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The two witnesses are resurrected and lifted up to heaven after completing
their testimony. How is this different from the rapture of the saints
with the second coming of Christ?
As I explained with my answer for Q. 2, these
two witnesses are God's special servants whom He would raise from the
people of Israel to save the Israelites. There is an important work that
God must do before destroying this world, and that is to save the people
of Israel from sin and make them participate in the first resurrection
and the rapture.
The Apostle Paul said in Romans 3:29-30, "Or is He the God of the Jews
only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also,
since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the
uncircumcised through faith." The way to be saved from sin before
God is the same for both the Jews and the Gentiles. For both the Jews
and the Gentiles alike, justification comes only through their faith in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. To be saved from all their sins,
the Jewish people must also accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and believe,
just as the Gentiles believe, that Jesus Christ took all their sins upon
Himself with His baptism, and that He died on the Cross to be judged of
these sins on their behalf.
God treats both the Jews and the Gentiles alike, and has permitted both
of them the same salvation through faith. This is why God allowed His
two witnesses to the Jewish people during the time of the first three
and a half years of the Great Tribulation, and why He allowed these witnesses
to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them.
In connection with these two witnesses, chapter 11 of Revelation refers
to the two olive trees and the two lampstands. The two olive trees refer
to these two servants of God whom He would allow for the salvation of
the Israelites, and the two lampstands refer to God's two Churches, which
are of the Israelites and of the Gentiles. God would allow, in other words,
His two Churches alongside each other to preach the gospel of the water
and the Spirit to the Israelites and the Gentiles during the first three
and a half years of the Great Tribulation.
Right now, God's Church is not found among the Israelites. But when God
searches their hearts and when His time comes, He will prepare their hearts
to receive His Word, raise the two servants for them, and make them accept
Jesus Christ as their Savior.
God therefore will save both the Israelites and the Gentiles during the
time of the Great Tribulation. He will also allow the persecution and
martyrdom of the born-again saints to both the Israelites and the Gentiles
alike. The fact the two witnesses are martyred after completing their
testimony and then are resurrected and lifted up to heaven in three and
a half days-this ultimately contains the fact that just like these two
witnesses, the servants of God and His people among the Gentiles would
also fight against the Antichrist, be martyred, and thereby participate
in their resurrection and rapture.
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