|
The Two Witnesses
Who are the two witnesses who will preach in Jerusalem?
by Dr. David R. Reagan
Revelation 11 says there will be two miracle working witnesses of God who will preach in Jerusalem for 3 1/2 years. They will serve as the conscience of the world and will be hated by most people. The Antichrist will kill them at the mid-point of the Tribulation, and the world will rejoice.
The mystery regarding these witnesses has always been their identity. Who will they be? The book of Revelation does not tell us. Tim LaHaye postulates that they will be Moses and Elijah, and there is good biblical evidence for this conclusion. These two were present at Jesus' Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3). And the miracles performed by the two (described in Revelation 11:6) are those that characterized the ministries of Moses and Elijah.
Still, I believe the two most likely candidates are Enoch and Elijah. Both were men of righteousness who were raptured to Heaven. Neither experienced death. Both were prophets, and one was a Gentile (Enoch) and the other was a Jew (Elijah).
I think it is interesting that this was the unanimous opinion of the Church Fathers during the first three hundred years of the Church. All of them identified the two witnesses in their writings as Enoch and Elijah. One, by the name of Haymo who served as the bishop of Halberstadt (840-853 AD), even quotes a version of Malachi 4:5 as stating that both Enoch and Elijah will appear before the day of the Lord. Our modern versions mention only Elijah.
So, we know for certain from the passage in Malachi that one of the two witnesses will be Elijah. The identity of the other is unknown. He could be either Moses or Enoch. I side with Enoch because he was a Gentile, and I believe the Lord is going to supply two witnesses instead of one because He is going to ordain one to speak to the Jews and the other to the Gentiles.
Original Article
| 
