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The two witnesses.
The state of things under Joshua and Zerubbabel at the return from the captivity is to
be repeated on a vaster scale in the time of the end. In Rev. 11: we have the measuring
of the temple by an angel (verse 1), parallel to the measuring of Jerusalem by an angel in
Zech. 2: The two witnesses withstand the beast until their testimony is finished. This
testimony lasts for 42 months. Upon their martyrdom resurrection and ascension follows
the sounding of the seventh angel:--
"The kingdom of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ"
(Rev. 11: 15).
To this the two witnesses, the vision of Zech. 4:, and the golden lampstand of the
tabernacle bore their testimony. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy"
(Rev. 19: 10). It will be seen that "oil for the light" and for the "anointing"
(Exod. 35: 28) come to much the same thing. Every anointed priest and every anointed
king bore testimony to the day when Zech. 6: 12, 13 should be fulfilled:--
"Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH . . . . . and He shall be a priest upon
His throne."
All point forward to the King-Priest, after the order of Melchisedec. They too are to
combine kingship with priesthood. They are to be "a kingdom of priests', "a royal
priesthood" (Rev. 1: 16; I Pet. 2: 5, 9).
The seven lampstands.
While the unity of Israel, so far as God's view-point is concerned, remains unchanged
throughout their whole chequered history, their manifest witness as set forth by the seven
branched lampstand did not remain intact. When we come to the book of the Revelation,
we have seen separate lampstands, each standing for a church in Asia that was bearing a
testimony of some kind. Christ is seen in their midst as the great King-Priest, upholding
the seven angels who are responsible for the testimony of these seven churches. Failure
could involve the removal of a lampstand out of its place (Rev. 2: 5). Israel were the
Lord's witnesses (Isa. 43: 10), the tabernacle was called "the tabernacle of witness"
(Numb. 17: 7), they who reign for the thousand years include those who were beheaded
"for the witness of Jesus" (Rev. 20: 4). The ark is called both the ark of the covenant,
and the ark of testimony or witness* (Exod. 40: 3), and when the seven angels appeared,
then John said, "Behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony (or witness) in
heaven was opened".
The great thought of the lighted lampstand in the holy place is that of witness bearing.
Gen. 1: 3 differentiates "light" itself from a "light bearer" (Gen. 1: 14, 15), light being or
in 1: 3 and maor in 1: 14, 15. This distinction is carried over into the 70:
Exod. 25: 6 "oil for the light" uses maor, the light bearer. "Light" (or) occurs but once
in Exodus, namely, in 10: 23, whereas "light bearer" (maor) occurs seven times, and each
time is used of the lampstand.