182 - Who are the Two Witnesses? [B]

Who are the Two Witnesses; Rev. 11:3-14

Revelation 11:3 ^NASB "And I will grant {authority} to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."

We believe that these two witnesses appear early in the first half of the Tribulation period, not the second half. One of the reasons is that if we look down to verse 10, we read: "And those who dwell on the earth {will} rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth." These two witnesses will be martyred and all around the world the earth dwellers are going to have a party to celebrate their death. It is like a three-day Christmas holiday. This is at the end of a period of time that is defined in verse three as 1260 days. If that period was at the end of the Tribulation, then 1260 days after the mid-point of the Tribulation is going to find us in the middle of the most incredible war and conflagration in history, the military campaign of Armageddon. In Revelation 11:19 we learn that the battle of Armageddon really isn't a battle, the word has to do with a military campaign; and so it would be a lengthy campaign, not just one battle. There are various stages in the campaign of Armageddon. Hundreds of thousands of people are being slaughtered, they are not going to be taking three days off to have a celebration over the death of these two prophets. So the only place this really does fit is to put this 1260 days into the first half of the Tribulation period. They come at the beginning at the time that is defined in verse 2 as the time when the outer courtyard and the holy city (Jerusalem) have been given to the Gentiles. What is excluded in verse 1 is the holy of holies, the bronze altar, the inner sanctum. That does come under Gentile domination in the second half of the Tribulation when the Antichrist sets up his image there.

The two prophets show up and they are clothed in sackcloth. Sackcloth was worn by someone who was mourning something. The idea was that they were mourning the spiritual condition of Israel; that they were still in apostasy. They rejected Jesus as Messiah and continue to do so. So their dress brings attention to them and their message.

Revelation 11:4 ^NASB "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth." They are compared by a metaphor. This imagery comes right out of Zechariah chapter four where two olive trees depicted two of the key leaders of Israel: Zerubbabel who brought the Jews back from Babylon in about 536 BC, and Joshua the high priest. They were the ones who had restored the sacrifices to the temple mount. They were leading the people and instigating the rebuilding of the temple which had fallen on hard times. The issue is empowerment; that is point of comparison. Zechariah 4:6 ^NASB Then he said to me, 'This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts [armies]'." (The word "host" is an antiquated word that refers to a military organization, an army) This is the Lord of the armies, referring to the Lord and His sovereign power over the universe and that it is by His power through the Holy Spirit who will empower Zerubbabel and Joshua to rebuild the temple. They are compared in Revelation 11:4 and the question comes up as to who exactly they are.

There is something in the Bible related to contingency, real contingency related to human history based on human decision that God is so great in His sovereignty that His plan is broad enough that He can bring about His purposes whether man chooses to do A or B. Charlie Clough's illustration from his Framework series in which he made a comment about God's creation: that God included enough flexibility in all of His creation to handle the chaos that was introduced by sin. So in His plan there is flexibility and room to maneuver based on human volition, but God is still ultimately the one who moves things to their final end. Because He is omniscient this means that God knows all of the knowable; He knows what would happen if other conditions occurred.

The reason that is important is that in the first advent of Christ it was a huge contingency, and that contingency was going to be dependent upon the volition of the people in Israel—whether they would embrace Jesus as their Messiah or whether they would reject Him as their Messiah. God in His omniscience knows what their choice is going to be but He is not playing dice with His omniscience. There are some people who have said that because God knew they weren't going to accept Jesus as Messiah, when He sent John the Baptist he could have been but really wasn't Elijah—he just could have been. That's playing fast and loose with God's omniscience because that means it wasn't a real contingency. But it is a real offer of the kingdom and a real offer of Jesus as Messiah, and John the Baptist came preaching the gospel: Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He is saying to Israel that if they will turn to God then the kingdom would come "right now." Jesus said: "Repent, for the [Millennial] kingdom of heaven is at hand." He sent out His disciples in the first two thirds of His ministry with that same message. That was a genuine offer of the kingdom. When Israel rejected Him that offer was rescinded and postponed. When we look at the passages about John the Baptist and Elijah they relate to that real, genuine but contingent offer of the kingdom, because if they had accepted Jesus as Messiah, to fulfill Old Testament prophecy Elijah had to precede Him. Elijah had to be the messenger to prepare the way of the Lord. That is what we see in our passage.

Jesus said that John is [present tense] Elijah: Matthew 11:10 ^NASB "This is the one about whom it is written, 'BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.'"

Malachi 3:1 ^NASB "Behold, I am going to send My messenger [John the Baptist], and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts."

Is Malachi 3:2 first or second advent? ^NASB "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap." It is the second advent, the day of the Lord. So the first verse is talking about the first advent; the coming to His temple is really the second coming. So once again we have a passage like Isaiah 11 where we have a verse that combines, because of the Old Testament prophets' perspective of both first and second advent material because they didn't perceive the rejection of Israel. How real and contingent could the offer of the kingdom have been if the Old Testament prophets had predicted Israel's rejection of the offer? That is why the church isn't mentioned in the Old Testament. If the Old Testament prophets had indicated the intercalation between the first advent and the second advent then it would not have been a legitimate offer to Israel of the kingdom. It was a legitimate offer and they chose to reject it.

Malachi 4:5 ^NASB "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD." The terminology "great and terrible day of the Lord" refers to the end battle, the campaign of Armageddon, the final judgments at the end of the Tribulation period. What is interesting is what Malachi says in the next verse, ^NASB "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to {their} children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." It has often been stated that the "he" is verse 6 is talking about Elijah. But the nearest noun  antecedent to "he" is "the Lord." Restoring the hearts of the fathers and the hearts of the children is new covenant terminology; that is something Messiah does, not something that Elijah does. We have previously said was that maybe it is an inceptive idea in this verb, i.e. he will begin to restore the hearts of the fathers, etc. But Jesus uses this to refer to Elijah so maybe the "he" really does refer to Elijah.

In Luke chapter one we have Gabriel giving the announcement to Zechariah the father of John the Baptist concerning his son. Luke 1:16 ^NASB "And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God." That is the same terminology as the term "restore" in Malachi 4:6—Heb, shub. [17] "It is he who will go {as a forerunner} before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." That clearly relates it to Elijah, not the Lord.  Cf. Matthew 11:10 which is a quote from Malachi 3:1, also stated in Isaiah 40:3. So Jesus connects the messenger, John is that messenger. Who is the messenger in context in Malachi chapter three? The messenger in Malachi three is the messenger in Malachi four. That is the original intended meaning of Malachi. Whatever the New Testament does in applying that you can't change the original meaning.

Matthew 11:11 ^NASB "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen {anyone} greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. [12] From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence…" That means that as John and Jesus And the disciples were announcing the kingdom of heaven they were attacked. It was rejected; they were being ridiculed. "…and violent men take it by force. [13] For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John." [14] Here is the contingency. "And if you are willing to accept {it,} John himself is Elijah who was to come." Jesus says John is Elijah. That is as clear as it could possibly be. The reason for emphasizing this is because if John could be Elijah then when the Old Testament says Elijah must come it is using Elijah metaphorically and not literally—someone like Elijah, someone who is a counterpart to Elijah. If the Jews had accepted Jesus and the kingdom had come then Malachi four would have been fulfilled in John the Baptist. That means that the fulfillment of the Malachi four passage does not have to be a literally resurrected Elijah.

In Matthew chapter seventeen is the account of the mount of transfiguration. Elijah and Moses appear with Jesus and they are in glorified bodies. That is important to understand because even though Moses went through physical death. Jude 9 ^NASB "But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'" So Moses went through physical death; now he comes back with an interim body. It is not a resurrection body because the firstfruits of resurrection hasn't occurred yet—at that time. Elijah is with Moses but he didn't die physically, he was taken. He went through this transition which would necessarily entail a replacement of his body. People often argue (based on Hebrews 9:27) that Enoch didn't die physically either and that they have to come back because they didn't see death. Everybody has to die, but these two didn't. But that is not what that verse says: it is talking about under normal conditions. There Are a lot of people who aren't going to die: the Rapture generation. Others died twice, e.g. Lazarus and all those people who were raised from their graves when Jesus was crucified. Then they died again physically. So we shouldn't put more weight on Hebrews 9:27 than it can bear.

A lot of people say that the appearing of Moses and Elijah in the mount of transfiguration proves that they are going to be the precursors announcing Jesus. But it doesn't say that anywhere in Matthew 17. After this Jesus had a teaching moment with His disciples and they asked Him: "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Matthew 17:11 ^NASB "And He answered and said, 'Elijah is coming and will restore [turn] all things." The Greek word there is apokathistemi [a)pokaqisthmi] which means to reestablish or restore. This is a term for restoring the kingdom to Israel. The land and everything was taken from them and now everything will be given back. It is the fulfillment of all the covenant promises. Acts 3:19 ^NASB "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." The phrase "times of refreshing" is a millennial term. Peter is addressing Jews in Jerusalem and this is still an offer of the kingdom after the ascension. In that transition period from the day of Pentecost until the destruction of Jerusalem technically the nation could have turned back to God and the kingdom could have come in then. That contingency was still there. He was offering the kingdom. [20] "and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, [21]whom heaven must receive [ascension and session] until {the} period of restoration of all things…" The word "restoration" is the noun form of apokathistemi. So Jesus is in heaven until the time of the restoration of all things, i.e. the Millennial kingdom. "…about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time."

What is interesting is that if we think about the chronology, what precedes the coming of Jesus to restore the kingdom is a message to call the people to turn back to God so that the time of restoration can come. Who is proclaiming that message of restoration? Elijah. It is Jesus who comes to fulfil that and establish His kingdom. So Elijah comes first, preceding the great and terrible day of the Lord when  the kingdom is established and the time of restoration comes in. So Elijah restoring all things is a term that is related to his role in bringing about the final culmination of the age of Israel and the establishing of the messianic kingdom. It is not the restoration of the sacrificial system in Jerusalem at the beginning of the Tribulation period.

Matthew 17:12 ^NASB "but I say to you that Elijah already came..." That is tantamount to the statement in Matthew 11 that John is Elijah. "…and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. [13] Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist." So John the Baptist would have fulfilled that role of Elijah. That means that whoever is there during the Tribulation period doesn't have to be a resurrected or resuscitated Elijah. Neither does it have to be a resuscitated Moses or Enoch. Then we have the conundrum of John 1:21 ^NASB "They asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?' And he said, "I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' And he answered, 'No'." Because it was John the Baptist, but he was coming in the ministry of Elijah.

So when it comes to identifying the two witnesses: first of all, in the early part of church history people like Tertullian, Irenaeus, and other early church fathers identified the two witnesses as Enoch and Elijah because they didn't die physically. That is one option. We don't think it was Enoch or anything related to Enoch because Enoch was before Abraham, and the role of these two witnesses has to do with Israel because everything in Revelation has to do with the restoration of the kingdom to Israel and these final judgments at the end of the Tribulation period in Daniel's seventieth week. The second option people have is Moses because Moses died mysteriously all by himself up on Mount Nebo and they often think of him as the great prophet of Israel. So he is an option. Elijah is the third option because he didn't die physically. Most people that we read will tell us that it is Moses and Elijah and they base that on the fact that he appeared at the mount of transfiguration and the miracles that are mentioned are similar to those of Moses and Elijah. The two witnesses will cal down fire from heaven, cf. 1 Kings 18; Elijah shut off rain in 1 Kings 17:1. Moses turned water into blood in the plagues of Egypt, Exodus 7-11. So in conclusion, in terms of identifying them, what we have to say is that while it is possible that they could be a resurrected or resuscitated Elijah and Moses it is not necessary. It could be two Jews who, just like John the Baptist, minister and function in the same way and with the same power as Moses and Elijah.

Revelation 11:5 ^NASB "And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way." There is a similar event in 2 Kings chapter one where Elijah calls for fire from heaven to come down and wipe out a whole company of men who have come to arrest him. These two witnesses are going to be deadly for three and a half years. They are going to be the opposition-in-chief against the Antichrist.

Revelation 11:6 ^NASB "These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire." One note on their prophesying. The essence of prophesy in the Old Testament is that prophets reresent the court of heaven (God) and the Mosaic Law which is the law code. They are the prosecutors from the Supreme Court of Heaven challenging and indicting the people for their disobedience to the Law. That is what they are going to be doing; they are bringing the legal charge against the earth dwellers, the unbelievers, during the Tribulation period because of how they have rejected God time and time again, and that God is justified in bringing this judgment against unbelieving mankind.

Revelation 11:7 ^NASB "When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them." This is the first mention of the beast who is mentioned 35 times. It is the Greek word therion [qhrion] which refers to a ravenous, violent carnivor. The abyss is where the demons have been imprisoned. Satan later will be chained in the abyss. The picture here is that the Antichrist is empowered by the demon from the abyss. He is not Satan but he is empowered by Satan. [8] "And their dead bodies {will lie} in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." The word "mystically" is a bad translation. The Greek word there is pneumatikos [pneumatikoj] and should be translated "spiritually." It is used allegorically: Jerusalem is called Sodom and Egypt. When the Bible has an alllegorical interpretation it always identifies it. Isaiah referred to Jerusalem as being like Sodom because of their moral perversion in Isaiah 1:9ff. Ezekeil called them Sodom because of their perversion, Ezekiel 16:46. Egypt is used because that was a place of antagonism to God, polytheism and the complete panorama of their religious system which is set against God. It is historically and geographically identified by the last phrase, "where also their Lord was crucified."

Revelation 11:9 ^NASB "Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations {will} look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb." This is the height of disrespect. [10] "And those who dwell on the earth {will} rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth." These are those who are set against God, those who will never turn to God, never respond to the gospel. [11] "But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. [12] "And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. [13] And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven." This is when the vast majority of Jews are saved. This has to be right near the mid-point of the Tribulation because the next thing that is going to happen is that the Antichrist is going to come in and desecrate the temple, and these now-saved Jews in Jerusalem are going to know what Jesus said and are going to head to the hills. [14] "The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly." This ties it chronologically. This ends at the same time the sixth trumpet judgment ends, the mid-point of the Tribulation.

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