Verse 3 says, “And I will give authority to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth” (v. 3). Sackcloth is a symbol of mourning (2 Sam. 3:31). These two witnesses will wear funeral clothes as a warning to people. They will not preach the gospel of gladness, but will warn people to stay away from God’s judgment and from the worship of Antichrist.
Verse 5 says, “And if anyone desires to injure them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone desires to injure them, thus must he be killed.” Unlike them, we do not have this power, and in our preaching we do not kill people or burn them. But these two witnesses will be able to say, “If you attempt to injure us, you will be burned and killed.”
Verse 6 says, “These have the authority to shut heaven that no rain may fall during the days of their prophecy; and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire.” To shut heaven that no rain may fall resembles what Elijah did (1 Kings 17:1; Luke 4:25). To turn the waters into blood and to smite the earth with plagues resembles what Moses did (Exo. 7:17, 19; Exo. 9:14; 11:1).
In His wisdom, God will allow these two witnesses to be defeated temporarily. Verse 7 says, “And when they have completed their testimony, the beast who comes up out of the abyss shall make war with them and shall overcome them and kill them.” The beast here is Antichrist, who will come up out of the abyss (17:8) and out of the sea (13:1) and who will make war with the two witnesses and with the saints (13:7). Eventually, even the two strongest witnesses will be killed by the persecution under Antichrist. At that time, Antichrist will not only be fighting against man but also against God. He will continue to fight against God until Christ comes with His overcomers to fight against him directly. There will actually be a person on earth who will fight directly against God. Christ, the embodiment of God, will descend with an army of overcomers to fight against Antichrist, “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thes. 2:3). The last three and a half years will be a war between rebellious mankind under the leadership of the beast, “the man of lawlessness,” and the Creator. This will force God to come and fight directly, physically, in Christ with all His overcomers.
Verses 9 and 10 say, “And those of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations see their corpses three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be placed in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.” Their corpses will not be buried but will be left on the street of the great city, where their Lord was crucified, for a show of shame. The “great city” refers to “the holy city” in verse 2, which is the earthly Jerusalem and which will spiritually become Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. In the restoration of the nation of Israel, which began in 1948, the Jews returned to their father’s land in unbelief. They will become as sinful as Sodom (cf. Isa. 1:9-10; 3:9; Jer. 23:14) and as worldly as Egypt (cf. Ezek. 23:3, 8, 19, 27) until the return of Christ, their Messiah, when “all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26). The most worldly people are found in the little nation of Israel. At the end of this age, in the eyes of God, Jerusalem will be as sinful as Sodom and as worldly as Egypt. Because of this, God will give up this city for the last three and a half years. God will seem to say, “Let her go. I will give her into the hands of Antichrist that he may do whatever he pleases to this sinful and worldly Jerusalem.”
In A.D. 70 Titus, the prince of Rome, destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Both in Daniel and in the New Testament, that prince was a type of Antichrist. Daniel 9:26-27 considers the two as being one. If you read Daniel 9 carefully, you will see that there will be two destructions of Jerusalem. The first was by Titus and the second will be by Antichrist. In the prophecy of Daniel, the two are mentioned seemingly as one, but actually they are not one. Antichrist will destroy Jerusalem in a way similar to what Titus did. According to principle, the fulfillment of a type is always more complete than the type. This is why the Lord said that the great tribulation will be more severe than anything that has preceded it or that will follow after it. Even in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, the Lord’s prophecy did not clearly distinguish the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus from that under Antichrist. The two are combined. For this reason, the seventy weeks have a long gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks. There is a long period of suspension until the time of the seventieth week arrives. After the sixty-ninth week, there was a destruction under Titus, and after the gap between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth weeks, there will be the destruction under Antichrist. But in the Bible these two destructions are mentioned nearly as one. At the time of Titus, Jerusalem was sinful, and at the time of Antichrist, it will be even more sinful. Revelation chapter eleven does not even call the city Jerusalem but “the great city,” referring to it as the place where the Lord was crucified (v. 8). The Lord, of course, was crucified neither at Sodom nor at Egypt; He was crucified at Jerusalem. At the time of the persecution and destruction by Antichrist, Jerusalem will have become as sinful as Sodom and as worldly as Egypt. How we need to pray for the Jews that they might repent. Among them there will be the faithful ones—the one hundred forty-four thousand. After the rapture of the two witnesses, the time will be close to the Lord’s coming with His army to defeat Antichrist in the war at Armageddon.