SCRIPTURE STUDY - The Two Witnesses

The two witness come on the scene in Jerusalem as soon as the Antichrist "shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:.." (Daniel 9:27).

The two witnesses will be active in Jerusalem To identify these witnesses the Bible states: "These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." (Revelation 11:4-12)

In Rev 11:4 There can be little doubt that there is an allusion here to Zec 4:3,11,14, though the imagery is in some respects changed. The prophet (Zec 4:2-3) saw in vision "a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which were upon the top thereof; and two olive - trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. " These two "olive branches" were subsequently declared (Zec 4:14) to be present with Jesus when He was transfigured. (Matthew 17:2) "the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." The olive-trees, or olive branches, (Zec 4:12,) appear in the vision of the prophet to have been connected With the ever-burning lamp, by golden pipes; and as the olive-tree produced the oil used by the ancients in their lamps, these trees are represented as furnishing a constant supply of oil through the golden pipes to the candlestick, and thus they become emblematic of the supply of grace to the church.

John uses this emblem, not in the sense exactly in which it was employed by the prophet, but to denote that these two "witnesses," which might be compared with the two olive-trees, would be the means of supplying grace to the church. As the olive-tree furnished oil for the lamps, the two trees here would seem properly to denote ministers of religion; and as there can be no doubt that the candlesticks, or lamp-bearers, denote churches, the sense would appear to be that it was through the pastors of the churches that the oil of grace which maintained the brightness of those mystic candlesticks, or the churches, was conveyed. The image is a beautiful one, and expresses a truth of great importance to the world; for God has designed that the lamp of piety shall be kept burning in the churches by truth supplied through ministers and pastors.
And the two candlesticks. The prophet Zechariah saw but one such candlestick or lamp-bearer; John here saw two--as there are two "witnesses" referred to. In the vision described in Re 1:12, he saw seven--representing the seven churches of Asia.

Standing before the God of the earth. So Zec 4:14, "These be the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." The meaning is, that they stood, as it were, in the very presence of God--as in the tabernacle and temple, the golden candlestick stood "before" the ark on which was the symbol of the Divine presence, though separated from it by a veil. Compare Cmt. on Re 9:13. This representation that the ministers of religion "stand before the Lord" is one that is not uncommon in the Bible. Thus it is said of the priests and Levites,(De 10:8) "The Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to stand before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless his name," Compare De 18:7. The same thing is said of the prophets, as in the cases of Elijah and Elisha: "As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand," 1Ki 17:1; 18:15; 2Ki 3:14; 5:16; compare Jer 15:19. The representation is, that they ministered, as it were, constantly in his presence, and under his eye.

{a} "two olive trees" Jer 11:16; Zec 4:3,11,14
{b} "candlesticks" Re 1:20

Re 11:5 And if any man will hurt them. This implies that there would be those who would be disposed to injure or wrong them; that is, that they would be liable to persecution. The word "will" is here more than the mere sign of the future; it denotes intention, purpose, design--qelei--"if any man wills or purposes to injure them." See a similar use of the word in 1Ti 6:9. The word hurt here means to do injury or injustice--adikhsai--and may refer to wrong in any form --whether in respect to their character, opinions, persons, or property. The general sense is, that there would be those who would be disposed to do them harm, and we should naturally look for the fulfilment of this in some form of persecution.
Fire proceedeth out of their mouth. It is, of course, not necessary that this should be taken literally. The meaning is, that they would have the power of destroying their enemies as if fire should proceed out of their mouth; that is, their words would be like burning coals or flames. There may possibly be an allusion here to 2Ki 1:10-14, where it is said that Elijah commanded the fire to descend from heaven to consume those who were sent to take him, (compare Lu 9:54) but in that case Elijah commanded the fire to come "from heaven;" here it proceeded "out of the mouth." The allusion here, therefore, is to the denunciations which they would utter, or the doctrines which they would preach, and which would have the same effect on their enemies as if they breathed forth fire and flame. So Jer 5:14, "Because ye speak this word, Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them."

And devoureth their enemies. The word devour is often used with reference to fire, which seems to eat up or consume what is in its way, or to feed on that which it destroys. This is the sense of the word here--katesqiei--"to eat down, to swallow down, to devour." Compare Re 20:9; Septuagint Isa 29:6; Joe 2:6; Le 10:2. As there is no reason to believe that there would be literal fire, so it is not necessary to suppose that their enemies would be literally devoured or consumed. The meaning is fulfilled if their words should in any way produce an effect on their enemies similar to what is produced by fire: that is, if it should destroy their influence; if it should overcome and subdue them; if it should annihilate their domination in the world.

And if any man will hurt them. This is repeated in order to make the declaration more intensive, and also to add another thought about the effect of persecuting and injuring them.

He must in this manner be killed; That is, in the manner specified-- by fire. It does not mean that he would be killed in the same manner in which the "witnesses" were killed, but in the method specified before-- by the fire that should proceed out of their mouth. The meaning is, undoubtedly, that they would have power to bring down on them Divine vengeance or punishment, so that there would be a just retaliation for the wrongs done them.

{c} "fire" Ps 18:8
{d} "killed" Nu 16:35; Ho 6:5 Continued:

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