The book of Revelation speaks of two witnesses who will emerge upon the scene in the last days - manifesting great power upon the earth for 3 1/2 years.
These gents will not be anyone with whom to trifle - for they will have great authority to bring famine, pestilence, and cause incredible mayhem in the discourse of their duties. For students of The Word who have been misled by those who contend that the old and new covenants differ from one another by way of wrath and grace - you should really read some of the ghastly details of what happens in the Book of Revelation. When I last looked, Revelation was written post-New Covenant - and the two witnesses will be encouraged to put the hammer down on any who refuse to repent. They will NOT be seeker-sensitive...
"Old Testament" times are indeed coming.
The two witnesses will be dreaded by the masses. So much, in fact, that when they are killed by the beast, the entire world will gloat over their bodies and refuse them burial (for three whole days). The wicked will send each other gifts and congratulations over the sight of their corpses - until the corpses are suddenly revived by the voice of Almighty God, who will call them up into Heaven in view of one and all.
The first witness is the Prophet Elijah, who was taken up in a whirlwind without facing the sting of mortal death. This identification is the most obvious - for his return is even foretold in the book of Malachi (4:5):
"See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes..."
But it is the identity of the 2nd Witness that stirs controversy among eschatology scholars. Though it really shouldn't - for the Word of God is perfectly consistent from cover-to-cover, leaving the identity of the 2nd Witness clear.
It is NOT Moses. Moses Died. Left his body - was buried by God Himself. What Moses may now be doing among the Great Cloud of Witnesses is beyond discovery - but we do know that he is no longer in his flesh and is thus disqualified from continuing his work among the mortal.
"Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment..." Hebrews 9:27
No (and of this I am certain): There are only TWO non-deity individuals in history who have escaped death entirely. The first was the antediluvian patriarch, Enoch. Like Elijah, he walked with God and was taken up in a whirlwind to be seen no more.
Though I do not pretend to know where Enoch and Elijah have passed these the last few millennia - I do know that they are still in their flesh and are thus qualified to continue in their usefulness to God as mortal agents of free will.
Enoch is a witness of all that befell the earth before the first age was closed with the great deluge of Noah. Elijah is a witness of the wickedness that caused the kingdom age of this earth to fall into disarray and judgment. Both men walked with God in very ungodly times, proving themselves powerful and dreadful in their day as witnesses against the wicked.
Elijah was taken up at a location just east of the Jordan river near Jericho - having exited the country by the same mysterious method that God used to bring The Children of Israel into the land, hundreds of years earlier. He split the Jordan River for Elijah and Elisha, who walked across on dry land. It was a part of his witness against that age.
But what of Enoch? From whence did He go up? The book of Enoch is clear that nobody knows where he ascended. But consider what we've discussed in recent posts. The antediluvian world looked much different than it did after the Ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat. Because all land was before that time one great uber-continent (now called "Pangaea"), he could have ascended from any location that is now spread out upon the earth. It is widely assumed that this also occurred in the middle-east.
But that is mere conjecture - it supersedes our intel.
Many believe (as do I) that the location of Eden (and it's garden) once stretched across the area that we now know as the Middle-East - and according to the book of Genesis, that land was off limits to man during the first age (post-fall of mankind). Wherever Adam resettled to raise his family, it was not in that part of the world known as "The Holy Land". By extension, Enoch could have been taken up from anywhere.
I'll stop here - but I wanted to spark a little out-of-the-box thinking. Just a final question to nudge the synapses:
Did North and South America REALLY sit uninhabited until indigenous peoples walked across some narrow snowy slit of land to settle here? That's what I was taught in school. Or - if Pangaea explains the matter - could it not be that many ruins that now litter these continents go back much farther than academe would care to suggest - and give many clues of the antediluvian world that was swept away in the great flood?
And if this is true - where might have Adam and Eve raised their boys? And from whence was Enoch called up?
This isn't a mere rhetorical exercise. There are answers...
Your brother and servant in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Mark Scott Grimmett GoldenLight Ministries