1“For behold, the day comes, burning like a furnace, when all the proud and all who work wickedness will be stubble. The day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out and leap like calves of the stall. 3You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies.
4“Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.
5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. 6He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
The two witnesses are described as two olive trees and lampstands, who devour their enemies with fire and exercise power to bring droughts, turn water to blood, and smite the earth with plagues. This connects back to Zechariah’s vision of the lampstand and two olive trees (Zech 4). That vision was fulfilled in Zechariah’s day. However, Jesus uses this imagery to connect them to God’s sovereign plan for Jerusalem and the temple.
We cannot know the identity of the two witnesses. Jesus chose not to reveal that to John or us in this vision. Some see them possibly fulfilling the “prophet like Moses” prophecy of Deuteronomy 18:15, though this is unlikely. Jesus seems the better choice as He fulfills His roles as prophet, priest, and king. They may fulfill the Elijah prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6, with one of them being Elijah. Though some have proposed they are Moses and Elijah, if one must find a person from the Old Testament, Enoch and Elijah seem most likely. Moses has already died and so cannot die a second time. Neither of them has died yet. Finally, these two witnesses could be two men whom God chooses at that time.
The two witnesses are safe from harm and kill their attackers with fire. Many interpreters like to attach symbolic meanings to these men to the point of seeing them as representing the church and its witness. However, as God is judging the world in more openly supernatural ways, it seems better to anticipate that there will be two literal men with supernatural powers. They will do the things described in these verses, both to individuals and to the world. Some of what they do is similar to Elijah’s ministry and the plagues on Egypt. The important point is that their impact will be worldwide and devastating.