God’s Final Testimony.
Revelation 11
The time is now drawing to a close, and Christ is about to set up His Kingdom. The Church having been caught up to glory, the Jews are once more the objects of God’s interest on earth.
“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein” (ch. 11:1).
A Jerusalem Remnant.
We see from this a recognition on God’s part of a remnant from amongst the inhabitants of Jerusalem. These are different from the sealed ones of Revelation 7. There the tribes scattered abroad were in view, here a narrower and more restricted sphere occupies the mind of the Spirit. As the brief interval between the rapture of the saints (1 Thess. 4) and the appearance of Christ in glory rapidly speeds its way, Jerusalem becomes more and more the focus of God’s dealings both in grace and judgment.
It is in Jerusalem that the power of evil will at that time be rampant, and there above all places on the earth will the difficulty of true and faithful testimony be experienced. But there will be a remnant even there who will worship God, and that, too, in a public manner. God will take special account of these; He will measure the place where they assemble to serve Him; He will measure those who worship. Not one will be lost sight of.
In Ezekiel (ch. 40) and Zechariah (ch. 2) the same action on God’s part is taken notice of, but that will be at a later date, when the Millennium itself will be set up. Consequently there, not the temple only, but the city of Jerusalem and the whole land of Palestine are measured out as God’s own Peculiar possession.
“But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty-and-two months” (vs. 2).
The Times of the Gentiles.
From this we learn that the times of the Gentiles have not yet ceased. Some have thought that when the Turks were driven out of Jerusalem and Palestine, and Great Britain received the Mandate, that then the times of the Gentiles came to an end. This is not so. The Church is still upon earth: Israel’s condition of Lo-ammi— “not My people”— still exists.
Though Great Britain has been used of God for the immediate deliverance of Palestine from Turkish oppression, yet she is a Gentile power. But this chapter anticipates the time when the Beast will be in possession of Jerusalem—a time which may be much nearer than many suppose.
Jehovah’s Hidden Ones.
At any rate here we see that the enemies of God and His people are in Jerusalem, and have access into the very court of the temple. As we have seen before, the Jewish remnant will at that time be the only witnesses for God on the earth. The Psalms make mention prophetically of these times. Psalms 74, for instance, shows that the enemy at that time will do “wickedly in the Sanctuary.” The heathen, that is the Gentiles, will be come into Palestine, the land of God’s inheritance (Psa. 79:11<<A Psalm of Asaph.>> O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. (Psalm 79:1)). They will defile God’s holy temple, which at that time, it seems, will have been rebuilt. The atheism and hatred of all religion which has already taken hold of large masses of the population of our own dear land, as well as other European countries, under the influence of Communism and Bolshevism will lead them to try and destroy those who worship the true God.
All over the land of Palestine they will burn up the synagogues, but God will take care that in Jerusalem, as well as elsewhere, in spite of reproach and blasphemy, a little feeble band of hidden ones will be preserved. Many will be slain, as Psalms 79. tells us; their blood will be shed like water round about Jerusalem. See also Psalms 83 But this time of oppression and persecution will be limited to forty-two months. It will be the time of the Great Tribulation.
The Beast from the Abyss.
We have elsewhere alluded to the remarkable prophecy of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9. We cannot here enlarge upon it, but would point out that these forty-two months are the second half of the last or seventieth week. Soon after the removal of the Church at the coming of the Lord a great power will arise, mentioned for the first time in this book in chapter 11:7. As all our readers are well aware this is now forcing itself upon the attention of the whole world. It is the revived Roman Empire which will be ruled by a prince of Satanic energy and power.
Another has written— “In anticipation of this dread concentration of evil, it may be well to remark that ‘beast’ as a symbol means an Imperial Power rather than an individual, although the directing power or head of such Empire, being an individual, would be called ‘beast’ also. The term ‘beast’ is used as indicating a power or a person totally devoid of conscience, and therefore amenable, without compunction of any kind, to Satanic influence. The world will fall under the cruel power of this scourge”— ―[Hartridge].
The Prince That Shall Come.
According to Daniel 9:27,27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27) this prince will confirm a covenant with the apostate portion of the Jewish people. Some have thought that this covenant was the new covenant made by Christ, but this is not so. We must not confound “Messiah the Prince” of verse 25, with “the Prince that shall come” of verse 26. This latter is the Roman Prince; he is the prince of the people that destroyed the city in A.D. 70.
“And he shall confirm a covenant with [the] many for one week”
At first, all goes well, the Jewish ritual and sacrifices are revived, but in the midst of the week this prince breaks his covenant with the Jewish people, and causes their sacrifices to cease. But those who in the midst of this abounding wickedness, really worshipped God, the remnant of “hidden ones” (Psa. 83:33They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. (Psalm 83:3)) now stand out boldly and publicly.
The Two Witnesses.
From amongst these, two individuals seem to stand forth more prominently than the rest.
They become the objects of Satan’s bitter and cruel persecution, and for forty-two months, or three and a half years (namely, the second half of this seventieth week) they have to bear the full brunt of his fury, and that of the enemies of God.
“And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth” (ver. 3)
Not only will there be the public worship of God on the part of the remnant, but there will also be a prophetic testimony. It will not be, as now, a testimony of grace to lost and ruined sinners, but of judgment soon to fall upon a guilty and apostate world. It will be a testimony borne in sorrow, for these witnesses are seen clothed in sackcloth. It will be a testimony adequate in degree, for there are two (Deut. 17:66At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. (Deuteronomy 17:6)). It will be a testimony that will continue throughout the whole period of the last half week, for 1260 days make 42 months or 31, years, the Jewish year containing 360 days.
God takes account of their faithful witness for Him, nor do they slacken or abate their active testimony for a single day during that awful period.
What we find then in the first three verses of our chapter is (1) a company of accepted Jewish worshippers, worshippers who have a priestly character, for they have access to the temple and the altar (no doubt the altar of incense); (2) the Holy City desecrated and given up to Gentile oppression (cf. Luke 21); and (3) at the same time adequate prophetic testimony.
The Two Olive Trees.
These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth” (vs. 41.
No doubt there is in this a reference to Zech. 4 This latter passage looks on prophetically to the time of Israel’s full blessing in their own land under Messiah’s presence and government. Rev. 11. is a partial pledge and foretaste of what will be enjoyed in its fullness during the Millennium.
It will be noticed that in Zech. 4:2 There is but one candlestick with seven lamps, signifying the perfect display of the Spirit’s power in Christ. There are two olive trees, symbolical of Christ’s twofold office in that day as Priest and King. At the time that Zechariah prophesied, Joshua and Zerubbabel were the two anointed ones who typically represented Christ in His millennial glory, the one as Priest (Joshua), the other as King (Zerubbabel). Likewise the two witnesses in Rev. 11. are a testimony in the midst of apostasy that all rule belongs to God—the earth is His, He is THE GOD OF THE EARTH. When Christ takes His power and reigns during the thousand years, this will all be seen in its perfect order, beauty and power.
God’s Final Testimony.
Verses 5 and 6 describe the character of the testimony of these two witnesses. As we have already seen it will be prophetic. It will be God’s last word of testimony to an apostate world. Christ will not yet have made good His power on earth. Though He will have come for His bride, the Church, and will have taken her to the Father’s house, He will not yet have returned to take His earthly Kingdom. But these two witnesses keep on day after day asserting His rights, and announcing the fact that He is coming to rule and put down all rebellion. This draws down upon them the bitter hatred of the world, at that time fully under Antichrist’s power.
“And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed”
“These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will” (vss. 5, 6).
It will be a dangerous thing to interfere with these witnesses. They will possess extraordinary God-given power in judgment. Not only fire from their mouths, but power like Moses to turn the waters into blood and to smite with plagues, and like Elijah to shut up heaven from rain. There is no limit to this power; they can smite the earth with plagues as often as they will; but this power will be exercised only in time of need, and that to maintain their testimony during the time appointed by God. There will be nothing vindictive about it, for it is borne in sorrow and sackcloth.
A Finished Testimony.
At length their testimony, though rejected, will be finished.
“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them” (vs. 7).
We must not suppose from this that the Beast only comes up from the pit at the moment that their testimony will be finished. We doubt not that the Beast had already been exercising his power for seven years, the full seventieth week of Dan. 9. It seems clear that only the last half of this week is reckoned in the Book of Revelation; and during this last half week, as we have seen, the two witnesses are prophesying continuously day by day.
But their testimony will be rendered in Jerusalem whereas the seat of the Beast is at Rome, the city of seven hills (cf. Rev. 17). The Beast is not Antichrist, though these two men will be in close league at this time. Antichrist will be at Jerusalem reigning as the false king of the apostate nation; the Beast will be at Rome, as chief of the revived Roman Empire. But tidings of the persistent prophetic witness to the coming King, accompanied by the miraculous powers of the world to come, at length so infuriate the Beast that he launches all his hell-born hatred against Christ at these His two witnesses. God’s time has come, their testimony is complete, they are slain.
“And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their (R.V.) Lord was crucified” (vs. 8).
This clearly shows that Jerusalem is the scene of the conflict—a very Sodom for its corruptions and moral wickedness, and an Egypt for its oppression of God’s little remnant.
But, oh, these will be awful times! Jerusalem will then be the great metropolis and meeting-place for the great and wealthy of all nations. Even today, where are the greatest hatred of Christ and scorn of His people to be found? Is it not amongst those whose lives of sin and shame are sternly rebuked by the Word of God? Add wealth and luxury to all this corruption, and no word: can describe the venomous hate that fills the breast a everything that would bring God and His claims before the mind.
Such people today scorn and scoff at all religion If they do not scoff they ignore it all, and so contrive to live their lives with no sound of the “hereafter” to trouble them.
But it will not be so in Jerusalem at that day.
Advent Testimony will not Cease with the Removal of the Church.
It will be heralded by a different band of witnesses—Jewish, not Christian. It will have a different character—not the coming of the Bridegroom for His bride, but the coming of the King to deliver His people, Israel, from their great tribulation under Antichrist—not the coming into the air for His saints (1 Thess. 4), but the coming to the Mount of Olives with His saints (Zech. 14).
The witnesses day by day will assert God’s claims, and announce the coming King.
Is it any wonder that they will be hated? What a relief when they are actually slain! One special class are full of delight.
“And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves.
“And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth” (vss. 9, 10).
Notice the difference between verse 9 and 10. “They that dwell upon the earth” are a class all by themselves; they are often mentioned in the Revelation, and we believe represent highly favored Christendom that during this day of grace keeps persistently rejecting all God’s offers of heaven. They choose the earth, and are therefore “earth dwellers,” not merely inhabitants of the earth. They had been specially tormented by the witness of these two prophets.
Can we not imagine that the removal of the Church, after the first panic is over, will be a relief to worldly minded Christendom. Quickly falling under Antichrist’s influence, they will settle down again to enjoy the intoxicating pleasures of sin. An immense impetus will at this time be given to commerce. Babylon the Great, with all her dazzling religious splendor, will make the earth-dwellers drunken from her golden cup filled with idolatry and corruption.
As there has been in ages past, so will there be during the brief period between the rapture and the return of Christ in judgment, only in far greater degree—the combination of religion and moral corruption called by the Spirit of holiness, “the depths of Satan.” When, lo I once again the witness goes forth.
Christ is Coming!
Coming, not this time to take the saints to heaven, but to take His great power and to reign. The earth-dwellers had thought that with the departure of the Church all such unwelcome sound had died away. What torment to their guilty consciences will result from this faithful testimony, and that, too, from the city where “our Lord was crucified!”
But when the tidings are flashed over Europe that these two witnesses are no more, that at length their lips are sealed in death, that their dead bodies are even lying unburied in the streets of Jerusalem, what unholy rejoicings! What hellish delight I what congratulatory sending of gifts one to another! But the triumph is shortlived.
“And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.”
“And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud: and their enemies beheld them” (vss. 11, 12).
God’s Chariot of Glory.
What dismay will fill the breasts of those who witness this special act of God’s power in public acknowledgment of His faithful witnesses? It is not exactly resurrection of the dead, nor is it the changing of the living, as at the coming of the Lord (1 Thess. 4). Spirit of life from God enters into them, and they stand upon their feet there in the very place where they had been slain, and before the eyes of the very men who had rejoiced at their death.
We are not told that the witnesses uttered one word. Their days of sackcloth prophesying were over. No voice of sorrowful testimony is now heard on earth, but a great voice from heaven,
“Come Up Hither,”
and two living men ascend to heaven in the cloud, God’s chariot of glory.
“And their enemies beheld them.” No merry-making now! no mocking at the messengers of God! This was too manifestly the hand of God’s power, too evidently a forerunner of greater woe.
“And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of names (R.V.) of men, seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven” (vs. 13).
But fear is not conversion; an earthquake will produce the one, but only submission to the testimony of God’s Word will produce the other. This testimony has been rejected. God’s claim to the earth had been refused. It was now too late to own Him as the God of heaven. True repentance and conversion are evidenced by submission to and reception of God’s testimony of the special time. Jerusalem, recently visited by an earthquake more severe than any known since its destruction under Titus in A.D. 70, will be the scene of the awe-inspiring occurrences described in this chapter. This does not mean that there will not be at the same time circumstances of as great terror taking place in other parts of the earth. Later on in this book we shall see that such is the case, but here the great city is Jerusalem. A tenth part of it lies in ruins, and seven thousand whose very names are known to God are slain.
The rest are affrighted, as well they may be, and in order to save themselves, still unrepentant and ignorant of God’s Word, endeavor to claim a relationship in which He no longer stood to this poor world. The God of heaven had ere this withdrawn from all such links with the earth.
THE SECOND WOE IS PAST: AND BEHOLD, THE THIRD WOE COMETH QUICKLY.