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
It is apparent from a glance at the above passage and the colouring that I have picked up numerous elements in gold. Some may seem rather counter-intuitive to be labelled as gold. Nations trampling the holy city for 42 months, the beast, bodies in the main street of Jerusalem, not allowed burial, the worldly gloating, celebrating, the death of the two witnesses, terror striking the on-lookers, the terrible earthquake and 7,000 dead. How is that gold, Ian? The Beast included as well? Yes you are right, I couldn’t bring myself to colour that gold. At least the enemies end up giving glory to the God of heaven – but do they?
The only reason I call these gold, especially those with a negative connotation, is because the degree to which we probe them determines the extent to which we understand what is really going on in this section. These elements are all gold standard, the key, to our understanding. I will mine them one by one as we proceed. The initial elements found in verses Rev 11:1-2 I consider I have covered already; don’t forget them and their significance. And even the last element, the enemies giving glory to the God of heaven will surprise you. But I am getting ahead of myself.
My Greek prof told us to be prepared to dig through the overburden in our search for the gold. Not every spade full of dirt or overburden will contain gold. In the same way digging into a passage of the Bible won’t reveal treasures in every verse. We must be prepared to keep digging through each verse, and do the spade work, until we find the elements which cast light on the background to give us clarity on the whole passage. That said, let us begin at the beginning – well verse three, since we have covered ‘the measuring’ already. What is interesting is that Revelation 11 begins with measuring the temple in the same way both Zechariah 2 and Ezekiel 40 do. It is as though God tests His chosen people first and determines whether they are aligned with His purposes before He begins to move.
In verse two of the passage before us we have been told the outer court of the temple has been turned over the nations to trample it for 42 months. While the trampling is taking place the witnesses will be given power. Power to do what? To prophesy during those 1,260 days. Their bearing witness through preaching or prophesy is DURING the same period of time. That is why they need power from the LORD because their role takes place at the same time the holy city is to be trampled. The two witnesses are clothed in burlap or sackcloth. Why? Remember, the bitterness comes first before sweetness. (Revelation 10:9-10)
These two witnesses are like the lampstand of the Lord of all the earth and they are connected to the source of oil to fuel the lamp continually. Why? Their light of witness is not to be snuffed out. The power of the Lord will follow them through their designated time to prophesy or bear witness. If anyone tries to harm them fire flashes from their mouths in true prophetic fashion as with Moses and Elijah and consume those who oppose them. No rain will fall, the rivers and the oceans will turn to blood and the witnesses will have power to summon plagues on whom they wish. Sound familiar? Where and when? Think in parallel with the seals and trumpets as we have already heard. The horses of the apocalypse, the four beasts of Daniel 7:4-7 along with the forces released with the seals and the trumpets are all word pictures used to describe the mayhem which comes on the earth. Ah but when? Over and over, in cycles and overlapping reiteration of world conquering kingdoms.
Christians in the time of the Roman emperors considered a number of them to be the Beast beginning with Caligula (37-41 AD) and moving on to Nero (54-68 AD, then Vespasian (69-79 AD) and Domitian (81-96 AD) and Diocletian (264-305 AD) until the Roman Empire fell in 476 AD. You can see for yourself how time appropriate these dates and the reign of these Roman emperors matched John and the period in which he was writing this letter. Most commentators suggest the Mark of the Beast [666] was applied to Nero, despite the fact that he had died before John wrote the letter, this largely as a result of the match of his name to the gematria of 666. However there are versions of Revelation in Greek which record the gematria for the Beast as being 616. This is suspected to be due to the spelling of Nero in Latin as Nero Caesar [616] rather than Hebrew as Neron Qesar [666]. But in actual fact it is alleged that other Caesars such as Caligula and Domitian match 666 too. I don’t agree.
Why would Nero pop up as a contender despite the mismatch of the time frame? My guess is that Nero was the archetype of the despotic Roman emperor, a little like Hitler in our modern day world and thus his name becomes synonymous with ultimate evil. Rather I suspect the multiple application to numbers of Roman emperors classed as the Beast is similar to the multiple occurrence of three and a half years. A combination of Christians claiming the time period they lived through was The Great Tribulation and the fact that Jewish prophecy is cyclic and keeps repeating; both are true. We have seen this in the period of history following the Roman Empire when many of the cities of Asia Minor or the old Roman Province of Asia suffered invasion after invasion and Christians were martyred only to rise again as we have seen. It ain’t over until it is over; the truth is there is more to come.
One more element of the text I want to draw your attention to is the city which is in focus here. It’s Jerusalem. Despite the fact it has been figuratively named “Sodom” and “Egypt” given the link to sin, judgement and oppression, the focus is on the city of Jerusalem, the city where their Lord was crucified, the holy city. It doesn’t take much imagination to see Jerusalem trampled again by the nations for three and a half years, 42 months or 1,260 days in our present time frame, does it? It has happened before and biblically it will happen again.
He [Jesus] replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and saying, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t believe them. And when you hear of wars and insurrections, don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place first, but the end won’t follow immediately.”
Then he added, “Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will be terrifying things and great miraculous signs from heaven. But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me.
Luke 21:8-13
“So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!” Jesus
Luke 21:28
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
Dorothy Bernard
Refuse to live trapped in fear or the small dimensions of a self-centred world! Get a cause greater than yourself.
Bob Gass
Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to heaven; you are a citizen of heaven making your way through this world, bound for eternal life, the life of the age to come.
Ian