The church overflowed by the world
Samson and the two witnesses compared
Commentary on Revelation 11:1-15 by David Pareus
The Old Testament ends with the words of the prophet Malachi:
Malachi 4:4-6
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in
Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the LORD:
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse.
Malachi said, remember the law of Moses, and his prophecy included a promise of an Elijah to come. In the NT, Paul called the law a schoolmaster, that brings us to Christ. [Galatians 3:24] John's prophecy about the two witnesses in Revelation 11 alludes to the same two prophets, Moses and Elijah, who were mentioned by Malachi.
The Jews in the time of Jesus looked for a literal fulfilment of Malachi's prophecy. Some thought that Jesus could be the Elijah who Malachi said would come, but Jesus told his disciples that Elias had come already.
Matthew 17:12
But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not,
but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the
Son of man suffer of them.
Jesus clearly referred to John the Baptist here. Malachi's prophecy was not about a literal return of Elijah, but about the Spirit that inspired him, and all the prophets. Jesus sent his Spirit to his disciples. The Spirit was in Jesus, as well as in John. The angel in Revelation 19:10 said, "...the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
Moses and Elijah were the two prophets who appeared to the disciples with Jesus, in the vision of the transfiguration.
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