The Claim

There's talk in prophetic circles that the two witnesses of Revelation aren't just coming - they're already here. Some are going further and saying they're one of them. That's a big claim, and Revelation 11:3-12 gives us far more to measure it against than most people realize.

Before anyone rushes to name names, let's read what John actually wrote. Then we'll look at who's been proposed, who's claimed the title before, and what happens when a claim meets the text.

What the Text Says

It opens with God Himself making the appointment: “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth” (Revelation 11:3). Notice who's doing the giving. Nobody nominates himself.

Then John describes their power. “fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies” (Revelation 11:5). In Revelation 11:6 they shut the sky so no rain falls, turn waters to blood, and strike the earth with plagues as often as they desire.

Then comes the end of their ministry: “When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them” (Revelation 11:7). Their bodies lie in the street of the great city (Revelation 11:8) for three and a half days (Revelation 11:9) while the world celebrates (Revelation 11:10).

And then, “the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet” (Revelation 11:11). They hear a voice say “Come up here” (Revelation 11:12), and they go up in a cloud while their enemies watch. That's the whole package - appointed, empowered, killed, raised, and taken up in plain sight.

Who Are They? Moses and Elijah

The water turning to blood echoes Moses (Exodus 7:20), and the shut sky and consuming fire echo Elijah (1 Kings 17:1; 2 Kings 1:10). “I will send you Elijah the prophet” (Malachi 4:5) before the day of the Lord, and both men stood with Jesus on the mountain (Luke 9:30-31). As GotQuestions summarized it, Jewish tradition also expects both to return.

Who Are They? Enoch and Elijah

Neither man died. Enoch was “taken away so that he did not see death” (Hebrews 11:5) (Genesis 5:24), and Elijah “went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). Supporters of this view point to “appointed for men to die once” (Hebrews 9:27) and reason that these two still have a death ahead of them, which is exactly what Revelation 11:7 describes.

Who Are They? Two Unnamed Men

Scripture never names them. Their description in “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth” (Revelation 11:4) points back to “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:14). Christian Widener of End Times Berean explained that he thinks they're most likely two ordinary men living in our present age who'll be supernaturally appointed, the way Saul was called on the Damascus road (Acts 9:1-19) or the way fire fell at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). He also noted that Scripture doesn't say when their 1,260 days begin.

Who Are They? Symbolic

Because “the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:20), some teach the two lampstands represent the witnessing church, or Israel and the church together.

Someone Has Always Claimed It

None of this is new. In 1630s London, a weaver named John Bull gathered a small following alongside Richard Farnham. When rumors spread that Farnham claimed to be the Second Coming of Christ, he answered by asserting that he and Bull were the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3. Bull was in prison by 1636.

Sam Storms noted that countless people through history have believed they were the two witnesses, including two seventeenth-century London tailors, John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton. Every generation produces its candidates. None of those claims produced the picture John describes.

Now the Claim Is Made Again

Today the same claim is surfacing in videos, sermons, and online ministries - someone saying the two are already walking among us, or that he's one of them. We won't name individuals in this lesson. The point here is the standard, not the personality.

Timing is where the text gets specific. Widener wrote that the witnesses come on the scene at the same time as the antichrist. “they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months” (Revelation 11:2) - and verse 3 gives the witnesses that same window. When a reader asked why we haven't seen them, Widener answered that it would be difficult to argue that Jerusalem is currently being trampled, so the witnesses shouldn't be identifiable yet.

Whether or not you share his timeline, the principle comes straight from the text: John places the witnesses inside a specific window. Any claim has to answer when that window opens.

Running the Claim Through the Text

Here's the test. Who appointed him? Revelation 11:3 says God gives the power, and it isn't self-declared. Where's the power? Fire from the mouth, a sealed sky, blood in the waters, plagues on demand. Where's the clock? A 1,260-day ministry inside the trampling of the holy city. And where's the ending? Killed by the beast, exposed in the street for three and a half days, celebrated by the world, then raised and taken up while their enemies watch.

A title someone announces about himself, with none of that behind it, doesn't fit the description. And even real miracles aren't enough on their own, because “false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). That's why “test the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1) - and why “the prophet has spoken it presumptuously” (Deuteronomy 18:22) when the word doesn't come to pass.

There's also a lesson in humility. Jesus said of John the Baptist, “he is Elijah who is to come” (Matthew 11:14). Yet when John was asked directly whether he was Elijah, he answered, “I am not” (John 1:21). The man Jesus pointed to didn't announce the title. Identity in prophecy is God's to declare.

Don't Wait for Two Men - Be a Witness

Here's something that gets missed. Widener pointed out that the Greek word for witnesses in Acts 1:8 is the same word John uses in Revelation 11:3 - the word we get martyr from. Jesus said, “you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Now notice what Jesus tied to the end of the age: “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). The end doesn't wait for somebody to announce he's a prophet. It waits on witnesses - ordinary believers who actually open their mouths.

Look again at what makes the two witnesses untouchable. It isn't the fire or the plagues. It's the timing: the beast can't touch them until “they finish their testimony” (Revelation 11:7). Nothing in hell can end your assignment early, either. And “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11). That's the recipe - the blood, the word, and a life held loosely.

The quiet killer of testimony is shame. Paul told Timothy, “do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord” (2 Timothy 1:8). Fear of what people will think has shut more mouths than any beast ever will.

Your Challenge

So here's your challenge, and it starts today. First, before you believe or share any clip where someone says he's one of the two, run it through the four questions above - who appointed him, where's the power, where's the clock, and where's the ending. Second, write down the names of three people who don't know Jesus, and by the end of this week tell one of them, face to face or by phone, what He has done in your life. Make it specific and personal, not a church invitation. Third, write down the one thing you'd refuse to deny even if it cost you your platform, your income, or your reputation, and keep it where you'll see it every morning.

The two witnesses will stand when their hour comes, and nobody will have to announce it - the sky will shut and the fire will fall. Until then, the assignment for the rest of us is quieter and no less real. Don't spend your energy hunting for the two. Spend it becoming a witness. Stand where you are, speak while you can, and don't be ashamed of the One you're standing for.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV).