The Two Witnesses

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. Revelation 11:3-6 (NIV)

There are two witnesses, and only two. The whole Bible is divided into two great divisions, which are called the Old and New Testaments. There are then two Testaments. The term testament is a word that means to bear witness. It is derived from a Latin word, testor, which means, I testify. The two testaments then mean simply two witnesses.

There are two editions, the tablets of stone and the current Bible These two are witnesses. Their business is to testify to certain facts or truths. These two witnesses of the Bible each testify of the Lord. Jesus said to the Jews concerning the Old Testament Scriptures, "They testify about me." John 5:46. The Apostle John says concerning his life of the Savior, "At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him." John 12:16

One of these witnesses testifies of the Lord in type and prophecy; the other testifies by its history of facts. The Lord says they are "my" witnesses. They testify for the Lord. Revelation 11:3-6

The Lord gives these witnesses power. "I will give power," etc.
Revelation 11:3-6

These witnesses are likened to two olive trees and to two candlesticks.
Then I asked the angel, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" So he said, "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth." Zechariah 4:11 and 14 (NIV)

The symbol of the candlestick, or rather of the lamp, is to give light. The olive tree furnished the oil needed for the lamp. The idea evidently is that the two witnesses are, like the lamp fed with olive oil, sources of light. This fact is also true of the Bible. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalms 119:105 (NIV)

It is stated that they shall have power to destroy their enemies.
The Word of God can save and it can destroy. It can justify and it can condemn. It takes two witnesses to condemn a person. When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
Exodus 31:18 (NIV)

On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
Deuteronomy 17:6 (NIV)

The Two Books of the Word of God. The two witnesses in Sackcloth for twelve hundred and sixty years. Slain in 1793. For over a thousand years it was not allowed for anyone that was not a priest to read the Scriptures. It was taught that only priests were able to interpret them. Even the priests were compelled to preach the Word just as the Church directed. When some of them were honest enough to preach what they found in the Bible, they were put to death. A whole army of martyrs suffered because they preached faithfully what they read. For many centuries it was a crime for a person to have a Bible in their possession. Wherever the Bible was found it was burned, and thousands of saints were sent to the stake for no other crime than having in their possession a copy of the Word of God. In addition to all this the Bible was locked up in languages that the people did not understand. When it was read in the churches the Latin version was used, and it was the fixed policy of the Papacy that it should not be translated into the vernacular. Certainly, during this long period, when the Scriptures were locked up in dead languages, when it was a crime to own a Bible, and when the Bible in the vernacular was burnt whenever found, the two witnesses prophesied in sackcloth.

I you scratching your head... You ask 1793 what on earth is he talking about...

In the late 1700's the most determined attack ever known was made upon the Bible. Voltaire and Rousseau led in France; Frederick the Great in Germany; Tom Paine, Hume, Gibbon, and Bolingbroke in England; Thomas Jefferson and Paine in America.

In France the nation rose in a crusade against all religion. By national law they abolished not only the Bible but God. They decreed that France would worship no gods but Reason and Liberty. Atheism became the law of the State. Look into the history books and see how long the French revolution (reign of terror) lasted... The reign of terror where all the royal family was taken to the guillotine and thousands of others as well.

For the resurrection I say look around you. Observe the spread of the Gospel to all the people of the earth in the vernacular or common languages.

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