3 I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
And I will give power to My two witnesses – the word “power” is not in the original text. This verse literally reads, “I will give the two witness of me.” The speaker, with the measuring rod in verse 1, is Christ. He is going to provide the “two witnesses” required by the law that Paul explained in 2 Cor 13:1.
they will prophesy 1260 days – this is the 42 months as “days.” Of course there were more than two witnesses of Christ, over these 1260 days, which are more accurately 3 1/2 years or 1278 days, as years. Like the beast and the false prophet, the two witnesses are not “real persons.” These prophets are the saints who recognized the false teachings of the beast over this period, for example, the Waldenses and Albigenses. “From the twelfth to the fifteenth century the people of Europe were nearly united in opposition to the Roman See…Every country in Europe swelled with dissidents who repelled as the Antichrist the Bishop of Rome.” (Historical Studies, Eugene Lawrence, 1876, pp. 202.)
However, the two witnesses can be symbolized by two persons, Jan Huss and Martin Luther (blessed is he who waits and comes to 1335 days, Dan 12:12). These are the two great spokesmen who liberated the saints from the power of the beast.
in sackcloth – the meaning seems to go back to Isa 50:3, “I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” The saints, New Jerusalem, are described as “the heavens” – the sun, moon, and stars – in Rev 12:1. The heavens are now clothed in darkness, as “the power of the holy people has been completely shattered” (Dan 12:7). In Rev 6:12, we are told that the sun became as “black as sackcloth.” The Hussites, who rejected all worldy attractions actually wore “gray” clothing. This was in contrast to the “purple and scarlet,” the vivid colours of royalty, worn by the clergy of the Catholic Church, described in Rev 17:4.