Revelation 11 is one of those chapters where we really get to put our growing knowledge of apocalyptic literature to work. It’s full of numbers, images, and references that make our heads spin. While it typically offers confusion, hopefully we have learned to ask a new set of questions to help us sort it out and put it back into its appropriate context. Let’s begin:
Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was 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; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
First, this setup is a repeat of the prophesy of Ezekiel (check out chapters 40-42), and it won’t be the only direct reference to the major prophet. If this observation is beginning to sound like a broken record, it’s because you’re now starting to notice what should be apparent as we read apocalyptic literature! I know that I’ve said it before, but I really want to help us see this and be reminded appropriately of its significance. John is trying to pull his readers (especially his Jewish readers) back to the message of Ezekiel and let them be encouraged by a prophet who has come before.
But then John moves toward a conversation about two witnesses. I can remember where this conversation took me as a young adolescent who was enamored by the Left Behind series. Theories point toward these fantastical ideas of two individuals who will play a special part in the end times. The problem is that not only are such quick assumptions and conclusions ignorant of authorial intent, they also ignore the context of the passage. Any Jew in the first century who spoke of “two witnesses” would have immediately thought of the two witnesses dominant in Jewish history — Moses and Elijah. You might remember our study of the Transfiguration.
This idea of two authorities bearing witness to the coming of a new Kingdom was far from a new idea. Is this relevant to our interpretation of Revelation? I would certainly think so! But then the passage goes on to give us even more detail:
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
Immediately I notice the reference to these two witnesses having the power to shut up the sky so no rain would fall. And who was it to do such a thing? Elijah. And if you remember from our teaching, who was Elijah quoting when he “bound God to His Text”? Moses. It would seem that John really is working with this idea after all. But not only this, John gave us more details about these two witnesses. In reference to them (John uses “these,” the first word in the passage above), John says they are the two olive trees and the two lampstands. We’ve spoken before about how olive trees and lampstands symbolize the community of God’s people.
One of the things John keeps doing is pulling out visions of two where you would expect there to be one. Instead of there being 12 elders, as you might expect (symbolizing God’s people, the 12 tribes), there are 24. Not only does this match up nicely with the context of the Roman world, but I personally believe it alludes to the “other half” of God’s people. We have noted all throughout our study of the New Testament that the dominant issue being dealt with in the early church is the inclusion of the Gentiles. I believe John throws in multiple references of a “doubled” communal number to point out that God’s people includes both Jews and Gentiles. There are 24 elders, there are two olive trees, and there are two lampstands.
This also means John is inferring that the unified body of Christ — Jew and Gentile together — serves as God’s witnesses in the world. They have power beyond what they know — power to bring life or destruction. Their testimony, lived out as a people, will be as powerful as the testimony of Moses and Elijah.
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, and 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, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
It seems as though their witness and testimony is useless, because they appear to be destroyed — killed and left for dead. Fitting to the context of the original hearers/readers? Absolutely. This is the world they live in; but John is encouraging them to overcome. He says that later, after three and a half days (exactly half of seven — a Jewish and apocalyptic way of saying, “a significant time, but not forever; there is an end”), they are resurrected and taken to God in the clouds. Rather than being a futuristic recipe for rapture, this is another reference to Elijah.
My point is this: it is not reasonable to believe the early readers of Revelation saw this as a futuristic rendering of “things to come,” but instead an obvious play to things past. They realized the message of encouragement John was sending their way.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
The nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
And with that, John brings us back to the Great Games, where the two kingdoms are locked in what seems to be an endless struggle and competition. Who will win? John the Baptist announced to us that the Kingdom of God had arrived. Jesus picked up the same banner, telling us the Kingdom was among us. In fact, John says, we do find ourselves in that era where the two kingdoms coexist. But there is coming a time when those kingdoms will be put to the test and judgment will be rendered.
John says that time has now come. Will God’s people stand sure and persevere? This is the question of John’s apocalyptic letter.
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