What Revelation says
John sees two witnesses prophesying in Jerusalem for a fixed period during a time of conflict and pressure. They wear sackcloth, the clothing associated with grief, humility and a call to turn back to God. Their task is not mainly to satisfy curiosity about the future. They testify to God in a world that resists him (Revelation 11:3-4).
The vision calls them two olive trees and two candlesticks standing before the Lord. That language reaches back to Zechariah’s vision, where olive trees supply oil for a lampstand and are linked with God’s appointed servants (Zechariah 4:2-3; Zechariah 4:14). Revelation uses vivid images throughout, so the description invites careful reading rather than quick certainty.
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Why Moses and Elijah are often suggested
The witnesses are given power connected with fire, drought, water turning to blood and plagues (Revelation 11:5-6). Those acts strongly resemble Elijah calling down fire and announcing a drought, and Moses confronting Egypt with plagues and water turned to blood (1 Kings 18:36-38; 1 Kings 17:1; Exodus 7:19-20). This is why many Christians think the witnesses may literally be Moses and Elijah, or at least prophetic figures who minister in their pattern.
Elijah is an especially common suggestion because Malachi speaks of Elijah coming before the day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5). Moses and Elijah also appeared with Jesus at the transfiguration, a scene that links the law and the prophets with Christ (Matthew 17:1-3). Still, Revelation itself never identifies either witness by name.
And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Other faithful interpretations
Some Christians identify the pair as Elijah and Enoch. Their reasoning is that Scripture records Elijah being taken up and does not describe Enoch’s death in the usual way (2 Kings 2:11; Genesis 5:24). Yet the Bible never says that people who were taken by God must return to die, so this view remains a possibility rather than a settled answer.
Others understand the two witnesses symbolically, representing the church’s faithful public testimony. Revelation elsewhere explains that candlesticks can represent churches (Revelation 1:20). On this reading, the number two echoes the Old Testament principle that a matter is established by two witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15). This view takes seriously the book’s imagery, though it must also reckon with the very personal way the witnesses are described.
The centre of the vision
The witnesses are killed by the beast after they have completed their testimony, and the world celebrates their apparent defeat (Revelation 11:7-10). But God raises them and brings them into his presence. Their story follows the pattern seen most fully in Jesus: suffering and rejection do not cancel God’s purpose (Revelation 11:11-12).
So it is fine to hold a view with humility. The passage gives real details, but it leaves the witnesses unnamed. Its clearest encouragement is for God’s people to keep bearing honest witness to Christ, trusting that God sees, strengthens and finally vindicates those who belong to him.
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. 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.