Principles of Interpretation: There are patterns to Revelation which should be considered when trying to understand it. One pattern is that each new section is introduced by a scene from the temple. There is significance to these introductions. Do not ignore them. They are a key to understanding the section. Another pattern is that the book is written in symbolic language. The King James Version translates verse 1 as “he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:” To signify is to show in signs, i.e., symbols. Those symbols are based in the rest of the Bible, both Old and New Testament. As such, look to the rest of the Bible to interpret Revelation rather than using Revelation to interpret the rest of the Bible. This also means that you need to let the Bible interpret itself rather than attempting to have it fit into today’s headlines. In short, do not treat Revelation as separate from the rest of the Bible. Instead, expect that the events described in Revelation have been presented in other parts of the Bible. A third pattern in Revelation is the idea of judgement. There are courtroom scenes and wrath and complaints about God not bringing justice. In fact, humans are not the only ones under judgment. God Himself is on trial, and the repeated verdict is that God is just, holy, and worthy. From the beginning claim that this is the Revelation of Jesus to the promise in the last chapter that we shall see God’s face, Revelation is an examination of who our Creator is and whether He is worthy of our loyalty.

Disclaimer: There are four basic methodologies used to interpret the book of Revelation in modern society: futurism, historicism, idealism, and preterism. Many modern churches have embraced the idea of the secret rapture, which is a form of futurism. On the other hand, some churches say that Revelation deals solely with events that were happening in the apostolic era. This is called preterism. Other churches teach that Revelation does not describe any specific time period. Instead, the symbols are philosophical and/or spiritual ideas. The series of studies that I am posting is based on historicism, which says that the Bible teaches that Revelation begins with the time of John and describes the interactions of the church with a hostile world throughout history culminating in the final future eradication of sin from the universe. This view denies a secret rapture. I do not want you to be in confusion about the basic premises of this series of lessons. If you disagree with the historicist viewpoint, please study for yourself to be certain that the interpretations that you have been told by others and simply accepted make sense with the whole Bible. As you study, first ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit; then study the verses, and let the Bible interpret itself. Even if you disagree with my comments, you may find the verses and background information that I provide useful. Finally, I want to emphasize that I myself am still studying Revelation and my understanding is deepening each time I open the book and read. Revelation is a distillation of the whole Bible; as such, the limited space of this blog and my limited understanding means that these lessons are not nearly as in-depth as they could (and maybe should) be.

References: See the end of this post for sources and references.

INTRODUCTION:  Revelation 11 gives the history of the church.  It tells of apostasy and the results of rejecting God’s word.

Revelation 11:1

(1)  Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,

THE STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT

• What do you do first if you are not sure how many materials to buy in a remodeling project?  Measure it.  What do you do if someone argues with you that you are wrong about the amount of supplies?  Show them your measurements.   A measuring rod shows the true dimensions of something.  It is a symbol of judgment.  There is no “guestimating.”
• What is the measuring rod that is used as the standard for judgement?  It is the word of God, and more specifically, it is the law of God.
  • Isaiah 8:20  (20)  To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
  • James 2:8-12  (8)  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.  (9)  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.  (10)  For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.  (11)  For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.  (12)  So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
• More specifically, what is the teaching of the whole Bible about the law, i.e. what is the law of liberty? The Bible reveals one absolute rule by which our actions will be weighed for eternity. It is God’s standard of love revealed in His law.
  • Matthew 22:36-40  (36)  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” (37)  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  (38)  This is the great and first commandment.  (39)  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  (40)  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
  • Romans 13:8-10  (8)  Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  (9)  For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (10)  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

THE PLACES TO BE MEASURED—the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there

• The reed by which the temple of God, the altar and them that worship therein are measured is the law of God. The first to be measured by this standard is the “temple of God”
  • In order to understand what it means to measure the temple of God, we need to ask ourselves what the purpose of the temple of God was before Jesus came and made the earthly temple obsolete.  In short, it was the dwelling place where God met with humans.  According to Hebrews, the various activities of the earthly temple did not actually cleanse from sin.  Instead, they were symbols which pointed towards the time when Jesus would come and make redemption for humans from sin a reality.  The temple was a kind of placeholder that demonstrated how God was dealing with the sin problem and that God wanted a relationship with humans. In other words, the temple revealed God to humans.
  • If measurement is judgment and we are measured by the law of love, whose love is being judged when the temple of God is measured?  God Himself.  God’s character of love is to be evaluated.  Every act and motivation of God in the conflict between good and evil will be measured by both heavenly and earthly beings. When the history of the world is scrutinized through the lens of the law of love, God’s character will be vindicated.

• The next to be measured by the standard of love is the altar.  The first question to ask ourselves is which altar is being measured.
  • Hebrews 13:10-15  (10)  We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.  (11)  For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.  (12)  So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.  (13)  Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.  (14)  For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.  (15)  Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

• There are two different altars referred to in the Bible.  One is the altar of sacrifice representing the cross where Christ gave His life for mankind. This altar points to the great gift of Christ for the redemption of the world. The other is the altar where Christ now mediates in the heavenly sanctuary on behalf of the world. 
  • Revelation 8:3-4  (3)  And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, (4)  and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
  • Romans 8:34  (34)  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

• Measuring the altar means that we are to comprehend “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height and to know the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18-19). We are to measure the life, death, resurrection and intercession of Christ. When the love of Christ is measured, He will be judged worthy. He has loved His people and offered Himself for them so that they can be saved.

• The final group to be measured is “them that worship therein” (Revelation 11:1). Who are the ones that worship in the temple of God?  The church.  What standard will we be measured by?  The law of love.  This points to all who profess faith in Christ.  In other words, the church i.e., each of us, will be measured by the standard of love.
  • 1 Peter 4:17  For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

SUMMARY OF REVELATION 11:1—To measure the temple is to measure God’s love. To measure the altar is to measure Christ’s love. To measure “them that worship therein” is to measure our love, and by extension the work of the Spirit in us, i.e., to look for God’s love in us.

Revelation 11:2

(2)  but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

THE OUTER COURT

• The outer court was not to be measured. The verse tells us that the outer court is a place of the nations.  The New Testament speaks of the Herod’s temple in Jerusalem that included a large outer court for devout Gentiles who desired to worship God. This was separated by a low wall from inner courts where only Jews were allowed. However, the context here tells us that the sincere Gentiles who worshipped God could not be the ones who are not to be judged yet.  The verse says that the nations would trample the holy city.  Thus, this outer court belongs to the nations who are at war with God. They tread the “holy city” underfoot for forty and two months”.  However, they are located in the outer court of the temple, so they must claim allegiance to God.  They are not pagans.  These are people who say “Lord, Lord,” yet they trample all over God’s holy city.
• God’s holy city is Jerusalem.  However, which Jerusalem?  At one time, historical Jerusalem was God’s holy city.  However, a close examination of the scriptures demonstrates that this earthly city was only a symbol of God’s ideal city.  The reality was that the physical city was rarely holy.  The city of Revelation 11 cannot be the earthly Jerusalem as Jesus had already declared that Herod’s temple and the historical city of Jerusalem was to be destroyed, and God would no longer dwell there.  However, the Bible names another holy city—the New Jerusalem.
  • Hebrews 11:16  Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
  • Hebrews 12:22  But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
• The next question to consider is how anyone could trample a heavenly city. A city is made up of the people who dwell there.  The description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation confirms this idea of the city being made up of God’s people.  The gates have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and the foundations have the name of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.  Peter says that the people of the church are living stones being built into a temple where God dwells.  Those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life are the residents of the New Jerusalem.  In other words, the holy city is composed of the people of the church.  Thus, if you trample the people of God on earth, it is the same as trampling on the holy city in heaven.
  • 1 Peter 2:5-6  (5)  you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  (6)  For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
  • Revelation 21:12  (12)  It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
  • Revelation 21:14  (14)  The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
  • Revelation 21:27  (27)  Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
• How long were the nations to trample the holy city?  42 months, which equals 1260 days/years (30 days to a month).  During this time period, a group composed of professed followers of God would tread underfoot the holy city, i.e., persecute God’s faithful followers.  These occupants of the outer court were not truly God’s people since they were restricted to the area of the Gentile court rather than being part of the inner court.

Revelation 11:3-4

(3)  And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”  (4)  These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

THE IDENTITY OF THE TWO WITNESSES

• For 1260 years, while the pseudo-church was persecuting Jesus’ followers, there would be two witnesses.
• We are given clues as to the identity of these witnesses.  In verse four, there are two symbols for the witnesses—two olive trees and two lampstands.  This is a reference to Zechariah’s vision of the olive trees.
  • Zechariah 4:2-6  (2)  And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.  (3)  And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”  (4)  And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”  (5)  Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”  (6)  Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
• Verse 6 say makes it clear that the olive trees with the lampstand represent the Holy Spirit
• How does knowing that the two olive trees and lampstands represent the Holy Spirit help us to understand the two witnesses?  In Ephesians, Paul tells us that the might and power for fighting in spiritual battle is the sword of the Spirit.  He defines the Spirit’s sword as the word of God.  Ephesians 6:17  (17)  and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
• Jesus Himself said that the scriptures were His witness.  John 5:39  (39)  You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
• Testimony also means witness.  Jesus said that His testimony, or witness to the nations was the gospel.  Matthew 24:14  (14)  And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
• The lampstands also point to the word of God as His witnesses.
  • Psalms 119:105  (105)  Nun Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
  • It is important to understand the relationship between the lampstands and the olive trees.  The olive trees provide the olive oil that fuels the lamps.  Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit while Jesus says that His people are the light of the world.  Without the Spirit, the people will not emit light.  The Spirit fills Jesus’ followers with power through the Word of God.   In other words, the Holy Spirit empowers the scriptures to fill the people with light.

SUMMARY OF REVELATION 11:2-4–The two witnesses are the Word of God.  Why two?  Because In Israel’s legal system, two witnesses were required to establish something as true (see Deuteronomy 19:15; John 8:17).  The Old and New Testaments provided a complete witness to God’s love for mankind.  The Old Testament gives all the promises of Jesus’ first coming while the good news of Jesus’ actions is recorded in the New Testament.  The whole Bible speaks of a promise given and a promise kept.  Thus, the witnesses speak of God promising us salvation, and Jesus delivering salvation.  Revelation 11 explains that God gives power to His two witnesses, to the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible, and they bear a message to all the nations of the love and truth of our Creator.  This means that during this period of 1260 years while a false church trampled on God’s true followers, the Bible stood forth to the nations as a witness to the truth.

• The time period of 1260 days began in 538 A.D. This date marks the rise of papal Rome and a time of spiritual darkness through which the Bible was to shine in the middle of the darkness of error. During the following 1260 years most of the attacks that came against God’s Word were by professed Christians.  “The worldwide power of papal Rome became official in A.D. 538, when Emperor Justinian’s decree making the papacy supreme was no longer opposed. The papacy was dealt what appeared to be a death blow in 1798 when the pope was captured by Napoleon’s general, Alexander Berthier” (Unlocking Revelation, #13).
• Thus, the power of the two witnesses is demonstrated.  The official church had turned away from Bible truth.  Rejecting the light of God’s word ushered in the long night of the Dark Ages where professed Christians descended into an intellectual and moral nightmare. However, throughout the Dark Ages, the Spirit’s two witnesses faithfully bore testimony to the true God. Reading the Bible was forbidden and any unauthorized follower of God who dared to have God’s word in his possession was persecuted, tortured, and killed.  However, the light of the two witnesses could not be quenched.
• The 1260 years ended in 1798.  During those 1260 years, the papacy reigned supreme, and at times, it appeared that all of its opponents had been successfully stamped out.  This appearance was deceptive, however.  Paradoxically, the more people the papacy destroyed, the more the true followers of God multiplied, replacing the fallen martyrs.  The testimony of the truths that each generation discovered in the Bible witnessed to God’s character and stamped out the false image of God that the organized church of the time was presenting to the world.

Revelation 11:5-6

(5)  And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.  (6)  They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.

THE POWER OF THE TWO WITNESSES

• What was to happen to those who tried to harm God’s witnesses?  Fire poured from the mouth of the witnesses and consumed their enemies.  Remember that fire is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit, so God’s word had power to triumph over His enemies.  This may also be a reference to the final fate of those who reject God’s word and attempt to keep it from others.  They will have a final destruction in the lake of fire prepared for Satan and his angels.

• In addition to destroying with fire, the witnesses could also cause a drought and plagues like turning the waters into blood.  The witnesses were not limited by how often they could cause these plagues.  It is interesting that the book of Revelation itself has a warning about plagues to those who would attempt to suppress it.  God says that those who “hurt” the two witnesses by changing or undermining their message would receive the plagues of Revelation.
  • Revelation 22:18  (18)  I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,

• When most Bible students think of plagues, their thoughts first go to the Exodus and the contest between Moses and the Pharaoh.  In order to understand the plagues of Revelation, it is important to ask why God sent plagues to Egypt.  The whole purpose of the plagues was to force Pharaoh let God’s people go and to try to get the pagans to believe.  Pharaoh denied the power of God, but because of the plagues, he finally had to admit that God was more powerful than the Egyptian gods.

• On the other hand, shutting up the heavens so that it does not rain is a direct reference to the conflict between Elijah and King Ahab. Elijah prayed that it would not rain on Israel and God sent a drought to the land.  The point of withholding rain was to show that the God of Israel was more powerful than the idol that King Ahab and his wife had made their official deity.  Baal was the lord of storms and weather.  By withholding rain, God was demonstrating that Baal was a false god, and Yahweh was the true God.

• When we think of fire coming down from heaven, our attention is drawn to a specific challenge between the prophet of Yahweh—Elijah—and the false prophets of Baal.  This was the ultimate showdown over who the true God of the kingdom would be.  Israel had only one God, and it was not Baal.

SUMMARY OF REVELATION 11:5-6—All of these references are to give the message that there was a false system in place that was in a confrontation with God’s true witnesses, and when the time came, God’s witnesses would show their power over the false powers. 

NOTE:  I doubt that it is significant, but these protections of the witnesses point back to Moses and Elijah who were on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus.  Just something to think about.

Revelation 11:7-8

(7)  And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, (8)  and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

THE DEATH OF THE TWO WITNESSES

• In the Bible, a beast represents a power or kingdom run by Satan’s principles.
• This particular power comes from the bottomless pit or abyss depending on your Bible translation.  Rising from the abyss is in direct contrast to the later ascension of the witnesses to heaven in a cloud.  If heaven is the place of God, then the abyss must be the dominion of Satan.  This beast is an enemy of God.
• The beast kills the witnesses even though “the nations” had had no power to defeat the two witnesses for 1260 years.  The 1260 years was a time of persecution by those who claimed to serve God, i.e. the medieval church, but now a beast with no claims to serving God enters the picture and seems to succeed where the papacy failed.
• The great city is symbolically called by other names. Sodom represents moral degradation.  Egypt represents atheism and challenging God’s authority.  Unlike the nations of the outer court, this power lays no claim to any allegiance to God. 
• The term “great city” is found eight times in Revelation.   In all the other verses where the term is used, the great city is Babylon.  Thus, it is reasonable to identify the city of Revelation11:8 as Babylon also.  This term cannot be referring to Jerusalem because in Revelation 11:2, Jerusalem was referred to as the holy city that had been trampled.  Thus, this great city could not be literal Jerusalem.

SUMMARY OF REVELATION 11:7-8—The great city would be a place of moral degradation and rebellion against God.  As an atheistic power, it would challenge God’s authority. 

Revelation 11:9-11

(9)  For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, (10)  and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.  (11)  But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE TWO WITNESSES

• The witnesses would lie dead for three and a half days.  If this time follows the day for a year principle, the witnesses would be lifeless for three and a half years.
• God’s people are referred to as His holy city.  They are already considered to be heavenly dwellers.  On the other hand, the “inhabitants of the earth” is a negative expression throughout Revelation.  It is a way of referring to the enemies of God and His people on earth.
• This power that ascends from the bottomless pit after the end of the 1260 years in 1798, points to the rise of atheism. Remember, that General Berthier dealt the death blow to the papacy’s beastly (political) power when he captured and imprisoned the pope.  France continued its role in the fulfillment of this prophetic prediction. The French Revolution took place from 1793 to 1798. “Religion was despised, and the goddess of reason set up. The Bible was tossed into the street and burned in great heaps. In this manner it lay ‘dead’ in the street for ‘three days and a half’ (Revelation 11:8-9); that is, three and one-half prophetic days equaling three and one-half literal years” (Unlocking Revelation, #13)

Revelation 11:12-13

(12)  Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.  (13)  And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

THE TRIUMPH OF THE TWO WITNESSES

• 7,000 killed—I am still trying to understand the symbolism of 7,000.  One source says that “7,000 is a symbol of people who remain faithful to God in the midst of disbelief and apostasy.  Thus, it is faithful people who are killed in the earthquake, but their deaths result in those who witness their deaths glorifying God.”  I can’t even remember where I found this source, and I am withholding judgment about it until I have studied further.  This conclusion is based on the ideas in the following Biblical texts.  In contrast, another source says that the 7,000 represents those who had totally rejected God and His word.  “The 7,000 people killed represent the totality of the hardened unbelievers—seven being the number of fullness” (PlainRevelation).  This interpretation seems more likely to me; however, the author did not present any Biblical evidence for his statement, so I have not yet accepted this idea either.
  • 1 Kings 19:15-18  (15)  And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.  (16)  And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.  (17)  And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.  (18)  Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
  • Romans 11:1-5  (1)  I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.  (2)  God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?  (3)  “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”  (4)  But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”  (5)  So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
• A tenth of the city fell—The great city was spiritual Babylon, the power that ruled for 1260 years, or 42 months.  In Revelation 13, this power has ten horns.  Horns represent the power of kings to rule.  Pagan and papal Rome was composed of ten kingdoms at one time.  France was one of these kingdoms.  1/10^th could mean that one of ten nations fell (see the quote below the Bible verses).
  • Revelation 13:1-5  (1)  And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. (2)  And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. (3)  One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. (4)  And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” (5)  And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.
  • “‘And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified’ (Revelation 11:8). France had professed to be a Christian nation, but it now boldly turns from God to ‘kill’ His faithful witnesses. In this way they ‘commit apostasy.’ Describing those who turn from the Bible, the apostle Paul says that ‘they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold Him up to contempt’ (Hebrews 6:6, RSV). As a nation France represented ‘the tenth part of the city’ (Revelation 11:13). Though more blatant than its counterparts, France was one of ten nations making up ‘that great city Babylon’ (Revelation 18:10)” (Unlocking Revelation, #13).

SUMMARY OF REVELATION 11:12-13—The nation of France did not literally fall, but its atheistic belief system did.  After three and a half years, the truths of the Bible were once again embraced by the world, in part because of what the other nations had observed in France’s descent into moral darkness during the French Revolution.  As a result of the earthquake that shook the city, the surrounding nations feared and gave glory to God.  With the resurrection of the two witnesses, a worldwide missionary outreach began.

SUMMARY OF REVELATION 11

The two witnesses were God’s word, which would give its testimony for 1260 years in sackcloth and ashes, i.e., they were muted during that time period, but they were still declaring their truths.  At the end of the 1260 years, the witnesses would be killed and stay dead for three and a half years.  Thus, for a short time, God’s word would be totally rejected rather than just suppressed.  However, the witnesses would be resurrected and taken up to heaven in the sight of the world.  Nothing will ever be able to stop or suppress the witnesses again.

There are interesting parallels between the witnesses and Jesus.  Both were killed and remained dead for a short time before being resurrected and ascending to heaven.  I need to look into these parallels in more depth at another time.  Here are a few preliminary thoughts.  Jesus won by dying.  In the same way, the witnesses won by being killed.  People saw the degradation and terrible actions that resulted from the total rejection of God, and the world turned away from that path, just as many of those who cried out for Jesus’ death repented and were baptized at Pentecost.  From that first group, the knowledge of God’s word spread throughout the Roman Empire.  In the same way, the death and resurrection of the two witnesses resulted in the numerous missionary movements that began to bring the gospel to the world afterwards.  The great religious awakening had begun, which would eventually culminate in the 1844 advent movement. 

This section began with measuring the character of the Father, Jesus, and His church.  Their characters were to shine out for all to see.  We see the character of the Father, Jesus, and His church most clearly in the word of God.  That knowledge was to be suppressed for 1260 years and finally stamped out.  However, the knowledge of God would make such a comeback that the character of God would ultimately lighten up the whole world.  God’s goodness and love are blazing out to everyone from the Bible today, but the choice is ours to accept or reject the light that is shining on us from heaven.

References:

• Andrews Study Bible–In some lessons, I refer to study comments from this Bible.
• Plain Revelation–A book by Ranko Stefanovic that summarizes the meaning of various sections of Revelation
• Revelation of Jesus Christ–A book by Ranko Stefonovic that comments on each verse of Revelation.
• Salvation in Signs and Symbols–a series of shows where two pastors and two others study through the books of Revelation and Daniel. These programs can be accessed at 3abnplus.tv . Scroll down to 3ABN Dare to Dream Network and choose Salvation in Signs and Symbols from the list there.
• Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary (Volume 7) (Copywrite 1957)–This is the old green set of commentaries, not the new commentary series that is in the process of being published and should be released after 2022. (Boy, I would love to get my hands on that set when it comes out!)
• Table Talk–A series of shows where four pastors discuss various topics. These programs can be accessed at tabletalk.online . Season 4 focuses on Revelation.
• Unlocking Revelation–A series of pamphlets that can be downloaded for free from lightbearers.org by clicking on Resources