What will the two witnesses look like

In Revelation 11, John describes two witnesses. John calls them the two olive trees and the two lampstands. The witnesses are given power and are prophesying until the are killed.

After laying dead in the street, they are given the breath of God, rise up to God on a cloud while their enemies look on. You can read the whole description in Revelation Who are the witnesses in Revelation 11? No one knows for sure, but here are several things the passage reminds theologians and scholars of:.

The two witnesses remind people of Moses and Elijah because of the kind of signs they are able to do like turning the water into blood and spreading plagues. During their time on earth, God gave both Elijah and Moses power to control forces of nature like these two witnesses will be able to. Elijah was caught up into heaven in a chariot of fire.

The two witnesses are caught up into heaven, too, after they come back to life. This is not to say that the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah, but they remind the reader of Moses and Elijah.

Zerubbabel helped to rebuild the temple. In Zechariah 4, he describes two olive trees standing by a golden lampstand. Joshua was the high priest at the time Zech. Again, this is not to say that the two witnesses are Zerubbabel and Joshua, but the reader will think about Zerubbabel and Joshua because of the way the two witnesses are described. Some scholars suggest John is using the object of a lampstand to speak symbolically of the prophetic witness of the Church. First of all, in Revelation , the witnesses are called the two olive trees and the two lampstands.

In Revelation , Jesus is walking among seven lampstands and tells John that the seven lampstands symbolize the seven churches. Therefore, in the book of Revelation lampstand has meant church. Moreover, the return of Moses and Elijah could be seen in the ministries for Jesus who is a prophet like Moses and John the Baptist who was in the spirit of Elijah , pointing against a literal return of these figures before the end. It should also be noted that the language describes both witnesses as doing things like Moses and Elijah, not one doing things like Moses and one doing things like Moses.

Therefore, if one has a futuristic view of the events of the book, it would seem best to view them as carrying on the ministry of these figures who spoke truth in the midst of opposition and doing this for a time at the end, but not literally these figures. Those who have a futuristic view differ a bit on when these figures are ministering. Some see their death as the midpoint of the tribulation with their ministry happening during the first half of the seven year tribulation , with it ushering in the final half known as the Great Tribulation.

Some of the difficulty comes from the fact that there seems to be various interludes or historical reviews in Revelation, making it tough to plot out a sequence of events. The other predominant view is that these figures are symbolic of the ministry of the church in this time as we experience suffering.

Revelation earlier describes the seven churches as lampstands; could the reference to the lampstand be a way of connecting the witnesses to the church, with it being two instead of seven here either because only two of the seven churches in Revelation are faithful or because two was the number of witnesses to prove a case? In addition, Jesus sends out his disciples two by two to witness to him.

Another hint that these two witnesses may be symbolic is that verse 8 and the first part of 9 describe their bodies in the singular as opposed to plural. Their ministry also seems to be too wide and well-known for it to be two specific individuals only ministering in one place; they testify to the whole world and the whole world knows and celebrates their death remember, this was before TVs, so the original audience would not see that as a way for all to know.

The reference to three and a half years is less a chronological marker and more of a stock amount of time to describe suffering to show that it is limited and controlled. 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. Peter declared, Repent and be baptized, save yourselves from this corrupt generation.

Acts 2. A man healed of blindness confessed, One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see! John 9. 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. The Samaritan woman at the well begged the people of the city to come and hear Jesus for themselves. John 4. The two witnesses of Revelation prophesied in sackcloth in the spirit of Moses and Elijah. 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 Who are these two powerful witnesses who prophesy for 1, 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 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.