The Two Witnesses Series

Revelation 11: 3 – 19

The Two Witnesses

3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. 7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. 15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One Who Is and Who was and Who Is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. 18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

About time, now we are starting to get to the good stuff. We’re going to talk about the ‘Two Witnesses’.

Now who are these two ‘witnesses’? For those of you who have done your own research I am sure that you have run across a lot of different teachings. Some of the people that have been bantered about are; Moses, Elijah, Enoch, John The Baptist, Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel the Prince to name a few of the most talked about ones.

Well, you may be in for quite a surprise. I do not believe after reviewing all the Scripture that any of the ones I just listed will be the ‘Two Witnesses’. In a little while I will tell you who I think they are, so stay with us.

Some of you who have been following along with us in our study of the book of Revelation might be considering that chapter 11 seems to be out of place. It somehow does not seem to properly go after chapter 10. I strongly believe that there is a logical reason for why the content of chapter 11 follows chapter 10. The strong angel announced the end of God’s "delay" in punishing the living earth-dwellers responsible for the death of His faithful followers. We were told the "what," but not the "why." Why ‘is the end of God’s "delay"’ suddenly and dramatically announced following the sixth trumpet, just before the seventh trumpet sounds?

Chapter 11 will explain that the announcement of God’s suspension of His "delay" is neither sudden nor unexpected. In fact, it comes at God’s precisely intended point in the sequence of end-time events. In step with the rest of the NT, the sequence of the end time events in the Revelation is known, but the exact timing when these events will occur is not known. Therefore, chapter 10 is a critical chronological marker. In addition, chapter 11 will explain why John must prophesy against nations, tongues, peoples and kings.