In our last study (vv. 1-2) we discovered John was told to measure the temple, with its altar and worshipers, depicting the true church of faithful believers. The outer court, depicting the false church of nominal Christians, was excluded. For forty-two months the nations will trample the church, though God’s protective barrier will preserve its spiritual life. This number depicts not a length of time but a kind of history, namely, one of violent opposition to Christ and His church. This was the very situation that John’s original readers faced in the late first century and that many Christians face in the early twenty-first century.

Verse 3 begins with “And,” showing that we are continuing the vision that began in verse 1. The church is described in the figure of “two witnesses” in light of the Bible’s requirement that truth be established by the testimony of two (Deut. 17:6). This emphasizes the legal validity of the church’s witness to the gospel, just as God often sent two angels to announce judgment or validate truth (Gen. 19:1; Luke 24:3-9; Acts 1:10-11). We realize as well that Jesus sent out evangelists “two by two” (Luke 10:1), so the emblem of two witnesses speaks of the church in its evangelistic calling.

John is told that the church “will prophesy for 1,260 days” (v. 3). In this context, to prophesy means to “declare God’s Word.” Some wonder why the time is here expressed in days rather than the months of verse 2. One possible answer is that verse 2 spoke of the siege of the church, and sieges are normally measured in months. The witness of the church, however, is a day-to-day endeavor.

Verse 4 describes the purpose of the church’s witness as “the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” Jesus described John the Baptist as “a burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35). A lamp does not shine its own light but reflects the light that shines on it. Christians likewise do not bear testimony to ourselves, but the church is a lampstand on which the light of Christ is to be seen. John the Baptist said of Christ: “I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel” (John 1:31). As lampstands stand “before the Lord of the earth” (v. 4), Christians are justified in God’s presence through the blood of Christ, and then reveal the truth of His Word and the grace of His gospel to the world.

By its testimony, the church not only serves the Lord but is kept safe in the presence of danger (v. 5). This is an allusion to the episode in 2 Kings 1:10-14, when the prophet Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume soldiers sent to arrest him. The point is that when the church witnesses boldly and faithfully, God’s Word has power over her enemies. Some Christians are tempted to shrink back from boldly declaring God’s Word as it comes into conflict with worldly values and practices. But we are reminded that we should not fear to declare God’s Word faithfully, since God protects those who valiantly stand for His truth.

Verse 6 speaks of the church’s witnessing power through prayer. The witnessing church of the gospel era will not be equipped with less power than the Old Testament heroes but through prayer will wield conquering power. The apostle James urged that the “prayer of a righteous person has great power,” and appealed to the example of Elijah: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth” (James 5:16-17).

Taken as a whole, John’s vision in Revelation 11 shows the power of the witnessing church, through the Word, sacraments, and prayer by the power of God’s Spirit. By these “ordinary means of grace,” the church is enabled to declare the truth of God’s Word, prevail over evil, and deliver sinners from judgment. Such is God’s power in the church that His witnesses cannot be defeated until Christians have given their testimony. But as verse 7 states, “when they have finished their testimony,” the world will wage violent war against them.

Verse 7 introduces a figure who will be prominent in the rest of Revelation, “the beast that rises from the bottomless pit,” who, once the Christians have given their witness, “will make war on them and conquer them and kill them.” Then “their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb.” (vv. 8-9).

John places this dreadful event in a location characterized by three biblical images. The slaying of the witnesses summarizes satanic opposition to the gospel throughout this present age, following the pattern that will be developed more fully in later chapters of Revelation. First is the city of Sodom, which represents perverse sexual abominations and idolatrous sin. Second is Egypt, where God’s holy people were kept in bondage and God’s message was hard-heartedly despised. Third is the crucifixion of Jesus outside Jerusalem, representing the rejection of God’s Messiah and His gospel. Verse 8 instructs that these images are to be taken “symbolically,” or, more literally, “in a spiritual manner.” The point is that they represent not a place in the world but the world itself in its sensual harlotry, violent persecution, and idol-worshiping false religion as it militantly opposes the gospel.

No doubt the beast in John’s vision believed he had finally defeated the Christian witness. The Jewish leaders thought the same when they had arranged Jesus’ crucifixion outside Jerusalem. Likewise, Saul of Tarsus perceived victory in the stoning of the first martyr, Stephen. But as with Jesus, so it is with His church, that crucifixion is followed by a resurrection through the power of God (v. 11). John’s vision, together with church history, shows that the world’s victories over the church are temporary and empty because of God’s resurrection power.

John’s vision further shows the church ascending to heaven in verse 12. We remember that this vision takes place between the sixth and seventh trumpets, and therefore it draws near to Christ’s return and the gathering in of the saints. Yet this is far from a “secret rapture,” since “their enemies watched them.” The gathering of Christ’s church in His return will see the vindication of His persecuted people. Accompanying the resurrection of Christ’s witness is a corresponding judgment on the wicked (v. 13). The symbolism of an earthquake shows the shaking and shattering of idolatrous power and worldly opposition to God. This effect occurs whenever the gospel is proclaimed in the power of God.

The angel concludes John’s vision by crying, “The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come” (v. 14). The third woe on the world will be the final judgment when the seventh trumpet is blown and Christ returns to end the age. Until that end in final judgment, the woe on God’s enemies means the continued blessing of the church’s gospel witness.

God preserves His gospel witness so that sinners can yet be saved. God’s preservation of the gospel offers salvation to you, if you will only repent and believe. This is the best way for you to give glory to God in light of His church’s mighty witness to the gospel: not in judgment through obstinate unbelief but in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Then God will use you as His witness, and though you may suffer death for Jesus and His Word, God’s resurrection power will raise you up to never-ending life.

Revelation 11:3-14 Study Questions:

What are the tasks of the two witnesses, and what do they have the authority to do (vv. 3-6)? Why two witnesses?

How is God calling us to bear witness to Jesus today despite various obstacles?

If we understand the two witnesses to be symbolic for the whole of God’s people, in what way might it be said that they “tormented those who lived on the earth”?

What is the ultimate fate of the two witnesses (vv. 11-12)?

Why do the people remaining on earth suddenly “[glorify] the God of heaven” (v. 13)?

When John ate the scroll given him by the angel, an important change came over the narrative. From this point forward John is no longer a mere observer viewing the last days of mankind on earth as if watching a news broadcast. For the rest of this compelling story John himself becomes a part of the action.

Revelation 11 begins with two verses in which John is called on to participate in the action of the book. He was “given a measuring rod like staff,” presumably by the mighty angel who had met him in the preceding chapter. John was then told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple” (vv. 1-2). Our first challenge is to identify what is represented by the temple, its altar, and the outer court.

The vision of Revelation 11:1-2 centers on the image of the temple, which throughout the New Testament is primarily used to describe the Christian church. Paul told Christians that “you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you (1 Cor. 3:16). “For we are the temple of the living God,” he adds; “as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (2 Cor. 6:16. Peter said that Christians are together “being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

In this context, then, a literal understanding of temple is not that of a building like that which was replaces by Christ and His church, but, the focus is now on the whole covenant community forming a spiritual temple in which God’s presence dwells. Some of the visions of Revelation depict God in a heavenly temple, but without exception it is Christians who gather there to worship God and the Lamb.

Understanding this vision symbolically, we realize that John is told to measure the temple to show God’s commitment to preserve the church through the tribulations of this age. This vision, then, is analogous to the sealing of God’s servants in Revelation 7. At the same time, John is told not to “measure the court outside the temple” (v. 2)., which stands for nominal Christians associated with the church but not truly belonging. This concern for false or merely outward faith, together with false teaching, was emphasized in Jesus’ letters to the churches. The “holy city” in verse 2 symbolizes the church community, which during this present age will be trampled by the nations, symbolizing the unbelieving world. John’s command to measure the church therefore assures true believers that they will be protected and saved during the persecutions of this world, whereas merely outward professors of faith not only will be unprotected but will even join with unbelievers to persecute the true church.

When John is told that the holy city will be trampled by unbelievers, the duration given to him is “forty-two months” (v. 2). This period will repeatedly occur in Revelation – in this form, as three and a half years, or as 1,260 days, all of which equal the same length of time. In keeping with the different approaches to interpreting Revelation, a far better way to handle the forty-two months of verse 2 is symbolically. The forty-two months refers to the persecution that Christians suffer throughout the ages. This interpretation matches the vision of Revelation 12, in which the church goes out into the wilderness for three and a half years (“a time, and times, and a half a time”), during which she is protected from the dragon and nourished by God (Rev. 12:14). This too, shows the present are in which God’s people face continued persecution but are kept safe by our Sovereign Lord.

It remains important for us to apply these verses as they speak to believers today. The message is that, living in an age that is hostile to Christ and His followers, Christians must draw close to God, trusting in Christ’s blood, calling on God in prayer, and gathering with fellow believers for worship. The Lord extends His measuring rod to encompass those who are close to His presence, establishing a barrier to keep them safe for a salvation that will be revealed at the end of the age.

A special warning is given here to merely nominal believers, those who attend church but do not belong to the spiritual body of Christ’s true followers. They are like the Gentiles who were admitted to the former temple’s outer courts. “Do not measure the court outside the temple,” John is told (v. 2), showing that those who are Christians in name only are not protected by God; in fact, the nominal, worldly church “is given over to the nations” (v. 2). The institutional church and its apparatus, apart from a living faith in Jesus and a commitment to God’s Word, is annexed by the world. It is the nominal church that much of the persecution is launched against true believers. This happens today in the false teaching pouring forth from unbelieving seminaries and worldly church pulpits.

Are you a Christian in name only, not having received the Bible’s message in an obedient faith and not embracing its message of judgment for sin and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? Are you one who attends Christian events and uses Christian language, but has never relied of Christ for your personal salvation or surrendered your life to Jesus your Lord? If so, not only are you outside salvation, but you will not tolerate true, biblical Christianity. Revelation 11:2 gives a dreadful description of those who occupy the periphery of the church but do not worship “in spirit and truth” in the temple of Christ’s true church (John 4:24).

Understanding not only how history ends but also the times in which we are currently living, we consider John’s vision as urging true Christians to dwell close to God’s presence. The altar that John mentions speaks both of our reliance on Christ’s atoning blood for forgiveness and of the altar of prayer where we call on God for help. He further mentions “those who worship there” (v. 1), speaking of our calling to join the body of Christ’s believers who worship in the holy place of the Christian congregation. There, safe in God’s presence, we are measured, known, and kept safe within the holy precincts of the Christian church.

Revelation 11:1-2 Study Questions:

What else does verse 1 say John is to measure besides the temple and the altar?

Why was John not to “measure the court outside the temple”?

Now we approach the mystery of God Himself (vv. 5-7). Here is a glimpse of what lies in store for us in coming chapters of Revelation. The end of the Ultimate Mystery is at hand. The mystery of God is about to be revealed. In this scene the mighty angel begins by raising his right hand to heaven, which signifies that a solemn oath is being given, and important truth is about to be disclosed. The angel swears in this scene by God, the Maker of the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. The angel is swearing by the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – that the long delay is at last over and the mystery of God is about to be revealed. The question which has preoccupied the thoughts and hopes of believers for centuries is about to be answered.

Every generation of Christians has expected the imminent return of the Lord Jesus. We read in Acts that the Christians of the first century expected His return in their own lifetime. Read the letters of Paul, and you can see that he expected the Lord’s return in his own lifetime. Nearly 2000 years later, the Lord has not returned. Our generation of believers like every other before it continues to expect the Lord’s return. His return could easily take place before the end of this century – yet it may not. The Lord alone knows, and at this particular moment the mystery of God remains unresolved.

In verses 8 to 11, we encounter the mystery of the scroll. In this passage, the angel gives the apostle John a book to eat and it gives him a sour stomach. The symbolism of eating the Word is a way of indicating that the truth written on the scroll becomes personal. It is not merely read but it is actually assimilated. That is what happens when we eat food, is it not? There is a lot of truth to the old saying, “You are what you eat.” The food you eat becomes you! The food we eat becomes, in a very short time, the body we wear. And John experiences in his vision the symbolic act of metabolizing and assimilating the Word of the Lord. He is taking the Word of the Lord internally, becoming personally involved in it, becoming changed by it, and ultimately allowing it to become a part of his own makeup.

We find this same imagery in the prophecy of Ezekiel 2:9 to 3:3. Then Ezekiel was sent to deliver a message to Israel in Ezekiel 3:14. Note the striking similarity between what Ezekiel experienced when he ate the scroll and what John experienced in Revelation 10. In both cases the prophecy that is received and consumed tastes sweet at first, but leaves an unpleasant sensation in the stomach.

The little scroll John receives from the angel contains the methods of God in working out His purposes on the earth. There is an element of sweetness in the plan of God, when John first bites into it. But as he assimilates the truth of God, as he becomes more and more deeply and personally involved with it, a sour sensation arises within him. This symbolizes the fact that God’s truth has a painful and unpleasant dimension to it when we really apply it to our own lives. The truth of God tastes sweet as long as it is “out there,” in the realm of promise and hope and future glory. But once the truth of God trespasses “in here,” in the realm of conviction and judgment and the exposure of our sinfulness and nakedness before God, it becomes a sour and unpleasant experience.

God’s truth has that effect on us. It had that effect on John. When he ate the scroll, it was sweet in his mouth, but turned his stomach sour. But afterwards John was given a new assignment. “Then I was told,” he relates in verse 11, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.’” There is an instructive principle here: After you have personally entered into the painful yet cleansing experience of God’s judgment in your life, you are then prepared to speak to someone else about the program of God. John has been given the privilege of ministering again to nations, peoples, languages, and kings. This is a new ministry, and it is described for us in Revelation 11 through 14.

John is qualified to reveal to us the judgments of God because he himself has allowed God to enter into his own soul and search it with the light of truth. Have you and I made the same commitment before God? Have we exposed our inner secrets to the light of God’s Word, His truth, and His judgment? The beauty of God that rests upon us as we seek to win the lost for Him is the beauty of a life that has been opened, searched, cleansed, and made new by the transforming truth of God. When He has tried us, then we are prepared to go out into the world, armed with the convicting Word of His gospel, ready to impact other lives for God.

Revelation 10:5-11 Study Questions:

What is “God’s mystery” that will be fulfilled in the days when the seventh trumpet is sounded?

The Lamb has removed the seals; now the scroll can be read. And John is to be the one to do it. This, it seems, is the reason why he was invited into the heavenly throne room. How is John invited to participate in this (vv. 8-9)?

Why is it important for us to “eat” God’s Word before we speak it to others?

How does God’s Word sometimes seem sweet to us and sometimes sour?

What happens to the sweet-tasting scroll once it reaches John’s stomach and what might this symbolize (v. 10)?

What in particular is John told that he must prophesy about (v. 11)?

How might John have felt after receiving this commission? How, specifically, is God calling you to “eat” and speak His message today?

In Revelation 8 and 9, we caught a horrifying glimpse of the cataclysmic future of our world. But beginning with Revelation 10 and continuing into part of chapter 11, we find a kind of intermission, an interlude that divides the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments. As we have already observed, in each series of judgments – the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls of wrath – there is always a break between the sixth and seventh judgments.

Beginning in Revelation 10, this vision depicts the church as receiving God’s Word, holding fast to it, and bearing testimony on God’s behalf despite persecution and even martyrdom. Chapter 10 concludes with a command for John to “prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings” (v. 11). John’s commission to preach, coupled with chapter 11’s vision of the two persecuted witnesses, provides an explanation for the world’s judgment. According to Revelation 10, Christ’s true church is defined as having received and treasured God’s revealed Word. Just as Israel was called to be “a light for the nations” (Isa. 49:6), the church is commissioned to bear testimony to the gospel in a hostile world. The vision of the “mighty angel” and his “little scroll” supplies us with reasons to accept this calling and remain always faithful to God’s holy Word.

The first reason why Christians must maintain our witness to Christ and His Word is the sovereign glory of the Redeemer whose message it is. The vision begins with John seeing “another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun and his legs like pillars of fire” (v. 1). This is the second “mighty angel” we have encountered in Revelation, and since they both deal with the scroll of God’s will, they are obviously connected. This angel “had a little scroll open in his hand” (v. 2), and we recall the scroll earlier opened by Jesus. Since this is a “little scroll,” it is not the entirety of God’s will but the portion that God is revealing to John.

The descriptions of this awesome angel include so many indicators of deity that many scholars believe the mighty angel is Jesus Himself (v. 1). It is unlikely that this figure is Christ, however, since in Revelation He is described as the conquering Lamb and since the word angel consistently designates Christ’s heavenly servants. At the very least, though, this mighty angel is intended to represent the glory of Christ whom he serves. The mighty angel reminds us that we, too, are to adorn our witness of Christ’s gospel message with lives that are being transformed into His holy image (2 Cor. 3:18).

The details of this glorious angel further depict Christ as Israel’s Redeemer in the exodus. During Israel’s sojourn from bondage in Egypt to kingdom in the Promised Land, God’s cloud descended on the tabernacle, Moses’ face shone with God’s radiance when he emerged from the Lord’s presence, and the pillar of fire guided and protected the people. The rainbow symbolizes God’s covenant mercy, signifying not only glory and power but also deliverance for God’s people. In this way, the angel communicates that Christ is going to lead His people to the new and better Promised Land.

The vision of this “mighty angel” emphasizes God’s sovereignty. In Daniel 7:13-14, the Son of Man comes “with the clouds of heaven” to receive His eternal dominion from God. Now this angel represents Christ “wrapped in a cloud” (v. 1). Moreover, the gigantic angel “set His right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land” (v. 2). In the Bible, to have something under one’s feet is to exercise dominion over it. Here, Christ’s angel depicts His sovereignty over the entirety of creation, land and sea. Later in Revelation we will see Christ’s enemy, Satan, raising beasts from the land and the sea. Here, in advance of those beasts, we are reminded that Christ already has His foot planted on the domains from which they come.

Finally, Christ’s sovereignty is depicted by the angel’s great shout, “with a loud voice, like a lion roaring” (v. 3). Jesus has already been revealed as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (5:5). It was because Jesus conquered as Lion and Lamb that He received the heavenly scroll, a portion of which the angel now holds out to John.

The angel’s exodus imagery reminds us that Christians are God’s holy people on a pilgrimage through this world toward heaven. Whatever else you may be – as defined by your family, job, race, or social status – if you are a Christian, you are the object of God’s eternal plan of salvation and a follower of the Sovereign Lord who redeemed you by His blood. As the pillar of cloud and fire guided and protected Israel in the desert, you are being led and protested by Christ so that you will arrive safely in the new world of the age to come. The key to following Christ, which you must do for salvation, is to receive, trust, and obey God’s Word, which is why the mighty angel came to John with the “little scroll” open in his hand,

The angel who depicts the glory of Christ as our sovereign Redeemer prompts us to treasure and uphold God’s holy Word because of the glory of the One who gives it. The book of Revelation begins by saying that Jesus has a revelation from God to give to His people, which He made “known by sending his angel to his servant John” (Rev. 1:1). This first point of the book is now vividly depicted by the angel who brings the scroll to John. His appearance reminds us that the Word of God that we read, believe, and proclaim today comes from the One who is sovereign over the entire creation and the Savior who is delivering us to heaven.

The world may call the gospel “hate speech,” but Christians must go on stating that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). How can we dare to hold fast to God’s Word before a scornful world, without capitulation or compromise? Because looking on Jesus as our Sovereign Redeemer, depicted by this “mighty angel,” we remember whose scroll it is and from whom God’s revealed Word came to us. To reject this message is to reject Jesus Himself, the only Savior, and willingly to compromise the Scriptures is to betray Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 10 begins with the appearing of the mighty Christ-angel, but its message about God’s Word is only heightened by the action that follows. John heard the angel shout with a lion’s roar, and in answer “the seven thunders sounded” (v. 3). In the Bible, thunder signifies the majesty of God in His coming (Ps. 29:3), together with power to shatter all opposition. The addition of seven thunders to the seven seals and seven trumpets, along with the seven bowls yet to come, can only speak of more judgment on the world. We were told after the sixth trumpet was blown that idolatrous mankind still would not repent and turn from false gods and from sin (Rev. 9:20-21). Therefore, the shout of the angel is answered by seven thunders foretelling more judgments that the rebel world deserves.

As John was preparing to write down what he heard from the seven thunders, he was unexpectedly stopped: “When the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down’” (V. 4). John was not to record the judgment of the seven thunders. Scholars suggest a number of reasons for this command. One suggestion is that this shows us that God has more plans for history that He has chosen to reveal to us in the Bible. Therefore, we should not be surprised when things happen that are not accounted for by Scripture.

The best explanation is the one given by the angel himself in the verses 5-7. The angel anticipates the seventh trumpet that is about to be blown and solemnly declares that Christ will immediately return to bring the final judgment and the conclusion of the age.

Revelation 10:1-4 Study Questions:

How is the mighty angel described in verses 1-3?

We’ve already seen, earlier in the book, several of the symbols mentioned in verses 1-3. We saw a cloud in 1:7, the sun in 1:16, a rainbow in 4:3 and a lion in 5:5. Look back at these passages. What clues do they give as to the significance of the angel described in 10:1?

The angel also stands with one foot on the land and one on the sea. Taken together, what do they signify?