1Then I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, “Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. 2But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months.
3And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in burlap and will prophesy during those 1,260 days.” 4These two prophets are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of all the earth. 5If anyone tries to harm them, fire flashes from their mouths and consumes their enemies. This is how anyone who tries to harm them must die. 6They have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. And they have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.
7When they complete their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and he will conquer them and kill them. 8And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city that is figuratively called “Sodom” and “Egypt,” the city where their Lord was crucified. 9And for three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will stare at their bodies. No one will be allowed to bury them. 10All the people who belong to this world will gloat over them and give presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets who had tormented them. 11But after three and a half days, God breathed life into them, and they stood up! Terror struck all who were staring at them. 12Then a loud voice from heaven called to the two prophets, “Come up here!” And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched. 13At the same time there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people died in that earthquake, and everyone else was terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14The second terror is past, but look, the third terror is coming quickly.
Revelation 11:1-14
The Key to the Verb Tenses
- Past
- Present
- Future
I confess to have given you this Gem layout prematurely but I considered it necessary when I gave it the title ‘When They Complete Their Testimony’. The reason is that it is complicated. Revelation is complicated as I have already told you. We need to keep in mind the switches in the verb tenses in this passage. They make a difference, in fact they make the passage come alive in a new way. But they also make it somewhat difficult to track what is going on. So I decided to make what is happening clearer to you from the outset. But in this Gem I will concentrate on listing the elements in the text which add meaning to our overall understanding. Then I will return in a following Gems to add comment on the verb tenses. I am sorry, but I don’t know how else to do it. I think this is the best way. Revelation does this to you as it is by no means an easy book or letter to understand.
I tried to simplify the identity of the witnesses by sticking to the passages John has used as his source. But in reality over the history of Christendom there have been multiple guesses or theories as to who these witnesses are. That is both historically and from the point of view of the outlook to come (i.e. the future). We clearly have the reference to the past which include the Old Testament references or allusions, what was intended when these passages from the Old Testament prophets first gave them orally and wrote them down. But we also have the past as it related to John’s time, which was the present for him at the time he wrote the letter, but for us reading it now it’s a past tense event. Then we have the intervening years which were future for John but past for us. I confess it is difficult to keep all these tenses and time frames in mind as we try to understand this letter. My friend and colleague, Michael Martens, wrote an email to me yesterday and reminded me, Paul and Peter were two likely witnesses who lost their lives in martyrdom in the present time from John’s point of view.
Let me now tell you some things that I have discovered as I have dug into this passage in order to understand it better. When I gave this Gem the title ‘When They Complete Their Testimony‘, I realised I would have to explain it. That’s the point isn’t it? When will they complete their testimony? The Old Testament prophets completed their testimony centuries before John wrote his letter. The martyrs and the fellow believers completed their testimony in John’s past or his present time. John wrote his letter after Paul and Peter had been martyred. As Michael wrote to remind me, not that I needed reminding of the fact:
There is no doubt that those first century Christians, upon hearing this portion of Revelation read, would have said, “Aha! Paul and Peter. Nero killed them in Rome. But he did not defeat them. Nero is gone. But the Kingdom, Paul and Peter bore witness to, is soon coming to this world .” But it seems to most Bible scholars that these two witnesses also will have a future fulfilment. They will be two actual individuals or something else is a mystery that we will not be able to solve until it actually happens. Michael Martens
I suggest you take some time to look at the passage above which I have coloured for you and pick up on the time frame in conjunction with what John has done with his use of the verbs – past, present and future. Ponder it for a while. I won’t send the next Gem Monday, but will wait until Wednesday to give you more time, at which point I will pick up on the other elements of the text we need to consider.
When I considered this passage I did some reading to check up on a few things and found the list of suggestions as to who these two witnesses were was significantly long. I reduced the list to the three categories I gave you in the last Gem. But in the process of doing that I came across numerous accounts of martyrs who were considered to be candidates for being one of the two down through the centuries subsequent to John’s letter. Antipas of Pergamum is the one mentioned by name, as you know from what I gave you in the series of Gems I wrote tracing what happened to churches in the Roman Province of Asia after John’s letter.
Here are some interesting accounts I came across, some I knew and two I discovered. John Huss and Jerome of Prague were condemned by the Bishopric of Constance (in Germany) and burned at the stake respectively in 1415 and 1416 for agreeing with John Wycliffe’s ideas. The protestants of Smalcald were slaughtered by Charles V in the battle of Mulburg (1547) as a result of a Catholic purge. These witnesses were not buried, the Papists made merry and gave gifts to each other. Three and a half years later in December 1550 there was another battle where fortunes were reversed and the German authorities renounced the Church of Rome, following there was an earthquake. In Paris on August 24th, 1524, Saint Bartholomew and the Huguenots were massacred and made martyrs. Another massacre of Protestants occurred in Paris and other French cities on St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572 when 30-40,000 protestants were killed and once more the Papists didn’t bury the dead, but instead made merry and gave gifts to each other. Again three and a half years later Henry III reversed the fortunes of the protestants and signed a treaty with the Huguenots in May 1576. It is interesting that these patterns kept happening over this period in history. It can be argued that the timing and reversals of fortune were instigated because of what was written in Revelation 11, especially in terms of the reactions of the perpetrators which match the reactions described in Revelation 11:10-11. Suffice to say there have been multiple times when the people of God have been persecuted and killed for their faith.
The timing described is noteworthy to say the least. Three and a half years, 42 months or 1260 days, all of which refer to the same time frame. But on occasion the number refers to weeks or years in accord with the prophecy of Daniel – time, times and half a time. Much has been said about this in such a way that even feels as though it ought to be obligatory when one discusses apocalyptic matters. I refuse to be drawn into the debate on the timing of end events. I really don’t believe in John’s mind, nor in the words he heard in the voice from heaven or from angels that the focus was concerned with getting the timing right as I said in the last Gem. A worthwhile study to do would be to find all the references to these numbers in Scripture. But I don’t think I will do that study. I honestly believe with all my heart that the people God marks as His, will face tests to their faith and their willingness to follow Him unreservedly throughout life. Remember and don’t forget the text of Revelation 7:14 doesn’t read “these are the ones who are coming out of The Great Tribulation” but “these are the ones coming out of {the} great tribulation.” (See Gem 2261)
I would suggest you ponder the significance of the words “When they complete their testimony”.
- Who is included in the “they”?
- What does it mean to “complete their testimony”?
Now let’s begin to look at what happens to the witnesses after the appearance of the Beast?
- Who is the Beast?
- Why leave the bodies in the streets of the city like that?
- Which city is in focus? Jerusalem, Sodom and why mention Egypt?
- Who are the people of the world?
- Why do they celebrate and give presents?
What is the significance of the list of events which took place after three and a half days?
- God breathed life into them
- They stood up!
- Terror struck all who were staring at them.
- A loud voice from heaven called to the two prophets, “Come up here!”
- They rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched.
- At the same time, there was a terrible earthquake
- The earthquake destroyed a tenth of the city.
- Seven thousand people died.
- Everyone else was terrified
- And gave glory to the God of heaven.
Each of these elements need to be investigated.
What do this string of events bring to your mind?
Do you see allusions in these words to other events?
We will work our way through each of these elements over the next Gems and then return to how John has used the switches in the verb tenses.
Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present. Your future is spotless! Regina Brett
Your past doesn’t disqualify what God has for your future! If you stumble, make it part of your dance! Sheila Gerald
Don’t let the sadness of your past and the fear of your future ruin the happiness of your present. Linnea Sinclair
You Are Either A Prisoner Of Your Past Or A Pioneer Of Your Future. Robb Thompson
Those who forget their past are destined to repeat it. Robert Heinlein
Worry is worthless. It’s stewing without doing. It changes neither your past nor your future, Just wastes today. Rick Warren
Genealogists live life in the Past Lane. Lorelle