That understanding of the two witnesses coincides perfectly with the picture that is given to us in Revelation 11:1–2, where John is given a rod (which is a measuring stick) and he is told to measure just the inner court of the temple. In Revelation 11:2 he is emphatically told not to measure anything else of the temple. Don't measure the court that is around that inner part of the temple, and don't measure anything beyond in the city of Jerusalem either. Don't measure any of that. Just measure the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies – that inner sanctuary – and the people who are worshipping there. What is happening in those two verses is that Christ is telling John to measure who is a part of the true church of Christ and who are simply nominal Christians in the earth. All the people are part of the visible external church. They are all in the temple complex, and in Jerusalem too, the holy city about. But there are some who are in the inner sanctum, who are truly worshipping God in the inner sanctuary – the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. And John is to take out a rod and he is to measure who those are. [He is to measure] who is in that part, and not merely in the outer court.

His measuring rod, of course, is the Word of God. It is the standard, the measurement, by which one is known to either be just an external part of the church of Christ or to be an actual living member. There are many who are in the visible church who are nominal members of the church but have no real life. They are in the outward court. They were not all Israel who were of Israel in the Old Testament. And so too today, they are not all true Christians who claim to be a part of the Christian church. Measure, John! is the command. Measure and see what that true church is on the earth! Who has really come to worship me from the heart. Who has entered into that Holy Place beyond the veil, into the Holy of Holies, to be with me there. Who has a true relationship to God, John, who knows their sin and who leans upon Christ alone. Who loves the whole counsel of God, because it is the counsel of the God that he loves. Who honours me in their heart. And John does. He measures. He determines the true people of Jesus Christ in the midst of the world there.

And then immediately in Revelation 11:3 the text moves to these two witnesses, so that the point is: The true people of God, the true churches of Christ amongst false Christianity, are the ones who really can (and therefore must) shine the light. The false and apostatizing church is not shining any light. They are no real witnesses. That is the point. The text is meant to give urgency to the calling of those who are in the inner sanctuary – the church of Jesus Christ. God’s people who are in that sanctuary must not think that they don't need to do this work. They must not think, Oh, we are small in number compared to the world (or compared even to nominal Christianity). We are just small. Woe are we! Let’s hide it under a bushel and just wait for the end to come. They must be the true witnesses! They must go forth and shine the light. They have the olive trees! They have the ministry of the Word amongst them. The oil of the Spirit is flowing, that they be a light and shine in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.¹

Cory Griess