Revelation
11:1-14.The Two Witnesses.
Revelation
11:1-14.
American Journal of Biblical Theology
Copyright © 2007, J.W. Carter Scripture quotes
from KJV
I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.
Coming between the sixth and seventh trumpets of the seventh seal is John’s description of two visions that turn from the descriptions of the final judgment upon the wicked through the assault upon it by the powers of evil. In these visions he affirms the assurance of security for all of those who have placed their faith and trust in God. It is as though, prior to the final and violent climax of evil’s rage, he reminds Christians that this judgment is not for them. Loyalty to God brings an assurance of security against evil’s assaults, though that loyalty may include suffering and martyrdom in this present and temporal world. However, that loyalty also brings the reward of ultimate victory and peace.
Who are those who are loyal to the LORD? As first-century Christians perceived their world, they may have thought that there were very few true believers. They found themselves opposed by every facet of the mosaic of society, including many who claimed the name of Christ. Separating those who are faithful from those who are not is a virtually impossible task, and one that is not necessary for the church as the LORD raises the wheat and tares together in preparation for His second coming (Matt 25:13 ff). Also, it is appropriate that during this time of grace that the wheat and tares would be together as the gospel is spread amongst those who will listen and respond. It is important that the lost are included in relationships with the saved so that more can come to the LORD. However, at the “sound of the last trumpet,” the wheat and tares will be separated. This is what is meant by John’s vision of measuring the temple.
The dimensions of the temple of God and the altar are fully determined by the intrinsic “size” or population of believers, since the temple of God resides in believer’s hearts. The instruction to John is to consider the whole Church, the body of all believers for all ages. This body is located in the immediate vicinity of the throne of God and is held securely there during this period of final judgment against evil.
We see in this vision an allusion to the physical courts of the tabernacle where the inner court was reserved for Jews, and Jews alone. Gentiles were forbidden from entering this court, facing harsh judgment for breaking this law. Paul’s final imprisonment and death were attributed to accusations of bringing a gentile (Timothy, who was a circumcised Jew) into the inner court.
John is reminding his readers that there will be a time when the wheat will be finally and fully separated from the chaff, a point in time when those who have rejected the name of the LORD will be separated from those who turned their hearts to God. The age of opportunity for a general witness to the lost will come to a close. The ability to “go and make disciples” (Matt. 28:18 ff.) will no longer be possible. The final opportunity for salvation will be extended to all who have rejected God, but it will be God Himself who will, through his own agency, provide that call to repentance. However, we will find in the remainder of John’s vision that there is little or no positive response to God’s offer of redemption as this evil world falls to the violent rage of its prince.
But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.
The outer court of the temple was a place that Gentiles could come and worship God. Unlike the inner court, there was no restriction placed upon those who entered. This openness was a gesture to the Gentile community that the worship of God was not reserved for the Jew. This court was to be a place of both worship and learning as the scriptures would be taught among the Gentiles by Scribes, Rabbis, and others. However, because of its lack of restriction, by the first century the outer court became a place where merchants came to sell sacrifices and exchange temple money for Roman money. This practice displaced the worshippers, and the temple of God degraded to the “den of thieves” whom Jesus summarily evicted (Matt 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46).
Those who remain in the outer court of John’s vision are those who have heard God’s offer of redemption and have rejected it. Certainly the first-century Christians could testify to those in their own community who rejected the gospel as many still do today. Consequently, in John’s task of “measurement” it is made clear that those who are finding security against evil’s final rage do not include those who have rejected Christ.
John’s task of “measurement” may help us to more clearly understand that only those who have made a sincere choice to submit to the Lordship of God will be saved. Those who profess to be Christians but have never actually made that commitment will be left in the outer court. One cannot be saved by acting like a Christian. One is not saved because they are a blood relative of a Christian. Unless one has a personal relationship with the LORD, God’s testimony at the final judgment will simply be, “I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23).
The “Holy City” is a metaphor for the body of the Church of Christ; all believers for all ages as they together embody the Holy Spirit. Though their eternal security is assured, there will be a period of time while those outside of the faithful will exact persecution upon them. The first-century church felt trampled, as many in the church today would still testify. However, the period of martyrdom is short. The period of forty-two months is an allusion to Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, three and one-half years. This was the actual duration of the persecution of the Hebrews under Antiochus Apiphanes, 168-165 BC, and “forty-two months” became an idiom for the duration of a completed period of persecution. Perhaps the fact that three and one-half years it is half of seven years, the period of the Jubilee and the perfect or complete number, may have helped to make the number traditional.
And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."
This passage is based upon Zechariah, chapter 4 when the prophet is given the similar vision of the two witnesses, presented as a metaphor using two olive trees and lamp stands. During these three and one-half years that Jerusalem is to be trodden under foot, the two witnesses are to prophesy, clothed in sackcloth (Mal. 4:5).
This period of prophesy, given both in Zechariah and in John’s Revelation will be one that is different from the period when the testimony was disseminated by the church. Again, the faithful have been called home and are separated out while God gives His last call to repentance. However, during this period the nature of the witness changes. When this vision is given to Zechariah, he is unable to interpret the meanings of the metaphors and asks the angel who these witnesses are, and the angel answers his questions rather directly. Those answers provide us with some help as we seek to understand the remainder of this chapter.
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Note that olive trees (Zech. 4:11) provide the oil necessary to make lamps burn. However, the olive trees are not the fire. The fire, the actual cleansing power of grace, is the word of God. The lamp stands have no intrinsic power, but they do contain the burning oil. We saw the metaphor of lamp stands in the first chapter of John’s Revelation when they represented the churches. Like lamp stands, they hold the oil, but the actual light is the power of the Holy Spirit as it shines forth. The age of the church testimony has ended, so these two witnesses shine out on their own. In Zechariah’s prophesy, these two witnesses are God’s word itself, given to mankind through the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah.
God’s word can stand on its own. It is complete and sufficient to communicate God’s purpose of grace through the redemption of all who will place their trust in Him. As the metaphor of John’s vision of the interaction of God’s word within this world as it succumbs to its prince of evil, he refers to these witnesses as two men. If we understand these men to be Moses and Elijah as they represent the Law and the Prophets, the remaining discussion retains in agreement with the context of both John’s and Zechariah’s prophesies. As the churches and pastors had served as the lamp stands of God’s light, Moses and Elijah continue to shed that light even into the darkness of the apocalypse. Just as the church was rejected by the armies of the prince of darkness, so will the testimonies of Moses and Elijah. However, God’s word does not fail.
If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.
The power of the word of God devours its enemies. The word of God is the light that chases away darkness. The darkness has no power when confronted with the light. The faithful can be fully assured that God’s word can stand on its own, and cannot be overpowered by any enemy.
God’s word is truth. As we look around our world today, as has been the case since the creation of man, truth is taking quite a beating. Today’s “post-modernism” teaches that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Such a position serves only to bolster the lie that there is no God as this philosophy is promoted by those who summarily reject the gospel. This philosophy provides its adherents with an artificial wall of protection against the truth as they simply deny its existence. Denying the truth and its power is like standing on the precipice of an erupting volcano and denying its power. One can stand and deny the presence of the fire with their words, but their destiny is to be devoured by it.
God’s truth will ultimately judge all who reject it. Christians who have attempted to defend truth only to see their testimony persecuted do not need to feel any hint of failure. God calls upon all Christians to give to others the reason for their faith, and the attempt to do so is simply the appropriate response of obedience. However, the responsibility of the reception of the gospel by the lost falls upon the hearer. God’s word can stand upon its own power. It can defend itself, and it will ultimately stand when its truth becomes known. Like the light that has power over darkness, God’s truth has all of the power when confronted with falsehood. Those who stand against God’s truth are having their say during the age of grace, but that age will come to an end, and the falsehood will be devoured.
These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
The allusion to the Law and the Prophets, personified in Moses and Elijah is rather clear. It was Elijah who prophesied to the unrepentant Ahab, the son of Omri, king of Israel (1 Kings 16:28 ff.) that rain would not fall until he himself prophesied its return. It was Moses who was used of God to bring the plagues upon Egypt, turning the waters of the Nile to blood (Exodus 4:9, the first reference to blood in scripture.) However, it was not Elijah who stopped the rain. It was not Moses who turned the water to blood. They are simply lamp stands upon which the light shines. It was God who stopped the rain, and it was God who turned the water into blood and struck Egypt with the ten plagues at His own discretion.
It was not Elijah who Ahab rejected and persecuted, it was God. It was not Moses who the Pharaoh rejected and persecuted, it was God. Likewise, in this prophesy John illustrates that it is the same God who is rejected by the powers of evil. It is God who has the power, not the enemies who attack Him. God chooses His own response to the attacks as He presents His purpose of redemption. However, when the age of the opportunity for redemption comes to a close, those enemies will be defeated through their rejection by Him for eternity.
Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
During this age of grace, truth is taking a beating. We might be reminded by these verses of the ravaging of Jerusalem that took place when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar came from the East and overpowered the city. He killed all who resisted, leaving their bodies in the streets. The temple and the city buildings were burned and its people taken captive. Those who remained were those who Nebuchadnezzar felt were no threat, those like Jeremiah who prophesied cooperation with Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel shortly afterward testified to the removal of the pillar of fire from the temple as God’s glory departed. They city was left without the Glory of God, and was no different from any other of Judah or Egypt, or Sodom for that matter, and this is the city where the LORD was crucified.
During the conflict of John’s prophesy the powers of evil will think that they have overpowered the Truth. When Jesus died on the cross we saw a period of three days when it appeared that evil had won. Likewise, even today the powers of evil that reject the Truth celebrate their victory, albeit they do so prematurely.
John states to his contemporaries and to us that the age of the attack upon the truth of God’s word, though violent and seemingly powerful, is in reality temporal and powerless. The bodies may now lay in the street, but they do so only because this is part of God’s plan. By laying down His life for mankind, God demonstrated His power to give life. God’s plan is not about to change.
For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
John describes the scene in the city of Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar brought the nation of Judah to an end. This is the scene that describes the ignorance of the practicioners of evil who believe in their heart of hearts that they have experienced victory over the Spirit of God. This is the attitude of every ungodly force that is in power today as each demonstrates its hatred in a rage of dark violence. Violent fundamentalists celebrate and gloat over their mass murders. Evil celebrates its victory in an ignorant orgy of words and emotions. Meanwhile the prince of evil stands back in his tacit approval of the violence against the two witnesses: the Law and the Prophets, the word of God who he thinks he has defeated.
But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.
Their enemies rejoice for three and one-half days, but then the breath of life returns to the two witnesses (Ezekiel 37:10), and they arise and are summoned to heaven. Those who have been believing the lies of the prince of darkness are astonished and terrified. The celebration of the defeat of the word of God will take place only for a season. Satan celebrated when Adam and Eve sinned. He celebrated again when Jesus died on the cross. He and his minions have celebrated every time an individual makes the decision to reject God, for to reject God is to remain in his dominion of darkness and lies. However the lies of the prince of darkness will have power to cover the eyes of the ignorant and rebellious only for a season. Like the Pharaoh who was blinded to God’s purpose by his own pride, those who follow the agent of this evil world have been blinded by the rationalizations and lies. Those who love the LORD do not need to be ashamed of the word of the gospel because it is the very power of God to redeem both the Jew and the Greek (Rom. 1:16). That word will not be defeated, but will rise in the end for all to see when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the LORD, the Christ (Phil. 2:11).
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
Unlike Christ's resurrection and ascension which was only seen by those who were faithful to Him prior to his crucifixion, the resurrection and ascension of the witnesses is seen by the wicked. There is another significant difference in these two ascensions. When Jesus ascended, He sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to remain among the people as the agent of God’s grace, the power of God to accomplish His purpose of redemption. When the witnesses ascend in this prophesy, no such Spirit remains. We see a similar occurrence when the pillar of fire departed the temple in Ezekiel’s prophesy when God’s glory departed. God’s word is departing the earth. When the consequence of this is fully considered, one may come to realize the import of this statement. Though evil has abounded during the age of grace, the Holy Spirit always remained to comfort and protect the remnant. With the remnant securely brought home to the “inner court,” God’s word is now finally departing the earth, ending the age of grace.
Thinking that this is some form of victory, the enemies of God witness His departure. The previous verses describe their terror as they realize the error they have made when they followed the lies of the prince of darkness. What is going to come of a world filled with ungodly people who are fully under the authority of the dark prince? What is going to happen when the Holy Spirit leaves the unrepentant to their own desires? Such a world is one that can be characterized only in terror as the goodness of God has left them behind. This is the context for the blowing of the last trumpet.
At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.
What will happen when the spirit of God is gone from the world? Devoid of any controls, a spiritual anarchy will characterize the hearts of people throughout the world. Like the force of a mighty earthquake, the realization of the new power of evil will quickly shudder its way to the four corners of the earth. With the controls on hatred and violence removed, many will die as that power of evil quickly spreads. Those who remain do so in terror and with the stark realization that God is real, His purpose and protection was real, and now that protection is gone.
With this realization, the survivors give glory to God, acknowledging who He is, but they still do not repent. He his hated for His judgments and blamed for the earthquake. The ending of the second woe (the demonic horsemen) is identified, and the sounding of the last trumpet is announced.