Bauckham gives a plausible explanation of the “parable” of the two witnesses in Revelation 11. The witnesses, he notes, are Elijah-like as well as Mosaic, and against this background the killing of “7000” is suggestive. In 1 Kings 19, the 7000 are a remnant who keep faith with Yahweh when all others are turning to Baal. Bauckham discerns an inversion in Revelation 11. When the city is judged, a tenth is killed; Bauckham says, “Not the faithful minority, but the faithless majority are spared, so that they may come to repentance and faith.”
And this is what happens: “Thanks to the witness of the witnesses, the judgment is actually salvific. In this way, John indicates the novelty of the witness of the two witnesses over against the Old Testament prophets whom he has used as their precedents . . . . .Elijah was to bring about the judgment of all except the faithful seven thousand, who were spared . . . . The two witnesses will bring about the conversion of all except the seven thousand, who are judged.”
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