The 3½ Years, The Work of the two witnesses. ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE OF THE 3½ YEARS. THE TWO WITNESSES PROTECT GOD'S PEOPLE AND CONFESS THE TRUTH AS WITNESSES AGAINST SATAN DURING JACOB'S TROUBLE. IT IS GOING TO BE A PERIOD OF LIES AND VIOLENCE AGAINST THOSE WHO SEEK GOD.

Remember that we discussed the 70 weeks prophecy in Chapter 10 to show that there is only one 3½ years. This chapter begins by discussing the same period in verses 1-11 but now it is focusing on the work of the two witnesses. In chapter 10 we discover the little book and now we see it being put to use. The chapter concludes with a summary of the Day of the Lord from verse 12 to the end.

Use this link to go back to the summary.

The work of the Two Witnesses

The two witnesses may be symbolically confronting Satan in the court of the gentiles i.e. in a place where gentiles have freedom to access the word. They may be symbolically doing what Christ did to the moneychangers. Christ only did 3½ years when He first came. The only way that He could be completing the other 3½ is through the two witnesses. He certainly is not in the first five seals. From my interpretation of the evidence He was not directly in the sixth either, and now we are dealing with the seventh since the end of Revelation 8.

The Court of the Gentiles

I found a wonderful site showing the Court of the Gentiles (2011-11-19) at http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/temple.html, there are others like http://www.bible-history.com/jerusalem/firstcenturyjerusalem_court_of_the_gentiles.html, which give more detail. I have also seen a site plan at BibleStudy.org but I have created an illustration that is not to scale, but is in the format of a site plan, to explain some points that I intend to make.

Before we start notice that Revelation 11:2 does not say that the temple will be trodden under foot by the gentiles but that the city will. Revelation 11:1 indicates that God prepares for these gentiles to have access to Him. Revelation 11:2 appears to define the Outer Court as the Court of the Gentiles, indicating that it was built with gentiles in mind therefore it is no surprise that they would tread there, but it was synonymous with exploitation. It was used by those gentiles who wanted to draw close to God. Other gentiles would have no interest in it. This outer court is what would have been extended by Herod from the south side outwards. It appears that Herod made a bigger version on the South of what Solomon did on the east. Some writers indicate that the Temple area contained four separate courts: the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Women, the Court of Israel (or the Court of Men), and the Court of Priests. However there appears to have only been three because the Court of the Gentiles is referred to as the outer court in Revelation 11:2 which is the same as the Court of the Women. Gentiles only had access to the outer court. Apparently there is a tractate called Measurements in the Mishnah Middot 2.1, compiled at the end of the second century A.D. that has this information on the courts recorded but I have never seen it. Some writers also say that Herod extended the temple in three directions: north, west and south. From what I have read the eastern end was always bounded by the triple gate structure built by Solomon so it was not possible to extend in that direction.

I find it interesting that even now there is no definition for the Court of the Gentiles in the Jewish Encyclopaedia. This makes it clear to me that the concerns that Jesus had still exist in Judaism. It appears that outside of the Bible itself there is no authoritative provision for gentiles by Jews. The outer court was always there but was extended by Herod. In 19 B.C. Herod the Great increased the size of the Temple Mount and made it a square. The size is debated but records from the 19^th century by men like Titus Tobler, James Ferguson , Thomas Lewin ESQ. and  Captain Charles Wilson show the Temple of Herod as being a furlong by a furlong square or 606 feet square. That Temple was originally repaired/constructed by Zerubbabel in 516 BC. Herod now made and extension to the South and added a huge colonnaded structure called the Royal Stoa. Some writers strongly suggest that its sole purpose was to be a marketplace. That seems hardly likely based on the actions of Christ. That whole mountain was holy and referred to as the City of David and Zion in the Old Testament. It started out as a Jebusite fortress called the stronghold of Zion that was conquered by King David and partially rebuilt by him as the City of David. He erected his palace there and not long after Solomon built the First Temple at the top of that same Eastern Hill. It has always been the Temple Mount. Over time it appears that the western hill was taken in as part of the holy terrain as the fortified city. Nowadays only the western hill is called Mount Zion but the Temple mount remains the Temple Mount. The point here is that it is holy and would hardly be constructed as a market for its primary purpose. It was to honour God as the House of God and that was the point that Christ made. Both Jerusalem and Zion are referred to as holy in the Bible. Is it Jerusalem or is it Zion, the city of David, that would be trodden on by Gentiles? I do not know for sure but because it is talking of the Temple then it seems to be the Temple Mount. They go there because they have an interest in the God of David and are greeted by extortion. Would God accept that in a place representing Him? 

To be complete I must also say that understanding where Zion is depends to a great degree on whether we believe Josephus or modern archaeology. One place to check that out is the topic Zion in Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Zion-hill-Jerusalem , which stated as late as August 1, 2022, The Jewish historian Josephus, in the 1st century ad, identified Zion with the western hill of Jerusalem, where most of the city lay in his day. This incorrect identification of the site was retained until the late 19th or early 20th century, when the site of Zion was identified as the eastern hill (modern Ophel). This would impact on what the word means in the Book of Revelation which was written in the 1^st Century AD, roughly around the time of Josephus. In other words, did John have the same understanding of the meaning as Josephus or not? In any case, when Mount Zion is used in the Bible it often means the city (Jerusalem) rather than the hill itself and I believe that this is the case with Revelation.

Modern archaeology confirms what Josephus says about the eastern side of the complex:

These cloisters belonged to the outer court, and were situated in a deep valley, and had walls that reached four hundred cubits [in length], and were built of square and very white stones, the length of each of which stones was twenty cubits, and their height six cubits. This was the work of King Solomon, who first of all built the entire temple (Josephus Flavius Ant. 20:9, section 7)

You can find information on the outer court at Wikipedia. Beyond the main gate of the Temple (the eastern side) was a courtyard called the Outer Court or Women's Court and beyond that was a colonnade called Solomon's Portico. The court of the gentiles (the Outer Court according to Revelation 11:2) was abused by priests. They used the area to sell their wares at exorbitant prices. The stocks that were sold there had to be kosher therefore they had to be vouched for by priests. Christ quoted extracts from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 when he chased out the moneychangers.

The quotations show that it is God's desire to draw close to Gentiles that draw close to Him, but corrupt Jews who want to serve Baal and then pretend to serve God, abused the gentiles for profit and prevented them from getting close. Bearing in mind the definition of a Jew (presented in Revelation 2:9 and Revelation 3:9 for the purposes of Revelation), and introduced earlier in the New Testament i.e. For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: [29] But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God (Romans 2:28-29 [KJV]), this is talking of extortion by the religious establishment (not necessarily biological Jews) of people trying to draw close to God. Christ cleared them all out in Matthew ensuring that the gentiles had free and unobstructed access. In Revelation 11 He makes sure that the Jews do not have religious control over that area. It is left out of the measurement of the Temple.

A builder usually measures twice: once before he cuts and again to check that the finished piece meets the specifications. It seems like God is making a final check to see that the area allocated to His worship meets specifications. The point of these measurements seems to be that He will preserve His commitment to Israel in the covenant of circumcision presided over by Moses which prohibited gentiles from the confines of the worship area. At the same time He was ensuring that those gentiles that sought Him were given unfettered access to the their area in the holy city. That area is not to be controlled by exploiters or abusers since they have no authority there, it was not to be even measured. Why would God show such interest in people considered gentiles? Because of what comes next, the two witnesses and what they represent, access to the truth and protection from the beast. Spiritually there is no difference between Jew and gentile in Christ (Romans 1:16; 10:12) but there is a covenantal difference to maintain between the holy and profane as defined by Him. The Jews are ensured their covenantal interest but they cannot encroach on the gentiles.

We know that the two witnesses are at Jerusalem because their dead bodies are seen there (Revelation 11:8). The safest place for Christians during the 3½ years would be near the two witnesses. It is possible that Jerusalem will be an internationally designated safety zone for those who fear YHWH.

The Time of the Gentiles

This statement is very closely linked to what is found in Luke 21.

Putting together the two it appears that the times of the gentiles has to do with the time that Israel is blinded and hence ends when Christ comes and the Kingdom is set up. Until then God reserves peripheral access to Himself for gentiles through the court of the gentiles, but it is now an area of exploitation and abuse.

The Two Witnesses

They are surrogates for Christ in the last half of His week and work as His witnesses.

Occupation of Jerusalem by gentiles ending in Christ's return:

Will last 3½ years (Revelation 11:2)

Will parallel the Two Witnesses who preach 3½ years (Revelation 11:3)

Will cover the death of the two witnesses who will be dead for 3½ days

In this section I am going to develop the idea that the Two Witnesses are identified by the two trees in Zechariah, but that Zechariah and Revelation are not to be seen from the same perspective, hence corroborating this is not at all obvious. It will be necessary to show that the pattern to follow is always the first Tabernacle and it is there that we find the two trees corresponding to the two witnesses. The imagery in Zechariah and Revelation both flow out of what is represented in that Tabernacle but the Zechariah imagery is all-encompassing while that of Revelation is constrained. In addition John and Zechariah each describe a vision based on the Temple that they were familiar with so for Zechariah it was the one set up by Ezra after the captivity and for John it would be Herod's Temple.

Message to Zerubbabel

One thing that is unavoidable in understanding Revelation 11 is analysing the link between the prophecy in Zechariah and that in Revelation 11. I will begin with Zechariah.

That is one experience that Zechariah had with the angel. In it he explained that God would preserve Jerusalem and build His Church using the BRANCH. We see Jesus (Joshua) in the role of High Priest, our mediator and representative to God. The priest deals with things that are holy and usually having to do with the inner man or the mind in our relationship with God. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary theocracy (the noun) means 1: government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided 2 : a state governed by a theocracy. This part of setting up the theocracy can be looked at as theocrasy (the verb). According to the same dictionary that means (1) : a fusion or mixture of different deities in the minds of worshippers the theocrasy of divinities of East and West also : the identification of formerly separate deities the theocrasy of Zeus and Helios in the invocation of Zeus-Helios as one god . (2) : an intimate union of the soul with the One or God in contemplation. This is the battle for the hearts and minds and establishing YHWH and the Father as one. He rebukes Satan from opposing Him and retrieves Jerusalem, the brand plucked from the fire, which spiritually represents the Church. Israel was the Church in the wilderness. Brand is better translated as wooden stick or wooden implement which would have been destroyed in the fire. What I am going to say about clothes here is just my opinion. I have searched for authoritative data but could find none. A priest has priest clothes, a judge has judge clothes, likewise a fisherman, a blacksmith etc. There is always some combination of apparel that is peculiar to a trade or profession. Clothes were fundamentally intended to cover people's nakedness (Genesis 3:21) but clothes also defined people i.e. you could tell a soldier by his clothes. Clothes can be replaced and the person redefined, as is done several times in the Bible e.g. when Joseph was brought out of prison he changed (Genesis 41:14) and when Joseph became in charge of Egypt Pharoah changed his clothes (Genesis 41:41-42). A change of clothes implies a redefinition of who you are. If the change is complete then you are meant to have changed completely. Jesus has taken on our filthiness, the filthiness of man, but becomes clothed again with holiness and righteousness to judge. Then in Zechariah 3:9 comes what Christ told Peter. The seven eyes are the Church (we clarified this when dealing with Revelation 4) hence He is saying that upon this rock I will build my Church. Zechariah 3:9 is highly revealing. It refers to the Day of the LORD as the time when Christ will restore His rule over all. Christ is called the BRANCH i.e. the main shoot that the roots are attached to and which becomes the trunk of the tree when it is grown. It is also upon that rock that is also the Branch that the Church will be built.

Now we move in the other part of establishing the theocracy.

Note that the two trees in Zechariah are not called witnesses (Hebrew: odim). As a matter of fact he never got a clear answer to what the trees themselves are but the branches are called anointed ones or more literally, sons of the clarified oil (Hebrew: bni e itzer), Zechariah 4:14.

In Chapter 3 the focus was on the High Priest but now it is on the king and heir so we are talking about setting up a kingdom. In Chapter 4 we are presented with Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the governor sent with Ezra the priest to rebuild Jerusalem after the decree of Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1-4, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23). He was heir to the throne of Israel being the grandson of Jehoiachin, but was now being controlled by the Persian Empire. He had little power but he laid the foundation and started to build. At one point the building even had to be stopped because of resistance (Ezra 4) but God restarted the project under Darius the Great and it was completed (Ezra 5). Christ was the headstone (Psalm 118:22, Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11). The picture that Zecharias is presenting in chapter 4 is how the Kingdom is set up and structured.

Verses 1-5 talk about the golden candlestick. Within this section we find that the message of the candlestick etc. is directed to Zerubbabel to show him that his work is through the Holy Spirit/God and not by His strength (Zechariah 4:6) i.e by force of arms: Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? [54] But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?(Matthew 26:53-54 [KJV]). We are introduced to two olive trees on each side of a candelabra (the Church). In the Hebrew verse 2 says there were seven and seven (fourteen) pipes feeding the seven lamps from a bowl. What is the bowl? The two trees are on the right and left of the bowl (verse 3) and next to the candelabra. The only single items are the candelabra and the bowl. If the candelabra is the Church/Israel then the bowl must be Christ/Zerubbabel or the institution that they represent. The bowl sustains the lamps and in turn is sustained by the the two olive trees on the left and right of the bowl through the two branches.

Verses 8-10 present a revelation that was given to Zechariah. The lamps are now called eyes of GOD and from Revelation:

• 7 lamps = 7 spirits of God Revelation 4:5    
  
• 7 horns and 7 eyes = 7 spirits of God Revelation 5:6   
  
• since it is the same seven spirits then from Revelation 4:5 and Revelation 5:6   
  
• 7 lamps = 7 spirits = 7 horns = 7 eyes

So we discover that this is a way of looking at the Church as the Kingdom being built by Christ. It is through representatives of the Church that God sees the world and is building His great Kingdom.

One challenge with verse 10 is the phrase translated as the plumb. The same phrase is translated as the tin in Numbers 31:22 but in most cases the Hebrew word ebdil is translated as stone. Some argue (and I support it) that this is how it should be translated in Zechariah 4:10 and refers to the headstone of verse 7 which is translated from the same word. That makes more sense to me. They will be surprised to see the cornerstone in the hands of Zerubbabel. The significance of the cornerstone (headstone) was first mentioned in Psalm 118:22. Remember that all of the stones of the temple were cut to fit exactly before they were brought to the temple site. And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building (I Kings 6:7 [KJV]). How would you know that a stone which sits between four other stones would fit exactly? Or how would you know that the weight of the stones would not cause one at the bottom to crack? The only way to do this with certainty would be to construct the whole building and make all of the adjustments off site and then transport the building stone by stone. This is actually how the spiritual temple will be constructed. Christ will select all of the stones and then set the government up all at once. In this process a stone that was first rejected could become the cornerstone. If the original cornerstone demonstrated some fault in the honing, or broke under pressure, it would have to be replaced because the stones were to be flawless. There is a common thought that the cornerstone refers to the last stone placed in the building but I could find no authoritative support for that view. The general opinion ( e.g. at Encyclopdia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/technology/cornerstone ) is that the cornerstone is usually the first stone that is laid and it determines how the rest of the building is aligned. In later times it became a decorative stone inscribed with critical details of construction. If the temple was to be constructed in the manner described above, the fact that the selection of cornerstone was concluded would mean that the building was complete except for relocation. Over the years the Jews and people in general would reject Christ as head of the theocracy out of Jerusalem (1 Samuel 8:7) but He will emerge as the final and everlasting King over them.

Verses 11-14 record answers to questions asked by Zechariah. He now knew what the bowl was because by a process of elimination it had the be the work of Christ the messiah, now he wanted to know what the trees represented and what were the two olive branches. Trees have lots of branches but now he seems to notice that these trees had two special branches. This structure is strange because it has one bowl of oil with 14 pipes serving seven candlesticks on one candelabra. In verse 12 we come to understand that the olive trees had two specific branches that the oil came out of to go into the bowl. It goes back to verse 6 which tells us that Zerubbabel succeeds through the Holy Spirit and not by strength. Finally in verse 14 we are told that the branches are anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Christ is THE BRANCH but this is plural identified from verse 12. The Hebrew word translated as by is ol. In almost every case the word is translated as on or over. These olive branches come from the trees, stand over Satan and replenish the Church. Two extensions of the these trees restrain Satan and assist Christ in His work of establishing His Kingdom. First the angel explained that the candelabra was the Church as the eyes of God etc. I have proposed that the bowl is Christ but perhaps it would be better to say the role of God in establishing the Kingdom. Both the bowl and the candelabra are institutions. The trees must therefore be some greater work that is filtering down to Christ and the Church through the branches. Since the branches are extensions of the work they are also the work much like your arm is also you. If your arm breaks something then you did it. John knew that the witnesses and that great work are the same thing (the same tree) but what if he meant it in the sense that they were extensions or representatives. John tells us that the witnesses die so we know that they are human in Revelation. Having said that, the message in Zechariah and the message in Revelation 11 are not necessarily identical in meaning. I propose that the trees are the Word and the Father. Olive trees live a very long time and are among the oldest on the planet. The al Badawi olive tree in Bethlehem is supposed to be  somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 years old according to researchers. That would make it one of the first trees to grow after the flood. These are aged trees that produce oil. The Holy Spirit (the oil) comes from both. Extensions (branches) may be mortal or immortal as they come into active service. God is the trunk and they have lots of branches. In Revelation those trees die but the imagery is condensed there hence there is no bowl, branches and candelabra, it is just simplified to trees, but we are also told that the two witnesses are simultaneously the olive trees and the candlesticks (Revelation 11:4) thereby condensing the whole system from Zechariah (candelabra and trees etc.) into just two trees and two candlesticks representing one work.

Precedent for being strengthened by an angel

It is possible to interpret the branches in the vision given to Zerubbabel as referring to God's messengers, which include angels, thereby making it dualistic. Angels are messengers. Look at what actually happened to Christ who is the true Zerubbabel.

As a human He was strengthened by an angel (Luke 22:43) even though He was not given the Holy Spirit by measure (John 3:34). He is the bowl that feeds the rest of the Church but His strength was supported by at least one anointed one while He was on earth, and from the image in the inner Sanctuary of the Tabernacle (which presents two cherubim looking over the Mercy Seat), and the incident with Daniel and Gabriel (where Gabriel had to draw on Michael to get the message to Daniel), it probably took two to get the job done in most other cases. Christ is the tree of life represented by the Mercy Seat and there are two Cherubim dedicated to its protection (remember that Christ lived the first part of His covenant life as messiah as a human). The Ark, to which access was controlled by the Mercy Seat, actually contained the tree of life. In Hebrews 9:1-5[NET] we read, Now the first covenant, in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary. [2] For a tent was prepared, the outer one, which contained the lampstand, the table, and the presentation of the loaves; this is called the holy place. [3] And after the second curtain there was a tent called the holy of holies. [4] It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark were the golden urn containing the manna, Aarons rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. [5] And above the ark were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Now is not the time to speak of these things in detail.  There was no golden altar of incense there, it was the golden censer as we see in the King James Version. The rod that budded represented the tree of life as the branch that has self-sustaining life, the tables of Stone (the Law or the Word of God), which is now written in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and the manna which is the bread of heaven that we feed on at Passover. All of these are actually Christ. As an aside there was a very useful article @ 2017-11-24 on the BRANCH, https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/PW/k/289/The-Branch.htm ,by Richard T. Ritenbaugh (the caption included Forerunner, "Prophecy Watch," March 1998). Do they, these special cherubim, have anything to do with olive trees? In any case the message is to Zerubbabel so where is he in the picture? The only single item except for the candlestick is the bowl and so the bowl is Christ/Zerubbabel/the institution of the King, and the trees support Him and strengthen Him through the branches (Matthew 4:11) as witnesses.

Angels set over Satan

Let's go back to the use of Hebrew ol, in verse 14, which shows that the anointed ones stand over Satan in some fashion. To find out more of the anointed ones let us start in Hebrews.

To be anointed means to be set apart and in fact set above in some respect. We know of only two angels that are referred to by name in the Bible (Michael and Gabriel who are called archangels) but they are only two of the chief princes, Daniel 10:13. While we do not have space to discuss that in detail here we know that these two have been set above Satan. Christ's work was supported by Michael and Gabriel. Every time we see Gabriel we can be sure that Michael had his back as the saying goes.

Christ is an anointed one but He is above all and there is none like Him.

Satan was once anointed to protect the inner sanctuary.

He was one of those whose height was from top to bottom and whose wings spread from one side to the other.

There are now only two remaining to cover the Sanctuary. There is no such thing as a big cherub and a small cherub so the ones on the mercy seat represent the focus of the attention, and the ones standing on the ground represent the scope or boundary. Their function was to protect the inner sanctuary because of the mercy seat which is the tree of life, just like they protected the whole Garden of Eden to protect the tree of life (Genesis 3:24) from Satan or anybody else.

Zechariah is all-encompassing while Revelation is more specific

With the additional consideration of angels how do we then resolve Zechariah with Revelation. Zechariah goes into greater detail in breaking down the system represented by the imagery. Revelation 11 has the specific focus of the time of the end but not Zechariah. Zechariah presents the information in a more general sense. Zechariah is not limited to the work in the seven remaining weeks. There is work to be done outside those weeks that involves the Church and the establishment of the Kingdom as it operates through the years. In general the trees encompass the work of God. Zechariah shows God's work to complete His covenant from the distance of the end of the captivity, while Revelation 11 shows it with special emphasis on the final 3½ years.

Two human witnesses are part of a larger work

I think that I have established the basis for the distinction between the olive trees in Zechariah and those of Revelation. In Zechariah they may also be angelic/supernatural but the ones in Revelation have to be human because they die. The importance of two witnesses in general was established as far back as Deuteronomy.

When it comes to God's witnesses we can find some specifics in Isaiah.

It is a bit more complicated in the New Testament because the words witness and martyr in English are translated from the same Hebrew word identified as Strong's G3144, so in the New Testament two witnesses can also be translated two martyrs. On the other hand the more general use of witness is to mean someone that confirms something as one of a group of two or three (there were three anointed cherubim and were reduced to two). There is no martyr imagery in Zechariah but there are twos, since each lamp has two pipes and there were two trees and two branches. The martyr imagery would attach if these twos, in whole or in part, represented apostles and prophets. The prophets are largely the Old Testament and the apostles the New Testament and they make up the whole Bible. These are the two that Christ feeds the Church through i.e. prophets and apostles. The two trees supply the branches and the branches supply the bowl and the bowl supplies the candelabra through seven pairs of pipes (check Zechariah 4:2 [YLT]) which could also mean two witnesses in each case: one witness representing apostles and the other prophets. Since the message in Zechariah 4 specifically identified Christ as King, but not as priest, then this duality is not likely what is being conveyed by the twos. It is also possible that the presence of two pairs of seven may just denote that the thing is confirmed. I prefer to believe that it is both corroboration and the apostles and prophets. The Church is part of a system where things are established by two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). The larger work of the two trees in Zechariah filters down, showing once again that the two trees in Zechariah are not identical to the witnesses in Revelation (where no filtering down is represented). What could be involved in the larger work of the two trees? Before we get to that let us look at some more of what is said of witnesses. As humans go, the two witnesses are like Elijah and John the Baptist.

Just like Elijah they call down fire at will (Revelation 11:6), control rain for three and a half years (Revelation 11:6) and their job will be to prepare Israel for their Lord. By the way, if you read on in II Kings 1, you will see that Elijah was assisted by an angel, showing that there is a larger work at hand, involving angels. In Revelation 11 the two witnesses are part of a larger tree or larger work. They are actually branches and those branches aid the institution of the messiah or Christ.

The Cherubim as Olive Trees

Solomon's temple had two Cherubim made of olive tree that defended the inner sanctuary. Since they are in the inner sanctuary they are automatically above Satan. Their function matches the role of the two witnesses in the sense of protecting the Church. The olive trees in Zechariah are a message to Zerubbabel, Christ, the institution of the Messiah-King. If Christ the individual is the bowl then there is no room for the olive trees to be the two witnesses of Revelation 11, because the trees would be the source of the oil (the Holy Spirit) to Christ and so the trees could not be human. But Revelation 11 is also a good candidate for a human representation of the work of the Cherubim, so let us go back to Revelation and see if we can resolve this conundrum.

Let us examine what God actually says. The thing that is used to link Zechariah and Revelation is two olive trees so are olive trees and candelabra found anywhere else? 1 Kings 6:23 (KJV) says And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. The cherubim were two olive trees. So we are back to the cherubim again. The Tabernacle is the closest place that matches the requirement of two candelabra and two olive trees. Back in Revelation 11, we are told in verse 4 that the two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands/candlesticks. This is a dual role. They protect the sanctuary AND are the light of the world. The Tabernacle had only one lampstand. What is this two lampstands all about?

Solomon made ten candelabra for the second temple (five pairs) but there was only one candelabra in the first temple i.e. the Tabernacle. The five were set in two rows but they still represent the one Church as the one light of the world. It was understood that they represented only one entity.

These five pairs forming ten (representing a complete whole), seem to have been reduced to one pair in Zerubbabel's/Herod's Temple. In Revelation 1 and 2 there are seven candlesticks (seven representing another complete whole) and again they represent the Church. The pattern for the work of God is the Tabernacle and it is there that we find both the olive trees as the cherubim, and the lamp-stand.

The two Witnesses as Olive Trees

Besides the evidence given already the two witnesses are also olive trees in that they stand above Satan and protect what is Holy. The job of the cherubim was to do just that.

The two witnesses are also candlesticks according to Revelation 11:4 so the two witnesses conform to a representation of the sanctuary (pairs of candlesticks in the Holy Place) or two trees before God in the Most Holy Place. The message to Zerubbabel also conforms to the Tabernacle (in the two olive trees and the candelabra) but the message to Zerubbabel with a single candelabra, does not conform to the two witnesses directly. The single candelabra can be explained if we consider that there was originally only one candelabra (the one in the portable Tabernacle) that was later represented as a pair or pairs. The Tabernacle is the tool or the pattern that everything must conform to (Exodus 25:40, Exodus 25:9) not the Temple which is itself an expansion of the Tabernacle, and this Tabernacle imagery holds also for Revelation 11. We are not supposed to fit Revelation into Zechariah but to fit them both into the Tabernacle. The pairs of candlesticks or candelabra stood in the part of the sanctuary that represents the world that God sees and lights up through the Church. One of the keys to understanding Revelation is the Tabernacle. Christ moves through the Tabernacle and representations of the objects in the Tabernacle come alive as He passes.

We are told that the dead bodies of the two witnesses will lie in the streets and will not be buried (Revelation 11:8). This will pollute the city of Jerusalem spiritually as the light of the world (the candelabra) goes out when all the Christians flee: Matthew 24:15-16 [KJV] When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) [16] Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains. We will get to that in greater detail later. This will probably be caused by the army or king that wars against them (Revelation 11:7). This king is specially prepared by Satan and so for 3½ years the two witnesses are directly opposed to Satan and stand over him until the end. The king that comes out of the bottomless pit (barrier to success controlled by Satan) is a priest-king of a religious city-state. As I see it the two witnesses are at this point the abomination of desolation heading for consummation. They provided the last stronghold for Christianity (Revelation 11:5) and will be a source of protection to all Christians hence they provide sanctuary. I propose that the imagery is very similar but the olive trees in Zechariah 4 include Michael and Gabriel acting in in the role of witnesses, as is the case of the cherubim on the Mercy Seat. Their activities become apparent with the descriptions in Revelation 12.

Abomination of Desolation

There are several possibilities for the consummation of the abomination of desolation but I believe that the most likely understanding has to do with the two witnesses. I explain the more fundamental aspect of the abomination of desolation in discussing Revelation 12 but for now we deal with the two witnesses. In Revelation 8 we discussed Daniel 9:27 [KJV] which said And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. I concluded that this could not be Antiochus because this person acted for the whole week to confirm a covenant. It is Christ that causes the desolation which results from the overspreading of abominations and He starts it at the end of the fists week (His crucifixion) and goes into the second half of the week, i.e. at the beginning of the final 3½ years. Antiochus had no covenant and he did not fulfil any week, this is Christ. we will explore this further because, for one thing, there is evidence that it starts before the 3½ years but right now we are just going to compare Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Matthew, Mark and Luke refer to the same event. Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 called it an abomination but Luke says ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies showing that the army and the abomination are related. Mark says standing where it ought not. Stand in the sense of remain not in the sense of set upright. We know that the two witnesses die in Jerusalem and should have been buried the same day according to Jewish custom. Something abnormal must have occurred to prevent the burial and it is very likely that whatever that is affects the whole place. That is the consummation of their work and the climax of the 3½ years. The 3½ years work ends with the return of Christ. At the death of the two witnesses those who know God and live in Jerusalem will flee to the mountains. It will still be three and a half days before Christ returns. By my understanding it will also be about six days before the area is flattened, since Christ will stand on the mount three days after He returns. In the 3½ days that the Two Witnesses are dead the fanatical jihadists seeking a caliphate or Zionists seeking greater Israel will have time to infiltrate Jerusalem and completely overrun the place at Christ's return because that will be their response to Christ's coming as a sign (Zechariah 14). Remember also that every eye will see Christ returning (Revelation 1:7) and He could stretch out that spectacle for 3½ days.

The death of the two witnesses exactly matches the cry to flee in Matthew 24. They preach the gospel to the world and then the end comes and except the days are shortened everybody would die. If they were allowed to kill the saints the earth would have no savour (salt of the earth) to God and it would be destroyed like Sodom.

We are encouraged to pray that it (the death of the witnesses) does not occur in winter or on the Sabbath. We can see why it would be hard to flee in winter but why the Sabbath? If there is a two state solution for Jerusalem (e.g part is controlled by Jews and part by Muslims since both see it as holy) it is quite possible that the Jewish sector will be locked-off on the Sabbath day so that they do not have to work to mind the gate hence normal people wanting to leave could not get out. If there is a double murder by terrorists and enough disruption to prevent the burial then the gate may remain locked indefinitely and you could not escape. Remember it does not say that the army kills them just that the surrounding by the armies (plural) triggers it and one of these armies could be Muslims. If there are Christians in Jerusalem they will be close to the two witnesses who will be somewhere in Jerusalem. The problem is not the earthquake because by then the saints will be resurrected, the problem is that the jihadists/Zionists will have time to completely engulf the city and the forces responsible for security may feel that security demands that they do not open the gates. Christians will know that it is three and a half days before Christ comes and that the violence will escalate and continue so that by the time He arrives the city is going to be ravaged (Zechariah 14:1-2). The Christians and their loved-ones will be caught in the lock-down unable to flee. Extremists could begin to organise with the death of the two witnesses who would have been the stabilizing force. The word translated Sabbath in Matthew 24:3 is Strong's G4521, Hebrew:sabbaton which is technically plural but some argue may be singular and can also mean week. I believe that here it is referring to a pilgrim feast which typically has several rest days. If it is the time of a pilgrim feast then the place will be bursting with all types of people on the inside including extremists. There will be no way to escape before the fanatics are fully in control. If it is winter then the elements will be against leaving.

Bottomless Pit

The Bible speaks of a bottomless pit that is the name of the reserve of Satan and his demons.

Here the Greek word used for hell is tartaroo defined by one source as: Greek : 'tartaroo' the deepest darkest pit; originating from 'Tartarus', the deepest dungeon of Hades, also known as the Abyss.

But this is not the word used in the Book of Revelation. The first time that we see the words bottomless pit is in Revelation 9. It occurs three times there (Revelation 9:1,2,11). In Revelation 9, 11 and 17 it is under the control of Satan but God takes final control in Revelation 20. For the time being Satan decides who or what can come out but in the end God will wrest control from him and imprison him behind the same barrier. It is not a pit as in a hole because it has a door with a key.

According to International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Online and in the link to the word "Abyss", It is described this way a-bis', (he abussos): In classical Greek the word is always an adjective, and is used (1) literally, "very deep," "bottomless"; (2) figuratively, "unfathomable," "boundless."

In Revelation bottomless pit is translated from Greek abussou or abussos. It does not necessarily mean bottomless and the word pit is added! To get a sense of the meaning look at some places where it is used in the Bible.

That was speaking of the legion that was cast into the swine causing them to run into the sea. The sea is not bottomless an especially so near the shore. Now look at another use in Deuteronomy that links the Hebrew to the Greek.

In Romans 10 Paul is paraphrasing a scripture from Deuteronomy 30. This is an extract from Deuteronomy,

You can see that it represents inaccessibility in Deuteronomy. Paul associates the law with Christ, whom he says is the objective of the law in verse 4, and continues that He is not inaccessible. His intention is not to suggest that it is infinite just that it presents an unassailable barrier. Paul is able to interpret what is said in Deuteronomy as an abussos as in the sense of the grave which is allegorically an unassailable barrier. So now that we know that it is a barrier what does it separate or divide? It is a barrier to success. Whatever you are attempting is beyond reach, unfathomable, the gap is boundless.

before I go further I want to consider the word oblivion. Oblivion is a noun meaning the state of being completely forgotten or unknown: a former movie star now in oblivion. the state of forgetting or of being oblivious: the oblivion of sleep, according to Dictionary.com. This is also a type of unassailable barrier because it is as though it never existed. Satan can bring things back that for mankind is in oblivion but for him a repetition of past deeds. I am not claiming that this is the meaning of bottomless pit just saying that is one more thing to consider. It is also my answer to the question of if God is going to kill Satan. God never says that in scripture but He does indicate that Satan will go into oblivion based on being thrown into the bottomless pit. You can kill someone and their memory will still remain but you can put someone alive in oblivion and even the memory of them would be gone.

The concept of an unassailable barrier is continued in Revelation.

This angel has been given the key to unlock the way to an unassailable barrier, at least from man's perspective. There is an insurmountable obstacle that would otherwise prevent access to this smoke.

A beast originates from beyond an unassailable barrier. The beast actually turns out to be an empire that could not emerge if not for the removal of certain supernatural constraints.

The key to the bottomless pit is later in the hands of an angel who binds Satan within an unassailable or impenetrable barrier.

Gehenna fire

It seems clear to me from Luke that at its most fundamental level the bottomless pit now forces us to choose between success in this world or God's world.

Abraham's bosom is Abraham's tender care. Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers (Numbers 11:12 [KJV]). Both Jews and Muslims trace their roots to Abraham and see their destiny in him. He is the Father that bore them to the Promised Land in his loins and is doing so spiritually through the covenant as the inheritance that he left them.

I used to think, like most of my contemporaries at Church, that gehenna fire was referring to a rubbish heap or the city dump. Then I read some articles that brought that into question, articles like Was Gehenna a burning rubbish dump, and does it matter? by Andrew Perriman, time-stamp Thursday 08/04/2011 - 10:17, found at https://www.postost.net/2015/11/was-gehenna-burning-rubbish-dump-does-it-matter and The Myth of the Burning Garbage Dump of Gehenna By Todd Bolen, Posted on April 7, 2011 at https://www.bibleplaces.com/blog/2011/04/myth-of-burning-garbage-dump-of-gehenna/. Articles like these have certainly reised questions as can be seen from the reactions in the comments to the Todd Bolen article quoted above. My understanding is now a little different from theirs since for me the summary of the issue is:

• Even though most Bible commentaries on Matthew 5:22 may present that to be the case it originates with Rabbi David Kimchi in AD 1200 and has no strong Biblical support.
• Biblical support for what Christ actually said comes from Jeremiah to Jews and Isaiah to the 10 tribes.
• Christ connected Isaiah and Jeremiah to present one allegory for rebellious Israelites.
  

Let us begin with Jeremiah.

The Valley of Hinnom or Gehinnom is the same as Gehenna. It was a place for ritually sacrificing children. Jeremiah does not refer to any fire burning there constantly but he would have understood what was prophesied to the 10 tribes by Isaiah. Isaiah was a Jew that prophesied to the northern 10 tribes of Israel over a century before Jeremiah. Those 10 tribes were taken into captivity and scattered for their rebelliousness. Jeremiah was prophesying to Judah, the tribe that remained. He would have known Isaiah's prophecy and so would the Jews that he was writing to. Isaiah is the one that spoke of fire.

It is Christ that connected the two.

Christ is obviously quoting Isaiah when He talks of cast into hell fire  e.g. in verse 47. Every instance of the word hell in this extract is translated from the Strong's G1067, Greek geenna meaning 1. valley of (the son of) Hinnom. 2. ge-henna (or Ge-Hinnom), a valley of Jerusalem which is the valley of Hinom, according to Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Dictionaries of the Greek and Hebrew Testaments. The two are therefore connected. Christ is talking of rebellious Israelites who bring judgement on themselves and probably the whole nation as a consequence of their injustices or transgressions against Him. Josephus (Josephus War 5.12.3) explains how some of those carcasses would get into the valley. During the siege of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), corpses were thrown over the walls into the valleys because there was no longer room to bury them in the city but outside there was nobody to bury them. In the time of Christ the valley had a rubbish heap. There is no question that is Christ's assertion. Apparently it produced spontaneous combustion as happens in many dumps and even in compost heaps. In landfills that do not cover their waste with daily cover, air penetrates and provides the oxygen required to accelerate decomposition and the heat from that can cause material in the landfills to spontaneously combust. The bodies there were the bodies of dead animals. For a human to be associated with that would mean that they had reached the stage where they had no more value to God than a dead animal. How do people reach that state?

Nahum clearly identifies the problem. Nahum was a prophet from the Israelite captives living in Assyrian controlled territory and he prophesied the downfall of Nineveh which was the capital of Assyria.

Look now and see that God makes it clear that the root of the problem of Nineveh is profiteering and immorality. This is the same Nineveh that he spared under Jonah. God had exercised tremendous patience and caring with then but the same people now incur His wrath. Why?

Merchants are first on the list. That tells us that profiteering is how these people live. Everybody is seeking to rip off somebody instead of giving and sharing. They are like cankerworms eating away at your resources. Cankerworms are not big but they are plentiful and insatiable. That is how these merchants are. All of those excesses along the supply chain are passed down to the consumer as one big chunk. Government authorities are next. They are like locusts. The descend on you and leave you with nothing. Finally we have the custodians of law and order. They are like great grasshoppers. You cannot find them to get assistance but you cannot get rid of them. When the weather turns cold, the adult (or great) grasshoppers die. Adult grasshoppers like hedges. They deposit their egg pods in the upper few inches of soil in non-tilled areas, such as grasslands, pastures, ditches, etc. so hedges are perfect. The eggs can survive winter to hatch into baby grasshoppers when the weather warms in spring and the cycle begins again.

The same problem is also identified in Revelation so it is not only Nineveh. This is a problem down through the ages. The society is structured so that wealth (merchants) and corruption are linked and power (kings) and corruption are linked and becomes self perpetuating.

Some people just cannot exercise the humility and love of others to break away from that. The things of this world are linked to Satan and cannot be eradicated from this world but have no connection with God's world. You cannot cross over without an essential quality, Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5 [KJV]). The reason for the barrier has to do with distorted priorities of an impure/unwashed heart which prevents the Holy Spirit. That is an unassailable barrier poorly translated as bottomless pit.

So what about the Gehenna fire? I did not realise when I originally wrote the article that I had not given an explanation. There is no Dante type hell where people are alive while burning. God never says that the fire is what killed the people, just that their bodies burned as was the case with the garbage heap. What the Bible actually says is that there is a resurrection to judgement meaning that there will be a period where men are given a chance to redeem themselves because it is judgement not condemnation. If the are successful then they will be rewarded with eternal life and cannot be hurt by fire. If they are not then they will die somehow and if it is a general catastrophe then they will not be buried. For example if it is a general heating of the earth then they will probably die of starvation or dehydration or be killed over scarce resources long before they are consumed. The analogy that was made with the grasshopper shows that the cycle of evil will be broken because the hedge will also be burnt up.

SUMMARY OF THE TIME OF JACOB'S TROUBLE

The time of Jacob's trouble is mentioned in Jeremiah. By the time of Jeremiah Jacob was already scattered by the Assyrians as was prophesied so Jeremiah was speaking of the distant future. The time of Jacob's trouble, or the 3 ½ years, is often erroneously referred to as the Great Tribulation, which from God's definition is something else. The Day of the Lord is how Jacob is eventually saved from his trouble.

The Seventh Angel/Trumpet introduces the third woe but it (the woe) has not yet started, it will come quickly (verse 14). This is a summary to explain how it links with the Two Witnesses. This angel also has a vial which will be poured out in Revelation 16:17 where we will deal with it in greater detail. What is important here is that the Seventh Trump is linked to the Seventh Angel by Revelation 11:15. It says seventh angel sounded. The Greek for sounded here is salpizo which means to trumpet or sound a blast.

Line by Line Breakdown of Revelation 11