The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11

Revelation 11 tells of two witnesses who will be assigned to prophesy and witness to the inhabitants of the earth for 3 1/2 years during the great tribulation. Much debate has been made about who the witnesses are, and I would like to share what I have studied and believe regarding this subject. Let’s look at the passage of scripture that tells of them and their activities.

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. Revelation 11:3-12 (KJV)

These men will do great miracles and supernatural feats by the Spirit of God. Their works resemble those of Elijah and Moses. Elijah called fire down from heaven, and he caused a drought to come upon the land. Moses was involved in the water of the Egyptians being turned to blood and many other plagues. However, does this constitute proof of who these witnesses actually are? We must always base our beliefs on what the Bible says, so let’s look to scripture to get our answer.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Malachi 4:5 (KJV)

This verse, along with Matthew 17:11, gives us Biblical evidence that one of the witnesses is Elijah. And we know that Elijah never died physically because God took him up into heaven in a whirlwind (II Kings 2:11).

We do not have such straightforward evidence for the second witness. Many have proposed that the second witness is Moses because of the type of miracles wrought by the witnesses and their similarity to those that occurred during the Exodus from Egypt. But, that is not enough to prove it, because Moses was only the vessel- God is the One who perfomed those acts through him, and He can choose to perform similar acts through another person because He is no respecter of persons. Another thing that people use as support for Moses as the second witness is that Moses and Elijah both appeared to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17 and Mark 9). That is not evidence that Moses will be the second witness because the purpose of their appearing was to prepare Jesus for the crucifixion and Moses represented the law and Elijah represented the prophets, both of which had spoken of and pointed to the coming Messiah and a New Covenant in His shed blood.

It appears that we do not have sufficient evidence to prove that Moses is the second witness. However, we do have one other candidate: Enoch.

And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:22-24 (KJV)

Enoch never experienced physical death because God translated him right up to heaven. Is the fact that he did not experience physical death enough to show that he is the second witness? Let’s look at other verses to find out.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Hebrews 9:27 (KJV)

Since Enoch never died and this scripture says every person is going to die physically and then experience the judgement of God, we can use it to support our theory that Enoch is the second witness. Enoch would have to return to die a “permanent” physical death as each human is destined to do. We know by Deuteronomy 34:5-6 and Jude 1:9 that Moses died and his body was buried by God. His body has been dead for thousands of years. Some might say that one scripture is not enough to base our belief on, so I offer another passage about Enoch.

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Jude 1:14-15 (KJV)

That sure sounds like the words someone might use to witness to the people on earth during the tribulation period. However, I offer one more passage to support my belief that the second witness is Enoch.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I Thessalonians 4:16-17 (KJV)

This is talking about the rapture of all believers in Christ- both dead and alive- with the exception of Enoch and Elijah. How can I say that? Simple. The scriptures say that the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we which are alive and remain will also be caught up. Those two men are not dead so they cannot be in the first group mentioned. The second group is those who are alive and remain. They are alive, but they do not remain, because that refers to those who remain on the earth at the time of the rapture (see the AMPC, AMP, NLT and other versions and translations of this passage). This means that every single believer will be changed into immortal, glorified bodies except Enoch and Elijah. Are we to believe that God would be so unjust as to leave these two faithful men in their fallen, physical bodies for all eternity? Of course not. When do they get their glorified bodies? Why, when they are raptured, of course! Their own personal rapture is noted in Revelation 11.

And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. Revelation 11:11-12 (KJV) emphasis mine

I believe that we have strong evidence for Enoch as the other witness. Does the identity of these two endtime witnesses affect our salvation or our eternal destination? No, that is based on faith in Jesus. However, looking into the Word and working with the Holy Spirit as spiritual sleuths to unravel ancient mysteries such as this make our walk with God exciting and gives us insight into the things to come.