From Abel to Zechariah: The Two Witnesses and the Covenant Lawsuit Against Jerusalem

/ WestonBlaha

Introduction

The identity of the two witnesses in Revelation 11 has long intrigued readers and scholars. Are they literal figures from Israel’s history—perhaps Moses and Elijah, or Enoch and Elijah—returned to the stage of redemptive history? Or are they symbolic representations of the Church, the Law and the Prophets, or the faithful community? In the swirl of interpretations, one striking possibility has received less attention: the idea that the two witnesses represent Abel and Zechariah, the first and last martyrs of the Old Testament period, as identified by Jesus in Matthew 23:35. This study reexamines the identity of the two witnesses in Revelation 11, suggesting they represent Abel and Zechariah as symbolic figures in a covenantal indictment.

In this article, I argue that the two witnesses symbolize these two prophetic martyrs, not as resurrected individuals but as archetypal figures. Their witness is not merely individual but covenantal—bearing testimony to God’s justice in the face of Israel’s long history of persecuting the prophets. This reading finds strong support in Jesus’ words to the religious leaders of His day, when He says that all the righteous blood shed on earth—from Abel to Zechariah—would come upon that generation (Matt. 23:35–36).

When viewed through the partial-preterist lens, which understands much of Revelation as a prophetic vision of events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., this identification makes theological and narrative sense. Revelation 11 becomes part of a larger covenantal lawsuit against Israel, one that began with the first blood shed (Abel) and culminated in the martyrdom of Zechariah. The two witnesses stand as the final testimony against the “great city… where their Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:8)—a city ripe for judgment.

Matthew 23:35 and the Arc of Prophetic Martyrdom

In Matthew 23, Jesus delivers one of the most sobering pronouncements of judgment in the New Testament. Speaking to the scribes and Pharisees, He unveils a scathing indictment of Israel’s history of killing the prophets and rejecting God’s messengers. The climax comes in verses 34–36:

“Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” (Matt. 23:34–36, ESV)

Here, Jesus frames Israel’s history of prophetic martyrdom as a unified witness—a long chain of testimony that condemns the covenant people’s rebellion. Abel, murdered by his brother Cain (Gen. 4:8), is recognized as the first martyr. Zechariah—likely Zechariah son of Jehoiada,1 murdered in the temple court during the reign of King Joash (2 Chron. 24:20–22)—is presented as the last in the Hebrew canon’s historical order (Genesis to Chronicles).

The phrase “from Abel to Zechariah” functions as a literary merism, covering the entire span of Old Testament prophetic witness. And notably, Jesus says that this generation—the very one He was addressing—would bear the consequences. In partial-preterist interpretation, this statement refers directly to the judgment that fell on Jerusalem in 70 A.D., when the temple was destroyed and the Old Covenant order decisively ended.

In this context, Abel and Zechariah are more than individual martyrs; they represent the cumulative indictment of a nation that rejected God’s messengers. It is precisely this legal and prophetic function that links them to the two witnesses of Revelation 11. Jesus sets the interpretive framework: these two martyrs stand for the righteous blood that calls for justice and precedes divine judgment.

Revelation 11: The Two Witnesses and the Judgment on Jerusalem

Revelation 11 introduces two mysterious figures—“my two witnesses”—who prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.2 Their ministry is powerful, echoing the deeds of Moses and Elijah. They are described as “the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth” (Rev. 11:4), a clear allusion to Zechariah 4. After their testimony, they are killed by “the beast that rises from the bottomless pit,” and their bodies lie unburied in “the great city that is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:7–8).

That final phrase—“where their Lord was crucified”—grounds the setting in Jerusalem. And Jerusalem, in the partial-preterist reading, is not just the geographic location but the theological centre of covenant unfaithfulness. Just as Jesus indicted the city for killing the prophets (Matt. 23:37), Revelation dramatizes the consequences of that history in apocalyptic terms.

The witnesses are eventually resurrected and ascend to heaven, vindicated before the watching world. Their deaths trigger a great earthquake and the destruction of a tenth of the city, a symbolic sign of divine judgment. This is not the fall of Rome or the end of the world—it is the judgment Jesus predicted would come upon “this generation” (Matt. 23:36).

Here, Abel and Zechariah emerge as fitting symbolic identities for the two witnesses. They are not literal individuals returned to earth but archetypes of prophetic martyrdom. Just as their blood cried out to God (cf. Gen. 4:10; 2 Chron. 24:22), so the two witnesses in Revelation bear testimony against the covenant-breaking city. Their ministry, death, and resurrection encapsulate the story Jesus told in Matthew 23: a long history of rejected messengers, culminating in divine wrath.

The Legal Function of Witnesses: Covenant Testimony and Judgment

In biblical law, the testimony of two or three witnesses was required to establish a legal case (Deut. 19:15). This principle is echoed throughout both Testaments and provides the foundation for understanding the symbolic function of the two witnesses in Revelation 11. They are not simply prophets; they are legal agents, bearing witness in a covenant lawsuit against an unfaithful people.

Within this legal framework, Abel and Zechariah serve as the first and final witnesses of the Old Covenant era. Abel’s blood “cries out from the ground” (Gen. 4:10), and Zechariah’s dying words were a plea for justice: “May the LORD see and avenge!” (2 Chron. 24:22). Their blood forms a bookend to Israel’s prophetic history—a continual testimony that reaches its climax in the generation of Jesus and the apostles.

By identifying the two witnesses of Revelation 11 with Abel and Zechariah, we interpret their ministry as part of this legal and prophetic continuum. Their deaths are not merely tragic—they are judicial. They complete the testimony of the prophets, and their vindication signals that the case against Jerusalem is closed. Judgment follows.3

This identification does several important things:

  1. It reinforces the unity of Scripture. Jesus’ words in Matthew 23 and the vision of Revelation 11 speak the same language: the blood of the prophets bears witness against Jerusalem, and God is not blind to it. The prophetic voice—beginning with Abel and ending with Zechariah—finds its final echo in the two witnesses. Revelation is not introducing a new message; it is confirming what Jesus already declared.
  2. It makes sense of the timing. Jesus explicitly said that “all these things will come upon this generation” (Matt. 23:36). The partial-preterist view takes Him at His word. The events of Revelation 11—particularly the judgment on the “great city where their Lord was crucified”—finds fulfilment not at the end of history, but within history, in the destruction of Jerusalem. Abel and Zechariah, as archetypal witnesses, testify to this judgment.
  3. It honours the covenantal structure of biblical revelation. Throughout the Bible, God brings judgment only after repeated prophetic warnings. Abel and Zechariah, as the beginning and end of the prophetic line, embody this divine patience. Their resurrection in Revelation 11 symbolizes the vindication not only of their own testimony, but of the entire faithful remnant under the Old Covenant.
  4. It deepens the significance of Christ’s ministry. Jesus did not merely warn of judgment; He located it in a long history of martyrdom. By invoking Abel and Zechariah, He made clear that His generation stood at the tipping point of covenant history. Revelation 11, by recalling this imagery, underscores that same truth: Christ was not only crucified in Jerusalem—He was the final Prophet, and those who rejected Him rejected the whole prophetic witness.4

Conclusions and Response to Counterarguments

The identification of the two witnesses in Revelation 11 as Abel and Zechariah offers a cohesive, theologically rich interpretation that aligns with Jesus’ own words in Matthew 23 and fits naturally within a partial-preterist reading of Revelation. These two figures, as the first and last martyrs of the Old Covenant era, represent the fullness of Israel’s rejection of God’s messengers. Their prophetic ministry, death, and vindication reflect the pattern of covenantal faithfulness met with hostility, culminating in divine judgment on Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

By seeing Abel and Zechariah as symbolic, collective figures—embodying the witness of the faithful rather than acting as literal resurrected individuals—we preserve the prophetic, literary nature of apocalyptic imagery while rooting it firmly in biblical history and theology.

Response to Counterarguments

  1. “The two witnesses must be Moses and Elijah, or Enoch and Elijah.” These figures are often chosen because they performed similar miracles or were taken up without dying. However, Revelation 11 is symbolic, not literalistic. Abel and Zechariah better match the thematic focus on martyrdom, covenant witness, and judgment—precisely the themes Jesus emphasized in Matthew 23.
  2. “Zechariah’s identity is unclear—Jesus may be confusing the son of Jehoiada with Zechariah son of Berechiah.” While Matthew 23 refers to “Zechariah son of Barachiah,” the context more strongly fits Zechariah son of Jehoiada, who was murdered in the temple (2 Chron. 24:20–22). This fits the narrative flow of Jesus’ indictment, which spans from Genesis to Chronicles—the full arc of the Hebrew Bible. The textual ambiguity does not undermine the theological point: Jesus is summarizing the full history of prophetic martyrdom.
  3. “The two witnesses symbolize the Church, not individuals.” Indeed, many scholars view the witnesses as a symbol of the Church’s prophetic role, serving the role of faithful testimony as two or more witnesses. But Abel and Zechariah can function in the same symbolic capacity: not merely as individuals, but as representative archetypes—the faithful who speak for God and suffer for it. Their identification doesn’t exclude corporate symbolism; it deepens it by anchoring it in redemptive history.

Final Thoughts

If Revelation is a covenantal document, as the partial-preterist interpretation holds, then its visions must be understood in the context of covenant history. The witness of Abel and Zechariah—like the ministry of Christ—marks the end of an era. Their prophetic blood cries out, not only from the ground, but from the pages of Scripture, testifying to a generation that stood on the brink of judgment. And in Revelation 11, God answers their cry for justice.

Footnotes

  1. Admittedly, there is a significant textual concern for this argument which depends upon which Zechariah Jesus is referencing. Some scholars argue that “son of Barachiah” may be a scribal error or oral conflation. It’s possible that a copyist accidentally inserted the name Barachiah, perhaps confusing him with Zechariah the prophet, the author of the book of Zechariah (Zech. 1:1), who was the son of Barachiah—but was not martyred. The manner and location of the death (“between the sanctuary and the altar”) precisely matches the temple setting described in 2 Chronicles 24, where the Zechariah son of Jehoiada was martyred. Even if, however, “Barachiah” was included by Jesus, it’s possible He was blending identifiers to make a larger typological point (as He sometimes does), referencing a figure whose martyrdom exemplifies Israel’s long rejection of the prophets. It is worth noting, some ancient versions and manuscripts (including Syriac and some early patristic sources) omit “son of Barachiah.” This may suggest that the reference to Barachiah was not original but a later addition to clarify or harmonize. ↩︎
  2. These 1,260 days align nicely with the siege of Jerusalem from 66-70 AD: from the beginning of the Jewish Revolt in 66 AD to the fall of the city in 70 AD. It’s important to note that the Christians, heeding the prophecy of Jesus in Matthew 24:15-16, fled Judea and Jerusalem before the “abomination of desolation” could destroy them out as collateral damage along with the rebelling Jewish population. ↩︎
  3. A possible support for this theme would be the parable of the wicked tenants, who reject the messengers of the vineyard owner, eventually killing the master’s son. Their punishment would be death and a passing of the vineyard to those who are worthy (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19). ↩︎
  4. Again, see the parable of Wicket Tenants: Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19 ↩︎

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