MYSTERY OF THE TWO WITNESSES, LESS MYSTERIOUS

 The last month of 2022, I spent a lot of time studying the Book of Revelation in greater depth than ever before. Actually, I don’t know if “in depth” is the best description of my study. It has been more like stepping back to get a broader view in light of the whole of Scripture, particularly the Old Testament Prophets. It also involved turning the theological kaleidoscope to see a different pattern than the one through which I viewed God’s redemptive plan in Bible college and seminary. As a result, the glorious message of the Revelation has become clearer than ever before. The mystery has become less mysterious.

One chapter in particular lit up brighter and more glorious to me than the most spectacular New Years fireworks: Chapter 11: The ministry, death, resurrection, and catching up to heaven of the two witnesses. My formal theological training applied mathematical logic to deduce that the two witnesses were two individuals who had not, up to that point died. And since “it is appointed unto men once to die” (Hebrews 9:27), they must come back and suffer death for their witness. Also, they must be Old Testament persons since everything in the Book of Revelation after 4:1 pertains to God’s dealings with Israel—not the church. Or so the theory goes.

Based on this logical and literal approach, it was deduced that the two witnesses had to be Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) since those two were caught up to heaven without dying. But there was some disagreement in that camp about Enoch. Since Enoch was not part of Israel, and most of Revelation is about Israel, so the theory goes, Moses was suggested as being one of the two witnesses. Supporting that argument was the fact that the miracles the two witnesses perform are like those God did through Elijah and Moses. (Revelation 11:6) Never mind the fact that Moses doesn’t fit the first criterion for being one of the two: Moses died once! So we’re left with a mystery. Yet it’s a mystery of only intellectual interest. It has no practical spiritual application to anyone living today—or in John’s day, for that matter.

The mystery becomes much less mysterious when we recognize that the Book of Revelation is filled with symbols, and those symbols picture spiritual truths as applicable today as they were in John’s day. The Book of Revelation was written for “the churches” from beginning to end (1:4; 22:16). Jesus is encouraging His church as it goes through the trials and persecution of this age. John’s visions are all to that end.

So who are the two witnesses? They are a symbolic representation of the Church. I know this is a shock to those who, like I, were taught otherwise, but there are solid reasons for seeing the Church as symbolized in the two witnesses.

First, the beast “makes war” with the witnesses (Rev. 11:7). It would hardly be necessary for this wicked world ruler to make war with two individuals! He could simply arrest them and execute them (as is depicted in Stephen King’s novel and mini-series, The Stand). The truth is, this evil world system is at war with God’s people. It resents the testimony of the church against its sins. The followers of the beast will not be content until they have silenced once and for all this witness against them!

But why two? All truth has to be established by at least two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28). The Holy Spirit, through the testimony of the Church, “convict[s] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” (John 16:8. See also Acts 24:25) The two witnesses are given “authority” from God to preach His truth, that is, to prophesy. (Rev. 11:3 cf. Matthew 28:18-20). They do so in sackcloth, a symbol of mourning and repentance. They are calling the world to repentance and they mourn for the condition of the lost. (Compare Ezekiel 9:4)

It is also significant that of the seven churches addressed in Revelation 2 & 3, only two were completely faithful, and they were persecuted for it. Christ encourages the faithful churches and the Church as a whole to remain “faithful unto death” (2:10) because a better world is coming. Christ’s victory is certain!

The real clincher for me came as I was collating my chapter summaries for the Book of Revelation. How would I succinctly summarize the contents of Revelation 11?

“Two Witnesses and Last Trumpet”

Does that sound familiar?

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

My decades long journey to understand this final book of the Bible, this final message of Christ to His churches, has encouraged me to press on with my witness for Christ and to look expectantly for His triumphant return. 

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)