Those who are of the flesh tend to look and judge outwardly by appearances, but the wording in the book of Revelation is very symbolic and can only be discerned by way of the Holy Spirit. For instance people tend to look at the 2 witnesses as flesh and blood men, but they tend to ignore the parts where these 2 are referred to as the 2 candlesticks and 2 Olive trees. If you take the mystery apart piece by piece you will see the 2 Olive trees feed the golden oil to feed the 7 lamps=7 spirits of God. No flesh and blood man feeds the golden oil to the 7 spirits of God.
Here is a post I wrote on it, which connects the dots in scripture to reveal the 2 faithful witnesses are God's Word and Spirit.
http://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/107274-lords-2-witnesses-7-spirits.html
God's people are referred to as the "holy city" in scripture, as these 2 witnesses are killed
inside the "holy city"(hearts and minds) of the saints by the beast who ascends out of the bottomless pit. So the imagery is of God's people being overcome and killed by the lies of the beast and is symbolized in the 2 witnesses laying in dead the streets of the "holy city", or God's people for a time, like the body of Jesus in the tomb. It was also shown in Daniel that the spirit of a lie would cast the Truth (God's Word is Truth) to the ground and trodden it under foot during this time of the lies practicing and prospering.
God's people who had God's words in their mouths are also shown as being laid to the ground, and as the street to them that trampled on them in Isaiah. This was prophesied to happen when the salt lost his savour, like the parable of the salt that lost his savour which was foretold of by Jesus.
So when you put all the pieces of the puzzle together you see the 2 witnesses lay dead for a time
in the saints (holy city) until they are resurrected again after 3 and a half days. These represent the dead "in Christ" being raised up first prior to the last 7th trump. This revival and resurrection is also shown here.....
Hosea 6:2
After two days will he revive us: in the
third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.