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)?