V.1-2 A little preparation for the future for those believing Jews who will continue on into the millennium. Keep your eye on your chart. These chapters so far, are all about the first half of the 7 years.
V.2 Forty-two months is 3½ years. This refers to the last half of those 7 years. And this, properly speaking, is the tribulation period — not the whole 7 years. For in the first half, the antichrist is pretending he is the Messiah.
V.3-13 God has power on earth. So these two witnesses, who prophesy in Jerusalem, show us this. 1,260 days refers to the 3½ years. But they are killed. It looks as if God’s power is gone; this world doesn’t change. The Roman power leaves their dead bodies on the streets to show its victory (v. 8). When suddenly these bodies come back to life and are taken up to heaven! Then follow more catastrophes. This ends the parenthesis from Revelation 10:11And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: (Revelation 10:1).
The first signs of the millennium start to appear.
V.14-18 At long last the Lord Jesus begins to take His power over the earth.
V.15-17 “In heaven” who would these people be? Us; those who have put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We will give thanks to the Lord God Almighty! What a day is coming!
V.18 This verse ends the general history or story of the book. From here on, certain details are taken up, one by one. The time when the dead will be judged is announced. It does not mean that they are judged at this time.