Revelation 11:1-14 The Two Witnesses and The French Revolution

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  Norman McNulty

Description

Good morning, everyone, and happy Sabbath. It’s good to see you here in our Revelation class. This week we’re studying Revelation, chapter 11. Just a quick announcement that should probably be made. Some of you may have wondered why last week’s class never made it up onto AudioVerse. Well, unfortunately, the recording was damaged and was not playable, basically, so we’re hoping that Alistair can repeat that one sometime soon, so we can get it up on the Web because that’s a very important chapter.

And if you weren’t here last week, and you haven’t studied Revelation, chapter 10, make sure you listen to the recording that goes up on AudioVerse when it gets up on the Web. So, that’s just a quick point about that.

At this point, why don’t we go ahead and have a word of prayer, and then we’ll get started. Father in heaven, we thank You for this day. We thank You that we can study from Your Word. And please be with us now as we study from Revelation, chapter 11. May Your Spirit be with us and guide us. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Okay, and just as a brief reminder as well, that, if you have a comment or a question or if you’re going to read one of the verses, I ask that you wait for the microphone for the purpose of the recording. And the microphone amplifies into the recording but not to us, so you still need to speak up if you have the microphone.

Okay, so let’s look at Revelation, chapter 11. Now, as a reminder of where we are in the book of Revelation, Revelation, chapter 11, is one of the two chapters with chapter 10 that is in between the mentioning of the sounding of the sixth trumpet and the sounding of the seventh trumpet. The seventh trumpet sounds towards the end of chapter 11. However, if you look at the time period of chapter 10 and chapter 11, the emphasis is on the time period of the ending of the sixth trumpet, or the sixth trumpet, that Revelation, chapter 10, the emphasis is that the sixth trumpet has just ended, and Revelation, chapter 11, is pointing towards the end of the sixth trumpet. So, that’s where we are in the book of Revelation.

So, what I want to do right now is go ahead and start with Revelation, chapter 11, verses 1 and 2. If I could have a volunteer to read Revelation, chapter 11, verses 1 and 2.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] “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. 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.’”

Okay, thank you. So, we just read Revelation 11, verses 1 and 2, and John in vision is given a reed like unto a rod, and he’s told to rise and measure the temple of God and specifically the altar and them that worship therein. So, in the temple of God, where was the altar? So, the altar, if you remember, was the altar of incense in the Holy Place. You had the burnt offering, a burnt sacrifice, out in the courtyard, then you come into the Holy Place. You have seven candlesticks, the table of shewbread, and the altar of incense.

And so, what John is being told to measure is the part of the temple, or the part of the sanctuary, that includes the altar of God. So, we know that that part of the sanctuary is being included in this vision. And then when you get to verse 2, it says, “The court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not,” so the courtyard is being left out.

Now, the courtyard is where the sacrifice took place, so it’s kind of interesting, most Christians place the focal point of Christianity at the cross, and I would agree that that’s one of the key focal points of Christianity. But when we get to Revelation, chapter 11, we’re told, “Don’t measure the courtyard; leave that part out of what you’re measuring with respect to God’s sanctuary, and measure the part that contains the altar.”

So, the part of the sanctuary that we’re in right now is the Holy Place. Now, as we’ve gone through the book of Revelation, we’ve basically been in the Holy Place. In the seven churches, Jesus is in the midst of the seven candlesticks. You get to Revelation, chapter 4 and 5, as the door is opened, then we see the throne of God, but around the throne of God are the seven lamps or the seven candlesticks. So, as we go through, we’re in the Holy Place.

And then you get to Revelation, chapter 8, with the beginning of the seven trumpets, the angel cast down the censer. He’s before the altar of incense as well. So, as the seven trumpets begin, we’re in the Holy Place. And as we get to Revelation, chapter 11, it’s a reminder that we’re still in the Holy Place of God’s sanctuary.

And we’re told to leave out the courtyard. And notice the next part of verse 2, it says, “For it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” So, we’re going to take a look at one aspect here.

Who were the Gentiles? And maybe I could ask the question by saying, what is the opposite of the Gentiles? Okay, the Jews are opposite of the Gentiles. And, based on our study of the book of Revelation, who were the Jews? Just think within the book of Revelation, is there a part of the book of Revelation that talk about the Jews earlier in the book of Revelation?

Okay, if you look in the message to the seven churches, specifically to the message of Smyrna and to the message of [Philadelphia], the second and the sixth churches, you have a group of people who say they are Jews and are not. And that’s how it’s described in the church to Smyrna, but then to the church of Philadelphia it says, “They say they are Jews and are not, but are synagogue of Satan.” So, the point is, is that the Jews are God’s true believers symbolically speaking, and if you go the book of Romans and Galatians you can prove that those who are Abraham’s seed are spiritual Jews, so we can all be spiritual Jews.

So, the Gentiles are the opposite of the Jews who are true believers, so these are people who would be false believers or unbelievers. And the temple is given to them, to the Gentiles, “And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” So, here you have a group of people that are attacking God’s sanctuary and His holy city for 42 months.

Now, we know what the 42 months is, I presume; it’s the 1260 days or the 1260 years. Actually, I believe this is the first time it’s mentioned in the book of Revelation. Then you get to chapter 12, and it comes back several times. But we’ve seen this concept from the book of Daniel.

So, the Gentiles, who are opposite of the Jews or true believers, tread God’s sanctuary and His holy city underfoot for 1260 years. Who was that group of people historically? Yeah, it was the Roman Church; it was the papacy.

Now, I’m going to show you just a couple of verses to give you this idea of the time of the Gentiles. We like to refer to the 1260 years as the time of the Gentiles. If you go to Luke, chapter 21, Luke, chapter 21, verse 24. Shortly before this it’s talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the abomination of desolation. And then we get to verse 24, and it says, “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

Now, this is similar language to Revelation 11, the holy city be trodden underfoot by the Gentiles. Here you see Jerusalem being trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. The times of the Gentiles being fulfilled would be the 1260 years based on Revelation 11.

Now, you may say, “Well, that was the literal city Jerusalem that was attacked by the Pagan Roman army, so where does Papal Rome come into the picture?” Well, if you look at verse 25, all of a sudden you transition to the signs of the sun, moon, and stars falling from heaven. Those events, the signs in the sun and the moon and the stars, happened during the 1260 years, or some of them did. The great earthquake of Lisbon in 1755, the Dark Day in 1780, those are during the 1260 years. And so, there’s this correlation of the time of the Gentiles being fulfilled with these signs in the sun moon and in the heavens.

So, I realize I’m going pretty fast, but I would encourage you to go back and study that later. So, the time of the Gentiles is the 1260 years, and it’s the time that they trod God’s sanctuary and holy city underfoot. And there’s one other place in the Bible that talks about that. That’s in Daniel, chapter 8, verse 13. Daniel, chapter 8, verse 13, and here you have Daniel speaking. It says, “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, ‘How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?’”

So, here you have similar language, sanctuary and the host being trodden underfoot. And, without spending too much more time on this, you have two desolating powers in the books of Daniel and Revelation. We’ve seen this. The desolating power is Pagan Rome. The second desolating power is Papal Rome. And the power of persecution used by Pagan Rome was continued with Papal Rome, and Pagan Rome was the power that attacked this literal city of Jerusalem. And Papal Rome was the desolating power that attacked God’s spiritual people after the Jews were no longer God’s chosen race, but those who were children of Abraham became his seed.

So, what I’m just trying to point out here is that Revelation, chapter 11, is starting off with a reminder of the papal power, which is described as the time of the Gentiles persecuting God’s people and attacking God’s sanctuary by trampling it underfoot.

And there’s one other verse I’m going to show you, and then we’ll move on from this point. This concept of what it means to “trod underfoot” is found in Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 29. Let’s get a volunteer to read Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 29. Okay, Mike Orlich, how about if I have you read Hebrews 10:29?

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?”

Okay, thank you. So, do you see this concept of “trodden underfoot” again here in Hebrews? Now, notice who is trodden underfoot here in Hebrews, chapter 10. It’s the Son of God. Now, the concept that I’m trying to point out here is, what does it mean for the Son of God to be trodden underfoot? It means for Him to be rejected, for His sacrifice to be rejected.

So, what does it mean when the papacy trod underfoot God’s sanctuary or God’s temple and the holy city for 42 months? It means that they rejected God’s sanctuary message during that time. And, during the time of the 1260 years, the papacy set up a false sanctuary of priests, confessing to the priests. You confess your sins to the priest instead of going directly to Christ where Hebrews says, “Come boldly to the throne of grace.” Instead you’re going to a confessional to confess your sins to the priest.

So, the papacy created a system that rejected Christ’s sacrifice and His ministry in heaven. So, that is the time of the Gentiles. Now, here’s the key point: The time of the Gentiles was fulfilled at the end of the 1260 years, and after the end of the 1260 years in 1798, something began to happen. The temple of God, when you get to the end of Revelation, chapter 11, the temple of God is opened in heaven.

So, it’s trodden underfoot at the beginning of chapter 11. You get to the end of chapter 11, the temple of God is open in heaven, and you go into the Most Holy Place. And, based on our study in Revelation, chapter 10, last week. God raises up the Second Advent Movement to revive a true understanding of the heavenly sanctuary.

So, the time of the Gentiles, sanctuary is trodden underfoot by the papacy. End of chapter 11, as the seventh trumpet begins to sound, the temple of God is open in heaven. The Second Advent Movement brings a reawakening of the heavenly sanctuary message.

And one of the purposes…I’ll get to that later. I’m jumping ahead of myself, sorry.

So, the Advent Movement in Revelation, chapter 10, has a key role in Bible prophecy, as we see the papacy also did. And we’re going to see how they go against each other at the very end of time. So, that’s how things start.

Now, we’re going to move fairly quickly through the rest of the chapter, so pay attention here. Now, let’s read Revelation, chapter 11, verses 3 through 5 for now, so Revelation 11, verses 3 through 5. A volunteer. We have a volunteer down here. So, Revelation, chapter 11, verses 3 through 5.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] “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. 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.”

Okay, thank you. So, Revelation 11, verses 3 through 5, we have power given unto two witnesses, they prophesy for 1260 days. That’s the same as the 42 months, which we just heard about. Then you have olive trees, two candlesticks, and if any man hurts them, fire proceeds out of their mouth.

Now, notice, why are the two witnesses clothed in sackcloth? And I’m going to go through this fairly quickly, but here’s the key point. The two witnesses are clothed in sackcloth for 1260 years, just as God’s sanctuary and his holy city were trodden underfoot for 1260 years. Now, these two witnesses must be giving a testimony about what is being trodden underfoot because they’re clothed in sackcloth. So, the sanctuary and the holy city, and actually I didn’t prove this, but if you study it, it’s the sanctuary and the host, which is God’s people, so God’s sanctuary and God’s people are being trodden underfoot for the 1260 years. And you have two witnesses during that same period of time are clothed in sackcloth because of the experience of God’s sanctuary and His people during that time.

And we have a question back here, if we could get the microphone there. Yes.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] So, the “clothed in sackcloth” represents what?

Good question. What does it mean to be clothed in sackcloth? Typically, in the Bible, if you look at people who are clothed in sackcloth, it’s during a time of mourning. They’re mourning over someone who died, or it’s during a period of affliction. You look at Job was clothed in sackcloth and ashes during his experience. People during the Day of Atonement were clothed in sackcloth and ashes. But it usually represents a time of mourning or affliction.

And so, these two witnesses are going through a period of mourning or affliction because God’s sanctuary and His people are being trodden underfoot. And the two witnesses are giving testimony of God’s sanctuary, which is being trodden underfoot.

Now, I think we all know what the two witnesses are, or maybe some of you don’t, but I’ll show it to you very quickly, that, if you go to Zechariah, chapter 4, you see the two olive trees. You see candlesticks. And the one thing that you also see in Zechariah, chapter 4, that’s not in Revelation, chapter 11, is lamps. So, in Revelation 11, you have two olive trees, two candlesticks. And then, when you go to Zechariah 4, you have olive trees, candlesticks, and you also have lamps. And we know from Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my fee, and a light unto my path.”

And the oil represents the Holy Spirit, from Zechariah 4. So, it’s the power of the Holy Spirit that enables the witnesses to give testimony, or the Word of God to give testimony with power. So, the two witnesses are the Old and the New Testament. And Jesus says, in John 5:39, “Search the Scripture…these are they which testify of me.” A witness gives testimony or testifies. So, when Jesus said that, He was referring to the Old Testament. And after Jesus came, then you have the New Testament, so you have two witnesses.

And it’s the Old and the New Testament that give a witness or a testimony to God’s sanctuary. You can find a testimony for the sanctuary in the book of Leviticus and in the New Testament, especially in the book of Hebrews, in Revelation, also in Daniel in the Old Testament.

So, those are the two witnesses, and they are prophesying for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. So, they have a ministry for three-and-a-half years prophetically, or 1,260 years. So, we see two olive trees, two candlesticks, and then verse 5, it says, “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.”

So, the idea is given that, if you go against the Word of God, you will be hurt by the Word of God, so to speak. So, like, the Word of God makes it very clear that there is a judgment to come, and if you go directly against the Word of God and put your life in direct contradiction to the testimony of Scripture, you will reap the results of what Scripture says.

And then going on in verse 6, it says, “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.” Where in the Bible do we have an instance where the Word of God shut up heaven so it did not rain? That’s the story of Elijah. And how many years did it not rain? Three-and-a-half years. And how many literal days is three-and-a-half years? 1260. And so, here you have a symbolic comparison, that you have these witnesses clothed in sackcloth for three-and-a-half symbolic years, which is 1260 years.

And then it says “have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will.” When do we see water turning to blood with plagues in the Bible? That’s in Egypt with Pharaoh and Moses. And so we see that.

Now, it’s interesting, when you look at the seven trumpets, in the second trumpet we have water turning to blood. That’s symbolic language, but it’s a reminder that we’re in the time of the seven trumpets here.

Now, we’re moving fairly quickly, but we’re going to get to the key points here soon. So, verse 7 says, “When they shall have finished their testimony,” so when did they finish their testimony? At the end of the 1260 years, “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 shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.”

So, somewhere around the end of the 1260 years, when these two witnesses finish their testimony, clothed in sackcloth and ashes, you have a beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit and makes war against them. Now, what does a beast represent in the Bible? A beast represents a kingdom, and so here you have this concept of a kingdom making war against the Word of God, overcoming them, killing them. And we see that their dead bodies lie in the street of this great city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.

We have a comment down here. Why don’t you come down this way? Right here.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] One of the rules of biblical interpretation of prophecy that Miller used was that you did not become a beast in Bible prophecy until you come in contact somehow with the people of God. So, there’s a close relationship between these two witnesses, the people of God, and the things that you’re about to describe.

Okay, very good. So, for those of you who may not have heard the comment, William Miller’s rules of interpretation is the beast does not become a kingdom until it comes in contact with God’s people.

Now, if you look here, you have a beast ascending out of the bottomless pit. We see the concept of the bottomless pit also in Revelation, chapter 20, when Satan is chained for a thousand years. And if you study that out, the reason why is he is the great deceiver. He’s called Satan, the great dragon who deceived. And he’s chained for a thousand years because he has no one to deceive during that 1,000 years.

So, a bottomless pit gives you this idea that you are taken into captivity because you’re no longer able to do what you once did. And here you have a power coming out of a bottomless pit, so it kind of gives you the idea that if it was in the bottomless pit, it’s experiencing almost a resurrection.

It’s coming out of this bottomless pit, and it’s making war against God’s Word. And then verse 8 is where we get a better idea of what this power is because the dead bodies of these two witnesses are in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom.

Now, when the Bible says this place is spiritually called Sodom, is that literal or symbolic? That’s got to be symbolic because it’s saying spiritually it’s called Sodom, so it can’t be literal. If it wanted you to think it was literal, it would have said so. So, spiritually it is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified.

Now, what was Sodom known for? Sodom was known for its licentiousness. All you have to do is remember the story of Lot, when the angels came to visit him, and the men outside of his door wanted to have the men so that they could do, you know, what they wanted to do with those men. So, that’s Sodom, utter licentiousness.

And then Egypt, which we know Pharaoh refused to acknowledge the true God of heaven. So, you have a power here that is very licentious and it refuses to acknowledge the God of heaven. And this is happening right as we get to the end of the testimony of these two witnesses at the end of the 1260 years. And there is only one place in the world that fits that description, and obviously you know that this is the French Revolution.

And the French Revolution in 1793 made a decree that banned the Bibles. They burned the Bibles in the street. They created the goddess of reason. They took this half-clothed woman, who may have been a prostitute, carried her around the city of Paris and said, “This is the goddess of reason,” and everyone worshiped her. And that was the beginning of these three-and-a-half years, which you see about in verse 9, which talks about three days and a half.

Another comment down here.

So, you have licentiousness and refusal to acknowledge the God of heaven.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Daniel and Revelation complement one to the other, and the mentioning of Egypt in verse 8 is corollary with Daniel 11, verse 40. In Egypt, in Daniel 11, is the king of the South, and so I thought I would point that out.

Yeah, very good point. Now, what you have here in Daniel 11, you have Egypt being the king of the South. Here you have Egypt mentioned in Revelation 11, and this happens right at the end of the 1260 years.

Oh, I’m sorry. What he was saying was that, in Daniel 11:40, you have the king of the South, which pushes at the king of the North. And the king of the South in Daniel 11 is Egypt. And that happens in 1798 when the king of the South pushes at the king of the North. Here in Revelation 11, we see the king of the South rising up, which brings up the point, why did Sodom and Egypt, the spirit of Sodom and Egypt, rise up towards the end of the 1260 years?

The reason is, the papacy suppressed the two witnesses for the 1260 years. So, you have the two witnesses clothed in sackcloth, not being able to give a fully testimony about what God is doing in heaven. The papacy presents a very skewed picture of God who is very mean, very…a tyrant essentially. “He’ll destroy you at the drop of a hat if you don’t do what we say.” That’s the spirit of the papacy.

And it’s interesting, it was the Franks in 508 who helped to set papal domination up in Europe with Clovis and all of that. But then, when you get to the end of the 1260, it’s France that takes away the papal supremacy from Europe, which they helped to set up 1290 years earlier.

So, let’s see. We’re starting to run out of time. I don’t know that we’re going to finish chapter 11. Al, maybe you can finish it next week. But, let’s just finish a couple of key points, and then I think I’ll let Al get to the seventh trumpet sounding next week.

So, verse 9, and we see clearly that the dead bodies are out in the street for three-and-a-half days; that’s the three-and-a-half years of the French Revelation. And verse 10 talks about how those who dwelt on the earth rejoiced over them because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth.

And then verse 11 says, “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. 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.’”

So, what happens at the end of the three-and-a-half years of the French Revolution? You essentially have the resurrection of the Bible. So, the Bible is banned; it’s burned in the street. France becomes totally atheistic. But at the end of the three-and-a-half years, France reversed their decision three-and-a-half years earlier, and that gets you to the year 1797.

And so, right around this time, all of a sudden around the world you have Bible societies start popping up and Bibles are being printed all over the place. And so, the Bible, in essence, experiences a resurrection. So, for 1,260 years, it’s clothed in sackcloth, then it is essentially crucified, if you will, in the French Revolution. And then it’s resurrected. It ascends up to heaven for everyone to see.

And so, after 1798, the Bible experiences a resurrection. Now, here’s an interesting parallel between the two witness and the life of Christ. How long was Jesus’ ministry here on this earth? Three-and-a-half years. How long were the two witnesses’ ministry in Revelation 11? It was three-and-a-half symbolic years or prophetic years.

What happened at the end of the three-and-a-half years to Jesus? He was crucified. What happened to the two witnesses at the end of the 1260 years or three-and-a-half prophetic years? They were crucified, and their bodies were in the street of Sodom and Egypt. And then what happens after the crucifixion of Christ? He’s resurrected. What happens to the two witnesses? They’re resurrected.

Now, let me ask you this. Were the teachings of Christ more powerful before His resurrection or after His resurrection? Clearly, after His resurrection. You have Pentecost, and then the disciples take His teachings to the then-known world in their generation. The Bible, since 1798, has become much more powerful than it ever was before the French Revolution, clearly. Specifically, after 1798 the books of Daniel and Revelation were unsealed. So, prophecy was unsealed after the Bible was crucified, the Bible being the Word of God, and another name for Jesus is the Word of God. So, you have this comparison.

But after 1798, the books, or the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation were unsealed, and so the Bible, since 1798, is the most powerful in how people understand it than it’s ever been in the history of the earth. And, it was after 1798, William Miller started studying. He started studying the prophecy of the 2300 days from Daniel, chapter 8, and that led to the rise of the Second Advent Movement, which we studied about in Revelation, chapter 10.

So, if you look at Revelation, chapter 11, one of the key elements is the Word of God was attacked; it was clothed in sackcloth and ashes. The papacy suppressed it, and the fruits of the papacy led France to reject God altogether because the fruits of the papacy caused people to say, “If this is the way God is, if this is the way religion is, we want nothing to do with it.” It led to the crucifixion of the Scriptures.

Then the Scriptures were resurrected, and after the resurrection, the Scriptures became more powerful than they ever had been. And here’s where you put Revelation, chapter 10, and Revelation, chapter 11, right next to each other. One of the purposes of the Second Advent Movement was to bring a reawakening of the totality of Scripture. So, the Second Advent Movement, which we are a part of, has the most complete understanding of Scripture of any group of people that’s ever existed.

So, God raises up the Second Advent Movement to understand the little book that’s opened, the unsealed prophecies of Daniel and Revelation to point people to the sanctuary, which had been trodden underfoot for the 1260 years because the Word of God was taken away. And so, that which would have given a testimony to what God was doing in heaven was trodden underfoot. And so, the Second Advent Movement is reawakened, or it reawakens Scripture.

Now, let’s see, I have just three minutes, so I’m going to finish on a couple of points. Verse 13 talks about a great earthquake, a tenth part of the city fell. The point of this verse is that France represented one-tenth of the city. If you remember the divisions of Europe, it was divided up into 10? Pioneers taught that the French Revolution led to the fall of the tenth part of that city, which was France. So, that’s what verse 13 is referring to.

And then in verse 14, and this is where we will essentially end things. Verse 14 says, “The second woe was past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.” Now, if you remember the three woes, the first was the fifth trumpet, second woe is the sixth trumpet, third woe would therefore be the seventh trumpet.

Revelation, chapter 10, and Revelation, chapter 11, are sort of in between the end of the sixth trumpet and the sounding of the seventh trumpet. The reason why you have the French Revolution and the papacy in Revelation, chapter 11, is to show you not so much what happens at the beginning of the 1260 years, but what happens at the end of the 1260 years, which is during the time of the sixth trumpet. Because the seventh trumpet doesn’t sound until Revelation 11:15. So, you see, the French Revolution during the time of the sixth trumpet and then Revelation 10 are in between.

Now, the second woe ended. We’ve studied this before in the study of the trumpets. The first woe, which was the fifth trumpet, was from July 27, 1299, to 1449. You have a direct continuation for 391 years and 15 days. That takes you to August 11, 1840. That set up Revelation, chapter 10, and the Second Advent Movement.

Then we get to Revelation 11:14, it says, “The second woe is past.” That’s August 11, 1840, and it says, “Behold, the third woe cometh quickly.” And then, when you look down, the third woe, which is the seventh trumpet, when you look down to Revelation 11:19, when the third woe and the seventh trumpet began, you see, “The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.”

So, the seventh trumpet sounds on October 22, 1844, so the “quickly” is between August 11, 1840, and October 22, 1844. Prophetically, that’s a pretty short period of time, four years, two months, and eleven days. So, that’s where we are in Revelation 11:14.

Now, one other point is, is that contextually, the French Revolution is part of the second woe. So, for whatever reason, God decides to describe the French Revolution, and as soon as it’s over, He says the second woe is passed, but we know that the second woe actually ended on August 11, 1840, based on our study of Revelation, chapter 9. And you can read Great Controversy, pages 333 and 334, about Josiah Litch’s understanding of that.

That’s probably as far as we’re going to get today. So, the key points are the Bible under attack; it experiences a resurrection; the French Revolution, which is the full fruit of the papacy, coming to fruition; and now the Second Advent Movement is brought onto Earth’s scene to counter the papacy in the last days. So, that’s it for today. Thank you.

Parent Series

Alistair Huong and Norman McNulty: The Book Of Revelation

Sponsor

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Recorded

July 5, 2008, 9:00 AM