When Will the Two Witnesses Appear?

10-03-2025 - Posted by Geert-Jan
Originally posted on March 08, 2025 - by Andre Piet

The two witnesses spoken of in Revelation 11 will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days. In this article, we will examine, based on this passage itself, which time this refers to, what will take place during it, and how this period will come to an end.

“And I will give to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred, sixty days, clothed with sackcloth.”
Revelation 11:3 (YLT)

This period of twelve hundred and sixty days is also mentioned in Revelation 12. There, reference is made to “the woman” (= Israel) who has given birth to a male son (= Christ, including His body). Immediately after this son is caught up to God’s throne, the woman flees into the wilderness. There, a place has been prepared for her to take refuge.

“And the woman did flee to the wilderness, where she hath a place made ready from God, that there they may nourish her—days a thousand, two hundred, sixty.”
Revelation 12:6 (YLT)

The period of twelve hundred and sixty days is also referred to as forty-two months. The duration is the same; only the unit of measurement differs. The day refers to the sun, while the month refers to the moon. When the period is counted in days, it concerns divine activity. However, when it is counted in months, this refers to “the prince of darkness,” the moon that rules over the night (Gen. 1:16).

“But leave out the court that is without the temple, and thou mayest not measure it, because it was given to the nations, and the holy city they shall tread down forty-two months.”
Revelation 11:2 (YLT)

Link with the Seventieth Week?

Usually, the three and a half years in ‘Revelation’ are associated with the seventieth week in Daniel 9. This week lasts seven years and is divided into two equal halves, so that there are two consecutive periods of three and a half years. Most interpreters place the ministry of the two witnesses in the first half of that week. Elsewhere, however, I have argued that the seventy weeks are a continuous period of exactly five hundred years—seventy times seven years plus ten jubilee years. This period has already been fulfilled in the past.

The final week began at Jesus’ baptism, and three and a half years later, He died, thereby officially fulfilling and abolishing the sacrificial service (Hebr.10:8,9). This was followed by a second three and a half years in which the Lord, as the Risen One, confirmed the new covenant for the people and the holy city. This ended with the stoning of Stephen and, immediately following, the calling of Paul. “To seal up vision and prophet” (Dan. 9:24) means making them inaccessible to Daniel’s people.

It must be clear that if the seventieth week in Daniel 9 has already been fulfilled in the past, that week can play no role in the interpretation of ‘Revelation.’ After all, the book of ‘Revelation’ speaks of future events. The fact that there will again be a half-week period does not mean that it must be the same period as in Daniel 9. In the entire biblical chronology leading up to the Millennium, jubilee years play a major role, as does the counting of weeks of years. A jubilee year is, after all, the fiftieth year after seven weeks of years.

Is it not also inconsistent to apply the twelve hundred and sixty days in ‘Revelation’ sometimes to the first half of the week and other times to the second half? If these were indeed two different periods of the same length, would John not have indicated this with different names? For example, by referring to the first half in days and the second half in months? The fact that he does not do so suggests that the twelve hundred and sixty days in Revelation 11:3 refer to the same period as in Revelation 12:6. The following also makes this clear.

Amidst Hostility, Drought, Plagues

The two witnesses will appear “in the lion’s den,” in the midst of a highly hostile environment. Yet they will prove to be untouchable.

“And if any one may will to injure them, fire doth proceed out of their mouth, and doth devour their enemies, and if any one may will to injure them, thus it behoveth him to be killed.”
Revelation 11:5 (YLT)

During the three and a half years of their prophecy, it will not rain. This is a repetition of what once happened in the time of Elijah, who also had divine authority to withhold rain for three years and six months in the land (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17). Thus, there will not only be drought and famine in the land (cf. the third seal in Rev. 6:5-6), but the land will also suffer under other plagues (cf. the fourth seal in Rev. 6:7-8).

“These have authority to shut the heaven, that rain may not rain in the days of their prophecy, and they have authority over the waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the land with every plague, as often as they may will.”
Revelation 11:6 (YLT)

Killed, but Not Buried

Towards the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days, the beast from the abyss will (finally) be able to kill the two witnesses. Their corpses will lie in the square of the great city, which is the temple square in Jerusalem. Before the eyes of the whole world, their bodies will be displayed there for three and a half days. To their great delight, the world will finally be rid of these hated troublemakers.

7 And when they may finish their testimony, the beast that is coming up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and shall overcome them, and shall kill them, 8 and their dead bodies are upon the broad-place of the great city (that is called spiritually Sodom, and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified), 9 and they shall behold—of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations—their dead bodies three days and a half, and they shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into tombs, 10 and those dwelling upon the land shall rejoice over them, and shall make merry, and shall send gifts to one another, because these—two prophets—did torment those dwelling upon the land.
Revelation 11 (YLT)

Raised and Ascended in the Cloud

The joy over the two slain witnesses will not only be great but also very short-lived. For after three and a half days, to the great astonishment of all, they will rise. Moreover, they will ascend to heaven “in the cloud.”

11 And after the three days and a half, a spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon those beholding them, 12 and they heard a great voice out of the heaven saying to them, ‘Come up hither;’ and they went up to the heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them.
Revelation 11 (YLT)

A Great Earthquake

The moment the two witnesses rise and ascend in the cloud coincides with the appearance of the Ben Adam in the clouds on the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:27; Zech. 14:4). There, directly east of the temple square, the two witnesses will join Him who appears there, along with His own. At that moment, a great earthquake will occur, splitting the Mount of Olives in two, and a tenth of the city will collapse.

“And in that hour there came a great earthquake, and the tenth of the city fell, and there were slain in the earthquake names of men—seven thousand…”
Revelation 11:13 (YLT)

The Survivors in Jerusalem Give Glory to God

That the cloud in which the two witnesses ascend is indeed connected to the coming of the Messiah on the Mount of Olives is evident not only from the great earthquake that will strike the city. It also follows from the fact that the survivors in the city will, with great reverence, give glory to the God of heaven. This clearly does not describe the beginning of “the great tribulation,” for at that time an abomination will be set up as the beginning of a godless cult. At the end, however, of “the great tribulation,” the remaining inhabitants of the city will acknowledge the one God (see also Matt. 24:29-31). Exactly as we read when the two witnesses have risen and ascended.

“… and seven thousand persons were slain in the earthquake, and the rest became greatly afraid, and they gave glory to the God of the heaven.”
Revelation 11:13 (YLT)

Delen: