Monday, July 23, 2012

The Death and Resurrection of the Two Witnesses


Reflections on Revelation 11:7-14

Although the message of the two witnesses can never be destroyed, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit, whose work will be described later in Revelation, makes war on them and conquers them.  Their dead bodies are left lying on the street of the great city, a term which refers to Babylon (see 16:9 and 18:21).  Spiritually, the great city is also called Sodom and Egypt, and it is said to be the place where the Lord was crucified.  These multiple images of Babylon, Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem confirm that the outer court refers to all nations in the inhabited world.   Further confirmation is found in verses nine and ten where men from the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations look upon their dead bodies and rejoice because the two prophets had tormented those who dwell on the earth (see Beale, 1999, pp. 593 ff.).

The scene John sees in the vision is reminiscent of the desecration of Jerusalem by the Babylonians as described in Psalm 79:1-7.  John uses the Psalmist's language to describe what he sees.  The Psalmist says that the city is defiled and destroyed and that the bodies of God's people are left unburied on the streets of the city to be mocked by their enemies.  Like the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:10, the Psalmist asks, "How long, O Lord, until you pour out your anger on the nations who do not know you?"

The apparent victory of the beast over the witnesses does not last long.  After only three and a half days, a breath of life from God enters them, and they stand on their feet.  Again John uses language from the OT to describe what he sees.  Just as Ezekiel saw the return of Judah from captivity as the revival of dry bones by the breath of God which entered them and caused them to stand on their feet (Ezekiel 37:9-10), so John sees God's slain witnesses raised to their feet by the breath of life from God.  The allusion to Ezekiel's valley of dry bones suggests that the two witnesses represent all God's witnesses who are slain for their testimony.  After standing on their feet, a loud voice from heaven calls them, and they ascend into heaven in a cloud.  Immediately, a great earthquake strikes the earth, and a tenth part of the great city falls.  God vindicates his faithful witnesses.  Death is their victory.

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