Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Revelation 11:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Revelation 11:2. But the court-is given unto the Gentiles — The measuring of the temple probably refers to its approaching destruction, and the termination of the whole Levitical service; and this we find was to be done by the Gentiles, (Romans,) who were to tread it down forty-two months; i.e., just three years and a half, or twelve hundred and sixty days. This must be a symbolical period.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Two witnesses (11:1-14)

In Daniel 9:24-27 there is a prophecy that the enemies of the Jews would corrupt their city and their temple for three and a half years (which is the same as forty-two months, or 1260 days). This happened in 167-164 BC, when the ruler of the Syrian sector of the Greek Empire, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, conquered Jerusalem, killed Jews by the thousand and tried by every means to destroy their religion. His supreme expression of hate for God’s people was to set up a Greek idol in their temple, build an altar, then take animals that the Jews considered unclean and sacrifice them to the Greek gods.

This event is now used as an illustration. Just as the Gentiles trampled the holy city and its temple for three and a half years, so for a time the ungodly world is allowed to trample the church. There is, however, a limit to the extent it can go. God’s people in the world (compared in the vision to those in the outer courts of the temple) are persecuted and even killed; but from God’s viewpoint they are eternally secure in his presence (compared in the vision to those worshipping within the temple). The message is one of encouragement to persecuted Christians. The church’s task is difficult, but its triumph is certain. There may be martyrs, but God’s church will not be destroyed (11:1-2).

Two messengers of God symbolize the church’s powerful witness during this troubled period (3). This witness is likened to that of Zerubbabel and Joshua, who stood firm for God’s truth in reestablishing the worship of God in Israel after the captivity in Babylon (4; cf. Zechariah 4:1-14). It is likened also to the witness of Moses and Elijah, to whom God gave his special power. As in the time of Moses, God saves his people from being destroyed by hostile rulers. As in the time of Elijah, he saves them from being destroyed by the corruption of false religion (5-6; cf. Exodus 4:9; Exodus 7:1-51; 1 Kings 18:1-46; 1 Kings 18:1-46; 1 Kings 19:1-21; 2 Kings 1:7-12; 2 Kings 1:7-12).

But the more powerful the witness, the greater the opposition. Satanic power increases and large numbers of Christians are martyred (7). The world that killed Jesus Christ is now killing his followers. It is likened to a great city that is characterized by the wickedness of Sodom and the cruelty of Egypt (cf. Genesis 19:1-24; Exodus 1:9-16; Exodus 3:7). People rejoice when they get rid of those who expose their sin, and do all they can to bring the greatest possible shame upon the Christians (8-10).

The persecutors’ apparent victory does not last long. They are filled with terror when they see that the church has not been destroyed but has received new life. The victory of Christ guarantees not only victory for believers, but also judgment for their opponents (11-12; cf. Philippians 1:28). In John’s vision the judgment is symbolized by an earthquake that brings extensive destruction upon the city and its citizens. The enemies of God at last give some recognition to his supreme authority and power (13; cf. 9:20-21). The third woe (i.e. the seventh trumpet) will now follow (14).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

And the court which is without the temple leave without, and measure it not; for it hath been given unto the nations: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Measure not … the court which is without … Although associated with the temple, this court was not part of the sanctuary; and, symbolically, the leaving out of this means that there are people who are nominally "Christian," associated in every way with Christianity, but who actually are no part of it. "This represents the unfaithful portion of the church." Frank L. Cox, Revelation in 26 Lessons (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1956), p. 73.

Leave without … "This means that John was commanded to, "Throw it out; reject it as profane, and to draw no boundary to mark any part of it as sacred." R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 330.

For it hath been given unto the nations … Lenski thought that this should be rendered "unto the heathen"; Ibid. but we believe John's use of the same language here that Jesus used in the prophecy of Luke 21:24 is the true key to understanding what is meant by the forty and two months. Jesus said:

And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles (nations), until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21:24).

It could hardly be an accident that so much of the terminology of Jesus' prophecy appears in John's words in this verse. We are therefore justified in viewing the "times of the Gentiles" there with the "forty and two months" here, both expressions having the meaning of this entire dispensation.

And the holy city they shall tread under foot … Just as the Gentile world would tread the literal Jerusalem under foot until "the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," in like manner would a great host of (so-called) Gentile Christians desecrate the true church by their perversion of Christianity. This would be accomplished by their wholesale invasion of it, "in the form of a false Christianity." Ibid., p. 331. The use of "holy city" here should not mislead us. "In A.D. 30, the once holy city of Jerusalem had already joined Sodom and Egypt as a typical example of all great wicked cities." G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 132. Despite this, there is, however, still a holy city, which is the holy church of Jesus Christ.

For forty and two months … This passage makes the meaning of this expression transparent. It is the same as "the times of the Gentiles" mentioned by Jesus; that is, "the entire period of the Christian dispensation." Frank L. Cox, op. cit., p. 73. The mention of this specific time period reveals that, "There is a limit of the extent to which the Gentiles can do their treading under foot." Leon Morris. op. cit., p. 147. The historicists (Barnes) find this to mean that, "On the year-day principle, there is a reference to 1,260 years of Papal supremacy, ending in 1517 A.D." Ralph Earle, op. cit., p. 563. We do not doubt that the apostasy of the Medieval Church, continuing until the present time, is indeed a significant part of what is here prophesied; but the "modernist" churches of Protestantism are equally also a part of it. Many of them have also rejected the word of the Lord and despised the true head of the church.

There may be another thing symbolized by the time period here, which is the same as 3 1/2 years, the half of the perfect seven. Roberson interpreted this as, "the true expression of the church's state as half of the required perfection." Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 70.

We shall meet with this forty and two months, or its equivalent, in Revelation again and again; but in every case, the same is meant, "The Gospel Age." William Hendriksen, op. cit.. p. 154.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

But the court which is without the temple - Which is outside of the temple proper, and, therefore, which does not strictly pertain to it. There is undoubtedly reference here to the “court of the Gentiles,” as it was called among the Jews - the outer court of the temple to which the Gentiles had access, and within which they were not permitted to go. For a description of this, see the notes on Matthew 21:12. To an observer this would seem to be a part of the temple, and the persons there assembled a portion of the true worshippers of God; but it was necessarily neither the one nor the other. In forming an estimate of those who, according to the Hebrew notions, were true worshippers of God, only those would be regarded as such who had the privilege of access to the inner court, and to the altar. In making such an estimate, therefore, those who had no nearer access than that court, would be omitted; that is, they would not be reckoned as necessarily any part of those who were regarded as the people of God.

Leave out, and measure it not - Margin, “cast out.” So the Greek. The meaning is, that he was not to reckon it as pertaining to the true temple of worshippers. There is, indeed, a degree of force in the words rendered “leave out,” or, in the margin, “cast out” - ἔκβαλε ἔξω ekbale exō - which implies more than a mere passing by, or omission. The word (ἐκβάλλω ekballō) usually has the idea of “force” or “impluse” (Matthew 8:12; Matthew 15:17; Matthew 25:30; Mark 16:9; Acts 27:38, et al.); and the word here would denote some decisive or positive act by which it would be indicated that this was not any part of the true temple, but was to be regarded as pertaining to something else. He was not merely not to mention it, or not to include it in the measurement, but he was to do this by some act which would indicate that it was the result of design in the case, and not by accidentally passing it by.

For it is given unto the Gentiles - It properly pertains to them as their own. Though near the temple, and included in the general range of building, yet it does not pertain to those who worship there, but to those who are regarded as pagan and strangers. It is not said that it was then given to the Gentiles; nor is it said that it was given to them to be overrun and trodden down by them, but that it pertained to them, and was to be regarded as belonging to them. They occupied it, not as the people of God, but as those who were without the true church, and who did not pertain to its real communion. This would find a fulfillment if there should arise a state of things in the church in which it would be necessary to draw a line between those who properly constituted the church and those who did not; if there should be such a condition of things that any considerable portion of those who professedly pertained to the church ought to be divided off as not belonging to it, or would have such characteristic marks that it could be seen that they were strangers and aliens. The interpretation would demand that they should sustain some relation to the church, or that they would seem to belong to it - as the court did to the temple; but still that this was in appearance only, and that in estimating the true church it was necessary to leave them out altogether. Of course this would not imply that there might not be some sincere worshippers among them as individuals - as there would be found usually, in the court of the Gentiles in the literal temple, some who were proselytes and devout worshippers, but what is here said relates to them as a mass or body that they did not belong to the true church, but to the Gentiles.

And the holy city - The whole holy city - not merely the outer court of the Gentiles, which it is said was given to them, nor the temple as such, but the entire holy city. There is no doubt that the words “the holy city” literally refer to Jerusalem - a city so called because it was the special place of the worship of God. See the notes on Matthew 4:5; compare Nehemiah 11:1, Nehemiah 11:18; Isaiah 52:1; Daniel 9:24; Matthew 27:53. But it is not necessary to suppose that this is its meaning here. The “holy city,” Jerusalem, was regarded as sacred to God - as his dwelling-place on earth, and as the abode of his people, and nothing was more natural than to use the term as representing the church. Compare the Galatians 4:26 note; Hebrews 12:22 note. In this sense it is undoubtedly used here as the whole representation is emblematical. John, if he were about to speak of anything that was to occur to the church, would, as a native Jew, be likely to employ such language as this to denote it.

Shall they tread under foot - That is, the Gentiles above referred to; or those who, in the measurement of the city, were set off as Gentiles, and regarded as not belonging to the people of God. This is not spoken of the Gentiles in general, but only of that portion of the multitudes that seemed to constitute the worshippers of God, who, in measuring the temple, were set off or separated as not properly belonging to the true church. The phrase “should tread under foot” is derived from warriors and conquerors, who tread down their enemies, or trample on the fields of grain. It is rendered in this passage by Dr. Robinson (Lexicon), “to profane and lay waste.” As applied literally to a city, this would be the true idea; as applied to the church, it would mean that they would have it under their control or in subjection for the specified time, and that the practical effect of that would be to corrupt and prostrate it.

Forty and two months - Literally, this would be three years and a half; but if the time here is prophetic time - a day for a year - then the period would be twelve hundred and sixty years - reckoning the year at 360 days. For a full illustration of this usage, and for the reasons for supposing that this is prophetic time, see the notes on Daniel 7:25. See also Editor’s Preface, p. 25: In addition to what is there said, it may be remarked, in reference to this passage, that it is impossible to show, with any degree of probability, that the city of Jerusalem was “trampled under foot” by the Romans for the exact space of three years and a half. Prof. Stuart, who adopts the opinion that it refers to the conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans, says, indeed, “It is certain that the invasion of the Romans lasted just about the length of the period named, until Jerusalem was taken. And although the city itself was not besieged so long, yet the metropolis in this case, as in innumerable others in both Testaments, appears to stand for the country of Judaea.” But it is to be remembered that the affirmation here is, that “the holy city” was thus to be trodden under foot; and even taking the former supposition, in what sense is it true that the “whole country” was “trodden under foot” by the Romans only three years and a half?

Even the wars of the Romans were not of that exact duration; and, besides, the fact was that Judaea was held in subjection, and trodden down by the Romans for centuries, and never, in fact, regained its independence. If this is to be literally applied to Jerusalem, it has been “trodden down by the Gentiles,” with brief intervals, since the conquest by the Romans, to the present time. There has been no precise period of three years and a half, in respect to which the language used here would be applicable to the literal city of Jerusalem. In regard, then, to the proper application of the language which has thus been explained Revelation 11:1-2, it may be remarked, in general, that, for the reasons just stated, it is not to be taken literally. John could not have been directed literally to measure the temple at Jerusalem, and the altar, and the worshippers; nor could he have been requested literally to leave out, or “cast out” the court that was without; nor could it be meant that the holy city literally was to be trodden under foot for three years and a half. The language clearly is symbolical, and the reference must have been to something pertaining to the church. And, if the preceding exposition of the tenth chapter is correct, then it may be presumed that this would refer to something that was to occur at about the period there referred to. Regarding it, then, as applicable to the time of the Reformation, and as being a continuation of the vision in Revelation 10:1-11, we shall find, in the events of that period, what would be properly symbolized by the language used here. This will appear by reviewing the particulars which have been explained in these verses:

(1) The command to “measure the temple of God,” Revelation 11:1. This, we have seen, was a direction to take an estimate of what constituted the true church; the very work which it was necessary to do in the Reformation, for this was the first point which was to be settled, whether the papacy was the true church or was the antichrist. This involved, of course, the whole inquiry as to what constitutes the church, alike in reference to its organization, its ministry, its sacraments, and its membership. It was long before the Reformers made up their minds that the papacy was not the true church; for the veneration which they had been taught to cherish for that lingered long in their bosoms. And even when they were constrained to admit that that corrupt communion was the predicted form of the great apostasy - antichrist - and had acquired boldness enough to break away from it forever, it was long before they settled down in a uniform belief as to what was essential to the true church. Indeed, the differences of opinion which prevailed, the warm discussions which ensued, and the diversities of sect which sprang up in the Protestant world, showed with what intense interest the mind was fixed on this question, and how important it was to take an exact measurement of the real church of God.

(2) The direction to “measure the altar.” This, as we have seen, would relate to the prevailing opinions on the subject of sacrifice and atonement; on the true method of a sinner’s acceptance with God; and, consequently, on the whole subject of justification. As a matter of fact, it need not be said that this was one of the first questions which came before the Reformers, and was one which it was indispensable to settle, in order to a just notion of the church and of the way of salvation. The papacy had exalted the Lord’s supper into a real sacrifice; had made it a grand and essential point that the bread and wine were changed into the real body and blood of the Lord, and that a real offering of that sacrifice was made every time that ordinance was celebrated; had changed the office of the ministers of the New Testament from preachers to that of priests; had become familiar with the terms altar, and sacrifice, and priest hood, as founded on the notion that a real sacrifice was made in the “mass”; and had fundamentally changed the whole doctrine respecting the justification of a sinner before God. The altar in the Roman Catholic communion had almost displaced the pulpit; and the doctrine of justification by the merits of the great sacrifice made by the death of our Lord, had been superseded by the doctrine of justification by good works, and by the merits of the saints. It became necessary, therefore, to restore the true doctrine respecting sacrifice for sin, and the way of justification before God; and this would be appropriately represented by a direction to “measure the altar.”

(3) The direction to take an estimate of those “who worshipped in the temple.” This, as we have seen, would properly mean that there was to be a true estimate taken of what constituted membership in the church, or of the qualifications of those who should be regarded as true worshippers of God. This, also, was one of the first works necessary to be done in the Reformation. Before that, for ages, the doctrine of baptismal regeneration had been the established doctrine of the church; that all that was necessary to membership was baptism and confirmation, was the common opinion; the necessity of regeneration by the influences of the Holy Spirit, as a condition of church membership, was little understood, if not almost wholly unknown; and the grand requisition in membership was not holy living, but the observance of the rites and ceremonies of the church. One of the first things necessary in the Reformation was to restore to its true place the doctrine laid down by the Saviour, that a change of heart that regeneration by the Holy Spirit - was necessary to membership in the church, and that the true church was composed of those who had been thus renewed in the spirit of their mind. This great work would be appropriately symbolized by a direction to take an estimate of those who “worshipped in the temple of God”; that is, to settle the question who should be regarded as true worshippers of God, and what should be required of those who professed to be such worshippers. No more important point was settled in the Reformation than this.

(4) The direction to leave out, or to “cast out” the court without the temple. This, as we have seen, would properly mean that a separation was to be made between what was the true church and what was not, though it might seem to belong to it. The one was to be measured or estimated; the other was to be left out, as not pertaining to that, or as belonging to the Gentiles, or to paganism. The idea would be, that though it; professedly pertained to the true church, and to the worship of God, yet that it deserved to be characterized as paganism. Now this will apply with great propriety, according to all Protestant notions, to the manner in which the papacy was regarded by the Reformers, and should be regarded at all times. It claimed to be the true church, and to the eye of an observer would seem to belong to it, as much as the outer court seemed to pertain to the temple. But it had the essential characteristics of paganism, and was, therefore, properly to be left out, or, cast out, as not pertaining to the true church.

Can anyone doubt the truth of this representation as applicable to the papacy? Almost everything that was unique in the ancient pagan systems of religion had been introduced into the Roman communion; and a stranger at Rome would see more that would lead him to feel that he was in a pagan land, than he would that he was in a land where the pure doctrines of Christianity prevailed, and where the worship was celebrated which the Redeemer hack designed to set up on the earth. This was true not only in the pomp and splendor of worship, and in the processions and imposing ceremonials; but in the worship of images, in the homage rendered to the dead, in the number of festival days, in the fact that the statues reared in pagan Rome to the honor of the gods had been reconsecrated in the service of Christian devotion to the apostles, saints, and martyrs; and in the robes of the Christian priesthood, derived from those in use in the ancient pagan worship. The direction was, that, in estimating the true church, this was to be “left out,” or “cast out”; and, if this interpretation is correct, the meaning is, that the Roman Catholic communion, as an organized body, is to be regarded as no part of the true church - a conclusion which is inevitable, if the passages of Scripture which are commonly supposed by Protestants to apply to it are correctly applied. To determine this, and to separate the true church from it, was no small part of the work of the Reformation.

(5) The statement that the holy city was to be trodden under foot, Revelation 11:2. This, as we have seen, must mean that the true church would thus be trodden down by those who are described as “Gentiles.” So far as pure religion was concerned; so far as pertained to the real condition of the church, and the pure worship of God, it would be as if the whole holy city where God was worshipped were given into the hands of the Gentiles, and they should tread it down, and desecrate all that was sacred for the time here referred to. Everything in Rome at the time of the Reformation would sustain this description. “It is incredible,” says Luther, on his visit to Rome, “what sins and atrocities are committed in Rome; they must be seen and heard to be believed. So that it is usual to say: ‘If there be a hell, Rome is built above it; it is an abyss from which all sins proceed.’” So again he says: “It is commonly observed that he who goes to Rome for the first time, goes to seek a knave there; the second time he finds him; and the third time he brings him away with him under his cloak. But now, people are become so clever, that they make the three journeys in one.”

So Machiavelli, one of the most profound geniuses in Italy, and himself a Roman Catholic, said, “The greatest symptom of the approaching ruin of Christianity is, that the nearer we approach the capital of Christendom, the less do we find of the Christian spirit of the people. The scandalous example and crimes of the court of Rome have caused Italy to lose every principle of piety and every religious sentiment. We Italians are principally indebted to the church and to the priests for having become impious and profane.” See D’Aubigne’s “History of the Reformation,” p. 54, ed. Phila. 1843. In full illustration of the sentiment that the church seemed to be trodden down and polluted by paganism, or by abominations and practices that came out of paganism, we may refer to the general history of the Roman Catholic communion from the rise of the papacy to the Reformation. For a sufficient illustration to justify the application of the passage before us which I am now making, the reader may be referred to the notes on Revelation 9:20-21. Nothing would better describe the condition of Rome previous to and at the time of the Reformation - and the remark may be applied to subsequent periods also - than to say that it was a city which once seemed to be a Christian city, and was not improperly regarded as the center of the Christian world and the seat of the church, and that it had been, as it were, overrun and trodden down by pagan rites and customs and ceremonies, so that, to a stranger looking on it, it would seem to be in the possession of the “Gentiles” or the pagans.

(6) The time during which this was to continue - “forty-two months”; that is, according to the explanation above given, twelve hundred and sixty years. This would embrace the whole period of the ascendency and prevalence of the papacy, or the whole time of the continuance of that corrupt domination in which Christendom was to be trodden down and corrupted by it. The prophet of Patmos saw it in vision thus extending its dreary and corrupting reign, and during that time the proper influence of Christianity was trampled down, and the domination of practical paganism was set up where the church should have reigned in its purity. Thus regarded, this would properly express the time of the ascendency of the papal power, and the end of the “forty-two months,” or twelve hundred and sixty years, would denote the time when the influence of that power would cease. If, therefore, the time of the rise of the papacy can be determined, it will not be difficult to determine the time when it will come to an end. But for a full consideration of these points the reader is referred to the extended discussion on Daniel 7:25. See also Editor’s Preface, p. 25. As the point is there fully examined it is unnecessary to go into an investigation of it here.

The general remark, therefore, in regard to this passage Revelation 11:1-2 is, that it refers to what would be necessary to be done at the Reformation in order to determine what is the true church and what are the doctrines on which it is based; and to the fact that the Roman Catholic communion, to which the church had been given over for a definite time, was to be set aside as not being the true church of Christ.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 11

So there was given unto me a reed like unto a rod ( Revelation 10:11 ; Revelation 11:1 ):

That is a measuring stick about the length of a rod.

and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those that worship therein ( Revelation 11:1 ).

Now, this tells us many things. First of all, that the temple is to be rebuilt, because this is a yet future event. In fact, this is a event that takes place during the midst of the tribulation period, for we have not yet come to the seventh trumpet nor have we yet come to the seven vials of God's wrath that are to be poured out. So, during the tribulation period the temple will be existing in Jerusalem. So, the temple is to be rebuilt and the worship is to be reestablished in the temple in Jerusalem.

At the present time there is a small, but very dedicated group of Jewish people who are fanatically involved, almost religiously so, in the desire to rebuild their temple. There are two or three organizations in Jerusalem that have dedicated themselves to the purpose of the rebuilding of the temple. Some of them are extremely radical to the point that they feel that they have to by force drive the Moslems off of the Temple Mount and claim it for the rebuilding of their temple. There are others who have taken a much more moderate view and feel that the Temple Mount should be divided. So, as not to create a holy war, they should partition the Temple Mount with a wall just to the north side of the Dome of the Rock allowing them to rebuild their temple on that northern half of the Temple Mount area.

There are scholarly men, such as Dr. Asher Kaufman who has made a study over many years of the Temple Mount. And in his studies of all of the ancient records that he can get hold of, of all of the pictures of that area, all of the accounts, he has become convinced that Solomon's Temple stood to the north of the Dome of the Rock Mosque. That three hundred and twenty-two feet north of the Dome of the Rock Mosque, where this little flat rock outcropping called "The Dome of the Spirits, or the Dome of the Tablets" exists, that is where the Holy of Holies was in Solomon's Temple. The fact that looking from it directly east, you look over the east gate to the Mount of Olives helps to confirm the position of Solomon's Temple. And thus, he and other Jews take a more moderate stance believing that they can rebuild the temple over the site of Solomon's Temple and not disturb the Dome of the Rock, and thus, not disturb the Moslems.

I believe that Dr. Asher Kaufman's group will prevail. For here as John is told to rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those that worship,

But the court which is without the temple [that is the outer court] leave out [that is don't measure it]; and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot for forty and two months ( Revelation 11:2 ).

So, this outer court, the area where the Dome of the Rock stands, is not to be measured because it is given to the Gentiles.

There is in Ezekiel another prophecy of the temple that is to be built. Ezekiel also is told to measure it, and Ezekiel records the measurements. But Ezekiel says that he measured a wall around it and the wall was to separate the Holy place from the profane.

So, I am convinced that the temple will be rebuilt, but I am convinced that the solution will lie in a wall north of the Dome of the Rock partitioning off the Temple Mount, giving the Jews ten to fifteen acres there on the north side of the Temple Mount for their new temple, and it definitely will be rebuilt. I expect that to take place probably not in the time that I am here. I believe that the whole arrangements will be made by the antichrist once the church has been taken out. For he shall make a covenant with the people, but in the midst of the seven years he will break that covenant. And he will come to the temple and stand in the Holy of Holies and declare that he is god and demand to be worshipped as god. So, I don't expect to see the temple built. I think that will take place after I have departed with the rest of the church, and when the antichrist then takes over.

So, it is interesting to see this powerful movement growing in Jerusalem. There is one of the Ushivas, a school for the training of rabbis in the old city, that are training these young men how to butcher the animals for the sacrifices according to the Levitical law. They are actually training them now for sacrifices, the offering of sacrifices. So, it is something that they are very committed to and they would like to do it now.

In fact, there was a group last year that was headed up there with explosives. They were going to blow up the Dome of the Rock Mosque. They were caught by the Israeli police and arrested and are still facing trial. But in God's time it shall be, but I don't believe it will happen until we're gone and they didn't know that I was still here when they made that preemptive attack last year. They can do anything they want after I am gone, because it is going to be theirs.

Now, the Lord said to John,

I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy for thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devour their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed ( Revelation 11:3-5 ).

God is going to send two witnesses to witness to the Jewish people. The time of the Gentiles at this point will have been complete. Now, God is going to deal with Israel for one more seven-year period. Seventy sevens were determined upon the nation of Israel. Sixty-nine were fulfilled from the time of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah the Prince. It took place four hundred and eighty-three years after Artaxerxes gave the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, Jesus came.

Now, there is one seven-year period left for Israel in which God will be dealing with Israel. And in the beginning of this seven-year period God is going to send two witnesses. One of them will be Elijah.

In the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, in the last chapter and in the last few verses, as God is ready now to close the door on Israel and going to open the door to the Gentiles and He is going to send the Holy Spirit out among the Gentiles to draw out a body for Christ. So, God's final word to Israel, of course, came through Jesus Christ. But here in the Old Testament, "Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

So, the promise of the coming of Elijah again. So, he will be no doubt one of the two witnesses. The fact that they call down fire from heaven against their enemies-you remember when Elijah was here and the king sent out a captain with fifty men to arrest him and he was sitting up on the hillside and the captain came up and said, "Thou man of God come down. I have come here to arrest you." And he said, "If I am a man of God, then let fire come from heaven and consume you and your fifty men." And fire came and consumed the captain and the fifty men. So, the king sent another captain with fifty men to arrest him and he said, "Thou man of God come down. I am here to arrest you." And he said, "If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." And fire came down and consumed them. The king sent out another captain with fifty, and he said, "Sir, I am a married man. I have a wife and children and they love me. Have mercy on me. I am only following orders. I wish you would come with me, please. The king would like to see you." And Elijah went with him.

The ability of these two witnesses to call down fire from heaven to consume their enemies, Elijah is up to his old tricks. They are the two olive trees. The book of Zechariah, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, Zechariah saw this vision. You see Zechariah was a priest. And one of the jobs of the priests were to fill the little cups of oil in this lamp stand that stood in the Holy place of the temple. There was this menorah, this seven-armed lamp stand that Moses had constructed. And they would fill the little cups with oil each day, a special type of oil that was prepared for this lamp stand, the formula that God had given to them. And this would burn and was the light in the Holy place of the temple. And it would burn continually. The fire was never to go out.

So, it was the duty of the priest to keep these things constantly filled with oil. And any job that done over and over and over gets monotonous, washing clothes, dishes or whatever. And Zechariah being a priest and no doubt many times going in and going through, and of course, it was a ritual that you had to go through, you can't just do things simply. You can't just pour more oil in. You've got to do things in a ritual way. You have to bathe before you go in and do the whole routine, and Zechariah was probably getting tired of the whole routine so he had this vision.

And the vision was that he saw these two olive trees. And there were pipes coming out of the olive trees, and the pipes were going to the cups. So, the olive oil was coming directly out of the trees through these pipes into the cups and it saved from having to go in every day and do the routine. And the word of the Lord came to Zerubbabel and said, or said to Zechariah, "This is the Word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord." The oil being a symbol of the Spirit. And therein is where the strength will lie, the power will lie in the Spirit, and that continual supply of the Spirit that is ours.

So, these are the two olive trees. These candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

They have power to shut up heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy ( Revelation 11:6 ):

So, for three and a half years it won't rain upon the earth anywhere. Imagine the drought that that is going to create.

Now, remember Elijah when he was here before prayed and it rained not for the space of three and a half years. There was a great drought in Israel, during the time of Elijah, the reign of Ahab. Now, again shutting up the earth.

they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all of the plagues, as often as they will ( Revelation 11:6 ).

We know for certain the identity of one of the witnesses to be Elijah. The identity of the other witness is not so certain. There are different Bible teachers who take different views. There are some who are certain it is going to be Moses representing the law and Elijah representing the prophets. The fact that Moses appeared with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, it seems that they are buddies and they working together. The fact that they turned the water to blood, one of the plagues that were brought upon Egypt by Moses, and it then refers to the fact that they have the power to strike the earth with the plagues as often as they wish, points to Moses.

Others believe it will be Enoch who did not die but was translated directly into heaven. "For it is appointed unto man once to die" and in the Old Testament two men missed their appointments, Enoch and Elijah. And so they come in order that they might make their appointment with death, because we are told here that after they have prophesied for three and a half years then the beast, the antichrist, has power to put them to death. So they finally make their appointment a little later, but yet they make that appointment with death.

So, there are good arguments for either Enoch or Moses. I really don't know and it doesn't really matter.

Now when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the [abusso] bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them ( Revelation 11:7 ).

He cannot until they have finished their testimony. They have an allotted time, one thousand two hundred and sixty days, their allotted time to witness. Once they have finished that then he has power, but he hasn't power until they have finished their testimony.

In a sense, I believe that God has control of our lives when we commit them to Him. And He has a special task for us to fulfill and that He will preserve us until that task is finished. There are a lot of times when a person has a very narrow brush with death, when you are in an accident and you really should have been wiped out. You look at the whole thing and there is no way you could have come through that, but you have. But God is not through with you yet. And I believe that that is true. I believe that there is a divine protection upon us as we serve the Lord that is going to sustain us until God is through with us. But I think that as soon as we have finished our testimony, then the Lord is going to take us to be with Him. Why would He leave us here any longer? So when they had finished their testimony. God has a task for each of us.

Paul said, "I have not yet apprehended that for which I was apprehended of Jesus Christ," ( Philippians 3:12 ) recognizing that when the Lord apprehended Him, the Lord had a special ministry in mind. In fact, the Lord even showed Paul the things that he was to accomplish and suffer for His glory. And several times they tried to kill Paul.

Once they stoned him and really thought he was dead. They drug him out of town and for all anybody knows he was dead. Paul himself didn't even know. "There was a man in Christ fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know)". Whether or not he had an out of the body experience, hey I really don't know. "But I do know that I was caught up to heaven. I spent a little time up there in the third heaven, heard things that were so glorious I couldn't really try to describe them. It would be a crime to do so. And because of the abundance of the revelations given to me there is also going to be given to me this thorn in the flesh, this minister of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure because of the abundance of revelations"( 2 Corinthians 12:2-7 ).

So, they thought that they had done him in. His friends thought that he was dead. They were standing around all mourning and Paul suddenly shook himself, stood up and said "Let's go back into town and preach some more."

"You have to be kidding, man. They just stoned you."

But God wasn't finished with him yet. So, God preserved him. God preserves us until we have finished our testimony.

When they had finished their testimony, the beast that comes out of the bottomless pit-we'll get to that when we get to the seventeenth chapter-makes war against them and overcomes them and kills them.

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city [Jerusalem], which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified ( Revelation 11:8 ).

So, he identifies it as Jerusalem.

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies for three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves ( Revelation 11:9 ).

How can the whole world see them? You say, "Simple. Satellite TV." Right. How could the whole world have seen them twenty-five years ago? They couldn't. You see this particular prophecy could not be fulfilled until the present day, until just a few years ago, when they put up the satellite by which now they can transmit directly from Jerusalem live broadcast to the United States. And you can sit in your living room and watch events live that are happening in Jerusalem. So, CBS, NBC, and ABC will send their reporters. I am sure they will still be around for the most part, and will go over to cover this remarkable event, these two men who have brought such consternation. These men who had such miraculous powers. These men who had created such a problem to the earth in stopping the rain and calling down fire and things of this nature. And they will go over with their crews to do a special story.

Interestingly enough, CBS is going over to Israel with us this year to do a special story. Who knows what they will make of it? You know, you really feel like you're-You say one thing, but when you hear it again, after it has been edited, you say, "What?" It is amazing what they can do to you. I am always leery.

But the camera crews will be over there and they will be filming these guys and the whole world will be seeing their bodies lying there in the streets. You see the people will have been so incensed against them, because of the plagues and all that they brought, that they won't even allow them a decent burial. They are just going to let their bodies lie there in the street. And they will come by and spit on them and kick them and just do disgraceful things.

And they that dwell upon the earth will rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts to one another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the eaRuth ( Revelation 11:10 ).

So, there will be a great worldwide celebration, partying and all, because these two guys that created all the problems are dead and the antichrist becomes a tremendous hero in the eyes of the people of the earth.

But after three and a half days the Spirit of life from God enters into them, and they stand on their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come on up. And they ascended up into heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them ( Revelation 11:11-12 ).

Can you imagine the camera crews and their amazement when suddenly these guys stand up and ascend on up into heaven?

And the same hour there was a great earthquake ( Revelation 11:13 ),

You remember when Jesus was crucified there was a great earthquake.

and the tenth part of the city [of Jerusalem] will fall, there will be slain seven thousand men, [we don't know how many women and children in this earthquake]: and the remnant of the people are frightened, and gave glory to the God of heaven, the second woe is past; and, behold the third woe comes quickly. And then the seventh angel sounded ( Revelation 11:13-15 );

Now, we come back to the story again. We have been dealing with the seven trumpets and the judgments that ensued at the sounding of these trumpets, and now we come back again to the trumpets.

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever ( Revelation 11:15 ).

The judgments are coming in order to prepare the earth for the return of Jesus Christ and the establishing of His kingdom. So, as the seventh trumpet has sounded the proclamation of His reign and of His kingdom and with this proclamation,

the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and reigned ( Revelation 11:16-17 ).

Finally, the waiting is over. We are there giving glory to the Lord, because the time for His reign has come.

And the nations [We are rejoicing. We're giving thanks, but the nations] were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou should give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to thy saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven ( Revelation 11:18-19 ),

The earthly temple or tabernacle was just the model of that which is in heaven.

and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant ( Revelation 11:19 ):

The ark of which Moses built the model here on earth.

and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail ( Revelation 11:19 ).

Now, as we go into chapter twelve, we are digressing from the progression of the story again, which will be taken up when we come to the seven vials of judgment that will be poured out. So, now we are taking a broader view of some other scenes. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. The temple in Jerusalem 11:1-2

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

F. Supplementary revelation of the two witnesses in the Great Tribulation 11:1-14

John recorded the revelation dealing with the two witnesses to inform his readers of the ministries of these important individuals during the Great Tribulation. This section continues the parenthetical revelation begun in Revelation 10:1. It is one of the more difficult chapters to interpret, and students of the book have proposed many different explanations.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

"Leave out" (Gr. ekballo, lit. cast out) implies removal from divine favor (cf. Matthew 22:13; Matthew 25:30; 3 John 1:10). The court outside the temple corresponds to the court to which Gentiles had access in the first century, which lay outside the court into which only Jews could come. The Tribulation temple will evidently have similar courtyards. Not measuring amounts to exclusion from God’s favor as measuring amounts to enjoying His favor (Revelation 11:1). The nations are the Gentiles, specifically hostile, unbelieving Gentiles (cf. Revelation 11:18; Revelation 14:8; Revelation 19:15; Revelation 20:3). These Gentiles will oppress the holy city, which is earthly Jerusalem (cf. Revelation 11:8; Revelation 21:22; Luke 21:24). Others view the reference to the holy city as alluding to the Jewish people. [Note: E.g., Beckwith, p. 588; and Ladd, pp. 152-53.] However if the city is people, who are the people in the city? Some say they are believing Israelites. [Note: E.g., ibid., p. 153.] Others believe the holy city is heavenly Jerusalem. [Note: E.g., Beale, p. 568.]

The 42 months are the last half of the Tribulation since this will be the time when Gentile hostility to the Jews is most intense (cf. Daniel 9:27). The Gentiles will dominate the outer court of the temple and the rest of Jerusalem for 42 months. Anti-Semitism will peak after the Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel in the middle of Daniel’s seventieth week (Daniel 9:27). This interpretation seems more likely than that 42 months refers to the 42 encampments of Israel in the wilderness, [Note: Ibid., p. 565.] or that they represents a period "of measurable duration." [Note: Morris, p. 147. Beale, pp. 557-59, explained five major interpretations of Revelation 11:1-2.]

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 11

ANTICHRIST ( Revelation 11:1-19 )

In the passages of the Revelation which we are now about to approach we will on many occasions meet the figure of Antichrist. This figure has exercised a strange fascination over the minds of men and many have been the speculations and theories about him. It will, therefore, be convenient to collect the material about Antichrist at this stage and to try to piece it into a connected whole.

We may lay it down as a general principle that Antichrist stands for the power in the universe which is against God. Just as the Christ is the Holy One and the Anointed King of God, so Antichrist is the Unholy One and the King of all evil. Just as the Christ is the incarnation of God and goodness, so Antichrist is the incarnation of the Devil and of evil.

The idea of a force opposed to God was not new. Antichrist had his predecessors long before the days of the New Testament; and it will help if we look first at some of the older pictures, for they left their mark on the New Testament picture.

(i) The Babylonians had a myth in regard to the creation of the world which they shared with all the Semitic peoples and with which the Jews must have come into contact. This myth painted the picture of creation in terms of a struggle between Marduk the creator and Tiamat the dragon, who stands for primaeval chaos. There was a further belief that this struggle between God and chaos would be repeated before the world came to an end.

This old belief in the struggle between the creating God and the dragon of chaos found its way into the Old Testament and is the explanation of certain obscure passages there. Isaiah tells of the day when God will slay the leviathan and the crooked serpent and the dragon that is in the sea ( Isaiah 27:1). In Jewish thought this ancient dragon of chaos came to be known as Rahab. Isaiah says: "Was it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the dragon?" ( Isaiah 51:9). When the Psalmist is recounting the triumphs of God, he says: "I will mention Rahab" ( Psalms 87:4). "Thou didst crush Rahab like a carcass," he says ( Psalms 89:10). Here is one of the ancestors of the Antichrist idea and that is one of the reasons why the dragon idea reappears in the Revelation ( Revelation 12:9).

(ii) There is the Belial--or, as it is sometimes called, Beliar--idea. The word Belial frequently occurs in the Old Testament as a synonym for evil. An evil man or woman is called a son or daughter of Belial. Eli's wicked sons are sons of Belial ( 1 Samuel 2:12). When Hannah was silently praying for a child in the Temple, Eli thought that she was drunk but Hannah says that she is not a daughter of Belial ( 1 Samuel 1:16). The wicked Nabal is called a son of Belial ( 1 Samuel 25:17; 1 Samuel 25:25). One of Shimei's insults was to call David a son of Belial ( 2 Samuel 16:7). The false witnesses produced by Jezebel against Naboth are sons of Belial ( 1 Kings 21:10; 1 Kings 21:13), as are Jeroboam's revolutionary followers ( 2 Chronicles 13:7). The exact meaning of the word is in doubt. It has been taken to mean prince of the air, hopeless ruin, worthlessness. Between the Testaments Belial came to be regarded as the chief of the demons. In the New Testament the word occurs only once: "What accord has Christ with Belial?" ( 2 Corinthians 6:15). There it is used as the antithesis of Christ. It may well be that this idea came in part at least from the Persian religion with which the Jews came into contact. Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, conceived of the whole universe as the battleground in which the struggle was fought out between Ormuzd, the god of light, and Ahriman, the god of darkness. Here again we have the conception of a force in the world opposed to God and fighting against him.

(iii) There is a sense in which the obvious Antichrist is Satan, the Devil. Sometimes Satan is identified with Lucifer, the son of the morning, the angel who in heaven rebelled against God and was cast down to hell. "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!" ( Isaiah 14:12). It is easy to find instances in which Satan--the very name means the Adversary--acted in such a way as to overturn the purpose of God, for it is his very nature to do so. Such an instance was when Satan persuaded David to number the people in direct contravention of the command of God ( 1 Chronicles 21:1). But though Satan is the direct opponent of God, he remains an angel, whereas Antichrist is a visible figure upon earth in which the very essence of evil has become incarnate.

(iv) There is a sense in which the development of the idea of the Messiah made the development of the idea of Antichrist inevitable. The Messiah, God's Anointed One, is bound to meet with opposition; and that opposition is entirely likely to crystallize into one supreme figure of evil. We must remember that Messiah and Christ mean the same thing, being the Hebrew and the Greek respectively for The Anointed One. Where there is the Christ, there will of necessity be the Antichrist, for so long as there is sin there will be opposition to God.

(v) In the Old Testament there is more than one picture of the divine battle with the assembled opposition to God. We find such a picture in the struggle with Gog and Magog ( Ezekiel 38:1-23), and in the destruction of the destroyers of Jerusalem ( Zechariah 14:1-21).

But, so far as the later Jews were concerned, the peak of the manifestation of evil was connected with one terrible episode in their history. This is commemorated in Daniel's picture of the little horn, which waxed great even against heaven, which stopped the daily sacrifice, which cast down the sanctuary ( Daniel 8:9-12). The little horn stands for Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria. He determined to introduce Greek ways, language and Greek worship into Palestine, for he regarded himself as the missionary of Greek culture. The Jews resisted. Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem. It was said that eighty thousand Jews were either slaughtered or sold into slavery. To circumcise a child or to possess a copy of the Law was a crime punishable by death. History has seldom, or never, seen so deliberate an attempt to wipe out the religion of a whole people. He desecrated the Temple. He erected an altar to Olympian Zeus in the Holy Place and on it sacrificed swine's flesh; and he turned the rooms of the Temple into public brothels. In the end the gallantry of the Maccabees restored the Temple and conquered Antiochus; but to the Jews Antiochus was the incarnation of all evil.

It can be seen that the figure of Antichrist was taking shape already in the Old Testament; the incarnation of evil is an idea that is already there.

We now turn to the idea of Antichrist in the New Testament:

(i) There is very little mention of the Antichrist idea in the Synoptic Gospels. The only real occurrence is in the chapters which deal with the end and the signs of the end. There Jesus is represented as saying: "Then if any one says to you, 'Lo, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect" ( Matthew 24:23; Matthew 24:44; Mark 13:6; Mark 13:22; Luke 21:8). In the Fourth Gospel Jesus is represented as saying: "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive" ( John 5:43). There the idea of Antichrist is rather that of false teaching, leading men away from true loyalty to Jesus Christ, a line of thought which, as we shall see, occurs again in the New Testament.

(ii) One of the main pictures of Antichrist is that of the Man of Sin in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17. Paul is reminding the Thessalonians of that which he had already taught them by word of mouth and of that which was an essential part of his teaching. He says: "Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this?" ( 2 Thessalonians 2:5). In this picture there is first to be a general falling away; then the man of sin will come who will exalt himself above God and claim the worship which belongs to God by right, and work lying signs and wonders which will deceive many. At the moment when Paul is writing there is something which restrains this final manifestation of evil ( 2 Thessalonians 2:7). In all probability Paul means the Roman Empire, seen by him as keeping the world from disintegrating into the chaos of the last time. Here Antichrist is concentrated into one person who is the very essence of evil. This rather connects itself with the Beliar idea of the Old Testament and with the conflict of light and darkness in the Persian world view.

(iii) The idea of Antichrist occurs in the Letters of John. It is, in fact, only there that the actual word occurs. In the last time Antichrist is to come; in the times in which John writes many Antichrists have come; therefore, says John, they know that they are living in the last time ( 1 John 2:18). He who denies the Father and the Son is Antichrist ( 1 John 2:22). In particular he who denies that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is Antichrist ( 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7). The supreme characteristic of Antichrist is the denial of the reality of the Incarnation.

Here again the main connection of Antichrist is with heresy. Antichrist is the spirit of falsehood which seduces men from the truth and leads them into mistaken ideas which are the ruin of the Christian faith.

(iv) It is in the Revelation that the fullest picture of Antichrist is painted and it occurs in more than one form.

(a) In Revelation 11:7 there is the picture of the beast from the abyss, who is to slay the two witnesses in Jerusalem and who is to reign for forty-two months. This gives us the picture of Antichrist as coming, as it were, from hell, to have a terrible and destructive, but limited, time of power. In this picture there is at least some connection with the Daniel picture of Antiochus Epiphanes as the little horn. That is certainly where the period of forty-two months comes from, for that was the period during which the terror of Antiochus and the desecration of the Temple lasted.

(b) In Revelation 12:1-17 there is the picture of the great red dragon, who persecutes the woman clothed with the sun, the woman who begets the man child. This dragon is ultimately defeated and cast out of heaven. The dragon is definitely identified with the old serpent the devil ( Revelation 12:9). This has clearly some kind of connection with the old myth of the dragon of chaos who was the enemy of God.

(c) In Revelation 13:1-18 there is the picture of the beast with the seven heads and the ten horns, which comes from the sea, and the other beast with the two horns, which comes from the land. There is no doubt that what is in John's mind is the terror and the savagery of Caesar worship; and in this case Antichrist is the great begetter of persecution of the Christian Church. Here the idea is of cruel, persecuting power, bent on the utter destruction of Christ and his Church.

(d) In Revelation 17:3 we have the picture of the scarlet coloured beast, with the seven heads and the ten horns, on which the woman called Babylon is seated. We are told that the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. In the Revelation Babylon symbolizes Rome and Rome was built on seven hills. Clearly this picture stands for Rome and Antichrist is Rome's persecuting power unleashed upon the Church.

It is of great interest to note the change here. As we have seen, to Paul, when he wrote Second Thessalonians, Rome was the one power which restrained the coming of Antichrist. In Romans 13:1-7 Paul writes of the state as divinely appointed and urges all Christians to be loyal citizens. In 1 Peter 2:13-17 the order to Christians is willingly to submit themselves to the government of the state, to fear God and to honour the king. In the Revelation there is a world of difference; times had changed; the full fury of persecution had broken out; and Rome had become to John the Antichrist.

(v) We note one last element in the picture of Antichrist. With the old Jewish idea of this anti-God power and with the Christian idea of a power who was the incarnation of evil, there combined an idea from the Graeco-Roman world. The worst of the Roman Emperors in the early days was Nero who was regarded as the supreme monster of iniquity, not only by the Christians, but also by the Romans themselves. Nero died by suicide in A.D. 68, and there went up a sigh of relief. But almost immediately there arose the belief that he was not dead and that he was waiting in Parthia to descend on the world with the terrible hordes of the Parthians to let loose destruction and terror. This idea is called the Nero redivivus, the Nero resurrected, myth. In the ancient world it was widespread more than twenty years after Nero was dead. To the Christians, Nero was a figure of concentrated evil. It was he who had put the blame of the great fire of Rome on to the Christians; it was he who had initiated persecution; it was he who had found the most savage methods of torture. Many Christians believed in the Nero redivivus myth; and frequently--as in certain parts of the Revelation--Nero redivivus and Antichrist were identified and the Christians thought of the coming of Antichrist in terms of the return of Nero.

THE VISION OF THINGS TO COME ( Revelation 11:1-19 continued)

11:1-19 A measuring rod like a stall was given to me, with the instructions: "Rise and measure the Temple of God, and the altar and those who worship there. But leave out of the reckoning the outer Court which is outside the Temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample on the Holy City for forty-two months.

It is better to see this chapter as a whole, before we make any attempt to deal with it in detail. It has been said that it is at one and the same time the most difficult and the most important chapter in the Revelation. Its difficulty is obvious and it contains problems of interpretation about whose solution there can be no real certainty. Its importance lies in the fact that it contains a deliberate summary of the rest of the book. The seer has eaten the little roll and taken into his mind the message of God; and now he sets it down, not yet in detail but in the broad lines of its development. So certain is he of the course of events that from Revelation 11:11 he alters the tense of his narrative and speaks of things still in the future as if they were past. Let us then set out the scheme of this chapter which is also the scheme of the rest of the book.

(i) Revelation 11:1-2. Here is the picture of the measuring of the Temple. As we shall see, the measuring is closely parallel to the sealing and is for the purposes of protection when the demonic terrors descend upon the world.

(ii) Revelation 11:3-6. Here is the preaching of the two witnesses who are heralds of the end.

(iii) Revelation 11:7-10. Here is the first emergence of Antichrist in the form of the beast from the abyss, and the temporary triumph of Antichrist which results in the death of the two witnesses.

(iv) Revelation 11:11-13. Here follows the restoration to life of the witnesses and the consequent repentance and conversion of the Jews.

(v) Revelation 11:14-19. Finally, here is the first sketch of the final triumph of Christ, the thousand years of his initial reign, the rising of the nations, the defeat of the nations and the judgment of the dead, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God and of his Anointed One.

We now proceed to examine the chapter in detail.

The Measuring Of The Temple ( Revelation 11:1-2)

To the seer is given a measuring rod like a staff. The word for measuring rod is literally reed. There were certain grasses which grew with stalks like bamboo canes as much as six or eight feet high; these stalks were used as measuring rods. The word rod actually stands for a Jewish unit of measurement, equal to six cubits. The cubit was originally the space from the tip of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger and was reckoned as seventeen or eighteen inches; so the rod is equal to about nine feet.

The picture of measuring is common in the visions of the prophets. We find it in Ezekiel, Zechariah and Amos ( Ezekiel 40:3; Ezekiel 40:6; Zechariah 2:1; Amos 7:7-9); and no doubt these previous visions were in John's mind.

We find the idea of measuring used in more than one way. It is used as a preparation for building or for restoration and also as a preparation for destruction. But here the meaning lies in preservation. The measuring is like the sealing which is described in Revelation 7:2-3; the scaling and the measuring are both for the protection of God's faithful ones in the demonic terrors to descend upon the earth.

The seer has to measure the Temple, but he must omit from his measurement the outer court which has been given over to the Gentiles. The Temple in Jerusalem was divided into four courts, converging, as it were, upon the Holy of Holies. There was the Court of the Gentiles, into which Gentiles might come but beyond which they might not pass under penalty of death. Between it and the next court was a balustrade, into which were set tablets warning any Gentile that to come further was to be liable to instant death. Next came the Court of the Women beyond which women could not come; then the Court of the Israelites beyond which ordinary men could not come. Lastly, there was the Court of the Priests, which contained the Altar of the Burnt-Offering, made of brass, the Altar of Incense, made of gold, and the Holy Place; and into this court only the priests might come.

The seer is to measure the Temple. But the date of the Revelation, as we have seen, is somewhere about A.D. 90; and the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed in A.D. 70. How, then, could the Temple be measured?

The solution lies in this. Almost certainly John is taking over a picture which had already been used. Almost certainly this passage was originally spoken or written in A.D. 70, during the last siege of Jerusalem. During that siege the party of the Jews who would never admit defeat were the Zealots; they would rather die to a man, as indeed they ultimately did. When the walls of the city were breached, these Zealots retired into the Temple to make a last desperate resistance there. It is practically certain that some of their prophets said: "Never fear. The Gentile invaders may reach the outer Court of the Gentiles and defile it; but they will never penetrate into the inner Temple. God would never allow that." That confidence was disappointed; the Zealots perished and the Temple was destroyed; but originally the measuring of the inner courts and the abandoning of the outer court stood for the Zealot hope in those last terrible days.

John takes this picture and completely spiritualizes it. When he speaks of the Temple, he is not thinking of the Temple building at all which had been blasted out of existence more than twenty years before. For him the Temple is the Christian Church, the people of God. This picture meets us repeatedly in the New Testament. The Christians are living stones, built into a spiritual house ( 1 Peter 2:5). The Church is founded on the apostles and the prophets; Jesus is the corner stone; the whole Church is growing into a holy temple in the Lord ( Ephesians 2:20-21). "Do you not know," says Paul, "that you are God's temple?" ( 1 Corinthians 3:16; compare, 2 Corinthians 6:16).

The measuring of the Temple is the sealing of the people of God; they are to be preserved in the terrible time of trial; but the rest are doomed to destruction.

The Length Of The Terror ( Revelation 11:1-2 Continued)

The length of the terror is to be forty-two months; the time of the preaching of the witnesses is to be twelve hundred and sixty days; their corpses are to lie on the street for three and a half days. Here is something which occurs again and again (compare Revelation 13:5; Revelation 12:6); and occurs in still another form in Revelation 12:14 where the period is a time, times and half a time. This is the famous phrase which goes back to Daniel ( Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7). We have to enquire, first, into the meaning of the phrase and, second, into its origin.

Its meaning is three and a half years. That is what forty-two months, and twelve hundred and sixty days--by Jewish reckoning--are. A time, times and half a time is equal to one year plus two years plus half a year.

The origin of the phrase comes from that most terrible time in Jewish history when Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria, tried to force Greek language, culture and worship upon the Jews and was met with the most violent and stubborn resistance. The roll of the martyrs was immense but the dreadful process was finally halted by the rising of Judas Maccabaeus.

Judas and his heroic followers waged guerrilla warfare and won the most amazing victories. Finally Antiochus and his forces were driven out and the Temple was restored and cleansed. The point is that this dreadful period lasted from June 168 B.C. to December 165 B.C. (To this day the Jews celebrate in December the Festival of Hanukah which commemorates the restoration and the cleansing of the Temple.) That is to say this dreadful time lasted almost exactly three and a half years. It was during that time that Daniel was written and the phrase was coined which ever afterwards was stamped on the Jewish mind as indicating a period of terror and suffering and martyrdom.

The Two Witnesses ( Revelation 11:3-6)

It was always part of Jewish belief that God would send his special messenger to men before the final coming of the Day of the Lord. In Malachi we hear God say: "Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me" ( Malachi 3:1). Malachi actually identifies the messenger as Elijah: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord comes" ( Malachi 4:5). So, then, in our passage we have the coming of the messengers of God before the final contest.

These messengers have the task of prophesying; they will prophesy for 1,260 days, that is for three and a half years, which, as we have seen, is the period always connected with terror and destruction to come. Their message will be sombre, for they are clothed in sackcloth. It will be a message of condemnation; to listen to it will be like a torture and the people will be glad when the two witnesses are killed ( Revelation 11:10).

(i) Some scholars have entirely allegorized this passage. They see in the two witnesses the Law and the Prophets, or the Law and the Gospel, or the Old Testament and the New Testament. Or, they see in the two witnesses a picture of the Church. Jesus had told his followers that they must be witnesses to him in Jerusalem, in Judaea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth ( Acts 1:8). Those who explain the two witnesses by the witness of the Church explain the number two by referring to Deuteronomy 19:15, where it is said that if a charge is brought against anyone it must be confirmed by the evidence of two witnesses. But the picture of the two witnesses is so definite that it seems to refer to definite persons.

(ii) The two witnesses have been taken to be Enoch and Elijah. Neither Enoch nor Elijah was said to die. "Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him" ( Genesis 5:24); Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind and in a chariot of fire to heaven ( 2 Kings 2:11); and Tertullian (Concerning the Soul, 50) refers to a belief that they were being kept by God in heaven to bring death to Antichrist.

(iii) Much more likely the witnesses are Elijah and Moses. Elijah was held to be the greatest of the prophets, just as Moses was the supreme law-giver; and it was fitting that the two outstanding figures in the religious history of Israel should be God's messengers at the last time. It was these two who appeared to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration ( Mark 9:4). Further, the things said of them fit Moses and Elijah as they fit no one else. It is said ( Revelation 11:6) that they have power to turn the water into blood and to smite the earth with all plagues, and that is what Moses did (compare specially Exodus 7:14-18). It is said that fire proceeds out of their mouth and burns up their enemies, and that they can shut up the heavens so that the rain is withheld. That is what Elijah did with the company of soldiers sent to take him ( 2 Kings 1:9-10) and when he prophesied to Ahab that there would be no rain upon the earth ( 1 Kings 17:1). We have already seen that Elijah was expected to return to herald the end; and it would not be difficult to regard God's promise that he would raise up a prophet like Moses ( Deuteronomy 18:18) as a prophecy that Moses himself would return.

The Saving Death Of The Two Witnesses ( Revelation 11:7-13)

The witnesses are to preach for their allotted time and then will come Antichrist in the form of the beast from the abyss; and the two witnesses will be cruelly slain.

This is to happen in Jerusalem; but Jerusalem is called by the terrible names of Sodom and Egypt. Long before this Isaiah had addressed the rulers of Jerusalem as the rulers of Sodom and the people of Jerusalem as the people of Gomorrah ( Isaiah 1:9-10). Sodom and Gomorrah stand as the types of sin, the symbols of those who had not received strangers (compare the story in Genesis 19:4-11) and who had turned their benefactors into slaves ( Wis_19:14-15 ). The wickedness of Jerusalem had already crucified Jesus Christ and in the days to come it is to regard the death of his witnesses with joy.

So will the people of Jerusalem hate the two witnesses that they will leave their bodies unburied in the street. In Jewish thought it was a terrible thing that a body should not be buried. When the heathen attacked God's people, to the Psalmist it was the greatest tragedy of all that there was none to bury them ( Psalms 79:3); the threat to the disobedient prophet, a threat which came true, was that his carcase would not come to the sepulchre of his fathers ( 1 Kings 13:22). Even worse, such will be the hatred of the people for the witnesses of God that they will regard their death as a reason for festival.

But that is not the end. After three and a half days--here we have the same period--the breath of life entered again into the two slain witnesses and they stood upon their feet. Still more startling things were to happen. In sight of all, the two witnesses were summoned up into heaven, re-enacting, as it were, Elijah's first departure to heaven in the whirlwind and the chariot of fire ( 2 Kings 2:11).

To add to the terror came a destructive earthquake which wrecked a tenth of the city and brought death to seven thousand of its inhabitants. The result was that those who had seen these terrifying events and were spared, gave glory to God. That is to say, they repented, for that is the only real way to give glory to God.

The great interest of this passage lies in the fact that the unbelievers were won by the sacrificial death of the witnesses and by God's vindication of them. Here is the story of the Cross and of the Resurrection all over again. Evil must be conquered and men won, not by force but by the acceptance of suffering for the name of Christ.

The Forecast Of Things To Come ( Revelation 11:14-19)

What makes this passage difficult is that it seems to indicate that things have come to an end in final victory, while there is still half the book to go. The explanation, as we have seen, is that this passage is a summary of what is still to come. The events foreshadowed here are as follows.

(i) There is the victory in which the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Anointed One. This is really a quotation of Psalms 2:2, and is another way of saying that the Messianic reign has begun. In view of this victory the twenty-four elders, that is, the whole Church, break out in thanksgiving.

(ii) This victory leads to the time when God takes his supreme authority ( Revelation 11:17). That is to say, it leads to the thousand year reign of God, the Millenium, a thousand year period of peace and prosperity.

(iii) At the end of the Millenium there is to come the final attack of all the hostile powers ( Revelation 11:18); they will be finally defeated and then will follow the last judgment.

In Revelation 11:19 we come back, as it were, to the present. There is a vision of the heavenly Temple opened and of the Ark of the Covenant. Two things are involved in this vision.

(i) The Ark of the Covenant was in the Holy of Holies, the inside of which no ordinary person had ever seen, and into which even the High Priest went only on the Day of Atonement. This must mean that now the glory of God is going to be fully displayed.

(ii) The reference to the Ark of the Covenant is as a reminder of God's special covenant with his people. Originally that covenant had been with the people Israel; but the new covenant is with all of every nation who love and believe in Jesus. Whatever the terror to come, God will not be false to his promises.

This is a picture of the coming of the full glory of God, a terrifying threat to his enemies but an uplifting promise to the people of his covenant.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

Revelation 11:2

leave out the court . . which refers to the court of the Gentiles and shows the measurement is concerned with the Jews, Israel, proper.

The outer courtyard in the Jerusalem Temple, outside the stone warning fence, was regarded as the place for the Gentile nations. John makes a clear distinction between the Jewish worshippers and all others.

holy city . . The only cities referred to as "Holy" are Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem.

How, and Why would "Rome" be called the "holy city"? Jerusalem, (the city where our Lord was crucified, Revelation 11:8) and unbelieving Israel are the one facing God’s wrath in Revelation and not the city of Rome.

the holy city shall they tread under foot . . Jerusalem was the once holy city: but was no longer that. It was here called holy because of its past association with the covenanted and the sainted ancestors. "How is the faithful city become harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers." (Isaiah 1:21)

"0 Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee . . . Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." (Matthew 23:37-38) By divine decree Jerusalem was to be desolated and "trodden down of the Gentiles." (Luke 21:24) The judgment had already been passed, and John was commanded to leave Jerusalem out, and "measure it not," as that which had been cast away. - Wallace

Gentiles … will trample on the holy city . . May refer to Rome destroying the Jerusalem temple (cf. Luke 21:24) or unbelievers persecuting God’s people, heirs of the “new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:2). - NIVZSB

forty-two months . . = Luke 21:24 = 3 1/2 years, or times (2) and time (1) and 1/2 a time, or 1260 days. They are all equal!

    The time of the influx of the warring, persecuting powers who invaded Jerusalem in AD 67 and the Romans invading Galilee and proceeding to capture Jerusalem in AD 70 was 3 1/2 years. - See Josephus.

forty two months . . Restated in Revelation 11:3 as 1,260 days (compare Revelation 12:6; Revelation 1:1). Both figures define, according to traditions from Daniel, the length of the persecution of God’s people (e.g., Daniel 7:25; Revelation 12:11-12). - FSB

forty and two months . . Revelation 11:2-3 Revelation 12:6 Revelation 13:5. From the imperial order and the beginning of the siege to its end and completion it was forty-two months, or a thousand two hundred and threescore days, or the oft-mentioned twelve hundred and sixty days--that was the exact period of time, as a matter of historical record, which covered the events of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.

An example of such necessary mathematical application is in the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the end of the ten tribes, Isaiah 7:1-9. - Wallace

42 months . . Equivalent to 1,260 days (v. 3; 12:6) and “a time, times and half a time” (Revelation 12:14; cf. Daniel 7:25; Revelation 12:7). May denote a literal time period ... - NIVZSB

Because this language echoes Jesus’ prediction of Jerusalem’s destruction (Luke 21:24; cf. Daniel 8:13), some believe that Revelation was written before a.d. 70 and predicted that disaster. Again, however, others do not think that “the holy city” (cf. Revelation 21:2; Revelation 22:19) refers to earthly Jerusalem. Instead, they understand it as a reference to the true church. They argue that Revelation 11:8 implies that the earthly Jerusalem that rejected its Messiah now belongs to “the great city,” along with Sodom and Egypt (see Revelation 17:18) - ESVSB

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not,.... The allusion is to the court of the Israelites, where was the great crowd and company of worshippers, even the national church of the Jews, called by Ezekiel the outer court, Ezekiel 42:14, and which was measured in Ezekiel 42:20; but this must not be measured: this designs not the visible church apostatized, as succeeding the pure, primitive, and apostolical church, or the apostate church of Rome, antichrist and his followers, for these are meant by the Gentiles, to whom this outward court is given; this outward court, or the worshippers in it, intend a distinct set of worshippers from the internal worshippers, the priests of God in the temple, altar, and inner court, and from the Gentiles, the Papists; and are no other than carnal Protestants, the bulk of the reformed churches, who have only the name, but not the nature of living Christians, have a form of godliness, but deny its power, are Jews outwardly, but not inwardly, and worship only in an external manner, attend to outward forms and ceremonies, but know nothing of true doctrine, pure worship, or spiritual religion; and which are very numerous, as the worshippers in the outward court were: now these, upon a new measuring and regulating of the churches, are ordered to be left, or cast out, and not taken into the dimensions of the Gospel church; these were to be separated from, and have been, and not to be admitted members of regular and orderly constituted churches, and which is here reckoned a sort of casting of them out; the reason of which follows;

for it is given unto the Gentiles; by whom are meant the Papists, who are no other than Paganized Christians, having introduced a great deal of Gentilism into the divine service; as the worshipping of the virgin Mary, angels, and saints departed, which is in imitation of the demon worship of the Heathens; as also the dedication of their churches to saints, their saints' days, divers festivals, and many other rites and ceremonies, are plainly of Pagan original; and therefore they may very well be called by this name: now it seems by these words that the bulk of the reformed churches, the crowd of outward court worshippers, will be gained, over to the Popish party, and fall off to the church of Rome, to which their doctrines and practices are plainly verging; the pope of Rome, as low a condition as he now is in, will be set "in status quo", before his utter destruction; he will regain all his former dominions, and be in possession of them at the time of his ruin; the whore of Rome, the antichristian Babylon, will sit as a queen, and promise herself a great deal of peace and pleasure, the inward court worshippers and witnesses being slain, and she restored to all her former power and grandeur; when in one day, on a sudden, her destruction will come upon her, when the term of the beast's reign will be expired, mentioned in the next clause:

and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months; by "the holy city" is meant all the kingdoms of Europe, or what has, been called Christendom, the western empire as Christian, the main seat of the Christian religion, or all the churches styled Christian, and so called in allusion to Jerusalem, which bears this name, Matthew 4:5; and which was still of a far larger extent than the outward court: the "treading" of this "underfoot" does not barely design possessing of it, or worshipping in the same place, as the phrase of treading in the courts does in Isaiah 1:12; but a tyrannical power over it, and a wasting, spoiling, and destroying it, in allusion to Jerusalem being trodden under foot, wasted, and destroyed by the Gentiles or the Romans, Luke 21:24; and the duration of this tyrannical and oppressive reign will be forty and two months; see Revelation 13:5, which being reduced to years, make just three years and a half: but then this date cannot be understood strictly and literally; for such a term can never be sufficient for the whore's reign, who was to rule over the kings of the earth, and all nations were to drink of the wine of her fornication: this is too short a time for her to gain so much power, honour, and riches in, as the 13th, 17th, and 18th chapters of this book show, as well as too short for the afflictions and persecutions of the saints by her; wherefore this must be understood prophetically of so many months of years; and a month with the Chaldeans consisting of thirty days, and a year of 360 days, which account Daniel used, and John after him, forty two months, reckoning a day for a year, after the prophetic style, make 1260 years; which is the exact time of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, of the church's being hid and nourished in the wilderness, and of the beast's reign, and so of the holy city being trodden under foot. Now this date is not to be reckoned from the outer court being given to the Gentiles, but from the first of antichrist's reign, when the pope of Rome was declared universal bishop; and is only here mentioned to show, that the giving of the outward court to his Gentiles will be towards the expiration of this date.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.   2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

      This prophetical passage about measuring the temple is a plain reference to what we find in Ezekiel's vision, Ezekiel 40:3, c. But how to understand either the one or the other is not so easy. It should seem the design of measuring the temple in the former case was in order to the rebuilding of it, and that with advantage the design of this measurement seems to be either, 1. For the preservation of it in those times of public danger and calamity that are here foretold; or, 2. For its trial; that it may be seen how far it agrees with the standard, or pattern, in the mount; or, 3. For its reformation; that what is redundant, deficient, or changed, may be regulated according to the true model. Observe,

      I. How much was to be measured. 1. The temple; the gospel church in general, whether it be so built, so constituted, as the gospel rule directs, whether it be too narrow or too large, the door too wide or too strait. 2. The altar. That which was the place of the most solemn acts of worship may be put for religious worship in general; whether the church has the true altars, both as to substance and situation: as to substance, whether they take Christ for their altar, and lay down all their offerings there; and in situation, whether the altar be in the holiest; that is, whether they worship God in the Spirit and in truth. 3. The worshippers too must be measured, whether they make God's glory their end and his word their rule, in all their acts of worship; and whether they come to God with suitable affections, and whether their conversation be as becomes the gospel.

      II. What was not to be measured (Revelation 11:2; Revelation 11:2), and why it should be left out. 1. What was not to be measured: The court which is without the temple measure it not. Some say that Herod, in the additions made to the temple, built an outer court, and called it the court of the Gentiles. Some tell us that Adrian built the city and an outer court, and called it Ælia, and gave it to the Gentiles. 2. Why was not the outer court measured? This was no part of the temple, according to the model either of Solomon or Zerubbabel, and therefore God would have no regard to it. He would not mark it out for preservation; but as it was designed for the Gentiles, to bring pagan ceremonies and customs and to annex them to the gospel churches, so Christ abandoned it to them, to be used as they pleased; and both that and the city were trodden under foot for a certain time--forty and two months, which some would have to be the whole time of the reign of antichrist. Those who worship in the outer court are either such as worship in a false manner or with hypocritical hearts; and these are rejected of God, and will be found among his enemies. 3. From the whole observe, (1.) God will have a temple and an altar in the world, till the end of time. (2.) He has a strict regard to this temple, and observes how every thing is managed in it. (3.) Those who worship in the outer court will be rejected, and only those who worship within the veil accepted. (4.) The holy city, the visible church, is very much trampled upon in the world. But, (5.) The desolations of the church are for a limited time, and for a short time, and she shall be delivered out of all her troubles.

Norris' Commentary on the Book of Revelation

2. CHAPTER 11:1, 2.

The Second Vision of THE MEASURED SANCTUARY. The question arises--How will God’s church fare in a world on which the judgments of God are falling? The reply is given in the two visions of chapter 11:1-13. In verses 1 and 2 in the vision of the measured sanctuary, IT IS THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH IN THIS PRESENT AGE AND WORLD THAT IS DESCRIBED. "Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there" (The Greek word "Naos" here is used in the New Testament for The spiritual temple which is the Church of Christ, as in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, "you are God’s temple--God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are.") Also Ephesians 2:21. Standards are important. John was given "a measuring rod"--The person who with John has eaten God’s book and digested it has a measuring rod by which to measure all worship and service. The church is measured not by false worldly standards but by the Word of God. The main idea of verses 1 and 2 is of the true church as God’s temple and on the other hand a pagan society outside the temple court treading down, desecrating the church during the time from Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47) until the FINAL coming of Christ. During this present age the true church, marked out clearly, (the sanctuary) while the world invades, tramps under foot and oppresses her until Christ returns. We meet here in verse 2 for the first time that period of time variously described as "42 months" that is, "3½ years," "1260 days" (as in the next verse). Also as "a time, two times and half a time," (Daniel 12:6-7) that is, "3½." Revelation 12:14 uses this same expression. All these references amount to the same "3½ years." All these refer to THE SAME PERIOD. The "3½ years," that is "THE BROKEN SEVEN." As 7 is the number of the PERFECT AND ETERNAL "3½" IS THE BROKEN, LIMITED TIME BETWEEN CHRIST’S FIRST AND SECOND ADVENT. The 3½ YEARS IS THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. John is sure that the desecration of the church by a pagan society is "the time of the Gentiles"--Luke 21:24 will only be for a LIMITED--broken period of this present age. This is the main idea of Revelation 11:1-2 --John’s vision of the measured sanctuary. 2. CHAPTER 11:1, 2 records the vision of THE MEASURED SANCTUARY The question is implied by John as he waits for the seventh trumpet--HOW WILL THE CHURCH FARE IN A WORLD WHERE SUCH JUDGMENTS ARE FALLING? The reply is given in the two visions of chapter 11:1-13. Verses 1 and 2 give us the vision of THE MEASURED SANCTUARY. As stated in the notes on this chapter it is our view that IT IS THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH IN THIS PRESENT AGE THAT IS DESCRIBED HERE. John was given a measuring rod and told to (1) "rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship there." (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 over the holy city for 42 months." "Rise and measure THE TEMPLE OF GOD" The Greek word for "temple" here is "Naos" and can only mean the inner shrine or sanctuary. The word "Naos" is used in the New Testament for "the spiritual temple," which is the church, as in 1 Corinthians 3:17, or Ephesians 2:21. For the temple buildings as a whole the quite different word "hieron" is used. John is also told to measure "THE ALTAR"--the place of incense (of prayer). The place of burnt offerings of sacrifice. Also John is told to measure THE WORSHIPPERS. As mentioned in our earlier notes STANDARDS ARE IMPORTANT. The person who, with John, has eaten and digested the book has a measuring rod by which to measure all worship and service. The church is not measured by the world’s standards of size of membership, prestige or money but by the Word of God. You will recall that in chapters 2 and 3 each of the 7 churches is measured by "knowing and doing the Word of God." There is the measuring standard. In verse 2 John was told "Do not measure the court outside the temple, leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for 42 months." We repeat that the main idea is of the true church as the sanctuary, the altar, its worshippers on the one hand--and on the other hand the court of the Gentiles OUTSIDE the sanctuary in which a pagan society treads down and desecrates the true church during the time from Acts 2:1-47 until the final coming of Christ. We meet here in verse 2 for the first time that period variously described in John’s Revelation as "42 months," "1260 days, "also as "A time, two times, and half a time"--that is 3½. All refer to the same period the "3½"--that is, the broken "7." As "7" is the symbol of the perfect and eternal in John’s book "3½" is the broken, limited time between Christ’s first coming and His final advent. The 42 months, 1260 days, 3½, years is a reference to this Christian dispensation. John is saying here that the contamination of the church by a pagan society will only be for the limited, broken period of this present age. It is this event of the nations treading down the outer court during this present age to which Jesus referred in Luke 21:24 "And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." There are two important things for us in these first two verses of chapter 11. (1) As we look at the temple we first see THE SANCTUARY carefully measured, the outer court left out, yet both forming part of the temple buildings. Here is a striking picture of the church as she is today. For the church, the visible church, has two parts--THE TRUE CHURCH--"The blessed company of all faithful Christians." And the outer part--Those who profess and call themselves Christians but who have only "a name to live" the merely nominal church members. The line of demarcation is plain. Only in the sanctuary of the true church is found safety. (2) Second, we look at the ALTAR of INCENSE. We learned in chapter 8 verses 3 and 4, that this is the symbol of the PRAYERS of Christians. It tells that communion with God is the center of the church’s life. The ALTAR of BURNT OFFERING of SACRIFICE, we see as teaching the great fact of the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary as the center of church life. So, we learn that the altar of PRAYER and SACRIFICE must hold place if we are part of the true sanctuary. We need to "present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God" (Romans 12:1). We ask--Is prayer and sacrificial service the center of our life? Is the atoning death of Jesus Christ the center of our faith? Have we "in full and glad surrender" yielded ourselves fully to Jesus Christ as Lord? The church may be trodden down by a pagan world, but only for a LIMITED time. "Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding weight of glory" such is the certain hope created by John’s vision of the measured sanctuary.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

We have already seen the bearing of the seven churches to which the Lord was pleased to send the letters contained in the second and third chapters. We have found, I trust, substantial reason and ample evidence in their own contents, as well as in the character of the book itself, to look for a meaning far more comprehensive than a literal historical notice of the condition of the Asiatic churches which were then primarily addressed. It is, of course, ground well known to all that John wrote to seven churches; but that no more was meant than the existing assemblies is more than ought to be assumed. The septenary number is significant, and the division of the seven into two parts. Again, the order of their contents, as well as their nature severally, points to the same conclusion. Further, it is plain that certain phases do not necessarily abide, while at a given point in their course the language implies the state of things meant by them to continue up to Christ's return. That point is Thyatira, and thenceforward the same feature is in Sardis, Philadelphia, and of course Laodicea. Beginning successively, these go on together. But it is equally remarkable that the first three churches do not. What I gather from it is, that the three earlier churches are severed in character from the rest; for though all are alike typical, only the last four are used as fore-shadows of successive states of things about to ensue, and then be concurrent up to the Second Advent. We can easily understand two things: first, the succession of seven different states represented by those seven churches; and, secondly, that of the seven, three passed away, only retaining a moral bearing; whereas the last four have not this only, but a prophetic and successional bearing, and from the epoch of their appearance, run along-side of each other till the coming of the Lord Jesus.

But the remarkable fact which meets us from chapter 4 and onward is, that we no longer find any church condition on the earth. This confirms the same fact. Had these churches not been meant to have an application beyond the literal one, how could it be accounted for? If, on the other hand, besides that historical application, they were meant to be prophetical, we can easily comprehend that the Lord did address assemblies then existing, but meant by them to give views of successional states that should be found up to the close, when four of these states go on together. Thyatira brings before us the public character of corrupted Christendom that which is notoriously found in Popery. Then, again, Sardis is that which is well known as Protestantism: there might be orthodoxy, but withal a manifest want of real life and power. This is followed by the revival of the truth of Christian brotherhood, with an open door for the work as well as word of the Lord, and His coming acting powerfully, not merely on the mind as a conviction, but on the affections as attaching to the Lord Jesus. This is found in Philadelphia. Then Laodicea shows us the final state of indifference that would be produced by the rejection of these warnings and encouragements of the Lord.

From the fourth chapter we have the Spirit of God leading the prophet into the understanding of not the church-state, but that which will follow when churches are no longer before the mind of the Lord when it becomes a question of the world, not without testimonies from God in the midst of gradually swelling troubles; but His witnesses henceforward of Jewish or Gentile character, never more after that of the church on earth. Believers we do see, of course, some of them of the chosen people, others of the nations; but we hear of no such church condition as was found in the second and third chapters. One of the most striking proofs of the way in which the patent facts of the word of God are habitually passed over is, that this has been so constantly overlooked. There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of books written on the Revelation, yet it is only of comparatively recent date that so plain, sure, and grave a feature seems to have been seen. I speak now from some acquaintance with that which has been written on the book from the Fathers down to our own days. As far as I remember, there does not occur in hundreds of the ablest books about it which have passed through my hands, the slightest reference even to this undeniable and important fact which lies on the surface of the prophecy.

I draw from this nothing complimentary to man's mind, but the contrary. It loudly confirms those who are convinced of the necessity of the teaching of the Holy Ghost, to profit even by what is plain, certain, and obvious. There is no book so remarkable as the Bible in this respect: no learning nor acquirement, no brightness of mind or imagination, will ever, without His power, enable any soul to seize, enjoy, and use aright its communications. They may, no doubt, perceive one fact here and another there; but how to employ even these for good will never be known unless the Spirit of God give us to look straight to Christ. He that has Christ before him is soon sensible of a difference of relationship and its results. Christ has special ways of dealing with the church that are suitable to none else. This closes with the end of the third chapter.

The inference is obvious. New things come before the Lord, as well as the reader. Now, as notoriously the great mass of persons who bear the name of the Lord have assumed, without the smallest proof from scripture, that the church has always been and always will be while the work of converting souls proceeds on earth, it is clear that this assumption erects an impassable barrier against the truth. No wonder people fail to understand the Bible when they enter on its study with a principle which opposes at all points the revealed truth of God. There is no such notion in the Bible. It is found in no part either of the Old or of the New Testament; as little as anywhere else is it tolerated by the book now before us. Thus we see churches existing when the book begins; but they are found no more, when the introductory portion closes and the proper prophecy is entered on. A church condition is not, strictly speaking, the subject of prophecy, which deals with the world, and shows us divine judgments coming on its evil, when God is about to make room for good according to His own mind. Such is the great theme of the book of Revelation. But inasmuch as there were Christian assemblies then, the Spirit of God is pleased to preface it with a most remarkable panoramic view of the church condition as long as it should subsist before the Lord on the earth. And we have seen this given with the most striking wisdom, so as to suit at the time of John, yet also as long as the church goes on always to apply, and increasingly, not every part at once, but with sufficient light to give children of God full satisfaction as to the mind of the Lord. In fact, it is the same here as in every other part of scripture: none can really profit by the word, whether in Genesis or in the Revelation, without the Spirit, and this can only be to the glory of Christ.

If this be so, we can understand the vast importance of the change that is here observable. The prophet enters by the door into heaven. Of course this was simply a vision. The power of the Holy Ghost gave him thus to enter and behold; it was not a question of sensible facts. He was immediately in the Spirit, it is said; and in heaven he beholds a throne set, and this, from its effects and surroundings, a judicial throne. It is not at all the same character of the throne of God as we know and approach now. We come boldly to the throne and find grace and mercy to help in time of need. But we find nothing of the sort here, either in the throne or in what issues from it. Even a child might read better the force of the symbols employed for our instruction. What is meant by lightnings and voices and thunderings? Is it too much to say that he who could confound the aspect of the throne in Hebrews 4:1-16 with that of Revelation 4:1-11 must have a singularly constituted mind? I cannot understand how any attentive reader could fail to see the difference, not to speak of one spiritually taught. Indeed, the amazing thing is, how any person in his sober senses could conclude that the two descriptions characterize the same state of things. They stand really in the strongest possible contrast.

Here we have the throne, not of divine mercy, but invested with what was proper to Sinai: it discerns, denounces, and destroys the evil of the earth. Thus it is the seat and source of judgment on the ungodly. I admit that it is not yet the throne of the Son of man reigning over the world. The time is not come at this point for the church to reign with Christ over the earth. In Revelation 5:1-14 the reigning over the earth is spoken of as a future thing ("shall reign over the earth"), and not yet a fact. Clearly, therefore, we see here a transitional state of things after the church condition ends, and before the millennial reign begins. Such is the manifest truth necessary to understand the Revelation. As long as you do not admit this, you will never, in my judgment, understand the Apocalypse as a whole

Then we are told that the likeness of Him that sat on the throne is compared to a jasper and a sardine stone. This obviously does not refer to the divine essence, which no creature can approach to or look upon. It is God's glory so far as He was pleased to allow it to be made visible to the creature. Consequently it is compared to those precious stones of which we hear in the city afterwards.

But there are other notable features of the throne. We are told that round about it "there was a rainbow in sight like an emerald." God marks here His remembrance of creation. The rainbow is the familiar sign of the covenant with creation, and it was presented prominently to the prophet's mind. The various points noticed are as in God's mind, not merely as in man's eyes. Thus the rainbow is not seen in a shower of rain upon the earth. It is a question of the simple truth that was set forth by it, and nothing more. So it is with all the other objects seen in this vision.

Next, "round about the throne were four and twenty elders." The allusion is evident to the four and twenty courses of priesthood. Only it will be observed that it is not the whole number the twenty-four classes of men), but simply the chief priests of these courses. The twenty-four elders, in my opinion, refer to the heads of the priesthood. Therefore this is of some importance to bear in mind, because we find subsequently others that are recognized as priests who were not yet in heaven, who indeed were only called out on the earth after this. Unquestionably these others became priests, but no more elders are recognized. No addition is ever made to the company of elders; they are a fixed number. Priests there are afterwards, but no heads of priesthood save these elders.

These heads of priesthood, I have no doubt then, are the glorified saints above; and in that glorified body, as I apprehend, are the Old Testament saints as well as the New. You will see from this, that I am as far as possible from wishing to undervalue the grace of God to those of old. It seems to me that there are good grounds to infer from the prophecy itself that the twenty-four elders are not merely the church, but all those saints that rise up at the presence of the Lord Jesus (as it is written, they that are Christ's at His coming or His presence). This is unquestionable to my mind. The rising from the dead includes all saints up to that time, and of course, at the same time, the change that is described in the latter part of the same chapter. (1 Corinthians 15:1-58) All saints deceased or then alive appear to me meant. Thus the Old Testament saints and those of the New are changed; for the "dead in Christ" ought scarcely to be limited merely to the body of Christ. But the phrase "the dead in Christ" means all that have their relationship in Christ, and not merely in Adam; they did not die in the flesh, but died in Christ. It is not a question of Adam the first, but of the Second; but as the one embraces all the Adam family, it seems to me the other should be equally broad. Thus we must leave room in the twenty-four elders for the glorified, whether in the Old Testament times or in the New. This does not in the smallest degree compromise the special character of the church. It will be shown how remarkably this is preserved and manifested in a later point of the visions. At present I merely wish to state briefly what I believe to be the force of the symbol here.

These twenty-four elders, again, are clothed in white raiment, as also they have crowns of gold. They are seated on thrones. It is impossible to apply this to angelic beings. Angels are never so crowned or enthroned. Nowhere do we hear of an angel called to any such dignity. Power no doubt they might wield, but never do they reign; they have the execution of the will of God in outward things, but never do they administer it after this royal pattern. This is destined for the glorified saints for the redeemed, and not for angels; and this because Christ has given them the title of grace by His blood. As it was said in a previous chapter, He has made us a kingdom,-priests to His God and Father. In chapter 4 we have symbols which answer rather to the kingly title, as in chapter 5 the same persons appear, discharging functions after a priestly type. In Revelation 4:1-11 the elders are crowned and enthroned; inRevelation 5:1-14; Revelation 5:1-14 they have golden vials (or bowls) of odours ( i.e., incense), which are the prayers of the saints. In the one, therefore, their kingly place is more involved, in the other their priestly occupation. This is never applied to ordinary angels as such. The only angel ever seen in priestly action is when the Lord Jesus assumes the character of an angel-priest (Revelation 8:1-13); not of course that He becomes a literal angel, but God was pleased, for reasons of sufficient weight, thus to represent Him at the altar under the trumpets.

Next we find that attention was directed both to what characterized the throne judicially, and also to the Holy Ghost as having a symbolic description suitable to the scene seven lamps or torches of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Thus it is not the Holy Ghost in the gracious power which characterizes His relationship to the church, but in governmental judgment, because it is a question of a sinful guilty world of the creature, and not the new creation.

So too we see that the four living creatures are brought before us. "Before the throne," it is written, "there was a sea of glass like unto crystal." Instead of its being a laver of water to purify the unclean, it is a sea, not liquid, but of glass. It is fixed purity now. Hence it is no question of meeting what was contracted in this defiling world. Those that are here in relation to it have passed out of their failure and need; they are in heaven and already glorified. And I may just repeat what has been often said before, that all scripture testifies to glorified bodies, without a word about glorified spirits. The twenty-four elders do not mean those members of Christ who have gone by death into His presence. The numerical symbol in fact is inconsistent with such an idea for this simple reason, that, interpret the twenty-four as you please, it must mean a complete company. Now the saints cannot be said to be complete in any sense whatsoever till Christ have come, who will translate all the Christians alive then on earth, with all the saints who had previously fallen asleep in Him, to be glorified with Himself above.

There is no time that you can look at the departed spirits, but there are some on earth who require to be added in order to exhibit the number complete. In point of fact, so far is scripture from ever representing the separate condition of the spirits as a complete state, that its testimony is distinctly adverse. The church is viewed as in a certain sense complete at any given moment on the earth, not because of the greater importance of those who are on the earth compared with such as are in heaven, but because the Holy Ghost was sent down from heaven, and is on earth. This is the reason why, (He being the one bond of the church,) where He is, the church must be. Accordingly there never can be any complete state of the church at any given moment in heaven, but on earth rather till Jesus come. But when we speak of absolute completeness, it is clear that this cannot be till the Lord come and has taken all the heavenly saints out of the world, and they go up into His presence above. Then there is completeness; and this is the state that is represented by the twenty-four elders. So that we have here, therefore, still more confirmation of what has been already pressed, that the entire description pre-supposes the church condition done with, and a new state entered on. Such is the unforced meaning of this vision of the blessedness and glory of those who had been on earth, but are now glorified in heaven. It is a complete company in the fullest sense; the heads of the heavenly priesthood. They have passed, therefore, out of the need of the washing of water by the word. It is a sea, not of water, but of glass, like crystal. This stamps the fact in a most evident manner.

Further, we have to notice the cherubic symbol. "And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind." Thus there was perfect discernment conferred on them by God. The living creatures I understand to be symbolic of the agency whatever may be the agents that God employs in the execution of His judicial power. Consequently the qualities of power are those fitting and necessary for that execution. "The first was like a lion; the second like a calf (a young bull or steer); the third had the face as of a man; and the fourth was like a flying eagle." We have thus majestic power, patient endurance, intelligence, and rapidity, all which enter into the judicial dealings that follow.

The question arises, and a very interesting one it is, not what, but who, are these living creatures? We have seen the qualities in their agency; but who are the agents? This is a delicate point. At the same time I think that scripture gives adequate light, as to those who wait on God, for everything which it is important for us to know.

It will be observed that in Revelation 4:1-11 (and it is a remarkable fact) there are no angels mentioned. You have the throne of God; you have the elders, and also the four living creatures, but not a word about angels. The living creatures celebrate God, not yet as the Most High, but as the "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." And when they do thus "give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth unto the ages of the ages, the twenty-four elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth unto the ages of the ages, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou createst all things, and because of thy will they were and were created." I give it in its exact form. There is this particular stamped on the elders, that they always speak with understanding. It will be true in its measure even of the, Jewish remnant that are to be called after the rapture. They are designated as "the wise that shall understand:" so we know from Daniel and others. But the elders have a higher character, because they invariably enter into the reason of the thing. This is an exceedingly beautiful feature, which I suppose also to be connected with the fact that they are called elders. They are those who have the mind of Christ. They apprehend the counsels and ways of God.

In Revelation 4:1-11 we see that the living creatures and the elders are closely connected, but no more. We shall find inRevelation 5:1-14; Revelation 5:1-14 that they join together. Not merely are they connected there but they positively combine. This is shown us in the case where the Lamb "takes the book, the four living creatures and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sing a new song." The remarkable fact that it is important to heed here is this. Chapter 5 shows us for the first time the Lamb presented distinctly and definitely in the scene. It was not so even in chapter 4 where we have seen the display of the judicial glory of God in His various earthly or dispensational characters, save His millennial one, and of course not His special revelation to us now as Father. In itself we know that Jehovah God embraces equally the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But here the Holy Ghost is distinctively seen as the seven Spirits of God under a symbolic guise; here the Lord Jesus is not yet discriminated. The glorious vision of Him who sits on the throne may include therefore both the Father and the Son; it is rather God as such, than the revelation of personality the general or generic idea, not personal distinction formally. But in Revelation 5:1-14, a challenge is made which at once displays the worth, victory, and peace of the Lamb, that holy earth-rejected Sufferer, whose blood has bought for God those who were under the ruin of sin and misery. There is to he then the full blessing of man and the creature on God's part, yea, man not only delivered, but even before the deliverance is displayed led into the understanding of the mind and will of God. Christ is just as necessarily the wisdom of God as He is the power of God. Without Him no creature can apprehend, any more than a sinner knows salvation without Him. We need, and how blessed that we have, Christ for everything! Thus, whatever the glory of the scene before the prophet in chapter 4 that which follows shows us the wondrous person and way in which man is brought into the consciousness of the blessing, and the appreciation of the divine ways and glory.

"And I saw on the right hand of him that sat on the throne a roll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals" (Revelation 5:1). The creature could not open these seals, none anywhere. But the strong angel proclaims, and the Lord Jesus at length comes forward to answer the proclamation. He takes up the challenge, appearing after a sufficient space had proved the impotence of all others. The comfort assured to John by the elder is thus justified; for the elders always understand. And he sees the Lion of the tribe of Judah to be the Lamb, despised on earth, exalted in heaven, who advances and takes the roll out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne. And then they all living creatures and elders together fell down before the Lamb with a new song.

It is striking that after this, as we are told, "I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;" who said with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power." Here we have the angels, who are now distinctly and prominently brought forward. Why is this? How comes it that no angels appear in chap. 4? And why is it that we have them in chap. 5? There is always the wisest reason in the ways of God of which scripture speaks, and we are encouraged by the Spirit to enquire humbly but trustfully. What is marked by it seems to be this: that the assumption of the book into the hands of the Lamb, and His preparing to open the seals, marks a chance of administration. Up to that point of time, angels have held a sort of executory ministry of power from God. Where judgments were in question, or other extraordinary intervention on His part, angels were the instruments; whereas from this point of time, it appears to me that the Spirit of God marks the fact of a vast change, however they way still be employed during the interval of the last of Daniel's seventy weeks. It is providence yet, not manifested glory.

The title of the glorified saints is thus asserted. We know for certain, as a matter of doctrine inHebrews 2:1-18; Hebrews 2:1-18, that the world to come is to be put not under angels but the redeemed. Here it appears to me that the seer is admitted to a prophetic glimpse that falls in with the doctrine of St. Paul. In other words, when the Lamb is brought definitely into the scene, then, and not before, we see the elders and the living creatures united in the new song. As one company, they join in praising the Lamb. They sing, "Thou art worthy, for thou hast redeemed," and so on. Thus we have them combined in a new fashion; and, what is more, the angels are now seen and definitely distinguished. Supposing, for instance, that previously, the administration of judgment was in the hand of angels, it is easily understood that they would not be distinguished from the living creatures in chap. 4 because, in point, of fact, the living creatures set forth she agencies of God's executory judgment; whereas in chap. 5, if there be a change in administration, and the angels that used to be the executors are no longer so recognised as such in view of the kingdom, but the power is entrusted to the hands of the glorified saints, it is simple enough that the angels fall back, being eclipsed by the heirs, and no longer in the same position. If previously they might be understood to be included under the living creatures, they are henceforward to take their place simply as angels, and are therefore no longer comprehended under that symbol. This, the suggestion of another, appears to commend itself as a true explanation of the matter.

From this, if correct, as I believe it to be, it follows that the four living creatures might be at one time angels, and at another saints. What the symbol sets forth is not so much the persons that are entrusted with these judgments, as the character of the agencies employed. Scripture, however, affords elements to solve the question, first by the marked absence of angels, who, as we know, are the beings that God employed in His providential dealings with the world, and this both in Old Testament times, and still in the days of the New Testament. The church is only in course of formation; but when it shall be complete, when the glorified saints are caught up, and the First-begotten is owned in His title, they too will be owned in theirs. For as the Lord is coming to take visibly the kingdom, we can readily understand that the change of administration is first made manifest in heaven before it is displayed upon earth. If this be correct, then the change is marked in chapter 5. The general fact is in chapter 4 the approaching change is anticipated in chapter 5. This appears to be the most satisfactory way of accounting for that which is here brought before us.

All the results are celebrated for every creature when once the note is struck (ver. 13).

Next we come to the opening of the seals. Revelation 6:1-17; Revelation 6:1-17 has a character of completeness about it, with this only exception, that the seventh seal is the introduction to the trumpets in the beginning ofRevelation 8:1-13; Revelation 8:1-13. This does not call for many words on the present occasion. "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, Come." Ought we to have here, and after the other three horses, the words "and see"? It appears that they are wanting in the best text* in all these passages. In every one of the cases the sentence ought to be "come." The difference comes to this, that "come and see" would be addressed to John; whereas according to the better MSS. the "come" is addressed by the living creature to the rider on the horse. Clearly this makes a considerable difference. One of the living creatures steps forward when the first seal is opened, and says, Come; and at once comes forth a rider on a white horse.

* Yet in every instance the Sinai MS. supports the inferior copies against the Alexandrian, and the Rescript of Paris with the better cursives, etc.

Let us inquire into, the force of each severally. "I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him: and he went (or came) forth conquering and that he might conquer." It is the answer to the call. The first then comes forth, and the character of his action is prosperity and conquest. Everything shows this. It is the earliest state that the Spirit of God notices as brought about in the world. After the mighty change we have already seen to have taken place in heaven, there is a mighty conqueror that will appear here below. We are all aware that this has been applied to a great variety of things and persons. Sometimes it has been supposed to mean the triumphs of the gospel, sometimes Christ's coming again, and as often antichrist, and I know not what. But what I think we may safely gather from it is this, that God employs a conqueror who will carry everything before him.

It is not necessarily by bloodshed, as in the second seal, which gives us carnage if not civil war. Hence the rider is not on a white horse, the symbol of victory; but remounted on another, a red horse, with a commission to kill, and a great sword. Imperial power which subjugates is meant by the horse in every state; but in the first case imperial power seems to subject men bloodlessly. The measures are so successful the name itself carries such weight with it that, in point of fact, it is one onward career of conquest without necessarily involving slaughter. But in the second seal the great point is "that they should slay one another." It was possibly even civil warfare. There the horse was red.

In the third seal it is a black horse, the colour of mourning. Accordingly we read now of a choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of barley for a denarius. That is, the price was the rate of scarcity. The ordinary price a little while before we know to have been incomparably less; for notoriously a denarius would have procured as much as fifteen choenixes. Now it is needless to say that fifteen times the ordinary price of wheat would make a serious difference; but however this may have been, certainly the rate current in St. John's day is not a question that is easily settled. Naturally rates differ. The increase of civilization and other causes tend to make it a little uncertain. That there is a difficulty in ascertaining with nicety the prices at this particular epoch is plain from the fact that men of ability and conscience have supported every possible variety of opinion plenty, scarcity, and a fair supply at a just price; but I do not think it is worth while to spend more time on the point. The colour of the horse, to my mind, decisively proves what the nature of the case is. Mourning would be strange if it were either a time of plenty or one governed by a just price; black suits a time of scarcity. Some will be surprised to hear that each of these views has had defenders. There are only three possible ways of taking it; and each one of these has had staunch support. Every one of these different interpretations has been insisted on by learned men, who are as liable as others to waver sometimes to one side, sometimes to another. There is no certainty about them. The word of God makes the matter plain to a simple mind. The unlettered in this country or any other cannot know much details about the price of barley or wheat at the time of St. John, or later; but he does see at once that the black colour is significant, especially as contrasted with white and red, and not at all indicative of joy or justice, but very naturally of distress; and therefore he feels bound to take this in company with the other points of the third horse and its rider.

The fourth seal was a pale or livid horse, the hue of death. Accordingly the name of its rider is Death, and Hades followed with him. To make the force still plainer, it is said that authority was given to him over the fourth of the earth, to slay with the sword, and with hunger, and with death (pestilence perhaps), and by the beasts of the earth.

The fifth seal shows us souls under the altar, who had been slain for the word of God, and for their testimony, who cried aloud for vengeance to the Sovereign Ruler. They are vindicated before God, but must wait: others, both their fellow-servants and their brethren, must be killed as they were ere that day comes.

The sixth seal marks a vast convulsion, a partial answer to the cry as I suppose. Many a person thinks that those in question are Christians. But if we look more clearly into the passage, we may learn that this again confirms the removal of the church to heaven before this. "How long, O Sovereign, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" Is this a prayer, or desire according to the grace of the gospel? Reasoning is hardly needful on a point so manifest. I think that any one who understands the general drift of the New Testament, and the special prayers there recorded by the Holy Ghost for our instruction, would be satisfied but for a false bias otherwise. Take Stephen's prayer, and our blessed Lord, the pattern of all that is perfect. On the other hand we have similar language elsewhere: but where? In the Psalms. Thus we have all the evidence that can be required. The evidence of the New Testament shows that these are not the sanctioned prayers of the Christian; the evidence of the Old Testament, that just such were the prayers of persons whose feelings and experience and desires were founded on Israelitish hopes.

Does not this exactly fall in with what we have already proved that the heavenly glorified saints will have passed out of the scene, and that God will be at work in the formation of a new testimony, which will of course have its own peculiarities, not of course obliterating the facts of the New Testament, but at the same time leading the souls of the saints more particularly into what was revealed of old, because God is going to accomplish what was predicted then? The time is approaching for God to take the earth. The great subject of the Old Testament is the earth blessed under the rule of the heavens, and Christ the head of both. The earth, and the earthly people Israel, and the nations, will then enjoy the days of heaven here below. Accordingly these souls show us their condition and hopes. They pray for earthly judgments. They desire not that their enemies should be converted, but that God should avenge their blood on them. Nothing can be simpler, or more sure than the inference. "And it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until both their fellow-servants and their brethren, that were to be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

This is an important intimation, as we shall see from what follows in the Apocalypse. They are told that they are not the only band of the faithful who are given up to a violent end: others must follow later. Till then, God is not going to appear for the accomplishment of that judgment for which they cried. They must wait therefore for that further, and, as we know, more furious outburst of persecution. After that, God will deal with the earth. Thus we have here the latest persecution, as well as the earlier one, of the Apocalyptic period distinctly given. The apostle Paul had spoken of himself as ready to be offered up: so these were and are seen therefore under the altar in the vision. They were renewed indeed, and understood what Israel ought to do; but they were clearly not on the ground of Christian faith and intelligence as we are. Of course it is a vision, but still a vision with weighty and plain intimations to us. They had the spirit of prophecy to form the testimony of Jesus. Judgment yet lingers till there was the predicted final outpouring of man's apostate rage, and then the Lord will appear and put down all enemies.

At the same time, as we have already seen passingly, the next seal shows that God was not indifferent meanwhile. The sixth seal may be regarded as a kind of immediate consequence of the foregoing cry. When opened, a vast shaking ensues, a thorough concussion of everything above and below, set forth mystically, as in the previous seals. "The sun became black as sack-cloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell on the earth, even as a fig tree, shaken by a mighty wind, casteth its untimely figs. And the heaven was removed as a scroll rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." This is merely the appearance before the seer in the vision. We are not to suppose that heaven and earth will be physically confounded when the prediction is fulfilled. He saw all this before his eyes as signs, of which we have to consider the meaning. We have to find out by their symbolic use elsewhere what is intended here by the changes that passed over sun, moon, stars, and the earth in the vision. And the result of course depends on our just application of scripture by the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

Then we are told in plain language, not in figures, that "the kings of the earth, and the great and the rich, and the chiliarchs, and the mighty, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains." This it is well to heed, because it would be evident that if it meant that the heaven literally was removed as a scroll, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place, there could be no place to hide in. Thus to take it as other than symbolic representation would be to contradict the end by the beginning. This, then, is not the true force. Supposing heaven really to disappear, and the earth to be moved according to the import of these terms in a pseudo-literal way, how could the various classes of terrified men be saying to the mountains, "Fall on us and hide us?" It is plain, therefore, that the vision, like its predecessor, is symbolical; that the prophet indeed beheld these objects heavenly and earthly thus darkened and in confusion; but that the meaning must be sought out on the ordinary principles of interpretation. To my mind, it represents a complete dislocation of all authority, high and low an unexampled convulsion of all classes of mankind within its own sphere, the effect of which is to overturn all the foundations of power and authority in the world, and to fill men's minds with the apprehension that the day of judgment is come.

It is not the first time indeed that people have so dreaded, but it will be again worse than it has ever been. Such is the effect of the sixth seal when its judgment is accomplished, after the church is taken away to heaven, and indeed subsequent to a murderous persecution of the saints who follow us on earth. The persecuting powers and those subject to them will be visited judicially, and there will ensue a complete disruption of authority on the earth. The rulers will have misused their power, and now a revolution on a vast scale takes place. Such seems to rue the meaning of the vision. The effect on men when they see the total overturning of all that is established in authority here below will be that they will think the day of the Lord is come. They will say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who is able to stand?" It is an error to confound their saying so with God's declaration. It is not He but they who cry that the great day of the wrath is come. There is no excuse for so mistaken an interpretation. It is what these frightened multitudes exclaim; but the fact is that the great day does not arrive for a considerable space afterwards, as the Revelation itself clearly proves. The whole matter here is that men are so alarmed by all this visitation, that they think it must be His coming day, and they say so. It is very evident that the great day of His wrath is not yet come, because a considerable time after this epoch our prophecy describes the day of His coming. It is described inRevelation 14:1-20; Revelation 14:1-20, Revelation 17:1-18, and especiallyRevelation 19:1-21; Revelation 19:1-21. When it really arrives, so infatuated are the men of the world that they will fight against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them. Satan will have destroyed their dread when there is most ground for it.

After this, so far is the great day of His wrath from being come, that we find in the parenthesis ofRevelation 7:1-17; Revelation 7:1-17 God accomplishing mighty works of saving mercy. The first is the sealing of 144,000 out of the tribes of Israel by an angel that comes from the sun-rising. Next there is vouchsafed to the prophet the sight of a crowd of Gentiles that none could number, "out of every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and Tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb."

Here it is not simply "salvation," but "salvation to God," in the quality of sitting upon the throne (we have seen in this book, His judicial throne). In other words, the ascription could not have been made before Revelation 4:1-11. Its tenor supposes a vast change to have taken place. It is not the fruit of a testimony during all or many ages. All this is merely men's imagination, without the smallest foundation in scripture. So far from its being a picture of the redeemed of all times, it is expressly said to be a countless throng out of Gentiles contrasted with Israel, and this in relation to God governing judicially. It is not universal therefore. These Gentiles stand in manifest contrast with the sealed out of Israel. One of the elders talked about them, and explained to the prophet, who evidently without this would have been at fault. If the elders mean the glorified saints, these Gentiles are not. Most assuredly they cannot be all saints, because the hundred and forty-four thousand of Israel we have seen expressly distinguished from them. Who are they and what? They are a multitude of Gentiles to be preserved by gracious power in these last days. They are not said to be glorified; nor is there reason to doubt that they are still in their natural bodies. When they are said to be before the throne, it proves nothing inconsistent with this; because the woman, for instance, inRevelation 12:1-17; Revelation 12:1-17, is also described as seen in heaven; but, you must remember, this is only where the prophet saw them in the vision. We are not necessarily to gather that they were to be in heaven; John saw them there, but whether it might mean that they were, or were not to be, in heaven, is another question. This depends on other considerations that have to be taken into account, and it is for want of due waiting on God, and of adequately weighing the surrounding circumstances, that such serious mistakes are made in these matters.

In this case it is perfectly plain to my mind that they are not heavenly as such. There are weighty objections. First of all, we find them definitely contra-distinguished from Israel, who clearly are on earth, and thus naturally this company would be on earth too,-the one Jewish, and the other Gentile. Next they come out of the great tribulation. Far from its being a general body in respect to all time, this proves that it is a very peculiar though countless group, that it is only persons who can be preserved and blessed of God during the epoch of the great tribulation.

In the millennial time there will be a great ingathering of the Gentiles; but these are not millennial saints. They are saints from among the Gentiles, who will be called to the knowledge of God by the preaching of the "everlasting gospel," or the "gospel of the kingdom," of which we hear both in the gospels and in the Revelation. We all know that the Lord Himself tells the disciples that this "gospel of the kingdom" shall be "preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations" (or all the Gentiles); "and then shall the end come." Now this is just the very time spoken of here. It is clearly not a general summary of what is going on now, but a description of what is yet to be, specially just before the end when the great tribulation bursts out. And there is the fruit of divine grace even then in this vast crowd from the Gentiles, the details of whose description fall in with and confirm what has been remarked already.

I have already drawn attention to the fact that they are distinguished from the elders. If these mean the church, those do not; and as all admit that the elders represent the glorified saints, the inference seems to me quite plain and certain. Undoubtedly we might have the same body represented at different times by a different symbol, but hardly by two symbols at the same time. We may have, for instance, Christians set forth by a train of virgins at one time, and by the bride at another; but in the same parable there is a careful avoidance of confusion; and no such incongruous mixture occurs in scripture. It is not even found amongst sensible men, not to speak of the word of God. So here the prophet tells us that one of the elders answers his own enquiry) "What are these arrayed in white robes? and whence come they?" "These are they who come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Clearly therefore they are believers or saints. "Therefore are they before the throne of God," which I take to be not a description of their local place but of their character, that it is in view of, and in connection with, the throne. This, we have seen, makes it to be limited to the particular time, and not vague or general; because the throne here differs from what it is now, and the millennial throne will be different from both. It is that very aspect of the throne which may be called its Apocalyptic character, to distinguish it from what was before or will be afterwards.

Again, not merely are they there themselves, but it is said, "He that sitteth on the throne shall" not exactly "dwell among them," but "tabernacle over them." It is the gracious shelter of the Lord's care and goodness that is set forth by it. This is of importance: because, though God now dwells by the Holy Ghost in the church as His habitation through the Spirit, it will not be so when these Gentiles will be called to the knowledge of Himself. There will be what is more suited to their character His protection. Of old God had His pillar of cloud, which was a defence and a canopy over the camp of Israel (though He also dwelt in their midst); here, too, He graciously shows it is not alone the sealed of Israel that enjoy His care, but these poor Gentiles. It is added that "they shall not hunger any more, neither thirst any more; nor in any wise shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat." I confess to you that I think such a promise is much more exactly adapted to a people about to be on the earth, than to men in a glorified state above. Where would be the propriety of a promise to glorified people not to hunger or thirst any more? If to a people on earth, we can all understand the comfort of its assurance. "For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall tend them, and shall lead them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Then comes at length the seventh seal. This is important, because it guards us effectually against the idea that the sixth seal goes down to the end, as many excellent men have imagined in ancient and modern times. It is clearly incorrect. The seventh seal is necessarily after the sixth. If there is an order in the others, we must allow that the seventh seal introduces seven trumpets which follow each other in succession like the seals. These are described from Revelation 8:1-13 and onward. "I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and to them were given seven trumpets." Then we see a remarkable fact, already alluded to an angel of peculiarly august character found before the altar. "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given him much incense, that he might give [efficacy] to the prayers of all the saints at the golden altar which was before the throne." Hence it follows that, while there are glorified saints above, saints are not wanting on earth who are sustained by the great High Priest, however little their light, or great their trial. Thus we have here the clear intimation that while the glorified are above, there will be others in their natural bodies yet accredited as saints here below.

But there is another trait which demands our attention. Under the trumpets the Lord Jesus assumes the angelic character. Everything is angelic under the trumpets. We no longer hear of Him as the Lamb. As such He had opened the seals; but here as the trumpets were blown by angels, so the angel of the covenant (who is the second person in the Trinity, as He is commonly called) falls back on that which was so familiar in the Old Testament presentation of Himself. Not of course that He divests Himself of His humanity: this could not be; or if it could be imagined, it would be contrary to all truth. The Son of God since the incarnation always abides the man Christ Jesus. From the time that He took manhood into union with His glorious person, never will He cut it off. But this evidently does not prevent His assuming whatever appearance is suited to the prophetic necessity of the case and this I conceive is just what we find here under the trumpets. We may observe that an increasingly figurative style of language is employed. All other objects become more distant in this series of visions than before; and even Christ Himself is seen more vaguely, i.e., not in His distinct human reality, but in an angelic appearance.

Here then it is written that "the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it unto the earth." The effect was "voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake." Further, in this new septenary we must prepare ourselves for even greater visitations of God's judgments. There were lightnings and voices and thunders inRevelation 4:1-11; Revelation 4:1-11 but there is more now. We find, besides these, an earthquake added. The effect among men becomes more intense.

"And the first sounded his trumpet, and there was hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth." This I take as a violent down-pouring of displeasure from God. Hail implies this. Fire, we know, is the constant symbol of God's consuming judgment, and it is mingled with blood. It is destruction to life in the point of view that is intended here. We have to consider whether it is simple physical decease or dissolution in some special respect.

It will be noticed in these divine visitations that the third part is particularly introduced. What is the prophetic meaning of "the third"? It appears to answer to what we have given us inRevelation 12:1-17; Revelation 12:1-17 ( i.e., the properly Roman or western empire). I believe that it would thus convey the consumption of the Roman empire in the west. Of course one cannot be expected in a general sketch to enter on a discussion of the grounds for this view. It is enough now to state what one believes to be the fact. If this be so, at least the earlier trumpets (though not these only) are a specific visitation of judgment on the western empire of Rome. Not only was this visited, but "the third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up." This is a contrast. The dignitaries within that sphere were visited, but there was also a universal interference with the prosperity of men here below,

"And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third of the sea became blood; and the third of the creatures which were in the sea, which had life, died; and the third of the ships were destroyed." It was in this case a great earthly power, which as a divine judgment dealt with the masses in a revolutionary state to their destruction. Thus not merely the world under stable government, but that which is or when it is in a state of agitation and disorder; and we find the same deadly effects here also, putting an end, it would seem, to their trade and commerce.

"The third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third of the rivers, and upon the fountains of the waters." Here the fall of a great dignitary or ruler, whose influence was judicially turned to embitter all the springs and channels of popular influence, is before us. The sources and means of intercourse among men are here visited by God's judgment.

The fourth angel sounded, and the third of the sun and moon and stars was smitten; that is to say, the governing powers supreme, derivative, and subordinate all come under God's judgment all within the west.

"And I saw, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to those that dwell on the earth, by reason of the remaining voices of the trumpet of the three angels that are about to sound." It is a vivid image of rapidly approaching judgments, "angel" being substituted for the better reading "eagle" by scribes who did not appreciate the symbolic style of the prophecy here.

In Revelation 9:1-21 the two next, or fifth and sixth trumpets, are described with minute care, as indeed these are two of the woe trumpets. There remains the third woe trumpet, the last of the seven, which is set forth at the end of Revelation 11:1-19, where we close.

The first of the woe trumpets consists of the symbolic locusts. For that they are not to be understood in a merely literal way is clear, if only for this reason, that they are expressly said not to feed on that which is the natural food of locusts. This creature is simply the descriptive sign of these marauders.

To another remark I would call your attention: that the first woe trumpet answers in the way of contrast to the hundred and forty-four thousand that were sealed of Israel; as the second woe trumpet, namely, that of the Euphratean horsemen, answers by a similar contrast to the countless multitude of the Gentiles. As some perhaps may think that this contrast must be vague and indefinite, I shall therefore endeavour to make my meaning plainer. It is expressly said that the locusts of the vision were to carry on their devastations, except on those that were sealed. Here then is an allusion clearly to those whom God set apart from Israel inRevelation 7:1-17; Revelation 7:1-17.

On the other hand, in the Euphratean horsemen we see far more of aggressive power, though there is also torment. But torment is the main characteristic of the locust woe; the horsemen woe is more distinctively the onward progress of imperial power, described in most energetic colours. They fall on men and destroy them; but here "the third" re-appears. According to the force given already, this would imply that the woe falls on the Gentiles indeed, and more particularly on the western Roman empire.

It seems also plain that these two woes represent what will be verified in the early doings of the antichrist in Judea. The first or the locust raid consists of a tormenting infliction. Here accordingly we have Abaddon, the destroyer, who is set forth in a very peculiar fashion as the prince of the bottomless pit, their leader. It is not of course the beast yet fairly formed; but we can quite comprehend that there will be an early manifestation of evil, just as grace will effect the beginning of that which is good in the remnant. Here then we have these initiatory woes. First of all a tormenting woe that falls on the land of Israel, but not upon those that were sealed out of the twelve tribes of Israel. On the other hand, we find the Euphratean horsemen let loose on the Roman empire, overwhelming the Gentiles, and in particular that empire, as the object of the judgment of God.

Such is the general scope of Revelation 9:1-21. As to entering into particulars, it would be quite out of the question tonight. Other opportunities do not fail for learning more minute details, and their application.

Revelation 10:1-11 in the trumpets answers toRevelation 7:1-17; Revelation 7:1-17 in the seals. It forms an important parenthesis, that comes in between the sixth and seventh trumpets, just as the sealing chapter (7) came in between the sixth and seventh seals: so orderly is the Apocalypse. Accordingly we have here again the Lord, as it seems to me, in angelic garb. As before in high-priestly function, He is the angel with royal claim here. A mighty angel comes down from heaven, clothed with a cloud the special sign of Jehovah's majesty: none but He has a title to come thus clothed. And, further, the rainbow is on His head; it is not now a question of round the throne: here there is a step in advance. He is approaching the earth; He is about to lay speedy claim to that which is His right. "The rainbow was on his head, and his face was as the sun" supreme authority; "and his feet as pillars of fire" with firmness of divine judgment. "And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as a lion roareth."

John was going to write, but is forbidden. The disclosures were to be scaled for the present. "And the angel whom I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for the ages of the ages, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein, that there should be no longer delay." There was no more to be any lapse of time allowed; but God would terminate the mystery of His present seeming inaction as to government. He is now allowing the world, with slight check, to go on its own way. Men may sin, and, as far as direct intervention is concerned, God appears not, though there may be interferences exceptionally. But the time is coming when God will surely visit sin, and this immediately, when there will be no toleration for a moment of anything which is contrary to Himself. This is the blessed age to which all the prophets look onward; and the angel here swears that the time is approaching. There is going to be no more delay; 'but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God also shall be finished." The mystery here is, not Christ and the church, but God's allowing evil to go on in its present course with apparent impunity.

And then John is told at the end of the chapter that he must "prophesy again before peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings." The meaning of this more clearly appears soon. There is a kind of appendix of prophecy where he renews his course for especial reasons.

Meanwhile, I would just call your attention to the contrast between the little book which the prophet here takes and cats, and the great book we have seen already sealed with seven seals. Why a little book? and why open? A little book, because it treats of a comparatively contracted sphere; and open, because things are no longer to be described in the mysterious guise in which the seals and yet more the trumpets. set them out. All is going to be made perfectly plain in what falls under it here. This is the case accordingly inRevelation 11:1-19; Revelation 11:1-19.

The angel proceeds to say, "Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given to the Gentiles." Jerusalem appears in the foreground. This is the centre now, though the beast may ravage there. "And I will give* to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." Their task is for a time comparatively short for three years and a half. "These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the earth." The witnesses are two, not because in point of fact they are historically to be limited to only two individuals, but as meaning the least adequate testimony according to the law. To make it two literally seems to me a mistaken way of interpreting prophecy, and the Apocalypse in particular, as being eminently symbolical, which Daniel also is in measure. To forget this practically is to involve oneself in clouds of error and inconsistency.

* Probably here, as inRevelation 8:3; Revelation 8:3, the word implies "efficacy" or "power," as the translators saw in one text if not in the other.

Thus, for instance, one hears occasionally, for the purpose of illustrating the Revelation, a reference to Isaiah, Jeremiah, or the like; but we must remember that these prophecies are not in their structure symbolical, and therefore the reasoning that is founded on the books and style of Jeremiah or Isaiah (Ezekiel being partly symbolical, partly figurative) cannot decide for Daniel or the Apocalypse. Here then are symbols which have a language of their own. Thus the regular meaning of two," symbolically, is competent testimony enough and not more than enough. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." According to Jewish law a case could not be decided by one witness; there must be at least two for valid proof and judgment.

The Lord shows us that He will raise up an adequate testimony in these days. Of how many the testimony will consist is another matter, on which I have little or nothing to say. One can no more reason on this than on the twenty-four glorified elders. Who would thence infer that there will be only so many glorified ones? and why should one think that there will be only two to testify? However this may be, those who are raised to witness are to prophesy for a limited time. "And if any man desire to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man desire to hurt them, he must in this manner be killed."

Is this then, I ask, the testimony of the gospel? Is it thus the Lord protects those that are the preachers of the gospel of His own grace? Did fire ever proceed out of the mouths of evangelists? Did a teacher ever devour his enemies? Was it on this principle Ananias and Sapphira fell dead? Are these the ways of the gospel? It is evident then that we are here in a new atmosphere that an altogether different state of things is before us from that which reigned during the church condition, though even then sin might be unto death in peculiar cases. I refer to no more proofs now, thinking that enough has been given. "These have authority to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy." That is, they are something like Elijah; and they have "authority over the waters to turn them to blood." In this respect they resemble Moses also. This does not mean that they are Moses and Elias personally; but that the character of their testimony is similar, and the sanctions of it are such as God gave in the days of those two honoured servants of old. "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." They are preserved in spite of the beast, till their work is done; but directly their testimony is concluded, the beast is allowed to overcome them. It is just as it was with the Lord. The utmost pressure was brought against Him in His service. So their hour, we may say, has not yet come, just as He said of Himself before them. There was all possible willingness to destroy them long before, but somehow it could not be done; for the Lord protected them till they had done their mission. We see this in the character of grace which filled the Lord Jesus which essentially belonged to Him. Here we meet with the earthly retributive dealing of the Old Testament. The Spirit will form them thus; and no wonder, because in fact God is recurring to that which He promised then, but has never yet performed. He is going to perform it now. He does not merely purpose to gather people for heavenly glory; He will govern on earth the Jews and the Gentiles in their Several places Israel nearest to Himself. He must have an earthly people as well as a family on high. When the heavenly saints are changed, then He begins with the earthly. He will never mix them all up together. This would make nothing but the greatest confusion.

"And their corpse shall lie on the broadway of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." It was Jerusalem, but spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, because of the wickedness of the people and their prince. It had no less abominations than Sodom; it had all the darkness and the moral bondage of Egypt, but it was really the place where their Lord had been crucified, i.e., Jerusalem. So the witnesses fell, and men in various measures showed their satisfaction. "And [some] from among the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations see their corpse three days and a half, and do not suffer their corpses to be put into a tomb. And they that dwell on the earth rejoice over them, or make merry, and shall send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those that dwell on the earth." But after the three days and a half God's power raises up these slain witnesses, and they ascend to heaven in the cloud, and their enemies behold them. "And in that hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain seven thousand names of men: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly."

Lastly we have the seventh trumpet. This is important for understanding the structure of the book. The seventh trumpet brings us down to the close in a general way. This is quite plain, though often overlooked. "And the seventh angel, sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of his Christ is come." You must translate it a little more exactly, and with a better text too. The true meaning is this: "The kingdom of the world" (or the world-kingdom," if our tongue would admit of such a phrase) "of our Lord and of his Christ is come." It is not merely power in general conferred in heaven, but "the world-kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ is come, and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, that sit before God on their thrones, fell on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God the Almighty, that art, and that wast; because thou hast taken thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come."

Here, it will be observed, the end of the age is supposed to be now arrived. It is not merely frightened kings and peoples who say so, but now it is the voice of those who know in heaven. Further, it is "the time of the dead that they should be judged." It is not a question here of the saints caught up to heaven, but a later hour, "that thou shouldest give reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those that fear thy name." Not a word is said here about taking them to heaven, but of recompensing them. There will be no such thing as the conferring of reward till the public manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The taking of those changed out of the scene is another association of truth. The reward will fail to none that fear the Lord's name, small and great. He will also "destroy those that destroy the earth."

This is the true conclusion ofRevelation 11:1-19; Revelation 11:1-19. The next verse (19), beyond a question to my mind, though arranged in our Bibles as the end of this chapter, is properly the beginning of a new series. I shall therefore not treat of it tonight.