15 Jesus commented on this incident:

But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. (Luke 4:25,26) Again:

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. (Luke 4:27)

The astonishing fact about the healing of Naaman by Elisha is that Naaman was the "captain of the host of the king of Syria" (II Kings 5:1). Syria was the chief enemy of Israel at the time.

It is the writer’s point of view, and we believe it to be the burden of the Spirit of God, that the elect of God will be lifted above all national and religious identity. The anointed remnant, those who bear the latter-rain anointing, will speak as the Voice of Christ to "peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings."

All nations and their rulers will be brought face to face with the righteousness and miracle-working power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The nations and rulers that receive and assist the saints, the Divine witness, will be blessed and sustained throughout the tribulation that even now is at the door. Furthermore, those nations will enter eternal life at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Matthew 25:34).

Woe to any ruler or nation that refuses the end-time testimony and persecutes Christ’s servants! The wrath of God will abide on that nation from the time it rejects the testimony.

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Matthew 10:14,15)

The destiny of the nations will be determined by their response to the Divine testimony of the last days. Elijah and Elisha were indestructible until their testimonies were completed. Then, Elijah was carried up by a whirlwind into the heaven. Elisha, who bore twice the anointing of Elijah, died of sickness (II Kings 13:14).

Elijah’s ascension into the heaven portrays the ascension of the two witnesses into the heaven. Elisha’s death by sickness typifies the overcoming of the two witnesses by Antichrist; but then a man was raised to life by touching the bones of Elisha (II Kings 13:21), a type of the victorious resurrection from the dead of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:11).

Notice in II Kings 13:21 that the dead man "revived, and stood up on his feet"; and in Revelation 11:11, "the spirit of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet." Such similarities in the Scriptures are not coincidences. While Elijah and Elisha were alive they were victorious over the backslidden Israel and over the Gentiles as well. We believe to see this same triumphant power over the Laodicean churches and the Gentile nations as the saints are empowered to bear the Divine testimony throughout the earth.

This Christian witness will have nothing to do with any church group or special doctrine or any racial or national ties. Such affiliations would detract from the purity and integrity of the testimony.

Every person on the earth will be able to choose or reject Christ apart from any other consideration, such as a denominational, cultural, racial, or national interest.

Blessed! blessed! blessed will be the home or the country that receives and nourishes the saints who are bearing the end-time testimony under the anointing of the Holy Spirit!

Woe! woe! woe to any family or country that rejects and refuses to help the true Christian prophets of the last days! The peoples and nations that receive the saints will be protected throughout the coming days of trouble, the tribulation period. When Jesus returns they will enter the Kingdom prepared for them from the creation of the world.

But the person (or nation) that rejects the testimony, choosing instead the ways of the world, the ways of Antichrist, will not experience Divine protection during the coming tribulation.

When the Lord Jesus returns, Antichrist will be cast into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The closing days of the present age will be the most fearful of world history. Many Psalms such as the Twenty-third, the Thirty-fourth, the Thirty-seventh, the Ninety-first, and others will be revealed in their clearest light and power during the coming catastrophes.

Some who are last in time will be first in the Kingdom of God. The Lord has kept the good wine until now. Both Christ and Satan are coming to maturity in the peoples of the earth, and the climax will be the Battle of Armageddon. All of the prophecies and promises of the Scriptures converge on the Day of the Lord. The two witnesses will bring the peoples of the earth face to face with the reality of the Day of the Lord. Some will receive the testimony and be saved. Others will reject the testimony and thus experience the anger of God.

The nation that is wise will embrace the Divine testimony and be spared the wrath of God. All who receive the saints will be placed under the protection of the Lord. All others will be confronted with the fierce wrath of Almighty God. Today the world views the Christian churches as representing the efforts of people to carry out the activities of one of the multitude of religions of mankind.

Before Jesus comes, the peoples of the world will be faced with the realization that Christ is God’s Son—and He is alive! More than that, He is coming to rule the world.

The world will be compelled to acknowledge that God is in Jesus and Jesus is in His saints. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:18)

Anyone who knows about the feast of Tabernacles understands that this observance is only for Israel—God’s elect. The seven feasts of the Lord of Leviticus, Chapter 23 are for the saints, for no one else.

What, then, is the Spirit of Christ in Zechariah teaching us when He states that the nations are to come to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Tabernacles?

The feast of Tabernacles celebrates the fullness of the harvest of the earth. It is a period of the greatest rejoicing. Spiritually, the feast of Tabernacles signifies the Presence of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit dwelling in the members of the Body of Christ.

The Divine testimony of the two witnesses will announce to the earth that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming from Heaven, not only to rule the nation of Israel but also to govern every nation and village on the earth. No person is exempt from the ruler ship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every individual on the earth will be confronted with the Presence of Christ in the saints in the Day of the Lord. Either he will "keep the feast of Tabernacles" by accepting and honouring the Presence of Christ in the members of His Body, and God in Christ, or he will reject the Presence of God in Christ in the saints.

If an individual or a nation rejects God in Christ in the saints, the Divine blessing and protection will be withheld from the individual or nation. He (or it) has refused to receive and rejoice over the Presence of God in Christ in the saints (which is the spiritual fulfilment of the feast of Tabernacles). Therefore the wrath of God will abide on him.

God in His love and mercy toward mankind will give His witnesses the power of judgment so the nations will have an opportunity to prepare themselves for the advent of the Day of the Lord, for the time when they will be obligated to "keep the feast of Tabernacles."

Christ is galactically more than a religious activity of well-intentioned human beings. He is the Son of God Almighty, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. His "roar" shakes the heavens and the earth. Those who mock the Lord Jesus are inviting their own destruction.

. . . have power over waters to turn them to blood, . . . . (Revelation 11:6) Immediately we remember the instances concerning Moses and Elisha:

And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 7:20,21)

And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: (II Kings 3:22)

What a terrible plague! Of all the tribulations that could be sent on mankind, the turning of water to blood certainly would be one of the worst. A human being can survive many days without food but only a few days without water. Can you imagine what it would be like to be thirsty and to have nothing to drink or to bathe in except blood! Notice that it is God’s witnesses who bring tribulation on the earth. It is difficult to imagine a more devastating problem than this.

The plague of blood, when it was brought on Egypt by Moses, forced the Egyptians to dig around the Nile in the hope of finding fresh water (Exodus 7:24). But even the plague of blood was not sufficient to persuade Pharaoh to listen to Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7:22,23).

What is God saying to us by this plague? We know that water, in the Scriptures, is associated with life—especially with eternal Life.

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:38,39)

So we see that water represents eternal life and portrays the Holy Spirit who Himself is eternal Life.

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