The Two Witnesses

As I claimed in my previous post the “Two Witnesses” are really Jesus. Yet, you may ask how can Jesus, who is one, be two? Well, Jesus said of himself that he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Moses and Elijah appeared to him while he was transfigured before Peter, James and John. Both Moses and Elijah were the two witnesses of the Old Testament. Moses represents the whole Law of God and Elijah, being the first of the prophets of God, represents the Prophets and Writings of the Old Covenant. Jesus embodies the entire witness of God and came to fulfill all. Remember that the book of Revelation is a highly pictorial and apocalyptic book. It is not stretching truth to see him this way.

You, may agree with the above, but say Revelation 11 doesn’t read like there is only one witness. The wording seems to say there must be two, and some of it doesn’t seem to describe Jesus, for example the bodies (plural) of the witnesses were left in the street for 3 ½ days. What’s that all about and how can this refer to Jesus? Let’s look at the phrase “their dead bodies” and see what the Scripture is saying.

Revelation 11:7-9 KJV  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.  (8)  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.  (9)  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

Concerning their “dead bodies” in verse-7, the oldest manuscripts have the singular: “their corpse.” In verse-9 likewise, though the Vulgate, Syriac and ANDREAS have the plural “dead bodies,” the manuscripts: A, B, C and Coptic have the singular. Likewise the word graves in verse-9 is plural in the Vulgate and PRIMASIUS but is singular in B, C, Syriac, Coptic and ANDREAS. So, there is plenty of room here for the understanding that the two are, in fact, one witness. However, let’s look at Jesus’ own words about himself.

John 8:13-18 KJV  The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.  (14)  Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.  (15)  Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.  (16)  And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.  (17)  It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.  (18)  I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

Here Jesus claims he is not alone, because the Father who is with him bears witness of Jesus’ words through the works he does through Jesus. Earlier Jesus claimed the same thing in John 5:36-37, so it not an unlikely thought that Jesus and the Father, being one are Two Witnesses. Nevertheless, there is more than this to testify that Jesus is the Two Witnesses. Notice what John says in his epistle:

1 John 5:6-9 KJV  This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.  (7)  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.  (8)  And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.  (9)  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

John tell us that Jesus came by water AND blood, not by water only. Later in the Scripture he says the water and blood are two of three witnesses on the earth. This is understood, in that, when Jesus was born, he was born as all men are, namely, through water in a woman’s womb. This can also be understood in a spiritual sense in baptism as the public testimony that one intends to devote oneself to God. Either way of looking at this is a witness of man. If I live, I am a witness to what I see in my life. If I submit to baptism, I am calling the world to witness to the fact that I am devoting myself to God. Secondly, John says that Jesus didn’t merely come by water but also by blood. That is, Jesus’ life’s blood witnesses to the fact that his life was true. He shed his blood for the sake of what he testified.

This in itself is two witnesses, however, notice what John claimed in both verse-8 and in verse-9. First there are three witnesses, namely the Spirit, the water and the blood. However, John claimed in verse-9 that the witness of God is greater than the witness of man. In other words, the water and the blood are man’s witness, but the Spirit is the witness of God. Jesus was God in the flesh. He witnessed as man through water and blood or through is life and death, and he witnessed as God living in the flesh. That is, he was and is both Man and God in the same body at the same time, and therefore Two Witnesses!

There is more to be shared concerning the 3 ½ days, and I’ll complete this study in the next post. May God bless his holy word and help all who read it to understand.