The setting in Revelation 11 for the two witnesses is the 1,260-year time period, and the release of the two witnesses and their rise to prominence in the world has more to do with the second-advent movement than with the Dark Ages. It is during the great second-advent movement that the Bible has received so much attention and wide circulation. Let us read the prophecy of the two witnesses.
“I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, ‘Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.
But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.
And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.’
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.
These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.
Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.
The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Revelation 11:1–13.
This is a very interesting description of the two witnesses. Two times the 1,260-year time period is mentioned: in verse 2, “They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.” And in verse 3 this same time period is mentioned as 1,260 days or years: “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” As used in prophecy, a month is equal to 30 days. Thirty times 42 months equals 1,260 days or years.
There is an explanation of these verses in The Great Controversy, 266, as follows: “The periods here mentioned—‘forty and two months,’ and ‘a thousand two hundred and threescore days’—are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1,260 years of papal supremacy began in A.D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798.”
We see that the setting for the two witnesses is the Dark Ages of papal oppression. This was one more attack by Satan to destroy the knowledge of the plan of redemption, the new covenant ministry of Christ in the sanctuary.
Many ask what it means to be “clothed in sackcloth.” This is explained in a reference from The Great Controversy, 267: “When the Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could invent to turn the minds of the people from it … then the faithful witnesses prophesied in sackcloth.”
The two witnesses (verse 3) are not directly identified in this chapter. There are several symbols used to represent them. Two symbols are found in verse 4: “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” In verse 6 is another symbol in which they are personified as men: “These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying.”
There is one more symbol, and it is found in verse 10: “The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.”
Let us make an observation about these symbols. When the two witnesses are represented as “these men,” it indicates that they have a human aspect to them. And when they are represented as “prophets,” they are understood to be under divine inspiration.
We are told in the introduction of The Great Controversy, v, vi: “The Ten Commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written by His own hand. They are of divine, and not of human composition. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ John 1:14.”
As Christ was both human and divine, so the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy are a combination of the human and the divine. As Jesus was God’s representative of truth to the people in the first advent, so the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy stand in the place of Christ to witness to the truth in the second advent. The way people relate to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy is just the way they would treat Jesus if He were here in person. It is possible that they could be a symbol of the Scriptures, for it says in Revelation 11:4, “These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.”
In The Great Controversy, 267 there is a statement so specific that it settles their identity beyond question. “Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: ‘These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.’ ‘Thy word,’ said the psalmist, ‘is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’ Revelation 11:4; Psalm 119:105. The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation.”
We now understand that Revelation 11:1–13 is a description of the way the Bible was treated during the 1,260 years of papal oppression and what God is going to do with the Bible at the end of that time period.
The next verse, Revelation 11:5, is very specific about how to deal with those who try to harm the Old and New Testaments, the Bible: “If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.”
What does the phrase mean “fire comes from their mouths”? We know that “from their mouths” is a symbol for speaking. The phrase “fire comes from their mouths” means that anyone who harms them will be destroyed by fire.
Revelation 20:9, 10 tells us how this prophecy will be fulfilled: “They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.”
This shows the importance of reverence for the Bible. True Christians will show much respect and reverence for the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. The following statement from The Great Controversy, 268 will be very helpful to read:
“The meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the closing chapter of the Revelation: ‘I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.’ Revelation 22:18, 19.
“Such are the warnings which God has given to guard men against changing in any manner that which He has revealed or commanded. These solemn denunciations apply to all who by their influence lead men to regard lightly the law of God.”
Returning to our main text, the next verse in Revelation 11 presents even more interesting symbolism: “These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague.” Verse 6.
Let us turn back to the Old Testament and read about an event that happened in the time of Elijah, where the word of God literally shut up the sky so that it did not rain for three and a half years.
In I Kings 17:1, it says, “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.’ ”
There is a comment from the book Prophets and Kings, 120, 121 about this event: “To Elijah was entrusted the mission of delivering to Ahab Heaven’s message of judgment. He did not seek to be the Lord’s messenger; the word of the Lord came to him.”
We see in this statement that it was the “word of the Lord” that shut up the skies so it would not rain for three and a half years. The word of God has power, even over the elements.
The word of God has power to turn water to blood also. There is an event recorded in the Old Testament in which the word of the Lord turned water to blood and a prophecy in the New Testament, which says that this will happen again. In Exodus 7:19 it says, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs”—and they will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and stone jars.’ ”
There is another description of this event found in Patriarchs and Prophets, 265: “Moses and Aaron were directed to visit the riverside next morning, where the king was accustomed to repair. … Here the two brothers again repeated the message to him, and then they stretched out the rod and smote upon the water. The sacred stream ran blood, the fish died, and the river became offensive to the smell. The water in the houses, the supply preserved in cisterns, was likewise changed to blood.”
In the New Testament the prophecy that water will again turn to blood is recorded in Revelation 16:3, 4: “The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.”
In these events we understand that the word of the Lord is very powerful. It is very important that the sinner show reverence, respect and obedience to the Bible, lest it pronounce these severe judgments upon him.
The next four verses, Revelation 11:7–10, describe a very interesting event using many symbols: “Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.”
“When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testimony,” means that toward the end of the 1,260-year time period a beast coming up out of the abyss will attack the Bible. “The period when the two witnesses were to prophesy clothed in sackcloth, ended in 1798. As they were approaching the termination of their work in obscurity, war was to be made upon them by the power represented as ‘the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit.’ …
“But another power—the beast from the bottomless pit—was to arise to make open, avowed war upon the word of God.” The Great Controversy, 268, 269.
The symbolism is a little difficult to understand at this point, but there are some explanations in The Great Controversy that will make things clear so that we may understand the prophecy. In verse 8 a couple of clues are given to help us find out who the beast represents and what the abyss is.
“Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt.” Revelation 11:8.
This verse is saying that the beast coming out of the abyss will manifest characteristics similar to Sodom and Egypt. Egypt is known for its defiance of God, especially at the time of the exodus. “Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God and resisted His commands. No monarch ever ventured upon more open and highhanded rebellion against the authority of Heaven than did the king of Egypt. When the message was brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh proudly answered: ‘Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go.’ Exodus 5:2, A.R.V. This is atheism, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance. ‘The great city’ is also compared, ‘spiritually,’ to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-eminent characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifications of this scripture.” Ibid., 269.
The time of the beast to rise up is made quite clear in the following statement: “According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God’s two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh and the licentiousness of Sodom.” Ibid.
We still don’t have an answer as to who the beast represents. So let’s look further into the information given in Revelation 11:9–11:
“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.” (KJV)
The Great Controversy gives us an explanation of these verses and the history that is a fulfillment of these events.
“This prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of France. During the Revolution, in 1793, ‘The world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man’s soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of a Deity.’—Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, vol. 1, ch. 17. ‘France is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives, that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against the Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, plenty of infidels, there have been, and still continue to be, in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France stands apart in the world’s history as the single state which, by the decree of her Legislative Assembly, pronounced that there was no God, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement.’—Blackwood’s Magazine, November, 1870.
“France presented also the characteristics which especially distinguished Sodom. During the Revolution there was manifest a state of moral debasement and corruption similar to that which brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. And the historian presents together the atheism and the licentiousness of France, as given in the prophecy: ‘Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion, was that which reduced the union of marriage—the most sacred engagement which human beings can form, and the permanence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of society—to the state of a mere civil contract of a transitory character, which any two persons might engage in and cast loose at pleasure. … Sophie Arnoult, an actress famous for the witty things she said, described the republican marriage as “the sacrament of adultery.” ’—Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17.” The Great Controversy, 269–271.
I would like to go back to Revelation 11:8 and make a brief comment about the last part of the verse: “Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”
In The Great Controversy, 271 it states, “ ‘Where also our Lord was crucified” [Revelation 11:8]. This specification of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France. In no land had the spirit of enmity against Christ been more strikingly displayed. In no country had the truth encountered more bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which France had visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had crucified Christ in the person of His disciples.” Ibid., 271.
“It was in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body.” Ibid., 287.
In Revelation 11:13 there is a symbolic description of the effect this legislation had on the nation of France: “At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” [Most commentators believe the quote ‘seven thousand people’ are the nobility that were destroyed by the French revolution.]
“Those who had chosen the service of rebellion were left to reap its fruits until the land was filled with crimes too horrible for pen to trace. From devastated provinces and ruined cities a terrible cry was heard—a cry of bitterest anguish. France was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social order, the family, the state, and the church—all were smitten down by the impious hand that had been lifted against the law of God.” Ibid., 286.
After the action of the French assembly was rescinded, a wonderful change for the better took place for the two witnesses. It is recorded in Revelation 11:11, 12: “But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.”
“Since France made war upon God’s two witnesses, they have been honored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded. When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into many hundreds of languages and dialects. …
“But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great change took place. Men became dissatisfied with the results of rationalism and realized the necessity of divine revelation and experimental religion. From this time the work of foreign missions attained an unprecedented growth.”
“The improvements in printing have given an impetus to the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities for communication between different countries, the breaking down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusiveness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome have opened the way for the entrance of the word of God. For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every part of the habitable globe.” Ibid., 287, 288.
And today we see the continuing expansion of the circulation of the Bible throughout the world in the printed and electronic media. Thus we see the prophecy of the two witnesses being fulfilled at the present time to meet the needs of the people in the great second-advent movement. What a blessing this has been in the proclamation of the Three Angels’ Messages!
Everyone today who is within reach of the Scriptures has the privilege and responsibility of learning about the Three Angels’ Messages, the Investigative Judgment and the Second Coming of Jesus.
(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)
Maurice Hoppe is retired and volunteers at Steps to Life. His primary responsibility is working with the Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders and the Training Program for Lay Workers. He also conducts a Bible Correspondence School from his home with emphasis on Bible prophecy. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.