Referring to Rev. 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. 4:13-17 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.
When we examine the passage we fail to find the exact parallel that Mr. Mauro sees. For instance, the two witnesses are put to death, and lie for three-and-a-half days in the street of the city, "where also our Lord was crucified," that is, at Jerusalem. Where can we find anything like this in 1 Thess. 4:13-17?
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.