God’s evangelism plan for the tribulation

Many theologians believe that Jesus won’t return until His church has carried the Gospel to every nation, kingdom, and every people group on the earth. They believe this because of what Jesus said in this verse:

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:14

Preaching the gospel to the whole world is certainly what we should be doing. If you can’t go to a distant land yourself, maybe you can help support someone who can. You can certainly share the gospel with your own neighbors and friends.

I believe this verse refers to God’s own evangelism plan for the final seven years of this age, called the tribulation?

We know that before God and Satan unleash their wrath on the earth during the tribulation that Jesus will remove his church from the earth. I wrote about this in The Rapture and the Second coming.

With the disciples of Jesus gone from the earth, have you ever wondered how God will spread the Gospel? Well, I have and fortunately, the Bible provides detailed information about just how He’ll do it.

The ministry of the 144,000 witnesses

Revelation 7:1-8 tells us that God will seal 144,000 Jews who will be servants of God. Their God-given mission will be to spread the gospel during the tribulation. These verses specifically tell us that 12,000 men from each of the twelve tribes of Israel will receive the seal of the living God on their foreheads. The purpose of this seal is to protect them from harm so they can complete their mission. Satan and his unholy trinity won’t be able to touch them.

For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?
Revelation 6:17

The answer to the verse above is “the sealed witnesses will be able to stand”. Revelation 9:4 says that everyone on earth who doesn't have the seal of God on their foreheads will suffer the judgments of the tribulation. Because the 144,000 are sealed with the authority of God’s seal, they will be immune from the judgments to come.

You might think that Satan and the Antichrist could pick off at least one of the 144,000 witnesses but we know that not a single one will be lost. We know this because of the Apostle John’s vision of all 144,000 witnesses singing a song before the throne of God that only they could learn. Every single one of them will survive the tribulation (Revelation 14:1-5).

Just like Moses and the Hebrew slaves sang after the Egyptian army was defeated at the Red Sea, the 144,000 witnesses will also sing a song of praise. We’re given an important clue about this event. We know that they’ll sing a song of praise because harps will be played while they sing (Revelation 14:2). Harps are mentioned 40 times in the Old Testament and they are never played in a time of mourning. Psalm 137 says that the Israelites would hang up their harps during their captivity in Babylon. Why? Because they would sing only songs of mourning during their captivity.

The ministry of the two witnesses

God will give power to two men, who will be His special witnesses for three and a half years during the tribulation. This is exactly half of the seven-year tribulation (Revelation 11:3) but scripture doesn’t explicitly say which half. I believe it will be the second half, which is called the great tribulation. The reason I think this is because of the special powers they’ll be given that will make life almost unbearable for anyone who opposes them.

They will be clothed in sackcloth which is a garment made out of course cloth, usually made from goat or camel hair. In Old Testament times, people wore sackcloth as an outward sign of mourning or repentance. In this case, they’ll be mourning for a wretched, wicked, and rebellious world while calling them to repentance.

The reason there will be two of them is that they will also be prophesying judgment on the unrepentant. This is important because Deuteronomy 17:6 declares that testimony of sin has to be corroborated by two or three witnesses.

What are their special powers?

Scripture tells us that God will give them the power to:

• Devour their enemies with fire.
• Stop the rain from falling
• Turn the waters to blood
• Strike the earth with all plagues (see Exodus chapter 7 – 11 for a list of the plagues that were inflicted upon Egypt)

And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.
Revelation 11:5-6

Who exactly are these two witnesses?

The two witnesses are referred to metaphorically as the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing between God and earth (Revelation 11:4). This is a reference to the prophecy in Zechariah chapter 4. Even though they are referred to metaphorically, they are not metaphorical people. They are real flesh and blood humans.

But who exactly are they? We’re not told directly but we can make some educated guesses.

Most students of bible prophesy agree that the prophet Elijah is one of the two witnesses for the following reasons:

1. The prophet Malachi said that Elijah would appear before the Second Coming of Christ to prepare the way for the Messiah. (Malachi 4:5-6)
2. Elijah didn’t experience a physical death (2 Kings 2:9-10). I think this is an important fact because Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed for men to die, which refers to a physical rather than a spiritual death.
3. Elijah was also empowered by God to stop the rain (1 Kings 17:1-7) just like the two witnesses will be.
4. Elijah called down fire from heaven (2 Kings 1:10) which is consistent with the powers of the two witnesses.
5. The drought that occurred due to Elijah stopping the rain (James 5:17-18) and the ministry of the two witnesses are the same duration (3 ½ years).
6. Elijah was one of the two people who appeared at the transfiguration of Christ. (Matthew 17:1-3)

I agree that we can be reasonably certain that Elijah will be one of the two witnesses. But who is the other one?

I’ve thought for some time that it could be the prophet Enoch because he’s the other person who didn’t die a physical death. (Genesis 5:24). The Septuagint, which is the earliest translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) into Greek is translated into English as “he was not found”. This implies that God took Enoch to heaven before Enoch died.

Pastor David Jeremiah and others believe that the second witness is Moses for the following reasons:

• Moses appeared with Elijah at the transfiguration of Christ. (Matthew 17:1-3)
• Moses turned water into blood, which is one of the powers of the two witnesses. (Exodus 7:19-20)
• Satan contended with the archangel Michael over the body of Moses (Jude 1:9) which implies that Satan knew that God had a future purpose for his body.
• Both Moses and Elijah stand for the Law and the Prophets. It makes sense that God would send such representatives to the Jews.

But does it really matter who the two witnesses are? Not really.

What we should take away from this is that God is merciful and isn’t willing that anyone should perish but that they should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

The ministry of the three angels

Throughout history, God has used angels for all types of things, from delivering messages to people on the earth, to destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. But, I don’t know of any time in history when an angel was used to preach the gospel. This is exactly what the first angel will do (Revelation 14:6-7).

The second angel will declare to the world that Babylon has fallen. The very center of commerce during the tribulation (Revelation 14:8).

The third angel will warn the world that they will suffer the wrath of God forever and ever if they take the mark of the beast and worship the image of the Antichrist (Revelation 14:9-11).

The result of their ministry

How successful will God’s evangelism plan be? It will be the greatest spiritual awakening and saving of souls that the world has ever seen. Revelation 7:9-17 tells us that a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues (languages) will be saved out of the great tribulation.

Hallelujah. Give glory to the Father and to the Lamb of God!

What should we do?

The great evangelistic success that will come out of the tribulation should not cause us Christians to sit on our hands and do nothing. If anything, we should be stepping up our efforts to reach as many lost souls as we can now, so they won’t have to go through the terrible judgments that Revelation warns us about. And who knows if they will even be alive when the seven-year tribulation period begins?

If you’re reading this and you’re not sure of your own salvation you need to first believe in your heart that Jesus is the son of God, that he died for your sins, and rose again on the third day. You also need to repent of your sins, which means to turn away from them. Lastly, you need to obey God’s Word. None of us are perfect, but when we sin, we need to ask for forgiveness and determine in our hearts to resist doing the things that God detests and to live our lives for Him.

God bless, and I hope to see you in heaven,
Daniel