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NASB | Revelation 11:3 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 11:3 "And I will grant authority to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years), dressed in sackcloth." [Deut 18:18; Mal 4:5; Mark 9:4] |
Subject: "Two witnesses." When? Who? |
Bible Note: Mommapbs: Thanks for your reply. It is so good to hear from you. Thank you for your many inspiring and encouraging posts to the Forum. Here I will attempt to answer one of the questions in your previous post. You ask: "Might we put ourselves at risk to miss the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us into HIS Truth when we rely upon a natural or literal interpretation of the text alone?" My answer: Before I comment, I want to make clear by the following quotation just what is meant when we speak of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in making clear the meaning of the Bible. ____________________ "Illumination, though assured, does not always guarantee automatic understanding." ____________________ '*Illumination* 'is generally thought of in connection with the ministry of the Holy Spirit which makes clear the truth of the written *revelation* in the Bible. 'In reference to the Bible, '*revelation* relates to its content or material; '*inspiration* to the method of recording that material; and '*illumination* to the meaning of the record' (Ryrie Study Bible, Moody, 1976, 1978). (Emphasis added.) 'Illumination, though assured, does not always guarantee automatic understanding . . . The believer must be in fellowship with the Lord in order to experience this ministry. But also he must study, using the teachers God has given to the church (Rom. 12:7) and the abilities and means at his own disposal' (Ryrie Study Bible, Moody, 1976, 1978). Mommapbs, I'm not saying that you do this, but it would be misleading to mistake our subjective feelings for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in illumination. If anyone were to make this mistake, then they would be putting their own feelings alongside of or even above the authority of Scripture. Again, I want to stress that I'm neither saying nor thinking that you do this. I'm just making a general observation. In summary, we might put ourselves at risk to miss the meaning of the written Word of God if we were to give too much weight to what we "feel" it means. I'm not saying every word of the Bible is to be taken literally. (More about that in another Note.) I'm just saying that the Bible MEANS what the words SAY. Grace and peace, Kalos |