Commentary - Revelation 11:1-14

Bird's-eye view

In this central passage of the Apocalypse, John is given a vision that functions as a dramatic interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets. The scene is a microcosm of the entire book's message: the preservation of the true people of God amidst the judgment of the apostate covenant city, Jerusalem. John is commanded to measure the inner sanctuary, the true temple comprised of faithful worshippers, while the outer court and the city are given over to be trampled by the Gentiles. This trampling is not a future event for us, but a direct prophecy of the Roman siege of Jerusalem, which lasted for forty-two months, culminating in the city's destruction in A.D. 70.

During this period of judgment, God empowers His "two witnesses." These are not two literal individuals dropped from the sky, but rather the powerful, prophetic testimony of the Church, ministering in the spirit and power of Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets). Their ministry torments the inhabitants of the idolatrous city, which is spiritually identified as Sodom and Egypt. Their symbolic death at the hands of the "beast" (Nero's Rome) and subsequent vindication and ascension into heaven represent the apparent defeat and ultimate triumph of the Church in that foundational conflict. The passage concludes with a literal earthquake that strikes the city, a final sign of God's wrath, causing the terrified remnant to give glory to God. This entire drama is the second woe upon covenant-breaking Israel, and it sets the stage for the final trumpet and the announcement that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord.

Outline

Context In Revelation

Chapter 11 is strategically placed as an interlude, a pause for explanation between the sixth and seventh trumpets. This is a pattern in Revelation; John frequently provides a theological close-up before pulling back to the wide-angle narrative of judgment. Chapter 10 introduced a mighty angel with a little book, which John was to eat. This symbolized the commissioning of the prophet to deliver a message that is both sweet (God's salvation) and bitter (His judgment). Chapter 11 is the content of that bitter prophecy. It directly concerns the fate of the "holy city," which, in the context of a book written before A.D. 70, can only mean Jerusalem. This chapter provides the covenantal justification for the judgment that the seven trumpets announce. It shows that God is not destroying His own people, but rather He is judging an apostate city while carefully preserving His true remnant, the Christian church, which is the true temple of God.

Key Issues

The Church Under Siege

One of the central keys to understanding Revelation is to recognize that its primary focus is the cataclysmic transition from the Old Covenant to the New. The temple in Jerusalem, which for centuries had been the center of God's dealings with man, had become, through apostasy and the rejection of the Messiah, a spiritual brothel. Jesus had prophesied its utter destruction (Matt 24:2), and Revelation provides the heavenly perspective on that earthly event. This chapter is not about some future tribulation; it is about the great tribulation that befell first-century Jerusalem.

The imagery here is stark. God is performing a separation. He is measuring and marking out His true people, the spiritual temple, for preservation. The rest, the physical structures and the faithless inhabitants, are given over to judgment. The Church, in its prophetic role, bears witness against this apostasy, and for this, it is persecuted, seemingly defeated, and publicly shamed. But God always has the last word. The vindication of the witnesses is swift and public, demonstrating to the world that God is with His people and that His kingdom cannot be overthrown. This is the pattern of Church history in miniature: the world wars against the saints, the saints are faithful unto death, and God vindicates them in a resurrection glory that terrifies their enemies.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me, saying, “Get up and measure the sanctuary of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.

John is given a task that echoes the visions of Ezekiel (Ezek 40:3) and Zechariah (Zech 2:1). In the Old Testament, measuring could be for judgment or for preservation. Here, it is clearly for preservation. He is to measure the sanctuary of God, the altar, and the worshippers. This is not the physical Herodian temple. The true temple of God in the new covenant is the Church, the people of God (1 Cor 3:16-17; Eph 2:21-22). God is taking stock of His true people, marking them out as His own, setting them apart from the coming destruction. He knows who His people are, down to the last man.

2 And leave out the court which is outside the sanctuary and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample the holy city under foot for forty-two months.

The outer court and the city itself are to be excluded from this measurement of preservation. They are to be left out, abandoned to judgment. Why? Because they have been given to the Gentiles. This is a direct reference to the Roman armies that surrounded and ultimately destroyed Jerusalem. Jesus predicted this very thing: "they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). The duration of this trampling is specified as forty-two months. This is the same period as the 1,260 days mentioned in the next verse and the "time, times, and half a time." Historically, the Jewish War, beginning with the siege by Cestius Gallus and culminating in the Neronian persecution and the final destruction under Titus, lasted approximately this long, from late A.D. 66 to A.D. 70.

3 And I will give authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

During this precise period of judgment, God does not leave Himself without a witness. He commissions my two witnesses. The number two is significant; it is the number required for a legally valid testimony in Jewish law (Deut 19:15). These are not two literal figures like Enoch and Elijah reincarnated, but rather a symbolic representation of the witnessing Church. They are given authority to prophesy, to speak God's word, for the duration of the crisis, 1,260 days. Their clothing, sackcloth, is the traditional garb of prophets calling for repentance in the face of imminent judgment.

4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

John explicitly tells us how to interpret this symbol. He draws directly from Zechariah 4, where the two olive trees supplying oil to the lampstand are identified as the "two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth," representing the offices of priest and king (Jeshua and Zerubbabel). Here, the Church is that royal priesthood, the source of light (lampstands) fueled by the endless supply of the Holy Spirit (the olive trees). The Church stands as God's anointed representative on earth, bearing His light and truth.

5 And if anyone wishes to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wishes to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

This is not literal fire-breathing. This is the fire of God's Word spoken by His prophets. Jeremiah was told, "Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, And this people wood, And it shall devour them" (Jer 5:14). The proclaimed Word of God carries its own judgment. To reject the prophetic word is to call down the very curses that the word announces. Their enemies are destroyed by the very judgment the witnesses pronounce, in the same way Elijah's enemies were consumed by fire from heaven (2 Kings 1).

6 These have the authority to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; they also have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they wish.

The witnesses' authority mirrors that of the two great archetypal prophets, Elijah and Moses. Elijah prayed and it did not rain for three and a half years (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17), the same length of time as the witnesses' prophecy. Moses was God's instrument to turn the waters of Egypt into blood and strike the land with plagues (Exodus 7-12). This tells us that the Church, in its prophetic witness, carries the full authority of both the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah). Their ministry is a ministry of covenant lawsuit, pronouncing the curses of the covenant upon a faithless people.

7 And when they have finished their witness, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them.

The witnesses are not invincible. Their protection lasts only as long as their testimony is required. Once it is finished, God permits the beast to make war on them. This is the first mention of the beast in Revelation, a persecuting political power, which in this context is the Roman Empire under the Emperor Nero. The language of "making war" suggests a conflict against a corporate body, not just two individuals. The beast appears to triumph; he overcomes and kills them. This represents the fierce persecution that befell the Jerusalem church in the years leading up to the city's fall, a time when many were martyred and the prophetic voice seemed to be silenced.

8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

The location of this murder is made unmistakably clear. It is the great city... where also their Lord was crucified. There is only one city that fits this description: Jerusalem. But John gives it two other spiritual names: Sodom, for its gross sexual and moral depravity, and Egypt, for its enslavement and persecution of God's people. The apostate city had become spiritually identical to the pagan nations God had judged in the past. The public display of their dead bodies, denying them burial, was the ultimate act of contempt and humiliation in the ancient world.

9 And 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.

The humiliation is a global spectacle. The Roman Empire was comprised of many peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations, and representatives of these were present in Jerusalem. For a short, symbolic period, "three and a half days," the world gloats over the apparent defeat of the Church. The forces of unbelief see the silencing of the prophetic voice and believe they have won.

10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

The response of the "earth dwellers," a term in Revelation for unbelieving, worldly humanity, is ecstatic celebration. They rejoice because the prophetic testimony had tormented them. The truth of God is a torment to the unrepentant heart. It convicts of sin, warns of judgment, and calls for a submission that the proud refuse to give. The death of the prophets is, for them, a cause for a festival, like a dark parody of the festival of Purim.

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.

But God's clock is running. After the short period of the enemy's triumph, God acts decisively. Just as Christ was raised on the third day, so His witnesses are vindicated in a resurrection. The breath of life from God enters them, a clear echo of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. This is a symbolic resurrection, representing the revival and vindication of the Church's witness. The effect on the onlookers is dramatic: the party is over, and great fear fell upon them. They realize they have been fighting against God, not men.

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.

The vindication is completed by a public ascension. Just as Jesus ascended into heaven before the eyes of His disciples, the witnesses ascend in a cloud while their enemies are forced to watch. This symbolizes the Church being elevated to a position of spiritual authority and safety, seated with Christ in the heavenly places, far above the reach of its earthly persecutors. Their testimony is taken up into heaven and is eternally validated by God.

13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

The vindication of the saints is immediately followed by judgment on the city. An earthquake, a common biblical sign of God's wrath, strikes Jerusalem. A tenth of the city falls, and a symbolic number of people, seven thousand, are killed. This was a literal fulfillment; the historian Josephus records seismic activity and immense destruction during the siege. The result is that the remnant, those who survived this initial shock of judgment, were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. This is not necessarily the glory of repentance and conversion, but the glory of terrified acknowledgment. Like Pharaoh, they are forced to admit that the God of heaven is the one true God, even as final judgment is about to fall.

14 The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

This verse serves as a concluding marker. The entire drama of the witnesses, their persecution, and their vindication, constituted the second of three woes announced by the eagle in chapter 8. This woe has now passed. The stage is now set for the sounding of the seventh trumpet and the final woe, which will describe the complete and final destruction of the apostate city and its temple.

Application

This chapter is a profound encouragement to the Church in every generation. We are called to be God's two witnesses, to hold forth the testimony of the Law and the Prophets, which is ultimately the testimony of Jesus Christ. We are to be the lampstands, shining the light of the gospel, fueled by the inexhaustible oil of the Holy Spirit. This calling is not a call to popularity. The world, by and large, does not want to hear our message. Like the earth-dwellers in Jerusalem, they are tormented by a message of righteousness and judgment.

We should therefore expect opposition. The beast is still with us, in every godless political power that seeks to silence the Church. There will be times when the Church appears to be defeated, when her witness is silenced, and her enemies rejoice and send gifts to one another. We see this happening in our own day. But the story of the two witnesses is our story. The three and a half days are always short, and the three and a half years are always limited. God will always vindicate His people. Our job is not to win by the world's standards, but to be faithful. We are to prophesy, clothed in the sackcloth of repentance, for as long as God gives us to prophesy. And when our testimony is finished, we have the sure and certain hope of a resurrection and an ascension. The same God who raised His witnesses from the street of Jerusalem will raise us, and our enemies will be filled with a great fear when they see that the kingdom they mocked is the only Kingdom that will stand forever.