The Spirit of Elijah 6

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T he Spirit of Elijah 6  

[The Great Tribulation]

Revelation 11:3-13  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.   These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.   And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies:   and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.   These have power to shut the heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy:   and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.   And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill  them.   And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.   And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.   And they that dwell on the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another;  because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.   And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet;  and great fear fell upon them which saw them.   And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.   And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud;  and their enemies beheld them.   And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand:   and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven.

In the fifth and final application of the Spirit of Elijah, the physical personage of Elijah will stand upon the earth.   Together with Moses, he will operate as one of the two witnesses during the great tribulation period, the last three and a half years of time immediately prior to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.


 

D efinition of Witness

The English word witness is derived from the Anglo Saxon word, gewita, which means a witness, from witan, to perceive, to know.   The Old High German word gewiznesse,  means experience.   The Icelandic, vitneskja, means intelligence, notice.   The current English usage bears the flowing connotations:   testimony;  knowledge or matter adduced in proof;  a person who sees or knows anything;  one present;  one who gives evidence;  one who see the execution of a will, a deed, or suchlike and adhibits his name to it to confirm its authenticity.  

The verb means to see or know by personal presence.

The Greek word martus, is translated in the King James Version of the Bible as  martyr, witness, record.

The purpose of the coming of the two witnesses is to hew out a people for the coming of the Lord.   Their ministry will be cantered in Jerusalem and will be directed exclusively to the nation of Israel.  

The Jewish people as a nation do not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah.   They do, however, believe the Law and the Prophets.   Moses represents and heads up the Law:   Elijah represents and heads up the Prophets.

God will use these two prophets to open the eyes of Jewry to see,  acknowledge and embrace, the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Hosea 6:5   Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets...

Zechariah 12:8-11   In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem;  and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David;  and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.   And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that have come against Jerusalem.   And 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, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.   In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Meggidon.

John 19:37   And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

Romans 11:15-26   For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?   For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy:   and if the root be holy, so are the branches.   And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wast grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;  Boast not against the branches.   But if thou boast, thou barest not the root, but the root thee.   Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted 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 grafted in:   for God is able to graft them in again.   For if thou wast cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree:   how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?   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 fullness of the Gentiles be come in.   And so all Israel shall be saved:   as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

For these men to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, and according to the English definition of the verb, to see or know by personal experience, they must of necessity have been present at the major events of His life.    They must be able to declare with complete conviction, “I know, I was there, I saw it happen!”   Anything short of this excludes a witness from being a witness.

The number two, in the Bible speaks of witness, while three is the number representing  perfection of witness.

1 John 5:7,8   For  there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word , and the Holy Ghost:   and these three are one.   And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood:   and these three agree in  one.

Deuteronomy 17:6   At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death;  but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

Matthew 18:16   But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

1 Timothy 5:19   Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

Genesis 1:1   In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

The Hebrew word for God used here is Elohiym, the uni-plural God.   If God was not triune He could never fulfill His own word!

The three heavenly witnesses are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.

The three earthly witnesses are Enoch, Moses and Elijah.

God never leaves Himself without a witness.

Wise men attended the birth of the baby Jesus;  angels ministered to him in the Garden of Gethsemane;  men in white were seen at the resurrection;  angels testified that this same Jesus you have seen leaving the earth will return in like manner.

On the mount of Transfiguration the two men that accompanied the Lord Jesus are named.

Matthew 17:3   And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him.


 

T he Sons of Oil

Zechariah 4:1-14    And the angel that talked with ma came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, And said unto me, What seest thou?   And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:   And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?   Then the angel that talked with me answered and said  unto me, Knowest thou what these be?   And I said, No, my lord.   Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord  unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts.   Who art thou, O great mountain?   before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain:   and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.   Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house;  and his hands shall also finish it;  and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.   For who hath despised the day of small things?   for they shall rejoice, and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven;  they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.   Then answered I, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?   And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?   And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be?   And I said, No, my lord.   Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

The Hebrew text for anointed ones reads sons of oil.   These men are sons of the Holy Ghost!

A candlestick in the Bible is a symbol of the church.

Revelation 1:20   The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks.   The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches:   and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

The two olive trees flank the church.   They pour what they have into it.  They support it.   The Law and the Prophets give witness to the Church.  

 

T he Great Tribulation

The two witnesses prophesy for 1,260 days, which is a time, times and half a time, 42 months, or 3 1/2 years.

Their enemies are killed by fire which issues from their mouths.   Their words.

Shutting heaven that rain does not fall for 3 1/2 years identifies Elijah.

James 5:17,18    Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain:   and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.   And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Both men are killed by the beast.

Their bodies are seen by people all over the world.   This is only possible by television!

After 3 1/2 days the Spirit of Life raises them from the dead.

Their ascension to heaven coincides with the resurrection and ascension of every Christian believer at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

M ajor Events of the Great Tribulation

     BRIDE TAKEN OUT                                    Revelation 12:6,14
Song of Solomon 6:5; 8:10  Isaiah 26:20,21
Birth and Translation of the Manchild                   Revelation 12:5
Michael Stands Up         Daniel 12:1                    Revelation 12:7

Outer Court Class Left Out                                  Revelation 11:2
Unwise Virgin Class Shut Out                               Matthew 25:1
War With the Remnant of the Woman's Seed       Revelation 12:17,13:5
Daniel 7:25   Matthew 8:12; 13:42; 22:13    
Two Witnesses Prophesy                                    Revelation 11:1-13

The Mystery of God Finished                               Revelation 10:7
Times of the Gentiles End                                   Luke 21:24
Seven Times Prophecy Fulfilled                                
Feast of Tabernacles Fulfilled
(b)   Dwelling in Booths
First Prophecy Fulfilled                                       Genesis 3:15

Final Overthrow of Satan                                    Revelation 12:9
Seven Vials of God's Wrath Poured Out                 Revelation 15,16
Manifestation of Ten Horns, Ten Toes, Ten Kings    Daniel 2:41-44; 7:7,
         Revelation 12:3; 13:1; 17:12,16                20, 24

Satan Persecutes the Woman                                Revelation 12:13
Mark of the Beast                                                Revelation 13:18
Little Horn (Antichrist)                                         Daniel 7:8,20,21,25
Signs and Wonders by the Beast                            Revelation 13:11-15
Judgments of God Poured Out   (Vials)                   Daniel 9:27
Judgment on Ecclesiastical Babylon                        Revelation 17

Three and a Half Years
Time, Times and Half a Time   Daniel 7:25; 12:7    Revelation 12:14
1,260 Days                                                           Revelation 11:3; 12:6
42 Months                                                            Revelation 11:2; 13:5
Last Half of Daniel's Seventy Weeks                       Daniel 9:26,27

 

T he Earnest Prayer of a Righteous Man

James 5:16b-18   [Amplified Version]The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].   Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours];  and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months.  [1 Kings 17:1]   And [then]  he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual].   [1 Kings 18:42-45.]

Our righteousness is of faith.    The Christian believer must have  his righteousness rooted and grounded in the merits of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.   Only then can he approach the throne of grace with the required boldness.

Tremendous power is made available through this type of prayer, it is dynamic
in its working.

The prayer must be continual.

Matthew 7:7, 8    [Amplified Version]          Keep on asking and it will be given you;  keep on seeking and you will find;  keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.   For everyone who keeps on asking receives;  and he who keeps on seeking finds;  and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.