“If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone desires to harm them, thus must he be killed. These have the authority to shut heaven that no rain may fall during the days of their prophecy; and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire” (11:5-6).
In His wisdom, God will allow the two witnesses to be defeated temporarily. “When they have completed their testimony, the beast who comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and will overcome them and kill them” (v. 7). Antichrist will make war with the two witnesses and with the saints (13:7). Eventually, even the two strongest witnesses will be killed by the persecution under Antichrist. After these two witnesses are martyred, “those of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations see their corpses for three and a half days, and they do not allow their corpses to be placed in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. And after the three and a half days, the breath of life out of God entered into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those beholding them. And they heard a loud voice out of heaven saying to them, Come up here. And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them” (11:9-12).
“In that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell; and seven thousand men were killed in the earthquake, and the rest became terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven” (v. 13). The city refers to Jerusalem (v. 8). The tenth part of the city of Jerusalem will fall as a result of this earthquake, and the rest of the city of Jerusalem will be divided into three parts at the last earthquake spoken of in 16:19. Literally, verse 13 of chapter 11 says that seven thousand names of men were killed in the earthquake. The phrase names of men implies people of renown. This will be seven thousand famous people. At that time, many among the nation of Israel will be people of renown. Seven thousand of them will be killed by this earthquake because they took the lead not to believe in the Lord Jesus.
At the end of the great tribulation, three unclean spirits out of the mouths of Satan, Antichrist, and the false prophet will go forth to stir up the kings of the whole inhabited earth and to gather their forces (16:13-14), including the two hundred million horsemen spoken of in verses 14 through 16 of chapter 9, to the war at Armageddon. This will be the last war among mankind before the millennium. Satan’s intention will be to destroy Israel (Zech. 14:2) and to fight against Christ and His army. For this he will use all of rebellious mankind (Rev. 17:12-14; 19:11-19). Christ and His chosen overcomers will defeat and destroy Antichrist and the false prophet and their armies (vv. 20-21; Micah 4:11-13; Zeph. 3:8; Zech. 14:3, 12-15; 12:4, 9) and will save the nation of Israel (vv. 3-8; 14:4-5; Joel 3:14-17). This is the treading of the great winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, as well as the judgment at the valley of Jehoshaphat prophesied by the prophet Joel in the Old Testament (Rev. 14:17-20; Isa. 63:1-6; Joel 3:9-13).
When the armies gather to attack Jerusalem, half of the city of Jerusalem will be brought into captivity, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city (Zech. 14:2). The feet of Christ “will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split at its middle toward the east and toward the west into a very great valley, so that half of the mountain will remove to the north and half of it to the south” (v. 4). The remnant of the besieged Israel will flee into the valley of Jehovah’s mountains by the way opened to them by Jehovah (v. 5). In order to save His chosen elect and to judge evil mankind, God will also cause that day to have no light; the shining of the sun, the moon, and the stars will withdraw (v. 6). The people of Israel will see and look upon Christ whom they pierced, they will see Him coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and all the people and tribes will repent and mourn (Matt. 24:30; Zech. 12:10-14; Rev. 1:7). They will also believe and receive Him. In this way, all Israel will be saved. After the Lord destroys the Gentile armies in the war at Armageddon in order to save the people of Israel, the three and a half years of the great tribulation will end. This age will also come to an end, and the age of the kingdom will begin.
After the man-child has been raptured to the throne of God, there will be war in heaven, and the dragon will be defeated and cast down to the earth. When the dragon sees that he has been cast to the earth, he will persecute the woman who brought forth the man-child. This will be the beginning of the great tribulation. The dragon will cast water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, but the earth will open its mouth and swallow the river. He will then make war with the rest of the woman’s seed. The woman will be given the two wings of the great eagle to fly into the wilderness into her place, where she will be nourished for a thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Satan, Antichrist, and the false prophet, a devilish company, will be on earth doing everything possible to corrupt it, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. However, God will send two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, to give testimony on the earth. The two witnesses are the two olive trees, the two lampstands, and the two sons of oil standing before the Lord on the earth. They will be clothed in sackcloth and will prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days. If anyone desires to harm them, fire will proceed out of their mouth and devour their enemies. In His wisdom God will allow these two witnesses to be temporarily defeated and killed. However, after three and a half days the breath of life out of God will enter into them, and they will stand on their feet, causing great fear to fall upon those beholding them. In that hour there will be a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city will fall. Seven thousand men will be killed in the earthquake, and the rest will become terrified and give glory to the God of heaven.
At the end of the great tribulation, three unclean spirits will go forth to stir up the kings of the whole inhabited earth and to gather their forces to the war at Armageddon. This will be the last war among mankind before the millennium. Satan will gather all rebellious mankind to destroy Israel. On that day, the feet of Christ will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will split at its middle toward the east and toward the west into a very great valley. Then the remnant of the besieged Israel will flee into the valley of Jehovah’s mountains by the way opened to them by Jehovah. They will see and look upon Christ whom they pierced; they will repent and mourn; and they will believe and receive Him. In this way, all the people of Israel will be saved. Furthermore, the Gentile armies will be destroyed, this age will come to an end, and the age of the kingdom will begin.