Previously: Revelation 11: measuring the temple
The first post in the Revelation series
And
I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for
1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the
two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. Revelation 11:3-4
Now who are these two witnesses? They are also called two olive trees, two lampstands, and two prophets. The two witnesses, who are the two olive trees, two lampstands, and two prophets, must (as described in Revelation 11):
1) witness to the world of the Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who is the Lord Jesus Christ;
2) prophesy to the world the word of God;
3) fire consumes their foes who would harm them, which proceeds from the mouth of the witnesses;
4)
have power to shut up the sky, so that no rain falls; to turn water to
blood; and to unleash plagues on the earth, during the days of their
testimony;
5) they will or have been killed by the beast from the bottomless pit;
6)
their death will cause rejoicing in a spiritual Sodom and Egypt, and
for those whose citizenship is of the earth, or the world, i.e., the
unsaved, for three and one half years (for one day of prophesy equals
one year of history, according to Daniel);
7) at the end of the
three and one half years they will be resurrected by God to life,
accompanied by fear of the Lord, and will ascend to heaven, where they
will be forever safe from the power of those who would want to kill
them;
8) the hour of their ascension is accompanied by a great
earthquake, which we have already seen in Revelation is a great
upheaval in social, religious, and political norms.
Witnesses
are the servants of God, also, the two testaments, the Old and the New,
are two witnesses, for a testament is a witness.
Zechariah sees a vision of two olive trees, and the angel tells him they are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Paul in Romans
describes Israel as a cultivated olive tree, and the Gentile Church as
a wild olive tree, who was grafted in to share in the root of the tree,
who, we know, is the Lord Jesus Christ (as Isaiah also testifies). So Paul also describes two olive trees.
To be continued …
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Update: continued in Revelation 11: identity of the two witnesses, continued
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