The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11

Who are the two witnesses of Revelation 11? They shoot fire from their mouths, they stop rain from falling, they turn water into blood, they even strike the earth with plagues (Rev. 11:5-6). But despite their great powers, the two witnesses are eventually killed by a horrible, beastly enemy, and lie dead and unburied for three and a half days (Rev. 11:7-9). Yet after the three and a half days, they raise from the dead and ascend into heaven (Rev. 11:11-12). This is gripping reading, but what does it mean? Who are the two witnesses?

The Sons of God in Genesis 6:2-4

One of the most puzzling passages in the Bible is Genesis 6:2-4.  It mentions the “sons of God” (the “sons of Elohim”) who took wives from the “daughters of man.” This happened just before the Flood of Noah.  Many sensational videos have been made recently to explain this strange event and the mysterious giants (the Nephilim) mentioned in these same verses.  But what do we actually know about these “sons of Elohim”? And what can we learn about them from other passages in the Bible?

What Will be our Language in Heaven? (Q&A)

Q:  Someone in our small group asked this question when we were going through Revelation, “What will be our language in heaven?” referencing Revelation 7:9-10:

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (ESV)

Will it be that we will be worshiping and singing to the Lord in our own language? And will we be communicating with our own languages yet understanding each other and never needing any translation? (I’m thinking of 1 Corinthians 13:12 on this.)

Could you enlighten me please? I want to know your thoughts. —Jean R.

Understanding Alfred Edersheim’s “The Law in Messianic Times”

What will happen to the Law of Moses in the time of the Messiah?  This was an open question in Jesus’ day.  And it still generates strong opinions today.  Does the Law of Moses have any legitimate place in the Christian Church?  What about for Messianic believers in Jesus?  And what about in the Messianic age to come?  You may think your church or Christian organization is exempt from such controversies.  But if your church teaches that Jesus did away with the Law of Moses, how does it explain continued obedience to the Ten Commandments?  This “moral law” as some call it is still nevertheless a part of the Law of Moses.  So is the Law of Moses in force today or not?

The famous Messianic scholar Alfred Edersheim laid out some important insights into these questions in the 14th appendix of his classic The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.  Unfortunately, his style of writing and the difficulty of tracking down his references cause many skip over this little gem.  So to make it more accessible, I’ve written a brief summary with explanatory comments, complete with internet links to his rabbinical references in English.  His original writing is also linked below.  (A few of the links require you to sign-in to archive.org and to “borrow” the book in order to read it.  The references that I can’t find at the indicated location are marked with a “?”.)

Edersheim may not answer all our questions.  But he helps us understand the background to this discussion among the Jewish people.  Hopefully, this short summary will make it easier to grasp his main points and to find many of his references.

Can We Command God? Isa. 45:11 (Q&A)

Q:  A classmate sent me an online poster titled “You Will Command Me” (Tetzavuni) and said we can command Jesus to do healing, not ask!  The poster has different translations of Isa. 45:11, including the original Hebrew.  Is this true?  How to explain the Hebrew here? –Ruth C.

NOTE:  The poster includes an English translation from the Darby Bible:  “Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me” (Isa. 45:11)

A:  It’s certainly true that many translate the end of this verse as “you command me concerning the works of my hands.” But meaning is derived from context, and so we need to look at the context to figure out what this means.   

The passage appears in the middle of a prophecy about Cyrus, the Persian ruler who defeated the Babylonians (in 539 BC).  God says that he will “subdue nations” before Cyrus, even though Cyrus doesn’t know the God of Israel:  “though you have not known me” (Isa. 45:1,4).  And why will God support Cyrus in this way?  In order to prove that “besides me there is no God” (Isa. 45:5-6).  Not only does the prophecy mention Cyrus by name, it also mentions that he will rebuild Jerusalem and let the Jewish exiles go free (Isa. 45:13).  These are tremendous miracles that actually happened more than a hundred years after Isaiah’s prophecy was given.

Why did God want to kill Moses? Exo. 4:24-25 (Q&A)

Q:  About Exodus 4:24-25:  Why did God want to kill Moses? And why did Zipporah cut off her son’s foreskin and cast it at Moses’ feet? Why did she say Moses is truly a “bridegroom of blood”? –Ruth C.

A:  Zipporah called Moses a “bridegroom of blood” because of the circumcision of their son (Exo. 4:26).  This refers to the small amount of blood produced in a circumcision.  But we know little else about this incident. 

It’s especially puzzling that the Lord wanted to put Moses to death, since he was in the process of going to Egypt to do exactly what the Lord had asked him to do (Exo. 4:24).  But something similar happened to the prophet Balaam when he went to prophesy over Israel.  He, too, was on his way in obedience to the command of God (Num. 22:20).  But even though he was obeying God, God was angry with him (Num. 22:22).  In the Balaam story, it’s clear that God wanted to put fear in Balaam’s heart to make sure that he only spoke the words that God wanted him to speak (“and the word that I speak to you, only that will you speak,” Num. 22:35).  So perhaps this is also what God was doing with Moses.  We know that people often go through a big spiritual struggle when God is calling them to do some great thing, and this seems to be what Moses was going through. 

The Lament of the Land (Micah 7)

The warning of coming judgment is a common theme in the Bible.  But only in a few places is this expressed as the land itself crying out because of the sins that have taken place on it (Isa. 33:9; Jer. 12:4, 23:10; Hos. 4:3, Joel 1:10; Zech. 12:12).  Here in Micah, the land speaks directly to lament the tragedies it has suffered and those that were coming in the future.

This unusual prophecy caught the imagination of Jesus.  He quoted a portion of it in his own prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 10:34-36, Luke 12:51-53).  It’s outcry of the land contains an important message for us today when people and nations are once again at risk of spoiling their land through sin and incurring the judgment that will follow.

Micah spoke shortly before the devastating Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel.  This northern kingdom, which had broken away after the time of Solomon, ruled the northern ten tribes for two hundred years.  But almost immediately, it began a dangerous spiritual decline. Micah’s message came at a time of political turmoil:  The northern kingdom had been ruled by five rulers in the space of twenty years.  Two of these had ruled for less than a year, and three of them had gained the throne by murdering its former occupant.  False prophets filled the land with false hope (Micah 3:5-7).  And this spiritual and moral corruption was spreading south to Judah.  But despite the judgment and destruction that Micah warns was coming, in the end God will restore his people.

The Lament of the Land is the climax and final chapter of the book of Micah (Micah 7):