Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

In the last lesson we grappled with the imagery in Rev 11:1-2 of John measuring the temple. The temple symbolizes Christ and His body, the church. The sanctuary is Jesus Himself, the Inner Court is Christians who are no longer on earth, and the Outer Court is Christians who are still on earth. The latter, John was told, will be “trampled” for 3.5 years.

In this lesson we will see this persecution of the church in action, although still through symbolism. Jesus tells John about His “two witnesses.” We’ll discover that those witnesses also symbolize the church, which is made up of two types of people — Jewish and Gentile.

Like so many other passages in Revelation, chapter 11 emphasizes that God places limits on destruction and suffering. It provides hope to His people.

11:3-6

Verses 3-6 introduce the two witnesses. Here is the text:

3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

A few things about these witnesses are apparent on the surface:

• They are mortal (they will be killed in v. 7)
• They are prophets
• They wear sackcloth, the usual garb of people who mourned and of prophets (because they were usually mourning)
• They depend on God for their power (power is given to them)
• They minister during the 3.5 years that the Antichrist persecutes the church

Below the surface there is more to learn. Brace yourself for some Old Testament study followed by symbol gymnastics.

Ready? Set? Go.

Other attributes of the two witnesses draw on Old Testament passages that would be familiar to the original readers:

1. They are “the two olive trees and the two lampstands”
   - This identifies them with men named Zerubbabel and Joshua
2. Fire from their mouths consumes those who try to harm them
3. They can shut up the sky so it will not rain
   - These two identify them with Elijah
4. They can turn water into blood
5. They can bring plagues on the land
   -These two identify them with Moses

Let’s look at these in a little more depth.

1. Two Olive Trees and Two Lampstands - Zerubbabel and Joshua
Jesus draws here from Zechariah’s prophecies. In Zec 3-4, God refers to Zerubbabel and Joshua as two olive trees and with a lampstand between them (see Zec 4:11).

Side Note: Joshua in Zechariah is called Jeshua in Ezra. Joshua, Jeshua, and Jesus are all variations of the same name. They all mean “the Lord saves.”

These two men played key parts in the rebuilt temple of Ezra’s day.

• Zerubbabel was responsible for rebuilding the temple
• Joshua was the High Priest of the temple

The purpose of Zechariah’s prophecy was to:

• Remind Joshua that God cleansed him from impurity through grace
• Remind Zerubbabel that it was God’s strength through him that rebuilt the temple

Zechariah makes it clear that although Zerubbabel and Joshua were actual people, their lives symbolized other things:

Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. (Zec 3:8)

The basic message is that both purity and success come only through God’s grace and power.

Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, `Come down at once!’” “If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. (2Ki 1:10-12)

3. They can shut up the sky so it will not rain - Elijah

Elijah also shut up the sky so it would not rain:

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” (1Ki 17:1)

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. (James 5:17)

4. They can turn water into blood - Moses

Moses turned water into blood:

Then say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. (Ex 7:16-17)

5. They can bring plagues on the land - Moses
Moses also brought other plagues on the land of Egypt:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, `This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. (Ex 9:13-14)

Elijah represents evangelism, that is, preparing hearts for God’s coming:

And he [John the Baptist] will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous–to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:17)

Moses represents righteousness:

Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. (Mal 4:4-6)

Our two witnesses in Revelation, then, represent — or are represented by – Joshua, Zerubbabel, Moses and Elijah.

These witnesses will:

• Prepare the way for the coming of God (like Elijah)
• Do all things through God’s own strength (like Zerubbabel)
• Be purified through God’s grace (like Joshua)
• Be righteous (like Moses)

These symbolic references back to the Old Testament, however, suggest that the witnesses themselves are symbolic rather than literal men. It seems most in line with the surrounding context to understand these two men to represent two groups of people, together proclaiming the word of God.

And that most naturally, it seems, would be Christians of Hebrew descent and Christians of Gentile descent.

We’ll come back to this topic in a moment (in v.11).

11:7-10

The first mention of the Antichrist in Revelation is here in v. 7. John is told that when these two witnesses have finished their testimony, the Beast will come up from the Abyss to attack, overpower, and kill them (v. 7).

SIDE NOTE: Elsewhere in the Bible the Beast is called the “abomination that causes desolation” (see Mt 24:15) the “man of lawlessness, the man doomed to destruction” (see 2Th 2:3-4), and other descriptive phrases. He isn’t ever given a proper name.

Although we popularly call him “the Antichrist,” the Bible doesn’t typically use that term. The word “antichrist” only appears in 1 and 2 John. There are two references to “the antichrist” as a specific individual (1Jo 2:18; 1Jo 4:3), but in general John is telling the readers of those letters that there are many antichrists — everyone who denies that Jesus came in the flesh (1Jo 2:18; 2:22; 4:3 and 2Jo 1:7).

But having a formal name makes conversation a little easier, and the name “the Antichrist” in English is shorter and less ambiguous than the alternatives. Plus it’s more commonly recognized. So we’ll usually use the name “Antichrist” in this study to refer to this individual.

Anyone watching at the time would conclude that the Beast won, the witnesses are dead — no doubt the way the Romans, the Jews, and Satan felt when Jesus was crucified.

John writes that for 3.5 days the bodies of these witnesses will lie in the street of “the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.” People from all nations will refuse to bury these witnesses (a sign of disrespect and contempt). They will gaze on the dead bodies and even exchange gifts to celebrate this defeat (vv. 8-10)!

The city where this takes place is Jerusalem, but John doesn’t make that easy to see. The bodies were killed “where also their Lord was crucified,” which is Jerusalem. The other phrases used — “the great city,” “Sodom,” and “Egypt” — serve to tell us a little about the condition of Jerusalem at the time.

• “The Great City” is a phrase normally used of Babylon (see Rev 18:10 and 21 for examples). Babylon in the Bible was always opposed to God
• Sodom reminds us of such moral corruption that God was prompted to destroy the city
• Egypt (which is a country, not a city) brings to mind slavery and oppression.

Such is the condition of Jerusalem when the Antichrist kills them there.

11:11-13

After 3.5 days God resurrected the witnesses. A loud voice said “come up here,” then they were caught up to Heaven in a cloud. Everyone else saw this and was afraid (vv. 11-12).

Does this scenario sound sort of familiar? People die and are resurrected, there is a loud voice, and they are caught up to heaven in a cloud — and every eye sees it? Sounds very much like the rapture and resurrection, doesn’t it?

In fact, verses 11-12 sound very much like Rev 1:7 being played out:

Look, he is coming with the clouds,
  and every eye will see him,
  even those who pierced him;
  and all the peoples of the earth
  will mourn because of him.
      So shall it be! Amen.

So far, then, we’ve seen that these witnesses prepare the way for the coming of God, do all things through God’s power, are purified through God’s grace, are righteous, experience martyrdom, are resurrected, and are caught up to heaven in a cloud with a loud voice while everyone else watches.

Does it seem reasonable now to understand the two witnesses as symbolic of the church?

Just after they are caught up to heaven, a great earthquake came. Ten percent of the city collapsed, killing 7000 people. The remaining people were terrified and gave glory to God.

They rest of the world wanted to join the winning team now. There is no indication that they were allowed to join the team, only that they glorified God.

Could this be where “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess to God” (Rom 14:11)? Just throwing the idea out there…

It is not clear whether or not 7000 is supposed to represent 1/10 of the population of Jerusalem — that its total population was 70,000. What is important, as we’ve seen numerous times in Revelation, is that God is still allowing only partial destruction.

If we accept the witnesses as representative of the entire church, what we have here is Christians who are alive on the earth, in Jerusalem, being persecuted and killed for 3.5 days by the Beast. After that comes the resurrection and rapture.

Side Note: It’s good for us to remember that the rapture and resurrection are very similar to each other. They both accomplish the same thing: Transforming our lowly bodies to be like Christ’s glorious body (Php 3:21). The only difference is that the resurrection transforms Christians who have died, the rapture transforms Christians who have not died.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1Th 4:16-17)

In our last study I suggested that the outer court of the temple represented Christians who were alive on the earth during the time of the Antichrist, and that they would be “trampled by the Gentiles” — persecuted and killed by the Antichrist — for 3.5 years.

Today’s lesson is essentially the same. I believe it describes the message of verses 1-2 in more detail.

Side Note: There is one issue, though — that pesky little difference of 3.5 days here and 3.5 months in verses 1-2. But flip-flopping between days and months is not uncommon in biblical prophecy. Just study the book of Daniel and his 70 weeks — which are later revealed to be years, months, days, etc. Apocalyptic literature like Revelation and Daniel doesn’t worry much about logic and literalism.

All of this fits pretty well with Matthew 24, too. Read the following and see:

7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matt 24:7-14).

11:14

In 9:12, after the fifth trumpet was sounded, we were told “The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.” Here in 11:14, the John concludes, “The second woe has passed: the third woe is coming soon.”

This study concludes the sounding of the sixth trumpet, which is the second woe.

The seventh trumpet will sound in the next verse (and in the next lesson).