SYMBOLOGY OF THE TWO WITNESSES; ZECH 3:8-4:14
I owe a large debt of gratitude to Pastor Adam Colson for creating the graphic artwork presented above.I discussed the model presented in Zech 3:8-4:4 with Adam and asked if he could create some artword depicting the model for me for this study.What a beautiful creation he came up with!
Revelation chapter 11 presents a discussion of two very powerful and effective witnesses for God on earth during the first half of the seven year tribulation period.These two witnesses are killed by the antichrist about five months after the midpoint of the tribulation period.They are presented as lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem and visible to people all over the world.After three and one half days God miraculously resurrects them and raptures them to heaven.This event marks the end of the fifth judgment and beginning of the sixth tribulation judgment.It is marked by a severe earthquake.The identity of the two witnesses is very mysterious.The artwork above and the table and discussion below are presented to help us understand the identity of the two witnesses.See the commentary on Rev chapter 11 as well as the lampstands, olive trees and two witnesses entries in the symbology dictionary.for much more detail.
INTERPRETATION OF THE LAMPSTAND & OLIVE TREE SYMBOLOGY IN REV 11 AND ZECH 3:8-4:14
| In Zech they are either Elijah and Elisha (or Moses) or saints within Israel and Judah. In Rev they also include two lampstands; a Jewish church and a gentile church.SYMBOLOGY FROM REV & ZECH 3:8-4:14 | SCRIPTURE | WHAT THE SYMBOL REPRESENTS | INTERPRETATION OF THE SYMBOL |
| Two olive trees | Zech 4:2-3, 11-14, Rev 11:4 |
Israel and Judah or Elijah and Elisha (or Moses), those who stand before the Lord |
In the Zech model they provide the fruit from which oil might be produced when crushed. They also seem to be the two witnesses in Zech 4. In Rev they are part of the two witnesses with the 2 lampstands being the other part. |
| Lampstand | Zech 4:2, 11, Rev 1:12, 13, 20; 11:4 | The future church | In the Zech model they provide the vehicle through which the Spirit is sent to all the world. In Rev a lampstand is a church. |
| Oil | Isa 53:5, Zech 3:8, 4:2, 6, 11-12, Matt 25:1-13 |
The Holy Spirit | In the Zech model the fruit of the olive tree, the olive, is crushed to produce the oil which permits the saving grace of Jesus to go out into all the world. Jesus was the lion of the tribe of Judah, the fruit of the olive trees which was crushed for our iniquities (Isa 53:5). Jesus is the fruit of Israeland Judah which was crushed to provide saving grace to the world. |
| Two gold pipes | Zech 4:11-12, John 14:16, 16:7 |
The Father and the Son | They both sent the Holy Spirit to the church. In the Zech model they allow the oil to go from the crushed olives to a place where it can be distributed to the lampstand. |
| Bowl | The source of the Holy Spirit. The act of being saved allows the Spirit to enter the individual, to flow from the bowl to the individual. | In the Zech model it is the single source from which the individual lamps may obtain oil so that they may become transmitters of God’s light to the world. There are seven channels thru which the lamps may connect to the oil source. | |
| 7 Channels | Zech 4:2, Rev 1:4, 4:5, 5:6 Isa 11:2 |
The sevenfold Spirit of God; the seven vehicles through which an individual may become a believer and thus connect to God. The Spirit is one in person, but works in seven different ways to reach individuals with the truth and salvation provided only by belief in Jesus. | Isa 11:2 is sometimes referred to as describing the sevenfold Spirit of God. They are six channels described through which a person can become a believer and thus receive the Spirit. They are the Spirits of wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and fear of the Lord. These six describe how the Spirit works while the seventh aspect of the Spirit is who he is; he is the third person in the Godhead. |
7 Lamps, 7 eyes of Jesus |
Rev 1:4, 4:4, 5:6 Zech 3:8-9, 4:2, 7, 10, Eph 2:19-21 |
The Spirit of Jesus at work within the church, the believers. Jesus and his bride, the church, was a profound mystery in the Old Testament, Eph 5:32. | The lampstand is the church and the seven lamps are in the lampstand. The Spirit of Jesus is within every believer in the church. He allows the believer to shine the light of Jesus into a dark world. That provides the vehicle (eyes) which Jesus uses to focus his vision in the world. |
| 2 Witnesses | Zech 4:14, Rev 11:3-4 |
In Zech they are either Elijah and Elisha (or Moses) or saints within Israel and Judah. In Rev they also include two lampstands; a Jewish church and a gentile church. | In the Zech model they were either Israel and Judah or Elijah and Elisha (or Moses) and were anointed with oil to serve the Lord of the earth. In Rev they are the two olive trees, Elijah and Elisha, and the two lampstands, the Jewish church and the gentile church, and were those who stood before the Lord. |
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION OF THE SYMBOLOGY OF THE LAMPSTANDS AND OLIVE TREES
THE MYSTERY OF THE LAMPSTANDS
- Following is additional discussion of the symbology presented in table and graphic art form above.This whole presentation is being provided to aid us in understanding the two witnesses of Rev 11:3-14, who are called two olive trees and two lampstands who stand before the Lord.A model is presented in Zech 3:8-4:4 which can also aid us in uderrstanding the two witnesses.
- There was only one lampstand in the Old Testament model in Zech 3-4.Why only one?
- Lampstands represent the church in the Bible.When they are presented in concert with Olive Trees we see a distinction being drawn between how God uses the Jews and gentiles.When the Jews entered the Promised Land in the Old Testament there were initially 7 gentile tribes or nations living there.In Old Testament models these 7 nations represented the totality of all gentiles on earth.Thus, there was only one lampstand and that lampstand was looking to the future gentile church.God’s plan was to eventually reach these gentile nations with his gospel and to save them.The Jews failed miserably in their own attempts to convert these gentile peoples to God (Isa 26:18).However, God’s plan was to use the fruit of the Jewish people, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5}, the Branch, the Stump of Jesse (Isa 11:1, 10), the root of David (Rev 5:5), to eventually save these gentile nations.The Jewish people were key to God’s plan in that God used the fruit of the olive tree, which God uses to represent Israel and Judah (1 Kings 6:31, Jer 11:14-17, Rom 11:17-24), to save the gentiles.The fruit of the olive tree is an olive which is crushed in olive presses to make oil which is used for many purposes.One key purpose in the Old Testament was to fuel the lamps in their lampstands.Likewise, Jesus is a fruit of the olive tree in that his human lineage is in the line of the Jewish people.Just as the olives were crushed for oil to provide light for the world as they powered lamps, so too was Jesus crushed to produce oil to provide light for a dark world.The oil in this case was the Holy Spirit and the lampstand holding the lamp was the gentile church.As the Holy Spirit burns in the lives of believers all over the world today he is powered by a product produced by the Jewish people.That product is Jesus being crushed on a cross where he died for the sins of all men of all ages, so that their sins might be forgiven and forgotten.In the Old Testament there was only one lampstand, and it represented all gentile nations.Remember, in the model the 7 gentile nations originally in the holy land represented the totality of gentiles on the earth.Jesus continued to use this model in his feeding of the 4000 in Matt 15:32-39.He was in a gentile area across the Sea of Galilee.He feed 4000 gentiles using only 7 loaves of bread and a few fish, and had 7 baskets remaining after everyone had eaten.The lesson in this story is that Jesus is sufficient for all gentile nations, being represented here by the number 7.This contrasts with Matt 14:15-21 where Jesus fed 5000 Jewish people using only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.After everyone had eaten there were 12 baskets left over.The lesson here is that Jesus is sufficient to meet the needs of all Jewish people, being represented here by the number 12, the total number of tribes form which all Jewish people descend.
- There were seven lampstands in Rev chapter 1, in the first century.These represented the church in the first century and seem to represent the church down through the ages until the church is raptured to heaven.I suspect that there are seven for a couple of reasons including (1) because the church is basically gentile and seven is used in the Bible to represent the totality of gentile nations in both Old and New Testament models, as we saw above, and (2) because Revelation was addressed to seven specific first century churches.Beginning in Rev 4 we jump to the time of the tribulation period, the seven year period of great wrath upon the earth.We never see seven lampstands again in Revelation.I suspect that is because the church has been raptured to heaven.The only other time lampstands are mentioned in Revelation is in describing the two witnesses in Rev 11:4 and here there are two lampstands.Why are there now only two lampstands on the earth?
- There are two lampstands in the middle of the tribulation period.When the two witnesses are described in Rev 11:4, they are said to be two olive trees and two lampstands who stand before the Lord.The term “who stand before the Lord” is very key to understanding the identity of the two witnesses.We expect that the seven lampstands from Rev 1 have been raptured before the tribulation period.We are now at the midpoint of the tribulation and we see two lampstands on earth.Who are they?In the study of the two witnesses in Rev chapter 11 we concluded the following about the two olive trees and the two lampstands who stand before the Lord.
- The two olive trees are two very powerful individual leaders of the movement to convince the world of the purpose for the judgment that is taking place and to win as many as possible for the kingdom that is soon coming.These two tribulation prophets in some way operate in the spirit of the two great Old Testament prophets Elijah and Elisha (or possibly Moses), who stood before the Lord.
- The two lampstands are priests in the order of Levi who stand before the Lord.Remember, each believer is his own priest and may come into the presence of the Lord.One lampstand is composed of those Jews who have become believers in the first half of the tribulation period and are servants of Christ; they either are or include the 144,000.The other lampstand is composed of those gentiles who have become believers in the first half of the tribulation period.Both are obviously churches.
THE SEVEN LAMPS BLAZING BEFORE THE THRONE
- We understand the seven lamps to be the seven spirits of God, representing the Holy Spirit.See seven spirits of God in the symbology dictionsary for more discussion on this.
- The seven lamps blazing before the throne in Rev 4:5 were normally in the lampstand.Why were they suddenly in heaven before the throne and not in the lampstand?Where is the lampstand now?
- The churches are now in heaven.The lampstand is now with Jesus.The bride is now with the bridegroom.Jesus is now directly within the bride.
- Why are the lamps still blazing?Are they just waiting for a soon and quick return to earth with Jesus at the Second Coming to become his witnesses on earth during the 1000 year millennium ?We see in Rev 21:11 that the glorified believers will shine with the Glory of God and the brilliance of a precious jewel, clear as crystal.This brilliant shining will last forever for the glorified believers.
- See the chart Interpretation of the lampstand and olive tree symbology in Rev and Zech 3:8-4:14.
ADDITIONAL SYMBOLOGY
- Jesus is presented as the branch in Zech 3:8, and also in Zech 6:12, Isa 11:1, Jer 23:5, & 33:15.He is said to be a branch out of David and a branch out of the stump of Jesse, David’s father.God refers to Israel and Judah as olive trees in several places including Jer 11:14-17.Since David and Jesse were olive trees in Old Testament symbology, Jesus as a branch out of the stump of Jesse would also symbolically be an olive tree.A shoot, a branch sprung up from the cut off stump of the olive tree.This branch grew into an olive tree and the old branches were cut off when the Jews rejected him, Rom 11:13-24.New branches were grafted into the olive tree, branches which were not natural olive tree branches.Of course the natural branches were the Jewish people and the new branches were the gentiles who became believers in Jesus and accepted his gospel.Thus Jesus is also seen as an olive tree and gentile Christians are a part of this tree.We also note that the original branches could be grafted back in and one day this will happen,At the present time the branches are slowly being grafted back in one by one, but at the end of the tribulation period they will be grafted back in in mass.
- Jesus is seen as the tree of life in the Garden of Eden in Genesis and also in heaven in Rev 22.The tree of life in heaven is continuously bearing fruit which provides for eternal life for all of those in heaven.Again, we can view this tree as an olive tree and its fruit as olives which are continuously being crushed to provide an endless supply of oil for all of those in heaven.As we know, oil represents the Holy Spirit. This models the fact that Jesus one time sacrifice of himself, in reality, provides an endless supply of eternal life for all of those who are willing to accept it.This olive tree model is simply a timeless reminder of the great sacrifice that Jesus made to purchase us for himself for eternity.
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