Who are the 'Two Witnesses' in Revelation 11?
📰The Bible is one of the best-selling and most widely distributed books in history, yet it is also considered to be among the least understood. The Bible, which is referred to as the New Covenant and Promise of God, in which 'the way to heaven and salvation' is presented, differs in theologians' interpretations that make it difficult to understand. These differing interpretations have been the cause of the rise of denominations with each one establishing their own doctrine. With the increase in online church services and gatherings resulting from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, there has been growing interest in the comparison of various church doctrine. This paper, therefore, attempts to provide readers with the opportunity to compare differing Biblical teachings without interpretation. Among a host of online sermons and Bible-based teachings, the contrasting doctrine between the established Church and Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which has drawn public interest throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, is hereby compared and summarised. Best efforts have been made to provide a summary of Shincheonji Church of Jesus' understanding of the Bible. Judgment as to what is right or wrong is left to the reader’s discernment.
"The two witnesses are two shepherds (pastors) who serve and witness to the Lord. One has a reed-like faith who later betrays"
Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony
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A witness refers to a person who bears witness to what he or she has seen and heard. Witnesses usually appear in court to testify to what they have seen and heard at the location of an event.
First, when looking at the entire content of Revelation chapter 11, we see that the two witnesses who worshipped the Lord were killed by the destroyer-like beast who came out of the abyss. After three and a half days, these witnesses receive the breath of life and come back to life. Jesus said that anyone who tries to harm the two witnesses would be put to death. After they resurrect, the seventh trumpet is blown. At the sound of this seventh trumpet, the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ (Revelation 11:15), and the mystery of God - namely, resurrection and eternal life - is preached to the servants of the prophets as the gospel (Revelation 10:7), as what will be fulfilled.
We need to know the time, place and main character of the book of Revelation. The location where the events of Revelation 11 take place is not the entire global community, but specifically the Tabernacle Temple where Jesus was present at the time of the Lord's Second Coming. Then, who are these two witnesses who testify to what they see and hear in the Tabernacle Temple? Revelation 11:4 reads, 'They are the two olive trees and the two lampstands and they stand before the Lord of the earth.' Here, the Lord refers to Jesus. The two witnesses in the main reference are referring to those who saw and heard all the events that took place in the Tabernacle Temple when the prophecy of Revelation was fulfilled. The two witnesses are two men, or two shepherds (pastors), who received the Spirit of Jesus.
Let's understand the location of the events. In the tabernacle of the seven golden lampstands that prepared the way for the Lord in Revelation 1, the seven angels (messengers) and the congregation members broke the covenant with God and betrayed, as seen in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Letters of repentance were sent, urging them to repent.
However, they became one with the beast with seven heads and ten horns that belonged to the Prostitute, and this church that once began with the Holy Spirit became the devil's den. The two witnesses were messengers sent by Jesus entrusted with the duty to testify to what they saw and heard.
The mission of the two witnesses can be viewed in two ways. In Revelation 11:3, it says, 'I will appoint (give authority) to my two witnesses' and 'they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth'. Sackcloth refers to the word of repentance from one's dead works. It is said that in the olden days, the physical Israelites wore sackcloth and wept to repent of their sins after someone died. This tells us that, at the time of the fulfilment of the Book of Revelation, the believers who were being trampled underfoot by the Gentiles were called to repent and, at the same time, are being prophesied to regarding future events for 1260 days, or three and a half years.
Secondly, in Revelation 11:3-4, the two witnesses are called two olive trees and two lampstands.
They are figuratively likened to the spirits of the lamps in front of the throne of God because they are people who enlighten darkened minds with the light of the word. In Isaiah 5:7, God called the Jews vineyards (trees), and in John 15, Jesus referred to himself as the true vine. Therefore, a tree refers to a person.
Regarding the two olive trees, the prophet Zechariah saw a pure gold lampstand in a vision, as written in Zechariah 4:2 of the Old Testament, and saw that there were two olive trees to the left and right of it. Therefore, according to Zechariah 4:11-14, it is clearly recorded that the two olive trees that stand before the Lord are two men who are anointed and consecrated to serve the Lord.
Revelation 11:10 also clearly states that the two witnesses are two prophets. If olive oil is produced as the fruit of an olive tree, what does a witness, who is likened to an olive tree, produce? The answer is the word of testimony.
The two witnesses are two pastors who have witnessed (seen and heard) and testify to Jesus, who saw the work of the betrayers and the destroyers in God's temple, which is the Tabernacle Temple, at the Second Coming of the Lord. At this Second Coming of the Lord, the person who received the opened scroll (book) in Revelation 10 and the person who fulfils the role of a reed-like helper (staff) work together. Therefore, these people are called the two witnesses. As in the days of Adam, Moses and the first coming, this helper of today is one person with a reed-like faith who had belonged to God but betrayed, like Eve.
In Matthew 13, Jesus spoke of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven in parables and said that the time would come when everything would be revealed plainly. The new heaven and new earth today is clearly conveying these hidden secrets through the promised shepherd (pastor) who testifies to everything plainly.
"The two witnesses refer to the Word of God, meaning the Law and Prophets, or the Old and New Testaments"
Korean Church
Pastor A of the Baptist Church
"It is written that there were two witnesses standing before the Lord God, dressed in sackcloth and prophesying. These two witnesses are speaking of the Bible, the Word of God, the Old and New Testaments. Looking at verse 6, we understand that the Bible is the word of God. The Bible, which is the Word of God, lists what has been done in the past. They have authority to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the days of prophecy; and they have authority to turn the waters into blood, and to strike the earth with various plagues as they please.
In Deuteronomy 11:16-17, there is power in the word of the Lord. When the word of the Lord is violated, the land that violates it has always been judged by the Lord. Although the Lord is patient, we can see that God has a limit to his patience. You can know the history of the Lord's judgment and wake up and turn back."
Pastor B of the Presbyterian Church
"In the two olive trees and the two lampstands, the two olive trees are interpreted as the Law and the Prophets (represented by Moses and Elijah), the Old and New Testaments. The two olive trees supplying the material for the lampstand are appropriate symbols of the Old and New Testaments, and the lampstand modelled the Jewish Christian Church. It is a metaphorical representation of the character of the two witnesses who will take place in the tribulation."
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