Who are the two olive trees and two candlesticks in Revelation 11?
The two olive trees and two candlesticks are the two witnesses who prophesy for 1,260 days, or three and a half years, as God’s messengers standing before the God of the earth. The candlesticks picture the light they give amid tribulation darkness, like spiritual lighthouses.
Les explains that Revelation 11:4 identifies the two witnesses as the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. They are God’s messengers for that time, prophesying or speaking forth for 1,260 days, or three and a half years. The candlestick, he suggests, refers to the light it gives forth. In the midst of tribulation darkness, wickedness, iniquity, and cataclysmic events, these two men will still be like a lighthouse, a spiritual lighthouse. Verses 5 and 6 show they have special power for their own protection as they proclaim the Word of God: fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. Les notes that many feel one witness will be Elijah because he has power to shut heaven so it does not rain, just as Elijah stopped rain for three years in the Old Testament. The power over water to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with plagues gives the idea it could be Moses. Les says he does not get dogmatic about their identity.
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.