Matthew 17:10-11 “And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" (11) Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture, we see that the Lord Jesus has mandated His two prophets to restore all things when He sends them back into the earth. What that means is that their ministry will be focused primarily on bringing Israel to repentance through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Messiah. The two witnesses will not be sent to the gentiles, for before these two witnesses are manifested in the earth, the fullness of the gentiles would have already come into the kingdom of God.
Revelation 12:13-14 “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. (14) But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”
Just as God sent John the Baptist to minister in the wilderness before our Lord’s first coming, so it is that Moses and Elijah will also minister in the wilderness before our Lord’s second coming. Because of which, the Lord’s two witnesses will provide sanctuary in the wilderness for the Lord’s saints that flee the Antichrist’s persecution of the Jews in Israel. This truth is revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for the woman referred to in this passage are the Jewish believers and the dragon is Satan. So how will Moses and Elijah provide sanctuary for the saints in the wilderness during that time? They will do it supernaturally by blinding anyone from seeing the camp of the saints in the wilderness, just as the angels blinded the crowds from being able to find the front door to Lot’s house (Genesis 19:11). The two prophets will also provide supernaturally for the needs of the saints living with them, just as Moses fed and watered the children of Israel in the desert (Exodus 16) and Elijah fed the widow’s household during the drought (1 Kings 17:14). Throughout their three-and-a-half years of ministry, more and more Jews escaping from the persecution will find their way to the camp of the saints and thus more and more will be added to the kingdom of God.
Michael E.B. Maher
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