In the last post I established the fact that these two witnesses of God described in Revelation chapter 11 are real male prophets that we must be watching for in the near future, as they will provide information we must have in order to navigate these last days. In this post, I’ll begin to establish who they are based on biblical sources. Let’s take them one at a time.
The vast majority of prophecy students and teachers agree that one of them is the Old Testament prophet Elijah. Or, at least, a man anointed with the similar spirit and power of Elijah. I agree. Orthodox Jews are unified in their expectation that Elijah will come just prior to the Messiah as prophesied in Malachi. At their Passover- Seder meals they ritually set out an empty chair for Elijah. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Malachi 4:5) This prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. The “day of the Lord” when God will wipe wickedness off the face of the earth will not happen until the end of the great tribulation. Of course, this implies that Elijah has not come yet, as well. In the scriptures, their is no other descriptive vehicle for Elijah’s coming than the two witnesses. If he is not one of them, there is no scenario presented in all new testament prophecy, where his coming is described. At this point, you may be thinking; didn’t John the Baptist fulfill this prophecy with his ministry as Jesus’ forerunner ? When asked if he was the Elijah who is to come, John flatly denied that he was. “And they asked him ‘what then ? Are you Elijah’. He said ‘I am not.’ ” (John 1:21) Jesus, however seemingly contradicted this when he said about John; “And if you are willing to receive it, he is the Elijah who is to come.” (Matthew 11:14) Luke clears up this apparent contradiction when recording what the angel told Johns father about his son; “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah.” (Luke 1:17) Notice, he is not the Elijah, but goes in the “spirit and power of Elijah”. Jesus added this about Malachi’s prophecy after His transfiguration; “Indeed , Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.” (Matthew 17:11) Note the future tense. In essence, then, what Jesus taught is that John did fill part of the Elijah prophecy in his role as forerunner of Messiah’s first coming, but accomplished this through the spirit and power of Elijah. Elijah is also yet to come and “restore all things” just prior to the day of the Lord. More on what is meant by “restore all things” in a later post. It’s very important to understand this facet of his ministry. Some other characteristics that help identify this witness as Elijah are the fact that he can call down fire from heaven to vanquish their enemies and cause a drought on the land much like the OT Elijah. (verses 5&6)
I’m going to make an important observation here that reflects my opinion based on the scriptures. This witness will not be a resurrected Elijah, but a man of God’s choosing anointed by God to fulfill prophecy, who will function in the spirit and power of Elijah much like John the Baptist. John is the biblical prototype. Although there are many resurrections described in the bible, no individual goes on in any notable fashion in extraordinary ministry. (other than Jesus, of course). They all lived out their lives and died and are awaiting resurrection to judgment. I believe this includes Elijah. Considering this late date in end-time bible chronology, I believe the man God has chosen is already in preparation for his future ministry, though he may not realize this as yet. This will also be true of the second witness who I will discuss in the next blog.
My name is Alan Finch. I became a Christian 45 years ago.
Many people believe that the “Two End-Time Witnesses” will be Elijah and Enoch, or Elijah and Moses.
Enoch, Elijah and Moses in their day fulfilled God’s purposes for them.
The 11th Chapter of Revelation does not say that God is going to send “Two Witnesses” from Heaven.
Throughout history there have been certain generations in which God has “raised up” certain individuals to carry out a specific task for Him. The same will be true for the generation that we are now living in. It is important to emphasize strongly the term “raised up.” We find throughout Scripture that the Lord “raised up” His Prophets.
One very important fact is the fact that there is no place in the Bible that states that the “Two End-Time Witnesses” are sent from Heaven. If that were the case, then it would have been clearly stated in the Bible.
Deuteronomy 34:6 tells us that God buried Moses in a Valley in the land of Moab. Revelation 11:8 states that the bodies of the “Two End-Time Prophets” will lie in the street for 3 ½ days. One of these dead bodies cannot be the dead body of Moses. That would mean that Moses will have died twice. That cannot be, because Hebrews 9:27 states that it is appointed unto men once to die. (NOT TWICE)
Also, there is a great misconception that Enoch & Elijah did not experience death. However, that is not true. When the Scriptures speak of death, it is in reference to physical death, because Ecclesiastes 3:11 states that the Lord has planted “ETERNITY” in our hearts. Our Spirit is “ETERNAL.” Only our body will experience death, not our Spirit. This very fact is clearly stated in Ecclesiastes 11:7 which declares that at death, our body will return to the Earth, and our Spirit will return to God who gave it. When God took Enoch & Elijah, only their eternal Spirits departed, their physical bodies were left behind and became dead corpse here on Earth. Therefore, coming to this understanding, the bodies of Enoch & Elijah indeed did experience a physical death.
The 34th Chapter of Deuteronomy states that God Himself buried the physical body of Moses. Therefore, it becomes evident that after God took Enoch & Elijah, that just as He did with Moses, God also buried the physical bodies of Enoch & Elijah here on Earth at locations not revealed to us.
The Lord is not going to transport 2 individuals from several thousand years ago to minister to a generation that they cannot even identify with. The only way that an individual can identify with a generation, is to experience the times of the generation that they grew up in.
The Lord will do what HE has always done, which will be to “raise up” 2 individuals from a generation that they were born in, and grew up in, which in this case will be His “Two End-Time Witnesses.”
Because of the “enormity” of the task that the Lord will assign to the “Two End-Time Witnesses,” that just like Moses, the Lord will first take them through many years of a Spiritual wilderness experience which will be His method of development and training for them.
The two “End-Time Prophets” will not be newly converted Christians. They will be seasoned Prophets who have withstood the test of time.
The Bible clearly points out to us that the Lord delights in “raising up” people to fulfill a particular task that He has for them in their generation. Throughout the Bible, God shows us time and time again that He is in the “raising up” business.In Matthew 3:9 JESUS told the Jewish people to not look back to Abraham, that God was able to “raise up” stones to fulfill His purposes.
There is zero doubt in my mind that they are alive at this present time of December, 2017. It is quite possible that at this present time of December, 2017 that they do not even know that the Lord has chosen them to be the “Two End-Time Witnesses.”
As explained earlier in this article, the “enormity” of the task that the Lord will assign to the “Two End-Time Witnesses” will require that they go through many years of a Spiritual wilderness experience which will be the Lord’s method of development and training for them.
It is my belief that at the time that the Lord reveals to them that they are the “Two End-Time Witnesses,” that HE will not immediately thrust them into functioning in their role as the “Two End-Time Witnesses.”
It is my belief that the Lord will likely reveal to them their role as the “Two End-Time Witnesses” a few months in advance or maybe even longer, before being thrust into functioning in their role as the “Two End-Time Witnesses.”
This unveiling of their assignment from the Lord may be a step by step process of coming to an understanding that they have been chosen for their role as the “Two End-Time Witnesses.”
It is my belief that the “Two End-Time Witnesses” will need to know their role a few months in advance or maybe even longer in order to fully come to terms that they have been chosen for such an “enormous” task from the Lord.
Also, they will most likely still need further development and training of a different sort from the Lord before stepping into their role as the “Two End-Time Witnesses.”
The “Two End-Time Witnesses” will bring forth God’s “message of truth” UNHINDERED in the 1st half of the final 7 years of this present Age.
In the 2nd half of the final 7 years of this present Age, the Lord will send strong delusion through the false prophet and antichrist so that those who rejected God’s “message of truth” delivered by the “2 Witnesses” in the 1st half of the final 7 years of this present Age, should believe a lie.
The false prophet and antichrist will be able to accomplish their deception UNHINDERED because the “Two End-Time Witnesses” will have been taken out of the way at the end of their assignment in the 1st half of the final 7 years of this present Age.
It is very likely that the “Two End-Time Witnesses” will minister independently from one another during their ministry.
The very popular belief of most Christians today is the belief that God’s purpose for the “Two Witnesses” is to bring forth a message to the ungodly. However, God’s purpose for them will be to bring forth a message to the Church which has drastically departed from the truth, which the Bible warned about that would take place in the last days.
The “Two Witnesses” will be instrumental in preparing the last day Church for the return of Christ.
Hi Alan,
I pretty much agree with what you have said. I do think, however, that the 2 witnesses can be characterized by their coming “in the spirit and power” of Elijah and John. You may not have read all 7 of my posts re the 2 witnesses. If you get the chance, please do, and let me know what you think. 45 years – wow. I too have been a Christian for 44 years.