No 17

(The Two Witnesses)

In Revelation 11:3, we read “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” Who are these two witnesses? There is much speculation as to who they are – some have said Moses and Elijah; others have said Enoch and Moses; some have even said that they are not really people but are symbols and the list goes on. Scripture does not tell us exactly who these two witnesses are but it does tell us what they will be doing. Their job will be to preach the Gospel of repentance to the crowds on earth during the Great Tribulation; notice the mention of “sackcloth”. The use of sackcloth in the Bible speaks of mourning or repentance. Job wore this type of clothing during his period of testing and John the Baptist wore this type of clothing during his preaching of the gospel of repentance.

These two witnesses will also be endowed with supernatural powers – “fire proceeds from their mouth” (v5); “these have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy”(v6); they will resurrect from the dead “the breath of life from God entered them” (v11) and they will ascend to heaven “and they ascended to heaven in a cloud” (v12). We saw the work of these two witnesses in another study in Creation.

The fact that they will have the ability to stop rain from falling on the earth during the time of their prophesying which is 2 ½ years (1260 days), the earth will be transformed into pre-flood conditions. Without rain, there will be much evaporation on the earth and the atmosphere will return as it was before the flood with a canopy protection. These two witnesses are absolutely indispensable in God’s plan and after their ascension; He will judge the world for its sins of idolatry and unbelief.