These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
The two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth are the two witnesses, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Together the two Testaments testify to the origin and enduring authority of God's law and to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come, while the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy. The olive-tree and candlestick imagery shows the Scriptures giving light, for God's word is a lamp and a light for the path.
The two olive trees are also heavenly messengers who supply golden oil through tubes to replenish the lamps. That supply of oil means God's entrusted people must communicate light and the saving message to others. It tests whether leaders at the heart of the work are faithful vessels for receiving and sharing that light.
The verse stands in a prophecy foretelling the suppression of the Scriptures during papal supremacy and the terrible results to France from the domination of the man of sin, with the Scriptures' suppression and apparent defeat especially connected with France and the Revolution. In that prophecy the two witnesses prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth, and when they finish their testimony the beast ascending out of the bottomless pit makes war against them and kills them. Their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where the Lord was crucified, dwellers on earth rejoice and send gifts because the two prophets tormented them, and after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God enters them and they stand while great fear falls on beholders. The forty and two months and the thousand two hundred and threescore days are the same time of the church's oppression from Rome, the 1,260 years of papal supremacy from A.D. 538 to 1798, ending when a French army entered Rome and made the pope a prisoner who died in exile, after which the papal hierarchy never wielded its former power. The persecution did not continue through the whole period because God cut short the fiery trial, and through the Reformation persecution was brought to an end before 1798.
The verse belongs to the eleventh chapter, which must be read verse by verse to learn the things yet to take place in the cities, giving God's special indication of His coming display of power because of the sins of cities, as shown in the recent destruction of a sinful city. That destruction must not be ignored, made light of, or treated with indifference, but calls those who believe the prophecies to hear God's voice. Believers must not flatter themselves that they will build greater buildings or defiantly invest their means as before, lest God exercise His power to counteract their efforts, and those who have abused their privileges and wronged their fellow men are called to make amends.
The two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth are the two witnesses, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Together the two Testaments testify to the origin and enduring authority of God's law and to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come, while the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy. The olive-tree and candlestick imagery shows the Scriptures giving light, for God's word is a lamp and a light for the path.
The two olive trees are also heavenly messengers who supply golden oil through tubes to replenish the lamps. That supply of oil means God's entrusted people must communicate light and the saving message to others. It tests whether leaders at the heart of the work are faithful vessels for receiving and sharing that light.
The verse stands in a prophecy foretelling the suppression of the Scriptures during papal supremacy and the terrible results to France from the domination of the man of sin, with the Scriptures' suppression and apparent defeat especially connected with France and the Revolution. In that prophecy the two witnesses prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth, and when they finish their testimony the beast ascending out of the bottomless pit makes war against them and kills them. Their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where the Lord was crucified, dwellers on earth rejoice and send gifts because the two prophets tormented them, and after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God enters them and they stand while great fear falls on beholders. The forty and two months and the thousand two hundred and threescore days are the same time of the church's oppression from Rome, the 1,260 years of papal supremacy from A.D. 538 to 1798, ending when a French army entered Rome and made the pope a prisoner who died in exile, after which the papal hierarchy never wielded its former power. The persecution did not continue through the whole period because God cut short the fiery trial, and through the Reformation persecution was brought to an end before 1798.
The verse belongs to the eleventh chapter, which must be read verse by verse to learn the things yet to take place in the cities, giving God's special indication of His coming display of power because of the sins of cities, as shown in the recent destruction of a sinful city. That destruction must not be ignored, made light of, or treated with indifference, but calls those who believe the prophecies to hear God's voice. Believers must not flatter themselves that they will build greater buildings or defiantly invest their means as before, lest God exercise His power to counteract their efforts, and those who have abused their privileges and wronged their fellow men are called to make amends.