The two Witnesses

Feb 19, 2010

I think we are going to see this next scripture materialise very soon, so I decided to break it down and see what it reveals. After understanding the scripture in my mind first, I went to have a look and see what others have uncovered. Most think that the two witnesses are Moses, Elijah and or Enoch who will physically come back to earth and be the two witnesses. As these three did not see death as we expected, in the case with Moses, God says he’s body will never be found and the devil disputed with God over his body. Elijah and Enoch were “ translated” into heaven and did not experience death as the rest of us will.

Thinking either or all of these three prophets would physically manifest and preach in the last days just clashed with my spirit on so many levels. For starters this would cause many to stumble, taking their eyes off Jesus and many, many would without a doubt start worshipping these men as Peter, James and John wanted to do when Jesus, transfigured with Elijah and Moses on the mountain. MARK 9; 2-8 ;………5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

Some have said that these two witnesses are the Old and New Testament, which in my opinion is not far off, but then we miss out on a very important key in that deduction, the Olive Trees and who they really are.

I am also aware of those who worked out the 1260 days to be 1260 years of Roman oppression of Christianity during the dark ages. The reason I find fault with this is that when this 1260 days are over, we have only 3.5 years until Jesus returns. So that doesn’t fit, this is a futuristic event and not one past.

There are many many levels to this scripture but I will be focusing on identifying these witnesses at this stage.

Father, I pray that the Holy spirit may open the eyes and hearts of the people reading this to commit their lives to you fully, in obedience and servitude. In Jesus name AMEN

Revelations 11;1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. (3.5 years)
3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days ( 3.5 years), clothed in sackcloth.
4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

Olive trees

Hos 14;5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree,

God likens Israel to an olive tree, therefore they are one of the olive trees.

Romans 11;11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. ……………….
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

The gentiles are the other (wild) olive tree. The olive trees supply oil which is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and His anointing. The word witnesses comes from the Greek word, martus, meaning Martyr(s) Therefore these witnesses will be martyrs within the believing Israelite and Gentile nations.

The two olive trees are therefore many believing Israelites and Gentiles.

Two candlesticks

The candlesticks are slightly more difficult to identify.
One thing we do know however, is that the word and law of God is the light of the world, as seen in the scriptures below.

2 Corinthians 4:6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ

Psalms 119:105, …Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Proverbs 6:23, For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

Let’s first look at what these symbolic two witnesses will be able to do, to get a clearer picture of who they may be.

Rev 11 ;6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Immediately we think of Elijah and Moses here. Moses had the ability to smite the earth with plagues and turn water into blood as he did in Exodus 7;17 and of course we know that amongst the the seven vials of wrath the angels will be pouring out onto the world, turning the water into blood, is one vial of wrath, which also makes it a prophetic statement. In REV 16;3

Rev 16;3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

(This is very symbolic and my purpose here is not to uncover the symbolisms of these prophesies, but rather identify these two witnesses and what they will be doing.)

So we can connect Moses with the waters turning into blood and smiting the earth with plagues. He is clearly one of the candlesticks. The question is then, “ what does Moses symbolise?” He symbolises the Law, as the law is called “ Moses’s law” as stated in Heb 10;27

Elijah the prophet was able to shut up the heavens for 3.5 years, so it would not rain.1 Kings 17;1. Interesting that Elijah shut up the heavens for 3.5 years, the same period as the rule of the Beast after these two witnesses have prophesied.( also very symbolic) So what do we associate Elijah with ? With associate Elijah with Prophecy.

These two witnesses must surely be Moses( law) and Elijah ( the prophets )

let me state clearly that I do not think these two witnesses being Moses and Elijah, will physically come in the flesh. I believe their spirit will fall onto these anointed, Christian, who we have already determined are from the two olive trees. Anointed ones who will prophesy of the things to come shortly, that are written in the law and in the books of the old Testament prophets. Why do I say this? I say this because they will be prophesying in Sackcloth REV 11;3 which is a symbol of mourning and repentance for sin against the Lord of Israel.

These witnesses will prophesy that people must repent and turn from their sinful ways to the one true God and warn them of the impending plagues that are written in the Scriptures. These witnesses will use the law to show people how and where they have gone wrong. Let me back this up for you. Firstly in

Malachi 4;5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” .

Matthew says the same thing in

Matthew 17;10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

(Elias is the New testament name for Elijah. Please Look it up in the Greek concordance )

The first part of this scripture is to ask “what will Elijah restore?”
This gives us more of a clue what Elijah’s prophetic message may contain. He speaks of restoration. Restoration of what?  The restoration of the Kingdom of Israel.

Acts 1;6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

The second part of the scripture we must look at is Jesus calling John the Baptist , Elijah, this seems strange at first.
Let us see what the Lord meant when He said that. We go to the story of Elisha in 2 Kings 2, who was to succeed Elijah before he was taken away in a whirlwind into heaven. Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him before he left and Elisha asked “ I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” and it was given Elisha as we see in the scripture below.

2 kings 2; 15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said,
The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

So the prophetic spirit of Elijah rested on John the Baptist also as he was counted as a prophet Math 14;5 The same way the spirit of Elijah will rest on these anointed sons and daughters of the two olive trees, who will prophesy in the last days pertaining to the law and impending plagues.

ACTS 2; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

These little ones will act as watchmen and blow the trumpets of warning to the inhabitants of the earth to turn from their wicked ways. Turn before the last trumpet, before the Lord confirms His covenant with many for one week as spoken of by Daniel the prophet in Dan 9;27

These witnesses will prophesy in the churches and in the streets for a duration of 3.45 days/ years, one week short of 3.5 days/years before the next 3.5 years of tribulation that will follow and when these prophets, will lie dead in the street for all to see. (I’ll come back to that later)

Remember brothers and Sisters, we are warned there will be many false prophets in the last days in JER 14;14: LAM 2;14:

MARK 24;11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The Lord goes on to say that His gospel shall also be preached, at the time of these false prophets by none other than these witnesses of His.

MARK 2414 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

And shortly thereafter, the end comes, as it happens in this prophesy. REV 11

MARK 24; 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

How do we guard ourselves from falling for these false prophets?
The Law of Moses protects us, We must check everything they say against the law. in my opinion it is certain that these witnesses for the Lord will use the Law of Moses to prove their validity, but the false prophets will not. That is why God shows us in this scripture of REV 11 that the spirit of Moses will also be present along with Elijah.

During these 3.45 years while they are prophesying the Lord says that fire will proceed out of their mouths and these who tried to kill them will die by this fire that these prophets speak.

REV 11;5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

What is this fire the lord is speaking of ?
It is the Fiery indignation of the Lord. These who try and hurt the prophets or the testimony of the law or these witnesses will die without mercy under two or three witnesses.

Heb 10;27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

2 Thess 1; 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

The Lord will protect anyone from hurting these messengers and witnesses of the Lord during this 3.45 year prophesying period. I don’t think they will die on the spot, I think they will suffer this fire death at judgment day, at the second death Rev 20; 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

REV 11;7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half(3.5 years), and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

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 on the earth.

Here Satan and his Beast, we can only assume is the one spoken of in REV 12;3 and by Daniel the prophet in DAN 7;24 being a governing body and the one that sets up the false prophet and the one world order, will overcome these prophets. How, I do not know, but we will find out soon enough through these witnesses. Suffice to say that the Beast will do away with the law and the prophets of the Bible. I am sure many of these brave prophets will be martyred for the true controversial testimony of Jesus. As I explained before, the word witnesses, comes from the Greek word, martus, meaning Martyr(s) and it will be a terrible time for believers, but be assured, their reward will be on the new earth when Jesus returns to reign for ever more AMEN!!!!!

Many folks believe they will physically see the dead bodies of humans lying in the streets for 3.5 years, but this is not so, as in verse 8 of REV 11, the Bible says this city is spiritual. Therefore spiritually these witnesses being the law and prophetic spirit will be absent.
Brothers and Sisters, this is the Bible.
Take out the law and the prophets and you can do away with the Bible, the word of God and worse still, if you do away with the word of God there is no longer a need to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This will be true as in verse 9, the scripture says that “their bodies will not be put in graves “ Graves comes from the original Greek word G3415 which means: bear in mind, that is, recollect;
This means that the people will not remember the Bible as the word of God. ! This “ Beast” somehow will do away with the Bible completely, we will still have them in our hands and around, as all will be able to see their dead bodies, but the “Beast” would have been able to make the words inside redundant and dead to most. We are surely in this time already as most if not all churches avoid any teachings on the Law whatsoever. The people will be so happy about this, as the Bible and God’s witnesses tormented their consciences day and night, that they will be exchanging gifts. How very, very sad this will be.

REV 11;11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

After this 3.5 year rule of the Beast and absence of the word of God and His witnesses and prophets, God once again gives them life.
I am not sure what happens at this point but it seems to be associated with the scripture below.

1 THESS 4; 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:

It is very possible that when these people see Jesus and His believers coming down from heaven as this witnesses prophesied, that they may just fall over in fear, as the word earthquake comes from the Greek word
G4579 to agitate (in any direction; cause to tremble); figuratively to throw into a tremor of fear or concern: – move, quake, shake.

REV 11;13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

There was an earthquake when Jesus gave up the ghost after He was crucified, as a result the centurion and many others believed right there and then that Jesus was the Son of God. The same shall be when He returns.

Shortly after all of this, our Lord returns to rule over the earth with his saints and witnesses and with those who lost their lives for the testimony of Jesus, for a thousand years.

Please Beloved, search out the scriptures and be a part of the two olive trees who will be filled with the prophetic spirit of Elijah and Moses, witnessing the controversial, but life giving message of Jesus Christ. These people will be priests with Jesus REV 20;6 Please brethren we do not have much time left before the Lord pours out His spirit, accept it and stand for our Lord and Savior!

If you want to know part of this message that these witnesses will be prophesying about, please start at “ trees are nations “ thread.

Blessings in the Truth, that is Jesus Christ !