Mr. Mauro Sets a Date for the Lord's Coming

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 8
Referring to Rev. 11:1212And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. (Revelation 11:12), "And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." This event is to occur in the period of the sixth trumpet, or the second woe, the seventh trumpet, or third woe, bringing God's judgments, before the Millennium is set up, to an end. So this is pretty far on in things.
Mr. Mauro identifies this ascending of the two witnesses as identical with the rapture, the catching up of the saints at the second coming of Christ. He says: "What verse 12 describes is the ending of the testimony of the people of God on earth; and the description agrees so closely with that given by the Apostle Paul in 1 Thess. 4:13-1713But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:13‑17) that I see no reason for doubt that both passages refer to the same event. For here we have the voice saying, 'Come up hither,' and the statement that they ascended up to heaven in a cloud. Is not this the next predicted event to be looked for?" (The Patmos Visions, p. 346).
It is true that Mr. Mauro does not set an exact day or hour, but he places the coming of the Lord as taking place in the time of the sixth trumpet and second woe.
The whole setting of the passage sets forth the time of the "great tribulation." The two witnesses prophesy 1260 days, that is, three-and-a-half years, the period when the Head of the revived Roman Empire will break his treaty with the Jews in the land. It speaks of the dead bodies of the witnesses lying in the street of Jerusalem, and being raised at the end of three-and-a-half days and ascending up to heaven. This method of exegesis, making special ideas fit, willy-nilly, reminds us of Procrustes, the Greek robber-chief. Tradition has it that he made all his victims fit the length of an iron bed. Those too tall had a portion of their legs lopped off; those too short were dragged out to the length of the bed.
We think this setting of the Lord's coming to be coincident with the time of the sixth trumpet is a serious matter, and is in the teeth of Scripture.