John recorded the revelation dealing with the two witnesses to inform his readers of the ministries of these important individuals during the Great Tribulation. This section continues the parenthetical revelation begun in 10:1. It is one of the more difficult chapters to interpret, and students of the book have proposed many different explanations.
11:1 "And"(Gr. kai) ties this chapter closely to the previous one. John's first prophetic assignment after receiving his fresh commission was to provide this information.
Again John became an active participant in his vision (cf. 1:12; 5:4; 7:14; 10:8-10; 19:10; 22:8). John's "measuring rod"was probably a lightweight reed (cf. Ezek. 29:6; 40:5; 42:16-19; Mark 6:8; 3 John 13). The person giving the reed and the instructions was probably the strong angel (10:9-11). John received instruction to perform a symbolic act, as many of his prophetic forerunners had done (cf. Isa. 20:2-5; Ezek. 12:1-17; 40; Zech. 2). The act of measuring probably signifies that the temple is God's possession. One carefully measures what is his own property (cf. 2 Sam. 8:2; Ezek. 40:3-42:20). Sometimes measuring in Scripture anticipated judgment (2 Sam. 8:2; 2 Kings 21:13; Isa. 28:17; Lam. 2:8; Amos 7:709).353However, since John received instruction not to measure profane areas (v. 2), this measuring is probably an indication of God's favor.
"In other words, John's future prophecies will distinguish between God's favor toward the sanctuary, the altar, and their worshipers and His disapproval of all that is of Gentile orientation because of their profanation of the holy city for half of the future seventieth week. . . . So the measuring is an object lesson of how entities favored by God will fare during the period of Gentile oppression that lies ahead"354
The "temple"(Gr. naos, inner temple) refers to both the holy place and the holy of holies excluding the courtyards. This is evidently the temple that the Jews will build in Jerusalem before or during the first half (three and a half years) of Daniel's seventieth week (i.e., the Tribulation; cf. v. 8; 13:14-15; Dan. 9:26-27; 12:11; Matt. 24:15-16; 2 Thess. 2:4).355The "altar"probably refers to the brazen altar of sacrifice outside the sanctuary to which non-priests will have access. John was to measure (in the sense of quantifying) the worshippers too. This probably means that God will know or perhaps preserve them. These worshipers evidently represent godly Jews who will worship God in this Tribulation temple (cf. Ezek. 14:22; Rom. 11:4-5, 26).
When Jesus Christ returns at the Second Coming He will build a new millennial temple that will replace this Tribulation temple (Ezek. 40).
Some interpreters who favor a more symbolic understanding of this verse take the temple as a reference to the church (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21; 1 Pet. 3:5).356
"The church will be protected in the coming disaster."357
However if the temple is the church, who are the worshipers, what is the altar, and why are the Gentiles segregated from it? Such an interpretation mixes the literal and the figurative hopelessly.
11:2 "Leave out"(Gr. ekballo, lit. cast out) implies removal from divine favor (cf. Matt. 22:13; 25:30; 3 John 10). The court outside the temple corresponds to the court to which Gentiles had access in the first century, which lay outside the court into which only Jews could come. The Tribulation temple will evidently have similar courtyards. Not measuring amounts to exclusion from God's favor as measuring amounts to enjoying His favor (v. 1). The nations are the Gentiles, specifically hostile, unbelieving Gentiles (cf. v. 18; 14:8; 19:15; 20:3). These Gentiles will oppress the holy city, which is earthly Jerusalem (cf. v. 8; 21:22; Luke 21:24).358The 42 months are the last half of the Tribulation since this will be the time when Gentile hostility to the Jews is intense (cf. Dan. 9:27). The Gentiles will dominate the outer court of the temple and the rest of Jerusalem for 42 months. Anti-Semitism will peak after the Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel in the middle of Daniel's seventieth week (Dan. 9:27). This interpretation seems more likely than that 42 months refers to the 42 encampments of Israel in the wilderness, or that they represents a period "of measurable duration."359
Even though believing Jews will suffer persecution at this time, God will still get His message out. Two witnesses will be especially significant at this time. Valid testimony required two witnesses under the Old Covenant (Deut. 19:15), and both Jesus and the early church sent out emissaries in pairs (Mark 6:7; Luke 10:2; Acts 13:2; 15:39-40).
11:3 Who is speaking in this verse? The speaker seems to be the angel who spoke in verses 1-2, who here speaks for God (cf. v. 8).
God did not reveal the identity of the two witnesses. Many commentators believe they will be Moses and Elijah since these men were prophets and performed the kinds of miracles these witnesses will perform (v. 6).360Others believe they will be Enoch and Elijah since God took these men to heaven without dying.361Another reason some believe one of these witnesses will be Elijah is Malachi 4:5, which predicts that Elijah will return before Messiah.362Other less literal interpreters think the two witnesses may represent not two individuals but the faithful witness of the church throughout its persecutions.363I agree with those who believe that they will be individuals living at this time rather than former prophets brought back to earth for this ministry (cf. Matt. 11:14).364
They will "prophesy,"namely, communicate messages from God. Their ministry will last 1,260 days (i.e., 42 months of 30 days per month, or three and a half years; Dan. 12:11).365This period also appears to be the Great Tribulation (i.e., the last half of Daniel's seventieth week), the focus of John's vision in this chapter.366Some interpreters, including the early church fathers Victorinus, Hippolytus, and Augustine, believed that the two witnesses would minister in the first half of the Tribulation.367Nonetheless, the context strongly favors the last half of the Tribulation.
The two witnesses will wear "sackcloth,"the dress that in biblical times signified approaching judgment and needed repentance (cf. Isa. 22:12; Jer. 4:8; 6:26; Jon. 3:5, 6, 8; Matt. 11:21).
11:4 The ministry of these two witnesses resembles that of Zerubbabel and Joshua who sought to restore Israel after a previous exile (Zech. 4:2, 3, 11-14). There is only one lampstand in the Zechariah passage, but there are two here representing each of the two witnesses. In the Zechariah passage it is the Holy Spirit who empowered Zerubbabel and Joshua (Zech. 4:14), and the comparison strongly suggests that these latter-day witnesses will also receive power from Him (cf. 1:4). They will be God's anointed servants who bear the light of His truth. They are dependent on the Spirit and speak for God, who controls the whole earth.
11:5 These witnesses will be able to protect themselves by calling down fire on their enemies who try to harm them, as Elijah did (cf. 2 Kings 1:10-14). This is probably the meaning rather than the bizarre notion that fire will actually proceed from their mouths. No one will be able to kill them until God permits this at the very end of their ministry (v. 7).
11:6 God will also empower them to do other miracles similar to what Elijah (cf. 1 Kings 17:1, 7; 18:1; Luke 4:25; James 5:17) and Moses (Exod. 7:17-21; 9:14; 11:10; 1 Sam. 4:8) did. The length of their ministry will be the same as the drought that God sent during Elijah's day. It will also be for the same purpose, namely, to punish His people for their sins and to lead them to repentance. However the two witnesses will be able to exercise their power whenever they wish, not like Moses who could only perform miracles at God's specific command.
This will be the fifth period in history when God will enable a few people to do unusually spectacular signs and wonders. The first four periods were the times of Moses and Joshua, of Elijah and Elisha, of Daniel and his three friends, and the time of Jesus Christ's earthly ministry and that of His apostles.
"Here is a fundamental clue to the understanding of biblical prophecy: eschatological events are foreshadowed in historical events."368
11:7 It is only when they have finished their ministry that God will permit the beast to kill the two witnesses. They will not die prematurely. This is the first of 36 references to "the beast"in Revelation (cf. Dan. 7:21). He is Antichrist, as later passages will show. This verse describes him as having his origin in the abyss, the abode of Satan and his demons (cf. 9:1-3, 11; Luke 8:31).
11:8 The beast will add insult to injury by allowing the corpses of the two witnesses to lie in the street unburied. This was the worst indignity that someone could perpetrate on a person in biblical times (cf. Ps. 79:2-3). "Mystically"(Gr. pneumatikos, "spiritually") indicates a comparative rather than a literal meaning. The city will be similar to Sodom and Egypt in that it will be extremely wicked, morally degraded, antagonistic toward God, and oppressive toward God's people because of Antichrist's influence. The place of Jesus Christ's crucifixion identifies this city as Jerusalem (cf. Jer. 22:8).369
11:9 Evidently people from all over the world will be able to view the corpses, probably by television. Alternatively people from all these groups (cf. 5:9; 7:9) may be in Jerusalem at this time and will see them. The correspondence of three and a half days to the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation may only be coincidental. Nonetheless it draws attention to the fact that God's servants will only suffer a short time whereas those under His wrathwill suffer much longer.
11:10 This is the only instance of rejoicing during the Tribulation recorded in this book. It reflects the widespread wickedness of that day (cf. 1 Kings 18:17; 21:20). Earth-dwellers will celebrate because they do not have to listen to messages from God any longer. This will be the world's last great Mardi Gras type celebration.
11:11 The breath of life from God will revive the witnesses' dead bodies (cf. Gen. 6:17; 7:15, 22; 2 Kings 13:20-21; Ezek. 37:5, 10). Their resurrections will terrify onlookers because these God-haters could do no more to silence their enemies than kill them. The use of the prophetic present tense in the verbs in this verse pictures what is future as already fact.
11:12 The witnesses, and probably those beholding them before they ascend, will hear the "voice from heaven."It probably belongs to Jesus Christ (cf. 4:1). "The cloud"evidently refers to the shekinah in which Jesus Christ ascended (Acts 1:9). Their ascension is also similar to that of Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) and to Christians at the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:17). In the case of the two witnesses, their enemies will watch them ascend.
One writer who believed the witnesses stand for all Christians wrote as follows.
"In the fullest sense this is to be fulfilled in the rapture Paul describes (1 Thes. iv. 17)."370
11:13 Following this ascension an earthquake (cf. 6:12; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18; Matt. 27:51-52; 28:2) will destroy 10 percent of Jerusalem and will cause 7,000 people to die.371Those who will not die will give glory to God. This does not necessarily mean that they will all become believers,372but they will acknowledge God's hand in these events at least.373Perhaps they only give glory to God as the demons gave glory to Jesus when He confronted them during His earthly ministry.
This verse is transitional (cf. 9:12). It refers to the end of the second woe (the sixth trumpet, 9:21) and ties this judgment in with the third woe (the seventh trumpet). It clarifies that God interjected the revelations of the mighty angel and the little scroll (10:1-11) and the two witnesses (11:1-13) into the chronological sequence of trumpet judgments. He did so to give supplementary, encouraging information. The final woe will follow "quickly"(Gr. tachy, "soon,"cf. 2:16; 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20) on the heels of the second woe.
