Many believe that Elijah is proven to be one of the two witnesses by the prophecy of Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Yet, Jesus made it abundantly clear that the final prophecy of the Old Testament, which was followed by 400 years of prophetic silence, was fulfilled when the silence was broken by “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mark 1:3).

Jesus plainly taught that the prophecy of Malachi was fulfilled in John the Baptist. In Matthew 11:13-15, Jesus said, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you will receive it, this is Elijah, who was to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” In Matthew 17:10, the disciples asked Christ, “Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?” Jesus answered, “Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Afterward, Matthew tells us that “the disciples,” unlike many today, “understood that [Jesus] spoke unto them of John the Baptist” (Matthew 17:13).

Many believe that the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah, a belief based upon their appearance with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8). However, their appearance with Christ upon the Mount of Transfiguration is obviously meant to be symbolically understood as Christ’s ultimate fulfillment of both the Law—represented by Moses—and the prophets—represented by Elijah. Christ was: (1) the fulfillment of everything pictured in the Law (2) pointed to by the prophets, and (3) that the world had been prepared for by both combined—the Old Testament. For instance, consider the following:

• “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is strongly urged to enter it.” (Luke 16:16 HCSB)
• “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth…” (John 1:45)
• “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.” (Romans 3:21-22)

As we noted in our previous Piecing Together Bible Prophecy, some people, those unable to overcome the glaring contradiction of Elijah meeting his “one” appointment with death (Hebrews 9:27), Moses having “two” appointments with death, and Enoch not keeping any appointment with death, suggest that the two witnesses are not Moses and Elijah, but must be Elijah and Enoch—the only two men who never died. However, this attempt to line all of humanity up in a neat line so that everyone of us can meet our final appointment with death is blown to smithereens by the Bible’s teaching that a whole generation of believers will depart from this earth without ever being touched by the icy fingers of death.

• “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:50-58)

Try as we may, there is simply no way to make sense of the Scripture or to identify the two witnesses of Revelation 11 with a literal interpretation of this passage. A figurative interpretation is definitely called for if the two witnesses are to be positively identified. Therefore, we will take up a figurative interpretation of the two witnesses in our next  Piecing Together Bible Prophecy. Stay tuned!

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