Right!
This shows a good example of our need to ask how scripture is meant to be interpreted. While some holler the 1st century interpretation cannot be true, we can also holler the idea of actual men breathing fire from their mouths cannot be true. All the details in the prophecy must fit the interpretation. We have scripture that says the Word of God is like fire in a prophet's mouth. But that demands we interpret fire from the mouth as SYMBOLIC. So what else would be symbolic? Maybe the PEOPLE are symbolic of things that are not people?
It's easy to only read so far down into the specific prophecy, and claim it has to be fulfilled in a certain way, and have no answer for another detail that was also mentioned that would make that certain way ridiculous.
Since Revelation mentions Jesus is a Lamb with 7 eyes and horns, we know Revelation uses symbols. Can the Two Witnesses SYMBOLIZE two things that are not necessarily PEOPLE? How about this concept in scripture:
1 John 5:7-8 KJV For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. (8) And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
Notice the details in the prophecy:
Revelation 11:3-4 KJV And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. (4) These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
They are a SPECIFIC, -- "
the two witnesses".
Zechariah 4:3 KJV And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
Zechariah 4:11 KJV Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
Zechariah 4:14 KJV Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
All the elements of
Rev 11's details of the two witnesses are found in
Zechariah 4. What does this mean? First of all, we have to research the rest of the bible to interpret any given vision in Revelation. Secondly, somehow the information in
Zechariah 4 must be considered in understanding Revelation's two witnesses.
These two witnesses in
Zech. 4 are Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel the governor. Notice one is a spiritual leader and the other is a governmental leader.
And the idea people usually claim is the interpretation of the two witnesses is that they are Moses and Elijah, since the feats these two men accomplish include things Moses and Elijah did. However, and that is a good thought, Moses was a giver of LAW (similar to a governor like Zerubbabel), and Elijah was a prophet, similar to the spiritual leadership fulfilled by Joshua as high priest performed.
So we have a double set of pictures in Joshua and Zerubbabel, and Moses and Elijah. And there are similarities between these two sets of men.
So it is not as simple as we wish it is when we propose a face value approach. Face value approaches are always favoured since they do not require research throughout the scripture for proper conclusions. But does simplicity mean it's right?
I kinda think the witnesses are SPIRIT AND WORD/TRUTH. Spirit is one of the three witnesses in Heaven, and WORD is one of the three witnesses in earth, in
1 John 5. Both Elijah and Joshua could stand for the SPIRITUAL idea, while Zerubbabel and Moses could stand for TRUTH. SPIRIT AND TRUTH were absent from Jerusalem during the 42 month siege since the church had already left and fled to Pella beforehand. And after that time, these two resurrected and continued witness again since the church was not destroyed as Jerusalem was.
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