Editor,

I am sending this Bible prophecy study to your ministry, as I believe more needs to be written on the subject of the “two witnesses” and the worldwide knowledge of their demise at the hands of the “Beast.” 

I just received a copy of Mark Hitchcock’s new book, Who is the Antichrist? On page 171, he quotes Tim LaHaye’s book, Revelation Unveiled. LaHaye states: 

Ours is the first generation that can literally see the fulfillment of [Revelation] 11:9 in allowing people of the entire world to see such an awesome spectacle. This is one more indication that we are coming closer to the end of the age, because it would have been humanly impossible just a few years ago for the entire world to see these two witnesses in the streets at a given moment of time.

I am hoping some of your great Bible expositors will see the need to elaborate on this particular Bible prophecy, as 

I believe it could help convince even the most hardened skeptic that “streaming” the news to us instantly is what John prophesied 2,000 years ago.

-K. Smith, CA

Answer: We are reminded of the story in 2 Kings, when the armies of Assyria surrounded the city and Elisha’s servant was terrified, “Alas, my master! How shall we do?” Then Elisha prayed, and the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, “…and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). We need to allow for the possibility that God can make anyone, anywhere in the world see what is happening at that moment in Jerusalem without using any of our technology.

Another example is Matthew 4:8. The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” Logic dictates that from any mountain, even outside Israel, one can only see the valley below and not much more. Yet here we plainly read that Jesus was shown “all the world”: all five continents—Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. This tells me that heavenly physical realities are not the same as earthly physical realities. Remember, John was raptured into heaven and saw things on earth from heaven, and not vice versa.

However, I greatly appreciate scholars such as Mark Hitchcock, Tim LaHaye and others, who continuously occupy themselves with studying the Word of God, attempting to show the relationship of today’s events with the precious Word of God.