The Champions of Revelation

Living in Israel, we encounter a clinical condition called Jerusalem Syndrome. It is not uncommon for someone to visit the Holy Land and start having wild revelations that they are Elijah, John the Baptist, or even the Messiah. A popular deception is thinking you are one of the two witnesses from Revelation 11. I have joked that the schizophrenic ones think that they are both of the two witnesses.

People are drawn to the two witnesses because they will have a powerful ministry here in Israel during the last three and a half years before Yeshua returns. I am fascinated by their testimony on Earth. Revelation 11 is one of the most intriguing passages in the Bible. When people think of the End Times, we tend to think of the Antichrist as the most powerful person on earth. That is a fallacy. During the time of their ministry, no one on Earth will be more powerful than the witnesses—including the Antichrist. Let’s take a look. Read it all, straight through.

And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the Earth.” If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the Earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language, and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the Earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the Earth.

But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. (Rev. 11:3-12)

When does this take place? In my view, it is the last three and a half years of the Great Tribulation. While others believe they come during the first three and a half years, this is anticlimactic. The necessity of their testimony will come only after the Antichrist reveals his true colors and declares himself to be God: “He takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:4). The two witnesses will drive the Antichrist and his forces out of Jerusalem.

We know this because Revelation 16 has the Antichrist forces gathering in the Valley of Megiddo (Armageddon), and Zechariah 14 has these forces attacking Jerusalem just before the coming of the Lord. Yet, as noted above, Paul places the Antichrist in the Temple midway through the Tribulation. So, something causes the Antichrist to be driven from Jerusalem. Revelation 11 shows the two witnesses overpowering anyone who comes against them.

So, let’s take a look at their ministry using an outline.

1.                 They are not merely witnesses; they are prophets.

i.                 “they will prophesy.”

2.                 They are not merely prophets but repentance preachers, as they are dressed in sackcloth, calling people to follow Yeshua.

3.                 They are Jewish, as their ministry is in Jerusalem (vv. 2, 8), and are from the tribes of Israel.

4.                 They are obviously believers in the Messiah (v. 8).

5.                 They are prophesied of in Zechariah 4:12-14.

i.                 They are the two olive trees or branches (Rev. 11:4) lending credence that they are Jewish.

ii.               “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the Earth.” (Zech. 4:14)

1.                 They have a special anointing, as symbolized in Zechariah 4:12, where it speaks of golden oil next to the olive branches. Verse 14 clearly says they will be anointed.

6.                 They breathe fire and devour their enemies. This is how they drive the Antichrist out of Jerusalem.

i.                 Only they can call down plagues, cause droughts, and turn waters to blood. The Antichrist has no such power.

So, imagine this. The Antichrist, before he is revealed as such, brokers what former President Trump calls the “Ultimate Deal”: Peace between Israel and the Arab nations, which includes the rebuilding of the Temple (Dan. 9:27). It seems impossible that the Muslim nations would ever agree to such a thing. But what if they were weakened after a failed attack against Israel?

Ezekiel 38-39 and Zechariah 10 both predict wars against Israel that not only result in the sound defeat of the invaders, but it appears Israel is not harmed. However, in the last war, Zechariah tells us of horrible judgment against Israel and Jerusalem on “the day of the Lord” that clearly results in the Second Coming (Zech. 14:3-4, 9, 16). However, the Ezekiel War is different in that Israel is victorious—the enemy forces never make it to Jerusalem.

Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. (Ezek. 39:3-5)

So this is a different war than the Zechariah 14 Day of the Lord war. And then there is this:

Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years, they will use them for fuel. (Ezek. 39:9)

Seven just happens to be the exact number of years during the Great Tribulation. You burn weapons for fuel when you are desperate—when you are living in tribulation! So, with a weakened Arab world and their armies dead on the mountains of Israel, they make a deal that gives the Temple Mount back to the Jews.



After three and half years, the Antichrist is killed but rises (Rev. 13:3-4) and then sets up his image in the Temple (2 Thess. 2:4), and the Jews freak out. At this point, He makes plans to persecute the Jews. But the two witnesses—these anointed prophetic evangelists—resist him. First, they prophesy. What are they prophesying? I imagine they are urging people not to align themselves with the Antichrist or take his mark. They will call the people of Israel to repentance and preach Yeshua’s salvation to the nations.

(Part 2 next week!)