It is difficult to ignore the allusion to the letters to the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia in these two witnesses. The revelation of Christ to Smyrna is that He was dead and is alive; the witnesses die and live again. To Philadelphia He is said to shut and no man opens; the witnesses have power to shut heaven that it rain not. Both churches are plagued by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan; the witnesses prophesy after the temple is measured (the true people of God), and the court is given to be trampled by the Gentiles (Jews who are not). Smyrna must be faithful unto death; the beast of the bottomless pit overcomes the two witnesses and kills them. Philadelphia will have her enemies to come and worship before her feet and be kept from the hour of temptation coming on the world; the witnesses stood on their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them, and after they were ascended to heaven there was a great earthquake on earth. Such similarities suggest that the two witnesses are in fact an emblem of the faithful church maintaining the testimony of Jesus amidst faithless professors of Christ.

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."