Revelation (11:7) "The Two Witnesses"...cont.

"And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,"

(Revelation 11:7)

This gospel age is going to come to an end. [(Matt. 24:14) "This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."] The church, as a mighty missionary organization, shall finish it's testimony. The beast that comes out of the abyss, that is, the anti-Christian world, urged on by hell, shall battle against the church and shall destroy it. The beast will not kill every believer. There are going to be believers on earth when Christ comes again, although they will be few in number [(Luke 18:8) "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"] but the church itself, as a mighty organization for the dissemination of the gospel and regular ministry of the Word, will be destroyed.

By way of illustration, think of conditions in Communist China at the present time(1967); to be sure, there are sincere believers in Communist China, but where is the powerful, official, unhindered and public proclamation and dissemination of the Gospel? And is not this condition spreading to other countries? 

(William Hendriksen)