Who are the TWO WITNESSES of Revelation chapter 11?

[Sheadad]

Revelation 11:3-4
3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

4 These are the two olive trees, and **the two candlesticks **standing before the God of the earth. (KJV)

Zechariah 4:11-14
11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?

12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth. (KJV

Who are they? Are they literally the return of Elijah or Enoch? Are they two people who are spiritually the return of Elijah and Enoch or Moses and Elijah?

Although the Great Monarch and the Holy Pontiff have no basis in official Catholic dogma - being the stuff of private revelation which may or may not be true - could the Two Witnesses actually be the Great Monarch and Holy Pontiff?

I note that although they are mentioned as opposing the “Beast”, am I not right in stating that the beast coming out of the sea is actually introduced later, meaning that the Two Witnesses may come before the Antichrist? It also states that: 11-14 “The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon”.

What are the “woes”?

I’ll probably get blasted for this, but I thought maybe it could be Ishmael and Issac. Standing on opposite sides of the candlestick? They’re both olive branches as decendants of Abraham, as well as olive trees as the fathers of two great nations. God promised each individually that they would be “blessed” and have decendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens. They were both boys founded by a father found to be righteous by his faith and turned out in the long run to be the direct lineage of a good portion of the earth’s population today, hence; “stand by the Lord of the whole earth”.

 

[FaithJoy]

The 2 witnesses ,according to the mosaic law which includes the Jews and only the Jews would be outside the Jewish tradition. That would leave only the Church as one witness and the other would be the Gentiles.

 

[Nate13]

Moses and Elijah. From a Preterist view point this has already occurred back in 70 A.D. The Pharisee Josephus’ writings (might have butchered the spelling of that name) talk about a man in sackcloth that appeared in Jerusalem before its eventual doom in 70A.D that ran around saying the exact same thing over and over again for 3 and 1/2 years (1260 days). There is a lot of other historical evidence that shows the connection between this prophesy and the 3 and 1/2 years leading up to the destruction of the temple. I personally give a lot of faith to the Preterist view point and find the evidence suggesting the “great city”, “babylon”, “Sodom”, and “whore city” to be Jerusalem and the beast to be Rome incredibly compelling. I also believe there is some future fulfillment in the book but I believe the main prophesy is in relation to the fall of Jerusalem in 70A.D.

 

[Nate13]

The woes that are spoken of are the curses that result when the covenant is broken. If you look back in the Old Testament and all the curses that are laid out as the punishment for breaking the covenant with God you will see that these were all fulfilled in 70A.D with the destruction of Jerusalem. The Old covenant brought blessings when obeyed and curses when they failed to obey. 70A.D was the fulfillment of the Old covenant in making way for the New covenant.

 

[GKCT]

According to the notes in my Bible: The New American, St. Joseph:
the two witnesses “wearing sackcloth symbolizing lamentation and repentance, cannot readily be identified. Do they represent Moses and Elijah, or the Law and the Prophets, or Peter and Paul? Most probably they refer to the universal church, especially the Christian martyrs, fulfilling the office of witness”.
Guess we’ll just have to wait until the parousia. Perhaps when we reach our glory it will be revealed to us. Until then, I will not speculate.

 

[Nate13]

According to the notes in my Bible: The New American, St. Joseph:
the two witnesses “wearing sackcloth symbolizing lamentation and repentance, cannot readily be identified. Do they represent Moses and Elijah, or the Law and the Prophets, or Peter and Paul? Most probably they refer to the universal church, especially the Christian martyrs, fulfilling the office of witness”.
Guess we’ll just have to wait until the parousia. Perhaps when we reach our glory it will be revealed to us. Until then, I will not speculate.

Haha talking about the second coming always makes me laugh because as Catholics we get a second coming every time we go to mass We don’t have to wait till the end of the world to see Jesus again

 

[ryanoneil]

The woes that are spoken of are the curses that result when the covenant is broken. If you look back in the Old Testament and all the curses that are laid out as the punishment for breaking the covenant with God you will see that these were all fulfilled in 70A.D with the destruction of Jerusalem. The Old covenant brought blessings when obeyed and curses when they failed to obey. 70A.D was the fulfillment of the Old covenant in making way for the New covenant.

I agree. Jesus denounced the Pharisees with seven woes in Mt 23, presenting a covenant lawsuit against unfaithful Israel of his generation.

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you flee from the judgment of Gehenna?Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that there may come upon you all the righteous blood shed upon earth, from the righteous blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Amen, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling!s Behold, your house will be abandoned, desolate

 

[beehumble]

Fascinating! Basically everybody has there own opinions and nobody really knows!

I found this to be true even of the early Church Fathers, when I read them concerning a few things such as the seventy weeks of Daniel, for example. (Note I am only talking here of biblical interpretations of more difficult passages such as the two witnesses, not Catholic doctrine/dogma.)

 

[Nita]

Hello, I think it is very important to consider the ‘two witnesses’ within the context of the book of Revelation itself.

In Revelation 1-3, we have letters to the seven churches of Asia, described as ‘candlesticks’. Of those seven churches, two of them – Smyrna and Philadelphia – are not rebuked in any way, in fact they are told to hang in there and keep it up.
…

Peace

A similar thought (witnesses = churches) that I’ve had is that the 2 witnesses may be references to the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. They are the only two sources of the New Covenant sacrificial offering of the Mass and the only two “churches” that can make Jesus truly present in the Eucharist.

P.S. jkimbo, I see you had the same idea.

The following paragraph from the CCC comes to mind:#677 "The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. …
Recall that the 2 witnesses are raised after their death (Rev. 11:11).

 

[BenRosa]

Greetings:

I’m thinking they may be the current Pope at the end of the End Times…and a holy man, a staunch defender of the Church, who is not yet known.

God’s peace…

 

[rickielambert]

In the fully papal approved revelations of God given to St Hildegard of Bingen (Doctor of the Church), the Eternal Father confirms that the two witnesses to come at the end of time are Enoch and Elijah. (Scivias: vision 11, 33). It is given to them the task of converting the Jews during the reign of the Antichrist.
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