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The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11: Difference between revisions
The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 (view source)
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:''And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are '''the two olive trees''' and '''the two lampstands''' that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, '''fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes'''. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. '''They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may 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 kind of plague''', as often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Re 11:3–12.</ref> | :''And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are '''the two olive trees''' and '''the two lampstands''' that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, '''fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes'''. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. '''They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may 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 kind of plague''', as often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Re 11:3–12.</ref> | ||
The reference to the two olive trees is | The reference to the two olive trees is clearly taken from the book of Zechariah: | ||
:''And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” | :''And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord? | ||
:''Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” | :''Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?” He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Zec 4:3–4, 11–14.</ref> | ||
Commentators in general agree that the two men intended are '''Joshua the high priest''', who has already been mentioned in the previous vision, and '''Zerubbabel the governor | Commentators in general agree that the two men intended are '''Joshua the high priest''', who has already been mentioned in the previous vision, and '''Zerubbabel the governor. the representative of the King'''.<ref>David J. Clark and Howard A. Hatton, A Handbook on Zechariah, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 2002), 146.</ref> | ||
==Who are the two witnesses?== | ==Who are the two witnesses?== | ||
The dispensationalist view is that the two witnesses represent Moses and Elijah. | |||
But rather than Moses and Elijah, it appears more reasonable to view the two witnesses as representing the prophetic witness of the church. | |||
There are a number of reasons for this: | There are a number of reasons for this: | ||
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