Who Are The Two Witnesses In The Book Of Revelation?

Who are the two witnesses mentioned in the Bible? Why is it important for us to know?

Witnesses

We are called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ and the gospel but the fact is that less than one in ten actually witness to at least one other person in their entire lives and only one in twenty have ever lead someone to saving faith through Christ. This is one of the sins of omission that the Christian can commit. It doesn’t depend on the power or persuasion of the witness because as Paul writes “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16) so the power is in the gospel and not in the witness but we are told to witness nonetheless. It pleased the Father that He would use people that most of the world despises to bring glory to Christ by faithfully sharing the gospel so that they might be saved. The witness knows that there is no other way for a person to be saved except through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12) and even though it’s not politically correct or popular (to the contrary), we are to be obedient to this call but who are the two witnesses mentioned in chapter eleven in the Book of Revelation? What does this have to do with believers?

The Two Witnesses

Some speculate it might be Elijah and Moses who were present in the Transfiguration on the Mount where Jesus invited Peter, James, and John to witness Jesus’ Shekinah glory (Mark 9:2-10). Obviously the two witnesses are prominent representatives of God since they stand up to and against the beast mentioned in Revelation 11:7-10. Apparently they have been given supernatural powers by God to “to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire” (Rev 11:6) just as Elijah prophesied about a drought in the Old Testament and as Moses was given power to bring plagues during Israel’s captivity in Egypt. When these two witnesses are martyred “those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth” (Rev 11:10) and their resurrection from the dead, being 3 & ½ days, could represent the resurrection of Christ (Rev 11:11).

Two witnesses living Today?

Are the two witnesses of Revelation eleven simply human witnesses that will be called by God to give one final witness before Christ’s return? Since they are identified with the lampstands, they might be symbolic figures representing the churches in a particular age (Rev 1:20) and these churches are evangelistic in nature. Rather than representing two human witnesses, they could represent or symbolize churches that are faithfully witnessing for Christ up to His return. The vast majority of Christian churches do not typically evangelize today as they did even a hundred years ago. Today, with the available technology to reach the whole word at the same time, these two witnesses could be granted special powers and use those powers to receive a worldwide viewership which gives them the ability to preach a message of judgment and salvation to the world as one final witness before Christ’s return but the world hates it so much they are killed. Jesus did say that this gospel would be preached to the whole world, and then the end shall come (Matt 24:14).

The Necessity of two Witnesses

The Old Testament laws required that two or more witnesses are needed to substantiate something as true and to confirm their testimony as valid (Duet 17:6) but this was still required even in the New Testament times (2nd Cor 13:1). If these two witnesses are Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets would be represented in these two men as Paul wrote “the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it” (Rom 3:21). No one saw the death of either Moses, who was apparently buried by God so that his body would never be found, and Elijah, who was taken up into heaven without tasting death, so these might be the two witnesses who are brought back to earth as a way to warn the world of the impending judgment of all who refuse to believe in Jesus and to repent of their sins. Interestingly, Jewish tradition holds that both Moses and Elijah are to return before the appearance of the Messiah (Mal 4:5).

Are you a Witness?

We cannot say for sure who these two witnesses are but we know that God calls every one of us to witness for Christ and that the gospel includes repentance and belief (Mark 1:15). We have Jesus’ promise that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) and in the early church they were “speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (Acts 14:3). We may not be able to go to the ends of the earth but we can go next door or into our own “ends of the earth.”

Conclusion

We cannot say with 100% certainty who these two witnesses are. They could be literal human witnesses, they could be Moses and Elijah brought back to make a final call for the world to repent, or they could be the few faithful churches that are still witnesses for Christ. How about you? Are you a faithful witness that does not love your life so much you’re not willing to proclaim Christ as the only way (Acts 16:30-31)?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.