The Devouring Fire
Next we will more closely examine the following concerning the Two Witnesses:
“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 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.” Rev 11:5-6
The initiate on the path of becoming like the Christ will speak eternal words, words that shall not pass away (the first witness) and perform works that will help humanity which will stand the test of time (the second witness).
Such words and works always draw forth enemies from the establishment who feel threatened and desire to maintain their base of power and authority. In fact, when you see a leader embraced by the world you can usually rest assured that the two witnesses are not present in his consciousness.
The world always resists change, especially change for the better and enemies come forth out of the woodwork to fight against such forward motion.
The scripture reads “And if any man hurt them…” How could the witnesses be hurt? The word “hurt” comes from the Greek ADIKEO and has a wider meaning than any single English word. When reading the scripture most people think this is referring to physical hurt, but ADIKEO comes from the root ADIKOS which gives it the core meaning of being “unjust” or wrong.
You can’t really physically hurt inspired words and works (even though the messengers can be physically hurt), but enemies of truth can unjustly attack them. How is this done? This is best understood by looking at the attacks on the words and works of the great lights in history. Their words have been distorted, twisted, changed and corrupted so when the public receives them through whatever media is used, they appear as evil as the devil himself. The same happens with their works. The initiate and his workers are compared to tyrants, to enemies of the state, status quo and the world. Just as the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of trying to destroy their law and system, the works of one on the path of Christ are seen as destructive to the establishment.
Therefore, they seek to destroy such works, not through reason and fair play, but by attack bringing distortion to the work and the intention behind the work. Again, they associate the workers and the work with evil. You will recall that they accused Jesus of working through the power of Beelzebub, the Jewish word for a devilish character. (See Matt 12:24)
When the disciple on the path of Christ goes forward with his work, enemies indeed come forward and unjustly attack and corrupt his “words” and his “work” – the two witnesses.
What happens after the attack?
“…fire proceedeth out of their mouth…”
After enemies surface and attack and distort the words and works “fire” proceeds from the witnesses. The meaning here is significant and much different than taught by orthodoxy. Fire comes from the Greek PUR. The English “pure” and “purify” come from it. Light or lightening is also implied. What does this tell us? It reveals that when the initiate is attacked and his enemies make arguments against him through the use of lies and distortion that out of his mouth will come forth fiery truth and light that sets the record straight. Distortion cannot stand in the face of truth and when corruption is met with pure truth and reason, the truth will prevail in the end.
“…and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.”
The power of the words and works of the initiate are so powerful that they “devour” the attacks of the enemies.
Again, Jesus is the perfect example of this. After his enemies tried to attack him to prove he was evil, the Master returned fire with reason so powerful their argument was devoured. After one exchange it is written:
“And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.” Matt 22:46
It says that the attacker must “in this manner be killed.” The Greek word for “killed” implies more than physical destruction but can refer to any type of destruction. Jesus killed the argument of the Pharisees who attacked him and this is what happens to all false reasoning that comes against the witnesses that accompany the disciple on the path.
Before and during the Civil War many distorted the truth of what freedom is and maintained they must enslave the minority to maintain freedom for the majority. Fire proceeded out of the mouth of Lincoln with words such as:
“A nation cannot continue to exist half slave and half free… A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
These words of Lincoln have endured the test of time like an eternal fire that has destroyed every enemy which has come against them. In addition, his second witness, his work, preserving the union and the freeing of the slaves has also been a fire that has destroyed every argument to the contrary.
Verse 6 reads: “These have power to shut 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.”
First we must realize what is meant by “the days of their prophecy.” The word prophecy comes from the Greek PROPHETEIA which basically means “inspired speech.” The time period is three and a half cycles or seasons. During this time period the initiate gives forth inspired words that uplift the few who will listen and respond.
Let us look at Lincoln again. During his three and a half periods of his prophesy was heaven shut that it did not rain for his enemies?
Heaven symbolizes higher light and knowledge and rain corresponds to the receptivity of the people for greater light.
His enemies rejected granting freedom to the human spirit of an entire race of people and this rejection of this basic right caused “heaven,” or higher light and compassion, to be closed to them that no enlightenment came during this period.
The scripture continues: “…and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.”
Water is symbolic of emotion. The symbolism of blood depends on the context in which it is used. It stands for angry emotion, life or the sacrifice of life depending on the situation. In this case it means that the two witnesses accompanying the initiate stirs the emotions to such a degree that a conflict ensues that causes great anger that could lead to the sacrificing of life. This indeed happened during the Civil War as 600,000 Americans lost their lives. In addition, the whole land was smitten with all sorts of plagues, hunger, disease and death.
It is interesting that these same correspondences can be made to the work of Jesus, FDR and Churchill during World War II, the Founding Fathers and many other workers of light.
Next we read:
“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 an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon 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 an 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.” Rev 11:7-13
The Death of the Witnesses
Let us examine these verses and discern the meaning.
“And when they shall have finished their testimony…”
“Finished” comes from the Greek TELEO which has the same root as TELEIOS, the Greek word for perfection. In other words, this scripture tells us of the time in which the Works and Words have been presented with as great of clarity as possible. All who have eyes to see and ears to hear cannot deny the witness. Those who continue to deny the value of the witnesses are hard-hearted and closed-minded and refuse to see and hear.
“…the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit…”
This is the first mention of “the beast” in Revelation. We shall give a full explanation when we get to chapter thirteen. Suffice it to say at present that the beast represents the authoritative rulers of the world who permeate all walks of life. Where does he come from?
The bottomless pit.
And what is that? As we explained in reviewing chapter nine this represents the seemingly unlimited number of emotionally polarized people on the earth. These are they who are reactionary and respond with predictable actions when stimulated. These people who yield thought and reason to knee jerk emotional reaction give power to antichrist authorities causing the beast to be able to ascend before the consciousness of humanity again and again.
“…shall make war against them…”
The two witnesses, the Words and Works of the disciple, have gone through three cycles and have caused a great stirring among the people and the authorities who lead them. Now against all odds they continue for a half a time, or seemingly forever, unless they are stopped. It now dawns on those in power that the witnesses must be neutralized by any means possible.
“…and shall overcome them, and kill them.”
The authorities of the earth now turn on the witnesses with all the power at their disposal. We are told these earthly powers shall “overcome” and “kill” them?
What does this mean? The interpretation would seem to imply the death of the initiate. Although this often happens, as with Lincoln and Jesus, it is not always the case. With Galileo, for instance he was placed in jail and forced to deny his Work and Words. They did not kill this initiate, but they did seem to kill his two witnesses that the earth was not the center of the universe.
The witnesses are killed or neutralized in a number of different ways:
[1] The literal killing of the initiate and his associates which seems to stop the Words and Works.
[2] The demonizing of the Words and Works giving the public impression that they are evil and need to be avoided.
[3] The corruption of the witnesses. When the Words and Works permeate society to the extent, they cannot be extinguished the authorities pretend to embrace them. After this they alter and corrupt them so society’s original errors and power are held intact.
“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.”
Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem yet the scripture says the witnesses were killed in the same place – not physically but spiritually. This spiritual place, which corresponds to Jerusalem of old, is called “Sodom and Egypt.”
Why is it written that the two witnesses were killed in this place “where also our Lord was crucified?”
In Jesus’ day the attempt to kill his Words and Works, or the two witnesses, was through the crucifixion. This same principle applies in all other attempts to kill or corrupt the witnesses of other initiates. “Sodom and Egypt” gives us major clues as what conditions are needed to kill the witnesses.
Sodom was destroyed by fire because of wickedness in the days of Abraham and Lot. Two evils concerning it were mentioned in the Bible. First they were not accepting of strangers, such as Lot, and secondly they were willing to do whatever necessary, unto murder and rape, to fulfill their carnal desires.
The keynote of Egypt is slavery since this is where the Hebrews had to be delivered by Moses.
Thus we have three conditions needed to slay the witnesses:
[1] A refusal to accept or even tolerate the new and different.
[2] A willingness to do violence to fulfill desire and maintain the status quo.
[3] A state of mental enslavement where the people do not think and act without permission from authority.
We are told their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of this “spiritual” city. What are their dead bodies and what does this mean?
When the life that was in the Words and Works of the initiate seems to be suffocated what is left is the dead bodies. And what are these?
To understand let us draw a picture of the typical situation after the death of the two witnesses.
The people are in a state of mental slavery and only do what they are told to do. They fear to endorse or accept anything new and are encouraged to satisfy their every desire as long as it does not give life to the witnesses.
The bodies of the witnesses remain in the streets. The word “streets” tells us the people still have access to the witnesses but by their refusal to give them their eyes and ears they appear as dead. The body for their Words could be a book or a Bible. The body for the Works is a church, movement or organization.
The bodies remain, but are as dead because of the corruption of the people by the beast, which is the master of manipulating emotion.
What if nothing exists and we’re all in somebody’s dream? Or what’s worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists? Woody Allen (1935 – )
Dec 5, 2005
Copyright by J J Dewey
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