Revelation 11 describes the ministry of the two witnesses. In reading this chapter it seems clear that they operate out of Jerusalem. In addition, the reference to them as the “two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth” give their ministry a distinctly Jewish flavour. Will their ministry specifically be directed towards Israel, or is it more general in nature?

Before looking at who the witnesses are and the nature of their ministry, it is good to summarise what the spiritual position of Israel looks like at the commencement of the tribulation. Paul is clear on the position of Israel. The great majority are currently unbelievers and enemies of the gospel. Unbelievers, including the Jews, who believe that ‘keeping the Law’ will save them, are holding on to a faith which is powerless to save. It’s not possible to keep the Law, as James 2:10, Rom 7:7 and Acts 15:10 point out, neither is it possible to be saved by it.

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

In addition, because there is currently no temple standing where sacrifices may be made or festivals attended, there are huge areas of the Law which no Jew can even attempt to keep. And only by keeping it all perfectly is it kept at all. (James 2:10)

Rom 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. {11:26} And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: {11:27} For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. {11:28} As concerning the gospel, [they are] enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

{2:28} For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: {2:29} But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Romans 2:28-29)

Nevertheless, Jewish people – the apostles and the prophets – are the foundation of the Church (Eph 2:20). The actual Church is composed of all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, true God and true man in one Person forever who died to save us from our sins, bearing them in His body on the cross. It is very clear from Paul’s letters that he is writing to predominantly Gentile congregations. True, some of the Jewish people of his day did respond to the gospel, but most did not. As he says, their “loss” is the riches of the gentiles. (Romans 11:22). Yet there is always a remnant, God be praised (Rom 11:5).  The Jewish people are “beloved for the fathers’ sakes” (Rom 11:28 above), and when the Lord returns, a remnant of Israel will be regathered and will, during the Millennium, be restored to their land. Remember that we, as eternal beings at that time, will be ruling and reigning with Christ over human affairs.

Refer to post 4.3 for a discussion on the Jewish revival, wherein the two witnesses, no doubt, play a major role.

The temple of God

Revelation 11 commences with John, being in heaven at the time, being asked to measure the temple of God.

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of  God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. {11:2} But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. {11:3} And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore [1260] days, clothed in sackcloth. {11:4} These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. (Rev 11:1-4)

 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devours 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 overwaters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. (Rev 11:5-6)

Where is this temple?

How does John follow the instruction to measure the temple of God? The first questions are: ‘which temple’?, and ‘where is it?’. Is it the temple in heaven, or the rebuilt temple on earth?Surrounding verses (v19) indicate that there is a temple in heaven. In contrast to this, the mention of the Gentiles in verse 2 seems to implicate a rebuilt temple on earth.

However, in 11:19 it clearly states: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament:

Other mentions of the temple in heaven:

• {14:15} And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for
  the harvest of the earth is ripe. {14:16} And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. {14:17} And another angel came out of the temple
  which is in heaven,
• {15:8} And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
• {16:1} And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

The reader is left to decide which.

Moses and Elijah

About the identity of the two witnesses we have little doubt. The two witnesses of verse 3-4 seem to be none other than Moses and Elijah. The similarities of the supernatural powers given to the two witnesses and those given to Moses and Elijah are obvious. In Exodus 7:20 Moses turns the Nile river waters into blood. In 1 Kings 5:17 Elijah prayed that it would not rain, which it did not for 3.5 years. This is repeated in James 5:17.

In addition there is a supernatural aspect to the departure of both.

Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. One could say he was raptured, spectacularly.  Elijah is also referred to as the end-time prophet in Malachi 4:5-6. The Jews of Jesus’ day asked Jesus (Matt 17:10-12) about the Elijah which is to come.

Jude 9 and Deut 43:5-7 describe the ‘death’ of Moses, that there was something very significant about the body of Moses.

The timing

“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

The question now arises whether the witnesses minister during the first or the second half of the seven year tribulation. It is clear from Jesus’ teaching (Luke 21) that the trampling of Jerusalem occurs in the second 3,5 years, after the abomination is set up.

A literal reading of  Rev. 11:2-3 will give the impression that the witnesses minster during that same 3,5 year period of the Great Tribulation. In addition the placement of the two witnesses right at the end of the wrath of God (see Xchart-c), clarifies beyond reasonable doubt that their ministry is in the second half of the seven year end-time period.  In post 3.3 we have seen that the term ‘Great Tribulation’ starts at the second half of the prophesied seven year Tribulation period, immediately subsequent to the abomination.

In my opinion there is a very strong case for placing the two witnesses in the second half, the last 1260 days.

Their powers 

And if anyone wishes to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouths and devours their enemies. And if anyone should wish to harm them, he must die in this way. These [two] have the power to close up the sky so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophecy, and they have power over the waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they wish. (Rev 11: 5-6)

The  fire which  ‘proceeds out of their mouths’  seem to be for their protection. They are used by the two witnesses in self-defence. Conversely, the plagues that they bring on may be illustrate the seriousness of their warnings, and perhaps bolster the ministries of their associates, the 144,000. Its very likely that various localities, governments, and peoples will oppose their work, and even attempt to kill the 72,000 pairs of sealed witnesses (Rev 7). It could be part of Moses’ and Elijah’s work to administer these plagues on every group that stands in the way of the completion of the 144,000’s special ministry.

Nowhere else in scripture are imperfect human beings, no matter how great they may be as believers, given similar powers. From these facts we may perhaps conclude that :

• the spirituality of the two in question here far exceeds what even most of the great believers of the Bible were ever capable of producing, for it would take the greatest degree of humility, restraint, spiritual maturity, and a near complete harmony with the will of God not to abuse such power, and
• the opposition these two will face from the devil and his forces, seen and unseen, will likewise be unprecedented to make such unique powers necessary.

This combination of unparalleled power and extraordinary opposition makes it clear that God has chosen two exceptional believers for this special role. Note that we see fire coming out of the mouths of the two witnesses themselves, destroying their enemies without any mediation from God i.e., it does not come as the result of prayer as before, nor does it come from heaven, but directly from them as a result of their own will.  Only these two humble and obedient men of God, Moses and Elijah, could ever be equal to standing up against the fury of the entire Antichrist system in humility in power, as demonstrated by Moses, and with courage in the face of opposition, as demonstrated by Elijah.

In addition, we recall that Moses’ enemies were swallowed up by the earth onone occasion(Num.16:28-33), and turned leprous in an instant (Num.12:1-15) on another.  Elijah’s enemies were devoured by heavenly fire (2Ki.1:9-14). They experienced from God a level of miraculous shielding that was arguably also beyond what any other believers have ever known. The miraculous shielding extended to the two witnesses is beyond anything the world has yet witnessed.

Drought, plagues and blood?

There is perhaps a symbolic meaning associated with the two plagues mentioned here, “blood” and “drought”. Both of these miraculous plagues, each being a characteristic of these two men as we have seen, are also connected to water. Water is both a literal substance which is necessary for physical life, and a symbol for ‘the living water’, the gift of salvation birthing spiritual life. (Isaiah 12, John 4).

In Pharaoh’s case, having wilfully rejected the Word of God as presented to him by Moses, he demonstrated he had no desire for the ‘living water’. Having considered the spiritual life-giving water undesirable,  God punishes him by making the physical water undesirable, by the plague of the transformation of physical water into undrinkable blood.

In Ahab’s case, Ahab’s attitude is representative of his countrymen’s rejection of the word of the prophets, similarly having no desire for the ‘living water’. The punishment of the withholding of literal water through extended drought, physically brings upon them the consequences of what they have rejected spiritually.

The second point to note here is the similarity in the nature of two witnesses’ powers and some of the ‘Wrath of God” events in Revelation 8 and 9, and Revelation 16. (see Xchart-c). Their power to produce very similar plagues during the exact same period of time would lead almost anyone to make such a connection. God often, in the Old Testament, included people the process of His judgments of the world (e.g. Moses ensuring victory by having to hold up his staff during the entire battle against Amalek).

Moses did not produce the ten plagues against Egypt by his own authority, nor did Elijah call down the three and a half years of drought upon Israel by his own authority (cf. Jas.5:17-18). Nevertheless, God arranged both of those events in such a way so as to make it clear that each of these prophets was the “perceived agent”, in the process of God bringing judgments on His enemies.

Moses and Elijah in prophecy

Other than the lives of Moses and Elijah representing the nature of their work as the two witnesses, the scriptures also reveal some other associations with these two great men of God.

1. The Transfiguration:

One of the clearest proofs of the identity of the two witnesses is their appearance with Jesus at His transfiguration (Matt.16:28-17:13; Mk.9:1-13; Lk.9:27-36). That event is expressly stated to have been a prophetic foretaste of our Lord’s Second Coming and the coming of His kingdom (i.e., 1Pet.1:16; cf. Matt.16:28; Mk.9:1; Lk.9:27). Given that the passages which deal with the transfiguration mention both Moses and Elijah, the literal Moses and Elijah, in connection with this preview of Christ’s return, it is a rather obvious deduction to connect them with the two witnesses of Revelation 11, opposing the ‘world system’, while at the same time witnessing to those who will still hear.

After the transfiguration, Jesus’ disciples asked Him about Elijah. But Jesus’s response, that Elijah would come “first” (i.e., before the 2nd coming which His transfiguration had previewed), gives us no reason to think they wouldn’t. Moses’ presence on the mountain with Elijah thus  demonstrates that, following Jesus’s death and resurrection, both will be performing a special task of witnessing to the ‘lost sheep of Israel’, playing no small part in demonstration God’s superior power over the Antichrist, their false Messiah. It is clear from prophecy that the ‘veil’ will only be lifted at the last moment, when Israel will mourn over the one who they have pierced. Also refer to Appendix I: ‘Israel in the last days’.

“and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zech 12:10)”.

 The two olive trees and the two lampstands:*

And I shall grant [life] to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy dressed in sackcloth for 1,260 days. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth. Revelation 11:3-411 

Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” 12 And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?” 13 Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 14 So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.” Zech 4:11-14

The appearance of the two witnesses here in the first passage leads us to connect them to the detailed description of “the two anointed ones” of Zechariah chapter four.  Zechariah’s description of these two throughout chapter four is critical to understanding the meaning of the symbolism of the olive trees and the lampstands.

In Zechariah’s vision of a single, solid gold lampstand with seven lamps, there are two olive trees standing by the lampstand on the left and on the right (Zech.4:3). When he asks the meaning of this vision, Zechariah is first told “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zech.4:6).

The words ‘anointed ones’  indicate that they are conduits of God’s power and God’s light rather than merely being recipients. It seems that the olive trees are symbolic the olive oil they produce, which then provides oil for the lampstand. God is perhaps indicating here His preference for using human agents to power His divine purpose.

This may then be the point behind the symbolism in Zechariah 4:12, where these two olive trees pour out their oil into the lampstand’s golden bowl. The lampstand has seven lamps which are representative of the seven spirits of God.

The seven Spirits

Zechariah’s seven lamps which are also seven eyes seem identical in symbolism to the seven Spirits of Revelation chapters four (where lamps = spirits) and chapter five (where eyes = spirits), illuminating the darkness of this world, by pointing to our Saviour Jesus Christ.

• “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit”: Zech.4:6).
• And there [stood] burning before the throne seven lamps of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. Revelation 4:5 (cf. Rev.1:4; 3:1)
• And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing [there, looking] as if He had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into the entire earth. Revelation 5:6 (cf. Rev.1:4; 3:1)

In the context of Zechariah chapter four, the lampstand and its lights are clearly speaking of just such a witness of God’s light in the world, and more particularly towards the Jews, the ‘Remnant’ as per Micah, which still needs to be gathered, during the dark time to come. Note in Rev 1:20  believers are represented as a series of lampstands giving forth God’s witness of light to the world. However, at the rapture, after (matt 24:29-31) the tribulation, but before the wrath of God is poured out(see Xchart-c), believers have been removed, making the Two Witnesses and the 144 000 the ONLY witnesses left on earth!

Replacing the Revelation 1 ‘church lampstands’, the Two Witnesses are now empowered to witness of the light. They are the “two anointed ones”, the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah. During the dark days of the ‘Wrath of God’, they and the ministry of the 144,000 will constitute the major witness of God’s light in the world, just as in our own day that witness is provided by the Church.

In this vein, it is important to stress again that it is Jesus who is the Light of the world. Whether it be us as the true Israel (Rom.11:11-24) , or these two unique men of God, we are all merely reflectors of that one true Light, and we all receive our ultimate empowerment from Him, from His Spirit. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” says the Lord of Hosts. Zechariah 4:6

Human scapegoats

Pharaoh and king Ahab certainly saw Moses and Elijah as scapegoats. (cf. Ex.8:8; 9:27-28; 12:31-32;1Ki.18:17; cf. Jas.5:17-18). In many such cases, it seems that God provides an earthly focal point for the divine punishment in order to demonstrate and prove the true attitude of those being punished. Without Moses’ involvement in the ten plagues on Egypt, Pharaoh would have lacked an earthly object against which to vent his anger. But by having such a ‘scapegoat’ (i.e., Moses), we see the true nature of unbelief.  But God is glorified, quite against Pharaoh’s will (Ex.10:1-2), in the process of his opposition to God as manifested in his opposition to Moses.

And had not the three and a half year drought been placed into Elijah’s hands, we would not quite understand Ahab’s rebelliousness under the influence of his wife Jezebel (1Ki.17:1; cf. 1Ki.18:4). In the Pharaoh’s case, we see a man defying God in an extraordinary way (Ex.9:16). In the Ahab’s case, we see a man attempting to destroy God’s agent with all the resources at his command (cf. 1Ki.18:9-14). In both cases, God’s ability to overcome even the most powerful and vehement human opposition shines through.

Perhaps, if these two are taken together, we see here a preview of antichrist’s opposition to God. This hostility to God is expressed in his opposition to His two witnesses when he will, most likely, combine the arrogance of Pharaoh with the implacability of Ahab. Antichrist will actively try to destroy Moses and Elijah, despite the folly of his undertaking, and will eventually succeed, but not until the time destined by God for their return to heaven.

The Forty-Two Months:

This period of time wherein the gentiles will “trample” Jerusalem is a reference to the last 3.5 years of Daniel’s end-time ‘week’. We list the nine Scriptures (9) of the last 3.5 years as follows:

• Dan 7:25. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
• Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate
• Dan 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
• Dan 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
• Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
• Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
• Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
• Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
• Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Three-and-a-half years after the Abomination of Desolation, 1260 days to be exact, the witnesses are resurrected, leaving thirty days up to Armageddon, the 1290th day. Truly, if the resurrection of the two witnesses did not moive the Jews to accept the Lord Jesus, then only His physical appearance will, when they “shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zech 12:10)”.

Then those who call upon the Lord will be saved, “for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. ¹³ For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.“

Truly God’s mercy is great, allowing for the repentance of the Jewish remnant up to the last moment. The believing remnant will be allowed to pass into the millennium as God’s people, still in their mortal bodies, to serve our exalted King Jesus from Jerusalem. Finally will they become that light to the Gentiles, The faithful, loving merciful co-administrators with Lord Jesus.