"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth" (Revelation 11:3).

"The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation."–The Great Controversy, p. 267.

Suggested Readings: The SDA Bible Commentary [E. G. White Comments], vol. 7, p. 972.
The Great Controversy, pp. 265—288.

Sunday August 12

1. TWO WITNESSES

a. Who are the two witnesses? Revelation 11:3.

"The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation."–The Great Controversy, p. 267.

b. Who is the author of the Old and New Testaments? 2 Timothy 3:16.

"The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all ‘given by inspiration of God’ (2 Timothy 3:16); yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures."–The Great Controversy, p. v.

Monday August 13

2. 1260 PROPHETIC DAYS

a. To what prophetic period are we now introduced? Revelation 11:2 (last part). (Compare Daniel 7:25.)

b. What marked the beginning and end of that time period?

"The periods here mentioned–‘forty and two months,’ and ‘a thousand two hundred and threescore days’–are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 years of papal supremacy began in a.d. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798. At that time a French army entered Rome and made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the power which it before possessed."–The Great Controversy, p. 266.

c. What symbol is used to represent the Old and New Testaments? Revelation 11:4, 5; Zechariah 4:3—6, 11—14.

"Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: ‘These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.’"–The Great Controversy, p. 267.

"From the two olive trees, the golden oil was emptied through golden pipes into the bowl of the candlestick and thence into the golden lamps that gave light to the sanctuary. So from the holy ones that stand in God’s presence, His Spirit is imparted to human instrumentalities that are consecrated to His service. The mission of the two anointed ones is to communicate light and power to God’s people. It is to receive blessing for us that they stand in God’s presence. As the olive trees empty themselves into the golden pipes, so the heavenly messengers seek to communicate all that they receive from God. The whole heavenly treasure awaits our demand and reception; and as we receive the blessing, we in our turn are to impart it. Thus it is that the holy lamps are fed, and the church becomes a light bearer in the world."–Testimonies to Ministers, p. 510.

Tuesday August 14

3. THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD

a. How great is the power of God, and what are His words able to do? Psalm 33:6, 9; Revelation 11:6; James 5:17, 18.

"The word of God controls the elements. He covers the heavens with clouds and prepares rain for the earth. He makes the valleys fruitful and ‘grass to grow upon the mountains’ (Psalm 147:8). It is through His power that vegetation flourishes, that the leaves appear and the flowers bloom."–Lift Him Up, p. 67.

"It is through [God’s] power that summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, day and night follow each other in their regular succession. It is by His word that vegetation flourishes, that the leaves appear and the flowers bloom. Every good thing we have, each ray of sunshine and shower of rain, every morsel of food, every moment of life, is a gift of love."–Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 75.

b. Describe the war made against the word of God, the Bible, during the French Revolution, around 1793. Revelation 11:7, 8.

"According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God’s two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh and the licentiousness of Sodom." –The Great Controversy, p. 269.

"France presented . . . the characteristics which especially distinguished Sodom. During the Revolution there was manifest a state of moral debasement and corruption similar to that which brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. . . .

" ‘Where also our Lord was crucified’ (Revelation 11:8). This specification of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France. In no land had the spirit of enmity against Christ been more strikingly displayed. In no country had the truth encountered more bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which France had visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had crucified Christ in the person of His disciples."–Ibid., pp. 270, 271.

Wednesday August 15

4. THE BIBLE UNDER ATTACK

a. Although a war was raging against the Bible, what happened after three and a half prophetic days? Revelation 11:9—11.

"‘The great city’ in whose streets the witnesses are slain, and where their dead bodies lie, is ‘spiritually’ Egypt. Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God and resisted His commands. . . . ‘The great city’ is also compared, ‘spiritually,’ to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a preeminent characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifications of this scripture."–The Great Controversy, p. 269.

"God’s faithful witnesses, slain by the blasphemous power that ‘ascendeth out of the bottomless pit,’ were not long to remain silent. ‘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’ (Revelation 11:11). It was in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body."–Ibid., p. 287.

b. What words of Jesus and the apostle Peter were literally fulfilled with reference to the Holy Scriptures? Mark 13:31; 1 Peter 1:24, 25.

"The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said: ‘I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to overthrow it.’ Generations have passed since his death. Millions have joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so far from being destroyed, that where there were a hundred in Voltaire’s time, there are now ten thousand, yes, a hundred thousand copies of the book of God. In the words of an early Reformer concerning the Christian church, ‘The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.’"–The Great Controversy, p. 288.

Thursday August 16

5. THE END OF THE SECOND WOE

a. What event concluded the second woe? Revelation 11:12, 13.

"Since France made war upon God’s two witnesses, they have been honored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded. When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues."–The Great Controversy, p. 287.

b. What is meant by the expression "the tenth part of the city fell"?

"(‘And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings [kingdoms] of the earth.’) That city is the papal Roman power. France is one of the ‘ten horns’ that gave ‘their power and strength unto the [papal] beast;’ or is one of the ten kingdoms that arose out of the Western Empire of Rome, as indicated by the ten toes of Nabuchadnezzar’s image, the ten horns of Daniel’s beast (Daniel 7:24), and John’s dragon (Revelation 12:3). France, then, was ‘a tenth part of the city,’ and was one of the strongest ministers of papal vengeance; but in this revolution it ‘fell,’ and with it fell the last civil messenger of papal fury."–Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 1907 edition, p. 610.

c. What shows that the second woe is not the end of troubles prophesied to come upon the earth? Revelation 11:14.

Friday August 17

1. Why is the prophecy of the measuring rod so important?
2. Give two illustrations of the Holy Spirit’s work.
3. Describe the spiritual decay of the French Revolution.
4. What year-day prophecy applies in French history?
5. What consequences came from France’s war on the Bible?

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