Doves,

The discussion about who the end time witnesses will be has come up several times over the years on the Doves site. Seems that most bible prophecy followers have their own picks or theories as to who these two people will be and have valid reasons for their choices.

Some prophecy watchers believe that Enoch will be one of them because it appears he was raptured / taken to heaven by God and didn’t die. Some believe that it will be Moses, some believe it will be Elijah and the list goes on to other various bible celebrities whom these prophecy watchers believe will fill these two critical end time positions.

For what it’s worth I would like to speculate on whom I believe these two end time witnesses may be trying to use what’s reveled in the scriptures as my guide….with the focus on “present time verbiage“.

I am sure most would agree that at some point in the end time proceedings there is a great resurrection of the dead before the rapture of the church. As per scripture, it appears that two groups comprise this great resurrection that happens just prior to the rapture. One group is the dead in Christ which are the untold millions of people who have chosen Jesus as their Lord and savior over multiple centuries since His crucifixion. The other group at this great resurrection as per Ezekiel 37 is the whole house of Jacob, meaning all of the descendents from the lineage of Jacob throughout thousands of years. Obviously this will include any and all of the old testament Jewish peoples and also ones from the last 2000+ years. The bible says that there will be hundreds of millions of these descendents of Jacob that will be resurrected.

So …..we have a great resurrection just before the rapture comprised of untold millions of Christians and untold millions of Jews. The bible indicates in Revelation 7 that before anything else can transpire at this time, that the first fruits of this great resurrection have to be chosen. These are 144,000 descendents of Jacob. Twelve thousand from all of the twelve tribes totaling 144,000 people.

It is my belief that logically the two end time witnesses would also be chosen at this time from this great resurrection along with the 144,000. The 144,000 as per scripture would be taken to heaven and the two witnesses would then start their 3.5 year / 42 month ministry here on earth which would constitute the first half of the 7 year period of Jacob’s trouble or the 7 year tribulation period.

With all of this in mind, are there any areas of scripture that indicate that any two of the bible celebrities from the old or new testament era’s are “biblically” present on the world scene at this time (during this great resurrection period) seeming tagging them as being present at that time and indicating that they are or would become the two end time witnesses? I believe there is.

We see from scripture that John the Revelator appears to be present and Ezekiel also appears to be present on the world stage at that exact timeframe which leads me to believe that they are the two end time witnesses. Let me explain…

When one reads Ezekiel 37 it is apparent that Ezekiel is present at that time period and actively participating (following God’s instructions) during this great resurrection of the whole house of Jacob. As per Ezekiel 37:10 part of this great resurrection of the whole house of Jacob becomes an exceedingly great end times army. God the Father’s end time army (Joel 2:11) with His spirit blown into them (Ezekiel 37:13-14) and Ezekiel is present there at this time period and interacting.

John the Revelator describes the whole end time scenario in the Book of Revelation. Was he literally present as one of the two end time witnesses or was he just portraying what he saw from a vision or is it both…….that he gave us the total overview and also he directly participated?

Throughout the Book of Revelation John uses phrases like….I saw, I heard, I looked which seems to me could be interpreted both ways, that is that he could be just telling us the story line from the vision and was not really present or he could have literally been there.

But then there’s the terminology he uses in Revelation 10 where he says…..I took the little book. That seems to me to physically put him there in the present at that time….. indicating he was one of the two witnesses not only in a vision but also physically present for parts / certain segments of the end time proceedings. In other words John is giving us a complete overview of the total end time proceedings from a vision but is also telling us some exact role he may play in the scenario as well.

Revelation chapter 10 has always been a mystery to me as to what is really going on there but if one looks at it from the perspective that this is where John indeed is present as one of the two end time witnesses then it now makes perfect sense to me.

The angel there in Revelation 10 speaks about “the seven thunders” but won’t let John tell us what they are. Then the angel introduces John to an open book. Being that it was open….then presuming John could read it. Then John ate the book. Was this figuratively or literally to eat the book? When John consumed the book literally or figuratively it was sweet in his mouth and bitter in his stomach.

I believe that this book contained the instructions from God to John as to John’s direct part (above and beyond the overall vision) of the end times scenario as to him being….. one of the two end times witnesses. I believe that John along with the other end time witness would be involved in dispensing “the seven thunders’, that’s why John was not allowed to write about them which would….so to speak….. be giving his hand away. Basically God didn’t want these seven thunders that the two witnesses were to be involved with to be known to the planet in advance…….preventing the planet from somehow preempting them. That’s why John was instructed by the angel to seal up the information concerning the seven thunders.

As John ate / consumed / mentally took in this book it was sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach. Is this another way of saying that John was excited and up for the task of being one of the end time witnesses (sweet taste in his mouth) but then after going through the whole process of dispensing the thunders, being hated and persecuted during the 42 period of their ministry and then being seemingly killed by the antichrist did not John have second thoughts, negative thoughts about all of this…….my stomach became bitter. In other words the plan sounded good but when it was all over it wasn’t much fun for John.

These are just my thoughts on all of this……it appears to me that the two end time witnesses will be Ezekiel and the Apostle John ( John the Revelator) because of the verbiage of scripture seemingly indicting that they are physically present on the world stage during the end time period.

I realize that the bible says that you die once and it would appear that the two of whom I speak in this scenario would die twice. One physical death and another death at the hand of the antichrist. This would go against scripture….I agree. But there is something strange about the verbiage in Revelation 11:11 where the breath of life by God entered them and restored them. It’s like they were not really dead but like in suspended animation or something. A prior example would be Lazarus, wasn’t he in the grave and presumed dead for several days before Jesus breathed life back into him and then years later he actually died. Lazarus didn’t really die twice…..seems to me like at similar scenario concerning the two witnesses. God seems to indicate that there are variations of what we call death. One a very solid long term condition and one that seems to be a kind of suspended animation type dead as per Lazarus and seemingly the two witnesses in Revelation 11.

Take it for what it’s worth…..just my discernment

Blessings…….John B