Revelation 11:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,

NIV: Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.

NASB: 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.

CSB: When they finish their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war on them, conquer them, and kill them.

NLT: When they complete their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and he will conquer them and kill them.

KJV: And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

NKJV: When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.

Up to this point, the two witnesses have been invincible—everyone who attacks them is killed (Revelation 11:5), and they can send plagues (Revelation 11:6). Still, according to this verse, the two witnesses become the victims of a demonic force from the bottomless pit. It is important to note that they did not meet death until they "finished their testimony." It has been said that the servant of God will live until his or her appointed work is done. So the two witnesses cannot die until they have completed their ministry of prophesying for 1,260 days. This follows Revelation's theme that everything which happens is according to God's timeline, and by His permission.

The beast that ascends from the bottomless pit is likely the first beast of Revelation 13. He is sometimes called the Antichrist or the Roman prince or the head of the Revived Roman Empire. Other references to this evil person, whose origin may be traced to the bottomless pit, are Revelation 14:9, 14:11; 15:2; 16:2; 17:3, 13; 19:20; and 20:10. Empowered by Satan, the beast from the bottomless pit wages war against the two witnesses, conquers them, and kills them.

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.''