Bob Allen

Revelation 11

Questions to ask in Revelation Eleven: (Focus on Part two)

The Two Witnesses

11 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; band someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread underfoot the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6 These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.  7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.  11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; is even thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.  14 The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

The Seventh Trumpet—Christ’s Reign Foreseen

15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,  “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. 18 And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”  19 And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

 

  1. What does this portion of Scripture reveal about Jesus? – There will be a time when Jesus will be all that He is intended to be.  No longer will the role and position of Jesus be something to come into His kingdom, but He will be there.
  2. What does this portion of Scripture reveal about the church? Is in the middle of this ceremony of breaking the seals, and they are out of their thrones and on their faces in worship. Also, the church will rejoice for all the things that God does during this time.
  3. What does this portion of Scripture reveal about the world?
  4. What does this portion of Scripture reveal about the Evil One? His role as ruler of this world gets revoked in this passage as Jesus comes into His reign and takes His position at ruler of this kingdom.
  5. Can you see Christ’s Mercy towards humanity in the passage? That Jesus would share this with others – is really remarkable.
  6. Can you see Christ’s judgment of disobedience?

Thoughts:  Remember that the seventh trumpet is the final trumpet in this sequence, it is not the same as the final trumpet that Paul refers to in 1 Cor.  15:52.

I wasn’t here for Joel’s class, so let me just remind people of these points from the first part of the chapter.  During the life of John, at the time this was written, there was no temple on the earth.  So the temple that John is measuring doesn’t exist in the time frame that John is living.  This is the temple that will be rebuilt during the tribulation.  This is God showing John what the temple will be like in the future.

The Two Witnesses are not the church since the church’s role is to save people, not roast them.  (Although sometimes we might act as though we all called to devour one another.) The reference to the “Great City” where Jesus was crucified has got to be Jerusalem. So they lie in state in Jerusalem.  The reason these are often considered to be Elijah and Moses is because these two men possess some of the same God given powers that those two had.  But of course, God can give that power to whoever He chooses.

Leaving out the court of the Gentiles in the measurement of the temple could imply that the section where the Mosque of the Rock is found would not be considered part of the temple.  So it is possible that the tribulation temple could take up a space that is not directly on the location where the Mosque of the Rock is found.  1,260 days is 3 ½ years.

 

 

 

  1. The Seventh Trumpet
    1. This portion comes with loud voices who are in essence, speaking the same words that we hear from Handel’s Messiah.
      1. The Words to the Worship
        1. The kingdom of the earth – notice it’s only one kingdom – this has always been one kingdom but it is moving from being run by the prince of the power of the air, to the true Lord.
        2. Has become – there is a change, a different King on the throne – and evidently this verb implies what we used to call plus que parfait, meaning from a perfect perspective, it is as though it has already happened.
        3. The kingdom of our Lord
        4. And of His Christ
        5. And He shall reign forever and ever. He is the final king.  This is the final change.  No one else will ever dispose Christ.
      2. The 24 Elders fell from their thrones and on their faces and say next
        1. We give you thanks
        2. Oh God Almighty
  • Who was and is (notice the absence of “and is to come”)
  1. Because you have taken your great power
  2. And you have begun to reign
  3. And the nations became enraged
  • Your wrath came
  • The time came for the dead to judged
  1. The time came for the servants of God to be rewarded
  2. And to destroy those who destroy the earth – this is not the passage for earth day, because the destruction of the earth is for the spiritual unrepentant depravity that evil men and women have brought around. God is not judging these people because they would not recycle. He is judging them because they will not repent.
  1. Then the Temple in heaven
    1. is opened
    2. The Ark appears in the real temple
  • Great actions of nature, but this is nature, this is creations response to the Lord coming into ownership of creation. This is the joyous rejoicing of nature.