Two witnesses, their identity
Study:
"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." Revelation 11:3
Who are the two witnesses? In order to know who they are, all of the clues have to be examined and combined.
First Clue:
"...my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy..." "...these two prophets..." Revelation 11:3,10
Notice the definition of a prophet:
"And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" Numbers 11:29
Thus,
man + the Holy Spirit = prophet
Second Clue:
"These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." Revelation 11:6
Who shut up heaven, that it did not rain?
"Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." James 5:17
Who turned waters into blood?
"And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood." Exodus 7:20
So the two witnesses are Elijah and Moses.
Notice: Moses and Elijah occupy a special place in the New Testament. Not only do they occur together in the last verses of the Old Testament, but they appear together on the Mount of Transfiguration to strengthen Christ.
"Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Malachi 4:4-6
"And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." Matthew 17:3,4
Notice that Malachi says "the law of Moses" and "Elijah the prophet"!
Notice: It says "it rain not" and "waters ... turn to blood"! Why the focus on water/rain? Moses did do other miracles! Does water/rain have a symbolic meaning? Furthermore, notice the effect of the bloody water on life...
"And the fish that was in the river died;..." Exodus 7:21
This idea is echoed by Revelation:
"And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea." Revelation 16:3
Summarizing: The two witnesses are Moses, the lawgiver, and Elijah, the prophet and as punishment, either water is denied or deadly water is given.
Third Clue:
Notice the Christ-like life of the two witnesses:
3 1/2 year ministry:
"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days..." Revelation 11:3
Recall that 1260 days is 3 1/2 years [1260 days = (3.5 years)*(30 days/month)*(12 months/year)], the same length of time Jesus ministered on earth.
"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: ... And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week [3.5 days, each day for a year] he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease..." Daniel 9:26,27
Wept over a city:
"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy ... clothed in sackcloth. ... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast ... shall ... kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city..." Revelation 11:3,7,8
From the above texts, it appears that the two witnesses prophesy in a city over which they mourn, sackcloth being a sign of mourning: "And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days." (Genesis 37:34) This parallels an event in the ministry of Christ.
"And when he [Jesus] was come near, he beheld the city [Jerusalem], and wept over it," Luke 19:41
Killed in "Jerusalem":
"And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast ... shall ... kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, ... where also our Lord was crucified." Revelation 11:7,8
Dead "three" days:
"And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves." Revelation 11:9
These three and an half days closely parallel Jesus' three-day statements:
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40
"And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." Mark 8:31
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John 2:19
Resurrected:
"And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Revelation 11:11
Like the two witnesses Christ also is ressurected:
"And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." Matthew 17:9
"And shall deliver him [Christ] to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again." Matthew 20:19
"But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." Matthew 26:32
"He [Chist] is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you." Matthew 28:6,7
Go up to heaven in the clouds:
"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." Revelation 11:12
The two witnesses go up to heaven in a cloud just as Christ does:
"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." Acts 9:1
In summary then, both the two witnesses and Christ...
- have a 3 1/2 year ministry,
- weep over the city "Jerusalem,"
- are killed in that city,
- lie "dead" "3 days,"
- are resurrected, and
- go to heaven in a cloud.
Why? Are the two witnesses Christ?
Fourth Clue:
"These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." Revelation 11:4
This text is more or less a quote from the Old Testament book of Zechariah.
"... And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. ... Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. " Zechariah 4:2,3,14
Notice a major difference between these two texts. Zechariah mentions ONE candlestick (more accurately, lampstand) while Revelation mentions TWO! Why?
Finaly, notice the response given to Zechariah regarding the identity of the candlestick and its two trees:
"So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? ... Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Zechariah 4:4-6
"...the word of the Lord ... by my Spirit..." Does that identify the two witnesses? Yes! The two witnesses are the Scriptures.
Putting the puzzle pieces together:
1. The two witnesses are Christ-like. He is the living Word. They are the written word.
2. The two witnesses are Moses and Elijah. Christ refers to the scriptures as "the law and the prophets."
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matthew 5:17
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12
"For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." Matthew 11:13 (also Luke 16:16)
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:40
3. A prophet is a man in combination with the Holy Spirt. In like manner is the word, or its production, a combination of man and the Holy Spirit.
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:20,21
But it is more than this!
"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2:13,14
Without the Holy Spirit, God's word, is incomprehendable. Why is this relevant? Because Revelation says:
"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." Revelation 11:5,6
It is interesting that hurting the two witnesses, or scriptures, results in a loss of rain or the turning of water into deadly water. Recall that according to Joel 2, rain is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Might Revelation's two references to water be symbolic of the Holy Spirit?
If you hurt or try to hurt God's word, the scriptures, then you
- lose access to the Holy Spirit or
- receive a lieing spirit.
This last, the lieing spirit, is seen in the story of king Ahab, and resulted in his death.
"And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth–gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so." 1 Kings 22:19-22
4. The two olive trees and the two candlesticks or lampstands... "...the word of the Lord ... by my Spirit..." (Zechariah 4:6) Here we see the Holy Spirit produced origin of the Holy Scriptures.
"Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. ..." 1 Samuel 16:13
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105
The two olive trees pouring olive oil into the two candlesticks are the Holy Spirit inspiring the Holy Scriptures. Why two trees? Why two lamps? The solutions lies in Revelation's picture of the Holy Spirit and in Zechariah's vs. Revelation's image of the olive trees and candlesticks.
"John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;" Revelation 1:4
The fullness or completeness of the Holy Spirit is represented as seven spirits over the seven church periods of Christ's one church.
Notice how this applies to the two olive trees of Zechariah and Revelation:
Thus, in both Revelation and Zechariah, the fullness or completeness of the Holy Spirit is represented by two olive trees. Zechariah mentions but one candlestick as only the Old Testament Scriptures exist in Zechariah's time while Revelation mentions two candlesticks as both the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures exist in John's time.
In Summary:
The Scriptures are...
- Two witnesses: law (Moses) and prophets (Elijah) or Old and New Testaments/Covenants.
- A prophet: inspired by the Holy Spirit or spirit filled.
- Christ-like: the written word, as opposed to the living Word, which is Christ.
- A lamp: fed by the oil or olive tree of the Holy Spirit.
The remaining details... the activities and treatment of the two witnesses, now needs to be explained.
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