Throughout history, regardless of how dark and evil the times are, God has His witnesses. Noah was His witness in pre-flood days. Abraham was His witness in Canaan centuries before the Hebrews occupied Canaan. Joseph was His witness in pagan Egypt. Gideon and other judges were His witnesses in the times of the judges, when "the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals" (Judges 2:11). Elijah stood for the Lord in the days of wicked Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Daniel was God's faithful witness in Babylon.

A faithful minority has continued to witness for God from then until now, and in the tribulation the sealed 144,000 saved Jews from the tribes of Israel will witness for God and lead many souls to Jesus (Revelation 7:1–10). Revelation 11:3 introduces us to two more witnesses. Under divine authority, these two faithful witnesses will prophesy for 1,260 days, the second half of the tribulation. The following verses describe an awe-inspiring sequence of events meant to prove God's involvement in their message.

Revelation 11:3–14 follows on the heels of a brief assertion that the Gentiles will possess the temple's outer court and trample Jerusalem for forty-two months. We learn also that God will authorize two witnesses to prophesy during those forty-two months. Here we gain information about the two witnesses' ministry, what happens to them, and God's immediate response. The passage ends by alerting us to the fact that the second woe has ended, but the third woe is coming soon.

This chapter continues the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments. John received a measuring rod and was told to measure the temple, the altar, and the worshipers. However, he was told not to measure the court outside the temple, because the Gentiles would overrun it for three and a half years. During that time, two divinely authorized witnesses would prophesy. They would have power to summon fire from heaven and to strike the earth with plagues. At the end of their testimony the beast from the pit will kill them and leave their bodies in a street in Jerusalem. But, three and a half days later, God will resurrect their bodies and draw them up to heaven. At that time a powerful earthquake will level a tenth of Jerusalem and kill seven thousand people. When the seventh trumpet sounds, loud voices in heaven proclaim Jesus as the possessor of the world's kingdoms, and the twenty-four elders praise Jesus as the Lord God Almighty who will begin to reign. He will judge the dead but reward His servants. The chapter ends with the opening of the temple in heaven.

The eleventh chapter of Revelation provides information about an event that transpires between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets. It involves two powerful witnesses that God raises up in the middle of the tribulation. These two witnesses minister throughout the second half of the tribulation. They are martyred, but God raises them up and lifts them to heaven. Concurrent with their ascension a mighty earthquake destroys one tenth of Jerusalem and kills seven thousand people. This is the second woe. The first woe is described in chapter 9 as an invading army of locusts.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''

Accessed 11/21/2024 1:19:16 PM

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