ELIJAH AND ENOCH

According to Daniel 9:24-27, God determined that the nation of Israel would experience seventy "weeks" of time before their Messiah would come to establish His everlasting kingdom.  We know from the way the prophecy is worded, that the "weeks" are, in reality, periods of seven years.  First of all, from the command to rebuild, until the coming of the Messiah would be sixty-two and seven "weeks":  historically, we know that from the command, until Jesus was Crucified was 483 years.  In addition, we know this because God's Word describes the last of the "weeks," the seventieth, in three different ways so that there could be no mistaking what He meant. 

Daniel and Matthew clearly reveal that the "seventieth week" will be divided into two halves (Dan. 9:27; Mt. 24:15).  This can also be seen in the Book of Revelation; the Tribulation "week," chapters 6-18, is divided by the events of chapters 11-13; the revealing of the true identity of the Antichrist.  The last "week" then, is to be two halves of 1,260 days (Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 11:3; 12:6); 42 months of 30 days each (Rev. 11:2; 13:5); and Daniel calls it "a time, times, and a half" ("a time" equaling one year of 360 days - Dan. 12:7).

The Antichrist (can mean both "opposed to Christ," or "trying to take the place of Christ") will fool the entire world.  He will bring peace to the Middle-East, by confirming a seven-year peace agreement between Israel and their enemies (Dan. 8:25; 9:27; 11:21, 24).  However, there will be two men who will vehemently oppose this great deceiver.  They are called the "two witnesses" (Rev. 11:2-12).  From the very beginning, they will proclaim the truth of the Gospel, and demand men to repent before the coming of the Lord; they will drive the world nuts!  After three and a half years of them destroying those who would hurt them (v. 5); and their stopping the rain for that same period, them turning water to blood, and their bringing plagues upon the whole earth (v. 6); they will be killed (v. 7).  The whole earth (I believe that includes Israel) will have a three-day "party" because they no longer had to listen to them preach (v. 8-10).  I believe that when they are brought back to life, and the Lord takes them up into heaven, and that is when the Antichrist, who is miraculously healed of a mortal head wound, is indwelt by Satan, who then declares himself to be God, and the eyes of Israel are opened (Dan. 9:27; Mt. 24:15; Rom. 11:25; Rev. 13:1-18).

The identity of the two witnesses has to be Elijah, who must return before the Second Coming of Christ (Mal. 4:5; Mt. 11:14; Lk. 1:17; etc.), and Enoch, because they did not die, and the Word says ALL men must die (Heb. 9:27)!  After all, Enoch was the prophet who said, "..Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 1:14-15).