The two witnesses are God's appointed witnesses who prophesy in Jerusalem for 1,260 days (the first 3½ years of the Tribulation), and whose death, resurrection, and ascension mark the midpoint of the seven-year period.
Les Feldick teaches that the two witnesses arrive on the streets of Jerusalem at the opening of the seven-year Tribulation, just as Israel is granted permission to restore temple worship (Clips 0, 1). Scripture records their 1,260-day prophesying, their death in Jerusalem, and their resurrection and ascension (Revelation 11:3, 7–12), which Les places at the midpoint of the seven years (Clips 2, 3, 7). From their ministry, the 144,000 young Jewish men are sealed and sent out with the Gospel of the Kingdom — the good news that the King is coming (Clips 1, 4, 5).
Revelation 11:3 — This verse introduces the two witnesses and sets their ministry at 1,260 days (three and a half years), which is the foundation for understanding their significance and timing in Jerusalem.
In Revelation 11:3, God declares, 'And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth' — a ministry period of 1,260 days, or three and a half years. The passage records that when the witnesses 'shall have finished their testimony,' the beast 'shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them' (Revelation 11:7). Their 'dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified' (Revelation 11:8) — the city of Jerusalem. Revelation 11:9 adds that peoples, kindreds, tongues, and nations shall see their dead bodies for three days and a half. After three and a half days, 'the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet' (Revelation 11:11). When a great voice from heaven said, 'Come up hither,' they 'ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them' (Revelation 11:12). In the same hour a great earthquake struck, and 'the tenth part of the city fell' (Revelation 11:13). The biblical account does not name the two witnesses.
Les Feldick teaches that the two witnesses are sent by God to Jerusalem at the very beginning of the seven-year Tribulation. He places their appearance 'at the very onset of the 7 years, as soon as Israel signs that treaty' with the Antichrist, and says they come to the streets of Jerusalem in the same opening days the Antichrist makes his appearance (Clips 0, 1). Israel, at this point, has been given permission to rebuild the temple, and temple worship comes back on the scene (Clip 0). Les describes the two witnesses as God's witnesses to the nation of Israel who minister primarily in the area of Jerusalem for 1,260 days — the first three and a half years of the Tribulation (Clips 2, 5). He deliberately refuses to name them, since the Scripture does not name them; some suggest Moses and Elijah or Elijah and Enoch, but he leaves them as 'two men of God's own choosing' (Clips 4, 5). Les connects the ministry of the two witnesses directly to the 144,000. He teaches that out of the witnesses' preaching, God seals and commissions 144,000 young Jewish men, who are then sent out to 'circumvent the globe' proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom — the good news that the King is coming to set up His Kingdom (Clips 1, 4, 5). These 144,000 will not be preaching the Gospel of Grace as the Church knows it, but rather the kingdom message proclaimed during the time of Christ and Peter and the Eleven; they will be saved on the merit of the cross, but their message will be 'The King is coming' (Clips 4, 5). At the midpoint of the seven years, Les teaches that the two witnesses are killed after their 3½-year testimony and their bodies lie on the streets of Jerusalem for three days (Clip 7). They are then resurrected and ascend to heaven, and the whole world sees them — an event Les says modern satellite television will make possible (Clips 3, 6). This happens at the same time the Antichrist moves his headquarters from Western Europe into the temple in Jerusalem, defiles it, and forces the Jews to stop their temple worship and worship him as God, triggering the final three and a half years of Jewish persecution (Clips 3, 7).
Les Feldick places the two witnesses at the very onset of the seven years, as soon as Israel signs the treaty with the Antichrist (Clip 1). He describes them coming to the streets of Jerusalem in the same opening days the Antichrist makes his appearance, just as Israel has been granted permission to build the temple and reinstitute temple worship (Clip 0). Les notes that the Jewish religious element has everything ready at the Temple Institute for the reinstitution of sacrificial worship — all they are waiting for is permission to build (Clip 0).
Revelation 11:3 gives the witnesses power to prophesy 'a thousand two hundred and threescore days' — a period Les calculates as three and a half years (Clips 2, 6). Les emphasizes that this is the first three and a half years of the Tribulation, not the last, because the witnesses' ascension in Revelation 11:12 is followed immediately by the earthquake of verse 13, placing their ministry's end at the midpoint of the seven years rather than at the end (Clip 2).
Les teaches that out of the preaching of the two witnesses, God seals and commissions 144,000 young Jewish men who are sent throughout the world (Clips 1, 4, 5). He is clear that these 144,000 will not preach the Gospel of Grace as the Church knows it, but will revert to the Gospel of the Kingdom as it was proclaimed during the time of Christ and Peter and the Eleven — the good news that the King is coming and will set up His Kingdom (Clips 1, 4, 5). Les notes that those who believe will be saved on the merit of the cross, but the message announced will be 'The King is coming' (Clip 4).
At the end of their 1,260-day ministry, the two witnesses are killed and their bodies lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three days (Clip 7; Scripture says 'three days and an half' in Revelation 11:11). They are then resurrected and taken up so that the whole world can see them ascend (Clip 7). Les specifically attributes the worldwide visibility to satellite television and modern communication technology, noting that before television people wondered how everyone on earth could see two dead bodies in Jerusalem (Clips 3, 6). Immediately after their ascension, the Antichrist comes to the temple, defiles it, and forces Israel to stop the temple worship and worship him as God — a development that triggers the severe persecution of the Jews in the final three and a half years (Clips 3, 7).
The Opening Days and Temple Permission
Les teaches that the two witnesses appear on the streets of Jerusalem at the very opening of the seven years, called to witness Jehovah to Israel at the same time the Antichrist grants Israel permission to rebuild the temple and restore temple worship.
The 144,000 and the Gospel of the Kingdom
Les teaches that God sends the two witnesses as soon as Israel signs the covenant, that they proclaim salvation to Israel, and that out of their ministry the 144,000 are sealed and sent into the world with the Gospel of the Kingdom — the King is coming.
1,260 Days: The First Half of the Tribulation
Les explains that the witnesses minister in the Jerusalem area for 1,260 days (three and a half years), and that this is the first half of the Tribulation because their ascension in Revelation 11:12 is followed by the earthquake of verse 13 at the middle, not the end.
Ascent, Then the Antichrist's Defilement
Les teaches that after the two witnesses are resurrected and ascend — visible to the whole world via satellite — the Antichrist comes to the temple, defiles it, and forces Israel to worship him, triggering the final three and a half years of persecution.
Not Named by Scripture
Les refuses to name the two witnesses since Scripture does not, and he again connects their preaching at the beginning of the Tribulation to the sealing and commissioning of the 144,000 with the message, 'The King is coming.'
Ministry to Israel
Les describes the two witnesses as men of God's own choosing who proclaim God's Word to the nation of Israel in the environs of Jerusalem, and from whose ministry the 144,000 are commissioned with the Gospel of the Kingdom as preached in Christ's day.
The World Sees the Bodies
Les shows how Revelation 11's prophecy that the whole world will see the two dead bodies in Jerusalem has become believable in the modern era of television and satellite (Telstar) communication.
Midpoint Timeline in Revelation
Les places the killing of the two witnesses, their three days in the street, and their resurrected ascent at the midpoint of the seven years, alongside the Antichrist moving his headquarters into the temple in Jerusalem and Satan's final expulsion from heaven.
Revelation 11:3: And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Establishes the two witnesses as God's own witnesses with a 1,260-day (three-and-a-half-year) ministry.
Revelation 11:7: And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Records the death of the two witnesses at the conclusion of their testimony.
Revelation 11:8: And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Identifies the great city where their bodies lie as Jerusalem, the place of the crucifixion.
Revelation 11:9: And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Shows the worldwide visibility of the witnesses' dead bodies, which Les connects to modern satellite communication.
Revelation 11:11: And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Describes the resurrection of the two witnesses after three and a half days.
Revelation 11:12: And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Records their ascension into heaven, the event Les places at the midpoint of the Tribulation.
Revelation 11:13: And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The earthquake immediately following the ascension, which Les uses to date the witnesses' ministry to the first half of the Tribulation.
No. Les says that since the Scripture does not name them, he deliberately leaves them anonymous. He notes that some speculate they could be Moses and Elijah or Elijah and Enoch, but he prefers to describe them simply as two men of God's own choosing (Clips 4, 5).
According to Les Feldick, they appear at the very beginning of the seven-year Tribulation — as soon as Israel signs the covenant with the Antichrist (Clip 1). Their arrival in the streets of Jerusalem coincides with Israel being granted permission to rebuild the temple and restore temple worship (Clip 0).
Les teaches that their message is the Gospel of the Kingdom — the good news that the King is coming to set up His Kingdom (Clips 1, 4). It is not the Gospel of Grace as the Church preaches it today, but the same kingdom message proclaimed during the time of Christ and Peter and the Eleven (Clip 5).
Les Feldick says the Antichrist then comes to the temple in Jerusalem, defiles it, and demands that the Jews stop their temple worship and worship him as God. This begins the awful persecution of Israel in the final three and a half years (Clips 3, 7).
Watch the Teaching: Revelation's Timeline: Tribulation to Eternity Explained