Besides the fact that the church’s ministry perfectly corresponds with the literal three and a half year ministry of Christ and the figurative three and a half year ministry of Revelation’s two witnesses (see our last issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy), another strong piece of evidence that the two witnesses are representative of the church is the fact that the church is commissioned to complete Christ ministry of reconciliation upon the earth (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

As a figure or symbol of the church, the ministry of the two witnesses not only corresponds to the ministry of Christ, but it also completes the ministry of Christ. Whereas the ministry of reconciliation commenced with the literal three and a half years of Christ’s ministry, it continues and is to be completed by Christ’s “ambassadors”—the church—during the Church Age, which is symbolized by the figurative three and a half years (1,260 days) of the two witnesses’ ministry.

In addition to completing Christ’s ministry, the New Testament teaches that the church is also completing His suffering for a lost and dying world (Colossians 1:24). The sufferings of Christ for the salvation of the world commenced during the literal three and a half years of Christ’s ministry and with His subsequent death upon the Cross of Calvary. However, His sufferings for the world’s salvation continues and will eventually be completed by the church during the Church Age, which is symbolized by the sufferings of the two witnesses during their figurative three and a half year (1,260 day) ministry.

As “the Head” of His “body,” which is “the church,” Christ and the church are as inseparable as our heads are from our bodies. When one is persecuted the other is persecuted and when one suffers the other suffers as well (Colossians 1:18). While Christ is no longer suffering in His physical body for the salvation of the world, He is still suffering for this sinful world. According to the Apostle Paul, Christ’s sufferings are now “flowing over into our lives” as His spiritual body, the church (2 Corinthians 1:5 NIV).

All of this is made undeniable by Christ’s words in Matthew 25:40—“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have  done it unto me.”—and His words on Damascus Road to Saul of Tarsus, the chief persecutor of His church—“…Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest…” (Acts 9:4-5).

Finally, and most remarkably, the church is not just completing Christ’s ministry of reconciliation and His sufferings for the salvation of a sinful world, but it is also completing His will and purposes in this world as well. In Ephesians 1:22-23, the Apostle Paul writes, “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be  the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” John Calvin called these verses the most incredible verses in the Bible, saying about them, “What an encouragement it is for us to hear, that, not until He has us one with Himself, is He complete in all His parts, or does He wish to be regarded as whole.”

Just as the Bible teaches that the wife compliments and completes the husband, and the two become one, so it is also with Christ and His bride, the church. The church, when submissive to its Head, compliments and completes Christ as the two become one.

Thus, we see how the Book of Revelation’s “forty and two months,” “thousand two hundred and threescore days,” and “time, and times, and  half a time” should be interpreted figuratively, as representing the entire Church Age.

1. The time when God’s witnesses not only prophesy to the world, but are also miraculously protected and provided for by God.
2. The time when a lost and dying world has an opportunity to repent of its sin and be reconciled to God.
3. The time when the church, whose ministry corresponds with that of its Master, compliments Christ by completing His ministry in the world and His sufferings for it.

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