(*All Bible verses are from the NIV unless otherwise noted)
Chapter 11
3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”
5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.
6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
Rev 11:3
I will appoint my two witnesses:
Two witnesses are introduced who will help accomplish God’s work. The Bible doesn’t identify these two witnesses by name, although people have speculated about them throughout the years. Once again, it’s helpful to look at this image as a symbolic concept rather than as two literal people.
Scripture establishes the number of witnesses needed for any disputed situation as two or three:
Deut 19:15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Matt 18:16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ (Also, Deu 17:6, Deu 19:15, Matt 18:6, John 8:7, 2Cor 13:1, 1Tim 5:19, Heb 10:28)
The Greek word for “witnesses” used here is martus, meaning martyrs1. The term originally meant anyone who stood as a witness to an event or legal procedure, but over time, its Christian application came to refer specifically to those whose witness of Christ led to trials and death.
Some scholars see the two witnesses of John’s vision as symbolizing the Old and New Testament prophesies of the Messiah Others have taken the verse literally to mean the return of two end-time prophets such as Moses and Elijah. However, that would also mean they would have to die again, which is highly improbable.
Efforts to identify the two witnesses in John’s vision as literal personalities would yield an endless list of names and possibilities. It could well be that two literal end-time “witnesses” will enter the stage of Church history sometime in the future, but even then, there would be widespread speculation as to whether or not they were “the two” illustrated in John’s vision.
So, let’s take a look at the two witnesses as a spiritual principle. Jesus warned his disciples that their steadfast witness of him would lead to suffering:
Luke 21:12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me.
John 15:27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
Acts 2:32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
Acts 3:15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
Rev 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
As the preceding verses state, all followers of Christ are witnesses in the truest sense. Barnes says it this way:
The meaning of this would be, therefore, that during that long period, in which it is said that “the holy city would be trodden under foot,” there would be those who might be properly called “witnesses” for God, and who would be engaged in holding up his truth before the world; that is, there would be no part of that period in which there would not be found some to whom this appellation could with propriety be given. Though the “holy city” – the church – would seem, to be wholly trodden down, yet there would be a few at least who would assert the great doctrines of true godliness2.
In this respect, the two witnesses symbolize all those who did, have, and will stand as witnesses to the truth of God in Christ.
Rev 11:3
And they will prophesy for 1,260 days:
Review the symbolism of 1,260 days (Rev 11:2). The witness of Christ will extend over this symbolic period. The word “prophesy” does not strictly mean predicting the future but can also mean declaring the words of God and the truth they reveal.
Rev 11:3
Clothed in sackcloth:
The witnesses prophesy in sackcloth, symbolizing their distressed and persecuted state. The Hebrew word saq identifies a coarse, loose cloth or sacking material, usually made of goat‘s hair. Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible states that haircloth would be a better interpretation of the Hebrew.
Throughout history, the wearing of “hairshirts” has been used as an expression of grief – the laying aside of daily comforts to mourn a loss. In Christian history, wearing sackcloth or hairshirts was a means of subduing or humbling the flesh as a part of the process of sanctification3.
In some Christian traditions, mortification of the flesh is undertaken as a symbol of repentance and sharing in Jesus’ suffering (e.g., Often practiced by some groups during the Christian penitential season of Lent, especially on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and other Fridays of the Lenten season).
Gen 37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.
Isa 20:2 at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
2Sam 3:31 Then David said to Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and walk in mourning in front of Abner.” King David himself walked behind the bier.
Rev 11:4
They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth:
This verse further identifies the two witnesses. The lampstands in the earthly Tabernacle and Temple were used to light the dark interior of the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary where the Shekhinah (dwelling place of God’s presence) appeared:
Exod 25:31-37 [ESV] “You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. …37 You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.
The lamps’ practical purpose was to give light in the darkness. The people would bring offerings of olive oil from their trees for the priests to use as fuel for the lamps:
Exod 27:20 “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning.
The spiritual significance of the lamps, as the Light of God illuminating the darkness in mankind, is seen in verses such as the following:
Deut 19:15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Isa 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
Matt 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
John 1:9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
God’s Spirit of Truth is the olive tree that provides an endless supply of fuel for a believer’s testimony. Jesus’ faithful followers receive the constant flow of the Holy Spirit (the oil of his grace) and stand as witnesses and lights to the world (two lampstands).
John 14:25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
1John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
1John 2:24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.
1John 2:27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
Rev 11:5
If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies:
As we’ve seen, the images of fire, lightning, and thunder indicate God’s mighty presence, His words a consuming fire:
Jer 5:14 Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says: “Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fireand these people the wood it consumes.
Truth consumes lies just as literal fire devours wood. The testimony of Christ changes hearts and minds. His words bring the possibility of peace; His testimony is one of love; His Spirit is a spark that ignites a fire in believers that can change a family member, a neighbor, a community, and the world! The Bible is full of stories that tell how God’s Spirit changes lives and directs history:
Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
Psa 51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. 5Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Psa 51:9 9Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Acts 9:4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Acts 10:39 “We are witnesses of everything [Jesus] did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross…44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ…
Acts 2:40 With many other words [Peter] warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Consider the kind of spiritual fire that comes from the mouths of witnesses for Christ – how it changes lives and devours God’s enemies!
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Rev 11:6
They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying:
2Sam 23:4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’
Isa 45:8 “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the LORD, have created it.
The prophets in these verses aren’t talking about actual rain, but rather the nourishing and refreshing shower of God’s Spirit that brings new life. This is similar to Amos’ prophecy about a famine – not of food or water, but a famine of hearing God’s word (Amos 8:11). When God’s word, which has the power to bring refreshment and renewal, is withheld, the consequences are always disastrous, both on a personal and a collective level.
1 Kings 8:35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,
Joel 1:14-17 Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. 15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. 16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.
Amos 4:6 “I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD. 7“ I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away.I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. 8 People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.
Rev 11:6
And they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want:
Readers of Revelation can speculate as to the identity of two literal witnesses and their power to shut up the heavens and turn water into blood as Moses and Elijah did. But what can be known for sure is that the lack of spiritual nurture – a Godly foundation of morality and justice – always results in plagues of destruction of one sort or another. By denying God’s grace, people are deprived of refreshing heavenly blessing.
The essence of the two-witness symbol is not that those who testify of Jesus’ life and ministry would purposefully withhold blessings, but that the lack of witness brings drought. The testimony of faithful Christians has the power to bind or loose on earth those things that are found in heaven.
John Gill writes: Showers of rain moisten and soften the earth, and make it susceptive of seed; and the Gospel is the means of softening hard hearts, and of making them capable of receiving suitable impressions: rain refreshes the earth, revives the plants and trees, and makes them fruitful; and so the Gospel, attended with a divine blessing, refreshes drooping saints, revives the work of God in them, and is the means of filling them with all the fruits of righteousness. Now the withholding of this rain denotes a famine, not of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.4
Zechariah prophesied to Israel, c. 518-520 BC, around the time of her exile into Babylon.
Zech 14:16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles is a celebration that takes place on the 15th day of the Hebrew month Tishri, which usually falls between late September and mid-October. During this time, the Israelites rejoiced and gave thanks to God for His provision and protection. They remembered how God had sustained them during their 40 years in the wilderness and celebrated His continued provision for them in the current harvest.
If rain symbolizes spiritual blessing, awakening, and new life, what does the withholding of rain represent in these verses? Literal plagues and famines have ravaged the world from time to time throughout history. Whether it is a lack of rain, hordes of locusts, or bubonic plague, people starve and die.
There is a spiritual condition of drought that exists in places held bondage by pagan superstition or atheistic refusal to acknowledge God; where tyrants rule, and the witness of God and his Christ is restricted or outlawed!
Communities or civilizations that reject Jesus experience spiritual and moral degradation, despite his ability to provide them with living water and the bread of life to overcome adversities.
Footnotes
- Strong’s G3144. ↩︎
- Barnes Notes on the Bible, Revelation 11:3. ↩︎
- Wikipedia: Mortification of the Flesh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortification_of_the_flesh, retrieved March 3, 2024. ↩︎
- Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible, Revelation 11:6, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/revelation/11-6.htm. ↩︎
*All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
