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Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me, and I was told, “Get up and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and the ones who worship there. But do not measure the outer courtyard of the temple; leave it out because it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.” (These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.) If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and completely consumes their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way. These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want.
Revelation 11:1 – 6
If you’re like I have been most of my life, it can be easy to gloss over portions like this one. In our eagerness and desire to understand the chronological sequence of events, we sometimes fail to give due diligence to the text and earnestly meditate upon what we are being told.
Indulge me for a moment, I want to show you something…
a throne will be set up by grace, and on it, in the tent of David, will sit an honest judge, seeking justice and pursuing righteousness.
Isaiah 16:5
“When that day comes, I will raise up the fallen sukkah of David. I will close up its gaps, raise up its ruins and rebuild it as it used to be so that Isra’el can possess what is left of Edom and of all the nations bearing my name,” says Adonai, who is doing this.
Amos 9:11 – 12 CJB
In both of these passages, the same construct is referenced; the Tabernacle or Sukkah Of David. We tend to think of such passages as referencing a tent and this is for good reason, because they are. What we, or at least I never really considered was that, in the time before the First and Second Temples, the Tabernacle was the Temple.
What I’m driving at here is that, while we know from scripture that sacrifices will be resumed – and that these must be done in the place of God’s choosing (the Temple mount) and, while we know from passages such as the quoted portion of Revelation 11 that there will be another temple prior to the return of the King – we do not know that this will be a more “permanent” structure.
I bring this up because, while the entire Christian world looks for a Third Temple to begin construction, I see here the possibility of something different taking place, but which yet fulfills every detail of prophecy to the last jot and tittle. Construction of a ‘Temple’ could take months or even years. The standing up of a Tabernacle could be completed in days.
Let that sink in for a moment.
1260 Days
John (Yochanon) is told not to measure the outer courtyard “because it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.” And there are a few details herein that I think we need to clarify.
First, the passage tells us that these gentiles (goyim in Hebrew) will trample the Holy City. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t see this as referring to the non-ethnic-Hebrew sons and daughters of God – we wouldn’t trample the Holy City. This statement infers a complete lack of reverence not befitting the children of the King and points to those who are (by choice) outside of the Covenant. Once again – don’t call me ‘Gentile’.
We are told that this will occur forty-two months. We are likewise told that the Two Witnesses (who we’ll address shortly) will prophecy 1260 days. Do you understand that this speaks to the exact same time-frame?
In order to get to grips with this, we have to understand that the manner in which we reckon time isn’t correct – at least not inasmuch as things were designed. We must remember that we are measuring the passage of time through the lens of a fallen – read; broken – world and that things as they are now is not how they were created to be and NOT how they will be once all things have bee restored.
With that in mind and understanding the perfect nature of God’s design – a year is actually supposed to be 360 days. No joke. You’ve likely come across teachings that say such regarding a “prophetic year”, but honestly that phrase never made any sense to me. A year is a year and – as designed – a years is 360 days. Period.
Simple mathematics shows that, if we delineate a 360 day year by twelve months we see that a month is exactly 30 days: 360 / 12 = 30. It’s elegant really.
Understanding this – and understanding that this is one among the many broken elements of our present reality (which God is preparing to restore), we can rightly see that the forty-two months of the goyim trampling Jerusalem and the 1260 days of the Two Witnesses’ ministry is the same: 42 * 30 = 1260.
But wait, there’s more! This 1260 day period had been prophesied and known about long before the Apocalypse;
He will speak words against the Most High. He will harass the holy ones of the Most High continually. His intention will be to change times established by law. The holy ones will be delivered into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
Daniel 7:25
Here, “a time” represents one year… or 360 days. So, doing the math we see that Daniel is prophesying a 1260 day period: 3.5 * 360 = 1260
Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky and made an oath by the one who lives forever: “It is for a time, times, and half a time. Then, when the power of the one who shatters the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished.”
Daniel 12:7
Again, we see the same language and the same principle playing out as we did in Daniel 7 – that “a time” represents one year. Again, 3.5 * 360 = 1260.
Know that this time-frame will be referenced three more times within the Apocalypse / Revelation. Armed with the information presented here, we can rightly understand that this all speaks to not only the same length of time, but of the same point in time.
The Two Witnesses
Did you know that the two witnesses, prophesied here in chapter 11 of the Revelation, were prophesied previously as well? It’s important because it speaks to the nature of God’s word… see Amos 3:7.
To be specific, Zechariah saw them, symbolically speaking:
Next I asked the messenger, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the menorah?” Before he could reply I asked again, “What are these two extensions of the olive trees, which are emptying out the golden oil through the two golden pipes?” He replied, “Don’t you know what these are?” And I said, “No, sir.” So he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
Zechariah 4:11 -14
Here in the Apocalypse, John provides us with a crystal clear explanation of the olive tree imagery presented to Zechariah; “(These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.)” – Revelation 11:4. Moreover, John speaks to their action and purpose.
The text states that these two are given the authority to prophesy… which is an interesting statement. To understand further, we should first have a clear grasp of what it means to prophesy. We tend to think of prophecy in terms of prediction, a foretelling of events to come and, while that is certainly a very important aspect of it, I feel that this is too limited a perspective on what scripture shows us prophecy actually is.
To put it plainly, I see prophecy as the act of speaking forth a message from God Almighty. In this view, the mere act of preaching and teaching is, in some regards, a form of prophecy. Here, I see the grant of authority to uphold this view – just as an earthly King would grant authority to his emissaries to speak in his name, here the King of the Universe – the Melech Ha Olam – grants authority to these two emissaries to speak in His name.
It’s kind of a big deal.
We further see the application ad exercise of this authority in the actions of these prophets;
If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and completely consumes their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way. These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want.
Revelation 11:5 – 6
Here we see manifestations of God’s power to keep and protect these prophets as they stand as witnesses to the sovereignty of God Almighty and complete their testimony. Once again, what we see transpiring, while spectacular, isn’t new.
So, you may be asking… “who are they?” and this is a fair question.
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”
Malachi 4:4 – 6
May hold, based (not solely) on the precedent passage that the witnesses are none other than Moses and Elijah. I contend that, at least in the case of Elijah, this is correct… Elijah is just a flat-out lock and no serious student of scripture would argue otherwise.
Not only do we see from the hand of Malachi that Elijah will return before the judgement of the Lord, but we see manifestations that are fairly specific to him; the calling down (or in this case, forth) of fire, and the shutting of the sky. Furthermore, it is noteworthy to recall that Elijah never died. We are told by the author of Hebrews that “…people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27) and it is no trivial matter that Elijah has not died ~ yet.
This is one of the issues complicating the determination of the identity of the second, or other witness. In fact, there are three individuals for whom I find cogent arguments to be made:
The Case for Enoch
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. The entire lifetime of Enoch was 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared because God took him away.
Genesis 5:21 – 23
The only other recorded, non-dying figure in scripture that I am personally aware of, is Enoch. Because of this, many hold that he is therefore the second, or other witness seen by John in the Apocalypse.
Furthermore, it bears notice that while we know that Enoch was clearly a righteous man, and that he was (and is) a prophet (we’ll discuss that at another time, in another article), we do not know what particular miracles and/ or manifestations were associated or attributed to his time on Earth. The relevance of that will be made plain presently.
The Case for Moses
But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”
Jude 1:9
There have been a number of theories regarding this particular statement. If you’ve never researched it, I recommend doing so – but then I find it fascinating. Some postulate that the underlying reason for the argument mentioned was precisely that of Moses’ future role as the second witness.
Furthermore we see in the text of Revelation 11, manifestations associated with Moses’ ministry at the time of the Exodus; notably the turning of water to blood and the striking of the earth to produce plagues.
Additionally, we have the fact that Moses made a “post-mortem” appearance with the Messiah:
Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them privately up a high mountain. And he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with him.
Matthew 17:1 – 3
The Case for the Apostle John
This one often raises eyebrows. It isn’t that there’s no case to be made, but I find that many are unaware of what we do know that would make him a serious contender. With that in mind, I’d like to take a moment to illuminate the issue.
Now Jesus went up the mountain and called for those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. To Simon he gave the name Peter; to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Mark 3:13 – 19
Right off the bat, we should be asking the question, “why were James and John dubbed ‘Sons of Thunder’?” Let me show you…
Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.
Luke 9:54 – 56
Let me clarify what this passage is relating to us: Yeshua (Jesus) has returned to the very same Samaritan village where He stayed for two days following the encounter with the woman at the well (see John 4), before continuing on to Galilee. Understand that in Luke 9 (verse 51), Yeshua is NOT travelling to the site where He will ascend into Heaven… that is contextually erroneous and represents a fundamentally broken chronology. I mean, one has only to keep reading beyond this in order to see that this event occurs nowhere near the time of His ascension.
Understand that there are four feasts, appointed times (Mo’edim) in which every Hebrew male must go up to Jerusalem; Passover, Pentecost, The Day of Atonement and Sukkot (Tabernacles). In Luke 9, Yeshua is journeying to Jerusalem, or going up / ascending to Jerusalem in order to keep Sukkot.
The issue is revealed in Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman back in John 4:
The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”
John 4:19 – 20
The Samaritans held (and still do by the way) that Mount Gerizim is the site upon which the festivals are to be observed. Yeshua is clearly on His way to observe the appointed time in Jerusalem and, because of this and their prior interactions, the Samaritans are offended and refuse to welcome him…
Now to the actual point – James and John asked Yeshua if He wanted them to call down fire. Yeshua did NOT rebuke them (James and John) – He rebuked the Samaritans and turned and headed for another village. What’s notable here is the offer to call down fire. Would you, by any stretch of the imagination offer to do something for someone that you did not know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were well able to accomplish? If so – you’re a fool. John is certainly no fool and I see, by his own actions, that he believes he is well able.
All of that (aside from going out of my way to establish context) is to provide a level of qualification in that John was, and knew he was, well able to call forth the miraculous by the authority of the one he served.
~
The next issue lies in the record of John’s death… or lack thereof. Outside of an oral tradition, we have no record of John’s death. We know how nearly every other disciple perished, but not John – at least not with any certainty.
So when Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours? You follow me!” So the saying circulated among the brothers and sisters that this disciple was not going to die. But Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but rather, “If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours?”
John 21:21 – 23
Many view the latter portion of this passage as concrete evidence that John did indeed die… but that isn’t what the text indicates, nor is it what those who hold to John being the second witness believe. This view holds that John hasn’t died yet. Reread the passage and I think you’ll see where this is coming from – and that like it or not, it’s actually a fairly sound interpretation of the passage.
Why on earth would the messiah have chosen this specific language to make a point to Peter (Kefa)? You have to admit, in a world of infinite linguistic possibility, this specific choice of phrasing would be puzzling unless we accept that it contained a specific message and intent. Now, is it possible that the Apostle John could be alive today? If you answered “no”, then I’d like to ask you how small your God is? Mine says His arm has not grown short – that He will be what He will be and that nothing is impossible for Him.
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Lastly, we have the fact that these two individuals, sent forth to call humanity to repentance prior to judgment, are not referred to in the Apocalypse as prophets – although they certainly are – but as witnesses. Every single individual on the list of candidates qualifies as a “witness” to the might, majesty, sovereignty and truth of the God of the Universe. In this matter however, John stands out as bearing some unique qualifications in this regard;
- John witnessed Yeshua’s forerunner (John the Baptist) preparing the way in the spirit of Elijah.
- John witnessed the baptism of Yeshua and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit upon Him.
- John witnessed the Messiah’s transfiguration and the appearance of Moses and Elijah before Him.
- John witnessed the crucifixion and death of Yeshua.
- John witnessed the blood and water.
- John was the first of the twelve disciples to witness the empty tomb.
- John witnessed the ascension of Yeshua.
In my opinion, those are some heavy credentials and most certainly qualify John to stand as witness before the whole Earth. Remember this following passage from the previous chapter?
Then they told me: “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
Revelation 10:11
This view certainly upholds the context of this passage. Moreover, as we saw within the bulleted list of qualifications, John personally witnessed the Spirit, the water and the blood:
Jesus Christ is the one who came by water and blood—not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three are in agreement.
1 John 5:6 – 8
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Now, although I’ve taken a significant amount of time explaining the qualifications of John for being one of the two witnesses, it hasn’t been to convince you that “it’s John” – only to make you aware of the reasons why it’s a distinct possibility. The truth is, I don’t know who it is, but I know it will be the whom God intends. Honestly, as I said up front, I find the case for each and every one on this list to be compelling.
Who do you think it is?
Until next time,
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You