Dear Gino -

Last week at http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/oct2021/gino1031-4.htm  you asked:

I had been taught that the two witnesses were for 3.5 years, and "then" the antichrist and false prophet for the following 3.5 years. However, I have wondered, why wouldn't the LORD have his two men, at the same time as Satan has his two men? In other words, why wouldn't the LORD have his witness during the final 3.5 years?

Does this make any sense? Or am I thinking about what their witness is for, the wrong way?

It appears to me, based on Rev. 13:5 that "the Beast" is given authority over everyone on earth for 42 months, and this is very shortly after the rapture.  We know from 2 Thess. 2:4 that the "man of sin, son of perdition" exalts himself and presents himself as God.  We also know from Rev. 11:4 that the two witnesses stand "before the God [or "god'] of the earth."  (Note:  the decision to capitalize "God" in this verse was made by the translators.)

It also seems that the model is like that of Moses and Aaron standing before Pharaoh and calling down judgments.  If so, I would expect that the two witnesses stand during the first half of Daniel's 70th week and administer the trumpet and bowl judgments, up to the sixth trumpet (also identified as the second "woe").  They are killed, they are raised, they ascend into heaven, and the seventh angel sounds the seventh trumpet.  Their ascension would then necessarily occur in the middle of the 'week'.

The assumption that the antichrist and false prophet are active during the last half of the week is extremely problematic.  This was offered, I believe, as part of the timeline/model in Lindsey's The Late, Great Planet Earth and while it shaped modern end-times theorizing, it is simply inconsistent with what the Bible tells us.  In short, the LORD does have his two men at the same time as Satan has his two men, but it's all during the first half.  The war is over and blessing begins on the 1,335th day, after which the land is cleansed, the city is rebuilt, the Millennial Temple is constructed, and the six "agenda items" in Daniel 9:24 are completed.  When the "Most Holy" in anointed, Daniel's prophecy is completed.

Hope this clarifies things.

Best,

Steve

https://stevekerp.wordpress.com