Revelation 11:7a-19 : The Two Witnesses (aka, The Beast/Italian Prince)

The Beast Mortal Combat!Verse 7a, And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. Whatever their immense power, no matter the amount of misery they are allowed to inflict upon a God-less, Christ rejecting world, etc., the two witnesses will still, at the same time, be mortal men, subject to all the rules governing life and mortality. The world will have done everything that it can to rid itself of their enigmatic presences. Every effort to stop and/or apprehend the witnesses will have ended with the relentless deaths of their pursuers. At this point, the Italian leader (who will become the “beast”) enters the picture. Upon his arrival he is met with the same fate as all who dare oppose the two prophets: he will be killed as they will be. Meanwhile, their rampage will continue. The term beast is a rough translation of the Greek word “therion”, thay-ri’-on, meaning more literally a dangerous, wild animal. It is illustrative of God’s perception of him as a loathsome thing, one esteemed as exceptionally low, or, lowdown; detestable. It is impossible at this point to tell who the beast will be, or precisely what his rank or status will be at the moment of his calling. Daniel, however, gives clues that are most enlightening. Thus, according to Daniel’s prophecies, his being will be that of an individual of high station, a prince and ruler of the people who destroyed the city of Jerusalem and its Temple (70 AD and 135 AD)—who will or could be anything from some high-ranking Italian government official having a strong background in law enforcement or the military, to even Italy’s Prime Minister, in those days. John’s depiction in Revelation 17 assigns him the rank/title of a “Caesar” (Greek, Kaisar, kah’-ee-sar=Caesar)—which need not mean that, as such, this end-times ruler will have ties to any of the ancient Caesars, given that they were not all related even then. Entry of one of his rank and caliber into the fracas orchestrated and managed by the two witnesses will signal that the world now realizes that facilitation of the deaths of these two agonizing thorns in their sides can no longer be left to chance. Nor must it be further entrusted to a posse of lesser-lings who will have been left looking like a squad of witless misfits (as prescribed by their Commissioner, all who challenge them winds up, not just defeated but, dead!). The witnesses need to go, and, they need to go now! The globally destabilizing romps of God’s two olive trees must be brought to a swift end. Verse 7b, and shall overcome them, and kill them.