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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Who Are the Two Witnesses?, #4
And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. (II Kings 2:24)
Elisha, the double-portion prophet, is the strongest type of the two witnesses. Because of his curse, two she bears came out of the wood and slew forty-two young men (the two witnesses prophesy for forty-two months—three and one-half years).
Elisha, the prophet of the double portion, died from a sickness, typifying the overcoming of the two witnesses (II Kings 13:14). Some time later a dead man who came in contact with Elisha's bones was revived, typifying the resurrection of the two witnesses after having been overcome.
Both Elijah and Elisha ministered to Gentiles as well as to Israel. The Lord's witnesses of the last days will serve as witnesses and deliverers to whoever will call on the name of the Lord.
The major clue to the identity of the two witnesses is found in Revelation 11:4:
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
This verse is referring to the fourth chapter of the Book of Zechariah.
The two witnesses are two olive trees and two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.
In the fourth chapter of Zechariah there are two olive trees but only one lampstand. The one lampstand portrays Christ. The second lampstand, which is the Body of Christ, had not as yet been formed.
Zechariah asked the meaning of the one lampstand and the two olive trees.
The angel gave the answer:
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)
The vision of Zechariah, in Chapter Four, was given in association with the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity.
Since the lampstands and olive trees of Revelation, Chapter 11 are taken from the fourth chapter of Zechariah, the significance of Revelation 11:4 is that the spiritual temple of God will be completed, not by human strength and industry (as the churches have sought to do throughout the centuries) but by the power and wisdom of the Spirit of God.
The "two witnesses" of the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation symbolize the outpouring of the Spirit of God in the last days. The eternal Temple of God, which is Christ—Head and Body, must be completed by the Spirit of the Lord and not by human enterprise. This is what the angel stated.
The two olive trees speak of the double portion (the Elisha portion) of oil.
The two lampstands portray Christ and His Body. The lampstands, being gold, cannot portray humanity.
The "oil" is the Holy Spirit who alone can empower the witness of the Kingdom of God. The "gold" is God's Nature, which can be found only in Christ and in those in whom Christ is dwelling. Only Christ and His saints are the "light of the world."
To be continued.