Speculation on the Two Witnesses' Identities
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Revelation 11:3-13.
3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
5 And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.
6 They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,
8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,
10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.
13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
What are the possible identities of these witnesses?
Zechariah 4:3, 11-14.
1 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep.
2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.
3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”
11 Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”
12 And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?”
13 He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”
14 Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
1. They are literal people, but their identity cannot be definitely decided [LD, Wal]. The fact that their work is described in such detail argues that they were historical people [LD]. These two are prophets whom God will raise up after the rapture from among those who turn to Christ then
I think one could be a Jew who believes in Jesus, and the other a Gentile who believes, given the metaphor of the olive tree and the lampstands.
An Exegetical Summary of Revelation 1–11 (11:3)
2. They are literal people: Moses and Elijah [EC, ICC]. According to 2 Kings 2:11, Elijah was taken up without dying and there was a similar tradition about Moses. The return of these two men at the end of the age was expected by Christians while the Jews expected Elijah to return. In the account of the Transfiguration, it is Moses and Elijah who appear with Jesus. These two represent the Law and the Prophets.
I could not confirm a similar tradition concerning Moses.
Deuteronomy 34:5-7.
5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord,
6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.
Jude 9.
9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Moses in the New Testament
The Church fathers attribute this statement to a book entitled the Assumption of Moses, but no such tradition is attested in any surviving Jewish legend concerning the death of Moses
2 Kings 2:11.
11 And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
Matthew 17:3-4.
3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
4 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
3. They are literal people: Enoch and Elijah, who had been translated to heaven without having died
Genesis 5:24.
24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Hebrews 11:5.
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
Jude 14.
14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,
Enoch no doubt was translated, and so was Elijah;7 nor did they experience death: it was postponed, (and only postponed,) most certainly: they are reserved for the suffering of death, that by their blood they may extinguish Antichrist - Tertullian 2nd Century
His first advent had John the Baptist as its forerunner; and His second, in which He is to come in glory, will exhibit Enoch, and Elias, and John the Divine. - Hippolytous early 3rd century
4. They are symbolic of the Church [BNTC, NIC, NIGTC, NTC, Sw, TNTC]. They symbolize the Church as being royal and priestly in keeping with the symbolism in 11:4 [NTC]. Although modeled after Moses and Elijah [NIC], they symbolize the Church as a witnessing church [NIC, NIGTC, Sw]. They symbolize part of the church since in chapter one there were seven lampstands, here there are only two [TNTC]. They are the Christian martyrs [BNTC, NIC] who will supply sufficient evidence (two witnesses) against the Church’s opposition [BNTC].
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
An Exegetical Summary of Revelation 1–11 (11:3)
They are symbolic of an adequate witness to the Word of God [Lns]. Deuteronomy 17:6, 15, and 19 establish the principle that for a charge to be considered valid it must have at least two witnesses. These two witnesses at the end of Revelation confirm the validity of its contents [Lns].
6 On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
Though their identity is unknown, we can trust that God will always have a witness. We can also recognize the honor that we, too, are witnesses for God.