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Revelation 11.Part III
Meat
October 29th 2017
But I am not speaking of the life of Jesus as it is recorded in the gospels. I am speaking of what could be the post-resurrected Jesus who may have made a brief reappearance at the Feast of Tabernacles in A.D. 62.
After Jesus’ resurrection, he appeared to Mary looking like a farmer or gardener (John 20:15).
Similarly, a farmer or husbandman named Jesus the son of Ananus haunted Israel with powerful warnings of impending doom before the arrival of the Roman army.
Was Jesus the son of Ananus Jesus Christ?
Revelation 11 Commentary Intro: A Word of Caution . . .
In the remainder of this commentary on Revelation 11, I present historical evidence that Jesus the son of Ananus is the two witnesses of Revelation 11.
It appears to me that there can be no better candidate for the two witnesses than this man as he seems to fulfill perhaps all the predictions concerning this figure or figures as described in the text.
Though Jesus the son of Ananus appears to have historically fulfilled the prophecies concerning the two witnesses in Revelation 11, this fact presents a possible conundrum.
Revelation 10 and 11 imply that the two witnesses are Jesus Christ. Though the Book of Revelation never explicitly identifies the two witnesses as Jesus Christ it does provide many subtle clues throughout these two chapters that all point to this idea.
When the collective whole of the evidence is weighed and considered, the idea that Jesus Christ is the two witnesses seems to me to be very compelling.
In the commentary below I ask the question, was Jesus the son of Ananus Jesus Christ?
If he was, then this certainly would explain how one man could be two witnesses (John 8:18).
But before addressing this question I believe that it is wise to exercise some caution.
Strong claims require strong evidence.
No amount of historical evidence will ever be sufficient to claim with one hundred percent certainty that Jesus Christ and Jesus the son of Ananus are one and the same.
That having been said the historical and Biblical evidence presented in the remainder of this commentary will explore this question. Regardless of the amount of evidence in favor of the fact that these two men are the same being, I wish to caution my audience.
If one boldly claims that Jesus the son of Ananus is or was Jesus Christ and they are wrong, then this person is arguably guilty of idolatry in raising a mere man to divine status.
If one inflexibly asserts that Jesus the son of Ananus is or was not Jesus Christ and he or she is wrong, then this person is potentially guilty of blasphemy in denying Christ’s divinity. Therefore, one should refrain from inflexibility and dogmatism whether for or against this idea.
A healthy degree of open-mindedness and skepticism is certainly prudent while examining the evidence.
So, does Revelation 10:1-5 suggest that Jesus Christ is the Two Witnesses?
The chapter breaks in the Bible were not in the original manuscripts. These breaks were added later to make it easy to quickly locate a verse. Thus Revelation 10 and 11 should not be thought of as separate chapters but rather as a continuous narrative.
This is especially warranted because Revelation 10 offers clues to the identity of the two witnesses described in Revelation 11.
In the introductory verses of Revelation 10 John sees a vision of an angel crowned with divine attributes.
As explained in detail in the preterist commentary on Revelation 10:1-2, this is angel is Christ, the angel of the Lord.
In Revelation 10:5 Christ, the angel of the Lord, raises his right hand to heaven.
Preterist author David Chilton correctly points out that “this is the proper stance for a witness in the court of law.”
He then illustrates this fact by citing Genesis 14:22, Exodus 6:8, Deuteronomy 32:40, Ezekiel 20:5-6 and Daniel 12:7.4
Is the angel of this vision the two witnesses of Revelation 11?
Isbon Beckwith correctly notes that “almost every one of the fourteen places where the name Jesus is used in the book [of Revelation] it is in connection with the office of witnessing or revealing.”5
This is true. Jesus is said to testify, bear witness or be a witness in Revelation 1:2, 1:5, 1:9, 12:17, 19:10, 20:4, 22:16, and 22:20.
Furthermore, in Revelation 1:5 and 3:14 Jesus, the angel of Revelation 10, is called the faithful witness.
Jesus Christ is called the faithful witness twice in the Book of Revelation.
Is the fact that Christ is called a witness twice in the Book of Revelation a subtle hint that Jesus is the two witnesses of Revelation 11?
Interestingly, in Isaiah 55:3-4, the Messiah, the son of David, appears to be addressed as a witness:
“I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples [emphasis mine].”
God and His anointed are also called witnesses in 1 Samuel 12:5, Jeremiah 29:23, Jeremiah 42:5, Micah 1:2 and Malachi 2:14.6
Christ’s identity as the two witnesses is also implied in Revelation 10:1.
In this verse, Jesus’ two legs are pictured as pillars of fire.
According to Genesis 31:45, 52; Deuteronomy 27:1-8; Joshua 8:30-35; Joshua 22:26-28, 34; and Joshua 24:26-27 pillars are used in the Bible to represent witnesses.7
If pillars represent witnesses in the Bible, why are Jesus’ two legs depicted as pillars?
Perhaps Jesus is symbolically portrayed in this way in order to depict Christ as the sole embodiment of the two witnesses?
The Gospel of John also suggests that Jesus is the Two Witnesses.
Additional evidence that Jesus is the two witnesses is found in the Gospels.
In John 12:49-50 Jesus says, “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. . . . So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
In John 8:13-18 Jesus echoes John 12:49-50 while calling attention to the fact that because He speaks the words of the Father His testimony is that of two witnesses. John 8:13-18 reads,
“The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.” Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. . . . But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”8
Additional evidence that Jesus Christ is the two witnesses will be raised as it appears in the verse-by-verse commentary below. But before addressing more of this evidence let us now turn our attention to Jesus the son of Ananus. The following is written about him in The Wars of the Jews:
[T]here was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for everyone to make tabernacles to God in the temple, began on a sudden to cry aloud, “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegroom and the bride, and a voice against this whole people!” This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say anything for himself, or anything peculiar to those that chastised him, but still went on with the same words which he cried before. Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator, where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him who he was, and whence he came, and why he uttered such words; he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come. This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, “Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!” And just as he added at the last, “Woe, woe to myself also!” there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost.9
There are several things that must be highlighted concerning this man. First of all, his name is Jesus; and like Jesus Christ, he is seen preaching for a period of three and a half years. Modern church tradition teaches that Jesus’ ministry lasted three and a half years. If it was exactly three and a half years, that would suggest that Jesus Christ, like the Jesus mentioned above, also began to preach on the Feast of Tabernacles. Josephus says, “Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them.”
Here Josephus suggests that Jesus the son of Ananus was not seen for four years from the Feast of Tabernacles in A.D. 62, when he made his initial appearance, to the Feast of Tabernacles in A.D. 66, when the war began. Josephus then says:
[H]e continued this ditty for seven years and five months . . . until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, “Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!” And just as he added at the last, “Woe, woe to myself also!” there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately.
Josephus seems to contradict himself in this verse. Josephus indicates that Jesus began his ministry at the Feast of Tabernacles in A.D. 62 and continued until he was killed at the start of the siege of Jerusalem in Passover of A.D. 70.
This is a period of seven years and six months, not seven years and five months as Josephus states above.10
And since this man was not seen by anyone for four years until the start of the war, that means–like Jesus11 and the two witnesses of this chapter–this man preached for three and a half years.
The similarities between Jesus Christ, Jesus the son of Ananus, and the two witnesses do not end here.
Like Jesus Christ who was hated by the religious elite (John 11:47-53), so too was Jesus son of Ananus:
“certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes.”
Though people heard his cries, Jesus the son of Ananus stayed away from populated areas for four years in much the same way that Jesus Christ did throughout much of His ministry.
After healing a leper in the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, “Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.”12
As already indicated, both men were brought before the procurator and flogged; and in the same way that Jesus Christ did not answer His accusers according to Matthew 27:11-14,13 neither did Jesus the son of Ananus:
“And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him who he was, and whence he came, and why he uttered such words; he made no manner of reply to what he said. . . .”
Furthermore, both men died on Passover for it was then that Titus began his siege of Jerusalem; and Jesus the son of Ananus “gave up the ghost.”
Revelation 17:1-3 Implies that the Judgment coming at the End of the Age was the Result of the Releasing of the Four Winds.
The Fact that Jesus the Son of Ananus Claims to be “A Voice From the Four Winds” Strongly Suggests that He is the Two Witnesses.
Josephus records Jesus the son of Ananus saying,
“A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegroom and the bride, and a voice against this whole people!”
The fact that this man says, “[A] voice from the four winds[!]” Seems to be an allusion to Revelation 7:1-3:14
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:
“Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
Revelation 7:1-3 implies that the judgment that would soon come upon Jerusalem in Revelation was to come by way of the releasing of the four winds.15
Thus if Jesus the son of Ananus truly is a “voice from the four winds” as he purports, this fact depicts him as a witness to these divine agents thus strongly suggesting that he is the two witnesses of this chapter.
Could the Voice Against the Bridegroom be a Reference to Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:2)?
And Could This Point to Jesus the Son of Ananus’ Untimely Death Wherein He States, “Woe, Woe to Myself Also!”
I believe the quote above may also imply that Jesus the son of Ananus is Jesus.
In the quote cited above, Jesus son of Ananus says, “[A] voice against the bridegroom and the bride[.]” In Revelation 21:2 Jesus is presented as the bridegroom of the saints who are depicted as His bride. The woe pronounced to the bride, the saints, is probably an allusion to the persecution which was afflicting the saints at the time of this pronouncement. The woe to the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, would appear to me to refer to the ultimate fate of Jesus the son of Ananus himself when upon being killed by a stone launched by a Roman catapult he says, “Woe, woe to myself also!”
Revelation 11 Commentary Intro: If Jesus had no Human Father, What was his Surname?
If Jesus the son of Ananus is Jesus Christ, why the peculiar surname? As the Son of God, Jesus does not have a biological father according to the gospels.
Because Jesus could not be properly identified in the traditional Jewish way with His first name followed by the name of His father, perhaps Jesus adopted the surname “son of Ananus” in order to convey a message?
The Surname “Son of Ananus” Points to the High Priesthood.
Ananus was the name of the high priest from A.D. 6-15 and was a kind of perpetual high priest who held the title even after completing his term in office seemingly without precedence.
It would seem that this title stuck because Ananus’ son-in-law and five sons were also appointed high priest after him and similarly preserved their titles after completing their terms.
Because five of Ananus’ sons had become high priest, during the middle of the first century the surname “son of Ananus” had almost become synonymous with the high priesthood.
Perhaps in adopting this surname, Jesus Christ intended to send a subtle message identifying himself as the true perpetual high priest since according to Hebrews 7:24 Jesus “has a permanent [high] priesthood.”
The High Priest Ananus Son of Ananus Killed James, Jesus Christ’s Biological Brother, at the Start of Jesus the Son of Ananus’ Ministry.
It is interesting to note that Caiaphas the high priest largely responsible for Jesus Christ’s execution according to John 11:45-53 was Ananus’ son-in-law.
Furthermore, Ananus’ fifth and last son to become high priest was Ananus the son of Ananus.
While serving as high priest, Ananus the son of Ananus was most directly responsible for the murder of Jesus’ biological brother James in A.D. 63.16 Perhaps it is not a coincidence that Jesus the son of Ananus began his ministry at around the time of James’ death.
James was not only the leading pillar of the Christian church in Jerusalem at the time of his death, he was also Jesus Christ’s biological brother.
Was the death of James the final straw that brought about the coming judgment that Jesus had so often warned about in the gospels?
After describing the martyrdom of James, Eusebius says the following:
“So remarkable a person must James have been, so universally esteemed for righteousness, that even the more intelligent Jew felt that this was why his martyrdom was immediately followed by the siege of Jerusalem, which happened to them for no other reason than the wicked crime of which he had been the victim. And indeed Josephus did not hesitate to write this down in many words: ‘These things happened to the Jews in requital for James the Righteous, who was a brother of Jesus known as Christ, for though he was the most righteous of men, the Jews put him to death.’17
Perhaps Jesus’ outrage over the unjust murder of His brother matched or exceeded that of many of the other righteous people of that city leading Him to reveal himself at that time to warn of the coming judgment? And perhaps He adopted the last name of the man most responsible for his brother’s murder in order to imply that He is the true high priest?
Jesus’ Physical Presence in Jerusalem as Jesus the Son of Ananus is Implied by the Greek Word Parousia.
As surprising as it may sound that Jesus Christ might have been physically present in Jerusalem during the Jewish War, this shock should be alleviated by the way in which the second coming is labelled in the New Testament.18
Whenever the second coming is mentioned the word that is often used to identify this event is the Greek word parousia.
Parousia is a word used to denote the arrival of a conquering general, emperor or high-ranking official into a city. The word connotes a coming into with an extended presence of an official in a city.
When people think of the “second coming” or parousia, they often picture a one-time, brief appearance of Christ on the clouds.
If that is all that the second coming or parousia was then parousia is a strangely inaccurate way to label this event.
The word parousia implies that a king or high ranking official will appear outside and then subsequently enter a city often for a somewhat lengthy period of time.
Given the fact that the New Testament uses parousia to describe the second coming, it should not be surprising that after Christ was seen on the clouds outside of Jerusalem in A.D. 66, at the start of the Jewish War, that He later may have entered Jerusalem in the flesh and stayed for three and a half years.
Revelation 11 Commentary Intro: Two Witnesses in the Sky. . .
Following the procession of the zodiac, the constellation Gemini, the twins, precedes the coming of the six constellations used by John in Revelation 9 to symbolize the five month siege of Jerusalem.
And just as the two men of Gemini precede these signs of the coming war, two witnesses warned the people of Israel for forty-two months before the attack on Jerusalem.
For an explanation of how Revelation sometimes employs the zodiac which is iconic, stereotypical ancient Babylonian imagery to communicate inevitable judgments on spiritual Babylon in signs and omens that spiritual Babylon could and should have understood see the brief introduction to the commentary on Revelation 12.
As stated in Revelation 9: A Preterist Commentary–Who is Apollyon?, the locusts in Revelation 9 withhold their assault until the seventh trumpet.
At the end of Revelation 11 the seventh trumpet is blown. But before the sounding of the final trumpet, there is a pause in John’s vision. In Revelation 8, John describes how the Romans destroyed city after city throughout the Israeli countryside.
Then in Revelation 9, John foresaw the mobilization of Roman reinforcements heading for Jerusalem.
Revelation 11:1-6 reveals what happened in Jerusalem during these forty-two months of strife.
During this time, two men symbolized in the sky by the Gemini twins warned Jerusalem of the coming disaster.
According to the Law of Moses, the testimony of two witnesses is required to put a man to death (Deuteronomy 17:6).
Thus on the testimony of these two witnesses, the people of Jerusalem are marked for slaughter.
Having the Power and Spirit of both Moses and Elijah, the Two Witnesses Embody the Law and the Prophets—the Word of God.
According to v. 6 these two have the power to turn water into blood and strike the land with every kind of plague. The plagues mentioned in this verse are the plagues of Exodus unleashed throughout the course of the Jewish War as shown repeatedly throughout this commentary on Revelation.
Here one can see how these witnesses display the power of Moses.19
And just as Moses was given a prophet, his brother Aaron, these two witnesses also have prophetic power (Exodus 7:1).
In v. 5 they exhibit the power of Elijah, who in 2 Kings 1:10 called down fire from heaven. Then like Elijah, they stop the sky from raining for three and a half years (1Kings 17:1, Luke 4:25).
Furthermore, at the end of their ministry the two witnesses are raised to heaven in v. 12 as was Elijah in 2 Kings 2:1-12 and Moses according to The Assumption of Moses and later rabbinic tradition.20
During the transfiguration in Mark 9:2-8, Jesus appeared in a glorified form amidst Moses and Elijah.
Could Jesus’ presence amidst that of Moses and Elijah be a sign that the lives of these two men served as prophetic types ultimately pointing to Christ? This is the implicit message conveyed in Acts 3:22. Here Peter identifies Christ as a kind of Moses who is to come. Peter does this by quoting Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18 and applying it to Jesus: “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me [Moses] from your brethren; to him you shall give heed to everything he says to you.”
Not only is Jesus compared to Moses in Acts 3:22 like the two witnesses in Revelation 11:6, Jesus, like the two witnesses, is also identified as a prophet in this verses as is also the case in Luke 24:19: “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they [the disciples] replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people [emphasis mine].”
Interestingly, these two witnesses, having the power and spirit of both Moses and Elijah, together embody the Law and the Prophets. Before there was an official Bible, the Holy Scriptures were called the Law and the Prophets. The Law and the Prophets is the Word of God–a title given to Jesus in John 1.21
In alignment with the likelihood that Moses and Elijah were prophetic types pointing to Christ, could this vision of Jesus beside Moses and Elijah be a sign that throughout Jesus’ ministry He worked in the power and spirit of Moses and Elijah in the same way that John the Baptist worked through the spirit and power of Elijah?
In Mark 9:4 Jesus is seen speaking with Moses and Elijah. Could this discourse be a brief glimpse of the possibility that Moses and Elijah guided Jesus and worked behind the scenes not just at that moment but throughout His entire ministry? And if they did, could it not then be said that Jesus acted in the power and spirit of Moses and Elijah during His ministry recorded in the Gospels? And if Jesus worked by the power and spirit of Moses and Elijah during the initial aspect of His ministry, would it not stand to reason that the same would be true during Jesus’ corporal ministry as the two witnesses at the time of the Jewish War?
Martin, John. The Seventh Plague. 1823.
In the Mosaic Law, there is a list of over twenty curses that would befall Israel if they ever turned away from God.
Every curse listed in Deuteronomy 28 has recorded fulfillment in the Jewish War, some multiple times over.22
Likewise, almost every prophet from Isaiah to Malachi wrote of the end times.
In quoting so abundantly from the Old Testament, it is the author of Revelation’s intention to show the reader that almost every significant event in Jewish history was a symbol of the climax at the end of the age.23
These two witnesses act as God’s reminder to the people. This chapter tells their story.
3And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.
A Commentary of Revelation 11:3: Jesus the Son of Ananus Prophesied Openly for 1,260 Days.
1260 days or forty-two months is three years and six months according to the Hebrew prophetic solar calendar in which each year is 360 days.
This verse is one of several verses in the Bible in which a 360 day year is implied (Genesis 7:11,24; 8:3-4; Esther 1:4).
However, to call this 360 day year the Hebrew prophetic solar calendar as it is often called is a misnomer.
The Egyptians and Babylonians both charted time using a 360 day solar calendar. And because the Jews spent considerable time in both nation states, it is not surprising that this calendar was occasionally used and thus surfaces at times in the Bible.
But why is this 360 day Egyptian and Babylonian calendar used in the Book of Revelation? The reason is soon to be clarified in Revelation 11:8 and Revelation 17.
As will be explained in detail in the commentary on these verses, Jerusalem is spiritually called Egypt in Revelation 11:8 and Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18.
Thus the fact that John uses the Egyptian and Babylonian calendar to predict the future of Jerusalem in this verse reinforces this theme of labeling Jerusalem these epithets.
By modern reckoning this 360 day solar year is three years and five months, the interval between the arrival of Cestius and the Roman army at Jerusalem in Tishri of A.D. 66 to Passover of A.D. 70 when the Romans began their assault on Jerusalem and Jesus the son of Ananus was killed.
During this time, Jesus son of Ananus warned that the current war would soon make its way to Jerusalem.
As explained in detail above, Jesus the son of Ananus prophesied openly for 1260 days. This 1260 day interval spans the time of the arrival of the Roman army at Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles in A.D. 66 to the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in Passover of A.D. 70 when Jesus was killed by the Romans, approximately 1260 days later.27
Revelation 11:3 says that the two witnesses prophesied in sackcloth.
Sackcloth was the clothing of prophets (Zechariah 13:4, 2 Kings 1:8) and mourners (Ester 4:3, Daniel 9:3, John 3:6).
Can one think of a more suitable garment for a prophet like Jesus son of Ananus whose incessant chant immediately before the fall of Jerusalem was “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!”?
4These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Revelation 11:4 is a Clear Reference to Zechariah 4:11-14 in which the Two Olive Trees and Lampstand Symbolize the King, High Priest, and Temple.
Therefore, the Two Witnesses Appear to be One Man Jesus Christ Who is King and High Priest (Hebrews 5:10; 7:1) and Temple (John 2:19-21).
The olive trees and lampstands of Revelation 11:4 are a direct reference to the olive trees and lampstand of Zechariah 4.
In Zechariah 4, Zechariah sees a vision of two olive trees beside a lampstand.
In Zechariah 4:11-14, the two olive trees are said to symbolize “two anointed ones” who are clearly identified in Zechariah 3 and 4 as Zerubbabel and Joshua–the king and high priest respectively.
Like the two olive trees of Zechariah 4:11-14 which are said to represent the king and high priest, Jesus is also identified as king and high priest (Hebrews 5:10; 7:1).
Hebrews 5:10 says that Jesus “was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”
“This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High (Hebrews 7:1).”
By saying that Jesus is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek means that Jesus is both king and high priest. Therefore, having inherited the Father’s heavenly kingdom, Jesus Christ is both high priest and king and thus appears to be represented by the two olive trees in Revelation 11:4 following the precedent set in Zechariah 4:11-14.
The lampstand in between the two olive trees in Zechariah 4 appears to symbolize the second Temple.28
The fact that the lampstand symbolizes the Temple in Zechariah 4 also points to Jesus.
In John 2:19-21 Jesus refers to His body as a Temple: “’Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.”
Compelled by the Jewish religious elites Jesus Christ was, of course, ultimately killed by Rome, the beast, just as the two witnesses are killed by the beast in Revelation 11:7. And just as Jesus predicted that He would be raised again in three days (John 2:19-21), the two witnesses are also resurrected after three days (Revelation 11:11). Thus in light of Zechariah 3 and 4 this olive tree and lampstand symbolism in v. 4 strongly implies that Jesus Christ is the solitary embodiment of the two witnesses in this chapter as Jesus is both king and high priest and is also represented in Temple imagery in the New Testament.
The lampstands were designed to resemble a tree with the arms of the lamp resembling tree branches.
Lampstands represent the Church.
The Fact that the Two Witnesses are depicted as Two Lampstands also points to Christ Who is the Sole Embodiment of the Church, the Body of Christ.
There are some commentaries that claim that the two witnesses represent the collective body of the church as lampstands represent the Church in Revelation 1:20. And this is certainly true!
However, what these commentators fail to realize is that Jesus Christ IS the collective body of the Church as one of the names of the church is the Body of Christ (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12).
The fact that the two witnesses are depicted as two lampstands implies that they are, of course, a human embodiment of the Church.
The fact that both the two witnesses and Jesus Christ are human embodiments of the church implies that the two witnesses are, in fact, Jesus Christ.
Thus the lampstand imagery is yet another piece of evidence ultimately suggesting that the two witnesses are Jesus.
Those who believe that the two witnesses represent the church may also cite the fact that the lampstand of Zechariah 4 represents the Temple and the church is also often represented as a Temple (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5).
But as implied above the church is represented as a Temple because the church is the Body of Christ (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12) and Jesus is also represented in Temple imagery (John 2:19-21).
Thus this lampstand/Temple imagery in Zechariah 4 and Revelation 11:4 also all ultimately point to Jesus Christ who just like the two witnesses is a human embodiment of the church.
One problem with identifying the two witnesses as the church collectively outside of its solitary embodiment in Jesus Christ is the olive tree symbolism in Zechariah 3-4 and its corresponding reference in Revelation 11:4.
As stated above, the two olive trees represent the king and high priest in both Zechariah 3-4 and Revelation 11:4.
Though the church is said to be a kingdom of priests (Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6) it could never be identified as high priest, the exclusive role of its leader–Jesus Christ.
Having Divided His Ministry into Two Equal Three and a Half Year Intervals, Could Jesus Christ be the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11?
If we assume that Jesus the son of Ananus is Jesus Christ, then it makes perfect sense to call Jesus Christ “two witnesses.” Not only does it make sense to call Jesus “two witnesses” because he is both king and high priest, the fact that Jesus Christ may have divided His corporal and visible ministry into two equal and separate three and a half year intervals makes this title even more appropriate. Though different in some respects, the ministries of both Jesus Christ and Jesus the son of Ananus are strikingly similar in many ways as stated above. The fact that Jesus is called the two witnesses is not surprising if we assume that He came to earth twice to deliver the same message—a warning concerning the tragedy at the end of the age.
The Fact that the Two Witnesses are Embodied in One Man Explains the Shift to the Singular Tense in v. 9.
The fact that Jesus is the two witnesses are one man may also be implied by a peculiar shift from the plural to the singular tense found in v. 9.29 This verse literally reads, “Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations look at their dead body for three and a half days, and do not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb [emphasis mine].” Notice body is singular, not plural. This is not a linguistic mistake. The two witnesses representing the king and high priest are embodied in one being, Jesus Christ who may have made two distinct appearances in the first century.
