LS 55

Last Day Witnesses

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. 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.

Revelations 11:1-4

Introduction

These words, found in the eleventh chapter of Revelation, are not a “prophecy,” but a “promise” of something wonderful God is going to do during the most horrible time the world has ever seen, or, as Jesus said, “ever shall be.” It will happen during the last three and a half years before the second coming of Christ, during which Jesus said, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22). It is the opinion of this writer that “those days” are at hand, and that the days we are living in are identified in the ninth chapter of Revelation by the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets, neither of which at this time, have reached their ultimate fulfillment. It is time, however, for the children of God to awaken to the fact that we have been taught many things about the last days that will never happen. Why? Because they are nothing more than fables, constructed on false premises by a few men and women who may have “meant well,” but, were very confused. It is not a “special revelation” that has convinced this writer of the things we write, but the clear evidence that has been revealed by the progression of the times we are living in, as we move steadily through the eighth and ninth chapters of Revelation. The eighth chapter deals with the sounding of the first four trumpets, all of which are understood to be the environmental issues of our generation; issues that were the number one news topic in the decade of the eighties. They included “acid rain” which killed the grass and trees; “pollution of the lakes and seas,” which in some cases killed all the fish (Lake Erie could not support life during that time period); “pollution of the drinking waters,” and “pollution of the atmosphere,” which “darkened” the sun, moon, and the stars. On September 11, 2001, we were awakened to the sound of the fifth trumpet sounding, which is the first of the “three great woes.” Radical Islamists succeeded in a plot to destroy the twin towers in New York City. With the fall of the towers, a “pit” was opened, and the smoke that ascended out of the pit was seen by the entire world. Obviously, this was not the “bottomless pit” of Revelation 9:2, but it was a sign that the spiritual “pit” had been opened, and from that time, the “locusts (radical Islam)” began swarming worldwide. When America invaded Iraq, the sixth trumpet began to sound, which loosened the “four angels (the spirits of ancient Babylon)” which were bound in the “great river Euphrates” (Revelation 9:13-14). According to verse fifteen, these are “…prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” In verse sixteen, we see that they have an “army” which is numbered at “two hundred thousand thousand” (200,000,000; two hundred million). This is not the army of any one nation on earth. Instead, it is the most radical among the Islamists, which would number less than twenty percent of the world’s Islamic population.

During the past two years we have watched as one after another of the nations surrounding Israel have been radicalized. Israel will soon be surrounded by those who want nothing more than the extinction of their nation and genocide of the Jews. The western nations of the world are now turning against Israel, and we cannot trust that the government of our own nation will stand with them in their time of trouble. The coming time of trouble will be worldwide, a time in which the scripture says a “third part of men” will be slain, but the worst of it will be in the nation of Israel, where the scripture says “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein” (Zechariah 13:8).

Jeremiah 30:5-7: For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? (Obviously the answer is no!) Wherefore (Why then) do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

There will be no nation standing with Israel in the time of their greatest trouble. America will “defend Israel’s right to defend themselves,” but, will not lift so much as a finger to actually stand in her defense. The fact that Israel will survive the onslaught of the nations against her for forty two months is really incredible. She will use every weapon in her arsenal, but the onslaught will continue. The enemies will “come like a storm” and “cover the land like a cloud” (Ezekiel 38:9), which will negate the use of nuclear weapons by either side. The battle will be hand to hand and house to house in Jerusalem. The prophet Zechariah says, “the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity…” (Zechariah 14:2). There will be only one answer for the nation of Israel, and it will not be a military answer. It will be, as God says in Zechariah 4:6 concerning the “help” that will come to Israel, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” This is a prophecy of the ministry of “the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:14); which are also, in verse twelve, called, “…the two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves.”

Two Witnesses

Revelations 11:3-4: 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.

The scripture does not tell us that these “two witnesses” are two men. Instead, God says, “These are the two olive trees,” which were spoken of in Zechariah 4:11. In verse twelve they are also called “the two olive branches,” and in verse fourteen, “the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.” Let’s explore these two olive branches for a moment. In Jeremiah 11:16 we read this concerning Israel, “The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: (But) with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.” The apostle Paul also uses the analogy of Israel being a “green olive tree.” In his epistle to the Romans, he adds the Gentiles to the analogy as being a “wild olive tree.” Paul addresses his words to those Gentiles at Rome who had been converted to Christ:

Romans 11:17-24: “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being (of) a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the (natural) branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be THE NATURAL BRANCHES, be graffed into their own olive tree?”

God had chosen the children of Israel, and had planted them as “…a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit” (Jeremiah 11:16). Due to their rebellion and idolatry, Jeremiah depicts them as a tree that had been struck by lightning and/or its branches broken off during a storm. The apostle Paul shows that many (though not all) of the natural branches were “broken off” through unbelief, and branches from the wild olive tree, the Gentiles, were “grafted in” through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, since Christ died as a lamb to “take away the sin of the world,” God’s “olive tree” is one tree with two kinds of branches, one of which is the believing Jews and the other is the believing Gentiles. This “tree” is what Paul, in Galatians 6:16, calls “the Israel of God.” It is made up of all those who are “in Christ Jesus.” Of these, Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” When the scriptures speak of the “two witnesses,” saying, “These are the two olive trees (branches),” it speaks of the one true church (or tree) of Jesus Christ, made up of both Jews and Gentiles who trust in Jesus; and believe Him to be “the Christ.”

Endued with Power

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me….

Acts 1:8

When God poured out His Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, as recorded in the second chapter of Acts, it was upon a hundred and twenty Jews who followed Jesus and believed that He was “the Christ.” What they received that day was “the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). It was the same “blessing” that God had promised to the entire nation of Israel at Mount Horeb “if” they would “obey His voice” (Exodus 19:5-6). Israel never received that blessing in the fourteen hundred plus years from Moses to Christ, but a “very small remnant” of Israel did receive it on the Day of Pentecost. Isaiah prophesied of this in Isaiah 1:9, saying, “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” The apostle Paul quotes Isaiah in Romans 9:29, saying, “Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.” Notice that what Isaiah calls “a very small remnant,” the apostle Paul calls a “seed.” The hundred and twenty, which were the “very small remnant” of Israel, were also the “seed” that was sown to bring forth “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Revelation 7:9). It was those hundred and twenty Jews who ultimately brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, and in that, to us.

Just before the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” which Jesus calls “…great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21), God will once again pour out His Spirit as He did upon the hundred and twenty Jews on the Day of Pentecost. This time, however, it will be upon a “remnant” of the church which was birthed on the Day of Pentecost. The “remnant” will be of those who believe that Jesus is “the Christ,” whom God sent into the world to “make an end of sins” (Daniel 9:24). They understand that He is the “lamb” which God sent into the world to “take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The weak and sin-laden church of this twenty first century will have no part in what God is going to do in these last days. They, like the children of Israel before them, have “…changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man” (Romans 1:23). They have also, just as the children of Israel did, “…changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). And, just as Israel was before them, they are being fitted for their own destruction when the righteous judgment of God is brought forth at the return of Christ to earth.

Revelation 11:3: “And I will give power unto my two witnesses….”

The “promise” to the last day “remnant” of the church is the same as that which was given to the hundred and twenty in Acts 1:8; “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me….” God will pour out His Spirit in this last day exactly as He did in the second chapter of Acts. It will be worldwide, in every nation, and upon every race, but, in every place it is poured out, it will be only upon a faithful “remnant.” This “very small remnant” of the church will be brought into the “fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23), which has not been seen since the first generation of the church when it was seen in those hundred and twenty “who first trusted in Christ” (Ephesians 1:12).

The Fullness

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Romans 11:25

The term “fullness of the Gentiles” does not speak of the end of a “Gentile age” and the “rapture of the church.” In order to understand what the apostle is speaking of, we must see what he says in Romans 11:11-12, concerning the “fullness of the Jews.” “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?” If it is a wonderful thing that God used the unbelief of the Jews as an opportunity to send the gospel to the Gentiles, how much more wonderful it would have been if they had believed and the entire nation had received what the hundred and twenty received on the day of Pentecost. It was a very small number of those believing Jews that brought the salvation of God to the Gentiles; how much better it would have been if the entire nation had believed to bring salvation to the entire world. This is what Paul speaks of as “their fullness.” Christ would have been revealed in the entire nation instead of in only a hundred and twenty. Sadly, the Jews did not receive Jesus when He walked among them, and they did not believe the gospel when it was preached to them; so it is obvious that they never received the “fullness” which was prepared for them. After striving with them for many years, that they might see the gospel, the apostle Paul reaches this conclusion: “…their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted…” (Acts 28:27). According to the apostle, they will not see; “…until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Paul speaks to the believing Gentiles at Ephesus of the “fullness” that is promised to the church through the working of the mighty power of the Holy Ghost in the people.

Ephesians 1:22-23: “…the church, which is his body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.”

Ephesians 3:19: “…that ye might be filled with (into) all the fulness of God.”

Ephesians 4:13: “…till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

This is the “fullness” that will be bestowed upon a faithful remnant of the church in this last time by the outpouring of God’s Spirit. The world has never seen such a church since the hundred and twenty Jews received the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, but it is just such a church that Christ will “present unto Himself (Ephesians 5:27)” at His return. These will be the last day witnesses of Jesus who will be anointed by God to preach the “everlasting gospel” to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth” (Revelation 14:4). During the last three and a half years before the return of Jesus Christ, during the most horrible times this world will ever see, these will preach the “everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ” to the entire world. What the “church” can never do with its religious programs and missionary efforts, will be accomplished by God’s last day witnesses in only three and a half years, “…not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD God of hosts” (Zechariah 4:2-6). These will also be moved upon by the Spirit of God to literally invade the nation of Israel with the gospel of Jesus Christ during the time of her great tribulation. A remnant of Israel will see their Messiah (Christ) in a remnant of the church. The “scales” will fall off their eyes and, as God has said, they “…shall look upon (look unto; Strong’s #413; see Isaiah 45:22-25) me (Him) whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son” (Zechariah 12:10). This will happen during the very worst of the conflict, when it seems certain that genocide will be their fate. It will get progressively worse, until such time as they “look to Jesus,” and realize that He is “their Messiah.” God says of that time, “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon (unto) me (Him) whom they have pierced.”

Two Faithful Witnesses

In the year 1970 (forty two years ago) I was preaching a revival in the city of Griffin Georgia. I had been seeking God for a correct understanding of the “two witnesses,” spoken of in the eleventh chapter of Revelation. One night God spoke to me in a vision. I do not recall seeing anything, but I remember His words verbatim. He said to me, “The two witnesses are a people like unto Joshua and Caleb.” That is all He said, and I did not at all understand what He meant. I have never preached about those witnesses during the forty two years since, because I knew that the time for the mystery concerning them to be revealed had not yet come. I have told this which God said to me many times, but I have always added, “I don’t understand what it means.” Today, I understand the words which God spoke to me.

The first time Caleb is mentioned in the scriptures is in the thirteenth chapter of Numbers, when he and Joshua were chosen to be two of the twelve spies which Moses sent into the land of Canaan. Most know that Joshua and Caleb were the only two among the spies who believed the promise of God to give them the land. The remaining ten spies began their report in this manner, saying, “We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak (giants) there” (Numbers 13:27-28). Caleb interrupted their report at this point to calm the people and reassure them of the faithfulness of God’s promise. “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). The ten quickly shouted Caleb down, saying, “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we” (Numbers 13:31).

Numbers 13:32-33: And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

With these words, fear gripped the hearts of the congregation, and they wept and cried when they heard the “evil report” of the spies. They murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! …would God we had died in this wilderness! …wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? …Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt” (Numbers 14:2-4).

And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.

Numbers 14:6-10

When the time came to possess the land of Canaan, the entire congregation of Israel was stricken with fear because of the evil report of the ten spies. They provoked God by saying, “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt” (Numbers 14:2-4). According to the scriptures, this was the tenth time the children of Israel had “provoked God to anger,” and God says, “I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest” (Hebrews 3:10-11). With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, the entire congregation of Israel, from the age of twenty years and up, died in the wilderness. What was it that made these two men different? How could they believe God when the others could not? It became evident that these men were not only “different,” but God had “put a difference” between them and the rest of the congregation of Israel. It became obvious that the blessing and protection of God was upon them. They were God’s “faithful witnesses.”

Numbers 14:36-38: And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

Numbers 14:21-24: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

When the ten spies who brought the evil report died of the plague, Joshua and Caleb “lived still.” As the multitude that provoked God perished in the wilderness during the next forty years, Joshua and Caleb continued to live. Joshua, whom God appointed to lead the people across the Jordan River to possess the land, and Caleb, whom God said had “another spirit” than the ten, were the only ones to inherit the land of promise among all those who were above the age of twenty when they left Egypt. All the others perished in the wilderness.

“The Ten” and “The Two”

While this account is wonderful, it does not explain why Joshua and Caleb were the only two who “believed God” when it came time to enter Canaan. The answer is that they had “believed” God over a year before when He spoke to the entire congregation from Mount Horeb. They “heard His voice;” they “believed God;” and they “obeyed His voice.” God brought them into His covenant of blessing with Abraham that same day. Those two, out of the hundreds of thousands of the children of Israel, received the promise of God that day at Mount Horeb (Exodus 19:5-6). God made them to be His “peculiar treasure,” the only two, other than Moses, to be so treasured by God. They lived in the wilderness as a “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation” while the rest of the congregation murmured continually against both God and Moses. They ate the same “manna” that the congregation hated, but to them it was as “angel’s food” and “corn from heaven” (Psalms 78:24-25). They drank water out of the same rock as the others and rejoiced in God’s provision, while the others longed to return to Egypt for the “leeks and garlic” (Numbers 11:5-6). As the prophet Isaiah says, God’s “special people” are always a “very small remnant” (Isaiah 1:9). Elijah was outnumbered at Mount Carmel by the prophets of Baal by 450 to 1, where he, not they, received the fire of God on his altar. Gideon delivered the children of Israel from bondage when his rag tag army of 300 put 135,000 well trained and heavily armed warriors of the Midianites to flight. We do not walk in victory because of our human strength, but because we “believe God” and “obey His voice.”

“The ten” who bring the “evil report” will always try to keep “the two” from being heard. As long as “the ten” are in charge, the truth of God will not be heard. There comes a time, however, when God marks a difference between “the ten” and His faithful “two.” The “ten,” are those ministers who do not believe the truth of God, but merely lean upon their own understanding and human ability. They will “perish in the wilderness” while “the faithful two” will inherit the promises. When God sent Moses and Aaron into Egypt to deliver the children of Israel, Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and increased his affliction against Israel even more, doubling their work load. It was for the space of about a year that they suffered such great bondage at the hand of the taskmasters that they actually begged Moses to leave them alone and not speak to Pharaoh in the name of God again. It was during the night that the Passover Lamb was offered in Goshen, and the death angel passed through the land of Egypt, that God “put a difference” between Israel and the Egyptians (Exodus 11:6-7). It was the day that Joshua and Caleb “stood up” for the truth of God against the message of the “ten” that God put a difference between them and all the others. The “ten” died of the plague, but Joshua and Caleb “lived still.” The multitude who “drew back” at Mount Horeb and “turned back” when it was time to enter Canaan, all perished in the wilderness, but Joshua and Caleb continued on to be the only ones of their generation to possess the land. This matter of “the ten” and “the two” has always been, and will always be. The man or woman of God need never fear to “stand alone” against any odds if they know they have heard the voice of God.

“God’s Jewels”

And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Malachi 3:15-18

If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.

Exodus 19:5

The Hebrew word, translated “peculiar treasure” in Exodus 19:5, is the same word that is translated “jewels” in Malachi 3:17. God promised to “make up His jewels” of those who “feared the LORD, and thought upon His name.” The Hebrew word translated “thought,” in the above verse, is the same word that is translated “esteemed” in Isaiah 53:3; “…he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” There are those who “fear (deeply reverence) the LORD,” and “highly esteem His name,” even when they are surrounded by those who despise Him. There are those who “draw near” to God while the multitude “draws back;” and there are those who “enter in” when others “turn back.” There are also those who “obey His voice” when others refuse to even hear His voice. They may suffer “for His name’s sake” today, but there is coming “another day,” and “that other day” is at hand. God calls it, “…that day when I make up my jewels.”

Jesus spoke of “that day” in John 16:23-27: “In that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” “That day” began on the Day of Pentecost when God poured out His Spirit on the hundred and twenty. As Joshua and Caleb were a “very small remnant” of the congregation of Israel who “believed and obeyed God,” so were the hundred and twenty to the nation of Israel in “that day.” The wonderful blessing God had promised to the entire nation was only fulfilled upon the hundred and twenty Jews who “obeyed Him.” Peter confirms, in Acts 5:32, that it is only “them that obey Him” that the Holy Ghost is given to, which confirms the promise God gave to the children of Israel at Mount Horeb in Exodus 19:5; “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.” God’s “peculiar treasure” is made up of those “jewels” He has poured His Spirit upon. Moses became one of those at the “burning bush;” Joshua and Caleb, at the “burning mountain” (Mount Horeb); and the hundred and twenty on the Day of Pentecost. Each of these three examples, were God’s “jewels;” together, they are His “peculiar treasure,” His “kingdom of priests,” and His “holy nation.” This was manifest by the presence and power of God that was with them and upon them. God will once again in these last days, “make up His jewels” when He “pours out His Spirit” in great power upon a faithful remnant of the church. They will be His last day witnesses.

God’s Last Day Witnesses

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:8

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Revelation 11:3

Compare these two verses: the first is speaking to the hundred and twenty “believing” Jews just before God poured His Spirit upon them at the Day of Pentecost; the second is speaking of the last day “witnesses” that will preach the gospel to the Jews during the time of their great tribulation. These verses are saying the exact same thing to two different groups of people; one in the beginning of the church age, and the other at the end. We can know what God will do for His “witnesses” in this last generation if we know what He did for the hundred and twenty in the first generation of the church. They were anointed with the Holy Ghost to fulfill the great commission Jesus had given them; “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:14-15). The last day outpouring of the Holy Ghost will be upon a faithful “remnant” of the church; a “remnant” that understands that “Jesus is The Christ” whom God sent into the world to “make an end of sins” through His death at Calvary (Daniel 9:24-25). This is the “everlasting gospel,” and they will preach it to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). Once again, the world will see God’s “peculiar treasure” among men; they will be His “jewels,” a “people above all people.” As a “kingdom of priests” and God’s “holy nation,” they will bring the final fulfillment of the great commission, and carry the gospel back to the Jew in Jerusalem from whence it came. During the time of great tribulation, they will literally “invade” the nation of Israel with the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jew. They will be the ministers of the “two witness” ministry; Revelation, chapter eleven.

The scriptures speak of these “two witnesses” as being the “two olive trees” (Revelation 11:4). These are not fulfilled in two individual men, but as the “olive tree” has many branches, so there will be “many witnesses” in that day. The apostle Paul speaks of God’s olive tree as having two kinds of branches. The “natural branches” are those Jews which have received Jesus as “The Christ,” and the “wild branches,” are those Gentiles that have been grafted into the good olive tree through faith in Christ (Romans 11:17-24). Perhaps the “two witnesses” are made up of both Jews and Gentiles who have been made “one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28-29). One thing we can be assured of, however, is that these are the ones God will use to “move the children of Israel to jealousy” (Deuteronomy 32:21). Paul speaks of this in Romans 11:11, saying, “…salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them (the Jews) to jealousy.” It will be a “jealousy” brought on from seeing the blessing of Abraham fulfilled in these witnesses, which causes them to say, “God promised that blessing to us, yet we see it fulfilled in Gentiles who have never been God’s people.” Isaiah prophesied of this “jealousy” in Isaiah 63:19; “We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.” Moses even sang about these “Gentiles” in the closing verse of his song; “Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people” (Deuteronomy 32:43). Literally translated from the Hebrew, Moses said, “Rejoice O ye Gentiles, His people.” These will be the witnesses to the children of Israel that Jesus is “The Christ.” Their “witness” will not be with words only, however, but the fact that “Christ liveth (Galatians 2:20)” in these Gentile believers will be proof enough to the surviving Jews that Jesus is their Messiah. In Zechariah 12:10, God says, “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son….” Thus the “salvation of God (Acts 28:28)” will be brought to the Jew in Israel during the time of their “great tribulation,” which Jesus says, is “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). God will pour out His Spirit upon the remnant of Jews as their eyes are opened to “look upon Him whom they pierced,” and they will all rejoice in Jesus, Jews and Gentiles together, as God utterly destroys the nations that fight against Jerusalem. The last words of the Song of Moses speak of this wonderful outcome to those who understand; “Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people” (Deuteronomy 32:43).

Historically, the Jew has been hated and even persecuted by those who claim to be “Christians.” Many years ago, when I was in junior high school, a Jewish student asked me why I was different from the others who teased and made fun of him. I told him that I was a “Christian.” He said, “Oh no! That can’t be the reason, because the ‘Christian boys’ are the ones who tease me the most.” He never understood, but he ended the conversation by saying, “If I ever find out what makes you different, I would want it.” I have always regretted that I could not, at that time, tell him about “The Christ” who loved him, and came into the world to save him.

About forty years ago I walked into the office of a dear Jewish friend, and was met with a barrage of words: “Leroy, you can’t tell me that Jesus is such a savior that I could break the Ten Commandments, and lie, cheat, steal, and commit adultery all week, and come to church on Sunday to say ‘Father forgive,’ and it would be alright. You can’t tell me that Jesus is such a savior.” I was taken off guard. I answered, “I have never told you that Jesus is ‘such’ a savior.” He responded, “Well, a ‘Christian pastor’ told me the other day that if I received Jesus as my savior, that my sins would not matter, because they would all be forgiven.” To this, I answered, “Jesus is such a savior that those who trust in Him receive a new heart and they keep the Ten Commandments because they are written in their heart.” My friend was deeply touched by this, and said, “I could believe in that kind of a savior.”

The Everlasting Gospel

Revelation 14:6: And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people….

The “everlasting gospel” is not “a gospel” other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the same “gospel” that the apostle Paul preached, which was revealed to him “by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11-12). It is the same gospel that all of the “eyewitness apostles” preached. The fact that the apostle John saw in his visions of the end time, an angel flying “in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach,” is evidence that the “everlasting gospel” has been “lost” to the church for most of the past nineteen hundred years, but that it will be restored to the faithful witnesses in the last days. Consider what I say: The apostle Paul warned the Corinthians only thirty years after Christ died for us, that false teachers had come into the church to preach “another gospel” (II Corinthians 11:4). In the same time period, Jude wrote to exhort all believers to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints.” He said that ungodly men had already crept into the churches and were “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” (Jude 1:3-4). Before the end of the first century, which was only seventy years after Calvary, Jesus gave John a message for the seven churches in Asia, in which five of the seven were told to “repent or else.” It is incredible but true that in less than seventy years after Jesus Christ died on the cross to “take away the sin of the world,” the “church” that was “called by His name” was well on its way to apostasy. Roman Catholicism became the established church in the fourth century, and exercised absolute authority over the conscience of the people for about twelve hundred years. Then came the “reformation” which was spearheaded by Martin Luther of Germany with his revelation of “justification by faith.” John Calvin of France joined the reformation movement as a very young man and came to prominence after he fled from France to Geneva, where he, in later years, became the head of a theocratic government in the city. While Calvin promoted the idea of separation of church and state, his view was that the church would actually exercise power over the governing powers of the state, which he did in Geneva. In the beginning of the reformation, Martin Luther sought to reform the Catholic Church from within. It was only when he was condemned as a heretic and excommunicated from the church that he became the founding head of the Lutheran Church. His doctrine of “justification by faith” became the secret weapon of the reformation, because it released the consciences of the people from the dictates of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to come to God through Jesus Christ, by faith alone. In doctrine, however, both Lutheran and Calvinist are much closer to Roman Catholic thought, than to the gospel that was revealed to the apostle Paul, and committed to Peter and John by our Lord Himself. Calvin’s absolute power over the conscience of the people was such that some actually referred to him as “the Pope of Geneva;” others, as “the tyrant of Geneva.”

Martin Luther received a great truth in the revelation of “Justification by Faith,” but it is a truth that even Luther did not fully understand. It is a “truth” that has been so “twisted” that it has become a “lie;” it has become the “strong delusion” that Paul said God would send to those who “receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved” (II Thessalonians 2:10-12). They do not “believe the truth” because they “have pleasure in unrighteousness” (verse twelve). Paul tells us in the same verse that they are all “damned” because they have “believed a lie.” The “lie” they have believed is not just one little error in doctrine; it is an entire gospel scheme that preaches a “cross” that does not crucify, and a “blood” that does not sanctify. They believe that everyone, as long as they believe that Jesus is the Son of God, is justified “in the eyes of God.” They believe that every sin a person will ever commit, “past, present, and future,” is forgiven at the moment they profess Jesus as their savior. They believe that Christ came into the world to “take the penalty for our sins,” which means we could sin with abandon and never be lost, as long as we “believe in Jesus.” The truth is, Christ came into the world to “take away our sin.” The apostle Paul tells us, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Many preachers today are filling their churches with people who believe that “Sin shall not matter, because you are not under the law.”

John’s vision of the angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach, is a promise that the gospel of Christ will be once more revealed from heaven and restored in His last day church, who will in turn, preach it to every “nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” In this, there will be a great harvest of the earth just before the return of Jesus Christ to the earth.

When God says in Revelation 11:3, “…I will give power unto my two witnesses,” He speaks of the greatest outpouring of the Holy Ghost the world has ever seen; equal in power to that given on the Day of Pentecost, and yet greater because it will be upon every “nation, kindred, tongue, and people.” It will take place during the last three and a half years, before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which announces the second coming of Christ to this world. Jeremiah calls this three and a half year period “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). Jesus calls it “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). The prophet Isaiah calls it the “consumption decreed” (Isaiah 10:22-23), while the angel Gabriel calls it the “consummation, and that determined” (Daniel 9:27). Joel speaks in greater detail of the tribulation period, calling it “the great and the terrible day of the LORD” (Joel 2:31). Note that it is during the “great and terrible day of the LORD,” that God says, “…it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call” (Joel 2:32). God is going to anoint a holy “remnant” to preach the “everlasting gospel” to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people;” and it will be happening very soon.

The Remnant

Joel 2:31-32: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

This prophecy, given in the words of God Himself, shows the result of a great outpouring of God’s Spirit during what He calls “the great and the terrible day of the LORD.” Notice that during the “great and terrible day,” God says, “whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered.” The reason for this wonderful promise is because, “…in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.” Deliverance will be in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem because of “the remnant.” There was deliverance in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, but it wasn’t because of the scribes and Pharisees, or the high priests who dwelt there, but because God had poured His Spirit upon “a very small remnant” of Jews who trusted in Jesus, believing that He is the Christ. He anointed Peter to preach Jesus to the same multitude of Jews who had previously rejected Him, and three thousand of them were convicted in their hearts and delivered from their sins that same day. God will again, in these last days, pour out His Spirit upon a “faithful remnant,” which will preach the everlasting gospel to the entire world. It will be during the worst time of trouble the nations of the world have ever seen, but it will bring the greatest harvest of souls the church has ever seen, as God reveals Himself on earth through His faithful witnesses. There will be a “very small remnant” of both Jews and Gentiles, which God is calling to Himself right now, which He will “pour His Spirit upon,” and which He will work in and through to preach the “everlasting gospel,” as the scripture says, “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”

Message 55 - By Leroy Surface - Last Day Witnesses

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Their Message is

Wormwood!

Message 1 - By Randall Outland

The Old Testament prophecies clearly tell us what Christ would accomplish through His death on the Cross.

Daniel 9:24: Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

In this passage, we see that Christ would “finish the transgression” and “make an end of sins.” Some 483 years later, as Jesus came on the scene, John the Baptist declared, “…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). In Peter’s second recorded sermon following the coming of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, he said, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…” (Acts 3:19). After his conversion, the apostle Paul proclaimed, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:6-7).

In the twenty first century, however, this message has drastically changed. The new message that is being preached across the airwaves and from pulpits around the world says that Jesus died to take away the “penalty” of sin, and as a result, a redeemed child of God will continue to sin as long as he is in this body of flesh, without fear of penalty. Billy Graham, in his book “Storm Warning,” writes, “…as long as we remain in these mortal bodies, none of us will ever be perfect. None of us live without occasional sin and failure, and it is hypocritical to pretend otherwise” (Page 158).

This modern gospel has been so ingrained in the hearts and minds of those who have received its message, that when the truth is proclaimed, the one proclaiming it (the truth) is considered to be a hypocrite. Nevertheless, if we listen closely to the modern gospel and honestly compare it to what the scripture says, we quickly see that the “Jesus” of this modern gospel is not “The Christ” who was prophesied to come, because, according to the modern gospel, he fails to accomplish what the Old Testament prophets promised Christ would do; and what the New Testament apostles say that He did.

In looking at the truth, what does the scripture really say about sin in the life of a born again child of God? First, the apostle Paul declares:

Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 8:9: But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Galatians 5:16-18: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Galatians 5:24-25: And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (thereof). If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

In these passages, we see that a real born again child of God is not in the flesh, but rather in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God dwells in them. They live in, walk in, and are led by the Holy Spirit, and because of this, they do not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The Apostle John echoes this by saying:

I John 3:4-10: Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

The Bible clearly shows us that the apostle Paul and the apostle John did not beat around the bush. They plainly proclaimed a message that is in line with the words of Christ:

Luke 6:43: For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

The modern gospel message of the church, which says that a born again child of God will continue in sin, simply does not stand up to what the scripture overwhelmingly says. A real born again child of God has undergone such a transformation that he will not continue to sin.

God, however, shall not be mocked, as He in not blind to those who proclaim this other gospel. The prophet Jeremiah foretold of those who would proclaim this false message in our modern time.

Jeremiah 23:13-14: And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in (by) Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Those who proclaim this false modern gospel have joined themselves unto the enemy. They have been deceptive, not only in speech, but also in character. They have prophesied smooth things, and in doing so, they have cause untold thousands to err.

Those who have accepted this false modern Jesus, and have received his gospel may see those who proclaim it as mighty men of God, but God sees them as “Sodom and the inhabitants of Gomorrah.” What was it though, that God saw in Sodom and the inhabitants of Gomorrah?

Ezekiel 16:49-50: Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

Jude 1:7: Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

This is not a light indictment against the false prophets who are actually peddling “another gospel” and “another Jesus” (II Corinthians 11:4). The Bible clearly tells us that God will not sit idly by and do nothing. Jeremiah also prophesied as to what God would do, not only to the prophets of Samaria and Jerusalem, but also to the false prophets and teachers of our modern time.

Jeremiah 23:15: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

The word translated “wormwood” in this passage is “la‛ănâh” in the Hebrew (Strong’s Hebrew Concordance #3939), which means, “to curse; wormwood (regarded as poisonous, and therefore accursed).” The word translated “gall” in this passage is “ro’sh” in the Hebrew (Strong’s Hebrew Concordance #7219), which means “a poisonous plant, probably the poppy (from its conspicuous head); generally poison (even of serpents).”

Because these prophets claim to be speaking God’s truth, when in reality they are speaking lies and causing people to err and not to repent; God is going to feed them with “wormwood,” which is poison. He will also make them drink the “water of gall,” which is spiritual death to all who drink it. In the last days, the Bible declares:

Revelation 8:10-11: And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

These prophecies, found in Jeremiah and Revelation, are playing out before our very eyes as the wormwood which the Lord has fed to the prophets of the modern false gospel is flowing out of them, but instead of being the “rivers of living water” that Jesus Christ said would flow out of the bellies of them that believe on Him (John 7:38), it has become a “river of death” that multitudes today are drinking of. The Bible also tells of another occasion where the people of God encountered “waters of death:” Exodus 15:23-25: And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.

In these modern times, as the false prophets spew forth their poisonous water, we must understand exactly what it is: It is Wormwood!

Thirty five hundred years ago, God showed Moses the solution to the “waters of death,” and today, the solution is the same. It has not changed. It is the “tree” that Jesus, the Christ, died upon (Acts 5:30), which we call “the cross.” The true gospel message of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2)” can heal the waters once again.

Life and death are set before us this day, therefore we have a choice to make. We can either believe that Jesus is “The Christ” who finished the transgression and made an end of sins, as the scripture prophesied He would do: Or, we can believe a gospel message that produces a form of godliness, but denies the power thereof. In that, we will continue in sin as long as we are in this body of flesh. It is of the latter that God says, “…from such turn away” (II Timothy 3:5). What will your choice be? I implore you to choose Christ, “who is our life” (Colossians 3:4), that you may live.

Message 1 - By Randall Outland - Their Message is WORMWOOD; is attached to: