Memory Text: “And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” Rev. 11:3
A. Trampling the Holy City
Picking up where we left off in part 1, which was in the middle of the second verse of Revelation 11:
“They [the gentiles] will trample on the holy city for 42 months.” Rev. 11:2.
This 42 months is the same period mentioned several times in the Apocalypse (Rev. 11:3; 12:6, 14, and 13:5) and twice in the Book of Daniel (7:25; 12:7). It is variously referred to as the 1,260 days (Rev. 11:3; 12:6) the 42 months (Rev. 11:2; 13:5), and the “time, times, and half a time” (Rev. 12:14; Daniel 7:25; 12:7).
The day-year principle of prophetic time teaches us that the 1,260 prophetic days are 1,260 literal years. This is the period of papal supremacy, lasting from 538 AD to 1798 AD. During this time the true church is under persecution by the papacy.
Because we are in the Christian era, earthly Jerusalem is no longer a “holy city.” Daniel was told that 70 weeks were appointed for his people, the Jews, and that time expired in 34 AD. Henceforth, prophecies connected to Israel, Jerusalem, the holy city, the holy mountain, etc., do not refer to literal Israel or to the earthly city of Jerusalem. They refer to spiritual Israel, which is God’s believing children, whether Jew or gentile, who have embraced Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Likewise, the “gentiles” of verse 2 who are persecuting the “holy city” for 42 months are not literally gentiles in a racial or ethnic sense, they are figuratively not Jews, which is to say that they are not spiritual Israel, not the true followers of Jesus Christ.
It might seem unnecessary or redundant to keep belaboring this point about the literal versus the spiritual, but this truth about spiritual Israel is both, (1) not understood or admitted by many of our evangelical brethren, and (2) a fundamental principle of prophetic interpretation, without which we are “adrift upon a boundless ocean without chart or compass.”
We are thus given to understand that “trampling on the holy city” is figurative language alluding to the persecution of those Christians who were trying to preserve and maintain a Christian faith uncorrupted by the various pagan superstitions and observances brought into the Roman church during those long centuries between 538 and 1798.
The horrors of the Spanish Inquisition are well known, but it should be remembered that the inquisition was active in Spain’s American colonies, as well. Of the Mexican inquisition, it was written:
“The most extreme punishment was execution, carried out in a ceremony called the auto-da-fé [“act of faith”—the Inquisition’s euphemism for burning heretics at the stake], almost all of which were carried out in Mexico City. For these events, notables and most of the populace turned out in their finest garb. The Church set up a stage with pulpits and rich furnishings for the noble guests. Tapestries and fine cloth served as decorative canopies over the stage. No expense was spared in order to show the power and authority of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In addition, all nobles from the viceroy himself, his court, and all others in position of authority would be conspicuously in appearance. The ceremony began with a sermon and a long declaration of what constituted the true faith. The assembly was required to swear to this. The condemned were led onto the stage dressed in capes with marks showing their crime and their punishment. They also wore a hat that resembled a dunce cap. They were given a chance to repent, in many cases, to modify their sentences, such as [being allowed] strangulation instead of burning alive at the stake. Then sentences were carried out.” Fernando Benitez, Historia de la Ciudad de Mexico (1984).
B. Shortening the Days
Mercifully, God “shortened the days” (Mat. 24:22) so that the full wrath of papal persecution was not felt all the way up to 1798. The triumph of the Reformation meant that by the 17th and 18th Centuries, the pope’s writ simply did not run in many places, including in England and her overseas colonies, the Netherlands and her colonies, and northern Germany. The papacy’s power to persecute in those lands was done away with long before 1798. Ellen White notes the shortening of the days in relation to Revelation 11:
“The persecution of the church did not continue throughout the entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to His people cut short the time of their fiery trial. In foretelling the ‘great tribulation’ to befall the church, the Saviour said: ‘Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.’ Matthew 24:22. Through the influence of the Reformation the persecution was brought to an end prior to 1798.” Great Controversy, p. 266.4
It should also be noted that there were a few more victims even after 1798, including the Spanish Inquisition’s last known victim, Cayetano Ripoll, who was executed on July 26, 1826 (but the government would not allow the inquisition to burn Ripoll at the stake; he was hanged). The Mexican Inquisition was abolished in 1820.
The date of 1798 nevertheless remains an extremely important prophetic marker. The arrest of Pope Pius VI (Giovanni Angelo Braschi) by, and his subsequent death as a prisoner of, the Revolutionary government of France was a severe blow, which is why Scripture calls it “a mortal wound.” Rev. 13:3. The papacy has never yet recovered the political power it lost in the French Revolution.
C. Who, or What, Are the Two Witnesses?
And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” Rev. 11:3-4.
These “two witnesses” are not actual people, as is indicated by the fact that they are also the two olive trees and the two lampstands. This is figurative language intended to convey spiritual truth, not to describe two natural persons.
The two olive trees produce olive oil, and in Scripture oil usually symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Many of Scripture’s 200 mentions of oil refer to the oil of anointing, which is closely connected to the Holy Spirit’s presence and action. For example, when Samuel anointed David with oil to be the new king of Israel, “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.” (1 Sam. 16:13).
Despite David’s (unflinchingly narrated) failings, he prefigures the ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, who was to descend from his royal line. The pattern of anointing prophets, priests, and kings culminated in Jesus—“Messiah” and “Christ” both mean “the anointed one”—who is empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s salvation of His people. Jesus said of this:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.” (Luke 4:18)
The metaphor of olive oil—the visible and tangible liquid poured upon a human being—betokens the invisible and intangible presence of the Holy Spirit.
The two witnesses are also referred to as the two lampstands. The purpose of the lampstand in the earthly tabernacle to give light. Interestingly, the lampstand in the sanctuary was to be fueled only with pure olive oil. (Ex. 27:20-21).
So the “two witnesses” give light and they are fueled or inspired by the Holy Spirit. The interpretation is coming into focus:
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105.
The word of God is our light, and this word was inspired by the Holy Spirit:
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:21.
Peter has much to say about inspiration. He tells us that the Holy Spirit inspired both the Old Testament prophets and those apostles preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Christian era:
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.” 1 Peter 1:10-12
Paul tells us that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:16-17
It is now clear that our “two witnesses” are the Old and New Testaments, a conclusion confirmed by Ellen White:
“Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: “These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.” “Thy word,” said the psalmist, “is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Revelation 11:4; Psalm 119:105. The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy.” Great Controversy, 267.1
Note that John is told, “And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days . . .” The second witness, the New Testament, had not yet been “appointed” when John was writing this because the very thing he was writing, the Apocalypse, was to be part of the New Testament.
The earliest known complete list of the 27 books of the New Testament canon is in a letter written by Athanasius, a 4th-century bishop of Alexandria, dated to 367 AD. This final form of the New Testament was first formally canonized during the councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397).
So by 538 AD, the time when they were forced to begin testifying “clothed in sackcloth,” there are unquestionably two well-established witnesses.
D. Clothed in Sackcloth
Given that the 1,260 years were a time of persecution of pure Christianity, it is to be expected that the Bible, the Old and New Testaments, were forced to witness “clothed in sackcloth.” The regime enforced by the Catholic Church during much of this time, wherever it could enforce its will, was (1) to keep the Scriptures in the dead language of Latin rather than the vernacular, the tongue actually spoken and understood by the people, and (2) to restrict access to the Scriptures to the clergy.
“During the greater part of this period, God's witnesses remained in a state of obscurity. The papal power sought to hide from the people the word of truth, and set before them false witnesses [the priests] to contradict its testimony. When the Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could invent to turn the minds of the people from it; when those who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, tortured, buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, or compelled to flee to mountain fastnesses, and to dens and caves of the earth—then the faithful witnesses prophesied in sackcloth. Yet they continued their testimony throughout the entire period of 1260 years. In the darkest times there were faithful men who loved God's word and were jealous for His honor. To these loyal servants were given wisdom, power, and authority to declare His truth during the whole of this time. Great Controversy, p. 267.2
The Catholic Church was particularly worried about the people having translations of Scripture that they could read and understand, because the interpretation of Scripture was the closely guarded monopoly of the Roman clergy. The Council of Toulouse, which met in 1229 in response to the growth of the Albigensian movement, ruled:
“We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old and the New Testament; unless anyone from the motives of devotion should wish to have the Psalter or the Breviary for divine offices or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books [into the vernacular]."
The Council of Tarragona, which met in 1234, decreed:
"No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the [vernacular], and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned."
Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as "that pestilent wretch of damnable heresy who invented a new translation of the scriptures in his mother tongue." By the decree of the Council of Constance, in 1415, more than 40 years after Wycliffe’s death, his bones were exhumed and publicly burned and the ashes were thrown into the Swift River.
But, again, during this time there were always guardians of the Scriptures who circulated them whenever they could. Most of these people we do not have a record of. We do, however, know about the Waldenses:
“In the schools whither they went, they were not to make confidants of any. Their garments were so prepared as to conceal their greatest treasure—the precious manuscripts of the Scriptures. These, the fruit of months and years of toil, they carried with them, and whenever they could do so without exciting suspicion, they cautiously placed some portion in the way of those whose hearts seemed open to receive the truth. From their mother's knee the Waldensian youth had been trained with this purpose in view; they understood their work and faithfully performed it. Converts to the true faith were won in these institutions of learning, and frequently its principles were found to be permeating the entire school; yet the papal leaders could not, by the closest inquiry, trace the so-called corrupting heresy to its source.” Great Controversy, p. 70.1
E. Fire Devours Their Enemies
We are told in no uncertain terms that we are not to “harm” the Old and New Testaments. Anyone who tries harm them faces dire consequences:
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. 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.” Rev. 11:5-6
Here again is figurative language. The written word of God is being identified with God Himself. The Bible does not burn you alive if you disrespect it. But when you disrespect, attack, criticize, undermine, denigrate, disbelieve or otherwise “harm” the Bible, you doing all these things to the God of the Bible. You are incurring the wrath of the living God who inspired the Bible.
God has the power to do these things, and has done them in the recorded history in the Bible. Regarding fire devouring God’s enemies, Scripture tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire from Heaven (Gen 19:24, Luke 17:29), as were Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1-2), as were King Ahaziah’s soldiers (2 Kings 1:10,12). God shut up the heavens for three and half years during the time of Elijah (1 Kings 17; Luke 4:25), and He turned water into blood (Ex. 7:14-24) and struck Egypt with every kind of plague. (Ex. 7:13-12:36).
“Men cannot with impunity trample upon the word of God. The meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the closing chapter of the Revelation:
“I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22:18, 19.
Such are the warnings which God has given to guard men against changing in any manner that which He has revealed or commanded. . . . All who exalt their own opinions above divine revelation, all who would change the plain meaning of Scripture to suit their own convenience, or for the sake of conforming to the world, are taking upon themselves a fearful responsibility. The written word, the law of God, will measure the character of every man and condemn all whom this unerring test shall declare wanting. Great Controversy, 268.1-2.
In America today, those attacking the Scriptures do not insist that the Bible be in Latin and chained to the pulpit (the 1,260 years “clothed in sackcloth”), or that it be destroyed upon sight (as in the communist regimes we are about to study). The Bible is ubiquitous in most prosperous Western countries. Most of us have multiple copies, and access to many more online or at the nearest bookstore, Adventist or otherwise. We have more copies of the Scripture in more translations than we know what to do with.
The problem in America and most Western nations today is skepticism and criticism of the Scriptures, denying the divine inspiration of the Bible-writers and insisting that what they produced was strictly human and not divine. Most European and American seminary professors have been “exalting their own opinions above divine revelation” for nearly a hundred years. Liberalism assumes naturalism and denies God in the Scriptures. It assumes that what the Bible-writers wrote was just their own opinions, and that the miracles they recorded were not real. It is thus functionally atheistic. It may seam strange that supposedly “Christian” seminaries are training grounds of atheism, but this has been the case in America for almost a century. This is why we see so little spiritual power in the Western world: the very ones who should be the leaders in opening the word of God are the ones casting doubt over it, neutering it, and keeping it covered in sackcloth.
Sadly, this phenomenon has entered the Seventh-day Adventist Church; we saw it in last week’s Sabbath School Quarterly lesson, wherein the author sought to avoid the Bible’s very clear teaching of patriarchy, rule of the fathers, in both the home and the church. We are also seeing it in Germany, as the leaders there argue that the Scriptures do not really say what they clearly say about homosexual conduct and transgenderism. Adventists are now attacking “the two witnesses” along with rest of apostate Protestantism.