Chapter 11 – One God Translation

Revelation

   11 Then I was given a measuring stick like a staff, and I was told: “Get up and measure the temple of God,[1606] the altar, and the ones who worship there. 2 Do not measure the outer court of the temple. Cast it out,[1607] because it has been given[1608] to the Gentile nations. They will trample under foot the holy city for forty-two months. [1609] 3 And I will give my two witnesses authority to prophesy for a period of 1,260 days,[1610] dressed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone wants to injure them, fire comes out of their mouths and completely burns up their enemies. Whoever wants to harm them must be killed in this way. 6 These two witnesses have the authority to shut up the sky so that it does not rain during the period when they are prophesying. They also have the authority to turn the waters into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they want.
    7 When they have finished their Gospel-testimony, the beast[1611] who comes up from the abyss will battle with them, defeat them, and kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, where their lord was also crucified. 9 For three and a half days those from among the peoples, tribes, languages and nations will look at their dead bodies, and will not allow them to be buried. 10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate and exchange gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
11 After three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up.[1612] Terror fell on those watching them. 12 Then the two witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” So they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched. 13 At that same time there was a huge earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
    14 The second disaster has passed; the third disaster is coming quickly.
    15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and loud voices in heaven said, “The kingdom of the world has now become [1613] the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and he will reign to the ages of the ages.” 16 The twenty-four elders seated on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshipped God, 17 saying, “We give You thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. [1614] 18 The nations were angry, but Your righteous fury has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged. The time has come to give to Your servants, the prophets, their reward,[1615] as well as to the saints, and to those who fear Your name, both small and great. And the time has come to destroy those who are destroying the earth.”
    19 Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a huge hailstorm.

Revelation

[1606]

“A rebuilt temple will exist during the time of the tribulation (Dan. 9:27; 12:11; Mt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4)” (MacArthur Study Bible, NASU, p. 1976). “This certainly implies that there will be some kind of temple building in Jerusalem at this time” (New Testament and Wycliffe Bible Commentary, 1971, p. 1072).

[1607]

This is an allusion to Dan. 8:11-14 where the sanctuary (8:11) is “thrown down/away.” For a description of these final days of this age, read Joel 2:15-3:15. Jesus alluded to all this in Matt. 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, with the appearance of the Abomination and in Luke 21:24 the surrounding of Jerusalem by hostile nations. The allusion to Dan. 8 shows that that chapter was not fulfilled in BC times. For the peaceful Kingdom of God which will follow the distressing times, read Ps. 72, 89, 102, 93-99. Dan. 8:17, 19 describe the prophecy of this chapter as belonging to “the time of the end.”

[1608]

Probably a divine passive meaning that God has allowed this or decreed it to happen.

[1609]

The chronological key to Revelation is introduced here by Jesus. 42 months or 3 ½ years is the second half of the final period of 7 years contained in the 70 “weeks of years” prophecy of Dan. 9:24-27. The same final period is found in Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 12:6, 14; 13:5. Much of Revelation describes that period of time. Prominent is the idea of a final trampling under foot of the holy city, found in Zech. 12:3 in the LXX and cited by Jesus in Luke 21:24, the Olivet discourse: “It will come to pass in that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone trodden by all the nations. Everyone who tramples on it shall utterly mock it. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it” (Zech 12:3, LXX). This is reflected in the words of Jesus in Luke 21:20-24: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near…because these are the days of vengeance so that all things which are written will be fulfilled…There will be great distress on the land and wrath to this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (cp. Zech. 13:8- 14:2). The final trampling of Jerusalem will be relieved only by the arrival of Jesus to rescue his people. Jesus here alludes to this same period of final affliction and predicts the trampling of Jerusalem by hostile Gentiles (cp. Ps. 79:1; Isa. 63:18; Pss. Solomon 2:2, 19; 17:22).

[1610]

This period of time is based on the last half of the last period of seven years (the “heptad”) of Dan. 9:27 (see Dan. 7:25; 12:7, 11). This period is mentioned several times in Revelation (11:2-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5). It certainly was not fulfilled in NT times. It clearly refers to the final few years of this present evil age (Gal. 1:4), and Paul cites the distinctive phrase “final and decisive end” in Rom. 9:28. This phrase is based on Dan. 9:27 and Isa. 10:22-23 and 28:22. The final and decisive end will occur at the return of Jesus.

[1611]

The final Antichristian figure, the King of the North of Dan. 11 and the Assyrian of Isaiah, a demonically inspired tool of the Devil, as was Judas. Paul referred to him as the Man of Sin standing in the Temple of God (2 Thess. 2:3-4), and John says, “You have heard that Antichrist is coming” (1 Jn. 2:18). He added that the spirit of antichrist, promoted by many false teachers, was already at work to deceive. But he certainly did not exclude the well-known single Antichrist of the end-times. Jesus called him “the Abomination of Desolation standing where he ought not to” (see Mk. 13:14).

[1612]

Perhaps a temporary restoration to life in full view of their enemies. The two prophets will of course gain immortality in the first resurrection at the return of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:23).

[1613]

The beginning of the Kingdom of God as a worldwide government occurs only at the future 7th trumpet. This is because the expected Kingdom will have Jesus as its King ruling from Jerusalem, and the saints of all the ages, resurrected, will take their royal positions with the Messiah in that Kingdom.

[1614]

This is a key verse for the whole Plan of God. The Kingdom in its primary sense will begin only at the Second Coming of Messiah in glory.

[1615]

They will gain immortality along with the faithful of all the ages. This is the great objective of God’s word or plan to grant believers indestructible life, tasted now in the spirit as a downpayment.