The Two Witnesses

Hi! and happy good weekend to all of us, GUYS.  Our "daily bread" this Saturday:

THE GOOD NEWS (19 November 2016)

"These are the two olive trees and the two lamps which are before the LORD of the earth.  If anyone intends to harm them, fire will come out of their mouths to devour their enemies: this is how whoever intends to harm them will perish.  They have the power to close the sky and hold back the rain during the time of their prophetic mission; they also have the power to change water into blood, and punish the earth with a thousand plagues, any time they wish.

But when MY witnesses have fulfilled their mission, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war upon them, and will conquer and kill them.  Their dead bodies will lie in the square of the Great City which the believers figuratively call Sodom or Egypt, where their LORD was crucified.  And their dead bodies will be exposed for three days and a half to people of all tribes, races, languages and nations who will be ordered not to have them buried.

Then the inhabitants of the earth will rejoice, congratulate one another and exchange gifts among themselves because these two prophets were a torment to them.

But after those three and a half days, a spirit of life coming from GOD entered them.  They then stood up, and those who looked at them were seized with great fear.  A loud voice from heaven called them, 'Come up here.'  So they went up to heaven in the midst of the clouds in the sight of their enemies." - Revelation 11:4-12 

Peter And Paul

(This is the beginning of Gospel times.  During the forty years between CHRIST's departure and the end of Jerusalem, CHRIST's witnesses proclaimed the Gospel throughout the pagan world.  This beginning of the time that Paul calls "time of the nations" was characterized in Palestine by continual crisis.  While GOD protects HIS true worshipers [those who are measured or set apart], the pagan Romans pressure and trample upon the outer courtyard representing most of the people of Israel who did not join the Church.

This page glorifies the Christian apostolate: its struggles, its martyrs and its reward.

The two witnesses personify Christian apostles of all times.  Do not forget that JESUS sent HIS disciples two by two.  The fact that there are two is also a reminder that there are a variety of ministries in the Church.  The two witnesses are also the two most famous apostles, Peter and Paul, both killed in the Great City, Rome, between the years 64-67.  Peter, the first head of JESUS' Church, and Paul, the apostle to the pagan nations.

To understand what is said about them, it is useful to know that all the comparisons used are taken from the Bible, especially from the texts that glorify the great prophets Moses and Elijah.

- These are the two olive trees, meaning they are precious in the eyes of GOD: see Zechariah 4.

- They have the power to close the sky, like Elijah, that is to say that GOD allows them to work miracles.

- When they have fulfilled their mission.  The forces of evil will not overpower them before GOD allows it.  Only then will martyrdom come.

- After three and a half days [again the symbolic figure for trials] they will be raised.  They are already glorified by the Church that has its apostles and martyrs as mediators in heaven.  They already share the resurrection of CHRIST and their enemies learn that, in killing CHRIST's witnesses, they did not destroy HIS work, which continues to grow victoriously.

Where do they die?  The images point to both Jerusalem and Rome, meaning the Jews and the Romans in those first forty years of the Church.  Stephen and James have been killed by the Jews, Peter and Paul, by the Romans, not to mention the rest of the early Christian martyrs.) 

Basilica Of Sts. Peter And Paul, Philadelphia, USA

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