The two witnesses represent the Church , which for almost two thousand years has plundered Satan’s kingdom by preaching the Gospel and baptizing souls. Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians are clear, there will be a mass apostasy at the end, such that Jesus questioned if he would find faith on the earth when he returned. The great tribulation is spiritual in nature, the falling away from the faith........it will not be persecution ( that has always existed and will continue to exist )
Jesus instructs us to flee to the mountains ( in other words, pray!! )
It is stunning the way this is all happening at a rapid pace, the two witnesses have indeed been killed.
The seventieth week of Daniel is a very real physical series of tribulations, bringing to a close the 490 years promised to Israel to finish sin.
When Jesus described the scenes (in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21) He was describing real events, real tribulations and real destruction to a real Temple.
When Paul, wrote 'by the word of the Lord', he wrote of the departing of the Church, in 1Thess4:13-17, describing a very real event hidden as a mystery since the foundation of the world. And when the folks at Thessolonika got twisted around again, thinking it had already happened, Paul worte in 2Thess2 a reassurance that the man of sin would not emerge until the restrainer is taken out of the way. That is real stuff, for it takes deity to hold back an evil like satan.
When Jesus spoke of going to prepare a place for those who love Him (in Matthew 14), He told the disciples that when he had prepared a place He would come and take them there, THERE, to be with Him. The tribulation happens here, HERE, and He will come at the end of that Great Tribulation to once again, the second time, set foot upon the Earth. He will come for His Church before the tribulations, just as in the days of Noah. And the days of Noah were a real world wide flood.