The Two Witnesses

 

Last month I wrote an article about the dispensations, and in it I discuss the fact that after each dispensation God only releases judgment on the part of mankind that failed to obey the ruling principle of a given dispensation and also extends an offer of grace in some manner. I mentioned that after the Age of Grace ends at the Rapture, God releases judgment on the world (an unsaved world that logically cannot include the saved Church) in the form of the Tribulation and its associated judgments (thus offering strong support for a pre-trib Rapture).

I also mentioned that He extends grace in the form of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who take the gospel to the post-Rapture world and bring a huge number of people into the kingdom, both Jewish remnant believers and Gentile Tribulation saints. He also protects the Jewish remnant in the wilderness until the bloody end of the Great Tribulation so they can be ushered alive into the kingdom following the Second Coming.

A few days after I posted that article, I got an email from a nice gentleman whom I will refer to as G, and in it he politely expressed his opinion that perhaps the ministry of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 should be included in that offer of grace coming on the heels of the Church Age, since they are also preaching and getting people saved. I blubbered something like:

"Yeah, you could be right. But hey, you got those 144,000..."

But the honest truth is that his comment completely blindsided me because I hadn't even considered the Two Witnesses. For some odd reason the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 had never even crossed my mind the whole time I was writing that article.

But G's email got me thinking, as readers' questions and comments often do, and a couple of things quickly occurred to me: (a) I had never studied the Two Witnesses to any significant degree, and as a result (b) I didn't know as much about them as I should. And I immediately recognized the Holy Spirit's tried-and-true method of giving me a wake-up call.

Translation: Heads up, hoss...new assignment.

So here we are—the Two Witnesses. In the course of this article, I want to discuss various aspects of these two enigmatic characters and in the process hopefully shed a little bit of light on questions such as who they are (and who they aren't), what they do, and where, when, why, and how they do it. Not necessarily laid out in that order.

As we shall see, some of these points are interrelated and tend to shine light on each other, so I don't feel compelled to do this laundry-list style. But what I will do is break this down into three major sections that speak broadly to all of the above points, and reduce this to three fundamental questions:

1. Who are they?

2. What is the nature of their ministry?

3. When do they minister?

Considering the extent to which students of the Bible argue over the some of the details surrounding the Two Witnesses, I suppose it's a blessing that everything we are told about them comes in a single block of Scripture in Revelation 11:1–13. So, here lies the sum total of everything the Bible has to say about the Two Witnesses, sprinkled with a smattering of notes to help get get our prophetic juices flowing:

¹A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, "Rise and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it. ²Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don't measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months [this is the second half of the Tribulation, and the "times of the Gentiles" ends with the Second Coming...some, however, assume this is the same period of time mentioned in the next verse—but it doesn't say that]. ³I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days [42 months, or three and a half years], clothed in sackcloth." ⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands, standing before the Lord of the earth [see Zechariah 3–4]. ⁵If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in this way. ⁶These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy [reminiscent of Elijah]. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood [reminiscent of Moses], and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. ⁷When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss [the now satanically indwelt Antichrist] will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them [they will be literally killed, which is a helpful clue in determining who they are]. ⁸Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified [Jerusalem]. ⁹From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations, people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb [a great and deliberate humiliation for Jews]. ¹⁰Those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth [for a fallen world, it's party time]. ¹¹After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them. ¹²I heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" [precisely as in the Rapture in Rev. 4:1] They went up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. ¹³In that day 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 [in other words, these didn't reject the Two Witnesses or their message].

(Revelation 11:1–13 / emphasis & [comments] added)

So first, let's consider what is arguably one of the most hotly debated questions concerning the Two Witnesses, and that revolves around their identity.

1. Who are they?

Countless Bible expositors over the years have suggested a smorgasbord of possibilities as to the identity of the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11. These range from allegorical or corporate interpretations such as the idea that they represent the Law and the Prophets, Israel and the Church, the Old and New Covenants, the Jews and the Arabs, etc. to the idea that they are two actual individuals, such as Elijah and Moses, Elijah and Enoch, Elijah and (fill in the blank), Peter and John, Peter and Paul, Peter and (fill in the blank), or two unknown men alive during the Tribulation who will come in the spirit and power of one of the above pairs of historical characters.

Throughout the entire Church Age, however, the great majority of Bible commentators have gravitated to the idea that the Two Witnesses are real men, not symbols or corporate entities. The Greek in verse 3 strongly suggests as much since they are referred to using a form of the word martus (witness), which is invariably used for men throughout the New Testament.

So, the question focuses on just exactly who these men might be. Among those who see them as two historical figures whom God has allowed to return to the earthly domain, most pick Moses and Elijah as the top pairing. Problems cited for Enoch often center on the fact that he is a type of the Church, and so seems an odd choice to return to witness to Israel during the Tribulation.

Another issue that comes into play in regard to seeing the Two Witnesses as two historical figures is the question of their literal physical death in Revelation 11:7. Since Moses actually died (Deut. 34:5), one reason some lean toward Elijah and Enoch is that they are the only two men in Scripture who were taken alive to heaven without the inconvenience of dying (2 Kings 2:11; Gen. 5:24). So, the argument goes, they are uniquely qualified to return to earth so they can experience death as all men are meant to do:

²⁷Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

(Hebrews 9:27 / emphasis added)

As far as I know, this is about the only reason anyone picks Enoch. But this a weak, flawed argument since there are many millions of believers at this very moment who are anxiously waiting to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye to be caught up to be with the Lord in the Rapture—and not a single one of them will ever experience death. The point is that Hebrews 9:27 obviously expresses a general principle, not an exacting rule that must hold true in every single case—because it clearly doesn't.

But we are not out of the woods yet if we want to see the Two Witnesses as historical figures such as Moses and Elijah who return to earth during the Tribulation. As the venerable John Walvoord astutely points out:

There are great difficulties in all points of view identifying the two witnesses with historical characters.

— John Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ [Source]

The problem centers around the inconvenient fact that they will be killed. Some highly capable Bible expositors take it upon themselves to step carefully through a logical labyrinth in relationship to who is able to do what or appear in what form and when in regard to Moses and Elijah—and that's an admirable thing to attempt to do in the interest of being grindingly thorough and complete. But I'm satisfied we can save ourselves a lot of headaches by considering one basic scriptural fact.

Before we get to that, however, consider: As far as Moses and Elijah are concerned, they appeared in what were most likely glorified bodies at the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–13; Mark 9:1–13; Luke 9:28–36). Well, glorified bodies are eternal or "imperishable" according to the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15:51–54), and will never die. So if we want to view the Two Witnesses as the genuine, bona fide Moses and Elijah, we have to believe that they will be changed back into their mortal, "perishable" bodies so they can minister and then be killed on earth during the Tribulation. (And even if we assume they weren't in glorified bodies, the argument doesn't get a whole lot better.)

Really? You know, God is omnipotent—He can do anything He pleases. But there is always a logical consistency in what He does, and what I just described degenerates into something that is neither logical nor consistent.

Body logic aside, however, the real headache-saver is the simple fact that Jesus Himself gives us ample reason to see the Two Witnesses not as literal, historical figures, but as men who are alive at the time whom God imbues with the spirit and power of those historical figures.

After the Transfiguration, Jesus is descending the mountain with Peter, James, and John, and He drops the following on them:

⁹And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. ¹⁰And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias [i.e. Elijah] must first come? ¹¹And Jesus answered and said to them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. ¹²But I say to you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not [i.e. someone has already come in the power and spirit of Elijah], but have done to him whatever they listed [or "wanted"]. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. ¹³Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist [bingo...a first-century man named John who came in the power and spirit of Elijah].

(Matthew 17:9–13 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

What they are referring to is a well-known prophecy in the book of Malachi concerning a future appearance of the prophet Elijah, and this prophecy constitutes the closing words of the Old Testament:

⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD [the Tribulation]: ⁶And 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.

(Malachi 4:5–6 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

In other words, Jesus made it thunderingly clear that He interpreted Malachi's prophecy as referring to a contemporary individual who would rise up and minister in the power and spirit of Elijah, not literally Elijah the Tishbite from the ninth century BC.

Since there is no reason to assume that the same principle doesn't apply to both witnesses, all we need are the words of Jesus Himself to effectively make the case for the Two Witnesses being two real men (Jewish men, of course) alive during the Tribulation whom God imbues with the power and spirit of Elijah and Moses to minister to His people Israel and the world.

And that effectively takes care of the who. Now it's on to the what.

2. What is the nature of their ministry?

The big picture in regard to the ministry of the Two Witnesses is painted by the prophet Zechariah, who was born during the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century BC. The imagery of Revelation 11:4 harks back to the prophecies given by Zechariah in the years following the Jews' release from Babylon:

⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands, standing before the Lord of the earth.

(Revelation 11:4 / emphasis added)

Tony Garland does a terrific job with all of this in his commentary on the book of Revelation, which is easily one of the best there is. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone out there who is serious about studying John's amazing vision of what is to come. Although I was aware of some of the historical details, I learned most of how this relates to the Two Witnesses from Tony's remarks on Revelation chapter 11.

In the sixth century BC, the Jews were released from captivity in Babylon, and the first wave of returnees was led by Joshua (the high priest) and Zerubbabel (the governor of Judah). They returned to Jerusalem and wasted little time in making plans to rebuild what would be the Second Temple.

Efforts to rebuild the temple, however, were met with fierce opposition from the surrounding peoples, and this caused the work to be delayed for 17 years—but the temple was finally completed in 516 BC. One of the main thrusts of Zechariah's prophecies (particularly in chapters 3 and 4) was to let the people know that God was empowering both Joshua and Zerubbabel through the Holy Spirit to ensure the completion of the temple and bring restoration to the nation of Israel following their release from Babylonian captivity. Zechariah uses the image of two olive trees to describe Joshua and Zerubbabel, through which oil (the Holy Spirit) flows to fuel a single golden lamp stand.

In other words, God let the Jewish people know through Zechariah's prophecies who was doing the heavy lifting here:

⁶Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

(Zechariah 4:6b KJV)

But Zechariah's visions also clearly speak to the end times, when Christ ("the BRANCH" in Zech. 3:8) will return to fully restore the nation of Israel and finally lead them into their glorious kingdom. As is often the case with Old Testament prophecies, this notion of God having two olive trees on earth reverberates far beyond Joshua and Zerubbabel and into the end times, and his prophecies clearly hint at two other such men who, like Joshua and Zerubbabel, will urge the nation on in rebuilding their temple and help prepare the Jewish people for their ultimate restoration through the anointing of the Holy Spirit—the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11.

Two pairs of witnesses, two restorations.

I believe the image of the two lamp stands in Revelation 11:4 is connected to the seven lamp stands mentioned in Revelation 1:

¹²I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands. ¹³And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest [Christ is among us in the sense that we are His body—we are in Him and He is in us].

[...]

²⁰The myste of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies [i.e. churches].

(Revelation 1:12–13, 20 / emphasis & [comments] added)

We are told these seven golden lamp stands are the seven assemblies or churches Jesus was about to address, and together they represent the Church as a whole, serving as the temple of the Holy Spirit on earth and the primary conduit through which the Spirit flows and operates on earth.

But by the time we get to Revelation 11, the Church is long gone. Now it is the Two Witnesses who are the lamp stands that serve as the primary conduit through which the Holy Spirit flows and operates on earth in the absence of the Church. It is the Two Witnesses who shed God's light to the world, and who serve to encourage Israel in rebuilding their temple and help prepare the Jewish remnant for their kingdom.

But that's not all. It's not all about building the temple and all that. It's not all about turning the hearts of the Jewish people back the LORD in preparation for their ultimate blessing in the form of the kingdom.

There is also a dark side to the ministry of the Two Witnesses.

And that dark side pertains to those who foolishly and persistently reject the grace and mercy a holy, just, loving God expressed to mankind though His Son and the act of atonement that His Son carried out on man's behalf two thousand years ago at Calvary.

It is worth taking a moment to recall where the concept of "two witnesses" comes from in the first place, and that would be the Law of Moses:

⁶At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

(Deuteronomy 17:6 AKJV / emphasis added)

¹⁵One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

(Deuteronomy 19:15 AKJV / emphasis added)

This principle of having at least two or three witnesses willing to testify to a person's guilt is alluded to in about a half dozen other places throughout the Old and New Testaments.

The point is that the whole concept of two witnesses is primarily evidentiary in nature: The purpose of these witnesses was to testify truthfully to establish an accused person's guilt before a fair and impartial judgment could be passed and a just punishment could be meted out.

The ministry of the Two Witnesses during the Tribulation is to a large extent evidentiary in nature. God—the Righteous Judge—is about to unleash the final, ultimate judgment on the stiff-necked, unbelieving portion of His people Israel and a fallen, Christ-hating Gentile world who are both guilty of rejecting His grace and mercy and trampling underfoot the precious blood of His Son that was shed on their behalf so they could be forgiven of their sin and reconciled to Him through faith.

For 1,260 days, I see the Two Witnesses testifying to Israel's rejection of their Messiah; how they spurned His ministry and mocked His miracles; how they conspired to have Him convicted on false charges by lying witnesses who contradicted each other and who should have been crucified right along with Christ if their religious leaders had been possessed of the slightest inkling to actually obey the Law of Moses (Deut. 19:16–19).

I see them testifying to Israel's persecution of the Church, and how they foolishly added tons of their own opinions to His inerrant Word, while scrubbing it clean of anything that pointed to the truth of the First Advent and their Messiah's work of atonement for their sin, ad infinitum, ad apostasia.

They will also warn both the Jews and the world of God's final and most severe round of judgment that is about to be released in the Great Tribulation, chiefly in the form of the bowl judgments that follow the seventh trumpet.

All told, the preceding points speak to the why of their ministry.

On and on it will go, for three and a half years. The Two Witnesses will heap burning coals on the heads of unbelieving Jews, until they either seek God in repentance or seek to kill them in rage. But if they attack them or try to harm them, they will suffer the searing consequences of their actions (Rev. 11:5).

But at the same time, we should not lose sight of the fact that the ministry of the Two Witnesses is not strictly evidentiary in nature—there is undeniably a theme of restoration in what they do. The Holy Spirit uses the Two Witnesses to lead many Jews to repentance and faith, as seen in the reaction of many of them to their deaths:

¹³In that day 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.

(Revelation 11:13 / emphasis added)

In other words, the testimony of the Two Witnesses actually gets through to a good number of people. In the end, however, the majority of a fallen world greatly rejoice at their death and turn it into a reason to celebrate.

So G had a valid point in the email he wrote to me, and it was a point that I had missed. While it is true that the primary means of evangelization during the Tribulation will be through the 144,000, there will also be those who respond to the testimony of the Two Witnesses and in the end give glory to the God of heaven, rather than desiring to kill them and rejoicing at their demise. There is a strong, clear dimension of grace and restoration in the ministry of the Two Witnesses, in spite of its prima facie function of establishing guilt on the part of both Israel and the world in order to support the impending judgment of a holy God in the Great Tribulation.

OK, with that out of the way, now would be a swell time to get a few of the logistical details straightened out in regard to the nature of the ministry of the Two Witnesses.

In verse 8, the city where the Lord was crucified is Jerusalem.

Where: √

The how part of the ministry of the Two Witnesses, however, warrants a few comments. Notice we are told that if anyone tries to harm them, they are able to perform a dragonesque maneuver and "fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies" (Rev. 11:5). And as wild as that sounds, there is really nothing in this passage that persuades most good Bible expositors that it must be taken figuratively. Bottom line:

These two guys are going to be

absolutely untouchable for the

entire 42 months of their ministry.

We are also told they have the power to (a) withhold rain from any area for as long as they choose, and (b) turn water into blood and strike any area with "every plague, as often as they desire" (Rev. 11:6).

Withholding the rain is reminiscent of what Elijah did, which is referred to in the book of James:

¹⁷Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

(James 5:17)

Elijah prayed and caused the rains to be withheld for...uhh, let's see...oh, for 42 months. My, what an intriguing coincidence.

And as you will recall, Moses turned the water into blood in the very first plague God inflicted on Pharaoh and his people:

¹⁷Thus said the LORD, In this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

(Exodus 7:17 AKJV)

And as we read Revelation 11, we get the unmistakable sense that the Two Witnesses are actually doing these things, not just threatening to do them. Is it any wonder that a "tormented" world hates the Two Witnesses so intensely that in Revelation 11:10 we see that when they are finally overcome and killed by the Antichrist, people are so ecstatic they erupt into a global celebration?

In regard to the Two Witnesses being killed, Revelation 11:7 says when they Two Witnesses are finished with their testimony, "the beast that comes out of the abyss will make war with them, overcome them, and kill them."

"Hold up...these guys have been untouchable for 42 months, and now all of a sudden the Antichrist just ups and kills them? What's up with that?"

Two things to notice: First of all, we are told the Two Witnesses have "finished their testimony." In other words, they have completed the 42-month task God has assigned them, during which they have been supernaturally empowered and protected by the Holy Spirit. But now their work is done. God allows the Two Witnesses to be killed so that He can raise them from the dead three and half days later and "rapture" them (Rev. 11:7–12). The Greek word used in verse 12 is a form of anabaino (rise, come up, go up, ascend), and is exactly the same word used in Revelation 4:1 when John is told to "Come up here" in a verse that I am absolutely convinced speaks to the Rapture.

As I discuss in an article entitled "The Last Roundup," this aligns perfectly with what I believe will happen to the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. I believe the overall mission of the 144,000 will be complete by the time the seventh seal is opened, and before the dust has settled from the opening trumpet judgments they will all have been martyred by being beheaded (just as Paul their prototype was beheaded by an Antichrist-foreshadowing Emperor Nero at the conclusion of his ministry). And when I say their mission will be complete, I mean that no additional people will come to faith in Christ after the opening of the seventh seal—it's time for the trumpets and bowls, which together constitute the final outpouring of judgment.

The sound of silence: I believe this is one reason there is a half an hour of silence following the opening of the seventh seal in Revelation 8:1. There is rejoicing in the presence of angels when one sinner repents (Luke 15:10), and since when is rejoicing silent?

Second, consider: If the Antichrist had the power to kill the Two Witnesses during their 42-month ministry, don't you think he would have done so? In a heartbeat. Well, why didn't he? Two reasons:

1. The Two Witnesses were empowered and protected by the Holy Spirit for the entire duration of their ministry.

2. The Antichrist didn't yet have the power to do so anyway. During the first half of the Tribulation, he's just a charismatic, up-and-coming (and eminently human) world leader who brings a false, short-lived "peace" to the Middle East in the form of the treaty of Daniel 9:27 between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations who still loathe Israel, and is busy mesmerizing the world with his grand talk of uniting the nations of the world under a global government with a global economic system and a global religion. Don't look now, but...

We've got world leaders who could step into that role right now.

Just following the script: Never forget that every single thing that Satan and his man the Antichrist do during the Tribulation was known by God before Creation, and that Satan will be allowed and even assisted by that omniscient, omnipotent God to engage in his shortsighted, wannabe shtick so that God can carry out His own sovereign master plan—a plan that Satan has no control over whatsoever. Satan and his man the Antichrist are little more than useful idiots who play their predetermined roles in God's preordained scenario.

Consider: If the world had to watch some so-called "Antichrist" sit helplessly by and listen to the scorching testimony of God's Two Witnesses for three and a half years without being able to so much as lay a pinky on them, what kind of opinion do you think they'd have of him? Do you think they'd be overly impressed with him? Or more to the point:

Do you think they'd be inclined to worship him as God?

Not in a million years. I've discussed this before, but the Antichrist is not revealed as such until the midpoint of the Tribulation—his coming-out party doesn't come until around the middle of Daniel's 70th Week. He will suffer a head wound and Satan will stage a phony "resurrection" for his man, and in the process Satan will completely possess and control this man and only then will he be revealed as the biblical Antichrist. It is only then he truly becomes the beast of Revelation 13:1–10. Pop quiz:

Q. What do you suppose one of the first things this now fully satanically possessed and controlled Antichrist is going to do?

A. The Two Witnesses have tormented those who dwell on the earth for 42 months. The Antichrist is going to do to them what the world has been aching to do to them the entire time.

He will kill the despised Two Witnesses and leave their bodies lying in the street for the world to see. This is a terrible, humiliating insult to the Jews and no doubt intended to send them a not-so-subtle message:

"You're next."

Satan is above all things a showman—and the bodies of the Two Witnesses will be the new Antichrist's first trophy. It's a safe bet that the next thing this now satanically controlled man will do is put a stop to the oblations in the new temple and proceed to desecrate it in a way that is intended to convey to the Jews and the world that he is God incarnate—the Jews' long-awaited Messiah and the world's Savior. And now the message will be even less subtle:

"Worship me or die."

At that point, it's on. The Jews will flee Jerusalem for their lives, and the forces of the Antichrist will seek to hunt them down and kill them. Many believe based on Zechariah 13:8–9 that he will ultimately get two-thirds of them, but God will protect the believing Jewish remnant in the wilderness until Christ returns to usher them into their kingdom (Rev. 12:13–17).

That's pretty much the long and the short of the nature of the ministry of the Two Witnesses, and I saved the when for last. After their identity, this is arguably the second most hotly debated aspect of the ministry of the Two Witnesses, so I felt it warranted its own section—albeit a short one.

3. When do they minister?

Although I wanted to speak to this point separately from other aspects of the Two Witnesses, in a sense it's difficult to do that because some of these points are inextricably linked. But if you don't already see clearly when the Two Witnesses carry out their ministry during the Tribulation, then you haven't been paying attention. Go back to page 1 and start over again.

That question has already been answered in spades.

After all that we have discussed, it should be blazingly obvious exactly when the Two Witnesses carry out their ministry.

The ministry of the Two Witnesses must

occur in the first half of the Tribulation.

Give or take a few days at either end, and I only say that because I try not to get bent out of shape in the drive for down-to-the-day precision the way some tend to get. God is never in a hurry, and does things on His own schedule. The point is that I was on the fence about the Two Witnesses for many years, but I had never taken the time to study the topic out in any degree of depth. But now that I have, I don't know what else to say: It could scarcely be any clearer. Here's a summary of the ministry of the Two Witnesses:

Around the time of the launching of the Tribulation via the confirmation of the treaty of Daniel 9:27, thanks to the efforts of the charismatic, up-and-coming Antichrist-to-be who is about ready to mount his white horse and go out conquering and to conquer (Rev. 6:2), the Two Witnesses will step forward in Jerusalem and begin to speak to the people of Israel and the world. Like Joshua and Zerubbabel, they will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to strengthen and encourage Israel in the rebuilding of the temple, and will also testify to the Jews' many previous failures to honor God and urge them to return to Him in repentance and to embrace His promised Messiah that their forefathers crucified so long ago.

They will warn both Israel and the Gentile world of God's impending judgment, and reactions will be mixed. Many Jews will be ecstatic over the temple bit, but balk at the Messiah bit. Some will be pierced to the heart and seek God. The world at large will hate them with a burning intensity, because the world hates and rejects Christ and because they will be tormented by the plagues the Two Witnesses will call down upon them on a regular basis.

After 42 months, which places us around the midpoint of the Tribulation, Satan's man will appear to be killed by a head wound, and Satan will stage a fake "resurrection" that will enable his man to return to duty under Satan's full possession and control. Now the real beast, the Antichrist will kill the Two Witnesses, who have finished their 42-month ministry and are no longer untouchable as they were during it. The Antichrist wins the praise and gratitude of the whole world by killing the Two Witnesses, and the world will rejoice. The Antichrist will enter the temple in Jerusalem and desecrate it in an act that horrifies the Jews, and he will be presented to the world as God in the flesh, to be worshiped as such on pain of death. And the Antichrist's 42-month kingdom will be off and running.

After being left out on the streets in full view of the public for three and a half days, the bodies of the Two Witnesses will come to life and God will "rapture" them in full view of a disbelieving world. The believing Jewish remnant will glorify God, and the Antichrist will begin to go after the Jews with a vengeance. The Jews will flee Jerusalem for their lives and the most severe period of judgment the Jews and the world will ever know will kick off: the second half of the Tribulation, aka the Great Tribulation.

At its climax, Christ will return to earth with the Church in tow, slay His enemies and send them off to eternal punishment, and then judge as to who among the survivors will enter the Millennial Kingdom He will establish according to His Father's promises to His people Israel, His Son, the nations of the world, and creation itself.

Now, as far as when the Two Witnesses minister, if you can place their ministry in the second half of the Tribulation and still make all these pieces fit together in a sensible, coherent manner that is consistent with Scripture, then my dear brother or sister in Christ, I take my hat off to you:

You're a whole lot smarter and more creative than I am.

Because for the life of me I can't.

The more I think about it, the more reasons emerge as to why it has to be the first half, not the second. Here are a couple of other miscellaneous tidbits that wiggled their way through my neurons for you to gnaw on:

• Does it make any sense to see the Antichrist winning world acclaim by killing the Two Witnesses, right at the same time he is supposed to be getting his hind end kicked at Armageddon and being unceremoniously sent packing to the lake of fire along with the False Prophet (Rev. 19:20–21)?

• Does it make any sense to see the Two Witnesses, part of whose ministry is to encourage Israel in the building of the Third Temple as did Joshua and Zerubbabel, not show up and begin to minister until the midpoint of the Tribulation when the Jews are fleeing Jerusalem for their lives and the already rebuilt temple has already been desecrated by the Antichrist?

Take your time.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling: As I mentioned in the notes on Revelation 11:1–13 back at the outset of this article, when it says the Gentiles will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months in Revelation 11:2–3, some extremely capable commentators leap to the conclusion that...gosh, this must be the exact same period of 42 months that the Two Witnesses prophesy in verse 3...and since verse 2 refers to the second half of the Tribulation, so must verse 3! But Scripture doesn't say that—it must be read into the passage. OK, so go ahead and read that in there and see what you get.

Never mind...I'll tell you what you get: a tangled mess where nothing fits. People who persist with this interpretation (including some Bible teachers I greatly respect), rather than realizing they have taken a wrong turn and going back and setting things straight, continue to twist other clear passages to try and make this wrong turn look right. They end up with all the judgments (seals, trumpets, and bowls) occurring in the second half of the Tribulation; the Two Witnesses testifying to Jews who have already fled Jerusalem and headed for the hills; and other such anomolies that should be telling them loud and clear something is awry.

It never changes: When someone reads something into a passage that's not actually there, and then encounters other relatively clear passages that must be bent and twisted to accommodate that interpretation, an alarm bell should go off. And whenever that happens—and it happens to everyone sooner or later, strive to be one of the few who heed it.

Of course, I could be off on a few details—we invariably have to fill in a few minor blanks on our own in the study of the end-time scenario. But I am convinced this is a reasonably clear and reasonably scripturally accurate portrayal of the ministry of the Two Witnesses.

At least it's the best I can do at this point. And if it comes to my attention I've got something bad wrong, I assure you I will waste no time in fixing it.

Some final observations

To be honest, I've always had a tendency to give short shrift to the Two Witnesses in my study of the book of Revelation. I knew they were there and everything, but I sort of glossed over them because I had never gotten around to taking the time to study them. I was like "Yeah, we got those Two Witnesses in there somewhere, that's cool…" But now that I have put in the effort to study them to some degree, a couple of things occur to me.

One thing that strikes me is another one of those sparkling little gems that's just been lying there right in front of my face my entire life, but I never managed to put two and two together.

Consider: Many students of the Bible (this writer included) understand that the seal judgments of Revelation 6 are released in the first half of the Tribulation. We see the Antichrist-to-be prancing off on his white horse, going out conquering and to conquer in his effort to ultimately become the leader of a global government and accomplish his goal of establishing his 42-month kingdom (which begins at the midpoint of the Tribulation). We see the rider on the red horse, taking peace from the earth in the form of wars—wars that may very well eclipse those of the twentieth century.

Then we see the rider on the black horse, which represents famine and want, followed by the rider on the pale horse, which represents death from various causes—war, famine, "death," and wild animals.

Safe and effective...NOT: As I discuss in an article entitled "A Horse of a Most Peculiar Color," it strikes me that this peculiar reference to "death from death" could very well turn out to be a reference to the legions of people who are going to "die suddenly" in the next few years due to the effects of the "safe and effective" mRNA vaccines that are being malevolently pushed on the world by clueless, corrupt government officials, an obedient media lapdog, and wickedly greedy pharmaceutical companies that have collectively reduced themselves to little more than Satan's gofers.

Be that as it may, however, I had long been under the impression that all the famines, pestilences, and ultimately the deaths that characterize the third and fourth seal judgments were the result of the actions of men. Actually, I saw this as applying to all of the first five seal judgments, since it appeared to me that we don't really see the first good old fashioned wrath o' God stuff until the astronomical activity of the sixth seal.

Well, maybe...maybe not. Think about it: As we have discussed in this article, we also have the Two Witnesses ministering during the first half of the Tribulation—in other words, their ministry is occurring contemporaneously with the seal judgments. We see that they will possess the power to withhold the rain and turn water into blood in whatever region they desire for as long as they desire, and also call down on whatever region they choose whatever types of plagues they see fit. In other words, withholding the rain and turning water into blood are just two examples that happen to be mentioned. They will call down all manner of plagues on various regions in a manner similar to what Moses did in Egypt, where he called down a total of 10 different crippling plagues on Pharaoh and his people.

Scripture is also clear that the Two Witnesses will call down these plagues enough times and on enough places and for long enough periods of time that they will torment the entire world—so much so that the world will burst into joyous celebration when their new superhero the Antichrist kills them. Here's what I'm getting at, if you haven't already guessed:

It is not only possible, but quite likely

that the ministry of the Two Witnesses

will constitute a significant contribution

to the third and fourth seal judgments.

Would withholding the rain and turning water into blood contribute to famine, pestilence and death? You bet it would.

It makes perfect sense to see the ministry of the Two Witnesses—who will be empowered by God through the Holy Spirit—as an integral part of the seal judgments, because that way when people cry out during the sixth seal that "the great day of His wrath has come," they won't be saying that just because of the astronomical activity of the sixth seal (as I previously supposed)—they will also be saying that because they have been listening to the scathing testimony of God's Two Witnesses and have been watching them call down one plague after another on an unrepentant world for the last several years. In other words:

The Holy Spirit-empowered ministry of the

Two Witnesses during the seal judgments

will make it crystal clear that the judgments

falling on man are from the hand of God.

Which, when you get right down to it, is pretty much the entire point. Please note with care, however, one wholly unexpected facet of this sparkling little gem that occurred to me:

Whose wrath is it? This gives a swift (and much needed) kick in the pants to the notion that God's wrath doesn't begin until much later in the Tribulation. The notion that the world first experiences the wrath of man, the wrath of Satan, the wrath of the Antichrist, the wrath of the Boogieman, or whatever until we finally get around to God's wrath relatively late in the Tribulation is pushed by some to support errant views of the timing of the Rapture, especially by proponents of the pre-wrath Rapture.

Bottom line: This point tends to confirm the fact that it's all God's wrath, from the first seal to the last bowl.

Another thing that struck me as I worked on this article, however, isn't really anything new at all. It's not some sparkling little gem I uncovered that I had never noticed before. As a matter of fact...

It's something I've been keenly aware of ever since the day I humbled my heart before God and received in faith His free gift of salvation.

And it is simply this:

We serve a loving God, whose

grace and mercy abound far

beyond anything we can imagine.

Many people read the book of Revelation and are overwhelmed by all the death, destruction, and outpouring of judgment they see.

And that's all they see.

What they all too frequently miss is the fact that during this period known as the Tribulation that we read about in the book of Revelation, God is doing everything in His power to extend grace and mercy to His hardened, stiff-necked people Israel and a fallen, sinful world until His final judgment must finally fall.

And fall it will.

During the first half of the Tribulation, before God releases His most intense round of judgment following the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet, He has been using His 144,000 Jewish evangelists and His Two Witnesses to get through to Israel and a fallen world with both His warning of impending judgment and His message of redemption from sin through the shed blood of His precious Son, the Messiah—the Savior. Up to this final, critical juncture—this point of no return, so to speak...

God is doing everything He possibly can

to convey to the world the message of

the greatest single act of love, mercy,

and grace in the history of the universe.

And even born-again believers—and I've been as guilty of this as anyone else—can get so caught up in the death, destruction, and judgment that pervades the book of Revelation that we sometimes overlook this magnificent, overwhelming truth in the apostle John's Apocalypse.

The book of Revelation caps off the greatest love story ever told, and that is the story of the amazing, self-sacrificial love God has for each and every one of us and the gift of salvation that He offers through the shed blood of His Son to all those who believe in faith and receive it.

And while He offers that gift freely, it's up to us to humble our hearts before God, believe in faith, and receive it.

Or not.

Trust me—receiving is better.

Greg Lauer @ A Little Strength—FEB '23: "The Two Witnesses"

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