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Believed to have originally been built inside an extinct volcano, this rock city contains many
elaborate facades among its many structures, which include various tombs, monuments, and
dwellings, which were carved into the rock of the mountainside. Some date back to the Edomite
era, most are Nabataean, and some are Roman and early Christian. There are thousands of
natural and man-made caves. Even though it is located in a desert area, there are water cisterns
there, and dozens of springs and wells, including the Ain Musa (‘Spring of Moses’), two miles
from the entrance, which is traditionally identified as one of the two sites where Moses produced
water by striking a rock. At one time this spring had been channeled into the city. It has been
reported that Petra could hold up to a million people.
In 1935, out of a $5 million trust fund, Dr. William E. Blackstone sent a group of Christians
there with Bibles, printed in Hebrew, which were sealed in copper boxes and buried in hewn-out
vaults in the mountain. The Bibles are marked at the passages which deal with the Antichrist. In
recent years, a construction firm out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, had been hired to restore the
water system; and other international teams were schedules to carry out other restoration work.
From this point on is the time referred to as the ‘Great Tribulation.” Revelation 11:2 says:
“...for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two
months (or 3-1/2 years or 1,260 days).” Although his influence will be worldwide, the Antichrist
will have absolute power over 25% of the world (Rev. 6:8), with the main concentration being in
the nations of the world controlled by the world government. He will seek out and destroy true
Christians and all others who will not worship him or take his Mark. In Matthew 24:9, Jesus
said: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of
all nations for my name’s sake.” Revelation 20:4 talks about those who were “beheaded for the
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his
image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands...”
It is at this time when “two witnesses” will emerge to “prophesy,” according to Revelation
11:3. It says, “I will give power unto my two witnesses,” which could indicate that God intends
to anoint a couple of ordinary men, who will become ‘super evangelists,’ possessing
extraordinary powers like the prophets of old. However, just as angels have been sent to Earth in
various capacities, the consensus seems to be that these two will be prophets sent by God.
There have been two possibilities mentioned as to the identities of the two. Matthew 17:3 and
Mark 9:4, refer to Jesus being transfigured with Elijah and Moses. In 2 Kings 2:11, the prophet
Elijah was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot; and in Malachi 4:5, this prophecy is given:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of
the Lord.” Moses, unlike Elijah, had died, so it was his spiritual body which had appeared. So the
identity of the second witness perhaps points to Enoch, because he was the only other person in
the Bible who never died. According to Genesis 5:24, he was taken by God.
These two witnesses, who will preach for 1,260 days, will most likely have a ministry similar
to John the Baptist. They will be latter-day prophets, opposing the dictatorship and government
of the Antichrist, and spreading the word that the Son of Man, Jesus, the true Messiah, is
returning the reclaim the Earth. After their ministry is complete, the Antichrist will succeed in
having them killed, and as a warning to others, the Antichrist will demand that their bodies
remain unburied, so the world can see the extent of his power. However, God will show his
power, and bring them back to life (3-1/2 days later), and they will be taken back to Heaven.