The Two Witnesses

The temple of God is the Church

Revelation 11:1-2
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.
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.

To 'measure' something is to describe it. The Church is called a holy temple, Ephesians 2:21. These verses mean describe the Church! This chapter and the following two chapters do that. The court without the temple is given to Gentiles, which by interpretation, refers to those who are not genuine believers, or saints. Not all those who claim to be Christians really are, but they are called Gentiles in the court outside the temple of God. This temple is symbolic of the true Church, as is the name "holy city". The holy city and the saints are trodden under the feet of Gentiles. This indicates they are dominated by unbelievers. Is this referring to those who control the various religious denominations?

The 42 months and 1,260 days

Revelation 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.
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

Verse 2 mentions 42 months, and verse 3 mentions 1,260 days. Taking a month as 30 days, the 1,260 days is equal to 42 months. Both of these time periods are references to the "time, times, and a half" which can be interpreted using Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks. It refers to the remaining time of the Church when Christ confirms his covenant with believers.

Two olive trees and Zechariah 4

Jesus identifies the scriptures and the Spirit as things that "testify" of him, so they are two "witnesses". One who "testifies" is a witness.

John 5:39
Search the scriptures, for in them you think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

In Revelation 11:4 the two witnesses are called two candlesticks, but in Zechariah 4 only one candlestick is mentioned. Could that be because in the time of Zechariah the Spirit was not yet given?

In Zechariah 4, oil flows from two olive branches, representing the role of the Spirit of God in the world. The olive branches are called "two anointed ones, that stand by the lord of the whole earth" (Zechariah 4:14).

They are called two olive trees, and they stand before the "lord of the earth", which is mentioned in both Zechariah 4:14 and Revelation 11:4. Who is the lord of the earth? In Genesis 1:26 it is man who is given dominion over God's creatures. The scriptures also mention two trees that were prominent in the Garden of Eden. So this prophecy of the two trees is a theme of several passages in the Bible.

Two candlesticks

They are identified with two candlesticks, as they provide spiritual light in the darkness of the world. A candlestick of gold is described in Zechariah 4.

The word of God is called a light and a lamp:

Psalm 119:105
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Two prophets (Moses and Elijah)

Moses and Elijah appeared to the disciples with Jesus in the vision of the transfiguration.

The return of Elijah

Moses and Elijah are mentioned in the prophecy of Malachi.

Malachi 4:4-6
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.

Jesus referred to this and said Elias had already come. He could have meant the Holy Spirit, which was in him, but the disciples took it to be a reference to John the Baptist.

Fire from their mouth

Revelation 11:5
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.

The "fire from their mouth" is a metaphor for the fate of their enemies that is mentioned in scripture. See "lake of fire".

Their power to shut heaven

Revelation 11:6
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.

The two witnesses have power to "shut heaven", so there is no rain during the period of their prophecy. If the "rain" represents God's word, that prophecy suggests there is no further revelation, no new prophecies, and no more scriptures are added. The canon of scripture is closed.

The idea of rain being a symbol for God's word is from Isaiah.

Isaiah 55:10-12
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Their power to turn water to blood

They have "power over waters to turn them to blood". The "waters" represent knowledge of God, and the symbol of "blood" is usually associated with murder as when God speaks of the blood of Abel who was killed by Cain:

Genesis 4:10
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

In 2 Kings 3 there is an account of a battle in which the outcome hinged on people mistaking water for blood. The kings of Israel, Judah and Edom went out into the wilderness with their armies in order to punish the king of Moab, who stopped paying tribute to the Israelite king. But they ran short of water. So they called for the prophet Elisha.

Elisha advised them to make ditches in the valley. During the night, the ditches filled up with water. In the morning the Moabite army looked over the valley, and the reflection of the red sky on the water appeared to them like pools of blood.

2 Kings 3:21-23
And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border.
And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood:
And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.

Assuming there had been a battle, the Moabites approached the camp of the Israelites, expecting to find them wasted, but instead were slaughtered themselves.

Many of those who oppose the gospel and the Bible are much like those unfortunate Moabites, who mistook water for blood. They view the truths of the gospel which Christians accept, as notions unfit for human consumption! The gospel which is as cool, clean, fresh drinking water to believers, is as distasteful as blood to them. Several facts make the scriptures unpalatable for people; the flawed cosmology that resulted from changes made to the OT by the hellenistic king Antiochus IV and his agents in the 2nd century BC is one reason. Another reason is that the scriptures record miracles and prophecies. Yet another is their own lack of imagination, and a literal reading of passages in the Bible that are symbolic, or written in poetic style. For these or several other reasons, many view the Bible and the message of the gospel not as clean, refreshing, life-gig water, but as blood that they cannot bring themselves to drink!

The waters that were turned to blood by Moses in Egypt made them unfit to drink. The scriptures, which are the source for the truth about our salvation through Christ, are considered unfit to be believed by those in the world, just as the Egyptians could not drink the water when Moses turned to into blood.

Their power to smite the earth with plagues

They "smite the earth with all plagues", which refers to the plagues mentioned in scripture.

War with the beast

Revelation 11:7
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

This is the world's war against the Bible and the Spirit of God; there are several ways that this war is waged. In some countries direct persecution eliminates Christian faith.

In others the state controls religion.

Critical scholarship has destroyed the credibility of the scriptures in the minds of many. False doctrines have also discredited the truth of scripture.

Their death and revival

The nations are aware of the two witnesses. They are the scriptures, and the Spirit of God. Moses and Elijah are symbols, Moses representing the scriptures, Elijah the Spirit. The world (actually it says the beast from the bottomless pit) makes war against them and kills them. The scriptures have been discredited by the critical scholars of the world or "killed". People rejoice over this. They are glad because the two witnesses torment those who dwell on the earth, as they convict people of sin.

Revelation 11:8
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

The "great city" is the sinful world from which God's people escape. Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem.

Revelation 11:9-10
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.
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

Isn't this describing the present status of the scriptures and the Spirit? Bibles are still studied and discussed in public. They are published and sold in huge numbers, argued about in newsgroups, and they are still used for taking oaths in court. They are like corpses left unburied in the street! But they have been killed, by the beast from the bottomless pit. Critical scholarship kills the scriptures. It attempts to discredit them, and it denies prophecy.

But these two witnesses revive, and stand on their feet.

Jesus promised, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled! If we seek God, we will be filled with the understanding of God's word, and of all its prophecies! That is what we look forward to.

Prophecy fulfilled, and understood, vindicates the scriptures, and the Spirit of God.