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The 2 Witnesses in Rev. 11
The 2 witnesses will come during the Great Tribulation. They are forerunners of the 2nd coming of Christ, much like the ministry that John the Baptist had at the 1st coming of Christ. They will announce the Lord's coming with power, opposing the Antichrist in order to turn hearts back to God.
What the Bible says about the 2 Witnesses:
Click on "comments" for commentary for each passage of Scripture.
(Malachi 4:5-6) 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. comments
(Rev. 11:3-12) And I will give unto my two witnesses: and they shall prophesy, a thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if any man will hurt them, fire shall come out of their mouths and shall devour their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain. 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: And they have power over waters, to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the abyss shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. 8 And their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city which is called spiritually, Sodom and Egypt: where their Lord also was crucified. 9 And they of the tribes and peoples and tongues and nations shall see their bodies for three days and a half: and they shall not suffer their bodies to be laid in sepulchres. 10 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 upon the earth. 11 And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them. And they stood upon their feet: and great fear fell upon them that saw them. 12 And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them: Come up hither. And they went up to heaven in a cloud: and their enemies saw them. comments
Conclusion:
Many have speculated on who these 2 witnesses are. Some say Moses and Elijah, others Elijah and Enoch, and some have even believed them to be symbolic of the Church or the 2 Testaments (Old and New) that it preaches.
I must say that I have to eliminate the idea that Moses is one of them. The reason is, is because Scripture says that " the beast that ascendeth out of the abyss shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them." This is very significant for one reason, and that is because Moses has already died a bodily death, and for Moses to be one of the witnesses mentioned here, it would mean that he would have to be reincarnated, and then die another bodily death, or to be raised from the dead again. Plus, Scripture tells us in Hebrews 9:27, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment." Moses has already died, which eliminates him, unless of course Moses is raised from the dead such as Lazarus and others who are mentioned in Scipture. But that would be much different in my opinion, since those who were raised were dead only for a very short time and their bodies were resuscitated, but Moses has been dead for over 3500 years and would require a complete reconstruction.
But Scripture tells us of two men who have not died, in fact they were translated up into Heaven in their bodies, without experiencing death. That would be Elijah and Enoch (Gen 5:24; 2Kings 2:11), And since Scripture tells us that "it is appointed unto men once to die," then that means that they will die a bodily death, and they fit the profile here in Rev. 11.
I do believe that Enoch and Elijah are the 2 witnesses mentioned in Rev. 11 when you interpret it literally, but I also believe in what is called the different senses of Scripture, meaning that some things can be taken both literally and symbolically. St. Gregory once said, "Scripture, by manner of its speech transcends every science, because in one and the same sentence, while it describes a fact, it reveals a mystery.(Moral 20.1)" For example, Jonah was in the belly of the whale 3 days and three nights, which is to be taken literally, but Jesus showed also how it was to be applied to Himself in a symbolic manner(Jonah 2:1; Matt. 12:40). So it would be fair to say that the 2 witnesses can be understood symbolically. I believe Tyconius in the 4th century made a sound interpretation when he said, "In the 2 witnesses, he wants us to understand the 2 Testaments by which his Church is governed and ruled."
1000 year Reign- Millennium
The Great Tribulation
The Antichrist
Mark of the Beast- 666
The Two Witnesses
2nd Coming of Christ
The General Resurrection
Judgment Day
Lake of Fire- Eternal Punishment
New Heaven and the New Earth
The New Jerusalem
JohnLitteral |
Latest page update: made by JohnLitteral
, Jan 3 2009, 12:54 PM EST
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