Lesson 6: “The Two Witnesses”
COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Life Assurance Ministries
Problems with this lesson:
- Because of Adventism’s year-for-a-day principle and EGWs interpretation that this prophetic period occurred between 538 and 1798 AD, the tribulation prophecies of Revelation must be forced into this period of history.
- The Great Controversy changes the biblical context of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 into the Old and New Testaments and makes French atheism the force that finally killed them.
- The Teachers Comments say the Catholic Church was the sackcloth that shrouded the two witnesses for 1260 years, and they accuse Catholicism of exactly what Adventism does to Scripture.
This lesson is incredibly convoluted because once a major principle of Scriptural interpretation is misused, everything else a person reads in the Bible is forced to fit the deceptive twisting already established.
Mark Finley, following the unique interpretive grid Ellen White laid down in The Great Controversy, has already declared that the “year-for-a-day” principle of prophetic interpretation is the one right way to understand the books of Daniel and Revelation. This week’s lesson takes us further down the rabbit-hole of Adventist deception as Finley walks his readers through seven lessons based on chapters 12 –17 of The Great Controversy.
These lessons are confusing and embarrassing demonstrations of the truth that one lie leads to a web of more and more intricate lies, each of which depends upon the previous ones which were all based on the original deception.
In this case the original lie was the Adventist founders’ refusal to repent of their sin of date setting and to submit themselves to the Lord Jesus in the pursuit of learning what the Bible actually says. Instead they held themselves OVER Scripture, established Ellen White as their prophetic authority to validate their doctrinal interpretations which were based on their existing antitrintarianism and disbelief in the inerrancy of Scripture, and became locked into a false gospel masquerading as “Christian” when in reality the religion was Satan-centric with a fallible Jesus who did not complete the atonement for sin on the cross.
This lesson shows how EGWs establishing the year-for-a-day principle forces the contextually vivid tribulation prophecies of Revelation into a confusion of gnostic knowledge that one could ever know without the revelations of an extra-biblical prophet.
Two Witnesses and the 1260 Days
This lesson focusses on Revelation 11 and the prophecy of the two witnesses. For context, we will begin by quoting Revelation 11:3–11, the passage on which the first five days of lessons are based; then we will compare the text with what the lessons say.
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
And if anyone wishes to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wishes to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
These have the authority to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; they also have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they wish.
And when they have finished their witness, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them.
And their dead bodies [will lie] in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations [will] look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
And those who dwell on the earth [will] rejoice over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.—Revelation 11:3–11 (LSB)
In context, this passage in Revelation occurs after John is asked to measure the temple of God in Jerusalem. These verses provide the setting for the witnesses, but this setting in Jerusalem doesn’t fit Ellen White’s interpretation at all. These verses are conveniently omitted.
Christians have differed over the interpretation of this vision, but if one reads Revelation contextually like a normal book using normal rules of grammar, vocabulary, and interpretation, Ellen White’s version simply won’t emerge.
First, since Finley, on the authority of Ellen White, establishes the Adventist view that the two witnesses are the Old and the New Testaments. Further, because the 1260-day time prophecies have already been interpreted to represent the years 538–1798 AD, the period when Ellen says the Catholic Church’s power dominated the world, this lesson reinforces EGW’s explanations that the Old and New Testaments were suppressed during this time period and ultimately “killed” for three-and-a-half years when atheism became the dominant philosophy at the end of the French Revolution.
Of course, this explanation is convoluted and confusing and without a shred of scriptural support.One hint that the lesson is misusing this passage to make an invalid application is found in Sunday’s lesson. Notice that verse five above says that the two witnesses, who are described as men who have “the authority to shut up the sky” and to turn the waters into blood and to “strike the earth with every plague” are given powers that echo those given to Moses and Elijah.
These men, moreover, have the power (verse two above) to harm their enemies; “fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wishes to harm them, he just be killed in this way.”
Even though we can’t fully identify who these witnesses are, we can see clearly that they have the power to kill their enemies with supernatural power that they have been given.
Yet in Sunday’s lesson Finley states,
Those who seek to harm the Scriptures will be consumed by the fire that comes from their mouth. God says, “ ‘Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them’ ” (Jer. 5:14, NKJV). God’s Word pronounces judgment upon all those who reject it. His word is like fire in the mouth.
The week’s lesson is introduced by reversing the direction and objects of the “mouth fire”. Revelation says the witnesses have the power to kill their enemies. Finley says the enemies of the witnesses are killed by the fire of God’s word in their own mouths. This is utterly illogical and inside-out. One cannot conclude this reverse judgment, that the opponents of God’s witnesses will die themselves by the power of God’s word in their mouths!
This reversal of the words of Scripture cannot yield the meaning God intended. From the beginning the wrong characters are dying, and God is not giving His words to be spoken by the enemies of His witnesses!
Catholics, the French Revolution, and Scripture
The lesson perpetuates Ellen White’s assertion that the years 538–1798 were the years the Bible was suppressed (the interpretation of the witnesses being dressed in sackcloth) by the authority of the Catholic Church. Finley echoes her as he explains this notion, but, on the prophet’s authority, he says that there were a few people loyal to the Bible “as they understood it” (p. 74). In this statement he leaves room for the Adventist interpretation that the Reformers didn’t get everything right—especially the restoration of the seventh-day Sabbath—but they were loyal to Scripture to the extent that they understood it.
They finally say that the Old and New Testaments were “killed” at the end of the French Revolution when the government established Atheism as the official belief system. Finley ends Tuesday’s lesson this way:
Revelation 11:9 says that the bodies of God’s two witnesses would lie unburied for “three-and-a-half days” (NKJV), i.e., prophetic “days” representing three and a half literal years. Atheism was at its height in the French Revolution, at least for about three and a half years. This period extended from November 26, 1793, when a decree issued in Paris abolished religion, to June 17, 1797, when the French government removed its restrictive religious laws.
Notice in the text quoted at the beginning that the witnesses are killed at the end of 1260 days (which is actually three-and-a-half-years) by the beast which rises from the sea. We learn specifically in Revelation 13 as well as from the vision of Daniel 7 that the beast from the sea is the antichrist who is coming. These witnesses will be killed by a political power that utterly opposes God—the Age of Reason in France at the end of the eighteenth century did not “kill” the Bible, nor can that be seen as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Revelation 11!
Yet The Great Controversy depends upon this understanding because it is necessary for Adventism to see Catholicism as the great antichrist power that will persecute them for their loyalty to the seventh-day Sabbath.
Wednesday’s lesson then tells the reader to read Revelation 11:11 (quoted above) and asks, “what prediction does this text make about the Word of God?”
Frankly, I see nothing in the passage about the word of God. What I do see is the prophecy that these two witnesses, men who come in the spirit and power of Elijah and Moses to witness in Jerusalem during the tribulation, will be killed—and after lying dead in the streets for three-and-a-half days, they will be resurrected! This is a direct echo of Jesus’ resurrection. These witnesses will be directing people’s attention to the Lord Jesus whom they have renounced, calling them to faith—and these hardened unbelievers in Jerusalem will be given powerful signs to call them to believe in the One who broke the curse of death.
Ellen and thus Finley, however, interpret this prophecy to say that people will rediscover the Bible. This understanding simply isn’t in the text.
Finley takes the reader, on Thursday, to Revelation 11:15–19 when the seventh trumpet will sound and John sees the ark of the covenant in heaven. Adventism says this vision established the Ten Commandments as the standard and basis of judgment, yet this idea is never suggested either in Revelation nor in the New Testament anywhere.
Once again, however, Finley leaves out the central verses of the passage. He doesn’t mention verses 12–14:
And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.
And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly. —(Revelation 11:12–14 LSB)
These verses tell us that the resurrected witnesses are called into heaven, and they go up into heaven in the cloud as their enemies watch them! This description reminds us—and their enemies—of Jesus’s ascension. Furthermore, their ascension is accompanied by a great earthquake, and 7,000 people are killed. This event is a significant moment during the tribulation that is designed to call unbelieving Jews as well as gentiles to faith in the One whom they know they disowned.
These verses, though, do not fit the interpretation that the witnesses are the Old and New Testaments. In fact, these verses simply throw a wrench into the EGW scenario of the French Revolution, the Catholics, and French Atheism being the villains in her version of this prophecy.
Finally, we come to the revealing Teachers Comments. In the middle of three full pages explaining how Catholicism is to blame for suppressing and misinterpreting God’s word, thus being the antichrist power that is the great enemy of Adventism/God’s people, we find these paragraphs on page 82:
According to the CCC [Catechism of the Catholic Church], God’s revelation “through his Word in the Holy Spirit” is “present and active in the Church,” and thus church tradition is an inseparable part of God’s special revelation, just as the prophets and the apostles (CCC, p. 79). For this reason, “the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation are entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the Holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence’ ” (CCC, p. 82).
True, the CCC does stipulate that the magisterium, being the only interpreter of Scripture (CCC, pp. 86, 100), “is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant” (CCC, p. 86). However, the magisterium does not draw only from Scripture but from both Scripture and tradition (CCC, p. 82). Because tradition is of equal authority with Scripture, and because the magisterium (“the Pope and the bishops in communion with him”) has the sole authority to “authentically” interpret the Word of God (CCC, p. 100), the magisterium will draw materials from both tradition and Scripture, whenever convenient.
Does not this description sound almost exactly like Adventism’s explanation of the role of Ellen White? Both organizations claim that the Bible is the superior book, but their respective interpreters are the servants of Scripture. Adventists use different words and insist that EGW is the “lesser light” who points everyone to the Bible, but in effect that is exactly the same role the magisterium plays in Catholicism.
Adventism, like Catholicism, will “draw materials from both tradition [EGW] and Scripture whenever convenient.” Significantly, Adventists also base their beliefs and practices on traditions which their “magisterium”—EGW—incorporates into her interpretations: Adventism is founded on the Arian tradition and the antitrinitarianism of the founders. Ellen was the means of incorporating these unchristian heresies into their pseudo-Christian doctrines. Thus Adventism, just like Catholicism, uses its unique traditions as authoritative for its worldview, and EGW is the interpreter who incorporates the heresies with the biblical words.
If you doubt that this is true of Adventism, just look at this quarter’s Sabbath School lessons. They are ENTIRELY based on a meta-narrative called “the great controversy” that is given by revelation to an extra-biblical prophet. This narrative is nowhere in Scripture. These biblical interpretations are not logical nor found anywhere outside Ellen White’s opus!
We are looking straight at the Adventist organization lying to its members. This is the Adventist pot calling the Catholic fire black! Adventism is doing to Scripture and to its members exactly what they accuse Catholicism of doing!
Furthermore, it’s worth noting one more detail: in all their unique time prophecies encapsulating papal authority within their 1260-day-for-a-year prophecy and making Catholicism the world villain, they never deal with the fact that in 1045 the western and eastern church split, yielding the Orthodox Church in the East. The Orthodox traditions are not identical but are similar to Catholicism, and they, too, rely on their own version of the magisterium and claim the authority to interpret Scripture.
Furthermore, EGW never included the force and influence of Islam on the world scene as she outlined her prophetic warnings and timings. Even more significantly, Adventism does not see itself as an organization modeled in the likeness of exactly what they teach their members to hate.
In summary, the two witnesses of Revelation 11 remain mysterious figures whose identities are not yet known, yet when we read Scripture contextually, we can be certain that the great controversy’s interpretation of them as the Old and New Testaments being suppressed and temporarily killed by Catholic powers and atheism in the middle ages and through the Renaissance, Reformation, and beyond makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Adventism has suppressed the true gospel and placed a great controversy veil over the eyes of its members. Our appeal is that you will be willing to let go of your presuppositions about the Bible and submit to it and to the Lord of the Bible. Believe that you cannot please God but must repent of your sin and trust the blood of the cross of Christ. Believe that Jesus took your sin, endured God’s wrath for your sin, died, and rose on the third day according to Scripture—breaking the curse of your death sentence!
Believe today—and you can forever be free from the choking confusion of the great controversy and it demands that you can never meet. Trust Jesus—and be free! †
This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.
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