Okay, let me get this straight:
Two churches are clothed in sackcloth - like the OT prophet John the Baptist wore - and kill those who attack them by fire preceding out of their mouths, and two churches can stop it from raining, and two churches are killed, and lie dead in the streets for 3.5 days, and are resurrected then taken up to heaven?
Or, 144,000 Jews who, btw, follow Jesus everywhere He goes, do the same thing? Burn those attacking them by fire? All 144,000 are killed, though Jesus is right there with them - lie dead in the streets 3.5 days, then resurrected and are taken up to heaven- and this after Jesus already resurrected them once already?
Really?
And did you miss that both Elijah and Enoch were taken alive up into the heavens?
It would seem very likely that the only two people who were ever taken to heaven without dying, weren’t just taken to make an interesting Sunday school story. but to be the two witnesses during the tribulation.
Allow me to introduce you to David Guzik, who explains why the two witnesses are men who the symbols of the two candlesticks and two olive trees are applied to, by using and citing, scholarship on the issue:
The ministry of the two witnesses.
“And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.
a. My two witnesses: This introduces two of the more interesting characters of Revelation, the two witnesses. The character of their ministry is prophetic (they will prophesy); they preach and demonstrate repentance (clothed in sackcloth), and they have an effective ministry (I will give power).
i. The two witnesses indeed ministry with power. “Such power, in fact, that they are able to witness for 1,260 days in spite of the antagonism of the world.” (Walvoord)
b. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands: The witnesses have an unique, continual empowering from the Holy Spirit, as shown in Zechariah’s olive trees and oil lamps picture (Zec 4:2-3; Zec 4:14).
i. The passage from Zechariah had its first application to two men in Zechariah’s day: Joshua and Zerubbabel. “Just as these two witnesses were raised up to be lampstands or witnesses for God and were empowered by olive oil representing the power of the Holy Spirit, so the two witnesses of Revelation 11 will likewise execute their prophetic office.” (Walvoord)
ii. In the picture from Zechariah, oil lamps are filled directly from olive trees which “pipe” oil right to the lamps. This is a picture of continual, abundant supply. If we will be witnesses, we must first have something to witness - our own personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Then, we must have the power of the Holy Spirit to bring forth the story of what we have witnessed effectively.
iii. “In this book of the Revelation the Holy Ghost borrows all the elegancies and flowers in the story of the Old Testament, thereby to set out the story of the New in succeeding ages.” (Trapp)
c. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies: The two witnesses have special protection from God, similar to Elijah’s in 2 Kings 1.
d. These have power to shut heaven . . . they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire: The two witnesses have the power to bring both drought and plague, similar to the power Elijah (Jas 5:17-18) and Moses (Exodus 7-12) had.
e. In the ancient Greek grammar, all the nouns used to speak of the two witnesses in this passage are in the masculine gender. The two witnesses are definitely two men.
2. (Rev 11:7-10) The death of the two witnesses.
When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
Maranatha