The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Kingdom of God Is at Hand, #23

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. (Revelation 11:3)

The two witnesses are two olive trees, speaking of the fact that there is a double portion of the anointing of the Holy Spirit abiding on them.

The two witnesses are also lampstands. The golden Lampstand of the Tabernacle of the Congregation is regarded by scholars as being a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lampstand is Christ, the Anointed One of God.

The fourth chapter of the Book of Zechariah reveals that there was, at the time of Zechariah, one lampstand; two olive trees, but one lampstand. The second lampstand, the Church of Christ, had not been created as yet.

However, during the Church Age the second lampstand, the Body of Christ, has been created. There were seven lampstands symbolizing the "seven churches which are in Asia." The one lampstand, the second lampstand of Revelation, Chapter 11, portrays the warlike remnant that has been and is now being drawn from the "seven churches." This is our understanding.

We see two olive trees, the number two speaking of the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness ("In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established"; "ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me"). In addition to the two olive trees of Zechariah, Chapter Four, there now are two lampstands.

Lampstands are solid gold. They never can refer symbolically to human beings. Wood is used in the Scriptures as a type of humanity while gold is a type of Divinity. The Lampstand of the Tabernacle of the Congregation was pure gold beaten into shape.

In Revelation, Chapter 11, we behold two lampstands. These two lampstands portray Christ and the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is being built to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

Christ working in and with His Body will herald the sixth creative day, the day of image and union.

The ministry of the two witnesses represents a change that will take place in the Divine testimony before Christ returns to earth. However, the fifth day, the day of life, the day of the Gospel work of bringing eternal life to those who believe, still will continue.

There will be, as we noticed before concerning John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, a period of overlap. The heralds of the thousand-year Kingdom Age will be on the earth concurrently with the traditional ministry of the churches of Christ.

Into the midst of the ministries and gifts of the Body of Christ will be thrust an earth-shaking testimony of the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God, a testimony clothed in the sackcloth of repentance, tormenting the earth with plagues.

The two witnesses, which are Christ and His conquering saints bearing the witness of the Kingdom under a double anointing of the Holy Spirit, will incorporate all the aspects of the previous witnesses:

As was true of Adam and Eve, one of the two witnesses will be created from the other. Eve was created from Adam. The Body of Christ is being fashioned from Christ's own body and blood.

To be continued.