Does anyone consider the taking up of the two witnesses to be a prototype for a Rapture (separate from the Second Coming)? As far as I know no one does. It is simply assumed to be a unique event.
I like the cartoon.
That is an interesting thought.
The Resurrection of them is similar to that of Lazarus in John 11 and Luke 16:22.
Lazarus and 2 witnesses of Reve 11 similarity
John 11:
39 Jesus is saying "take away ye!" the stone.
Martha is saying to Him, the sister of the one having deceased, "Lord, already he stinking, for
it is fourth-day
43 And these saying, to a great Voice He cries-out "
Lazarus, hither out!"
Lazarus and the Rich Man - Here a little, there a little - Commentary
Luke 16:22
Became yet to be dying the poor-one, and him to be carried away by the Messengers into the Bosom of Abraham.
Died yet also the rich-one and was buried.
The next events recorded in this parable are the deaths of Lazarus and then the rich man. Since the parable has been figurative up until this point, there is no reason to assume it becomes literal now.
First, to prove that this language is symbolic and not meant to be taken literally, let's examine exactly what we are told by Yeshua. He says that
first, Lazarus dies and is taken to the bosom of Abraham. Notice, there is no mention of his burial here. Then
later the rich man dies, and he is buried (in Hades, according to verse 23). So the time sequence given indicates that upon his death, Lazarus was taken immediately to Abraham's bosom, while afterward the rich man was buried in Hades when he died.
If this story is literal, then we have a contradiction in the Bible. Here, Lazarus is shown to have immediately received the promise of eternal life. Yet the author of Hebrews clearly tells us that Abraham, as well as all the other Old Testament saints, have not yet received the promises given to them by God:
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1 Thessalonians 4:16
because the Lord Himself, in a shout, in chief-messenger's voice, and in a-trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and
the dead in Christ shall rise/ἀναστήσονται<450> first
And like Lazarus in Luke 16:2, they were not buried but ascended straight to heaven:
Revelation 11:
9 And are observing out of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations the bodies of them three and half days, and the bodies of them
not they suffer to be placed into tomb.
11 And after the three days and half-equal a breath of life out of the God entered in them and they stand upon their feet and fear great fall upon the ones observing them.
12 And
they hear a great Voice out of the Heaven saying to them "
ascend ye here!" And they ascended into the heaven in the cloud....
Revelation 20:5
The rest of the dead not live until should be being finished<5055> the thousand years,
This is the first Resurrection<386>