Many have literally interpreted and mistakenly identified one of the two witnesses of Revelation as Elijah. One of the reasons they have done so is because of Revelation 11:5: “And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.” Yet, Elijah actually called “fire…down from heaven” to “consume” his enemies (2 Kings 1:9-15). His enemies were not “killed” by “fire” that “proceeded out of his mouth.”

When James and John requested power and permission from Jesus to call fire down on Christ-rejecting Samaritans, our Lord rebuked them (Luke 9:51-56). He said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” It makes no sense, therefore, that Christ will permit the two witnesses of Revelation to do what He prohibited John and James from doing.

The two witnesses do not call “fire…down from heaven,” but “fire proceeds out of their mouths, and devours [consumes] their enemies.” This sounds more like the Prophet Jeremiah than the Prophet Elijah.

• “Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.” (Jeremiah 5:14)
• “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)

Remember, Jesus once said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). The “fire” that “proceeds out of” the two witnesses’ mouths “and devours their enemies” is simply the Word of God that they preach. It is by the Word of God they preach that the enemies of the two witnesses will be judged, as well as devoured and destroyed.

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