“But He knows the way that I take;when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”
(Job 23:10, NKJV)
The previous teaching dealt with an exegesis of Rev. 11, specifically concerning the events around the two witnesses. This led to a new understanding of the nature of the remnant. We then concluded with the section that describes the contemporary church system as Sodom (and Gomorrah) and Egypt. We pointed out that the exact spiritual exercises and manifestations that were part of God’s plan, and the impartation of a manifold Godly-orchestrated revivals that started in the Spirit, eventually ended in the flesh. The animal from the depths of the Adamic nature eventually silenced the testimonies in the city of religion.
A few last thoughts on the symbolic value of the term Egypt, which is used to refer to the contemporary church system in Rev. 11:8. Egypt is the symbol of spiritual bondage and oppression under the rule of religious systems that wish to regulate, control and manipulate the lives of believers. Their time, money and talents/calling is engulfed by the church and abused for the sake of building up the system.
In Hebrew pictography the lemma Egypt means “the twice-narrow place”. It is a place of distress and claustrophobia you are caught up in. In Ps. 118:5 (CJB) David laments, “From my being hemmed in I called on Yah …” Note – Egypt is a state of the spirit. If the believer cannot see that the religious system is limiting them and cannot discern the effects of this bondage, they are definitely in Egypt.
The following two verses, Rev. 11:9-10, asks specific interpretation in the light of what was explained above: “Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.”
They who rejoice about the seeming obliteration of the remnant’s testimony, are here referred to as “those who dwell on the earth”, or “all the people who belong to this world” (NLT), clearly carnal Christians, believers who are “earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:15). The religious person who is “of the earth” (1 Cor. 15:47), does not seek the fulfilment of Christ-within-me, but seeks an earthly reward – wealth, blessings, abundance, total wellbeing. The testimony of the two witnesses tormented the conscience of these carnal believers. Jesus’s words in John 15:18 are still the truth: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”
There is thus a general sense of sensationalism in the carnal church, a need for entertainment, which is aimed at the pleasure of the masses and which can draw crowds. The true prophetic voice is strange to most, painful to some, as the masses are only looking for a voice that soothes the audience (2 Tim. 4:3). These carnal believers are tormented by the voice of the remnant (Hag. 1:12).
The word torment may initially sound brutal, but that is because the rich Greek history of this word is not taken into account in most translations. The word tormented [at times also translated as “vexed” (Bishops), but perhaps closer to the original “brought judgment” (HCSB), or even better, “pricked the conscience” (MSG)”], derives from the word basanismos, which in turn derives from the root word basanos , which means touchstone. Wikipedia explains it as follows: “A touchstone is a small tablet of dark stone such as fieldstone, slate, or lydite, used for assaying precious metal alloys. It has a finely grained surface on which soft metals leave a visible trace.” Metaphorically this points to any matter against which validity, merit or value is measured or tested. (This is clearly also the primary assignment given to John at the beginning of Rev. 11, when he is told to measure the temple.) In ancient times the touchstone was often used to test whether a piece of metal is indeed gold, or symbolically seen, to test if it is true, if it is genuine.
One can then see that the two witnesses are not really tormenting those who live on earth in the strict sense of the word. In the Greek world of life and thought touchstone has gained a wider meaning, and over time started implying torment, as prison wardens would torment prisoners to get the truth out of them (“being tested with torture”). This derivative meaning of touchstone thus also became applicable to prison wardens. Therefore we for instance read in the gospels in the parable of the unforgiving servant that his boss “delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him” (Matt. 18:34). The ALTNT-translation for instance provides both possibilities: “the torturers [or, jailers]”, while for instance the ESV, WNT, RSV and HCSB only use the term jailers. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia notes: “Probably the imprisonment itself was regarded as ‘torment’ (as it doubtless was), and the ‘tormentors’ need mean nothing more than jailers.”
At this junction we want to take a short detour to illuminate a particular matter. In Rev. 20:10 it is written: “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
In the teaching of Day 740-778 we extensively discussed the lake of fire and brimstone, and the surprising conclusion that the Bride of Christ forms this furnace of testing! If the sons of God, the true Body, who are the standard “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13), it simultaneously also becomes the touchstone by which the world is condemned, as was said of Noah’s standard of obedience in Heb. 11:7.
But the question remains – why would the devil and the animal and the false prophet IN THE BRIDE AS FURNACE be tormented for all eternity?
In the light of the explanation of the origin of the word tormented it is thus much clearer. The Bride of Christ will not torment these evil beings for all eternity, just as the two witnesses will not torment the sensual world. Satan, the animal and the false prophet will be tested by the Bride as touchstone, and thus they will be condemned forever through that truth, in the safest high security jail of all times: the eternal death.
Thus: the two witnesses live the testimony of Jesus (and his Godly nature WITHIN them), and the sinful-carnal dwellers of the earth are “convicted by their conscience” (John 8:9) through that touchstone, until their conscience can also bear witness (Rom. 2:15) of a belief tested by the Word and the Spirit, for purity and truth.
- Selah: Are you part of the standard of the furnace yet?
- Read: Job 37-42.
- Memorise: Job 38:7.
