Who Are the “Two Witnesses” of Revelation 11?
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What power has God given to the church? This question is addressed in Revelation 11.
Revelation 11 tells us about the power and the task God has given to his church.
The vision John receives reveals the power and the task that God has given to his church, as well as the manner in which that power is expressed. This is crucial for us in that it not only directs us how we should live as the church and informs us on the nature of church power, but it strengthens us as this power is largely invisible to the eye, especially the world’s eye.
“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.” (Rev. 11:3-6)
Since the beginning of chapter 10, our Lord has revealed himself as the conquering faithful witness in the gorgeous majesty of the Angel of the Lord. And as the prophetic Glory-Angel, Jesus then commissioned John in his image. Dramatized in the taking and eating of the scroll (Rev. 10:8-11), John was commissioned as the apostolic witness to preach the gospel to all people, even amid the trampling of the Gentiles. John had the bittersweet message and experience of preaching the gospel in a fallen world and a mixed church. In chapter 11 this vision progresses to focus more specifically on the church. The movement of chapters 10 and 11 carries us from Christ to John to the church.
The two witnesses are symbolic of the whole church.
The giving of authority and prophesying to the two witnesses in Revelation 11:3 matches John’s taking the scroll and call to prophesy in the previous chapter. Yet, the doubling of the witness is symbolic of the whole church.
According to the Old Testament law, a charge had to be established by at least two witnesses: “Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established” (Deut. 19:15). The two witnesses symbolize the church’s legally valid testimony.
The church, then, is a witnessing community being called to preach God’s truth and gospel. The church testifies that the Triune God is the only God of heaven and earth and that Jesus is the only Savior and King. She announces the truth of not belonging to this world, but to the Lord both body and soul.
The 1,260 days of Revelation 11 is another perspective of the same period of time in Daniel 12.
“And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Rev. 11:3)
Note the duration of their prophetic witness—it lasts 1,260 days. Based on a 30-day month, this is equivalent to 3 ½ years or 42 months. This time length refers to the same period of a time, times, and half a time from Daniel 12, which refers to the church age (between the rising of Christ and the resurrection of the wise ones).
The 42 months of trampling is the same period as the 1,260 days of testimony—the church age. Thus, in Revelation 11:3 the two witnesses symbolize the church with its great commission identity set between the first and second comings of Christ.
The two olive trees and two lampstands are connected to Zechariah 4.
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. (Rev. 11:4)
More is revealed about the church and its prophetic task in verse 4. The two witnesses are said to be the two olive trees and two lampstands, and this comparison is dependent upon the vision in Zechariah 4 with its two olive trees and lamp. The lamp there was the menorah, and it was symbolic of the whole temple.
The lamps of ancient times burned oil similar to our oil lamps, but they used olive oil. In Zechariah, the two olive trees next to the menorah provide a constant flow of oil so that the menorah light would not go out. Like a battery that never needs recharging, the menorah had an endless supply of fuel.
The church is pictured here as Spirit-filled in order to testify to God’s truth.
What is the significance of this in Zechariah? The Lord tells us in Zechariah 4:6, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.” The light of the menorah points to God’s true word as it shines through God’s servants; and the ever-abundant flow of oil points to the perfect and sufficient work of the Holy Spirit.
This is the imagery that John is using, with the number of lamps being doubled to fit the witness motif. The church is pictured here as Spirit-filled in order to testify to God’s truth. Being empowered by the all-sufficient Spirit of God, the church shines forth the light of God’s true word.
Being built up in and on the Light of the world, the church testifies to the Light.
Now in Zechariah 4, the light-giving menorah fed by the olive trees is particularly a picture of God’s word to Zerubbabel, the Davidic governor who would lay the foundation of the temple. This Zerubbabel, then, prophetically pictured the person and work of Christ. Christ even acknowledged this fulfillment when he said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Jesus Christ is the One and True Light of the world. He laid the foundation of God’s temple people through his own death and resurrection, and all who come to him in faith are founded upon him. Therefore, being built up in and on the Light of the world, the church testifies to the Light. The Light of Christ shines through us as his temple people.
The two witnesses are covenant prosecutors giving legally valid testimony.
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. (Rev. 11:5)
What is the effect of the ministry of these two witnesses? What role and power does the church’s menorah-testimony have? What is demonstrated by where the two witnesses stand and what they are able to do?
First, the two menorahs stand before the Lord of the earth (Rev. 11:4). This is a legal and judicial stance. The title “Lord of the earth” highlights God as the Sovereign Judge; to stand before him is to be his witnesses, his prosecutors. Their legally valid testimony becomes the basis for the Lord’s judgment.
Second, we learn in verse 5 what the witnesses can do to those who desire to harm them. To harm the witnesses is to reject their message in hatred and hostility so as to desire their end. And what happens to such rejecters? “Fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes.”
The “fire” from the mouth of the witnesses refers to the power and effect of the word.
This is not fire from heaven but from the mouth of the two. This is not literal fire or a physical burning. Rather, fire from the mouth is like the sword issuing forth from the mouth of the Son of Man. It refers to the power and effect of the word.
This imagery is found when the Lord speaks to Jeremiah about his prophetic ministry, as he says in Jeremiah 5:14, “Behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.” This fire refers to the judging and condemning effect of the prophetic word.
So also, for those who reject the testimony of the two witnesses, the church’s preaching condemns and judges them unto death. Their testimony convicts; it leaves the rejecter guilty and under the curse of eternal fire.
The two plagues recall the ministries of Elijah and Moses, the two great Old Testament prophets.
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. (Rev. 11:6)
These two plagues recall the ministries of Elijah and Moses, the two great Old Testament prophets. It was Elijah who shut the heavens so that no rain fell on Israel for three-and-one-half years; and it was Moses who turned the waters of the Nile to blood. Both of these plagues were done because Israel/Egypt refused to heed God’s word; they were curses that sealed Israel/Egypt for judgment.
So also the prophetic power of the church places those who reject the light of the Lord under a curse, sealing them for judgment. Again, the church does not literally stop rain or turn water into blood; rather, the Old Testament prophetic ministries are pictures of what the church does spiritually, though very much real.
Indeed, the two witnesses’ ability to strike the earth with plagues matches the overall imagery and purpose of the trumpet cycle (Rev. 8:2-11:19). God executed the trumpet plagues, tied to the Exodus plagues, on the unbelieving world in answer to the prayers of his people.
Just as Moses and Elijah prayed to execute the plagues, so also when the church prays for justice and relief from persecutors the Lord answers with the trumpet plagues, which keep the earth dwellers in their unrepentance and so sealed for judgment.
Now that the Last Adam has come, the world is judged particularly by their relationship to him.
For the unbelieving world and the apostate church, the two witnesses have the role of covenant prosecutors. The witness ministry of the church prosecutes the covenant wherein the world is judged. And by what standard is the world judged? They are judged under the broken covenant of works in Adam as it is revealed in nature and in our conscience.
Yet, a dimension has been added now that Christ has come. Listen to what Paul says in Acts 17: 30-31:
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
The world lies condemned under the first Adam, but now that the Last Adam has come, the world is judged particularly by their relationship to him. Note what our Lord says in John 3:19-20:
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.”
The church’s prophetic witness concerning Christ is the basis for the eternal condemnation of the unrepentant.
The church prosecutes the covenant wherein the world will be judged—its menorah testimony will be the legal testimony that establishes the charge against the unbelieving earth dwellers. This is the point of the “life for life, eye for eye” justice found in verse 5. Just as the unrepentant rejecters seek to destroy the spiritual life of the two witnesses, so they will be consumed by the fire that brings spiritual death.
This standard of justice belongs only to the Last and Final Day, when the Lord will repay the unbelievers according to their deeds. The church does not and cannot use physical force or violence now. Yet, for those who refuse to repent, the church’s prophetic witness concerning Christ is the basis for their eternal condemnation.
In these last days, it becomes clear how carefully we should heed the discipline and ministry of the church.
From this picture of the church and its God given power in these last days, it becomes clear how carefully we should heed the discipline and ministry of the church. Indeed, the church pictured here as the two menorah witnesses is a dramatic demonstration of the keys that Jesus gave to his church in Matthew 16:19:
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Here Christ says that whatever the church binds on earth is bound in heaven and whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. This means the Lord records as legally binding the testimony of the church. He heeds the church’s true testimony. It is to the creeds and confessions (as they are consistent with Scripture) the church has confessed in unity for centuries that we should believe and submit.
True, the church does err and only the Scriptures are inspired; nonetheless, we should never be flippant or lighthearted towards the testimony of the church. Our normal demeanor and stance should be one of respect, humility, and carefulness. For the Lord has placed his church before him as his two prophetic witnesses by whose testimony concerning Christ he will judge the world.
The primary purpose of the church’s menorah testimony is not to serve judgment but to serve redemptive grace of God in Christ.
Now, as you can see, Revelation depicts the identity and power of the church here particularly in terms of judgment. And this is because the context is focusing on the effect the church’s witness has on those who reject its word and seek to harm the two witnesses. The unbelieving Gentiles’ trampling of the holy city is the canvas upon which the two witnesses are painted. Yet, we should not take this to mean that the only or even primary role of the church’s mission is judgment. Rather, the primary purpose of the church’s menorah testimony is to serve the redemptive grace of God in Christ.
This is exposed in two ways here, first, by what the two witnesses are wearing. They are clothed in sackcloth, which is the typical prophetic garb. It is what Elijah and John the Baptist wore. But there is a reason for this.
Sackcloth is the garment of mourning and repentance. To put on sackcloth was a sign of repentance—that one was guilty of sin and so mournful for one’s sin and the coming judgment that one deserved. The ministry of the two witnesses is one of repentance—the free offer of forgiveness if one will repent of one’s sins. Judgment has its place, but the main force is that there is deliverance from judgment.
To repent is to be absolved from guilt—free from condemnation. The church proclaims the grace of Jesus Christ, by which we are forgiven, cleansed from sin and delivered from judgment. There is no condemnation or wrath for those who are repentant in Christ through faith.
Through the menorah testimony of the church, you are delivered from darkness and ushered into the Light of Life.
Secondly, these sackcloth-adorned witnesses bear the menorah light. They belong to the true Light of the World, Jesus Christ himself. Jesus is the Truth and Light of the Living God that brings life to all who believe in him. As Jesus said of himself,
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Through the ministry of the church, the Lord grants you the very life of Christ, the Holy Spirit who lives in you. The Spirit of Christ nourishes you with all of Christ’s benefits and God’s grace and mercy so that you can live by faith and please God.
Through the menorah testimony of the church, you are delivered from darkness and ushered into the Light of Life, Truth, and Grace. You are made living stones in God’s heavenly temple. This is the primary purpose of the church’s prophetic witness in these last days—in the “today” of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).
God granted the church this menorah and sackcloth ministry.
Therefore, the call to be part of the church’s menorah light and to heed its prophetic witness is not burdensome but a joy. God granted the church this menorah and sackcloth ministry primarily to give you the salvation of Christ and to assure and comfort you in that salvation.
Indeed, as we experience more and more of the bitterness of being “trampled underfoot by the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24), we grow weary and discouraged. Evil and wickedness abound in the world. Immorality and false teaching continue to take root in the church. The saints are persecuted and treated as the wicked should be. We commit sins after years of being in the faith, and we wonder, “Can Christ really forgive me for this? I am too sinful; surely I am outside the purview of God’s grace.”
But among all this bitterness, the Lord reminds us that his witnessing church stands before him. The Lord’s word, full of light, shines through his servants so that what is bound on earth is so bound in heaven. Remember what the Lord said in John 20:21-23,
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you….Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
The two olive tree menorah witnesses symbolically present the great commission identity of the church.
The message we preach is Christ, the cross of our Lord. The life we live is the life of Christ. It is the Spirit of the Resurrected Christ who fills up and empowers us and recreates us into the image of Christ as faithful witness. Yes, this is our identity as the body of Christ. This is who we are and what we are called to do. These two olive tree menorah witnesses symbolically present the great commission identity of the church empowered by the Lord with his light-giving Spirit.
This article is adapted from the Rev. Zach Keele’s sermon on Revelation 11:3-6 given on July 6, 2008 and was originally published on Beautiful Christian Life on June 25, 2020.
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4 Things about Visionary Prophecy in the Bible You Need to Know
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