Part 7: Moses

Is Moses one of the Two Witnesses of the Book of Revelation? Discover what the Bible says here.

Moses is often referred to as "Moses the Lawgiver"; but it was actually God that gave God's Law through Moses (John 1:17) to the nation of Israel, and to the world. Moses was born in Egypt; and his name is an Egyptian name, because he was adopted by an Egyptian princess, in Exodus 2:10.

However, the name "Moses" sounds very similar to the Hebrew word "moshe", which means "drawn out" or "removed"; and Moses was "drawn out" of the Nile River (Exodus 2:5,10). The Egyptian princess realized Moses was Hebrew (Exodus 2:6) and gave him a name that was reasonable among both the Hebrews and the Egyptian royal court. It also happened to be prophetic, as Moses was "drawn out" of Egypt by God; and through Moses, the entire Hebrew nation was "drawn out" of Egypt.

Moses means "son (of)" in Egyptian; and while many royal Egyptian names were a combination of the name of a so-called "god" and some form of the word "moses" (e.g. "Ahmose", meaning "son of Ah (the Moon)", Moses name was uncombined. It must have been a rather awkward name to have. However, the Egyptian princess could not suggest that a Hebrew was the son of an Egyptian "god"; and the Hebrews did not yet know the name of (their) God (Exodus 3:13-14).

This adds another layer of meaning to the moment when Moses asked God what God's Name is; learning God's Name told Moses what his own name might have been if his adoptive mother had known the name of the God of the Hebrews. This also underscores the fact that no one knew the name of the Hebrew God at that time.

For a summary of the life and miracles of Moses, please visit these pages on this website:

Miracles of Moses in Exodus

Miracles of Moses in Numbers

Miracles of Moses in Deuteronomy

Miracles of Moses in Other Bible Books

These pages will open in new windows; just close those windows to return to this page. The contents of those pages will be referenced liberally on this page.

To answer the question of whether or not Moses is one of the Two Witnesses of Revelation, let us begin by looking in the Book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 18:15-18, the Bible says:

The phrase "a prophet like [Moses]" is reminiscent of the expression "the power and spirit of Elijah", found in Luke 1:17. We saw that John the Baptist is one of the people who was to come in "the power and spirit of Elijah" in "Part 6: John the Baptist" (this page will open in a new window; just close that window to return here). So the life of John the Baptist gives us some idea of what it means for "a prophet like [Moses]" to be sent to us by God.

However, the passage from Deuteronomy doesn't give us any indication of when this "prophet like Moses" would come. Looking again at what we know about John the Baptist, we find in the Book of Malachi the time when John was supposed to come: before the coming of Jesus, "the day of Yehovah [God] the Great and Feared". Malachi 4:4-6 states:

In Malachi 4:5, we see the time for John the Baptist ("Elijah the prophet"); but just before that, Malachi mentions Moses. It is interesting that both of the men (besides Jesus, the Messiah) who were prophesied to come are mentioned so close together; especially interesting since Malachi 4:5 is the only verse that prophesies the coming of "Elijah" by name. Is this suggesting that "Moses" would also come before (or around) the time of Jesus? Let us look further.

In the Gospel of John 1:24-25, we have the following:

This passage tells us two things:

1. The Pharisees believed that the Christ, the 'prophet', and Elijah were three different people, and
2. The Pharisees were anticipating the coming of only these three individuals.

A careful translation of Mark 6:15 provides additional evidence:

Again, the people were expecting Elijah and "that 'prophet'" (and the Messiah, of course: even though He is not mentioned here, he was clearly expected). Anyone else who might appear was not expected, but would just be "like one of the [unnamed] prophets".

So we know that, up to the time of Jesus, people anticipated the coming of exactly three distinct individuals: the Christ (Hebrew "Messiah"), Elijah, and the "prophet". Since we know Moses prophesied the coming of a "prophet" like himself, we see that the "prophet" that the Pharisees were anticipating was the same "prophet" of which Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 18:15-18.

In John 5:31-47, Jesus speaks about the testimony that He had come to Earth to share with people. Near the beginning of this passage (John 5:33-36), Jesus talks about the testimony of John the Baptist (who came "in the power and spirit of Elijah", Luke 1:17). In the middle of this passage (John 5:36-45), Jesus speaks about His own testimony. Finally, at the end of the passage, Jesus prophesies about the testimony of Moses. Again, we see mentions of "Elijah" and of Moses which are located very close to each other in the Bible.

At this point, we know that "a prophet like [Moses]"--someone "in the power and spirit of" Moses--has been prophesied to come. We also know that Moses and Elijah are strongly correlated in the Bible. Further, from "Part 5: Elijah and Elisha" (this page will open in a new window), we know that "Elijah" is one of the Two Witnesses in Revelation. Finally we have the suggestion from Malachi 4:4-6 that the "prophet like [Moses]" might appear about the same time as "Elijah".

Thus, we already have considerable evidence that "Moses" is the other of the Two Witnesses of Revelation, alongside "Elijah". Let us now do what we did Elijah and Elisha: let us compare the miracles of Moses with the miracles of the Two Witnesses and see how similar they are.

Comparing the miracles of Moses with the miracles of the Two Witnesses of Revelation, we see some striking similarities:

• The Two Witnesses have fire coming from their mouths (Revelation 11:5); God went before the Hebrew people in a pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:21-22); God descended on Mount Sinai in smoke and fire (Exodus 19:16-18; Deuteronomy 4:15-40); fire comes out from the Presence of God and burns up Nadab and Abihu, two nephews of Moses (Leviticus 10:1-20); fire came out from God and burned the outer edge of the Hebrew encampment (Numbers 11:1-4); fire comes out from the entrance of the Tabernacle and burns up Korah and the men of his rebellion (Numbers 16:35).
• The Two Witnesses stop the rain during the time of their prophesying, which is a total of 1,260 days, or approximately 3.5 years (Revelation 11:3,6); Moses stretches out his walking staff towards the sky and a hailstorm with lightning comes upon all of Egypt outside of Goshen (Exodus 9:13-35); God went before the Hebrew people in a cloud pillar during the daytime (Exodus 13:21-22); Moses stretched his hand out over the Red Sea, and it came together on the Egyptian army and destroyed it (Exodus 14:26-28).
• The Two Witnesses have the power to turn waters into blood (Revelation 11:6); Moses tells Aaron to take the walking staff in his hand and hold it out against the water of Egypt, and all of the water turns into blood throughout all of Egypt (trenches along the Nile are used to get drinking water) (Exodus 7:14-25).
• The Two Witnesses have the power to release plagues on Earth whenever they wish (Revelation 11:6); Moses tells Aaron to take the walking staff in his hand and hold it out against the water of Egypt, and a plague of frogs comes throughout all of Egypt (Exodus 8:1-15); Moses tells Aaron to take the walking staff in his hand and hit the dust on the ground with the staff, and all of the dust in Egypt turns into a plague of gnats throughout all of Egypt (Exodus 8:16-19); God sends swarms of flies into only that part of Egypt outside of Goshen, where the Hebrews live (Exodus 8:20-32); God sends a plague against all the animals of the Egyptians, and all of (and only) those animals die (Exodus 9:1-7); Moses stands before Pharaoh and throws soot from a fire into the air; and the soot becomes fine dust that spreads out over all of Egypt, causing people and animals everywhere to have eruptions of festering boils (Exodus 9:8-12); Moses stretches out his walking staff over the land of Egypt, and a plague of locusts comes and covers the entire land of Egypt; and the locusts eat everything green on every plant in Egypt (Exodus 10:1-20); the plague on the firstborn of Egypt occurs, and all the firstborn Egyptian males die, both of animals and people (Exodus 12:29-30); God strikes the Hebrews with a severe plague for complaining about their food, and many die (Numbers 11:33-35); Miriam and Aaron, the siblings of Moses, complain against Moses, and Miriam contracts a leprous infection (Numbers 12:10-16); all of the spies that went into Canaan (except Caleb and Joshua) contract a plague and die (Numbers 14:20-38); after the Korah rebellion, the entire Hebrew community rebels, and is attacked by a plague; and 14,700 people die (Numbers 16:41-50); the Hebrews are impatient and begin complaining, and God sends poisonous snakes into the Hebrew camp, and many people die (Numbers 21:4-9); the Hebrew men become involved in sexual immorality and idolatry with the Midianites and the Moabites; and the Hebrews are attacked by a plague, and 24,000 people die (Numbers 25:1-18).
• The Two Witnesses are resurrected after 3.5 days (Revelation 11:11); the staff of Aaron--a dead stick--was left overnight by Moses next to the Ark of the Covenant; and the next morning, that same dead stick had come back to life, blossomed, and produced almonds (Numbers 17:1-13).
  
• The Two Witnesses will hear God's Voice and ascend into Heaven (Revelation 11:12); God, from within a burning bush, speaks with Moses (Exodus 3:1-6); God tells Moses the Name of God (Exodus 3:13-14); the Glory of God appears to the Hebrews in the desert (Exodus 16:10); Moses and 73 others go into Mount Sinai and eat and drink in the Presence of God (Exodus 24:1-18); Moses sees all of God's Glory, except for God's Face (Exodus 33:12-23; Exodus 34:5-7); Moses face shines due to the time which he has spent in the Presence of God (Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:7-4:6); the Glory of God appears at the Tabernacle (Numbers 14:10-19); Moses appeared with Jesus and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36); Moses was taken from the top of Mount Nebo and hidden by God (Deuteronomy 34:5-6); and the angel Gabriel had a dispute with the devil over the corpse of Moses (Jude 9).
• The Two Witnesses ascend the same hour as a powerful earthquake (Revelation 11:13); when God descends on Mount Sinai, there is an earthquake (Exodus 19:16-18); at the time of the Korah rebellion, the ground opens up under the tents belonging to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and everyone who lives in those tents (except Korah himself) falls into the ground and is buried alive (Numbers 16:23-34; Deuteronomy 11:6).

As we can see, for every miracle that we are told will happen in the lives of the Two Witnesses, we have a record in the Bible of a similar miracle occurring in the life of Moses. This is the same thing we discovered with the combined ministries of Elijah and Elisha.

In review, we have

• the prophecy of Moses that "a prophet like [Moses]" would come;
• a strong association in the Bible between Moses and "Elijah", who we have already concluded is one of the Two Witnesses; and
  
• a comparison which shows that the miracles of the life of Moses are very similar to the miracles of the Two Witnesses.

Therefore, we can conclude that the "prophet like [Moses]", coming "in the power and spirit of" Moses, will be the second of the Two Witnesses in Revelation.

Of the Seven Eyes (witnesses) of God, also called the Seven Lamps of the Menorah, we now have some identification for six of them. There is the "Elijah" line, to which Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist, and the "Elijah" Witness of Revelation belong. Also, there is the "Moses" line, to which Moses and the "Moses" Witness of Revelation belong.

Who is the seventh member of this group? We will learn his identity in "Part 8: Stephen the Martyr".