Revelation 11:3-7

Verse 3 "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth."

Now we see where the 1260 days come in that we mentioned before in connection with the time, times, dividing of a time; three and a half years; and the forty-two months. It is further clarification of exactly how much time this is. Each time we are given a new time frame, it is more specific. These two witnesses are clearly being associated with the other time frames mentioned. Now we have the time frame down to the very day. So we have two witnesses, one in the name and power of Elijah, that will prophesy probably from the very day that the abomination of desolation occurs until the 1260 days are up. Not only do they prophesy, but they will have powers to do miracles. They are clothed in sackcloth, which in Biblical times was a sign of grief or penitence. It was a coarse and uncomfortable cloth. God's prophets tended to wear sackcloth as a symbol of grief. That alone should make them stand out in the crowd.

Verse 4 "These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth."

This verse is a direct reference back to Zechariah chapter 4.

"And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked , and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. . . . Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

The connection can be made that these two witnesses are the two anointed ones (trees) that stand by the Lord. In Zechariah there is only one candlestick seen, however here it says there are two candlesticks. Whoever they are, they have been either chosen or created especially for this mission.

Verse 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."

These two witnesses will have miraculous powers. First they have powers to protect themselves. If anyone tries to hurt them, they will die in a very unusual way. Fire actually will come forth out of their mouths and burn up the people trying to destroy him. If people thought the demonic hordes were aliens, will they not also think these two are some other kind of aliens? Who on earth can make fire come forth out of their mouths to kill people. We have weapons that can do that, but nobody would mistake that as coming from the soldier's mouth. This apparently does.


Verse 6 "These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will."

They have the power to protect themselves, now they appear to have all kinds of powers. It looks as if they can control the weather. It will not rain during the last half of the 70th week. Now, think of what is happening in the trumpet judgments. The asteroid, the star, the burning. God is trying to get all of that water vapor back up into the canopy. The angels were holding back the winds. No wind cycle, no rain. These two will be announcing that it will not rain, and it will not rain. Here we can see how the prophets of God work. It is not always that they cause these things that they are announcing to happen (although they will have powers to do things), but that they are simply informing people that these things will be taking place. They know these things will happen because God tells them what to prophesy. It would appear that they have the power to do these things, but they do not have to. They simply have to announce what they already know God is having happen. We can see how the angels holding back the winds, coupled with the events of the trumpets will cause this lack of rain and drought. However, people will blame them for the events that are causing it to not rain, as they are the ones prophesying it. They will probably be announcing the trumpet judgments just before they come upon mankind also. Then, they appear to have the power to turn waters to blood. We saw that in the second and third trumpet judgments when the seas were turned to blood by the asteroid, and the waters were made wormwood or poisonous by the star. Again, people will associate these trumpet judgments as coming from the two witnesses, as they will be telling people in advance what is going to happen. People will lay the blame for these events at the feet of the two witnesses, thinking that they are aliens who are doing this to them. They will smite the earth with plagues. Could not the locusts and horsemen of the fifth and sixth trumpets be seen as plagues? (Not that they are the only plagues.) People will directly connect the trumpets to these two "aliens" who are prophesying the events before they happen. Again, this does not mean that they do not have miraculous powers to do things. They will do those too, but some of these events have been orchestrated by God and they will merely be announcing them. This will make them appear to be causing these events to happen.

Verse 7 "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them."

After the 1260 days of their witness, these two will be killed. The beast that comes out of the pit is none other than the spirit that controls antichrist. In chapter 13 we will see that antichrist is referred to as "the beast" throughout the book of Revelation. Under the guise of protecting mankind against this "alien invasion" being orchestrated by these two, he will make war against them. Because their witness is finished, God finally allows them to be killed.