After describing the 1,260-year prophecy of the two witnesses, the narrative continues:  “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth” (Rev. 11:7-10).

[Sidenote:  The witnesses slain]

This intricate picture of symbolical imagery is placed chronologically just after the 1,260-year reign of Romanism and hence it was to meet its fulfilment during the Protestant era.  It describes in the most graphic and realistic manner the evil characteristics and tendencies of the sect-system.  I have already shown that in the primitive church the two witnesses—­the Word and the Spirit of God—­were the real vicars of Christ, giving both character and government to the universal church of God on earth.  We have also seen that with the rise of human ecclesiasticism the reign of the Word and Spirit ended in so far as the Church of Rome was concerned.  The same is true also of Protestantism.  The establishment of man-made creeds and the concentration and centralization of church power and governmental authority in human hands—­a church-rule patterned after the kingdoms of this world—­is a rejection of the divine government of God just as the appointment of a king in the Old Testament times was a rejection of God’s plan of governing Israel.  In this sense God’s two witnesses have been openly ignored and rejected in Protestantism as well as in Romanism and the ancient churches of the East, and man-made creeds and systems of government substituted in their stead.  They are, therefore, represented as slain, although of course a certain amount of respect is still shown them in that they are not suffered to be wholly put out of sight.

[Sidenote:  The witnesses resurrected]

“And after three days and an 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.  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.  And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand:  and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly” (verses 11-14).