the High Priest's Robe. The one thing that was preventing the robe from being made was the lack a certain color dye that went around the bottom of the robe. It was a blue thread that ran around the hem. It had to be a certain shade of blue. It came from this certain kind of sea snail that hasn't been seen in about two thousand years. In the Biblical times, these snails would show up on the shore every so many years, but they disappeared around two thousand years ago. A little while back the sea shores of Israel were inundated with those snails, and they were collected, and they made that blue dye making it possible to reconstruct the High Priest Robe. They have to have a red heifer (Cow) as a burnt offering to purify the temple builders. There hasn't been a red heifer born in Israel for about two thousand years, it is reported they have one. There was a story about the heifer on the cover of Time Magazine about a year ago. There were assassins trying to murder the cow, while the rabbinical association was denying the red heifer, saying that it was imperfect because it had a white hair on its chin. Now that is what you call "splitting hairs." They have discovered the weights, so that the temple sacrifices can be weighed properly, and all sorts of other little items. Here is the amazing thing. They used to think that this was where the temple set, and the Holy of Holies, was at the exact sight of the Mosque. Moshe Diane, the one-eyed Israeli general who was Jewish racially, was not an Orthodox Jew. So as a Jew not practicing the faith, he is not afraid to walk around on the Temple Mount. He was an archeologist and he started measuring here and there, and then informed the government to purchase certain parts of the land. It was found out that this is the exact site of the Holy of Hollies. You can rebuild that temple without compromising an inch of the temple itself, and never bother the Mosque. If you build the Temple on its original sight, you have to leave something out. You have to leave a section out called the Court of the Gentiles. If you were a gentile that wanted to become a Jew, you had to go to this court and go through the proselyte process. Believe it or not there were many gentiles that would go through this process, because they feared God and wanted to become a Jew. You have to leave this court out or it will come in contact with the Mosque and the only reason you are going to be able to do that is because there has been a compromise here.
That is why John is told not to measure the Court of the Gentiles, because they will tread the holy city under foot for another three and half years. The Gentile powers will have control of it almost until the end of the Tribulation, and at that time we will see an amazing thing happen. Two thousand years ago God told this to John, and told him to write it down. I will guarantee that there are a lot of things going on over in Israel we do not know about concerning Israel getting the temple ready. With today's technology that temple could be in full use in a few months This is the probable site of the Holy of Holies. It is called the dome of the spirit. One day the Ark of the Covenant will be sitting on that location. The same location where the Antichrist will come into the Temple, sit down on the Ark of God, proclaiming himself to be God and demand that he be worshiped. Rev. 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 5 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. 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
God will send two witnesses that will have a ministry of three and half years. They will come at the beginning of the Tribulation period. God talks about them being His olive trees, which means that they are self-contained prophets that don't have to depend on anybody but God. There is a debate on whom these two men are. The leading four candidates are, John the Baptist, Enoch, Moses, and Elijah. It may not be any of them, but I know who it won't be. (see reference Zec. 4:1-14) Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. It will not be John the Baptist because the Bible says Heb. 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: He has already had his head chopped off, he would be the first man God ever made die twice. It could not be Enoch Heb. 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. He was a type of Raptured Gentile, and if you make a Raptured Gentile come back and die again it would not be the right kind of message. "He was translated that he should not see death" These two witnesses will have to die. But we do have these possibilities, One could be Elijah who was a great prophet 2 Kings 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elijah was taken away to heaven in a chariot of fire, he was not translated and he did not die. God may have saved his death for when he comes here, and prophesies to Israel. Remember the story about the rich man in hell and he wanted the angel to send Lazarus back to warn his brothers about hell, and he was told no, because they have the prophets and the law, let them hear them and if they will hear, then they can be saved. The possibility of Elijah reminds us of the events of Elijah's ministry when we look at the plagues, the rains are stopped and the fire is called down from heaven, the same power given to these two witnesses, Elijah did some of these things in his days.
The other one could be Moses, Elijah represents the prophets and Moses represents the Law. Indeed he had an unusual ending of his life. Nobody ever saw him die, he just went off and God took care of him. It could be them, and it might not be either one of them. When John the Baptist came the people said, "we thought the prophet Elijah was supposed to come before Jesus," and he said that "he did come," you may not understand it but that was Elijah. Jesus was not teaching reincarnation, he was teaching that the anointing that Elijah had, was lying now on John the Baptist. If these two men were raised, could you imagine what kind of scene would take place? If these two men were to come down from heaven and were walking around prophesying, it would be a shocking thing. Do you know what their prophesying would be? The first, they will prophesy against is the new temple. The day that they dedicate that temple with the first animal sacrifice, (I expect that the Antichrist will be standing there as he would be one of their benefactors) they will be rejecting the Son of God. Some of the Jews will without a doubt be saying, "this man is our Messiah, we have found him." They are going to be thrilled about this Antichrist and think he is the Messiah. False peace now exists, and the Jews can go back to their home. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies when the temple is dedicated. There are reports that the Jews do have possession of the Ark. It has been rumored by very good sources that when the Ethiopian Jews were evacuated out of Ethiopia, (the same group that has been fabled to have had possession and have kept the Ark of the Covenant since its disappearance so many years ago) brought the Ark to Israel. Some leading rabbis say when it came time to leave these black Jews who were sanctified men that had been caring for the Ark brought it to Israel. They according to Jewish Law carried that Ark on their shoulders onto the airplane. The plane had been altered so that there were leg stocks for these men to put their legs into so that they wouldn't fall while the plane was flying and landing. They kept that Ark on their shoulders because they remembered what happened to King David when he tried to move the Ark in an ox cart, they may have been afraid that the plane would crash if the Ark was not set on Holy ground. Remember sanctified men must carry the Ark, you have to remember that if you want to have a ministry, God doesn't allow programs, mechanics, and equipment to carry a ministry, sanctified men must carry the ministry! That is the problem today, we have plenty of TV cameras, we just don't have any sanctified men. Why didn't you hear about the Ark going back to Israel? The Israelites are a whole lot smarter than most people understand, if they told the world we have the Ark, the orthodox Jews would demand that the Temple be built now. The Muslim world would go crazy at the thought. You would have World War III on your hands. The Jews are hiding that Ark until the right time.
Can you imagine the different kind of plague that will come? Remember the plagues brought onto Egypt by Moses? You could have all the frogs, flies, and lice that you will ever want to see. What do you think the people will think about these witnesses? They can't catch them, they can't kill them, they can't stop them. They are going to be everywhere prophesying. They are going to mess up their perfect little world in Jerusalem. The people will probably think the witnesses are evil aliens. So for three and half years these witnesses will prophesy and disturb the people, and they will have a testimony. The two witnesses will probably say something to the effect of "Abomination unto God, you have rejected His son and He has rejected your sacrifice." When they offer the blood of that animal for sin on the Ark, it is the ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ. Any time you say I would rather save myself then go through Jesus Christ. It is an abomination to God. The Jews will be offering a lamb, and by offering that lamb it is an official rejection of Jesus Christ. These witnesses will cry "abomination." They could also actually point right at the Antichrist and read his pedigree. They could call him what he is. Israel wouldn't tolerate that, it would cause a national incident, they will want to get these men off of the streets. They can't do anything to capture these two witnesses, if someone comes to after them, fire falls from heaven and devours them. The witnesses are able to prophesy, and tell them, "because you have done this, expect no rain for a certain period of time." They can smite the earth with plagues.
Rev. 11:7 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. I like this statement. It tells me that if God sent me to do something, there is nothing anybody in this world can do to stop that thing from happening If God wants you to do something, someone could drop a nuclear bomb on your head and you would say "Wow, that was kind of warm" and walk away. If you don't believe that, how do explain the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace that walked away with no burns? Do you have that kind of confidence in God? If he calls you in the middle of hell on earth, you can be what he called you to be. Most of the time God doesn't have a problem delivering us. We just don't sit still long enough for him to find us, to deliver us. We are generally running from the devil so fast that if you stood still long enough God might do something for you. Rev. 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
Here is where we have to talk about a lot of the Mid-Tribulation happenings. We will be moving back and forth between chapters for a little while. In Chapter 13 we will be told that this beast, (the Antichrist) receives a deadly wound, and he dies in the middle of the tribulation period. If you die, and you are a sinner, you will go to hell. Hell is where the Antichrist goes when he dies. This Antichrist is going to be returning right out of the pit of hell. In Chapter 12 we are going to be told about a war in heaven, this is happening at the same time. This is Michael and his angels fighting against Satan and his angels. Heaven prevails and Satan is cast down to earth, and as he is cast down to earth he comes with great wrath and anger. A popular myth about Satan is that he is in hell. This is false. He is not in hell, and does not want to be in hell. He wants to take as many humans there as possible, just because he is mad at God. The Bible says that Satan is the prince and power of the air. The Bible talks about Satan standing before God the Father and accusing the brethren. If he is in hell, how can he be in heaven accusing the brethren? If he were in hell, how could he be prince and power of the air? How can he be ruling his demons and controlling so many lives on this earth? Satan is not omnipresent like God is. He is cast down to earth which means, certain powers are taken away, but yet other powers remain with him to continue his dirty work for three and half more years. He arrives as a physical presence on earth in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation period, just as the Antichrist receives his deadly wound and is dying. Also in the middle of the Tribulation period a new personality comes on the scene, he is found in the last half of Chapter 13. He is called the "false prophet." It is my opinion that he will be the final pope of the Roman Catholic Church, and the explanation for naming the pope will come as we look at chapter thirteen. By the middle of the Tribulation this false prophet will have total control over all false religion. This man will come to power probably at the same time the Antichrist is wounded and killed. When he comes to power he, will come as an old style prophet of Israel. This man can call fire down from heaven, and raise people from the dead. It is during the Antichrist lying in the state that the false prophet arrives. The Antichrist's soul is in hell, and his body is lying there for all to see. People know without a shadow of a doubt that he is dead. What Satan is going to do is produce a counterfeit resurrection of Jesus Christ by resurrecting the Antichrist from death. He wants the whole world to believe that this Antichrist is the Messiah. What Satan is trying to do is cause the maximum deception, and that is what we call the old switcheroo. Satan will make the Antichrist look like he is the good god, and Jehovah God the Father as the devil himself. I think really a lot of this deceptive education is going to go something like this, Satan will tell the world that God and his two witnesses, and others like them are a bunch of evil aliens headed for earth to destroy the earth. Satan will proclaim himself as coming to protect the earth from the aliens. You can watch the movies at the theater and on TV and see that we are being prepared to expect an evil force coming from outer space. The Star Trek series places a dark enemy into a cubical spaceship with round doors. This kind of programming is out there. People are watching it and being programmed. It may sound a little far fetched when I say that. It so happens that New Jerusalem is cubical with round doors, it will be coming from outer space. The false prophet raises the Antichrist to life. This Antichrist immediately begins to blaspheme those that are in heaven. He commences a war against the people of Israel that have turned to Jesus Christ during this Tribulation period.
Now what is he going to say when he raises from the dead? "It is I, it is really I, and Satan is the one the one that raised me, and this is his prophet. The prophet will proclaim the Antichrist as the living god and show off with a few magic tricks. Your popular Televangelist is priming people for this very thing. I heard one B.H. saying that he thought God would cause fire to fall from the sky this year. If the fire comes from the false prophet, how can the televangelist tell you with a clear conscience that the fire is coming from God. The Bible states who is sending the fire, these Televangelist are leading people by the hand straight into hell. Be careful what you watch on TV you may be deceived. Do you think people are being pulled away from genuine Christianity? This Antichrist is alive again, and he blasphemes God and he overpowers God's saints. How does he overcome church? He is not overcoming us. We are already in heaven. This old devil doesn't even want to see us, because we have a body just like Jesus. We are immortal, the Bible says Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. 1 Cor. 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. I am not so sure that this Antichrist will be able to handle even one of us in our glorified state, even so you will see that we are going to gang up on him in the end. The saints referred to come from the nation of Israel, not us. The first time that the Antichrist sees us, is at the battle of Armageddon. He is already defeated before the first blow is struck. When the Antichrist raises from the dead, he kills these two witnesses, whom have had a ministry for three and half years, (which is the same amount of time that Jesus had during his ministry on earth), they have preached Jesus Christ and now they are dead. The Antichrist leaves their bodies in the street as an example, they lay dead the same amount of time that Jesus Christ was in the tomb. The whole world is rejoicing that these men are dead and praising Satan for doing it. These men were tormenting the people at the time when the world had thought peace had come through the long awaited Messiah. These two men by telling the world the truth tormented the world. This was their off repeated message that Jesus was soon coming, that he is the real Savior and Messiah is going to bring judgment to those following is Satan. To hear that their Messiah is false and more heartaches are coming is a torment. So for three and half days they will have party because these two tormenters are dead. If they are dead then their message must be false is the thought running through the minds of the celebrants. Rev. 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. 13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
After three and half days, the spirit of life enters back into the two witnesses. How many days was Jesus in the tomb? After three and half days the spirit of life entered back into Jesus. These men raise to life again, and ascend up into heaven. Their enemies see them alive. At the same time they rise up, a large earthquake hits Jerusalem, a tenth part of the city is destroyed, and 7,000 men die. At the same time this is going on, the Antichrist is entering into the temple and stopping the sacrifice. His living image is being set on top of the Ark of the Covenant, and is sitting there as though he is God. This causes what is known as the "Abomination of Desolation." This is when the Antichrist proclaims himself to be God. This will cause the Jews to realize that this is not the Messiah, but the Antichrist. It was as the witnesses tried to tell them. The Jews will have to flee from Jerusalem to save their own lives. This is the very thing that Daniel spoke of, and Jesus talked about it also. If those two witnesses can be raised from the dead, then why can't he have raised his own son from the dead. It is at that moment the Jews will believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord, Savior, and Messiah. Here we have Old Testament prophecies Isaiah 49:8 Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; All of the Jews will be saved, the entire nation will be saved and receive the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. The prophecy of Joel will be fulfilled. Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. Rev. 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. 15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16 And the four and t wenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. There are teachers who believe that this Seventh trumpet has to do with the Rapture of the church. This trumpet has nothing to do with the Rapture of the church. Instead it shows you the violence of the last half of the tribulation period. We are seeing a glimpse of the final Vial Judgments which are poured out on this earth. As we go through the vial judgments, we will see that the final vial judgment in Chapter 16 is the same thing that we are seeing here in verse 19. Notice that it says the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and he will reign forever and ever, this is basically what that angel in Chapter 10 was saying when he said, "time will be no more." We see the twenty-four elders worshiping God and giving him glory for taking power now and reining. This is the exact moment when the marriage supper of the lamb takes place in heaven.
Another thing that happens in the middle of the Tribulation period, which will be seen in coming text, the ten kings of Europe with their new messiah, their new god (the Antichrist) turn on Mystery Babylon, and destroy her ( Rome, the city of the seven mountains) in a single day. Why would the marriage supper of the lamb be in the middle of the Tribulation period? This is why, at the Rapture the church went before the Judgment Seat of Christ, Jesus Christ tried the works of each believer and decided each reward. He rewarded many with positions in the Kingdom of God. The believers haven't taken power until this moment. It is in the middle of the Tribulation period that Jesus takes His kingdom and His authority. It is like God the Father swearing Jesus in as the new rightful owner of the world. It is now time for the inaugural ball. It is Christ with His bride, it is Christ the governor with His government, it is head joined to the body, it is the proper time to sit down and eat the bread and drink this wine that Jesus promised when in the Kingdom of God. When the marriage supper is finished in heaven Christ and His Saints will be prepared to come back to the earth for the battle of Armageddon. When Jesus talks about rewarding the prophets and saints, He is talking about those that have gone in the Rapture. When Jesus talks about rewarding the dead, who is Jesus talking about? The dead would be those martyred during the tribulation period, and who continue to die until their number is fulfilled. When Jesus takes his power, they will be there to see the Seven Vials poured out. They will be standing on the sea of glass, chapter 15. There is no Rapture in chapter eleven!