Two Witnesses

A reading  from St. John's book of Revelations
Rv 11:4-12

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me:Here are my two witnesses:These are the two olive trees and the two lampstandsthat stand before the Lord of the earth.

St. John hears the voice of God again.  Now there is a mention of two witnesses.  Earlier we saw that candlesticks symbolized Churches:

Revelation 1:20
King James Version (KJV)
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

If lamp stands are veiled references to churches, then this could be a reference to the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.  Both of which have valid Sacraments.

On the other hand, this could be a reference to the two true religions of the world, Christianity and Judaism.  Both are religions which were established by God.  Both are based on the Ten Commandments.

Or it could be a veiled reference to two of the greatest Preachers of our time.  Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies.

Fire coming from the mouth is a metaphor for preaching the word of God.

Jeremiah 5:14
King James Version (KJV)
14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 

In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.

This is a reference to those who do not repent from their sins by the powerful preaching of the two witnesses.  They will die in their sins and be punished in eternity for eternity.

They have the power to close up the sky
so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying.

Their preaching will be as powerful as that of Elijah's:

1 Kings 17
King James Version (KJV)
17 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
2 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
5 So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. 

They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish.

They will be as powerful as Moses and Aaron, who upon God's command, turned the Nile into a river of blood:

Exodus 7:20
And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

When they have finished their testimony,the beast that comes up from the abysswill wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.

Apparently, Satan will be given control for a bit and will conquer these witnesses.  That reminds me of the vision of Pope Leo:

Just as suddenly, Pope Leo awoke and said, 'What a horrible picture I was permitted to see!' In this vision, God gave Satan the choice of one century in which to do his worst work against the Church. The devil chose the 20th century. So moved was the Holy Father from this vision that he composed the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.^[17]

I also remember that, during the Sixties, people were saying that Religion was dead.  They had counted Religion the opiate of the masses and were celebrating a new humanistic enlightenment.  It came as a great surprise to them, when Pope John Paul the II died, that Catholics came from all over the world, for days and days, to pay respects.  And after the occurrence of 911, when the Twin Towers were destroyed, Religion made a huge comeback in the United States.

Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city,
which has the symbolic names 'Sodom' and 'Egypt,'
where indeed their Lord was crucified.

That great city where Jesus was crucified is Jerusalem.  And in Scripture, God has castigated Jerusalem and said that it was worse than Sodom and Egypt:

Jeremiah 23:14
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

According to what I've been told, Christianity is almost non-existent in Jerusalem.  It is now under the Jewish and Islamic shared custody.

The percentage of the Christian population within Jerusalem is 1.9%, as compared to 19% in 1946, during the latter days of the British Mandate. In absolute figures, the number of Christians in Jerusalem decreased from 31,300 in 1946 to 14,600 at the close of 2010. 

http://allaboutjerusalem.com/article/christians-and-christianity-jerusalem

However, Christian sites are always on display there.  They have many of the places where Jesus walked, taught, died, was buried and resurrected.

Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation
will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days,
and they will not allow their corpses to be buried.

So, in a veiled manner, the bones of Christianity are visibly on display in this town.  But the two witnesses of Christianity, the Catholic and Orthodox Church, could be said to be dead there.

The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them
and be glad and exchange gifts
because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.

When everyone thought that the Church was dead, they gloated, that is true.  Many still think the Church is dead.  But Pope John Paul II's vision of a new Springtime is slowly appearing.  The Church is now thriving in many places in the world.

But after the three and a half days,
a breath of life from God entered them.
When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them.
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, "Come up here."
So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.

I don't know what the three and a half days represent.  However, I believe this is a a reference to the Rapture.  When the Church is taken into heaven and the enemies of Christ become His footstool.

All of this is my own speculation on the words of the Apostle John in this part of the book of Revelation.  As far as I am aware, the Church has no definite doctrine on what these words actually mean.  The only thing I believe the Church teaches definitively is, "only the Father knows."

By the same token, I don't believe that any of my explanations above contradict the Teachings of the Catholic Church.   If they do, let me know and I'll correct myself.

Sincerely,

De Maria