Revelation 11

The Fate of the Two Witnesses

Rev 11:1 Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me, and I was told, “Get up and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and the ones who worship there.

John will be given a measuring rod and a staff. He will be commanded to measure the temple of God. The temple of God will be the Tribulation temple. By the time of the middle of the Great Tribulation, the Jewish tribulation temple will be built and functioning. According to Isaiah 66, this temple will not be sanctioned by God. He will not accept the sacrifices. The offerings of this tribulation temple will be regarded by God as unacceptable and unclean swine. 

11:2 But do not measure the outer courtyard of the temple; leave it out, because it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.

Sometime before the end of the first half of the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist will invade Israel and take over the Jewish temple. The Antichrist will stop all sacrifices, which is very similar to what Antiochus Epiphanes did in the second century B.C.

11:3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.

There will be two Jewish witnesses who will prophesy for 1,260 days. They will prophesy during the middle of the Great Tribulation. They will be wearing sackcloth.  Sackcloth is made of black goat hair and represents grieving, repentance, a disturbing time.

11:4 (These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord of the earth.)

According to Zechariah 4 (5^th of 8 visions, 1^st 6 chapters of Zechariah) the two olive trees and the two lamp stands will be the two witnesses of the Great Tribulation. The identity of these two symbols was never revealed.

The menorah is described in the Bible as the seven-lamp (six branches) ancient Hebrew lamp stand made of pure gold and used in the portable sanctuary set up by Moses in the wilderness (Ex: 25:31-40 gives construction guidelines) and 300 years later in the Temple in Jerusalem. Fresh olive oil of the purest quality was burned daily to light its lamps. A Menorah represents Israel.  Olive oil is the common element that runs throughout scripture and represents the Holy Spirit.  Olive oil is the fuel to light lamps.

 11:5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and completely consumes their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way.

These two witnesses will possess four supernatural powers. First, they will be able to breathe fire out of their mouths. Anyone who attempts to kill them will die from the fire out of their mouths. For this reason, many commentators teach that Elijah will be one of these two witnesses since fire consumed his enemies as well. However, Elijah is not named as one of the witnesses. 

11:6 These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want.

Second, they will be able to withhold rain from the earth. This was another miracle of Elijah.  (I Kings 17:1, Luke 4:25) Third, they will be able to turn water to blood. This was a miracle of Moses. Many teach that Moses will be the other witness. Fourth, they will be able to strike the earth with plagues, which was another miracle of Moses.  There is great aposatacy among the Jews at this time.

Many other commentators will speculate that Enoch as one of the witnesses. In Hebrews 9:27, it states that "all men are appointed to die once." Since neither Enoch nor Elijah ever died, commentators misuse Hebrews 9:27 as their proof text, claiming that since these two men never died, they will have to go back to earth and face death. However; there are exceptions to the Hebrews 9:27 rule. All of those who are raptured will never see physical death. Will they have to return to earth in their glorified bodies and die again, since they missed the death of Hebrews 9:27?

Elijah and Moses do not have a monopoly on miracles. There will be many raptured who will never experience death. Therefore, it seems best to leave out men of the past. Since there are no historical men mentioned in any of these texts, it is more likely that the two witnesses will be future Jewish prophets whom God prepares for this special mission.

11:7 When they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them.

When the two witnesses have completed τέλειος, teleo, meaning to finish their mission, their testimony, Gr μαρτυρία, maturia, meaning a testifying: the office committed to the prophets of testifying concerning future events. Many tried to kill the two witnesses, but they were unable to do so. They ended up being burned to cinder. However, during the middle of the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist will be able to kill them. This may possibly help the Antichrist deceive the unbelieving world that he is a god who has power to kill these witnesses. He will most likely become the hero of many of the unbelievers who are dwelling upon the earth during this time period. After salvation, believers, are to earn eternal rewards by keeping the commandments.  Ps 39:4; Job14:5.

11:8 Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city that is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified.

The corpses of these two witnesses will lay dead in the great city, which is Jerusalem.

11:9 For three and a half days those from every people, tribe, nation, and language will look at their corpses, because they will not permit them to be placed in a tomb.

In the past, skeptics laughed at this verse, until television came around. If the whole world could watch a man land on the moon, then they will certainly be able to watch the events of the two witnesses.

11:10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate, even sending gifts to each other, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

This is the only time in the Bible that joy is mentioned for the unbelievers who are living during the Great Tribulation. The entire world will celebrate a perverted Christmas holiday.

11:11 But after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and tremendous fear seized those who were watching them.

Jesus predicted that the only sign that He would give to the nation of Israel was the sign of Jonah. Since Jonah was resurrected from the dead, the sign of Jonah was resurrection. The first sign of Jonah was the resurrection of Lazarus. The second sign of Jonah was the resurrection of Jesus. The third sign of Jonah was the resurrection of the two witnesses.

11:12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: “Come up here!” So the two prophets went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies stared at them.

The enemies of God were able to experience God's resurrection power as first-hand eye witnesses.

11:13 Just then a major earthquake took place and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

There will be a major earthquake in Jerusalem. One tenth of the city will collapse. Seven thousand people will be killed. The rest who survive will give glory to God, meaning that they will be saved. The third sign of Jonah resulted in the salvation of many Jews.

11:14 The second woe has come and gone; the third is coming quickly.

 The second woe was the first six seal and trumpet judgments. The second woe will be the bowl judgments, which will usher in the Millennial Kingdom.

11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”

The seventh trumpet will be blown by a seventh angel. The seventh trumpet will consist of all seven trumpet and bowl judgments. During the fifth and sixth bowl judgments, the kingdom of Satan will be transferred to the Kingdom of Jesus.

11:16 Then the twenty-four elders who are seated on their thrones before God threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and worshiped God

The twenty-four elders will worship God.

11:17 with these words: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign.

The twenty-four elders will thank and praise God for beginning His Millennial Kingdom reign on earth. God will bring down the Kingdom of Heaven unto the physical earth.

11:18 The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged, and the time has come to give to your servants, the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and to those who revere your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

The Millennial Kingdom will begin. The dead will be judged. Those dead in Christ will be resurrected at the Judgment Seat of Christ for rewards. Those dead without Christ will be resurrected and judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. At the Great White Throne Judgment, all of the unbelievers will be declared guilty. Their punishment will be imprisonment in Hell for 1000 years. At the end of the Millennial Kingdom, all of the citizens of Hell will be transferred into the Lake of Fire.

11:19 Then the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple. And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.  

There will be a temple of God in heaven. During the end of the completion of the bowl judgments, the heavens will be opened. The Ark of the Covenant will not be found in a U.S. government warehouse. Neither will it be found in Ethiopia.  Instead, it will be found in heaven. When the heavens are opened, there will be flashes of lightning, loud roaring, crashes of thunder, a great earthquake, and a great hailstorm. Everyone will know that there is a God. There will be no atheists hiding in fox holes. Every eye will see the Lord Jesus Christ.