Volume 1, Issue 49
11 Aug 2016
 In Revelation 11:8-9, we are told about the “body” of the two witnesses lying “in the street.” We are also told that the “body” is “not allowed to be buried.” Since, as we have already shown, the “body” of the two witnesses is symbolic of the church, its lying “in the street” and “not” being “allowed to be buried” is to be taken figuratively rather than literally.
To leave a dead body unburied in biblical times was to treat it with utmost contempt and indignity. For instance, consider the following:
- “Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them…” (Jeremiah 16:6)
- “He [Jehoiakim] shall be buried with the burial of a [donkey], drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” (Jeremiah 22:19)
The symbolism here is unmistakable. It is merely intended to show the reprobate end-time world’s utter contempt for the church of Jesus Christ. The two witnesses—the church—will be treated with utmost contempt and indignity by a reprobate end -time world. This will undoubtedly be in no small part due to the church’s end-time ineffectualness.
In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” An impotent end-time church—rendered ineffectual by a great “falling away,” its inability to “endure sound doctrine,” and its “denying [of] the power” of the Gospel—will be “cast” aside and “trodden under foot” by a reprobate end-time world (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:3; 2 Timothy 3:5).
Why is the unburied “body” of the two witnesses said to be seen by “people and kindreds and tongues and nations” for “three days and an half” (Revelation 11:9)? The number seven—the prominent number of the Book of Revelation—symbolizes completeness. Three and a half—half of seven— represents incompleteness. Although many have and many will try to destroy the two witnesses (the church), none will be able to complete the job.
Jesus warned us that we would be hated, opposed, persecuted and killed by the world (Matthew 24:9-14). He also promised us, however, that we would not be prevented from preaching the Gospel to the whole world and to all nations before the end comes.
Now, some may object to my contention that three and a half represents incompleteness. They may do so on the basis that the “testimony” of the “two witnesses” is said to be “finished” or completed at the end of “1,260 days” or three and a half years (Revelation 11:3, 7). Yet, it is imperative at this point that we remember that the figurative three and a half year ministry of the two witnesses—the church’s earthly ministry during the entire church age—is simply the continuation of Christ’s ministry—the ministry of reconciliation—that He handed off to the church to carry on and complete following His literal three and a half year earthly ministry (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).
In light of the above, we are able to see that the “testimony” of the “two witnesses” is actually completed or finished at the end or consummation of Christ and the church’s combined seven year ministry. It is not completed in and of itself, but in conjunction with Christ’s ministry, with which it actually commenced.
Whereas the three and a half years (“1,260 days”) represent a long period of time in which the church (“two witnesses”) witness to the world— already almost 2,000 years—the “three days and a half” represent a short period of time at the very end of time in which the world will perceive the church as “overcome.”
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Don Walton
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