Month: January 2010

The Two and Three Witnesses of Christ’s Transfiguration:

Upon the mount was represented the future kingdom of glory.

The witness of the three disciples: Peter, James, and John at Christ’s  transfiguration. See Matt. 17: 1-8; Mark 9: 2-8; Luke 9: 28-36. :

     “Not all, even of the twelve, can receive the revelation He desired to give. Only the three who are to witness His anguish in Gethsemane have been chosen to be with Him on the mount. Now the burden of His prayer is that they may be given a manifestation of the glory that He had with the Father before the world was, that His kingdom may be revealed to human eyes, and that His disciples might be strengthened to behold it. He pleads that they may witness a manifestation of His divinity that will comfort them in the hour of His supreme agony with a knowledge that He is of a surety the Son of God and that His shameful death is a part of the plan of redemption.” – Desire of Ages, pp. 420-1.

overflowing.” An Historical Sketch of the Protestant Church of France, pp. 530-32 by J.G. Lorimer, 1841, from Bible Source, p. 614.

              “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.”

      A well-respected historian wrote: “On the 17^th of June, Camille Jordan, in the Council of Five Hundred, brought up the memorable report on the Revision of the laws relative to the freedom of religious worship. . . . The Bible had been slain in France from November 1793 till June 1797. . . . and the Bible so long sternly repressed before, was placed in honor, and was openly the book of Protestantism.” – The Apocalypse of St. John, pp. 181-183 by George Croly, 1828, quoted in Source Book, pp. 615-6.

culminated in the ‘reign of terror’ of 1793, when France discarded the Bible and denied the existence of Deity.

     A modern historian thus describes this great religious change:            

           “Certain members of the Convention, too, had been the first to attempt to replace Christian worship in the provinces by civic ceremonial, in the autumn of 1793.  At Abbeville, Dumont, having informed the populace that the priests were ‘harlequins’ and clowns in black garments, who showed off marionettes,’ had set up the Worship of Reason, and, with not an uncommon inconsistency, organized a ‘marionette show’ of his own of a most imposing description, with dances in the cathedral of every decadi, and civic festivals of the ‘observance’ of which he greatly insisted. Fouchi was the next who abolished Christian worship; speaking from the pulpit of the Cathedral of Nevers he formally erased all spiritualism from the republican programme, promulgated the famous order which declared ‘death an eternal slumber,’  and thus turned the key on heaven and hell alike. . . . In his congratulatory address to the ex-bishop, the president declared that as the Supreme Being ‘desire no worship other than the worship of Reason, that should in future be the national religion.’ Lous Madellin, The French Revolution, pp. 387, 388.

              Verse 5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

    “To hurt the word of God is to oppose, corrupt, or pervert its testimony, and turn people away from it. Against those who do this work, fire proceedeth out of their mouth to devour them, that is, judgment of fire is pronounced in that word against such. It declares that they will have their punishment in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. (Malachi 4: 1; Rev. 20: 15; 22: 18, 19).

             Verse 6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

the false prophets that have and will continue to arise, causing confusion, assuring salvation in sin, and causing shipwreck of faith. But it is not difficult to know if a message is from above: if it exposes the true nature of sin, reveals the perfect righteousness of Christ, and slays it in the heart of the convicted sinner.

      “In His Word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures [the Bible] are to be accepted as an authoritative, infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience.

          Yet the fact that God has revealed His will to men through His Word, has not rendered needless the continued presence and guiding of the Holy Spirit. . . .

     It is therefore difficult to understand how those who claim to be “New Testament Christians” say that there is no judgment in open contradiction to this passage, among others, that so clearly warn of God’s righteous judgments and its nature.

    We read in Matthew 17: 1-7 and Mark 9:2-8 that after six days (the number of man), Jesus was transfigured. He first takes with Him to the mount three witnesses—Peter, James and John. These three disciples, in turn, also witness two other living witnesses who represent the two classes of people who will enter heaven: Moses, “the meekest of all men” (Num. 12: 3, 7) who first tasted the first death because of one sin (Num. 20:10, 11; Deut. 32: 48-52; 34: 1-50, but was resurrected, and Elijah, who was translated to heaven without tasting death. Both Enoch, the seventh patriarch from Adam and Elijah represent the 144,000–who will be formed when the last of all tests upon mankind will be given in the enforcement of the mark of the beast before probation closes,  and will be similarly translated.

The Two Witnesses of the Holy Scriptures

   In Revelation 11: 2-12 Jesus revealed to John at Patmos His “two witnesses”—the Old and the New Testaments which were also shown in vision to the prophet Zechariah as the two olive trees and the two candlesticks. The Old Testament, comprised of “the law and the prophets,” Jesus referred to as “the

     Instructing Timothy, the youngest apostle, Paul wrote: “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning [openly] rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.” 1 Tim. 5:19, 20.

On the meaning of “witness,” or martures, Dr. John Davies in A Dictionary of the Bible (The Westminster Press, PA, 1942) says:

          “Evidence which could be appealed to was secured by some tangible token or memorial, as a heap of stones (Gen. 31: 46-52), or by calling in men to witness the event (23:10-18), by a written document, as a deed or letter of divorce (Deut. 24: 1, 3; Jer. 32: 10).

harmony with what the Holy Scriptures say about the matter. This is not to say, however, that proffered opinions are to not to entertained in any discussions. They are, however, to be subject to the principle enunciated here as guided by the Holy Spirit and done in the humble and spirit of true investigation of truth.

The following verses are where this principle is repeated (all quoted from the New King James Version):

“Whoever is worthy of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses, but he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.” Deut. 17:6.  “One witness shall not against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.” ch. 19:15.