Revelation 11:3-4

‘And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth.’

Over the period (three and a half years) when the Holy City is trodden down by the Gentiles ‘two witnesses’ will arise to testify on God’s behalf. They arrive without introduction as though the previous verse had been speaking of them. This must count strongly as their symbolising in some way the true church of God, and especially the church in Jerusalem at that time. More precisely it represents the leaders of that church, of whom two will possibly be prominent, as representing the church as a whole.

Later we will see that the ‘two witnesses’ are preserved until the end of the one thousand two hundred and sixty days, i.e. the forty two months (v. 7). There have been times in history when prominent leaders have survived against all the odds for a given period, even in the times of severe persecution, so that we should not be surprised at this thought (we could consider how Jesus Himself was able to continue His ministry despite the continual efforts of the authorities to destroy Him) although it may be that the ‘two witnesses’ represent a continuing testimony, with the personalities within the leadership being replaced as martrydoms occur. It indicates that God is active, and that while He allows His people to be persecuted and martyred, it is not because He is unable to protect them.

So in the end the two witnesses represent a section of the Jerusalem church who are preserved, possibly seen as headed by two ‘prophets’. This would parallel the seven churches which are also to be seen as both seven individual churches and as the whole church. We can compare how in Daniel a whole people are regularly spoken of in terms of their king. New Testament prophets came next after the apostles in their standing in the church (Ephesians 2:20). They were highly esteemed and approved of by Paul (1 Corinthians 14:3-5). Thus at the date this was written ‘two prophets’ could be seen as summing up the witness of the church after the Apostolic era. But the special emphasis here is on that witness as borne in Jerusalem prior to Christ’s return, and God is able to raise up prophetic men in any era.