Babel 2.0

Last week, we talked about the appearance of the two witnesses in the later half of the Great Tribulation. They will prophesy and preach from Jerusalem. The Antichrist will seek to usurp God’s authority by taking over the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. Here is Part II.

Wait a minute Ron, how can the two witnesses preach to the nations if they are near the Temple in Jerusalem? Have you heard of YouTube or Facebook—even TikTok—or whatever type of social media or television that will be popular in that day? I imagine technology is only going to increase in the coming years, so it is safe to assume that during the Great Tribulation, believers will have their own private networks and be able to communicate. Language is even becoming less and less of a barrier with sites like Google Translate.

With AI, languages can be translated in real-time. There is a commercial that is popular right now of an English-speaking woman walking into an Asian restaurant. She does not speak the language, so simply speaks in English into her phone and communicates to the chef what she wants to eat. The chef speaks back into the phone in her language and the woman is able to read: “It’s too dish is too spicy for you.” A friend of mine just sent me a video of him preaching in German. Except he doesn’t know German

Babel 2.0

And this, for me, is a clue that we are in the End Times. Why did God separate the nations? They were building a tower to make a name for themselves. God did not see this as healthy for his creation and so he scattered and gave them different languages.

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the Earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole Earth. (Gen. 11:5-9)

We are entering into a Babel-like time where it will be as if there are no language barriers. I see this as a hint that the end is near. Daniel shares that in the End Times, “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Dan 12:4). Of course, for us, the end is the beginning of something wonderful—the 1,000-year reign of the Messianic age.

Back to the Two Prophets

Believers worldwide, and unbelievers, will see the preaching of the two prophets. They will witness fire coming from their mouths, consuming their enemies. Hallelujah! No, I am not rejoicing that people will die—I am rejoicing because the Church has long focused on the power of the antichrist, but I am telling you, these two preachers of righteousness will be greater, more powerful, than the Antichrist! They are as Moses and Aaron (not literally) were before Pharaoh, who is a picture of the Antichrist.

Are you hearing what I am saying? We have built the Antichrist into this scary figure, and he is, but we have minimized the men who force him out of Jerusalem and wage war against anyone and anything he sends against them. This will infuriate him. He has only recently risen from the dead and declared himself God (2 Thess 2:4, Rev 13:4). Now his credibility is suffering greatly. Everyone on Earth is supposed to bow down to him and declare their allegiance to him, and here are two evangelists/prophets boldly and successfully resisting the man who claims to be “God.” To his chagrin, they are on television, computers, and cellphones, telling the whole world to serve Yeshua and reject the Antichrist. It is no wonder this egomaniac narcissist will “wage war against God’s holy people” (Rev. 13:7).

I believe that as a result of their preaching, there will be a great harvest. Their witness will be powerful, and their testimony will be true. I can imagine millions coming to faith. Of course, many won’t. As the Bible says, many hearts will grow cold. Others will melt with fear. But still others—God knows how many—will take their stand for the Messiah and “love not their lives unto death” (Rev. 12:11).

If there is no massive awakening, then who is the great multitude that no one could number?

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. (Rev. 7:9)

Who are these people?

Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. 7:12-14)

Some might claim this is referring to the Church being raptured. We have a few problems with that. First, if this is the Church in heaven that was raptured out before the Great Tribulation, where is the rest of the Church who died before the rapture? Secondly, it says that they came out of the Great Tribulation, not they were taken out before the Great Tribulation. These people experienced the Tribulation. And third, according to one of the foremost Greek scholars, the verb indicates continuous action:

“Dr. A. T. Robertson who has been regarded as the foremost Greek scholar of America in the twentieth century, talking about the significance of the present tense of this exact verb here in Revelation 7:14 says it’s indicating continuous action. And again, what it’s stating is, these saints are coming out of the Great Tribulation one by one by one by one.” (source)

In other words, it would be better translated, “These are they who had been coming out of the great tribulation.” It was not an event, but an ongoing process of departure from Earth and arrival in heaven, as they were martyred.

To support this, we look to the previous chapter.

I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the Earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been. (Rev. 6:9-11)

The “full number” in chapter 6 is believed by many scholars to be the great multitude in chapter 7. Furthermore, they “had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony.” They are martyrs not saints who were taken up in a rapture. As opposed to being a gloom and doom episode in history, it is one of great triumph, as captured here.

“In the passage which stands as the text, we have one of our glimpses of the victory which in those days of tribulation and anguish must have seemed so very remote and hard to believe. The innumerable throng in white robes, with palms in their hands, wear and bear the symbols of triumph. They stand forth in the din and clash of the contending forces depicted in this book, the happy participants in the glory and the purity of the victorious Lamb. Their white robes mean holiness. Their waving palms mean victory. The two symbols standing together set forth the triumph of holiness. That is the burden of the whole book. It is the glorious message which shines down to us from all these stormy pictures. The victory of the good, the end of strife in the purification of the world—this is the great thought poured out of the heart of that mystic utterance of the beloved Apostle. Victory through struggle and tribulation—that is the outcome of the world and the creation, prophesied in this vision of the multitude in white robes.” (The Great Texts of the Bible—James Hastings)

End Times Awakening

I want you to understand there is coming a great End Times outpouring. Multitudes will embrace Yeshua as the 144,000 share the Gospel, and the two prophets stand against the Antichrist. I want to encourage you to stand firm no matter what. That is the message of the Book of Revelation. We fail when we only see this book as a mystic road map for the End Times. The primary purpose of this book is to encourage us with heaven’s view of the End Times, so we will stand in the midst of tribulation and persecution—just like the first believers before Rome.

If you are captured by the Antichrist and you know the word of God, then you will be able to mediate on the fact that if they take your life you will be joining that Great Multitude of victorious martyrs in heaven. Of them, and maybe of you, it is written. 

“they are before the throne of God

    and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne

    will shelter them with his presence.

‘Never again will they hunger;

    never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat down on them,’

    nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb at the center of the throne

    will be their shepherd;

‘he will lead them to springs of living water.

    ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Rev. 7:15-17)

This passage should cause us to lift up our hands and give glory to God. Maybe you need to reread it! What a glorious future we have ahead of us!

This is why it is so urgent to know the word of God, to have it hidden in your heart as David said (Ps. 119:11). When your life is on the line, these passages—knowing what is waiting for you on the other side—will give you the strength and courage you need to stand.

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Yeshua, was on the island of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Yeshua. (Rev. 1:9)

Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. (Rev. 2:10)

To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations. (Rev. 2:26)

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Rev. 12:11)

“If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people. (Rev. 13:10)

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Yeshua. (Rev. 14:12)