Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 11:6

"These have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they shall desire." — Revelation 11:6 (ASV)

The words “power to shut up the sky... and power to turn the waters into blood” clearly allude to the ministries of the prophets Elijah and Moses (1 Kings 17:1 and Ex 7:17-21). There is, however, no need for the literal reappearing of these two if it is understood that the two witnesses come in the same spirit and function as their predecessors. Thus Luke interprets the significance of John the Baptist as a ministry in the “spirit and power of Elijah” . The author of Revelation is simply describing the vocation of certain Christian prophets, indicating that some follow in the same tradition as the former prophets of Israel. According to Lk 4:25 and Jas 5:17, Elijah’s prophecy shut up the heaven for “three and a half years,” a curious foreshadowing, perhaps, of the span of time that these prophets witness (i.e., 1,260 days [v.3]).