Revelation 11:1-19

In Revelation 11 John is given a measuring rod and told to measure the temple, the altar, and those who worship in it (Rev. 11:1).[1] “The measuring itself seems to be an act of knowing, claiming, or staking out. In this act of John's, God is giving assurance that He will take note of those who faithfully worship Him in the first half of the Tribulation.”[2] John is told not to measure the court outside the temple, for that is given to unbelievers who will trample Jerusalem for forty two months (Rev. 11:2). John is then informed about two witnesses who—though unidentified—prophecy and serve in the power and character of Elijah and Moses (Rev. 11:3-6). After “they have finished their testimony” and completed their ministry, “the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them” (Rev 11:7). There are three beasts mentioned in Revelation: 1) Satan is the beast that comes out of the Abyss (Rev. 11:7), 2) the Antichrist is the beast that comes out of the sea (Rev. 13:1), and 3) the false prophet is the beast that comes out of the earth (Rev. 13:11). God permits the bodies of His witnesses to lie in the streets for three days while their enemies celebrate (Rev. 11:8-10), but then God strikes fear in their hearts after He raises His two witnesses back to life and calls them to heaven (Rev. 11:11-12). Following their departure, the Lord sends an earthquake on Jerusalem that destroys a tenth of the city and kills seven thousand people (Rev. 11:13). The seventh woe is past (Rev. 11:14), which is followed by the sounding of seventh trumpet, and the proleptic statement that the kingdom of God and Christ has arrived on earth. The judgment of the seventh trumpet runs from Revelation 11:15 to the end of revelation 16, culminating in the seven Bowl Judgments.

 

[1] There are six temples mentioned in Scripture: 1) Solomon’s Temple (1 Chron. 22:9-10, 953 BC), 2) Zerubbabel’s Temple (Hag. 2:3-9; 515 BC), 3) Herod’s Temple (John 2:20; AD 63), 4) the Tribulation Temple (Rev. 11:1-2; future), 5) the Millennial Temple (Ezek. 40-48; future), and the Heavenly Temple (Rev. 11:19; present). 

[2] Charles C. Ryrie, Revelation, Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago, Ill. Moody Press, 1996), 83.