Along with the three and a half years of draught during the days of Elijah, the other obviously significant three and a half year period in Scripture is the length of our Lord’s miraculous, earthly ministry.

Notice, how the ministry of Revelation’s two witnesses corresponds to Christ’s ministry. Consider the following:

THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST

1️⃣ A three and a half year miraculous ministry, in which He was miraculously protected (John 7:30; 8:20).

2️⃣ After His three and a half year ministry, He was overcome by His enemies and crucified.

3️⃣ Then, after three days, He rose from the dead.

4️⃣ Finally, He ascended into Heaven in a cloud.

THE MINISTRY OF THE TWO WITNESSES

1️⃣  A three and a half year (1260 days) miraculous ministry, in which they are miraculously protected.

2️⃣ After their three and a half year miraculous ministry, they are overcome by their enemy (the beast) and killed.

3️⃣ Then, after three days (3 1/2 days) they are raised from the dead.

4️⃣ Finally, they ascend into Heaven in a cloud.

Does the ministry of the church not correspond with both the literal three and a half year ministry of Christ and the figurative three and a half year ministry of the two witnesses? To begin with, the church’s ministry is a miraculous ministry. In John 14:12, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

How has Christ going “unto [His] Father” enabled the church to do “greater works” than His? The miracles of Jesus were temporal, but the miracle of salvation is eternal. Consider the fact that all whom our Lord miraculously fed soon hungered again, but the hungry souls with whom we share the Bread of Life can be forever satisfied. Although our God is a miracle working God—dividing the Red Sea and causing the sun to stand still—His greatest miracle is the miracle of the second birth.

While the church is presently being miraculously protected by God, as we pointed out in our last article in this series, there will come a time, following the martyrdom of many of its members, when it will appear to have been overcome by its enemies. Yet, it is then that those saints who are still alive will be raptured, like Elijah, and those who are asleep will be resurrected, like Christ. This is the “mystery” that the Apostle Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53:

“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.”

Finally, as Paul also teaches in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, the church will ascend into heaven in the clouds.

“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

It should be noted at this point that the only ones in Scripture who are said to ascend into Heaven in the clouds is Christ and His church. This serves as another piece of strong evidence that the two witnesses of Revelation are representative of the church!

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