Dake Bible Discussion Board ⇒ Two witnesses

[Texas2018]

I have heard teaching that the two witnesses of Revelation are Enoch and Elijah. The reason given is they never died, but rather were translated. But why couldn’t the two witnesses be people who are caught up in the Rapture which has not yet occurred? They will escape death too, right?

[Spiritblade Disciple]

I have heard teaching that the two witnesses of Revelation are Enoch and Elijah. The reason given is they never died, but rather were translated.

That's one of the reasons given, but I don't think the idea that they were translated requires them to come back and die. Enoch was translated that he should not see death. Doesn't brining him back to be killed defeat this purpose?

But why couldn’t the two witnesses be people who are caught up in the Rapture which has not yet occurred? They will escape death too, right?

Revelation 1:19 New King James Version
"Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this."

According the Dake's dispensational framework (and similar views), the future evens pertaining to the Two Witnesses take place after the Rapture of the Church and during Daniel's Seventieth Week (the Tribulation).

The Two Witnesses will be killed (Rev. 11:7-8). So, I don't know that it could be said that they will escape death in the same way that, for example, Enoch did. Or, Elijah.

[Texas2018]

Does the Dake Bible say who the two witnesses are?

[Spiritblade Disciple]

Does the Dake Bible say who the two witnesses are?

The Dake Bible says that the Two Witnesses will be Enoch and Elijah.

Here's the note on Rev. 11:3 from Dake's Annotated Reference Bible concerning The Two Witnesses:

Eighteen Facts Identifying the Two Witnesses
● 1. They are two men, not covenants, dispensations, etc. (Rev. 11:3, 7–12).
● 2. They are Christ’s witnesses (Rev. 11:3).
● 3. They will be given power in the future when they come to earth (Rev. 11:3). This does not require them to be men who have already exercised this power.
● 4. They will be prophets (Rev. 11:3, 10).
● 5. They will prophesy the last 42 months, 1260 days, 3 1/2 years of this age (Rev. 11:2–3; 12:6, 14; 13:5; Dan. 7:25; 12:7).
● 6. They will be clothed in sackcloth (Rev. 11:3).
● 7. They are symbolized by two olive trees and two candlesticks which stand before God (Rev. 11:4; Zech. 4:11–14).
● 8. They were already in heaven when Zechariah prophesied, about 500 years before Christ (Zech. 4:11–14).
● 9. John saw them in heaven about 96 A.D., so whoever they are they are two men translated to reside in heaven at least 500 years before Christ (Rev. 11:4; Zech. 4:11–14; Mal. 4:5–6). This will exclude John the Baptist, John the Apostle, and every other man living after 500 B.C.
● 10. They will be invincible for the 3 1/2 years of their ministry (Rev. 11:5–7).
● 11. They will have power to destroy their enemies the same way their enemies seek to destroy them (Rev. 11:5).
● 12. They will be able to cause fire to come out of their mouths to devour their enemies (Rev. 11:5).
● 13. They will have power to stop rain all the days of their prophecy (Rev. 11:6).
● 14. They will have power to turn the water into blood and smite the earth with plagues as often as they will (Rev. 11:6).
● 15. When the 1260-day ministry is finished the supernatural angelic spirit out of the abyss will use the human Antichrist to kill them (Rev. 11:7).
● 16. Since it is appointed unto man once to die (Heb. 9:27), it is certain that they are two men who have never died so that they can die at the hands of the Antichrist in the future. This excludes Moses or any other man who has already died as one of the witnesses.
● 17. They will remain dead for 3 1/2 days and then be resurrected (Rev. 11:8–11). This further proves that they are two men who have never died and that they will not be resurrected, immortal men when they come from heaven to begin their ministry.
● 18. There would seem to be only two men in the Bible who could fulfil these facts about the two witnesses. They are Enoch and Elijah. That Elijah will be one of them is clearly predicted in Mal. 4:5–6. John the Baptist was never Elijah, fulfilling this prophecy. He said that he was not Elijah (Jn. 1:21). He only came in the same spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the hearts of people for the Messiah’s first coming in the way that Elijah will prepare their hearts for the second coming of the Messiah (Lk. 1:17). Enoch is the only other man transported so that he would not experience death in his lifetime on earth (Gen. 5:21–24; Heb. 11:5; 2Ki. 2). Both were prophets of judgment (Jude 1:14–15; 1Ki. 17–18). Both must come back and die their own appointed death on earth, as all men must who live before the rapture (Heb. 9:27; 1Cor. 15:51–58). If either Enoch or Elijah had been transported in immortal, glorified bodies, they would have been the firstfruits of the resurrection instead of Christ (1Cor. 15:20–23). This proves they are in heaven in their natural bodies. They will continue there until their return to fulfil Rev. 11. The lives of Enoch and Elijah are parallel in every sense, so their cases rise or fall together as to being the two witnesses.

[Texas2018]

Thank you very much. I am going to have to study those 18 points more carefully.