Revelation 11:1-14, is one of the hardest chapters in the whole of the Bible. It uses imagery and symbolism to draw its point and conclusions but also draws from historical perspective as well. I will attempt to offer some suggestions as to understand this chapter but in reality the opinion regarding this chapter is so varied that it is hard to be conclusive in any fashion. It is best then that we see this chapter as a whole. The two witnesses are literal people more than likely Moses or Elijah, but we will examine that in our discussion here. Within this Chapter we have now turned to the second half of the tribulation where the Anti Christ will break his agreement with Israel, and the increase of the persecution towards believers in the Messiah will increase. We will also see the beginnings of revival among the people of Israel as the direct result of the witnesses being raised from death to life. I will only attempt to offer some suggestions it is up to you to decide for yourself to think through the issues being presented here. As I said there are quite a lot of opinions and positions all of which can be defended equally well.
Some have tried to over spiritualize Jerusalem to be Rome and its power, but that is hard to believe since in context the Temple is here mentioned and the view is surrounding the rebuilding and protection of Israel itself. There are many as well that see these two witnesses as not two witnesses but the church at this point being persecuted but again that cannot be right because the description of the two and there ministry is listed within 11:1-13.
Revelation 11:1-2, “Then I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, "Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months.”
John here is actively involved in this vision (Revelation 1:17;4:1;5:4-5;7:13-14; 10:8-10). Kalmos (measuring rod) refers to a reed like plant that grew in the Jordon Valley to a height of fifteen to twenty feet. It had a stalk that was hollow and lightweight, yet rigid enough to be used as a walking staff (Ezek 29:6) or to be shaved down into a pen (3 John 13). These stalks were able to be used because they were long and lightweight; however in Ezekiel’s vision they were used to measure not this temple but the millennial kingdom.
Barclay points out, “In the picture of the passage the seer is to measure the Temple. There is a difficulty here which can e solved when we understand the situation. The difficulty is that the date of the Revelation, as we have seen, is somewhere about A.D. 90; and the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed in A.D. 70, and Jerusalem had been shattered. How then could the Temple be measured? The solution lies in this. Almost certainly John is here taking over and using for his own purposes a picture which had already been used. Almost certainly this passage was originally spoken or written in A.D. 70, during the last siege of Jerusalem. During that siege the party of the Jews who would never admit defeat were the Zealots. Rather than admit defeat they would die to a man, as indeed they ultimately did. When the walls of the city were breached, these Zealots retired into the Temple to make a last desperate resistance there. At that time it is almost certain that some of their prophets said: “Be of good cheer. Never fear. The Gentile invaders may reach the outer Court of the Gentiles; they may trample on and defile it; but they will never penetrate into the inner Temple and its most sacred courts. God would never allow that.” That hope and dream and confidence were disappointed; the Zealots perished and the Temple was destroyed; but originally the measuring of the inner courts and the abandoning of the outer court stood for the Zealot hope in the last terrible days.” Here then the focus turns upon the preservation of God’s people and God’s Covenant nation Israel since the Temple is not bound within building it is the people as the Apostle Paul says in 1st Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”
God often choose to measure of mark things off for destruction (2nd Sam 8:2; 2nd Kings 21:13; Isa 28:17; Lam 2:8; Amos 7:7-9, 17). John’s measuring here though is better understood as signifying ownership defining the parameters of God’s possessions (21:15; Zech 2:1-5). Then the focus here is upon Israel’s protection and her salvation; towards God’s favor towards Israel and His wrath on the pagan world. As we have seen already historical this would have brought great comfort to John since in A.D. 70 the temple was destroyed. The Bible mentions five temples (naos) one by Solomon, Zerubbael after the Exile, Herod built the third (during the time of Christ), and the Lord Himself will built he five during the Millennium (Ezek 40-48; Hag 2:9; Zech 6:12-13). The temple John saw here in this vision was the fourth temple; which will be built in Jerusalem during the Tribulation (Matthew 24:15; 2 Thess 2:4), and along with it the Jewish sacrificial system will be restored (Daniel 9:27; 12:11)
The tribulation temple will be built early in the first half of the Tribulation by the antichrist under the guise of a false agreement with Israel that will be broken. Only under the protection will the rebuilding of the Temple be rebuilt since the protection of this false leader will give them the protection they need from the Arab world and the moving of the Dome of the Rock from the spot where the Temple will be rebuilt. Only during the tribulation will this be possible so great will be the influence of the Antichrist and his rule (Daniel 9:24-27). The reinstitution of the temple worship will reawaken interest on the part of many Jews in the Messiah. Many will realize that it is “impossible fro the blood of bo0ulls and goats to take away the sins.” (Hebrews 10:4) The Word describes this in more detail in Zech 12:1-13:1. The Antichrist’s jealousy will likely be so great that this will in turn launch his plan to desecrate the temple (the abomination of desolation; Daniel 9:24-27; 12:11; Matthew 24:15) and set himself up as the only acceptable object of worship (13:15; 2 Thess 2:4). The measuring of the Temple then also signified the marking out of the Jewish remnant that God will spare from judgment which Zechariah 13:8-9 and Zechariah 14:1-5. The 42 months here refers to the 1,260 days or three and one-half years, corresponding to the evil career of the Antichrist which dominates the last half of the Tribulation (13:5) which will be the culmination of “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24)-the thousands of years during which Gentile nations have in various ways occupied and oppressed the holy city of Jerusalem Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, the Turks, the British, and the Arabs have all ruled Jerusalem, and today Israel’s self-rule is fragile and under incessant attack. But the devastating destruction and the oppression by the rule of the Antichrist and his demonic and human cohorts will surpass all other oppressors.
During this forty two month period, God will shelter many Israelites in a place He has prepared for them in the wilderness (more than likely Petra which we will examine in depth in Chapter 12). Revelation 12:6 does say, “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to give her care for 1,260 days.” Petra is a place for those with the seal of God on there heads as we examined earlier in Revelation 7:2. This seal will enable believers to enter Petra under God’s protection which will include Jews and Gentiles and all those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ during the Tribulation. They will all be save and secure. We will once again go back to this in Chapter 12 as to where this is located and the details surrounding this. This will be in fulfillment of Matthew 24:15-20. The rest remaining in Jerusalem will face terrible persecution from the forces of the Antichrist. At that time, God will bring salvation to Israel, using the two powerful preachers who will appear in Jerusalem (Vs.3).
At the end of the 1,260 days (forty-two months; three and one-half years), Christ will return (19:11-16), destroy Antichrist and his forces (19:17-21; 2nd Thess 2:8), judge the nations (Matthew 25:31-46), and establish His earthly millennial kingdom (20:1-10). Daniel 12:11-12 indicates that there will be a seventy five day gap between the victorious return of Christ and the beginning of the kingdom to take care of the features just mentioned. Despite all the current efforts to destroy Israel God will measure off Israel for its own protection and protect believers during the second half of the Tribulation. God is still in control able to save, preserve, and protect all those who call upon His name. As Zechariah wrote, two-third of Israel will be purged in judgment and the remaining one-third will be saved and enter the glory of the Messiah’s earthly kingdom (Zechariah 13:8-9) Instrumental in the conversion of Israel will be the two witnesses the two man evangelistic team which we will now turn too for the remainder.
Revelation 11:3, “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in sackcloth and will prophesy during those 1,260 days.”
The only two that could have given power to the two witnesses to perform their duty were God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ. Witnesses is the plural form of martus, from which the English word martyr derives, since so many witnesses of Jesus Christ in the early church paid with their lives. It is always used in reference in the New Testament to persons so therefore the two witnesses must be actual people, not movements. The Word of God requires a testimony of two people to confirm a fact or verify truth (Deut 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19 Heb 10:28), so therefore these two witnesses have to be two persons. Prophesy propheteuo is here used with the primary meaning of telling forth the divine counsels of God. Prophecy does not necessarily refer to predicting the future. Here though the word is translated propheteuo but the other Greek word translated would be propheteia signifying the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God. The primary mission of the two witnesses is to speak forth the judgments of God to warn people of the impending doom that is coming there way through the preaching of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1,260 days refers to the length of there ministry the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation, when Antichrist’s forces will oppress the city of Jerusalem (v.2), and many Jews, and believers in the Messiah will be sheltered in the wilderness (12:6).
Sackcloth was rough, heavy, course cloth wore in ancient times as a symbol of mourning, distress, grief and humility. Jacob put on sackcloth when he thought Joseph had been killed (Gen 37:34). David ordered the people to wear sackcloth after the murder of Abner (2nd Samuel 3:31) and wore it himself during the plague God sent in response to his sin of numbering the people (1 Chron 21:16). King Jehoram wore sackcloth during the siege on Samaria (2 Kings 6:30), as did King Hezekiah when Jerusalem was attacked (2nd Kings 19:1). Job (Job 16:15), Isaiah (Isa. 20:2), and Daniel (Daniel 9:3) also wore sackcloth. The purpose of the witnesses them wearing the sackcloth is an object lesson to express their great sorrow for the wretched and unbelieving world racked by God’s judgments, overrun by demon hordes, and populated by wicked, sinful people who refuse to repent. They will also mourn because of the desecration of the temple, the oppression of Jerusalem and the ascendancy of the Antichrist.
Revelation 11:4, “These two prophets are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of all the earth.”
Zechariah 4:1-14 is the backdrop for this. Charles calls this a bold and independent interpretation of Zechariah’s symbols. The two olive trees in Zechariah’s vision are Joshua, the high priest and Zerubbabel, the Jewish governor under the Persian king Darius). The seven churches were described as seven lampstands. The historical fulfillment here was in Joshua rebuilding the post-exilic temple with the Joshua being the religious leader and Zerubbabel being the political leader (Zech 3:1-10). This prophecy also refers to the restoration of the Temple in Israel in the Millennium (Zech 3:8-10). The two olive trees and lampstands refer to the light of revival, since olive oil was commonly used in lamps. The connecting of lamps to the trees is intended to depict a constant automatic supply of oil flowing from the olive trees into the lamps. This symbolizes that God will not bring salvation blessing from human power but by the power of the Holy Spirit (Zech 4:6). Like Joshua and Zerubbabel, the two witnesses will lead a spiritual revival culminating in the building of a temple. Their preaching will be instrumental in Israel’s national conversion (Revelation 11:13; Romans 11:4-5,26), and the temple associate with that conversion will be the Millennial temple.
It is hard to say who these two Prophets will be. Some have suggested they are representative of the Law and the Church the new and the Old. More than likely though this is a reference to the Law and the Prophets. The reasons for such a position is that Elijah called fire down from heaven (2nd Kings 1:10,12) and pronounced a three-and-one-half-year drought on the land (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17) –the same length as the drought brought by the two witnesses (Revelation 11:6). Moses turned the waters of the Nile into blood (Exodus 7:17-21) and announced the other plagues on Egypt recorded in Exodus chapters 7-12. Malachi 4:5 predicted the return of Elijah and the Jews believed that God’s promise to raise up a prophet like Moses (Deut 18:15,18) necessitated his return (John 1:21; 6:14;7:40). John the Baptist came as Luke 1:17 says, “He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet of old. He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will change disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom." But the Jews did not accept Jesus John did not fulfill the prophecy in relation to Malachi 4:5. Moses and Elijah furthermore appeared with Christ as the Transfiguration, the preview of the Second Coming (Matthew 17:3) Elijah never died but was transported to heaven in a fiery chariot (2nd Kings 2:11-12) and God supernaturally buried Moses’ body in a secret location (Deut 34:5-6; Jude 9). Since the Word does not say who exactly the Prophets will be this position above cannot be accurately defended since the identity of the two is still a mystery.
Revelation 11:5-6, “If anyone tries to harm them, fire flashes from the mouths of the prophets and consumes their enemies. This is how anyone who tries to harm them must die. They have power to shut the skies so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. And they have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to send every kind of plague upon the earth as often as they wish.”
God has used fire in the past to incinerate His enemies (Lev 10:2; Numbers 11:1; 16:35; Psalm 106:17-18). The third trumpet judgment resulted in the poisoning of one-third of the earth’s flesh water supply (8:10-11). Added to that, the three and one half year drought lasting throughout the 1,260 days of their preaching (v.3; Luke 4:25; James 5:17) brought by the two witnesses will cause widespread devastation of crops and loss of human and animal life through thirst and starvation. The Moses and Elijah like Prophets have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to send every kind of plague upon the earth as often as they wish.
Revelation 11:7-10, “When they complete their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them. He will conquer them and kill them. And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city which is called "Sodom" and "Egypt," the city where their Lord was crucified. And for three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will come to stare at their bodies. No one will be allowed to bury them. All the people who belong to this world will give presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets who had tormented them.”
This is the first of thirty-six references in Revelation to the beast and sets the stage for more detailed to come in Revelation 13 and 17. Here the beast is described as coming out of the bottomless pit indicating that he is empowered by Satan. Satan is depicted as a dragon (12:3,9), this figure is not Satan. The revelation about him in Chapter 13 indicates that the beast is a world leader (often called Antichrist) who imitates the true Christ, rules over the people of the world, and demands their worship (13:8). The abyss is the prison for certain demons.
The Jews would have considered this a great horror that one of there own was dead to lay in the street without a proper burial (Deut 21:22-23) of which God forbade and the ancient world thought that exposing a dead body was the ultimate way of dishonoring and desecrating them. That Sodom and Egypt are used is significant, for Sodom refers to the depths of moral degradation (Genesis 19:4-11) and Egypt is a symbol of oppression and slavery. Where their Lord was crucified refers to outside the city limits as Josephus points out for us (Ap 1.197; Sib. or 5:154, 226,413). Montague points out that “their Lord’ was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem but within the city limits of Rome, which were understood to embrace the entire empire” (138). The celebration of the earth’s inhabitants over the death of the witnesses is a perverse counterpart to the Jewish feast of Purim—a “day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.. And gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:19, 22).
Revelation 11:11-12, “But after three and a half days, the spirit of life from God entered them, and they stood up! And terror struck all who were staring at them. Then a loud voice shouted from heaven, "Come up here!" And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched.”
The partying and the merriment of the “dead witness day” will be suddenly and dramatically halted by a most shocking event. If this event itself is shown on TV it will be repeated over and over like ESPN’s sport center’s top ten plays. No doubt the people surrounding the witnesses will think, “Oh Joy the Prophets will continue to torment us with fire, preaching and repentance come again to do miracles among us.” The reality though is that a loud voice shouted from heaven, "Come up here!" And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched.” Much like John is summoned up to heaven in 4:1 so here the two witnesses will be lifted up to heaven. This two man Rapture will no doubt also be replayed endlessly for the entire world to see. It is reminiscent of the ascension of Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) and the mysterious death and burial of Moses (Deut 34:5-6). Luke 16:31 says, “"But Abraham said, `If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’ “ This shows why the two witnesses will not preach again after their resurrection for the simple fact that signs and wonders do not make the gospel believable.
Revelation 11:13, “And in the same hour there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people died in that earthquake. And everyone who did not die was terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”
The emphasis here upon them giving glory to the God of heaven is a mark of repentance in Revelation and elsewhere in Scripture (4:9; 14:7; 16:9; 19:7; Luke 17:18-19; Romans 4:20). This passage then describes the reality of the salvation of Jews in Jerusalem, as God fulfils His pledge of blessing for Israel (Romans 11:4-5, 26). The second terror is past, but look, now the third terror is coming quickly (v.14). The third woe will sound bringing with it the final, violent bowl judgments and the return of Christ in glory to set up His kingdom. Tachu (quickly) means “soon” Revelation 2:16; 3:11; 22:7, 12,20) and expresses the imminency of the last woe, which is the seven bowl judgments ushered in by the sounding of the seventh trumpet.
Pastor David
