When it comes to the two witnesses, some commentators interpret
the whole chapter in a dispensational or futurist understanding of Revelation, verses
into the time of tribulation immediately preceding Christ’s second coming. Some
commentators interpret the whole chapter in a more thorough-going literal manner
than others. Typically, the temple and the altar are taken as referring to a
literal restored temple in the literal “holy city” of Jerusalem.
“Those worshiping in it..." are a remnant believing
ethnic Jews. The measuring of temple,
altar, and worshipers indicates that
they will be physically protected by God,
though there are differing interpretations of this.
Some modified futurists relegate the narrative
to the future, like view above, but understand the descriptions
figuratively. The images of the
sanctuary, the altar, and the worshipers refer to those within ethnic Israel whose
salvation is secured at the end of history by the “measuring.” The outer court
and the holy city represent Jewish unbelievers, whose salvation will not be
secured. Both groups will undergo persecution and suffering for about forty-two
months.
Another position is similar but does not relegate the scene
to the future. It identifies the outer court with the professing but apostate
church, which will be deceived and will align itself with unbelieving
persecutors of the true, spiritual Israel.
In this passage the significance of the measuring means that
their salvation is secured, despite physical harm that they suffer. The number
of the “forty-two months” is either literal or figurative for the
eschatological period of tribulation repeatedly prophesied by Daniel (7:25;
9:27; etc.).
Why some of the periods in Daniel and Revelation are not
stated with precisely the same formula is not clear. But the exact number “forty-two” here and in Revelation
13:5 is probably intended to recall Elijah’s ministry of judgment, which is
expressed the same way, and Israel’s wilderness wandering, which included
forty-two encampments or forty-two years.
The pattern of the narration of the witnesses’ career in
11:3–12 is intended as an imitation of Christ’s life if one looks closely. There
is a proclamation and signs that end up resulting in profound demonic
opposition and or persecution (John 15:20). There is violent death in the city
where Christ was crucified. The world looks on its victim (Rev. 1:7) and more
or less celebrates the death. The witnesses are raised and vindicated by
ascension in the sky. Ironically these also mimic or parallel the prophets of
Moses and Elijah also point to this pattern and are a typology of Christ also.
All points to Christ. This is so correlated that frankly, it has to be more
than coincidence. It shows all the signs of a pattern or plan.
The Holy City could be taken literally or figuratively based
upon interpretive school of thought. “The holy city” in 11:2 likely refers to
some aspect of the heavenly Jerusalem, since the other occurrences in Revelation
of the phrase (21:2, 10; 22:19) refer to the heavenly Jerusalem. If “the holy
city” is the persecuted true people of God, then it is not difficult to
understand the outer court, which was certainly no less profane than the city
in general, as also representing true believers. That the city is to be
measured in 21:15 shows its close identification with the Temple in Ezekiel. Believers
on earth are members and representatives of the heavenly Jerusalem. The
symbolic aspect of the portrayal comes to the fore in that John is certainly
not saying that part of the material temple building is to be picked up and
thrown outside.
The Witnesses Themselves
As for the witnesses themselves in this passage, they may or
may not be two individual prophets, whether Moses and Elijah, Enoch and Elijah,
and so on. They may actually represent the whole community of faith, whose
primary function is to be a prophetic witness. Just as John the Baptist was not
a literal reappearance of Elijah, but came “in the spirit and power of Elijah”,
so to these witnesses are not literally Moses and Elijah reincarnated as
reincarnation is not Biblical. These witnesses are patterned after these two Old
Testament figures. The witnesses are called “lamp stands” because their word is like
a light in the darkness.
The witnesses have a prophetic mantle of these two prophets.
It is improbable that the witnesses represent both the church throughout the
age, and then two individual prophets who are to come at the end of the age.
The OT had prophesied that the entire eschatological
community of God’s people would receive the Spirit’s gift of prophecy (Joel
2:28–32). The early Christian community understood that Joel’s prophecy had
begun fulfillment in their midst (Acts 2:17–21). This prophetic gift would be
the means by which the entire church would “witness” to the whole world (Acts
1:8).The idea that the witnesses is a community identification is further
bolstered by the following thoughts.
The witnesses are called “two lampstands” in Revelation
11:4, this is the same identification as the churches in Revelation 1-3. The explicit identification of the lampstands
in Rev. 1:20: “the seven lampstands are the seven churches” is pretty much
irrefutable. It is unlikely that the lampstands are different here than that of
chapter 1 because it is the pattern of prophecy all throughout Scripture that,
once an object is identified or alluded to as something, it does not change,
whether it be literal or metaphor. In other words, if the prophet compared
lampstands to a church, that’s what it means in later prophecies from the same
prophet. Just as the lampstands there are identified as “a kingdom and
priests,” as is the entire church in 5:10. In Revelation 11:4 associates the
witnesses with kingly and priestly functions also
“The beast will make
war with them and overcome them.” This is Daniel 7:21 in rerun, where the last
evil kingdom prophesied by Daniel persecutes not an individual but the nation
of Israel. The two witnesses prophesy for three and a half years, the same
length of time that “the holy city,” “the woman,” and “those tabernacling in
heaven” are to be oppressed. If these texts speak of the persecution of a
community, then it is plausible to identify the witnesses likewise. If the
image of an individual woman signifies the community of faith existing during
the three and a half years, then the image of two individual prophets might
also represent the same reality during the same time period (similarly an
individual harlot represents the ungodly community in later chapters of
Revelation. A final hint that these prophets may not be two individuals comes
from observing that the powers of both Moses AND Elijah are attributed to BOTH
the two witnesses equally, and not divided among them.
In essence they are identical prophetic twins. They are a
divine double-barrel for an unbelieving world.
Based on this interpretation the obvious question will
arise: “Why are there two witnesses instead of seven to match number of the
lampstands/churches? The number two is from the OT law requiring at least two
witnesses as a just basis for judging an offense as noted numerous places like:
Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6 & 19:15, Matthew 18:16, Luke 10:1–24, etc. I believe it is for this reason God
sometimes sends two angels to announce judgment, to execute judgment, or to
validate the truth. The witnesses are clothed in sackcloth which appears to be
mourning over the judgment that their message brings. The stress on judgment is
also apparent from the witnesses’ judicial relationship to their persecutors and
from the fact that their prophetic task is not evangelistic in intent even
though there may be some that repent. The text is not clear on this.
It should be mentioned that lampstands in the tabernacle and
the temple were in the presence of God, and the light that emanated from them
apparently represented the presence of God…the same with the lamps/lampstand in
Zechariah 4:2–5. I believe the same is true of our two witnesses whoever they may be. They are indeed in the presence of God and they will be ultimately illuminating men of the things to come...mostly judgment if they refuse to repent.
Though they may suffer and even die, they will invincibly
and successfully carry out the spiritual mission for which they have been
“measured” and commissioned “when they complete their testimony”. As can be expect since it is the focal point
of all of history, their witness focuses on the redemptive history of Jesus his
death, resurrection, and sovereignty. The world’s rejection of Jesus’ testimony
lays the basis for the witnesses rejection and the future judgment.
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