1 Kings 17:14-16 “For thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.' “(15) So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. (16) The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah”.
We have established the form of accommodation that will be available to the saints during their stay in the mountains, but what about their food? How will hundreds of thousands of saints, having no access to outside resources, be sustained in the mountains for three-and-a-half years? The answer to that question is the supernatural. In the above quoted passage of scripture we have an account of God sustaining Elijah, the widow and her household, for over a year on just a small jar of oil and a small bin of flour. As we can see from this passage, no matter how much oil and flour they used it never ran out, because God supernaturally kept replenishing that which they used. And so it is quite possible that God will supernaturally keep replenishing whatever foodstuffs the saints are able to take with them, so they never run out. This is just one of the avenues available to God for feeding the saints during that time. Another avenue would be God sending Manna from heaven once again, just as He fed the three million Jews in the wilderness for forty years. And so it doesn’t matter how God chooses to do it, the point is that both Moses and Elijah, who have been used by God in the past to supernaturally feed people over an extended period, will be with the saints to feed them on this occasion as well.
Revelation 12:13-17 “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. (15) So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. (16) But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. (17) And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
So what about the anti-Christ? We have seen earlier that in the final half of his reign the anti-Christ, working together with the devil, will make a concerted effort to annihilate both the Israeli nation and the Lord’s saints throughout the earth. And so his effort to annihilate the Lord’s saints will obviously include the Jewish saints who will flee to the mountains. The above quoted passage of scripture gives us the opening account of the devil’s attempt to destroy the Jewish saints at that time. In this passage we see that the serpent spewing water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman so that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. The serpent in this passage refers to Satan and the woman refers to the Jewish saints. And so we see that the Jewish saints fleeing to the mountains at that time will not go unnoticed and the devil will attempt to prevent their flight. It is doubtful that the devil will use a literal flood to prevent the saints from fleeing however, but rather the flood symbolises the armies of the anti-Christ pursuing the saints as they flee. The earth opening its mouth to swallow the flood does sound like a literal earthquake that will take place however, which will have the effect of destroying a large part of the anti-Christ’s armies attempting to apprehend the saints. The reason God will use this method to deal with the pursuing armies of the anti-Christ is because the saints would not yet have reached their sanctuary in the mountains, where they will fall under the protection of Moses and Elijah.
2 Kings 6:18-20 “So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, "Strike this people, I pray, with blindness." And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. (19) Now Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." But he led them to Samaria. (20) So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, "Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see." And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria!”
After his initial failure to capture the Jewish saints, the anti-Christ will not just give up and leave them alone. Throughout the forty two month period he will continually send army detachments into the mountains to search for the saints. Nevertheless because Moses and Elijah will use supernatural power to protect the saints, the anti-Christ’s army’s endeavours to locate the camp of the saints will prove to be unsuccessful. The above quoted passage of scripture gives us a bit of insight into how the Lord’s two prophets will do this. The context of this account is that the Syrians had sent an army to a town where Elisha was staying, the purpose being to arrest him. This passage teaches us that the way Elisha dealt with the problem is that he asked the Lord to strike the Syrian army with blindness. It wasn’t a blindness in which the Syrian army couldn’t see at all, but rather it was a blindness that prevented them from recognising Elisha and caused them to “blindly” follow Elisha to a place of his choosing. When their eyes were eventually opened, much to their horror they found that they had been led into a place where they were surrounded by the Israeli army. And so in a similar manner Elijah and Moses will confront any army detachments sent by the anti-Christ, strike them with blindness, and lead to locations that are nowhere near the camp of the saints. That will happen time and again, making all the anti-Christ’s army’s searching an exercise in futility.
Genesis 19:9-11 “And they said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them." So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. (10) But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. (11) And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.”
So what about modern reconnaissance and surveillance? For the anti-Christ armies will have various drones equipped with high resolution cameras and thermal imaging, etc, and they may even have access to satellite surveillance. So is it not logical that given the availability of such technology, it will be a very simple exercise for the anti-Christ armies to locate a camp accommodating hundreds of thousands of people in a mountainous area? In the natural it would be impossible for such an extensive camp to evade detection from modern surveillance systems, but we are talking about the supernatural power of God which is well able to hide His saints, even in plain sight. The above quoted passage of scripture gives us some idea how God will do that. The context of this passage is that the Lord’s angels had come to Lot’s house to extract him and his family from Sodom before they destroyed the town. We pick up the account when the townsfolk had surrounded Lot’s house, demanding that the angels be handed over to them and they were attempting to break down the door to gain access. This passage tells us that in dealing with the situation, all the angels did was strike the people with blindness. Again, it wasn’t a blindness as we know it, but rather it was a blindness that prevented them from seeing something very specific, which in this case was the door to Lot’s house. And so even though they were standing in front of the door and had been trying to break it down, in their minds the door had disappeared. When that happened they then walked all around the house trying to find the door, but because of their blindness, even if someone came along and pointed the door out to them they would still be unable to see it. This passage teaches us that the people eventually got tired of trying to find the door, gave up and left. And so in a similar manner the people who will be monitoring the various surveillance assets at the time will be unable to see the saints’ camp, even though their camp will be plainly visible to anyone else looking at those same monitors and reconnaissance photos. Because these surveillance experts will report to their superiors that there is no evidence of any camp of the saints in the mountains, it is very likely that the anti-Christ will eventually give up looking for the Jewish saints. As an aside, because Michael and his angels will ensure that the entire region is off limits to the devil and his angels, Satan’s demons will be of no use in assisting the anti-Christ to find the camp of the saints.
Michael E.B. Maher
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