Monday, November 20, 2017

Revelation 11 with References.



The Two Witnesses

I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. Then he spoke his message: “Arise, Balak,
and listen; hear me, son of Zippor.


But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. Then he brought me into the outer court. There I saw some rooms and a pavement that had been constructed all around the court; there were thirty rooms along the pavement. O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. The beast was
given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.


And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,clothed in sackcloth.” I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.” The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for
1,260 days.


They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. The Lord called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl
and the other on its left.”


If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell face down. Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth—then my judgments go forth like the sun. If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me.


They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous 
person is powerful and effective.


Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. As I
watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them.


Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” And so Jesus also suffered
outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.


For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of
the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.


The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony.


But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.


Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens;I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. “Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests? After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.


At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him.
Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”


The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet
blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”


The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah and he will reign for ever and ever.” But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.

And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders.
They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.


Saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah For our Lord
God Almighty reigns.


The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small
— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”


Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm. After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on
people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

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