Verse 4
4. Two candlesticks The candlestick, in this book, uniformly represents a church, and the olive trees which supply the oil naturally represent the ministry. Hence the witnesses, as the impersonation of these two bodies, are two. Nothing is more common than the impersonating a collective body in an individual. In this book a nation is a beast, a corrupt church is a harlot. A testifying church and a testifying ministry are two witnesses.
The imagery is based, with free modifications, upon Zechariah 4:2-13. The prophet there sees two candlesticks, (or rather lamps,) into which two olive trees are pouring, through pipes, their golden oil. And these are there said to represent “the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” These two are Joshua, representing the priesthood, and Zerubbabel, representing the nation.
Before the God… earth Like prime-ministers before their divine Sovereign.
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