Read or listen The Book of Revelation, chapter 11 online (ESV, YouVersion)

John measures the temple 11:1-2

John is given a rod and is told to measure the temple. The command is hardly just a simple measurement. It is an action with a message. The book of Zechariah contains a vision of the measuring of the city of Jerusalem (Zech 2:5-9). In the vision, God promises: "I will be to her a wall of fire all around it (Jerusalem)." So God promises to protect the city. The same idea is probably in the Book of Revelation. The temple is measured – in other words, God promises to protect it from destruction. By measuring the temple, it is marked for protection. The same thing was said in the 7th chapter of Revelation: God protects those marked with a seal in the storm that shakes the world.

What then is the temple that God protects? It cannot be the temple in Jerusalem. The mighty temple built by Herod the Great had already been destroyed by the time the Book of Revelation was written. In 70 AD, the Roman army destroyed the temple to the ground as Jesus had predicted (e.g. Mt 24:1-2) - only the Wailing Wall remained standing.

"The temple of God and the altar and those who worship there" probably refers to the Church of Christ, the people of God in this world. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the Church of God is also called the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16 and Eph 2:21). The message of verse 1 is probably this: The Church of Christ will not be destroyed, even though the Devil attacks it with great power. God keeps His Church alive. Jesus gave the same promise:

..."on this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
(Matthew 16:18, ESV)

Of course, this does not mean that a local church cannot die or that a Christian cannot abandon the faith. There are warning examples of this in the early chapters of Revelation. But the Church of Christ as a whole, worldwide, will not die. At least in some corner of the world there will still be a living Christian church when Jesus returns to earth in glory. God protects His own so that the Devil cannot destroy the entire Church.

John is forbidden to measure the outer court of the temple. So God will not protect it. Perhaps this refers to people who are interested in the Christian faith and have a positive attitude towards Jesus, but do not themselves live in faith in Jesus and therefore do not belong to the church.

What happens to them when the Devil attacks the church? They are given over to be trampled by foreign nations, and in that chaos, positive thoughts about Jesus and Christianity disappear. There are numerous examples of this in the history of the Church. When Christians have been persecuted, the positive attitude that was felt towards Jesus and his followers has quickly been forgotten.

The period of time mentioned in verse 2 — 42 months — occurs many times in the book of Revelation: “three and a half years,” “a thousand two hundred and sixty days,” “a time and times and half a time.” The period of time is always associated with the work of the Devil. The purpose of this number 42 is probably not to indicate the length of the period, but rather that during this time the Devil is allowed to riot and that God has determined how long the Devil's activities can continue. When the time determined by God ends, the Devil's attack will end, even if he wants to continue it.

The temple in Jerusalem was desecrated for about three and a half years in 167-164 BC, according to the prophecy of the book of Daniel (Dan 7:25). During this time, the pagan king brought images of idols into the temple and demanded that they be worshipped, and commanded that pigs be sacrificed in the temple, which was an abomination to the Jews. From this chapter three and a half has also come into the book of Revelation to describe the period when the Evil One is allowed to rage in a special way.

Two Witnesses 11:3-14

John hears a voice speaking of two witnesses. There is a passage in the book of Zechariah that is referenced here (Zech. 4). Who are the witnesses?

They may be two servants of God who, in the end times, will proclaim the word of God and call people to repentance.

It is also thought that the vision does not describe what will happen in the future, but rather tells of what has already happened. The two witnesses could be Peter and Paul, who preached the word of God in Rome and were both killed in the same city on the same day during the persecutions organized by Emperor Nero. According to this explanation, the resurrection of the witnesses would mean the souls of Peter and Paul going to God in heaven.

It is also possible that these are not two individual persons. At the beginning of the chapter, the temple apparently meant the Church of Christ. It is also possible that the two witnesses are a picture of the Church of God that lives and works in this world. The church proclaims the word of God—including God’s judgment—and does not have the glory and splendor that the world values. That is why the witnesses are described as servants of God dressed in sackcloth.

The number of witnesses apparently refers to the Bible's teaching that the testimony of two witnesses is reliable (Deuteronomy 19:15). If the two witnesses describe the church of Christ, the number of witnesses reminds us of the reliability of the gospel. What the Church of Christ proclaims is true and therefore worthy of belief.

Verses 5 and 6 are difficult. What does the fire coming out of the mouth of the witness, the closing of heaven, or the turning of water into blood mean? We remember the Old Testament story of the heavens being closed. Elijah spoke a word and no rain fell from heaven (1 Kings 17:1). It may be that God will one day send two of his servants into the world and give them the power to perform miracles similar to those of Elijah.

It is also not an impossible idea that verses 5 and 6 are metaphorical speech and refer to the power of Christ's Church. Jesus has given his followers the power to open or close heaven:

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatever you bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.”
(Matthew 16:19, ESV)

Where the Church of Christ is rejected and attacked, one can expect the wrath of God to fall upon it (Matthew 10:14-15). Perhaps the fire that consumes the enemies of the witnesses is a picture of this.

Verse 7 tells us that the beast rising from the deep will engage in battle with the two witnesses, overcome and kill them. The beast represents the servant of the Devil, and the city where the beast kills God’s witnesses represents the kingdom of the Devil. If the two witnesses refer to the church of God, John now hears a description of a situation in which the Devil engages in fierce battle against the church and appears to be winning. Apparently, just before Christ’s return, the group of Jesus’ followers are as if beaten and defeated.

But then a miracle happens: the dead lives again, the church rises from the dead and is called to God in the glory of heaven. Even though the Devil seems to have won the battle, God still has the last word. He gives victory to his own and defeat to the Devil, who already seemed victorious.

In recent history, we have had at least a small taste of what the Book of Revelation is now talking about. Churches were reduced to rubble in many Eastern European countries, and it seemed that the Church of Christ in these countries would soon die. Then a miracle happened: the Devil's victory was only apparent. Communism collapsed, and now, where the Church seemed already destroyed, churches are growing and new churches are being born.

Verse 10 tells us that people rejoice when they see the death of God’s witnesses. God’s word also causes hatred. People get offended when they are rebuked for the sins they are living in, warned of the destruction they are heading for, or when they are told about Jesus, without whom no one can get to heaven. When those who trouble the ungodly world with the word of God are dead, the world world is now joyful. It is thought that now it is possible to live a godless life in peace.

God Takes Control 11:15-19

The seventh angel blows his trumpet and this age ends. In heaven, God is praised for having shown himself to be Almighty. God is already Almighty, but on the last day he will take all power for himself so that everyone can see it. That means the end of all evil. Eternity begins in which God reigns.

Before that, however, the final judgment will take place. This is what verse 18 tells us. God's own people will receive a reward. However, it is not given according to what each one has earned. Everyone gets the same reward: Jesus has acquired eternal life for us, and God's own will receive it on the last day.

The final judgment can also be different. Those who are left without a reward will be destroyed. This means damnation and applies to those who are not God's own.