Volume 1, Issue 19
6 Oct 2015
 Having found literal interpretations of the two witnesses sorely wanting, we now turn our attention to the possibility of a figurative interpretation. To begin with, let’s consider the possibility that the two witnesses are to be figuratively interpreted as something besides flesh and blood. For instance, some believe that they represent God’s Word—the Old and New Testaments—or God’s attributes—“grace and truth” (John 1:14, 17).
The problems with this interpretation are obvious. How is God’s Word or attributes to be “overcome” and “killed” by “the beast”? How does the Word of God or the attributes of God resurrect from the dead and “ascend up to Heaven in a cloud”? Obviously, this interpretation has little to commend it. It is, in my opinion, of all of the possible interpretations of the two witnesses, the one to be given the lest credence.
This leaves us with the second possible figurative interpretation of the two witnesses; namely, that they are figurative of flesh and blood, but not in an individual sense, but in a corporate sense. Ask yourself this question: “In all of human history, who has served as God’s witnesses?” As any serious student of the Scripture knows, God has only had two witnesses in all of human history—His Old Covenant people (Israel) and His New Covenant people (the church).
In Revelation 11:4, the two witnesses are identified as “the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.”
Israel is symbolized by the “olive tree” in Scripture.
❶ In Jeremiah 11:16, the Lord names both “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah” a “green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit…”
❷ In Hosea 14:6, the Lord promises Israel that its “branches shall spread” and its “beauty shall be as the olive tree.”
❸ In Romans 11:11-24, Paul speaks of Israel as “the olive tree” into which believing Gentiles are “grafted in” as “wild branches” through their faith in Christ.
The church is symbolized by the “candlestick” in Scripture.
❶ In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
The Book of Revelation clearly teaches that the “candlestick” is symbolic of the church.
❷ “I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:12-20 NIV)
❸ In Revelation 2:5, Jesus warns the church of Ephesus that if it does not “repent” and “return” to its “first love” He will remove its “candlestick out of its place.”
Along with the supportive scriptural evidence that the two witnesses figuratively represent Israel and the church, there is also the unmistakable societal evidence of our day. In our next issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy, we will take a look at the societal evidence that supports our identifying of the two witnesses as Israel and the church.
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Don Walton
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