INTRODUCING THE TWO WITNESSES (1)

PMW 2024-066 by Ken Gentry

The two witnesses of Revelation are a constant source of intrigue for readers of Revelation. Despite their brief appearance in John’s drama, I constantly receive questions about them by email and in conferences. This intrigue is largely due to John’s rather abruptly introducing them, despite not previously alluding to them: “I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days” (Rev. 11:3). We must understand the two witnesses’ redemptive-historical significance in pre-70 Jerusalem and their narrative function in John’s forensic drama.

The sudden appearance of these two as “witnesses” in Revelation should not be altogether surprising. After all, Revelation’s main movement begins with a vision of God on his judicial throne (4:1ff) which quickly focuses on a sealed document (Rev. 5), the opening of which initiates the dramatic judgments to follow (Rev. 6). Revelation is a court drama.

Furthermore, in the first vision that opens the current interlude and vision set (10:1–11:14), Christ formally and dramatically swears an oath to God (10:5–6). In fact, Revelation is a book in which John himself “bore witness” (1:2, cp. 1:9) and in which witnesses frequently appear (2:13; 6:9; 12:11, 17; 17:6; 19:10; 20:4), including the chief witness, “the faithful witness” Jesus Christ (1:5; 3:14). The two witnesses here (11:3, 7a) are also “prophets” (11:3, 6, 10), just as John’s entire book is a “prophecy” (1:3; cp. 10:11; 22:10, 18-19). Whether or not we can identify these two witnesses in history (see discussion below), we must at least understand their prophetic witness in a “juridicial and religious” sense.

The two witnesses clearly bear a judicial significance in that: (1) John specifically and deliberately designates them as “witnesses” (martusin) immediately upon their appearing (11:3). (2) He presents us with two witnesses. According to biblical law, legal testimony in capital cases (such as in the case of the murderous, Jerusalem-harlot, 17:5–6; 18:24; 19:2) requires two witnesses (Nu 35:30; Dt 17:6; 19:15; 1Ki 21:10). And John is so committed to this symbolism that he must alter his Zec 4 source to establish this precise number. That is, he changes Zechariah’s one lampstand (Zec 4:2) into two (11:4) (see further discussion on the Zechariah backdrop below).

(3) He even states that these witnesses “stand before the Lord” (11:4), which signifies their standing in court. As one commentator argues: “the two witnesses bear their testimony not only in earthly courts but also in an unseen courtroom, as they are ‘standing before the Lord of the earth,’ intensifies the legal nature of the witness in verses 3–4.”

Blessed Is He Who Reads: A Primer on the Book of Revelation
By Larry E. Ball

A basic survey of Revelation from an orthodox, evangelical, and Reformed preterist perspective. Ball understands John to be focusing on the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. Insightful. Easy to read.

For more Christian studies see: www.KennethGentry.com

Unfortunately, nowhere in the two-witness pericope does John record the witnesses’ specific message. But it surely focuses on Christ, for they are “my two witnesses” (11:3). Yet they do not witness about him in general (that he came and preached to Israel) nor evangelistically (that he offers salvation to all who believe in him, as in 14:6). Rather, given the nature and purpose of Revelation, they surely bear the same witness that John does as he rejects the temple and declares its soon-coming judgment. Note the following suggestive evidence in this direction.

First, the overall drift of Revelation expects it: Revelation’s theme is Christ’s judgment coming against the tribes of the Land who pierce him (1:7). Thus, they appear in a book explaining and justifying Jerusalem’s judgment for ruthlessly crucifying Christ the faithful witness (1:7; cf. 5:6, 12; 13:8) and persecuting his followers (6:11; 11:5–8; 17:5–6; 19:2) who are “witnesses” (2:13; 6:9; 12:11, 17; 17:6; 19:10; 20:4). This focus should be evident in our context in that it specifically mentions the temple and its coming judgment (11:1–2; cf. 11:19), clearly draws from Christ’s teaching regarding its destruction (11:2; cp. Lk 21:24, cf. Lk 21:5–6), and has their witnessing transpiring in Jerusalem where the temple stands (11:8).

I will continue this study in my next posting.

Click on the following images for more information on these studies: