February 24 - The Two Witnesses (pt. 3)

February 24 – The Two Witnesses (pt. 3)
Rev. 11:5-6

“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. These men have power to shut up the sky 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.”

Who are these witnesses? Some have said that they could be Zerubbabel and Joshua from Zechariah who are trying to restore Israel to her land. Others think that it could be Elijah and Enoch. Those interpretations are great. However, the references above suggest that we’ve seen these two witnesses together previously.

Anyone who tries to harm them must die.
They have power to shut up the sky so it will not rain.
They have power to turn the waters into blood.
They have power to strike the earth with every kind of plague.

Let’s answer the question first with another question: Who was with Jesus at the Transfiguration? From Matthew 17:3, we know that it was Moses and Elijah.

Now, about those powers. We’ll look at Old Testament references. In 2 Kings 1:10, Elijah brought down fire from heaven (fire comes from their mouths). In 1 Kings 17:1, Elijah stopped the rain for the next few years. By the way in James 5:17, we find that Elijah stopped the rain for 3 ½ years. I love the way God works.

In Exodus 7:20, Moses struck the water of the Nile and it turned to blood and in Exodus 7-11, he was given the power to bring forth plagues.

If these two witnesses are not Moses and Elijah, they have been given the same power as those two men in Israel’s history. In fact, they actually have more power. They can call upon it as often as they wish.