Let’s review what we’ve learned so far in our study of the two witnesses of the Book of Revelation.

1️⃣ The famous two witnesses of the Book of Revelation should not be interpreted literally, but figuratively, as the Book of Revelation directs us to interpret it in its opening verse.

2️⃣ The two witnesses represent or symbolize the only two witnesses that God has ever had in this world—His Old Covenant people (Israel) and His New Covenant people (the church).

Israel is symbolized by the “olive tree” in Scripture and the church is symbolized by the “candlestick” in Scripture. 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.”

3️⃣ Although the two witnesses may be identified as representing Israel and the church, they should be more precisely understood as representative of the church, the one body into which believing Jews and Gentiles have been reconciled and inseparably joined together by God as an eternal companion for His Son, Jesus Christ. This explains why the New Testament calls the church the bride of Christ, why the Apostle Paul taught that the church is the eternal purpose of God—why God has done everything He has done and what He has been about all along—and why the two witnesses of the Book of Revelation have only one body. *

The church alone serves as Christ’s witness in the world today. Furthermore, the church alone will  continue to serve as the witness of Christ until His return. This scriptural truth that the church serves as Christ’s lone witness between His two Advents eliminates the possibility of Christ’s two end-time witnesses representing anyone or anything else other than the church.

Undoubtedly, many of you have questions about how the church fits into this passage as the two witnesses, especially in the light of some of the things the passage says. Well, in this issue, we’ll begin to roll up our sleeves and work at piecing this passage together into a clear picture of the church. In the end, I believe we can show you how the two witnesses unquestionably symbolize the church.

Let’s begin our work of piecing this passage together piece by piece by quickly looking in this issue at the power of the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11:3. According to this verse, God will “will give power unto” His “two witnesses.” Notice, however, that the word “power” is italicized in the King James Version of the Bible, which means it was added by the translators and does not appear in the original text. Perhaps, a more accurate translation of verse 3 would be: “It will be given to my two witnesses to prophecy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Now, this is not to say that the two witnesses are devoid of power, something that they obviously do possess according to Revelation 11:6, a verse we will elaborate on in a future issue in this series. It is only to say that the word “power” does not appear in the original text of verse 3.

In our next issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy, we will turn our attention from the power of the two witnesses to the far more puzzling duration of their ministry. According to Revelation 11:3, the two witnesses “shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”