,, And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 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 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.”
Revelation 11: 3-6
"And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are two olive trees and two olive trees that stand before the Lord of the earth. "
The Lord says that the two prophets will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, so now let's see who these two witnesses are.
These are Moses and Elijah. In the book of the prophet Malachi it is written:
,, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Malachi 4: 5-6
These verses were confirmed by the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew:
,, … Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things;…”
Mark 9:12
Moses and Elijah are the two greatest men in Israeli history. Elijah went to heaven alive.
,, And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, [there appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
2 Kings 2:11
And of Moses it is written:
,, And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.”
Deuteronomy 34: 6
We see that God took care of them and we read about them in the Gospel of Luke:
,, And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment [was] white [and] glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.”
Luke 9: 29-33
Moses and Elijah had special "tasks" from God while they were on earth, so we will mention that Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt from physical bondage and Elijah brought the people of Israel out of spiritual bondage, and both performed miracles that were recorded in the Bible and we saw that God took care of them when they completed the "missions" on earth and we also saw that they had special tasks, they talked to Jesus and we will see what they have yet to do in the future in the second half of the great tribulation.
For them it is written in Revelation:
"These shall have power to shut up the heavens, that no rain may fall upon the earth in the days of their prophecy; and they will have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with all their torment, whenever they want "what we see here is very similar to some situations and miracles that these two men performed while they were on the earth. these will have the power to close the heavens, so that no rain falls on the earth "something similar was done by Elijah while he was on earth.
,, Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”
James 5:17
the next, "and they shall have power over the waters to turn them into blood," a record of something like what Moses did we have in another book of Moses.
,, And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and [that] there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in [vessels of] wood, and in [vessels of] stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that [were] in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that [were] in the river were turned to blood.”
Exodus 7: 19-20
It goes on to say, "dressed in sacks," in Old Testament times sacks were a symbol of deep sorrow and repentance for one's own and the people's sins, and he writes about it:
,, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
Mt.11: 21
Jonah preached to the Ninevites that God would judge Nineveh, and we read what the king did:
,, For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered [him] with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.”
Jonah 3: 6
And now in our text we have Moses and Elijah who are "trained in sacks" for the sins of the people and they will try to bring the people of Israel back to God.
"These are two olive trees and two twigs that stand before the Lord of the earth" here we see that these two witnesses stand before the "Lord of the earth", ie before the Lord Jesus Christ, which means that they come from heaven and are called olives and then twigs.
Olive oil is used to make high quality oil and it used to be used for lighting, and since oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, Moses and Elijah are also called lizards because they are filled with the Holy Spirit and shine in the darkness of great troubles that will be on earth.
From the text we see that Moses and Elijah will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days and it is three and a half years but he does not see here when it will be. the prophet Malachi
,, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:”
Mal.4: 5
The last week of Daniel's prophecy is called the "Great Tribulation." Here are just a few verses that touch on this topic:
,, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Mt.24: 21
, .And after that sixty-two weeks the anointed one will be executed and he will have nothing left; the people of Vojvodina will come and destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end of it will be with the flood, and a certain desolation will be until the end of the war. And he will establish a covenant with many in a week, and in the middle of the week he will abolish the sacrifice and the offering; and with the wings of hatred, which are desolate, until the end of the appointed, they will be poured out into desolation. "
Daniel 9: 26-27
,, And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”
Daniel 12: 1
,, A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, [even] to the years of many generations.”
Joel 2: 2
,, And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Rev. 7:14
and the other half of the great tribulation is "the great and terrible day of the Lord."
,, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord”
Mal.4: 5
,, The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.”
Joel 2:31
,, For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”
1 Thessalonians 5: 2-3
So it will be in the first half of the great tribulation because it says "before it comes" and their mission will be to preach so that the people would turn to Elijah, he writes:
,, And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Mal 4: 6
but since it also says, "And I will give to two of my witnesses" means that their mission will probably be common because it does not write anything else on the subject but it says that they will have power over nature, The rain shall fall upon the earth in the days of their divination, and they shall have dominion over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with all their might, whenever they will. " , with miracles "that the people of Israel might return to God.
,, For the Jews require a sign,…”
1 Cor.1: 22
Since the Jews want signs and wonders, God now sends them what they want through Moses and Elijah, but we are reading something else.
"And if any man do wrong to them, fire shall come out of their mouth, and devour their enemies; and whoever wants to do them harm must be killed. "
The time in which we live is a time of grace, but there comes another time that is written about here and it will be a time of "revenge" as it is written in Luke's Gospel:
,, For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.”
Luke 21:22
and that is why they will have this kind of power over their enemies.
All this power they will have will be used so that the inhabitants of the country at that time will receive the "last mercy" before the "terrible day of the Lord" begins.