Having found literal interpretations of the two witnesses sorely wanting, we’ve turned to a figurative interpretation to ascertain their identity. In doing so, we’ve found clear scriptural evidence to their identity. We’ve concluded, in light of the fact that God has only had two witnesses in all of human history, that the two witnesses are representative of God’s Old Testament people (Israel) and God’s New Testament people (the church). Furthermore, the fact that the two witnesses are identified as “the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth” (Revelation 11:4), serves as further verification that they are symbolic of Israel and the church, since Israel is symbolized in Scripture by the olive tree (Jeremiah 11:16; Hosea 14:6; Romans 11:11-24) and the church by the candlestick (Matthew 5:14-16; Revelation 1:12-20; 2:5).

Along with this strong scriptural case for the figurative interpretation of the two witnesses as representing Israel and the church, we’ve also looked at the strong societal evidence of our day. In today’s politically correct world, the condemnation of anything or anyone for any reason is quickly renounced as intolerance. Yet, when it comes to Christians and Jews, there is growing worldwide condemnation. Rather than seeing anti-semitism and Christian persecution as intolerance, today’s politically correct world deems discrimination against Christians and Jews permissible. Far from viewing it as intolerance, it is championed as the eradication of intolerance, since Christians and Jews are believed to be the last bastion of bigotry between our politically correct world and it becoming an amoral utopia.

With this issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy, we are going to more precisely pinpoint and more clearly reveal the symbolism of Revelation’s famous two witnesses. Although the two witnesses may be identified as representing Israel and the church, as we’ve already ascertained, they should be more precisely understood as representative of the church.

According to the Apostle Paul, the “eternal purpose” of God has always been to “reconcile” the “two” (Jews and Gentiles) unto Himself in “one body,” which is the church (Ephesians 2:11-3:13). One of the biggest clues to the identity of the two witnesses is found in the fact that the Greek word translated “bodies” in Revelation 11:8 is actually singular rather than plural, as well as translated “body” or “corpse” everywhere else it is found in the New Testament.

The two witnesses have only one body; they are together in a single body. What possible explanation is there of such a phenomenon apart from the church, in which both believing Jews and Gentiles are joined together to comprise: ❶ God’s witnesses ❷ the new “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16) ❸ The true seed and heirs of Abraham the Father of the Faith (Galatians 3:29) ❹ The “new Jerusalem” (Revelation  21:2), and ❺ The “holy temple” and “spiritual habitation” of God in the world today (Ephesians 2:19-22)?

In Revelation 21, the church is depicted as “the holy city, new Jerusalem” or “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” which comes “down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” According to John, the city has “twelve gates” with “names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel” (Revelation 21:12). The city also has “twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:14).

The dichotomy of Israel and the church, which forms the premise upon which premillennial dispensationalism—today’s most popular school of eschatology—is based, is here dismantled by the Scriptures.

In the two witnesses we clearly see God’s two covenant people—Israel and the church—inseparably joined together in one body for all eternity. We also see a foreboding forecast of the persecution that lies ahead for the church in these last days.

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