A three-and-a-half year skirmish
3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. (Revelation 11:3-6–ESV)
In Zechariah 4 similarity to this passage is revealed. In that passage these two “lamptstands” are spoken of in terms of humans, anointed ones. Their anointing was unto service of the Lord. In Revelation 11 these two will come as prophets. Sackcloth is worn for mourning, as a symbol of repentance, when things are not right. Remember the words of Jesus while in Bethsaida?
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (Matthew 11:21–ESV)
What does God seek? Men and women who recognize their sins and repent of them. They turn from wickedness to righteousness. These accept the atonement of Jesus Christ. The prophets spoken of in Revelation 11 will call out for men and women the world over to repent. Jesus also said that those whose deeds are evil will not come into the light.
On top of this people do not like having their sins called out for what they are, and efforts are often made to silence the convicting voices. These two men will not be immune from such hatred, but they will for these three-and-a-half years be immune from its effects. Any who would make their cause the destruction of these two will be killed.
In the days of the Old Testament prophets would bring weather phenomena and plagues as part of their teaching, their prophetic voices. These two, also, will do that. I don’t think it will be vengeful as much as done to teach the power of God who stands behind the movement in the temple in Jerusalem.
As the eighth angel said, it was time that the mysteries of God be revealed. Society on earth will stack itself against God and God will not back down. The events will be acted out by men (the two witnesses) in God’s power. As quoted above from Malachi 1, from the rising to the setting of the sun God’s name will be known as great. It may not be revered, but it will be clearly evident.
Game over?
7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 11:7-10–ESV)
“When they finish” means that their term was limited. They finished because it was God who sent them as prophets. They preached to men and women the world over becoming a global phenomenon, but not one with a large following.
It required a great power to come and kill them. That power was still only a permitted power, not one like God with ultimate power. They eventually lie not in state as in a state of honor, but rather in a state of humiliation on the streets of Jerusalem. Their death became not only a national holiday, but a world one.
Our world comes together in the Olympics. The world will come together in the solidarity of relief over the death of these two men. The world would not repent, hatreds would boil over and the scale of environmental and human suffering would become like no other time.
The relief felt by the people would be exceedingly glad, parties would be held, presents given, but the game was not over.
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