“who served his own generation in the plan of God”
(Acts 13:36, ACV)
The twenty-second characteristic of the corporate spirit or mantle of Zerubbabel with which we’ve been dealing with the last couple of weeks is concerned with measurement, specifically the measuring of the golden altar, the altar of incense of Rev. 11. This led to an investigation of the two witnesses who are, according to verse 4, “the two olive trees” (of Zech. 4:3, 11 & 14). But interestingly enough they are also called, in the same verse, “the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth”.
Only two of the churches that are mentioned in chapters two and three of Revelations receive a clean spiritual audit from God. They were weighed and not found wanting (Dan. 5:27)!
God measures in glory. The Hebrew word for glory is kabod, and in Greek, doxa, and the root meaning of both those terms is heavy. If you “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) you are found wanting. God can thus weigh the glory of a handful of believers and it can measure more than an entire city of unbelievers. This “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17) could easily be replaced by another type of measure – length, height, dimension, whatever. The measuring of the temple and the altar of incense is the same type of endeavour, another type but similar to the “full line” (2 Sam. 8:2), “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). It is of this full measure or weight of glory about which Jesus prayed in John 17:22: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them …”, and: “I am glorified in them” (verse 10).
Back to the two ecclesias in Rev. 2-3 who did not receive this serious admonishment, but instead were praised, encouraged and promised wonderful things, namely the ecclesia of Smyrna and the ecclesia of Philadelphia. All the churches that are mentioned are sketched by a lampstand: “the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches” (Rev. 1:20). Five of the churches run the risk of losing their lampstand (Rev. 2:5). In Rev. 11:7 they are defined based on their testimony: “When they finish their testimony …” These two churches are thus both witnesses, and together they form the symbolic representative of the remnant. For a more detailed discussion of the term remnant, read the teachings of Day 1173-1176 again, but here is a short summary:
- Throughout the ages there has been a remnant that carry the testimony of God’s plan on earth. Their high calling and elections is akin to that of David, “who served his own generation in the plan of God” (Acts 13:36, ACV), part of a testimony, throughout the ages, of God’s agenda.
- The remnant is the small group of believers in whom, throughout the ages, God has planted his Godly seed, which they protected in testimony, in the absolute hope and faith that God’s master plan is coming to fruition over the course of ages.
- The so-called remnant especially means that God protects, within them, the seed of His universal blueprint through “the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 19:10).
- Throughout the ages there has been a serious attempt from the kingdom of darkness “to make war with the remnant of her seed, those keeping the commandments of God, and having the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 12:17, ACV).
Throughout the ages there has been a faithful group, the remnant, always few in number, who God entrusted with carrying His seed. In the so-called church ages, between the first and sixth days after the first Adam, or then the first and second day after the last Adam (Hos. 6:1-3; 2 Pet. 3:8; 1 Cor. 15:45), the remnant have protected the testimony of Jesus (yes, even those in the old covenant – read the entire chapter of Hebrews 11 again). BUT THEY ARE NOT the manifested sons of God (Rom. 8:19). The manifested sons of God, the “manchild” (Rotherham), is only manifested later, in Rev. 12:5 & 13. They are the ones who are “caught up to God and His throne” – in other words, they rule “all nations with a rod of iron” (verse 5). [We have often misinterpreted Eph. 2:6, which explicitly notes that we are “raised … up together, and … sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” but that does not imply that we are already ruling now.]
Up until now the ideal of ruling from the throne of God in and through those who have been saved, has not come to fruition. These rulers only receive their kingship after the seventh trumpet has been sounded, when the mystery of Christ WITHIN us is fulfilled (Rev. 11:7): “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ …’” (Rev. 11:15). This has not yet been realised. The two witnesses receive their ministry and power and authority under the authority of the sixth trumpet that is sounded. (It is therefore also not strange that this is accompanied by the measuring of the golden altar, as Rev. 9:13 makes clear: “Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God …”)
These two witnesses, the typological remnant through the ages, died, and according to the typology of Rev. 11:12 they “ascended to heaven in a cloud”. Take note – they were taken up into the cloud of testimony (Heb. 12:1), and not to the throne of God. The two witnesses, the remnant, have been overcome, through the ages, by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit”, who “will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them” (Rev. 11:7). The Manchild is never overcome – they rule over everything!
The company of witnesses came into being over the ages, through the spirit of prophesy, which is “the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 19:10). But the Manchild is the fulfilment of that prophesy, and what we call the testimony of Christ! Selah.
Contrary to what we have always thought, it is important to realise that the company of the two witnesses, or the remnant, opens the way to a new species on earth, the manifested sons of God, or the Bride, the Manchild.
This glorious period which started becoming manifest with the first seeds that were sown in the spirit between 1899 and 1907, from the prisoners of war of St Helena to Azusa Street in Los Angeles, and reached an absolute pinnacle in 1948 with the rediscovery of the Spirit, and the various revivals that accompanied this. It was a period of signs and wonders and miracles. The power of God was plentiful, and showed itself through the mighty works of the Holy Spirit. Through this the call to manifested sonship arose.
But that epoch of the second dimension came to an end at the turn of the previous century. The next large event on God’s calendar is then the birth of the Manchild (Dan. 3:25).
We will not be discussing the two witnesses of Revelation 11, and the immense amount of information that needs to be symbolically thought through – it was important to just touch on this to ensure the right foundation around this crucial reference.
What is however important at this time, is that Rev. 11:8 says the following about the two witnesses: “And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” We are going to use this to show that the two witnesses not only point to the positive unfolding of God’s plan of salvation, but that the corporate implications of the death of two witnesses also present much to learn from. Although there was an immense spiritual dynamic with the establishment of the first and second dimensions, and it brought about a large amount of witnesses in the cloud of testimony, it brought about the gradual impoverishment and corruption of the collective ecclesia over the course of years.
Israel, the Old Testament Bride, was called terrible things by the Old Testament prophets in her apostate state: Sodom (and Gomorrah) and Egypt. The city of God, Jerusalem, where the major event of Jesus’s crucifixion took place, was so spiritually soiled that it seemed like one of the cities that earned the wrath of God. Look at the following examples:
- “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah …” (Isa. 1:10)
- About Jerusalem is said: “How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards.” (Isa. 1:21-23)
- “Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah.” (Isa. 1:9).
If we need to cast it in different terms, it would mean that this exact exercise of faith and manifestation which was part of God’s plan, and the impartation of a manifold Godly-orchestrated revivals that started in the Spirit, eventually ended in the flesh (Gal. 3:1). The animal from the depths of the Adamic nature eventually quieted the testimonies in the city of religion. This city is populated by people “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). In Isa. 29:13-14 it is placed in relief: “Therefore the Lord said: ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.’”
In Isa. 5 God argues this law of apostasy (= turning away from God, or carnality in a spiritual guise) by using Israel as example, but this can be true of any ministry/ matter/movement/church/group – God plants them as noble vine, there is much good fruit, but over time, when people do not guard over the sincerity of their hearts, the vine starts producing wild grapes, and God allows it to be judged. This does not mean that the initial planting was not the will of God, or that there were not good things that came about through it. The opposite is often true.
Thus, despite the absolute spiritual highlights of the second dimension it became, over time, a deadly religion. Religion, the singer Bono has argued, is what remains when God has left the building.
- Selah: Explain the symbolism of the two witnesses to someone.
- Read: Job 28-36.
- Memorise: Job 19:23-24 (what a lovely prophetic Scripture about the core of this teaching).
