Even though believing Jews will suffer persecution at this time, God will still get His message out. Two witnesses will be especially significant at this time. Valid testimony required two witnesses under the Old Covenant (Deut. 19:15), and both Jesus and the early church sent out emissaries in pairs (Mark 6:7; Luke 10:2; Acts 13:2; 15:39-40).
11:3 Who is speaking in this verse? The speaker seems to be the angel who spoke in verses 1-2, who here speaks for God (cf. v. 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 (v. 6).360Others believe they will be Enoch and Elijah since God took these men to heaven without dying.361Another reason some believe one of these witnesses will be Elijah is Malachi 4:5, which predicts that Elijah will return before Messiah.362Other less literal interpreters think the two witnesses may represent not two individuals but the faithful witness of the church throughout its persecutions.363I 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. Matt. 11:14).364
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; Dan. 12:11).365This 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.366Some interpreters, including the early church fathers Victorinus, Hippolytus, and Augustine, believed that the two witnesses would minister in the first half of the Tribulation.367Nonetheless, 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. Isa. 22:12; Jer. 4:8; 6:26; Jon. 3:5, 6, 8; Matt. 11:21).
11:4 The ministry of these two witnesses resembles that of Zerubbabel and Joshua who sought to restore Israel after a previous exile (Zech. 4:2, 3, 11-14). There is only one lampstand in the Zechariah passage, but there are two here representing each of the two witnesses. In the Zechariah passage it is the Holy Spirit who empowered Zerubbabel and Joshua (Zech. 4:14), and the comparison strongly suggests that these latter-day witnesses will also receive power from Him (cf. 1:4). They will be God's anointed servants who bear the light of His truth. They are dependent on the Spirit and speak for God, who controls the whole earth.
11:5 These witnesses will be able to protect themselves by calling down fire on their enemies who try to harm them, as Elijah did (cf. 2 Kings 1:10-14). This is probably the meaning rather than the bizarre notion that fire will actually proceed from their mouths. No one will be able to kill them until God permits this at the very end of their ministry (v. 7).
11:6 God will also empower them to do other miracles similar to what Elijah (cf. 1 Kings 17:1, 7; 18:1; Luke 4:25; James 5:17) and Moses (Exod. 7:17-21; 9:14; 11:10; 1 Sam. 4:8) did. The length of their ministry will be the same as the drought that God sent during Elijah's day. It will also be for the same purpose, namely, to punish His people for their sins and to lead them to repentance. However the two witnesses will be able to exercise their power whenever they wish, not like Moses who could only perform miracles at God's specific command.
This will be the fifth period in history when God will enable a few people to do unusually spectacular signs and wonders. The first four periods were the times of Moses and Joshua, of Elijah and Elisha, of Daniel and his three friends, and the time of Jesus Christ's earthly ministry and that of His apostles.
"Here is a fundamental clue to the understanding of biblical prophecy: eschatological events are foreshadowed in historical events."368
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