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The two witnesses – Revelation 11:1-14

What’s your style of witnessing for Christ?

A true heart of compassion will let people know of God’s love and that God has provided a way to experience true life, an abundant life. But How? Do we all have to share the same way? No, the unbelieving world is made up of all kinds of people: young, old, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, urban, rural, with different race, personalities, values, politics and religious backgrounds. It’s going to take more than one style of evangelism to reach such a diverse population!

So what’s your style?

Confrontational? Peter declared, Repent and be baptized, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. (Acts 2)

Intellectual? Paul debated with the philosophers on Mars Hill to convince them. (Acts 17)

Testimonial? A man healed of blindness confessed, One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see! (John 9)

Relational? Jesus told a man delivered from demons, Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you. (Mark 5)

Invitational? The Samaritan woman at the well begged the people of the city to come and hear Jesus for themselves. (John 4)

Serving? Dorcas impacted her city by doing deeds of kindness. (Acts 9)

Prophetical? The two witnesses of Revelation prophesied in sackcloth in the spirit of Moses and Elijah

Don’t ever think you’re a second-class Christian because you don’t witness like Peter or Paul or the two witnesses of Revelation. Discover your own method. Then get out of your chair and use it, for the Glory of God. Live by faith, not fear!

We know about Peter and Paul, but who are these two witnesses in Revelation who have the power to shut up the sky so it will not rain and the power to turn the waters into blood and strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want?

Some have suggested that perhaps the most difficult passage to interpret in the entire book of Revelation is found in chapter 11. Who are these two powerful witnesses who prophesy for 1,260 days? What do these symbols and numbers mean because they are, in fact, quite confusing. What does it mean for the holy city to be trampled for 42 months? How do these periods of time relate?

The trampling of the holy city is part of the judgment initiated with the sixth of a series of trumpet judgments, the penultimate judgments of Revelation. In Revelation 9:13 a voice from the horns of the golden altar in heaven told the sixth angel holding a trumpet to release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. These angels had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops on horses with heads like lions and mouths that breathed fire, and tails like snakes was two hundred million. This cataclysmic judgment comes to an end in Revelation 11:14 after the death and resurrection of the two witnesses. A severe earthquake strikes and a tenth of the city collapses taking the lives of 7,000 souls. Terrified, the survivors, 63,000 in all, repent and glorify God.

What do we make of the numbers in this passage 42 days and 1,260 days, as well as the three and a half days that the witnesses are to lie dead before their resurrection? It doesn’t take much math skill to discover 42 months equals three and a half years. Likewise, the 1,260 days equals 42 months of 30 days each or three and a half years of 360 days. In Revelation 12:14, “the woman” will be protected for “a time, times, and half a time,” or three and a half years. Therefore, what we have in Revelation is three different ways of referring to the same length of time.

It’s clear that this time period is symbolic. When it comes to identifying this period and the individuals there are three basic schools of thought. One group sees the temple as a literal rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and the witnesses as two specific individuals. Given the nature of their miracles, they appear to be most like Moses and Elijah, the greatest of the Old Testament Prophets. The three and a half years, then, is also a literal period at the end of the age during what John calls “the great tribulation,” when the antichrist who will be a world leader, will oppress the temple worship. The problem with this view is that the oppression excludes the altar and the inner court of the temple, which makes it appear to be more of a symbolic temple than a literal one. Who would control the outer court of the temple and ignore the inner one?

Another interpretation sees the temple and Jerusalem as symbols for the Jewish people. The antichrist oppresses the Jewish people in the end of the age for three and a half years, but the faithful remnant, (the worshipers in the inner court) will be protected. During this period of protection in the middle of the reign of evil, two witnesses will appear to the Jewish people, calling them to Christ. This interpretation has the advantage of retaining a sense of the literal in the first interpretation, while avoiding the problems it faced in viewing the temple as a literal temple.

A third interpretation sees the temple and Jerusalem as symbols for the church and the world. The inner court is the true worshippers. The outer court symbolizes those members of the church who are corrupted by the world, such as the Nicolaitans and followers of Jezebel in Revelation 2. The holy city, Jerusalem, is the world outside the church. The church is oppressed by evil for a specific period, symbolically described as three and a half years. Yet during this period witness will go on. The two witnesses symbolize the witness of the church. Such witness will involve martyrdom for the church.

Obviously, we cannot be sure of the interpretation of this passage. Too many good Christian scholars have taken vastly different positions to speak with any certainty. If forced to make a choice, what appears to fit John’s perspective best is the second view. In John’s time there was no temple. Judaism suffered oppression and would continue to suffer until the end. There will be a period of intense persecution in the end of the age, when the embodiment of evil himself, the antichrist, will rule. The Jews symbolized by Jerusalem in Revelation 11, will be “trampled on” by this ruler, but a remnant that is faithful to God, the inner court of Revelation 11 and perhaps the “woman” of Revelation 12, will be protected. Just as there is an embodiment of evil, so witness will be embodied in two individuals who will come in the spirit of Moses and Elijah. After three and a half years they will be martyred, then raised to life. Yet this will lead to a mass turning of the Jews to Christ. It will also happen just before the end of the age; swiftly within two or three months. This interpretation fits with Jesus’ prediction about Judaism in Luke 21:24b “Jerusalem will be trampled on by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,” and it fits with his prediction of the temple in Mark 13:2, “Do you see all these great buildings,” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” There is no mention of the rebuilding of the temple.

This is what John anticipated in the end of the age. He appears to believe that it would happen within a short time. It did not happen that way during his lifetime, but perhaps we should look at the rapid spread of Christianity within the Roman Empire as a parallel to the repentance of Nineveh in Jonah. It led to the eventual repentance of Rome and perhaps, like in the case of Nineveh, God’s decision to delay his judgment. That is certainly in line with his desire for repentance rather than judgment within Revelation. This may have moved the judgment to the end of the age, whenever that may happen to be. Yet judgment will come. How will it compare to John’s vision 1900 years ago? Only hindsight from heaven will reveal the truth–and the full understanding of Revelation 11 and the two witnesses. Until then, what are we to do? Live by faith, not fear! Faithfully live, worship and witness to the new life we have in Christ. Don’t ever think you’re a second-class Christian because you don’t witness like Peter or Paul or the two witnesses of Revelation. Discover your own method. Then get out of your chair and use it, for the Glory of God.

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