“They may
take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!” Those
words were spoken in Mel Gibson’s character, William Wallace, in the movie Braveheart to call the sons of Scotland
to war. That scene is one of many
“battle speeches” that come to mind when I read this portion of the book of
Revelation. Revelation as a whole is a
book that pulls back the curtain on the greatest war being fought in the
universe between the forces of good and evil. It presents the people of God as an army with
a mission and calls them to war. Revelation 11:1-14 is one of those
places, where John recorded his
vision of the measuring of the temple and the ministry of the two witnesses to
call God’s people to war. I pray that
this passage would be every bit as stirring a call to war for us today as
William Wallace’s was for the Scot’s
[11:1] 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, [2] 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. [3] And I will grant authority
to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in
sackcloth.”
[4] These
are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of
the earth. [5] 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. [6] 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. [7] 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, [8] 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. [9] 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, [10] 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. [11] 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. [12] 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. [13] 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. [14] The second woe has passed; behold, the
third woe is soon to come. (Revelation 11:1-14 ESV)
- Tour
of the Text
Just to catch everyone up, let me remind you that
the larger context of Revelation 11:1-14
is the seven trumpet judgments of Revelation
8:6-11:19. So far, six trumpets have
sounded and 10:1-11:14 seems to be an interlude
as chapter 7 was, and like chapter seven, it contains two visions that have to do with the role of God’s people in
Revelation. The two visions of this
interlude are the mighty angel and the little scroll (10:1-11), which we looked
at last week, and the temple and the two witnesses (11:1-14).
Also, I want to mention that Revelation 11:1-14 is one of the most, if not the most, difficult passages in all of Revelation
to interpret. John is given a measuring
rod and told to measure a temple and then he records the ministry of two witnesses
who will have miraculous powers and eventually be martyred by the beast, only
to be resurrected and vindicated by God.
I take the temple and the two witnesses to be two symbols that communicate one
message: that the people of God are to engage the nations in witness and
that they will be both protected and persecuted in doing so. If we’re going to keep the main thing the
main thing and not lose the forest for the trees, that message is the main thing.
This message then, calls church to embrace her mission and the suffering
that will accompany it. It calls her to
embrace the demands of the greatest war that will ever be fought.
- The
Measuring of the Temple (1-2)
In the first portion of this vision, John is given
a “measuring rod like a staff” and is
told to “Rise and measure the temple of
God and the altar and those who worship there,” but not to measure “the court outside the temple” because
it is “given over to the nations,” who “will trample the holy city for forty-two
months.” What is this “temple of God” that is being measured
here? The two major interpretations of
this “temple” are that it is either a
literal temple that will be rebuilt
in the last days or that this “temple”
is symbolic for God’s people.
Before I give you my spill, let me say that the most
important question to be answered is not what the temple is, but what this
scene, whether literal or symbolic, is communicating. What is the significance of this measuring? This is an allusion to Ezekiel 40-48 and Zechariah 2:1-5. In these passages, the measuring of the
temple seems to establish God’s protection
of it. That also seems to be how it
functions here: to protect what is
being measured because what is measured is not
trampled and what is not measured gets
trampled for 3.5 years by the nations (2).
This temple experiences a partial
protection.
Now while I would certainly not rule out a literal
temple being rebuilt in the last days, I see this temple as symbolic for the people of God. The first reason for doing so is that as a
rule of thumb, visions in apocalyptic
literature are primarily symbolic. Take the opening vision of Revelation 1:9-3:22: the lampstands are
symbols for the churches and the
stars are symbols for the angels of
the churches. Since symbolism is the
rule of thumb, it shouldn’t be that awkward for the measuring of a temple to be
symbolic for something else. Second, the
“temple” in Revelation does not
normally refer to an earthly temple but to a heavenly one and the distinction between the structure of the temple and the people who worship there is often blurred, as it is in this text. John here is told to measure the temple,
altar, and “those who worship there”
(11:1). In Revelation 3:12, those who conquer were promised that they would be
made a “pillar” in God’s “temple.” How is a person a pillar? In chapters 6-7, we read about the souls of
God’s people being “under the altar”
and their prayers being “incense”
that rises up to God. The reason for
this lack of distinction is because in the New Testament, God’s people are His temple. 1
Corinthians 3:16-17: “[16] Do you not
know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? [17] If anyone destroys God’s temple, God
will destroy him. For God’s temple is
holy, and you are that temple.” Ephesians 2:19-22: “[19] So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are
fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [20] built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the
cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows
into a holy temple in the Lord. [22] In
him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the
Spirit.” That last phrase is very
important. The whole point of the tabernacle
and the temple in the Old Testament was for God’s dwelling place to be among
His people.
One more question we need to ask here is what the
significance of the “forty-two months”
(3.5 years) is in which the outer court and the holy city is trampled. The time frame itself is actually an allusion
to Daniel 7:25, 9:27, 12:7,11-12,
and frequently occurs in Revelation. The
temple here is trampled for 3.5 years (2).
The ministry of the two witnesses lasts 3.5 years (3). In 12:7,
the woman is protected from the Dragon for 3.5 years. The beast, in 13:5, is said to exercise his authority for 3.5 years. This time frame could be literal or symbolic,
but is seems to point to a time period of tribulation and judgment, in which God’s
people are both protected and persecuted.
That actually brings us back the main point being made here by the
measuring of the temple: that God’s people will be both protected and persecuted in
their mission to reach the nations (in the last days and throughout the
church’s history). They will experience partial protection, just as this temple
does.
- The
Ministry of the Two Witnesses (3-14)
This vision now moves to describe the ministry of
two witnesses to whom God grants His “authority.”
The two characters witness (3),
prophesy (3), and give testimony (7) for the same amount of time that the
temple gets trampled. At the end of that
time period, the “beast” is allowed
to kill them and then they are resurrected and vindicated, and that results in
many coming to fear God and give Him glory.
Who are these two witnesses? Again, there are two major interpretations (with
some variations): that these two are either two literal end time witnesses or they are another symbol for God’s people. Like
the temple earlier, I don’t want to rule out that there may be two literal
figures at the end of history who have a ministry like this, but I see them as
another symbol for God’s people. The
first reason is again that Revelation is apocalyptic literature, which is
primarily symbolic and not literal. A
second reason is that there is almost a word for word connection between the
beast’s war on these “two witnesses” in
11:7 and his war on “the saints” in 13:5-7a: “[13] And the beast
was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to
exercise authority for forty-two months.
[6] It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming
his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. [7] Also it was allowed to make war on the
saints and to conquer them.” So it
is at least possible that the “two
witnesses” are symbolic for “the
saints.”
How they are identified in this passage also seems
to point to the fact that they are symbolic
witnesses. They are identified with
several major allusions to Old Testament characters. They are first identified as “the two olive trees and the two lampstands
that stand before the Lord of the earth” (4). This is an allusion to Zechariah 4:11-14. This
vision symbolized was how God was going to empower
the high priest (Joshua) and governor/king (Zerubbabel) with His Holy
Spirit to be continual lights (the
olive trees beside the lampstand supplies it with an endless supply of oil)
that would rebuild the temple despite all opposition. These two witnesses in Revelation are seen to
also be continual lights to the world
by the power of God’s Spirit in the face of satanic opposition to build His
church.
Second, the description of the kind of power that
the two witnesses have contains several parallels to the ministries of Elijah and Moses. In 2 Kings 1:10-17, fire came down and
consumed Ahaziah’s emissaries at Elijah’s word. God used Elijah to cause a 3.5 year drought
in 1 Kings 17:1. God used Moses to turn the waters of the Nile
to blood and to inflict Egypt with various plagues. What are we to make of these allusions? Again, I think that they first speak to the
fact that these two witnesses are symbolic
characters and not literal ones.
I’ve heard many people be very dogmatic that these two individuals will
literally be Moses and Elijah. But why
are they Moses and Elijah and not Joshua and Zerubbabel, who are clearly
alluded to as well? Also, what do we
make of their powers? While this may
speak to miraculous works that God’s people will do in the later days, I see it
more as their supernatural protection
against anyone who would “harm”
them. In other words, no one will be
able to touch them until their ministry is over and if anyone tries to, they
will tango with the power of God wielded through these guys. This is how God protects them.
The protection that these witnesses experience however
is a partial protection: they are
protected for a period of time, but then are allowed to be killed by the beast.
Not only are they killed, but the world also
celebrates their death and refuses to even give them a proper burial. Their bodies lie in the street “of the great city that is symbolically
called Sodom and Egypt” (where their Lord was crucified: a reference to
either Jerusalem or Rome) for 3.5 days. This
depicts the immense hatred that the world has for the people of God. Like the message of the measuring of the
temple, here God’s people are both protected
and persecuted (sheltered and
slaughtered so to speak).
- Thoughts
from the Text:
- Embrace
the Call to Witness
As I said at the beginning, this passage is a call
to war. The holy city is getting
trampled. The enemies and foes of God’s
people are seeking to harm them. The
beast is said to make war with them.
What does it mean for God’s people to answer the call to war in this
passage? Let me give you two demands of
war that this passage places upon the people of God. This war first demands that we embrace the call to witness to the
nations. If these two witnesses are a
symbol for God’s people, notice what they are doing: witnessing to the nations!
Grant Osborne says that these two witnesses “do not hide from the beast and his followers but engage in fearless
preaching involving a call for the nations to repent.”[1] Church, this is the mission that we’ve
been given in this war: to be continual
lights to the world, witnesses to the nations. But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV) This is
the kind of warfare that we engage the world in, not throwing hand grenades or
shooting automatic weapons, but laying down our lives to love and lead others
to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Will you run and hide from this call upon your life or will you answer
it?
- Embrace
the Call to Suffer
These two symbols at least communicate that while
God’s people will be protected by
God, they will also be persecuted by
the world. This too is one of the
demands of our warfare: that we embrace
the call to suffer in order to
witness to the nations.
One of the greatest truths that free God’s people
to embrace suffering is the promise of their vindication and the promise that
their suffering will be used for their good and God’s glory. We see those truths at work here. After the 3.5 days, “a breath of life from God entered” these witnesses and their corpses
stood up (11). A voice from heaven then
called out for them to “Come up here!”
and their enemies watched as they went up to heaven in a cloud. “At
that hour” there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell,
killing 7,000 people. That is their
vindication, but notice also that those who were not killed feared and “gave glory to the God of heaven.” God not only vindicates His people’s
suffering, He also uses their suffering to bring Him glory. God is bringing the very people who
persecuted His people to faith in Himself through the suffering and vindication
of His people. Are you willing to
embrace the call to suffer and witness to the nations? Not a hair of your head will be touched
unless your Father in heaven allows it.
That’s what His protection means.
If God does allow that hair to be touched, or even our life, we have the
promise that our persecution will be vindicated and used for God’s glory and
our good. Answer the call to war today
for God’s glory!
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