Revelation 11:3

Who is speaking in this verse? The speaker seems to be the angel who spoke in Revelation 11:1-2, who here speaks for God (cf. Revelation 11:8).

God did not reveal the identity of the two witnesses. Many commentators believe they will be Moses and Elijah since these men were prophets and performed the kinds of miracles these witnesses will perform (Revelation 11:6). [Note: E.g., Smith, A Revelation . . ., p. 169; Tenney, p. 191; and Barclay, The Revelation . . ., 2:87.] Others believe they will be Enoch and Elijah since God took these men to heaven without dying. [Note: E.g., Seiss, p. 244; and Thomas W. Mackay, "Early Christian Millenarianist Interpretation of the Two Witnesses in John’s Apoclaypse, 11:3-13," in By Study and Also by Faith, pp. 252-65, 310.] Another reason some believe one of these witnesses will be Elijah is Malachi 4:5, which predicts that Elijah will return before Messiah. [Note: E.g., Gundry, p. 94.] Other less literal interpreters think the two witnesses may represent not two individuals but the faithful witness of the church throughout its persecutions. [Note: E.g., Swete, p. 134; Mounce, p. 223; Beasley-Murray, p. 181; Morris, p. 147; Beale, p. 573. See Thomas, Revelation 8-22, pp. 87-89, for a good summary of the arguments pro and con for these three major views.] I agree with those who believe that they will be individuals living at this time rather than former prophets brought back to earth for this ministry (cf. Matthew 11:14). [Note: E.g., Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 179; Pentecost, Things to . . ., p. 308; Newell, pp. 150-51; Ladd, p. 154; Kelly, p. 226; Wilbur Smith, "Revelation," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1510; Beckwith, p. 595; and Daniel K. K. Wong, "The Two Witnesses in Revelation 11," Bibliotheca Sacra 154:615 (July-September 1997):344-54.]

"Nor again can such allegorical interpretations as the Law and the Prophets, the Law and the Gospel, the Old Testament and the New, be maintained in view of all that follows." [Note: Swete, p. 134.]

They will "prophesy," namely, communicate messages from God. Their ministry will last 1,260 days (i.e., 42 months of 30 days per month, or three and a half years; Daniel 12:11). The fact that John sometimes described the Great Tribulation in terms of days, at other times in months, or at still other times in years is probably just for the sake of literary variety. These various ways of describing the period also support the view that the time period will be three and one-half literal years since all three descriptions describe a period exactly that long by Jewish reckoning. This period also appears to be the Great Tribulation (i.e., the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week), the focus of John’s vision in this chapter. [Note: Ibid., p. 131; Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 182.] Some interpreters, including the early church fathers Victorinus, Hippolytus, and Augustine, believed that the two witnesses would minister in the first half of the Tribulation. [Note: T. F. Glasson, The Revelation of John, p. 70; Newell, pp. 159-60; Johnson, p. 502; Wiersbe, 2:598; and McGee, 5:981; also held this view.] Nonetheless, the context strongly favors the last half of the Tribulation.

The two witnesses will wear "sackcloth," the dress that in biblical times signified approaching judgment and needed repentance (cf. Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 4:8; Jeremiah 6:26; Jonah 3:5-6; Jonah 3:8; Matthew 11:21).