Two witnesses

The two witnesses (Revelation 11)

Background for discussion leader:
To interpret Rev 11, Christians must be familiar with three related OT passages on which it is based:
1) Ezekiel’s vision of the measuring of a temple on a ‘high mountain’ (Ezk 40-47);
2) Zechariah’s description of a lamp stand between two olive trees (Zch 4); according to Rev 11:5-6, these are ‘two witnesses’ who prophesy while the nations will trample an outer temple district for 42 months (1260 days).
3) A period of the same duration (3.5 years) was first described in the book of Daniel as the last 3.5 ‘days’ of 70 ‘weeks’. On God’s calendar for the people of God described by Daniel, these 3.5 ‘days’ span the time of a (new) covenant established by the Messiah, when the sacrifices in the temple of Jerusalem are abolished ‘until the end’, Dan 9:27. The book of Daniel alternatively described that troubled time as 1+2+0.5 ‘periods’ (Dan 12:1,7): That was Daniel’s own pointer that the 3.5 ‘days’ of the 70th week are unlikely literal days or years. However, Daniel was told that his vision will remain ‘sealed until the end’ (Dan 12:8-9).

The book of Revelation answered to that mystery by declaring that now the seals are removed by Christ (Rev 5:5). In other words, to interpret the meaning of these final 1260 day/42 months/3.5 years/ 3.5 periods’, we must turn to the book of Revelation, and not the other way round. Indeed, Rev 11 does not turn to Daniel to explain the events during these 3.5 days, but to Ezekiel and his vision of the measuring of God’s temple, and to Zechariah and what he wrote of a lampstand between two olive trees. What will happen to the people of the Old Testament during these 3.5 ‘days’ is thereafter described in Rev 12:6 as a time when the ‘woman’ who gave birth to this Messiah will be nourished in a ‘wilderness’ (a metaphor of the Jewish nation during their second diasporas, see next week).

Warm-up: How do you engage with biblical predictions about the future? Do you consider this a rewarding subject to study? Why or why not? What do you find makes this subject difficult?

Read: Revelation 11:1-13

1) As a clue what this vision means, John alluded to specific Old Testament passages, and to sayings of Jesus: Where do you recognize any of those? 

[e.g. a city on a mountain reminds of Mt 5:14, and the measuring of the temple resembles Ezk 40:3-5. v6 is reminiscent of Moses (Ex 7:1ff) and Elijah (1Ki 17:1ff) and how they confronted kings who oppressed the people of God; the lampstands and olive trees allude to Zech 4; etc.]

2) John’s task to measure a temple is reminiscent of a vision by Ezekiel in the Old Testament after the destruction of the first temple by the Babylonians, Ezk 40:1. At the time when John wrote Revelation, how did his historic situation resemble the one of Ezekiel?

  • Hint: What was the status of the temple after 70 AD?
  • After the temple in Jerusalem no longer existed, what was the ‘building’ that John had to measure? Hint: Where else did God say he will dwell? Mk 14:58; Eph 2:21-22
  • Remember the study of Ezekiel’s temple vision (Ezk 40-47):
    • How did the temple districts measured by John differ from what was measured in the earlier vision of Ezekiel? Ez 40:17-27
    • What distinguishes the inner court according to Ezekiel, Ezk 44:15? [In the inner court, only the descendants of Zadok were admitted as priests, because he remained faithful to the rightful heir of the house of David during a coup when all others sided with the self-appointed usurper Adonijah, 1Ki 2:22-35, Ezk 44:10-14]

3) vv1-12 describe 2 witnesses: What interpretations have you heard of who they are?

  • If they can be equated to 2 lampstands and 2 olive trees, at least some of these images (if not all) inevitably must be metaphorical. Did John give a clue why he compared the witnesses to ‘lampstands’? cf Rev 1:1-6] [where 7 lampstands symbolically represent the church (gr. ecclesia), a kingdom of priests]
  • The vision that God’s people are a priesthood that will function as a 7-armed lampstand fueled by oil from two olive trees comes from the book of Zechariah, Zech 4:12-14.
    • What did Zechariah’s vision accomplish in his fellow Israelites in OT times? [After the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile, some considered it a waste to re-build the temple. They longed for political rather than spiritual might. Eight visions of the prophet Zechariah in 520 BC served to awaken and inspire the people afresh. One taught them their calling as a priest before God (Zech 3), while another explained their role as a lampstand whose seven lights do not shine through political power, but by the Holy Spirit (Zech 4).
  • Already Zechariah understood that the lampstand represented God’s people. But when he asked what are the olive trees and their branches, was he given a clear answer?
    • How does Rev 11 answer Zechariah’s question? What does Rev 11:4 add compared to what Zechariah could not yet see clearly? [Only John could see that the olive trees are in some sense one with two lampstands, which are also two witnesses].

4) Why didn’t John see only one but rather two lampstands, and how can they at the same time be ‘two witnesses‘? 

  • Deut 17:6; 19:15; Mt 18:16 Why do these texts call for more than one witness?
    • cf pairs of prophets: Moses/Aaron, Haggai/Zechariah, John/Jesus, Paul/Barnabas…
    • Discuss: Could the two lampstands represent the body of all people who are visible to this world as the church?
  • If so, in what sense could the church also resemble 2 olive trees?
    • 1Ki 6:23-32 mentions two doors to the inner-most of Solomon’s temple that were of olive wood, carved with cherubim
    • Ro 11:24 describes 2 olive trees, a cultivated and a wild one, the latter being grafted unto the root of the former: What are they compared to? [While the olive root represents Christ, the branches represent his body].

5) vv3-12: In what aspects do the two witnesses described by John represent the ministry of God’s people?

  • v1: When will they prophesy? [while the ‘outer court’ will be trampled by the nations for 42 months: According to Ez 44:10-14, it is served by Levitical priests who where of ‘uncircumcised heart’ and who parted from the rightful heir of David]
  • v4: …and for how long? [1260 days: i.e. during the entire duration of that desolation].
    • …and in what attire? Why in sackcloth?
  • v7: They are furnished with powers of Moses and Elijah; but attacked and eventually killed by the beast; they lie in the streets of “Sodom and Egypt” where also their Lord was crucified; every nation will celebrate their death for “3.5 days”, after which they will rise and the end (7th trumpet) will come.
    • Which of these descriptions do not fit Moses or Elijah (or any other literal persons)?
      • v5; fire from their mouth: An absurd literal interpretation is excluded by Lk 9:54
      • v12: The Bible gives no reason why Elijah would ride a cloud again
    • How are these descriptions (v7) supposed to be fitting as symbols for the witness by Christ’s faithful (!) church?

6) Application

  • Do you consider yourself and your church to be contributing to the testimony of these 2 witnesses?
  • If so, how? And what difference do you think does that make, if any?
  • The witness of many churches (incl. some of those described as lamp stands in Rev 2-3) may seem to fall short of some of the characteristics attributed to the 2 witnesses of God in Rev 11: How do you think you and your church could benefit from an inspiring vision such as Rev 11 of what you are called to be?
  • What can you do to promote and live up to this vision?

* Since Revelation (likely written as late as 95AD) treats them as pointing to future events, it arguably doesn’t see Daniel’s prophecy fulfilled in past despots such as Antiochus Epiphanes or the Romans (<70AD), but in an ‘Antichrist’ who has been massacring the witnesses of Christ throughout the end times ever since). 

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.