The Second Woe Part 3: God Protects His People
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Introduction
Introduction
Sometimes when we come to the book of Revelation we get so caught up in the vision that John saw, that we forget it is meant to bless the church, and we forget to look for the symbolic meaning represented in the scripture of the early church. As a result we come to today’s passage and we have images of a restored temple and prophets breathing fire. It’s all very weird.
Returning again to the book of Revelation we find that Time is difficult to trace. It would seem perhaps that the very precipice of the judgments to the last trumpet and the coming of Christ is now backed up at about Revelation 10:11 to at least the middle of the seven year tribulation period as we’ll see.
Let’s take a look at the two witnesses embedded in the second woe as we read Read Revelation 11:1-14.
Do you know how sometimes you can hear a few snippets of a song on a commercial and pretty soon you’re humming and singing the whole thing? Well Revelation 11:1-14 is a bit like that. If you begin reading this section and your mind doesn’t start “humming along to the tune of Ezekiel” (so to speak), it has been too long since you have read Ezekiel. But that’s alright, I’m here to help.
Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not 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 plague, as often as they desire.
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. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. And in 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.
The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
The Temple (V1-2)
The Temple (V1-2)
Few items if anything at all are more utterly profound as the center of Jewish identity, religion, and culture than the temple. Its construction under King Solomon around 970 BC was the Spiritual High-water-mark of Israel, it’s destruction by Babylon not quite 400 years later in 586 BC was the most unthinkably terrifying reality they had ever experienced up to that point. The temple was gone and with it not merely their identity as a people, but their capacity through sacrifice to connect to God.
Twenty-Five years into their Babylonian captivity Ezekiel 40-48 recounts the vision of an angel guiding Ezekiel on a measuring tour of a rebuilt and glorious temple. Near the end of his vision he sees the overwhelming glory of God return to the temple (Ezekiel 43:1-5) and fill it. A voice then says to Ezekiel, “...this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever...” (Ezekiel 43:6-7).
In terms of Old Testament prophecies this is a promise held out first to the Jews, and in a mystery of mysteries to all believing Gentiles who are grafted in by grace through faith. The promise is particularly important as it finds its fulfillment in God’s indwelling of the believing Church made up not only of believing Israel, but of grafted in Gentiles! And even more, the promise of God dwelling forever among his people is fulfilled at the end of Revelation.
Listen: we do not need to see a physical temple to fulfill this prophecy - the prophecy isn’t about stones and mortar, it is about God’s presence. Listen to what Peter has to say about the church - the gathered together believers - in 1 Peter 2:4-5.
“...You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house [temple] for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
“You are”, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “The temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you...”
In Ezekiel’s vision, following that moment the reason for the measuring becomes clear. God tells Ezekiel to go and tell the people about this glorious temple and all of its measurements and the plan of it so that they will be ashamed of their sin and come to repentance (Ezekiel 43:10-11, 9). The purpose of all of the measuring in Ezekiel is for the people to hear something that will bring them to repentance.
Coming back to Revelation here we should see the immediate connection to Ezekiel as we read this text. Remember its like jumper cables connecting Revelation to Ezekiel, the meaning and power of one flows to the other as scripture interprets scripture.
John is given a measuring rod and told to measure the temple of God and the Altar as well as those who worship in it. Remember, like the exiles in Babylon - the church that receives this letter knows that the temple in Jerusalem has already been destroyed a few decades earlier in AD 70. Both groups are hearing about a temple that doesn’t physically exist but which points to a great restoration by God. In other words: God is measuring the temple to call his people to repentance.
Church: repentance starts with us.
As Peter says in 1 Peter 4:17, It is time for judgement to begin with the household of God...”
Peter of course is talking about the persecutions that the church is facing - and which we are about to see in this passage - which is itself a judgement or a testing if you will of the church. The church, while protected from the wrath of God by Christ, is still to be tried by her trials. And as we will see here, being protected by God does not mean that we do not suffer and somehow live a life of ease.
Again as Peter says:
Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
Now if you look at verse 2, the courtyard indeed the holy city of Jerusalem at this point has been given to the nations - the gentiles to tread underfoot the holy city for forty-two months or 3.5 years; half - if you will of the tribulation period.
Now, in Luke 21:24 - Jesus talks about the trampling of Jerusalem by Gentiles. Let’s draw the contrast if we can, considering what we are about to see as well that the temple is measured while the courtyard and city are trampled for a specific amount of time. It looks like what we are seeing here is a differentiation between the saved and the unsaved; indicating perhaps that the church (the living temple of God) is being preserved through her trials as the nations rage for 3.5 years. One half of the seven year tribulation period.
The Seven Year Tribulation
The Seven Year Tribulation
For the first time in the book we’re brought to the point of talking about the tribulation period of seven years. I am mindful that in Revelation numbers are not about math, they are about meaning. So we want to hold on to that, but in light of the extreme specificity we’re about to see in Daniel, it is reasonable to see these as seven literal years. Here’s why.
In Daniel 9:24 the angel Gabriel guides the prophet Daniel to understanding the times and the flow of history. In that verse he tells Daniel that “seventy weeks” or Seventy Sevens” are decreed for the Jewish people. with each “seven” or “week” being seven years in length. From there the seventy weeks are divided in Daniel’s vision into groups of seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. This adds up to 69 sevens, why are they divided up? The first 49 years - the seven weeks is the amount of time it takes Ezra and Nehemiah and others to rebuild Jerusalem. The remaining time is what it takes to get us “Until Messiah” (Daniel 9:26).
Together then we have 69 sevens and then finally a separately accounted seventieth week.
The end goal of all of these weeks is listed in Daniel 9:24.
Finish the transgressionEnd sinatone for iniquitybring in eternal righteousnessseal vision and prophecyanoint the most holy place
Starting from the date that a decree is made to restore and rebuild jerusalem until messiah the prince (!) there will be 69 sevens.
But the specificity here is remarkable based upon the way that Jewish years are counted. On March 5, 444 BC King Artaxerxes issued a decree (Nehemiah 2:1-8) to rebuild Jerusalem. In the prophecy of Daniel 9:25 we are told that there will be a total of sixty-nine seven year periods until the day that the anointed one (Messiah) comes. If you do the math and multiply 69x7 and again multiply that by 360 days in a Jewish year you end up with 173,880 days from the decree of King Artaxerxes to Nehemiah - until March 30, AD 33 the very day that Jesus sat on a colt riding it into Jerusalem surrounded by throngs of would be messianic worshippers. (Hoehner. Chronological Aspects. p126) Israel had been told the very day when the Messiah would come to them and they had still missed the kind of Messiah that Jesus was.
That accounts for the first 69 weeks of Daniel in which iniquity is atoned for, and the stage is set for the rest. Thus far there have been about 2000 years intervening the 69th week and the seventieth seven year period. But Daniel 9:27 says that then the end will come like a flood- and this end is what is described throughout Revelation as the seventieth week of Daniel’s vision.
That final seven year period is being divided here into half. for 3 1/2 years (42 months) the gentiles will tread under foot the holy city.
The 3.5 years is also very important in Daniel’s prophecies. In Daniel 7:25 it is given as the amount of time that the Antichrist will “Tear down the saints”, that is the church for Time, Times, and Half a time or One year, two years, and half a year = 3.5 years.
I am inclined to see in particular this 3.5 year period of the trampling of Jerusalem, and the 3.5 years of Daniel 7:25 in which the saints are torn down as the latter half of the tribulation period.
During the second half of the tribulation in particular the masks will be off, the antichrist will break out in open persecution of the church and this will apparently continue unto the very end. So horrible will be this time that as Jesus said, “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” (Matthew 24:22).
The measuring of the temple then seems to show us a time in which the church is being tested severely. But as we’re about to see the church is also being preserved in the midst of trouble.
Two Witnesses V3-6
Two Witnesses V3-6
Then John is told, presumably by God, that he will grant authority to His two witnesses for 1260 days. The Jewish year was calculated out to 360 days so 1260/360=3.5 years. During that time they will prophesy wearing sackcloth - the typical garment of a mourning prophet. The two witnesses have inspired lots of pondering including by me, but we should look at verse 4 before we try to clarify them.
If you read verse 4 you are going to need to also recognize the definite ties to Zechariah 4:3,14. (Zechariah 4:1-14)
Zechariah sees a vision of a lampstand such as the one in the holy place, and on either side of the lampstand are olive trees. Oil continually flows from the trees through tubes into the lamp so that the light of the lamp never goes out. God identifies these two ultimately as“The two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.”
It may not seem abundantly clear, but in Israelite culture and history two individuals were anointed: The priest (Joshua the High priest who was building the temple (Exodus 29:7; 40:15) and the king (represented by the governor Zerubbabel) (1 Samuel 16:1,12,13). And, most notably of all it is applied to Jesus, as the Messiah or the Anointed one.
Back in Revelation 11, we want to ponder who these witnesses are. Tying in to Zechariah, they are identified with a trio of imagery.
First they are two olive trees
Second they are two lampstands
Third they stand before the Lord of the earth.
But we are never told who they are, and that means their names are not the point. In just a moment I think we will see that these may (or may not) be two real prophets but they also represent the faithfully witnessing church which stands before the Lord of the earth bearing the light of the gospel.
Judging from the miracles attributed to them, and to their identification it seems best to recognize these witnesses as the church which continues to teach the word of God throughout the period of tribulation - up to the point at which the antichrist will rise up and, as Daniel indicates, very nearly destroy the church (Daniel 7:25).
But let’s see these two witnesses briefly.
If anyone wants to harm them - which apparently they will, these guys turn into fire breathing dragons! Well … maybe not precisely. Remember it is imagery.
In 2 Kings 1:11-12 groups of men came hunting for the prophet Elijah who calls down fire from heaven upon them. But the main passage for us as we consider this verse is Jeremiah 5:14.
Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, “Because you have spoken this word, Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire And this people wood, and it will consume them.
In more than one recent conversation with people the last thing they want to hear is the word of God because it convicts. The same word that heals those who submit to it is the same word that wounds those who reject it. The church speaks the word and the world is destroyed by rejecting it.
Verse 6 attributes overwhelming power to these witnesses,
The miracles are so reminiscent of Moses who represents the Law, and Elijah who represents the prophets that we absolutely must see here at the minimum the whole of the law and the prophets. Perhaps not as a literal Elijah and Moses; but as either the church as a whole or two prophets at the end whose ministry mirrors these Old Testament heroes. But their ministry will come to an end.
The Beast kills the witnesses v7-10
The Beast kills the witnesses v7-10
When they have completed their testimony, the beast will kill them.
This is the first time in the book of Revelation that we really encounter the beast. Though it is not the last time by any means. It looks back at the book of Daniel in which Daniel sees visions of a series of beasts in Daniel 7 which represent world empires that will variously effect the Jewish people. Each successive beast represents another empire until the last one is horrifying and ferocious. This beast represents the antichrist and was and is very familiar to the Christians.
In Daniel 7 “The fourth beast had ten horns, out of which grew another horn which was greater than its fellows (Dan. 7:20) and which “made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.” This “little horn” (Dan. 7:8) “shall speak words against the Most High and shall wear out the saints of the Most High …, and they shall be given into his hand for a time, two times, and half a time” (Dan. 7:25).”[1]
As an indication now as to the origin of the antichrist, pay attention to the fact that the beast comes up out of the abyss. We have already seen the abyss as the abode - as it were - of the demonic spirits. The antichrist is empowered by Satan Himself.
He makes war with them and overcomes them and kills them.
The antichrist at the end, according to Jesus in the Olivet discourse of Mark 13:20 will wage such destructive war against the Christians that very nearly none would survive. Persecution is increasing today, but in the tribulation period Christians will be dying en masse.
The corpses of our two witnesses will lie in the streets of Jerusalem. This is the height of disrespect. The names given to the city mystically are important but geographically we are told that it was where their Lord was crucified. That would be Jerusalem of course. But mystically there are other names.
Sodom of course is infamous for the rampant sin of homosexuality for which God destroyed them in judgement in the book of Genesis.
Egypt is historically known for it’s enslavement of Israel at the beginning. Both of these references take us back to the book of Genesis.
Just a few generations ago it would have been unthinkable to imagine a rebuilt Jerusalem over which the antichrist would exercise power. But since the second world war, Jerusalem is once again a dwelling place of Jews, and now is recognized - at least in America as the capital of Israel. But Israel, and Jerusalem today remains largely a secular place despite it’s religious history.
Nobody wants these guys buried - that would be to give them far too much dignity. For 3 1/2 days their dead bodies will lay in the street as the nations look on.
In grotesque celebration those living on the earth will rejoice and celebrate and send presents like it’s Christmas. “Happy we killed the prophets day! It’s the second day after killing those horrible prophets, I bought you a car to celebrate their death! Woo hoo!”
Their joy will be because these prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
And how did they do this tormenting? By preaching the word of God to them. People hate the gospel because they love their sin. And let us be honest with ourselves for just a moment. There is nothing that makes us more righteous than they. We love our sins as well. We can see that any time we talk about the old days and some sinful orneriness we took part in, and we chuckle about that sin rather than weeping because of it. Let your heart be broken by the sin that Jesus had to die for. Let us not grow arrogant, but shudder over our own hearts which too often think too lightly of our own sin.
God Raises His Servants V11-13
God Raises His Servants V11-13
3 1/2 days after being murdered by the beast, the breath of life from God comes into them. Everyone watching is filled with fear.
The imagery comes from Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. There Ezekiel is shown a valley of dry bones and in conversation with God ponders if they could ever live again, God commands his prophet to command them to return to life and the breath of life comes again to them and they stand. It is a promise for Ezekiel that God will indeed restore his beleaguered people Israel to their land and to their fellowship with God.
John’s vision seems to indicate God doing the same for his beleaguered church. Christians may die; but the resurrection is near. The resurrection of these two witnesses fills the people around the world who have been watching them with fear.
Then the people hear a loud voice from heaven. We assume God’s voice - saying “come up here.” And like Jesus leaving the mount of Olives they go up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watch them. We must assume that the beast also sees their departure. Their prophetic ministry has been justified and shown to be authentic.
Once again in Revelation, about that hour a great earthquake happens. 10% of the city falls, and seven thousand people die. All of the rest are terrified and give God glory.
Notice how very small and localized the numbers are by comparison to what we’ve been seeing.
But the result is not small at all. For the first time in Revelation, as we approach the very end - someone appears to repent!
the phrase that they gave glory to the God of heaven seems to indicate repentance as it does in 1 Peter 2:12.
1 Peter 2:12
The end result appears to be a long held promise of the salvation of many in Israel. This truly excites me as I remember the words of Paul in Romans 9-11 where he describes his unceasing anguish over the Israelites who had rejected their messiah - but who comes ultimately to the promise in Romans 11:25-27.
It seems that the two witnesses, at the end of the sixth trumpet cycle brings to pass this glorious moment when Israel, God’s people turn at last to their messiah.
Oh my Father may that day come to pass!
More is coming V14
More is coming V14
The passage ends by reminding us that we are in the midst of a triplet of woes that will fall upon the earth. The death and resurrection of the witnesses signals the end of the second woe and introduces the third. Two down one to go.
[1] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), 155–156.