Revelation 11:3-13 “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." (4) These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing before the God of the earth. (5) And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. (6) These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. (7) When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. (8) And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (9) Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies’ three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. (10) And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. (11) Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. (12) And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. (13) In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.”
In this section we want to discuss who the two witnesses are and what their role will be during the reign of the anti-Christ. The above quoted passage of scripture reveals that the final half of the anti-Christ’s reign will not all be plain sailing, for there will be two witnesses that will prove to be a thorn in his side during that time. However before we discuss the impact the two witnesses will have on the earth, we first need to identify who they are. This passage tells us exactly who they are, for it declares that they are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing before the God of the earth. And so we see that in order to identify the two witnesses we need to identify who the two olive trees are.
Malachi 4:5-6 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. (6) And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
The above quoted passage of scripture clearly teaches us that one of the two witnesses is Elijah the prophet, for the Lord declares that He will send Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. In other words Elijah will come to the earth before the second coming of the Lord Jesus. When He was on the earth, the Lord Jesus commented about this when He said that Elijah is coming first and will restore all things (Matthew 17:11). Elijah the prophet’s coming is not to be confused with the coming of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). Although both prophets had the same mandate i.e. they were sent to prepare the nation of Israel for their coming Messiah, nevertheless they were sent at different times. John the Baptist was sent prior to the first coming of the Lord Jesus, while Elijah the prophet will be sent prior to the second coming of the Lord Jesus. An important truth that we need to understand about the prophet Elijah is that he has not yet tasted physical death, for scripture teaches us that God took him alive into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). We will understand the significance of this truth later in this section.
Jude 1:9 “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!”
So who is the second witness? There are really only two candidates for the second witness i.e. Enoch and Moses. So why do I say that? We have already seen that Elijah has never tasted death, and as I have already mentioned, that is an important qualification which the second witness will need to have. And so, in light of that truth Enoch becomes the obvious candidate for being the second witness; because, just like Elijah, Enoch has never tasted death because God also took him alive into heaven (Genesis 5:24). Being a Gentile however, Enoch cannot qualify for one of the main functions of the two witnesses, which is to restore the nation of Israel to their coming Messiah. And so in light of that truth we need to examine Moses’ candidacy for being the second witness. The first reason why Moses is the most likely candidate for being the second witness is his death. We know that Moses died because scripture tells us this (Deuteronomy 34:5). Nevertheless Moses is the only person that God instructed the archangel Michael to bury, and then kept his burial place a secret (Deuteronomy 34:6). We know that Moses body was unique, because as revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, Satan wanted to have access to it after Moses’ death. So what was so special about Moses’ body? When Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, he spent a total of eighty days in God’s presence. That period of prolonged exposure to God’s glory permanently altered his body, for after that event the brightness of God’s glory radiating from his body necessitated his wearing a veil over his face whenever he conversed with the Jews, otherwise they were unable to look at him (Exodus 34:35). Not only did Moses’ body radiate God’s glory however, his body could also no longer decay after he died. And so after three thousand years Moses’ body has still not decayed and is still radiating the glory of God, waiting for Moses to enter it once again. Therefore we see that even though Moses has tasted death, the fact that his physical body has not decayed, places him in a very unique category. Satan wanting access to Moses’ body after his death also gives us some insight into the uniqueness of his body. So let’s explore the uniqueness of Moses’ body. Scripture teaches us that man’s physical body cannot live unless it has a spirit living on the inside of it (James 2:26). In the same manner the spirit of man is forced to leave their physical body once the body dies. Once the human spirit leaves their body, their spirit either ascends to heaven or descends to hell, depending on whether they were saved or not. And so we see a spiritual truth; every human spirit that has left this earth was forced to do so because their bodies had died. So what about Satan’s demonic spirits that inhabit the earth? We know that while a person is alive, demons have the ability to enter into human bodies and even possess those bodies for their own purposes. And so, the question is asked is it possible for demons to enter the body of a human who has died, thus causing that body to live once again because it now has a spirit living on the inside of it? To answer that question we need to recognise that in order for a dead body to be capable of living once again, the body needs to be healed from that which caused it to die in the first place. Satan and his demons have no power to heal however, and so they are incapable of causing a dead body to live once again. This brings us to Moses’ body. Satan wanted access to Moses’ body and so the question is why? The reason is because there was nothing wrong with Moses’ body when he left it, for the scripture says that his eyes were not dim nor his natural vigour diminished when he died (Deuteronomy 34:7). And so we see that Moses body did not die from illness or even from old age; in fact technically speaking, Moses’ body didn’t actually die. In other words Moses was not forced to leave his body because it had died; rather he left his body of his own volition. This is the reason why Satan wanted access to Moses’ body, because Moses’ body had no need of healing in order for it to live once again, it just needed a spirit on the inside. Satan recognised that fact which is why he wanted Moses’ body, so that he could use it for his own purposes. And so we see that Moses’ body has never actually tasted death and is currently in a state of limbo, waiting for the spirit of Moses to return to it. Therefore we can see that even though Moses has ‘died’, his body has in fact never died, thus qualifying him to meet the requirement of the second witness i.e. one who’s body has never tasted death.
Michael E.B. Maher
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