The eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation speaks of the witness given by the faithful saints. The witness of the Kingdom of God will go to every nation before the Lord returns. At the same time, Christ, the King, the "man child," will be formed in the witnessing saints.

When the victorious saints are released from the prison of the flesh, at the return of the Lord Jesus from Heaven, they will rule with Him over the nations of the earth—the nations to which they had testified while in the days of their flesh.

When the darkness comes, the hour when "no man can work," God's overcomers, His sons, will begin their role as deliverers. The cities of the earth will at that time be void of the Divine witness, the witness having been removed from Antichrist's path in order that he may be revealed (II Thessalonians 2:7,8).

The Christian churches in the cities will be filled with "worshipers." They will have a form of godliness but deny the Presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the witness, the Spirit of the prophet, and always bears the true testimony of the Lord Jesus.

The remnant of Spirit-filled people, and the devout Jews, will be forced by Antichrist into places of hiding in the remote areas of the earth. Satan will issue a flood of lawlessness, persecution, and perversity in his attempt to overcome the true Spirit-filled saints. Some of the peoples of the earth will give aid to God's saints. The nations that help the saints will receive their eternal reward in the Day of Christ (Matthew 25:31-46).

And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. (Revelation 12:16)

This reminds us of Obadiah who hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets in a cave in two groups of fifty each (I Kings 18:13).

The numbers two and fifty have to do with the latter-rain Pentecostal revival of the two witnesses (there were two wave loaves during the feast of Pentecost; and the term Pentecost is derived from the Greek word meaning "fifty" in that Pentecost came fifty days after the feast of Firstfruits).

The prophetic significance is that after the double-portion revival of the first half of the week there will be those who assist and protect the Lord's prophets during the latter half of the week. The "Obadiahs" that the Lord stirs up to help His brothers during the days of trouble will constitute the "sheep nations" of Matthew, Chapter 25.

It is our understanding that the role of deliverer will be especially active during the second half of the week. The strongest of the Lord's saints will provide a covering (Isaiah 4:5,6; Isaiah 32:2), a haven, for those who seek the Lord; and also for the devout Jews who will flee from Jerusalem because the man of sin is sitting between the wings of the Cherubim of Glory, in the restored Temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

To be continued.