Previously: Revelation 11: identity of the two witnesses, continued
The first post in the Revelation series
We have postulated that the two witnesses, which Revelation 11 calls two olive trees, two lampstands, and two prophets almost interchangably, are the two testaments, the Old and the New Testaments of the written Word, and also the two groups of Chosen People, the covenant people of Israel and the Gentile Church; and thus one witness is the written word, and one witness is the people of God.
I thought we were done with this topic, but then I realized that there are two witnesses, and two prophets, who were born into this world with a sin nature, but who never tasted the death promised to Adam and his seed. They are Enoch, and Elijah. These two prophets were both taken to heaven in a whirlwind, in a chariot of fire, and their bodies are not on this earth.
It is possible that the two witnesses, the two anointed ones who stand before the Lord as Zechariah says, are Enoch and Elijah who would have to return, or who have returned, somehow.
So how do we know what is the right interpretation of the two witnesses in Revelation 11? Frankly, we won’t know until after it comes to pass. The purpose of prophecy is not to give Christians a crystal ball into future events. Its purpose, once what is prophesied has clearly been seen to come to pass, is to produce the conviction that the God of the Bible is God, thus inspiring repentance, and faith:
“And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” John 14:29
Historicists believe Revelation 11 has already come to pass, including the prophecy of the two witnesses. How? Because us moderns know so little history, we don’t know what Bible prophecy has been fulfilled, and what is still remaining. It is one of the reasons I believe that history teaching in schools has been so eroded in the last 100 years; but that is another post. But I want to examine just how Revelation 11 might have already been fulfilled next.
To be continued …
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Update: continued in Revelation 11: identity of the two witnesses, again
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