REVELATION 28 – THE TWO WITNESSES

            Revelation 11:3 “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” (4) These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. (5) And if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and if any one would desire to harm them, in this manner he must be killed. (6) These (the two witnesses) have the power to shut up the sky, in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. (7) And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. (8) And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (9) And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three days and a half, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. (10) And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. (11) And after three days and a half the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were beholding them. (12) And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them. (13) And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. (14) The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

            Who are the two witnesses who are going to prophesy for 1260 days? Joshua and Zerubbabel from Zechariah, is a possibility. This week I was reading Herman Hoecksema’s commentary on Revelation, Behold He Cometh, and he said there are many theories as there are people who have written commentaries. Let’s turn back to Zechariah 4:1 Then the angel who was speaking with me returned, and roused me as a man who is awakened from his sleep. (2) And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and it seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; (3) also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.” So what Zechariah sees in this vision is a lampstand, and it has two olive trees. Apparently there are two kinds of pipes or something that are taking oil from these two olive trees to the lampstand.

(4) Then I answered and said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?” (5) So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” What does that tell us? Why in the world would the angel ask Zechariah, when Zechariah has said what are these? I think he’s saying that Zechariah should have known what they were. How would Zechariah have known that? From Scripture. I think clearly the angel is saying that Zechariah should have known by studying Scripture. 

(6) Then he answered and said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. We sing that song, don’t we? “Not my might nor by power but by Spirit.”  Who is Zerubbabel? Just remember Zerubbabel — rubble. He rebuilt the rubble of Jerusalem. He was a prince, apparently. He was sent back in the initial wave when Cyrus put out his decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Zerubbabel came back. He was a type of Christ. He came back and led the people and began to rebuild the city during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Q: What do you mean by type of Christ?

A: When I say “type of Christ” I’m saying that this person is a shadow, is a pointer, of Christ. In a way he is Christ-like. He shows us something about Christ. Just as David, who was a prophet and a king, was a type of Christ.

Q: I was wondering if he was in the same category as say Melchezidech Some commentaries say he was actually a pre-incarnate Christ. Moses was a type of Christ. He led his people out of bondage into the promised land. He didn’t actually get to the promised land. Abraham was a type of Christ. So all of those Old Testament patriarchs - Adam, the first man was a type of the second man Christ. So that’s what I mean when I say that.

            The question is, what are these my lord? Zechariah is asking the angel, what are the two olive trees. The angel answers (6) …“This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. (7) ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ‘ “ (8) Also the word of the LORD came to me saying, (9) “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. (10) For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel – these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth.”

            What are the seven eyes of the LORD which range to and fro through the earth? We studied that in the first part of Revelation. The seven eyes of the Lord are His Spirit, which represents His omnipresence. His complete eyesight, if you will. His complete seeing. He is everywhere. There is no place you can go and be away from God. Psalm 139 says if I ascend to the heights, you are there. If I descend to the depths you are there. If I go anywhere, you are there. So the seven eyes that we see in the Old Testament, the seven eyes in Revelation, represent the omnipresence of God. The omniscience of God. This all knowing, all present Spirit of God.

            (11) Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?” (12) And I answered the second time and said to him, “What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves?” (13) So he answered me saying, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” (14) Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth. What is God saying there? What is the angel telling Zechariah? These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth. Who stands by God? The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. So what is the angel telling Zechariah? These are Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the two witnesses. The name that Jesus is called by in the Old Testament is The Messiah. In Hebrew, the “meshiach”. “Messhiach” means anointed. What’s he called in the New Testament? Christ. “Christos” means anointed. Isn’t that incredible! “Messhiach” means anointed, “Christos” means anointed – he is the anointed one. In the Old Testament anointing represented authority. They anointed the king. Samuel anointed David. This man has been designated by God to be the king. The priests were also anointed. Aaron, when he was made high priest, and his sons when they were made priests below him, were anointed with the oil that God had commanded Moses to make. So it symbolizes the out pouring of the Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the authority given to this person. This person is set apart. This person is a representative, or a witness of God.

            So who are the two witnesses? The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. There are two witnesses required in Scripture to confirm every fact. Remember that I said the New Testament says in Timothy ‘do not accept the charges, do not receive a charge against an elder except on the basis of two or more witnesses.’ In the Old Testament, when you brought a charge against somebody, it required two witnesses. It doesn’t necessarily mean, by the way, two people. That could mean physical evidence and a person. That’s why in our court system today, we can accept physical evidence as a witness. You see that in the Old Testament too. The point here is that it required two witnesses.

Q: When it says the two anointed ones, is it talking about Joshua and Zerubbabel  and their being types?

A: Yes, I think so. They are types of the Holy Spirit and Christ. When you go on to Zechariah chapter 6, it talks about taking the silver and the gold, making a crown and putting it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak. So Joshua becomes the king, the leader and Zerubbabel was the priest. Remember that Christ is prophet, priest and king. We see that in Revelation and throughout the Bible. So Joshua in the book of Joshua was the king-type of Christ. He was the conqueror. He was the one who took Israel into the Holy Land remember, and wiped out all the Canaanites and took over the land. This Joshua in Zechariah was also the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, he was also the ruler, as it were, who put the crown on his head. It goes on to say in 6:12 “He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.” So what you see going on in Zechariah 6 is that the two functions, the priest and the king, are being combined into one man. In the New Testament, we see prophet, priest and king are combined into one man, Jesus Christ. So we see that type, that shadow, in the Old Testament.

            The New American Standard says in 4:14 anointed ones, it’s actually literally “sons of fresh oil.” That’s the interpretation, the translators realizing that what’s being talked about here is the anointing, so they’re using the term anointed, but in reality it’s sons of fresh oil. The oil represented the Holy Spirit. So I think what we can see in Zechariah 4 is that the two witnesses that are being talked about are the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ, who are the two witnesses who testify to the faithfulness of God. God the Son and God the Holy Spirit testifying to the faithfulness of God the father. Some might say, wait a minute. Can God testify to himself? Yes. Why can He do that? Because He is God and He is the faithful one. He can swear by Himself and no other because He’s the highest that there is. You’re going to find a lot of different interpretations. I’m not adamant here about this. I think what’s being talked about is that the two witnesses are the Holy Spirit and Christ.

Q: Are you saying that Joshua and Zerubbabel are them?

A: No. I’m saying that Joshua and Zerubbabel were types of the two witnesses. But I think what’s being talked about here in Revelation is the Holy Spirit and Christ specifically.

            Chilton says ‘the two witnesses are identified as the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. At this point the imagery becomes much more complex. St. John returns again to Zechariah’s prophecy of the lampstand. The seven lamps on the lampstand are connected to two olive trees which flow with an unceasing supply of oil, symbolizing the Holy Spirit’s filling and empowering work in the leaders of His covenant people. The meaning of the symbol is summarized in Zechariah 4:6 ”not my might nor by power, buy by My Spirit.” The same passage in Zechariah speaks of two witnesses, two sons of oil, anointed ones, who lead God’s people. Joshua the priest and Zerubbabel the king. In brief then, Zechariah tells us of an olive tree, lampstand complex representing the officers of the covenant, (This is Chilton’s interpretation) two witness figures who belong to the royal house and the priesthood. The book of Revelation freely connects all of these speaking of two shining lampstands which are two oil-filled olive trees which are also two witnesses a king and a priest representing a Spirit inspired prophetic testimony of the kingdom of priests.’

            What Chilton sees going on here is that this is combining the type of the king and the priest in the Old Testament. Bringing them together in the officers of the church. Who are the kings and the priests in the church today? All believers are kings, priests and prophets, in one sense. But specifically in an official capacity, we have kings and priests in the church today. The Ruling Elder is the king, he is functioning as the king. The Teaching Elder functions as the prophet. The deacons function as the priests. So you see that three-fold office in the officers of the church. Prophet, king and the deacon as the priest, the one who serves people. So what Chilton is saying what’s going on here is the two, the prophetic function and the kingly function coming together. All ‘representing a Spirit inspired prophetic testimony of the kingdom of priests.’ In other words, the church. A major aspect, he says, of John’s message as we’ve seen is that the new covenant church comes into the full inheritance of the promises as a true kingdom of priests. The royal priesthood in which all the Lord’s people are prophets. That these witnesses are members of the old covenant rather than the new is shown among other indications by their wearing of sackcloth.’ So the fact that these two witnesses are wearing sackcloth means that they are still old covenant type of people. There are types of the new covenant type of people. We are all prophets, priests and kings. We are a kingdom of priests who prophesy. What does it mean to prophesy? Proclaim God’s Word. Explain God’s Word. That’s what I do every Sunday. I prophesy. Not in the sense. of foretelling, but forth telling. Big difference.

            Chilton goes on to say ‘St. John now speaks of the two witnesses in terms of the two great witnesses of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets. (5) And if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies; In Numbers 16:35 he says fire came down from heaven at Moses’ word and consumed the false worshippers and the whole family goes down into Sheol. That passage, if you’re not familiar with it, is Korah’s rebellion. Remember that they said ‘Who made you king over us? Who made you priest over us?’ Korah and his family wanted to be on par, on a level with Moses. Moses in effect said, Okay, let’s let God decide who’s the leader. The ground opened up and swallowed them up into Sheol. Also, you see another case where fire comes down out of Heaven in Nadab and Abihu. They were sons of Aaron, the high priest. Aaron had Nadab and Abihu and another son. Nadab and Abihu are specifically mentioned as the ones who went up to Mt. Zion when God gave Moses the law, and they ate on the mountain in the very presence of God. In the presence of the Shekinah glory cloud. When they came down, God had said, when you bring fire in to burn the incense before me, you take the coals off the altar and you bring in the coals off the altar and you burn the incense with those coals and those coals only. That fire only. Remember that fire came down from God initially and consumed the first sacrifice. But Nadab and Abihu in spite of the fact that they had communion with God on Mt. Zion, brought strange fire before the Lord. They made their own fire and brought it in their fire pans. They came in to worship God and guess what happened? Fire from heaven came down and burned them up. All of them. What does that tell us? Follow God’s rules. Worship God the way God says to worship Him. That’s why we talk in reformed circles about the regulative principle of worship. We do what God commands in His Word and nothing else. They didn’t want to listen to God and God gets very upset about things like that.

            So here you see that this fire comes down from heaven and destroys the enemies of God. We see that with Elijah, one of my favorite Bible passages. Elijah on Mt. Carmel called together the 250 prophets of Baal. He said give them an ox, give me an ox and we’ll both prepare the sacrifice. Let them build an altar and I’ll build an altar. Then we’ll pray to our gods and whichever god sends down fire from heaven and consumes the sacrifice, He alone is the true God. So what you see is these 250 prophets of Baal make an altar and put the ox on it. They’re praying and dancing and cutting themselves with knives and rocks and going through all of their rituals. And nothing happens. They pray and pray and pray. Around noontime Elijah says, where is your god? Perhaps he’s on vacation! Maybe he’s gone to the bathroom, is what it says in Hebrew. Where is your god? Nothing happens. They continue and get even more fervent. The blood is flowing because they’re cutting themselves so much. About the time of the evening sacrifice it says that Elijah prepares an altar and he digs a trench around it. He puts the wood on and puts the animal on it. Then he tells them to bring over water and dump it on the altar. Now bring over some more. He saturates the altar, the sacrifice and the wood and he fills up the trench around the altar. Then he prays and says ‘God, show these people who the true God is.’ And fire comes down from heaven and consumes not only the sacrifice, not only the wood, not only the stones, and not only the water but licks up the very dust around the altar.

            So what we see is the judgment fire of God coming down and consuming God’s enemies. And who or what is it that is going to consume the enemies of God? Is it going to be the greatness of the Christian army? Is it going to be the incredible complexity and efficiency of our weapons? No. Later on in Revelation we’re going to see that when the army of God meets the army of wicked ones, the Sword of the Word wins the battle. Whenever you carry a Bible, you are always armed. You can go armed anyplace in America today, with an incredible weapon. That’s why you hear me say that most Christians are totally unarmed. They might as well be using a toothpick against a Howitzer, because they don’t know much about Scripture.

(5) And if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies; You see that same idea in Jeremiah 5:14 which says: Therefore, thus says YHWH, the God of hosts, because you have spoken this word, behold I am making My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it will consume them. How should we be fighting our enemies? With Scripture. That is the judgment fire of God. That is what God uses to testify to people. It is Jesus Christ the incarnate word, it is the Spirit speaking through the word of God that either convicts people of their sin and changes their heart and makes them become a Christian, OR it consumes them by the judgment of God if they refuse to believe. I think that’s what’s going on here. To me, that’s very, very clear.

(5) …if any one would desire to harm them, in this manner he must be killed. (6) These (the two witnesses) have the power to shut up the sky, Yes, Elijah is a type and Elijah had the power to shut up the sky. Moses was the type. Moses had the ability to call down fire from God. Elijah had the ability to call down fire from God. , in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying; Remember Elijah prayed and God stopped the rain for 3 ½ years. Then Elijah prayed and prayed and finally there was a cloud about the size of a man’s hand. It finally came and it became a huge rainstorm and rained on the earth. All that was so that people understood who Elijah was. That he was speaking the word of God.

(6) …and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, What is the type being talked about here? Who turned the waters into blood? Moses and Aaron, during the plagues on Egypt. So what we see here is these are types in the Old Testament but they testify of Jesus. Jesus says the Old Testament Scriptures testify of me. It is Jesus Christ who has the power to bring down fire out of heaven. It is Jesus Christ who has the power to turn the waters into blood. It wasn’t the power of Moses. It was the power of God. I think that’s what we’re talking about here.

(7)  And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. Whoa! What’s being talked about here? If in fact the two witnesses are Jesus Christ and the Spirit, how in the world can the beast that comes up out of the abyss kill them? Jesus was crucified. He died. What we see here is exactly the same thing.

(8)   

(9)  And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. They are talking about the city of Jerusalem. That’s where the two witnesses were killed, sort of. Jesus Christ appeared to be dead. But he was not.

(10) And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three days and a half, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. People from all over were taunting Jesus Christ. They thought, hey, this is all over with. We won.

(11) And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Jesus Christ was certainly a thorn in the side of those who dwelled on the earth.

(12) And after three days and a half the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were beholding them.

Q: It says “and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.”

A: Yes, and of course Jesus was laid in a tomb. I’m not sure what’s going on there. There are a lot of different interpretations. Chilton says “with the death of the witnesses their voice of condemnation is silenced and now those from the people and tribes and nations regard the church itself as dead. Openly displaying their contempt for God’s people whose dead bodies lie unburied in the street under an apparent curse. For they will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb” He has several Old Testament references where that same idea occurred. He says “the desire for insertion into the Promised Land in death was a central concern to the faithful witness of the old covenant as a pledge of their future resurrection. The oppression of the kingdom of priests by the heathen was often expressed in these terms.” He quotes Psalm 79 ‘O God the nations have invaded your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the dead bodies of your servants for food to the birds of the heavens. The flesh of your godly ones to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water out about Jerusalem and there is no one to bury them.”

Remember what we’re talking about here is the two things going on. There is Old Testament symbology, which the people who were steeped in the Old Testament would have understood. But we’re also saying that this is a prophecy about the judgment upon Jerusalem, beginning here with chapter 11. So when John talks about measuring the temple of God, casting out the outer court, giving it to the nations and they will tread underfoot the Holy City for 42 months, we’re talking about the fact of the Romans coming in for 3 ½ years (42 months) and destroying the city. I think there is a dual thing going on here. There is the reference to the Old Testament that the two anointed ones would testify to God. Yet we see the crucifixion, it seems like the church has gone away, here the temple has been wiped out, here even the Christians are being killed, they’re being persecuted by the Israelites and by the Romans. It almost seemed to the church, I’m sure, that the church was going to be wiped out. Remember that I’m saying that Revelation is a letter to the church saying even though the testimony is going to be put down for a while, it will be raised back up and the church will survive.

You see over and over again in Scripture references to a short-term victory by the enemy, when Jesus died on the cross, the leadership of the Israelites thought they had won! This rebellion has been put down! These Christian, this sect who is following this false leader, is gone! We got rid of them! Remember that the high priest was talking about the two other men who were rebelling and people were following them and nothing came of it. So I think there is very clearly here, as Bahnsen and Chilton and others have pointed out, what appears to be a short-term victory overcoming the Spirit and the Word.

There is a short period of time, Chilton goes on to talk about here the poetic 42 months, 1260 days, 3 ½ days and we talked about the chiastic structure in these two chapters, that it is symbolic. He says “St. John’s poetic symmetry continues this symbolism. The days in which the righteous are oppressed, their bodies are abused is 3 ½, a time of grief when the wicked are triumphant, yet the evil time is brief being limited to a mere 3 ½ days.” And yet, God raised up Jesus. And yet, God raised up the church. So we see the church triumphant because of Christ. In His death, Chilton says, “the entire covenant community and its testimony lie dead in the streets of Jerusalem under the curse but after the 3 ½ days, they are raised up.” After the 3 ½ years of Christianity and Judaism being put down, the church explodes into the world.

Q: Is verse 13 talking about the destruction of Jerusalem?

A: Yes, I think so.

(12) And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them. (13) And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. (14) The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.