The Two witnesses Part 3

In the previous blog, I concluded that one of the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 was a man of the Lords choosing who will come in the “spirit and power” of the OT prophet Elijah, fulfilling prophecies by Malachi and Jesus. In this blog, I’ll address the second witness.

In Revelation chapter 10, just preceding the account of the two witnesses, the apostle John tells of a mighty angel who appeared with an open book in his hand crying out in a loud voice. When he cried out “seven thunders” uttered their voices. The apostle was about to write what he was hearing when a voice from heaven said to him: “Seal up what the seven thunders uttered and do not write them down” (Revelation 10:4). The angel then tells John about the culmination of the great tribulation, how the mystery of God would be finished with the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Then the voice from heaven spoke again to John: “Go take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel…..Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth” (Revelation 10:8-10). This John did, and the angel said further : “You must prophecy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings” (Revelation 10:11). Following right after this verse comes chapter 11 about the two witnesses. As there are no chapter breaks in the original manuscript of Revelation, these chapters should be read as a continuous text. The instruction given to John to eat the book, which would go down easy, but would later upset his stomach causing him to vomit it up is a metaphor for taking in the words of God and the subsequent urgency to speak them out as prophecy. The identical thing happened to Ezekiel, where he was to eat a scroll and later prophecy its contents. You can read this in Ezekiel 2:7 -3:4. The important thing to notice here is that John was to take in this information in the little book and what the seven thunders said and, at some point in the future, “prophecy again” about these things. John was an old man at this point, somewhere in his 90’s, and though he completed the book of Revelation, the time has not come when he “must” prophecy of these things. As this definitely has not happened yet, only one conclusion can be reached. The apostle John will be one of the two witnesses along with Elijah and will reveal what the little book contained and what the seven thunders spoke. This will probably occur during the first half of Daniel’s 70th week. The apostle John is a good fit for this 2nd witness both scripturally and logically. John is the lone man God chose to reveal the greatest treasure of knowledge about he end times to the church, the book of Revelation. Also, logically, Johns directive that he must prophesy again flows right into the description of the two witnesses in chapter 11.

As I stated in the previous blog about Elijah, It’s my opinion that this witness will not be the actual apostle John resurrected, but a man chosen by God to minister in the “spirit and power” of John. Again, John the Baptist is the prototype. In subsequent blogs I’ll simply call these two witnesses Elijah and John, but you will know what I mean. In the blogs that follow I’ll discuss the nature of their ministry and how we are to positively recognize them.