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them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was
crucified.... And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them,
and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these
two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three
days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they
stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.”
[
Revelation 11:2-11
.]
The periods here mentioned—“forty and two months,” and “a thou-
sand two hundred and threescore days”—are the same, alike represent-
ing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression
from Rome. The 1260 years of papal supremacy began with the estab-
lishment of the papacy in A. D. 538, and would therefore terminate in
1798. At that time a French army entered Rome, and made the pope a
prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a new pope was soon afterward
elected, the papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the
power which it before possessed.
The persecution of the church did not continue throughout the
entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to his people cut short
the time of their fiery trial. In foretelling the “great tribulation” to
befall the church, the Saviour said, “Except those days should be
shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those
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days shall be shortened.” [
Matthew 24:22
.] Through the influence of
the Reformation, the persecution was brought to an end prior to 1798.
Concerning the two witnesses, the prophet declares further, “These
are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the
God of the earth.” “Thy Word,” said the psalmist, “is a lamp unto my
feet, and a light unto my path.” [
Revelation 11:4
;
Psalm 119:105
.]
The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New
Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity
of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The
types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward
to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament
tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type
and prophecy.
“They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days,
clothed in sackcloth.” During the greater part of this period, God’s
witnesses remained in a state of obscurity. The papal power sought