Handout - Western Christadelphian Bible School

But it may also be that the two witnesses are not concrete personalities at all. It may be that
the two witnesses are the law and the prophets, that is, the body of testimony which in every
age has been both the basis of Israel's peculiar identity as the people of God and, at the same
time, the testimony that has steadfastly demanded the nation’s obedience to His ways.
Several facts support this hypothesis:
(a) The two witnesses perform the miracles that are most clearly identified with Moses and
Elijah - the representatives of the law and the prophets (Rev 11:6).
(b) The little horns, and king of the north set out to "change times and laws" (Daniel 7:25,
8:12, 11:36). And so does the beast (Rev 13:6). Here is evidence of the beast making
"war" (Rev 11:7) against the law and the prophets.
(c) The beast "makes war" against the two witnesses. This is a rather extreme way of
describing action taken by a despot against one or two individuals. The phrase seems
to imply a more systematic attack - such as a vigorous propaganda campaign against
Jewish religion, together with extensive sanctions against those who refuse to obey.
Something like Revelation 13:15-17 might be involved in this.
(d) Those who rejoice over the downfall of the two witnesses are followers of the beast.
They are “of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations” (Rev 11:9). Certainly,
this is the way in which the beast's followers are described (“… kindreds, and tongues,
and nations” - Revelation 13:7). This seems to be an example of Psalm 2:
"The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the
LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast
away their cords from us" (Psa 2:2, 3).
Essentially, whether there is a human agency involved or not, those against which the
atheistic beast must fight are the Jewish scriptures - the law and the prophets.
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