The Greek word for "witness" is "martyros", where we get our English word "martyr." This should be fresh in our minds as we read about the two "witnesses" in Revelation 11. The signs they perform (preventing rain and turning the water to blood) directly correspond to Elijah and Moses, whom Jews traditionally believed would return before the Messiah came. In John's vision, they are killed for speaking the truth, then raised again. Interestingly, though, neither Elijah nor Moses were killed for their testimony to God's truth. Elijah was taken into heaven without dying. Moses led Israel for many years and died a natural death. Most witnesses do not share the same fate.
The first century Christians for whom Revelation was written knew that testifying to their faith came at a cost. Toward the end of the first century, persecution of Christians was ramping up, and it would be at least another two hundred years before Christianity became an accepted faith. In the meantime, Christian witnesses were quite literally martyrs more often than not.
In a culture where Christianity has been centered and been the "default faith" for many centuries, it's likely that none of us knows someone who has been imprisoned or died for their faith. But that does not mean it isn't happening in other parts of the world. And it doesn't mean it can't happen here. Revelation 11 reminds us to open our hearts to the witness of our neighbors, even if we don't share their experience or agree with all of their conclusions. Even in our own country, people are being deprived of life and liberty for speaking the truth. We must bear witness.
My poetic interpretation of REVELATION 11
11. He gave a staff, to measure out God’s house
Yet more to measure those who dwell therein,
“But measure nothing else, which lies without;
The nations rage and trample there with sin.”
Two witnesses are speaking in the court
With Moses and Elijah’s signs endued.
The beast crawls up to silence their report
On the fourth day, from death, their lives renewed.
The seventh trumpet, in its time, now blows
And finally to earth God’s kingdom comes.
The nations rage, to meet their final woe:
The judgment of the dead has now begun,
Destroying the destroy’rs of land and sea;
Let those who lean on grace now be set free.
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