Then a reed was given me
to serve as a measuring rod;
and a voice said:
“Rise,
and measure God’s sanctuary
--and the altar--
and count the worshipers who are in it.
But as for the court which is outside the sanctuary,
pass it over.
Do not measure it;
for it has been given to the Gentiles,
and for forty-two months
they will trample the holy city under foot.
And I will authorize My two witnesses
to prophesy
for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in
sackcloth.
“These witnesses are the two olive trees,
and
they are the two lamps
which stand in the presence
of the Lord of the earth.
And if any one seeks to injure them--
fire comes from their mouths
and devours their enemies;
and
if any one shall seek to injure them,
he will in this way certainly be killed.
They have power given to them
to seal up the sky, so that no rain
may fall so long as they continue to prophesy;
and power over the waters to turn them into blood,
and
to smite the earth
with various plagues
whenever they choose to do so.
“And when they have fully delivered their testimony:
1. The Wild Beast which is to rise out of the bottomless
pit will make war upon them
2. And overcome them
3. And kill them.
4. And their dead bodies are to lie in the broad street of
the great city which is mystically called
“Sodom” and “Egypt”
where indeed their Lord was crucified.
5. And men belonging to
all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations
gaze at their dead bodies for three days and a half,
6. And they refuse to let them be laid in a tomb.
7. The inhabitants of the earth
rejoice over them
and are glad and will send gifts to one another;
for these two prophets had greatly troubled
the inhabitants of the earth
But at the end of three days and a half:
1. The breath of life from God entered into them
2. And they rose to their feet
3. And all who saw them were terrified.
Then I heard a loud voice calling to them out of heaven:
1. And they went up to heaven in the cloud,
2. And their enemies saw them go.
3. And just at that time there was a great earthquake
4. And a tenth part of the city was overthrown.
5. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake,
6. And the rest were terrified and gave glory to the
God of heaven.
The second woe is past;
The third woe will soon be here
Prophetic Ministry of Church
Panoramic view of rest of Book of Revelation
11:1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod and told, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the
altar, and those who worship there.
- This parenthetical section God gives to answer the question as to why this has to be so severe and what happens to
the saints during all of this. There is going to be a worldwide leader called the antichrist and the nations will worship him
and hate God and they will murder the saints wholesale and try to exterminate the body of Christ worldwide and the nation
of Israel and they must be stopped.
- The contents of the ‘little book’ (chapter 10) are expressed in the measuring of the temple and the prophesying of
the two witnesses (W)
1. The Church
2. The testimony
3. Establishing the testimony
4. The battle that the church goes through
5. The spiritual battle against this testimony
- The temple is a symbol of the church (TB)
- The temple, altar and worshippers – everything necessary to worship – are measured. This measuring is continually
going on. When everything else falls into the hands of the enemy, these are spared. (TB)
- This prophetical passage about measuring the temple is a plain reference to what we find in Ezekiel’s vision
(Ezekiel 40:3). The design of this measurement seems to be the preservation of it in those times of public danger and
calamity that are here foretold. (MH)
- This eleventh chapter is a compendious summary of, and introduction to, the more detailed prophecies of the same
events to come in chapters 12-20. Hence we find anticipatory allusions to the subsequent prophecies; i.e. the beast and the
great city (JFB)
- John measured the temple to show that God is building walls of protection around His people to spare them from
spiritual harm, and that there is a place reserved for all believers who remain faithful to God (LB)
- Reed – the measuring reed of the church – our rule of faith – a rod of straightness – a scepter of righteousness (JFB)
- Temple – the Holy Place – the sanctuary (JFB)
- The altar – of incense; it alone was in the sanctuary (JFB)
- The measurement of the Holy place seems to stand parallel to the sealing of the elect of Israel under the sixth seal.
God’s elect are symbolized by the sanctuary at Jerusalem. (JFB)
- The measuring implies at once the exactness of the proportions of the temple to be restored, and the definite
completeness (not one being wanting) of the numbers of the Israelite and of the Gentile elections (JFB)
- The Temple is measured, but the Court and the Holy City are left to be trodden under foot by the nations 42 months.
This appears to draw a distinction between the true inner church and the external visible professing church: the one to be
preserved and protected of God, the other to be corrupted, desecrated and exploited, by the world. It seems to predict
large-scale apostasy in the church. (HBH)
References: Ezekiel 40:3-42:20; Zechariah 2:1 (then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand);
Revelation 21:15; Numbers 23:18 (Then he took up his oracle and said: “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor);
1 Corinthians 3:16 (Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?); Ephesians 2:21-22 (in whom
the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of
God in the Spirit); 2 Corinthians 6:16 (And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God
has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”); Revelation 10:11
11:2 “But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given
to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
- Leave out – of your measurement, lit., cast out; reckon as unhallowed (JFB)
- 42 months – 1,260 days – 3 ½ years (TB)
o symbolize persecution, limitation and incompleteness
o half of perfect number 7
o the period is indefinite but it will come to an end
- The duration of prophesying is to correspond with the duration of the trampling under foot (TB)
- This is the first time the specific time of the big trouble is mentioned – 42 months. (DP)
- The unbelievers and unregenerate will “trample on” the court outside for an indefinite period. This period covers
the entire duration of the church’s history on earth. The believers and true church will be supernaturally protected. (TB)
References: Ezekiel 40:17 (Then he brought me into the outer court; and there were chambers and a pavement made all around the court:
thirty chambers faced the pavement), 20 (On the outer court was also a gateway facing north, and he measured its length and its width); Psalm 79:1
O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps); Luke 21:24 (And
they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the
Gentiles are fulfilled); Daniel 8:10 (And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground,
and trampled them.); 7:25 (He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to
change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.); 12:7 (then I heard the man clothed in
linen, who was above the waters of the river, when He held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that
it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be
finished); Revelation 12:6; 13:5; 21:2, 10; 22:19; Isaiah 52:1 (Awake, awake, clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion; clothe yourself in your
beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you); Matthew 27:53; 4:5;
11:3 “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred
and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
- I will give – give commission (JFB)
- God is raising up two men with information and power that can withstand the two men with revelation and power in
Revelation 13.
- The two witnesses of me–the article implies that the two were well known at least to John (JFB)
- Many of the early Church thought the two witnesses to be Enoch and Elijah. This would avoid the difficulty of the dying
a second time, for these have never yet died (JFB)
- These are prophets with the double portion; when they come they bring the whole level of the prophetic up another
level; they will make sense of what is going on in the hour that the great wrath is poured out.
- The words “witness” and “prophesy” are usually applied to individuals, not to abstractions (JFB)
- They prophesy in sackcloth, as those that are deeply affected with the low and distressed state of the churches (MH)
- The prophet comes against organized religion and says “what you are doing is hypocritical”
- What are the weapons of the warfare of the spiritual church?
o It’s the word of prophecy
o It’s the word of their mouths that will devour their enemies
- In heaven the witnesses wear white robes, but on earth they wear sackcloth (TB)
- Sackcloth – the garment of prophets, especially when calling people to mortification of their sins, and to
repentance (JFB)
References: Deuteronomy 17:6 (Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be
put to death on the testimony of one witness); Revelation 20:4; 19:10; 12:6; 2:13; 1:5; 13:5; Genesis 37:34 (So Jacob tore his clothes, and put
sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days); 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 19:1; Nehemiah 9:1 Esther 4:1; Psalm 69:11
(When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them); Joel 1:13 (And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the
Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil); Jonah 3:5, 8;
Psalm 52:8 (But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever)
11:4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth.
- God made them to be like Zerubbabel and Joshua, the two olive-tress and candlestick in the vision of Zechariah (MH)
References: Psalm 52:8 (But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever); Jeremiah 11:16 (The
Lord called your name, Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit. With the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are
broken); Zechariah 4:2 (And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top
of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps), 3 (Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at
its left), 11 (Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?”), 14 (So he said, “These
are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.)
11:5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies.
And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner.
• The two witnesses are two great prophets; we know from Joel 2:30 the primary categories of the prophecy movement
(which is the whole body of Christ) what is the primary signs of the prophecy movement: blood, fire, and smoke in the
atmosphere and on the earth. The two prophets are going to fulfill this and operate in it. They will not just do it alone,
they will be the point of the arrow of the whole prophetic and intercessory movement of the body of Christ – the whole
prophetic movement.
References: 2 Kings 1:10-12 (So Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven
and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty…..); Jeremiah 1:10 (See, I have this day
set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant); 5:14 (Therefore
thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it
shall devour them.); Ezekiel 43:3 (It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw—like the vision which I aw when I came to destroy the city. The
visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face); Hosea 6:5 (Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have
slain them by the words of My mouth; and your judgments are like light that goes forth); Revelation 9:17; Numbers 16:29 (If these men die
naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.)
11:6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they
have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as
they desire.
- Nothing can violate the dwelling place of God or destroy His witnesses until their testimony is complete
- The position of the true church isn’t one of idle security. Christ must be proclaimed and the task of the church is to
preach the gospel even in the face of persecution. (TB)
- Two witnesses patterned after Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets)
- Two witnesses symbolize the true church
- Power as Elijah in 1 Kings 7 & 8; Power as Moses in Exodus 7
References: 1 Kings 17:1 (And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I
stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.); Luke 4:25 (But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days
of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land); James 5:16, 17;
John 15:27; Acts 1:8; Revelation 11:3; 8:8
11:7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war
against them, overcome them, and kill them.
- The issue is the testimony:
o The testimony is going to be warred against
o The two witnesses are going to have a battle
o It is a spiritual battle
- How does the antichrist kill the church? By destroying its testimony. He attack’s God’s love for us.
- The sufferings of the two witnesses follow the pattern of Jesus’ sufferings. When he had finished his work, the power
of evil seemed to prevail. They seem secure and invincible until their time of bearing full witness for God is accomplished.
- To make their testimony more strong, they must seal it with their blood (MH)
- This beast was not mentioned before, yet he is introduced as ‘the beast’ because he had already been described by
Daniel and he is fully so in the subsequent chapters. Thus, John at once appropriates the Old Testament prophecies. It is
a proof of the unity that pervades all Scripture (JFB)
- That the beast comes up from the abyss indicates his demonic character (NIV)
References: Luke 13:32 (And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third
day I shall be perfected’); Revelation 13:1, 11; 17:8; 9:1, 2; 13:7; Daniel 7:21 (I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the
saints, and prevailing against them)
11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and
Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
- How can Jerusalem be called ‘the great city …. Babylon’? By her becoming the world’s capital of idolatrous
apostasy, such as Babylon originally was; just as she is here called also ‘Sodom and Egypt’. (JFB)
- Babylon marks its idolatry, Egypt its tyranny, Sodom its desperate corruption, Jerusalem its pretensions to sanctity
on the ground of spiritual privileges, while all the while it is the murderer of Christ in the person of His members. (JFB)
- Sodom was the prototype for the moral degeneration of this great city, as Egypt was the prototype for its rampant
idolatry (NCBC)
References: Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 17:18; 18:2, 10, 16, 18, 19, 21; Hebrews 13:12 (Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with
His own blood, suffered outside the gate); Isaiah 1:9 (Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would be
like Gomorrah), 10; 3:9; Jeremiah 23:14 (Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: the committing of adultery and
walking in falsehood; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have
become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah); Ezekiel 16:46, 49, 23:3, 8, 19, 27
11:9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies
three-and-a-half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves.
References: Revelation 17:15; 10:11; 5:9; 1 Kings 13:22 (but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the Lord said
to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers); Psalm 79:2 (The dead bodies of Your
servants they have given as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth), 3 (Their blood they have shed
like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them)
11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one
another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
- The anti-christianity of the last days shall probably be under the name of philosophical enlightenment and civilization,
but really man’s deification of himself. (JFB)
References: Revelation 12:12; Nehemiah 8:10, 12 (and all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly,
because they understood the words that were declared to them); Esther 9:19, 22 (…that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of
sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor); Revelation 16:10; 3:10
The Witnesses Resurrected
11:11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on
their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
- A persecuting spirit, though cruel, is not a courageous, but a cowardly spirit (MH)
- Spirit of life – the same which breathed life into Israel’s dry bones (JFB)
References: Revelation 11:9; Ezekiel 37:5 (thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall
live), 9, 10 (…So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly
great army), 14; 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)
11:12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended
to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.
- The Lord’s witnesses must wait for their advancement, till God calls them. (MH)
References: Isaiah 14:13 (For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the
mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north); Isaiah 60:8 (Who are those who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts?);
Acts 1:9 (And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight); 2 Kings 2:1
(And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal); Revelation 4:1
11:13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven
thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.
- Great earthquake – answering to the great earthquake under the sixth seal, just at the approach of the Lord. (JFB)
- Ten is the number of the world kingdoms, and the beast’s horns, and the dragon’s (JFB)
- Gave glory to the God of heaven – not an act of repentance but the terrified realization that Christ, not the antichrist,
is the true Lord of all (NIV)
References: Revelation 6:12; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18; 16:19; Joshua 7:19; John 9:24 (…give God the glory…); Revelation 14:7; 16:9; 19:7
11:14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
- The second woe includes the sixth trumpet and a second interlude (NCBC)
- The third woe is the final trumpet which ushers in the completion of the mystery of God
- The third woe, which accompanies the seventh trumpet, follows quickly after the ascension of the two witnesses (W)
References: Revelation 8:13; 9:12