No, they are crucified before that event though the final weeks of their preaching overlap with the beginning of Beast's rule.

There is a strong reason why Antichrist has to execute them before he sets the Ark of the Covenant (Abomination of Desolation) in the Holy of Holies and before he ends the daily sacrifice and that reason isn't only their preaching which is a threat to his authority. Let's look into one prophecy from Daniel. Read the whole chapter 8 and pay attention to these verses:

Dan 8:8 And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly; and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up the appearance of four horns toward the four winds of heaven.
Dan 8:9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauteous land.
Dan 8:10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled upon them.
Dan 8:11 Yea, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and from him the continual burnt-offering was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
Dan 8:12 And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt-offering through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it wrought, and prospered.

In Book of Daniel there are lot of descriptions of wars between spiritual beings and there is a lot of interplay between spiritual and material realm in this prophecy. Let's focus on verse 8:11. A prince of the host who is obviously a spiritual being is the one who has the duty of guarding the perpetual sacrifice and the sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Levite priests symbolically represent this host of spiritual beings that is mentioned in Daniel 8, as the Jerusalim's temple represents the Heavenly Temple. Who is earthly counterpart of this "prince of the host"? The answer is in the Book of Numbers:

Num 3:32 Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest being prince of the princes of the Levites, and having the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary.

Num 4:16 And the charge of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the continual meal-offering, and the anointing oil: he shall have the charge of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, whether it be the sanctuary, or the furniture thereof.’


So, in the time of Exodus, while Aron was the High priest, his son Eleazar was in charge of the grain offering for the continual daily sacrifice and pretty much of all holy things and the Tabernacle. It's not clear was the duty of Eleazar applied to all his descendants as well, regardless if they were High priests or sons of a High priest, though in the case of Phinehas it is confirmed (1Chr 9:20). In the Book of Ezekiel in the prophecy of the Millenial Temple only sons of Zadok (who are descendants of Eleazar) are allowed to be priests (Ezekiel 40:46,43:19,44:15,48:11) because they stayed faithful to God when the others fell away. This is only mentioned in Ezekiel, there is no information in the Book of Kings or in Chronicles that only descendants of Zadok didn't fall into idolatry. In prophecy, when some event from the past is described, that event could be in future for us and not something from the time of Ezekiel.

I believe that all of this points to the fact that one of the two witnesses will be a priest from the lineage of Eleazar son of Aron, since Zadok was his descendant and he will be in charge of everything that has to do with the sanctuary and continual burnt offering. It is very probable that he will be the High priest since part of his "host" (priests and Levites) will fall away together with the part of the host of the angelic being that is counterpart to him.

To fully understand who will be the false prophet we need to go to the Law again. Read the whole chapter of Leviticus 16. It's about the Day of Atonement. I wrote on this forum several years ago comparing the Day of Atonement to the Day of the Lord described in Revelation. The Day of Atonement in every ritual and sacrifice simbolically represents the Day of the Lord. But let's focus on the sin offerings on the Day of Atonement.

The goat for Azazel which was sent into desert represents Satan who will be locked up in Abyss for 1000 years. I think that most theologians make the mistake thinking that the goat which was sacrificed represents Christ but it isn't so. Christ is called lamb throughout the Gospels and Revelation and not a bull, ram or a goat. Most Bible commentaries tend to associate every single sacrificed animal with Christ by misinterpreting what Paul said in Hebrews about Christ's sacrifice superiority to the animal sacrifices. Let's look how the Day of the Lord ends:

Rev 19:19 And I saw the wild–beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together––to make war with him who was sitting upon the horse, and with his army.
Rev 19:20 And the wild–beast, was taken, and, with him, the false prophet who wrought the signs before him, whereby he deceived them who received the mark of the wild–beast and them who were doing homage unto his image,––alive, were they two cast into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And, the rest, were slain with the sword of him that was sitting upon the horse, which went forth out of his mouth, and, all the birds, were filled with their flesh.

Rev 20:1 And I saw a messenger, coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain upon his hand;
Rev 20:2 and he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is Adversary and the Accuser, and bound him for a thousand years,––
Rev 20:3 and cast him into the abyss, and fastened and sealed [it] over him,––that he might not deceive the nations any more, until the thousand years, should be ended: after these, must he be loosed for a short time.


So, Satan is locked in the Abyss and Beast and False prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire which will be east of Jerusalem where Dead Sea is today, as Dr Martin correctly observed. In Leviticus 16 the goat for Azazel is sent to the desert. Interestingly enough, as Dr Martin wrote, Jews believed that the entrance to the Abyss was somewhere in the Judean desert where the goat for Azazel was sent. Let's look into Leviticus 16 again:

Lev 16:27 And the bullock of the sin-offering, and the goat of the sin-offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be carried forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.


Those two animals were to be burned outside of the camp similar as Beast and False Prophet were to be burned outside of Jerusalem eastward in the Lake of Fire. So, which of these two animals represents the False Prophet? Leviticus 16 has answer again:

Lev 16:6 “Aaron will present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.


So, the bull was sin sacrifice for the High Priest. Jews are well aware that Messiah has to be descendant of David from the tribe of Judah so no priest could claim to be Messiah. Therefore, False Prophet will be the new High priest ordained by Antichrist after he executes two witnesses, one of them probably being the actual High priest. Since we are informed that descendants of Zadok will be faithful to God, False Prophet will be a descendant of Aron's son Ithamar. That lineage has a history of sinning against God from the time of sons of Eli the High priest (1 Samuel 2:12-17) to Abiathar who supported Adonijah as successor against the wishes of David (1 Kings 2:26-27) so it's not strange that the priests from that lineage will fall away from God and even give the False Prophet. They will be the host that will be given away together with the daily sacrifice (Dan 8:12).

In conclusion, Antichrist will execute the two witnesses and one of them will be descendant of Zadok from the lineage of Aron's son Eleazar and almost certainly the actual High priest at that time. Then Antichrist will appoint instead of him a descendant of Aron's son Ithamar who will become the False Prophet and betray the true Anointed One same as his ancestor Abiathar betrayed Solomon who was a type of Christ.