14 Here is a change from what was true when the early apostles gave their testimony.

And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. (Luke 9:54-56)

Do we have any reason to believe Christ would change the "manner of spirit" His apostles manifest such that "fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies"? Will the unique circumstances of the closing days of this age require that the Lord Jesus protect His ambassadors with a special dispensation of Divine power?

Perhaps so. The Lord Jesus came the first time as the gentle Teacher of Nazareth. At His return He will be the wrathful Lamb of God whose face will cause the strongest of men to run to the mountains and rocks for protection.

The Good Shepherd of the Twenty-third Psalm becomes the Lord, strong and mighty in battle of the Twenty-fourth Psalm. The Israelites came out of Egypt as sheep who were led by a shepherd, Moses.

The Israelites entered Canaan as an army under the leadership of a commander of battle, Joshua. Change does take place in the working of the Lord God. For example:

Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. (Matthew 26:52)

Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. (Luke 22:36)

There is a time to put the sword into the scabbard, and then there is a time to buy a sword.

Circumstances and Divine interventions do change. It has been given to the Body of Christ to judge mankind, to judge angels, to crush the wicked under foot. So it is not surprising that the herald of Christ’s second coming, a coming that will overthrow with violence the governments of the earth, would contain some of the characteristics of the Kingdom it is announcing.

Without doubt the saints of the last-day witness shall heal the sick, cast out devils, and call people to repentance in view of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God. While in the first century the witnesses of Christ could be massacred at the whim of the Caesars, in the last days the saints will be protected by the power of Divine judgement.

There are instances in the Scriptures where Divine fire, Divine judgment, the sword of the Word of God in the mouths of Christ’s prophets and apostles, slew the enemies of righteousness.

And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. (Exodus 14:27) And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. (Numbers 16:31,32)

And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. (II Kings 1:10) And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. (Acts 5:5)

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. (Acts 13:11)

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Revelation 20:9)

The most outstanding example in world history of the slaying of people by the "sword" that comes from the mouth of Christ will be the Battle of Armageddon.

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (Revelation 19:15)

The Battle of Armageddon will take place at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will slay Antichrist at His glorious appearing. In that Day the saints will be filled with the fire of Divine judgment in order that they may execute judgment on the sinners in the churches and establish righteousness on the earth.

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:14,15) We understand from the above passages that the Lord Jesus Christ and His saints will one day execute judgment on the ungodly. Therefore it is not surprising that the end-time testimony will be accompanied by a foretaste of what is in store for the wicked when our Lord returns from heaven.

And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 4:3)

And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:21)

Experienced saints know there always is a covering protecting the Glory of God (Isaiah 4:5). Whenever God is moving by His Spirit, those who resist and fight against God die spiritually—and sometimes physically. This always has been true. It will become even more true as the wheat and the tares come to maturity.

The saints today, when they are living and ministering in the Holy Spirit, possess the authority and power in Jesus’ name to bind and to loose, to forgive sins and to retain sins (John 20:23).

We have been taught to bless and not to curse. However, the end-time witness of the Kingdom of God will be accompanied by the authority and power of Divine judgment, a foreshadowing of the Battle of Armageddon that will take place at the return of Christ with His saints and holy angels.

In any case, it never has been a wise practice to lay one’s hand on the Divine testimony. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God. (I Chronicles 13:10)

The testimony of the two witnesses will be confirmed by signs and mighty wonders, by power over the forces of nature. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: . . . . (Revelation 11:6) The withholding of rain reminds us of Elijah. Elijah "prayed earnestly that it would not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months" (3-1/2 years—the duration of the prophecy of the two witnesses—James 5:17).

The Book of James provides insight into Elijah as a human being: "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are." Elijah, in spite of all the Divine fire that rested on him, was human just like you and me. Elijah had the same emotions, the same fears and doubts. In like manner, the saints of the end-time anointing will be ordinary people. They will be bearing on their personalities an extraordinary anointing of the Spirit of God in order to present to the nations of the earth the necessary and true witness of the Lord God of Heaven, of His soon coming to establish His Kingdom on the earth.

Why did Elijah pray for a drought? Why will the saints of the last days pray for a drought? Remember, Revelation is a book of symbolism, and this "drought" may refer to the authority and power of the remnant to open and close the doors of God’s blessing—the power to bind and to loose, to retain and remit sins, to invite the Spirit of revival and of God’s Presence, or to prevent Them from abiding on a particular group of people.

Elijah prayed as he was directed by the Spirit of the Lord, as will the saints of the last days. The end-time witnesses will not be self-seeking "Christians" who are attempting to use the Lord Jesus Christ in order to accomplish their own ends—even religious ends.

The benefit of the exercise of such authority and power is the humbling of the world so it will be compelled to pay attention to the Divine testimony. Notice in the following passage how this principle operates:

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. (Acts 13:11,12)

When the world and the worldly churches realize the godly remnant have been given the authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ to control nature, or the blessings of the Kingdom, or both (which is the most likely), some will accept the witness and believe who would not do so apart from such a demonstration of Kingdom power and judgment.

It is the writer’s opinion that many of the statements of the Book of Revelation will have both a natural and a spiritual fulfillment. The physical realm and the spirit realm affect one another.

Jesus was able to speak out from His inner, spiritual peace and calm the physical storm. Very often when we achieve spiritual strength, physical strength follows. Spiritual healing and physical healing often go hand in hand. Have you ever found this to be true?

As far as spiritual "rain," the blessing of the Spirit of God, is concerned, we are of the opinion that the Spirit of God will not be present in any worldly, Laodicean church during the period that God’s remnant are testifying of God’s will in Christ in the fullness of the authority and power of the latter rain.

The common people of Israel walked humbly in the presence of Elijah, and then in the presence of Elisha, because of the power of the anointing that rested on these two prophets.

The multitude of Israelites still were God’s chosen people—the nation that had been separated from all other nations for the purpose of being God’s witness to mankind. But even the nobles of Israel were careful to avoid a confrontation with these two men nor did they dare to put them in prison (except for Queen Jezebel who was not a Hebrew by birth, who would have killed Elijah if God had not protected him).

Notice that Ahab, the king, the chief elder of Israel, was not looking for Elijah, so to speak, it was Elijah who was looking for Ahab:

And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. (I Kings 21:20)

Ahab recognized the authority and power of Elijah. The prophets of God have power even over kings when those kings are sinning against the Lord.

We believe this sort of separation between the anointed witness and the remainder of the Lord’s people will take place just before the Lord returns, and that the worldwide drought referred to in Revelation 11:6 may have just such a spiritual application (the authority of the Lord’s witnesses to give or withhold God’s blessing) as well as a natural, physical fulfilment.

The double portion of power that rested on Elisha was so great that on one occasion he single-handedly captured the Syrian army (II Kings 6:19).

There were several facts and incidents associated with the lives and testimonies of Elijah and Elisha that suggest these two prophets are an specially rich type of the end-time, latter-rain testimony of the Church of Christ.

If this is true, there is one aspect of the ministries of both Elijah and Elisha that may be of unusual significance as we envision what the future holds for the Christian saints.

The aspect of which we are speaking is that both of these Jewish prophets exercised their miraculous testimony among the Gentiles [nations] as well as among the Jews. The Lord spoke to Elijah:

Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. (I Kings 17:9)

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