Oh now it's starting to get interesting...
"The two witnesses have been identified by various theologians as real individuals, two groups of people, or as two concepts."
Textual analysis
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.
Revelation 11:4
According to the text, the two witnesses are symbolised as the "two olive trees and the two lampstands" that have the power to destroy their enemies, control the weather and cause plagues. Their description as "two olive trees and two lampstands" may be symbolism, allegory, or literal.
Identity
In attempting to exegete Revelation 11, commentators who hold to a premillennial eschatology generally interpret the two witnesses in one of three ways: (1) as individuals either manifested in some form of reincarnation; or "in the spirit" of Biblical prophets who once appeared in Bible history; or simply as two individuals newly arrived on the earth; (2) as corporate in nature (human) standing for the Church only or for Israel only; or both Israel and the Church; or for both Jewish and Gentiles believers in Jesus; or (3) as symbolism or an expression of biblical concepts (i.e., the Old and New Testaments; the Law and the Prophets; Mercy and Grace).
(Were gonna go with #1)
Enoch, Moses or Elijah
Early Christians, such as Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Hippolytus of Rome, have concluded that the two witnesses would be Enoch and Elijah, prophets who did not die because God "took" them. Others have proposed Moses as one of the witnesses, for his ability to turn water into blood and the power to plague the earth.
Modern theologians, such as John Walvoord, have furthered the point of indivisualism by comparing the "two lampstands" and the "two olive trees" of Revelation 11 to the two golden pipes and two olive trees/branches of Zechariah 4. By the identification of the two olive branches as "two anointed ones" or "two sons of the oil", in Zechariah, this reinforces the literalist interpretation that the two witnesses are two people. The personification of the two witnesses in Revelation, is so prevalent that according to theologian William Barclay, the passage seems to refer to definite persons.
Walvoord pointed out that because the Revelation passage does not specifically identify who the two witnesses are, it would be safer to conclude that they are not related to any previous historical character. The literalist typically has a dispensationalist or futurist interpretation that the two witnesses will appear in the Last days.
"It has also been proposed that the two witnesses are the witnessing church, because Jesus sent out his disciples "two by two".
(Very early on in our saga honey told me..."The time has come for him to bring his two's together..." and were gonna go with two people here)
According to Codex Alexandrinus (A), Codex Vaticanus, Codex Ephraemi (C), as the oldest manuscripts, as well as early church theologians such as Arethas of Caesarea, the original Greek text of Revelation 11:8 uses the word 'body' instead of 'bodies', whereas later the text switches back to using the plural form 'bodies' in verse 9. The plural v. singular ambiguity is reinforced in Rev. 11:5 where the original Greek text of the oldest manuscripts uses the term 'mouth' in the singular instead of 'mouths' in the plural. Therefore, verse 11:5 reads: "If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies," and verse 11:8 reads "And their dead body shall lie in the street of the great city." Some authors have suggested that this grammar is the strongest clue to identifying who this end time prophets (or prophet) are, such as Leon G. Van Wert is his book The Jewish Popes: The Two Harbingers of the End Times,[16] who elucidates how it is possible, based on the grammatical interpretation of the text, that the two witnesses be represented by just one person who would be a Jewish Pope, since the text requires that the "two" witnesses have one common i.e. shared mouth, and one shared body, and therefore "they" have to be a single person. However, others have suggested to use the scriptural definition of the meaning of one body from Genesis 2:24, where a husband and a wife are united to form one flesh. In Mark 10:8 Jesus emphasizes that after marriage a husband and a wife "are no longer two, but one flesh." There are many Bible readers and theologians who share this view, and they have pointed out that this fact of the possibility of an end-time female prophet should be allowed to surface to greater public awareness in spite of fears due to alleged accusations of a deeply rooted misogynistic attitude at certain echelons in Church and theological organizations.
(Okay a few things here, and they are important to remember...
First:
"the original Greek text of Revelation 11:8 uses the word 'body' instead of 'bodies'," and The plural v. singular ambiguity is reinforced in Rev. 11:5 where the original Greek text of the oldest manuscripts uses the term 'mouth' in the singular instead of 'mouths' in the plural. Therefore, verse 11:5 reads: "If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies," and verse 11:8 reads "And their dead body shall lie in the street of the great city."..."...
"it is possible based on the grammatical interpretation of the text, that the two witnesses be represented by just one person." since the text requires that the "two" witnesses have one common i.e. shared mouth, and one shared body, and therefore "they" have to be a single person.
However, others have suggested to use the scriptural definition of the meaning of one body from Genesis 2:24, where a husband and a wife are united to form one flesh. In Mark 10:8 Jesus emphasizes that after marriage a husband and a wife "are no longer two, but one flesh."
You ready to get your mind blown?
Me and honey having been saying to each other:
"One soul two bodies for years"
Documented...nine and a half years ago...
"One soul...
in two bodies...
it will be that obvious...
it will only take people a glance
to see truth...
Love you..."
So... here is the deal with the two witnesses:
It's the spirit(s) of two others who have come before (I'll tell ya who here in a minute), It's two people with one soul, not merely one person, and? It's a husband wife team. :-). Yup.
Its one SOUL with two bodies
as in the male and female embodiments of the divine spoke of by the Shakers:
"In America, the Shakers identified the witnesses as the male and female aspects of God, linked both to Christ's first coming (as Jesus of Nazareth) and second coming (as Mother Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers).
AND?
"others have suggested to use the scriptural definition of the meaning of one body from Genesis 2:24, where a husband and a wife are united to form one flesh. In Mark 10:8 Jesus emphasizes that after marriage a husband and a wife "are no longer two, but one flesh."
There are many Bible readers and theologians who share this view, and they have pointed out that this fact of the possibility of an end-time female prophet should be allowed to surface to greater public awareness in spite of fears due to alleged accusations of a deeply rooted misogynistic attitude at certain echelons in Church and theological organizations.
Can a brother get an AMEN?
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