Revelation 11:7-14

Last time, we introduced the two men known as The Two Witnesses in the last days, as those who will have the abilities of Moses and Elijah to visit the earth with draughts and plagues as often as they want for about a three-and-a-half-year period. There is some debate as to just when that time occurs, but we will cross that bridge if we come to it.

In the text this evening, we read about how the Lord uses them and where (a very specific place that we can figure out). They have a very unique story, and it is told here in the text order.

I broke the text down as follows:

KV9: The depths to which mankind has fallen

7-10: The two witnesses are slain and left where they fall

11-14: The two witnesses also are raised from the dead…

Here there are hints as to how depraved mankind will become. There is no mercy or courtesy extended to these murdered men. Throughout history it has been a common practice for someone to see to it that the dead are given a decent burial. Even our Lord Jesus was loaned a tomb for three days. These men are left where they are murdered by the great beast, the Antichrist, the man of sin, that son of destruction, whatever way you may wish to identify him. Then God acts, and people are rightly terrified. Let’s get into the text here and see what the Lord said to John so we his servants would know.

KV9: The depths to which mankind has fallen

9: 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.

Men have somehow forgotten common decency at this point. Back where I grew up, when a man fell down, you either went to help him up or you saw to it his remains were taken care of. We can now see the depths of depravity that is really in mankind now that that “restrainer” (the Holy Spirit in us, the real church) is taken out of the way. I drive about 20-25 minutes one way in traffic from here to Kanata, where I work in a Carpet store. I can see common grace retreating a little more every time I drive, because of radical depravity among other things. Whatever you may think about John Calvin and his “doctrines of grace,” very few will deny radical depravity in the hearts of humans. This will be far worse than that. Because the majority of people will have given themselves over to the Antichrist, they will stand by and watch these men murdered, and then let them rot where they fell. Let’s get into the text.

7-10: The two witnesses are slain and left where they fall

Why do I say that? Because that is what happens in the text. We will see as we go through this, the murder of these two men and their subsequent resurrection and ascension to heaven by invitation. Let’s just dig right in.

7: 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.

The “they” who finish their witness (μαρτυρίαν from the text), it says here that the “beast” comes up out of the ἀβύσσου (again, from the text, meaning “the depths”) and will make war with these two witnesses, prevail, and kill them.
They are beaten in some kind of battle (Gk., πόλεμον, fight or battle) and killed by the bad guy. WHAAAAT? Hey, that’s what it says here. We do not always get to win all the battles. Case in point, some of you have known I was the interim pastor of Delta Baptist Church in December. The members there, through some political machinations that were decidedly not from heaven, voted to close that church on March 31 of this year. We did not win that battle. The Lord decided that this would fit into His plans for that community better. Interestingly, the people who were actually attending every week wanted to remain open. Like this, they were as a congregation murdered and left to their own devices as individuals. I could say more, and maybe I will as we go on this evening.
The point here is that unexplainable things can happen as we walk with Christ. These things also are God’s will, and someday we will be gifted with a full or perhaps fuller understanding of events then. These men, who were from the context in our last study, those who witnessed to Christ for His purposes, were allowed to be killed. Moving further into our text:

8: 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.

Remember how Paul told King Agrippa that the things he had done were not done in a corner, that is in secret? This will also be the case here. They will be killed, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the city. What city? It does not say directly, but if I were to make an educated guess on what the verse says, It has been spiritually called Sodom, the place where men went after unnatural strangeness, and Egypt, always a type of the hell-energized world and its systems of death because of sin, could literally be anywhere. It is the phrase, “where also our Lord was crucified,” that tells us that this is none other than the city of Jerusalem.
How normal is it to let bodies lie in the street? Today, not at all. During this era of the grace of Christ on all men, we take care of those who can no longer take care of themselves. If I were found murdered, would they just let me rot where they found me? I do not think they would. They would at least put me in a grave or cremate me. These men will not be afforded that courtesy. However, they won’t need it.

9: 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.

To repeat what I said just in the previous verse, these men will not be afforded the courtesy of a proper disposal. The men of the earth (from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations) will simply let them lie there for three-and-a-half days. They will not let their bodies be laid in a tomb. I know a great group of Christians that have been left to their own devices. The difference is that they as a body are not dead. There is a work afoot to take over the building and simply rename the church, living on in the same place where some in anger tried to commit corporate murder. It may work, too, but we will have to wait until after March 31 to find out. These men also will not be left without assistance.

10: 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.

The people who dwell on the earth at this time will rejoice that the plagues have been stopped and that these men will not trouble the earth in this way again, because if you think about what has just happened, the god of this world has dealt (wrongly) with them, and that for them will be reason to celebrate.
On the sending of gifts to one another, this may be indicative of the time of year it occurs. Not Christmas, this being Jerusalem, but Purim, another time where the Jews celebrated and exchanged gifts with each other. It may be possible that this can all be worked out on the Dead Sea Scrolls Calendar, and a young gent by the name of Josh Peck has tried to do just that. You can find all of his stuff at dailyrenegade.com, and I will try to remember to leave that link in the description below the video.
Why is everyone glad they are gone? Because their torment (plagues and draughts, remember) of the earth has been stopped, and the text is clear this is the reason for the exchanging of the gifts. The Greek word ὅτι [hoti] meaning for this reason or because is the word used here. Does that mean that bit about Purim is false? No, it means I’m trying to present logical options.

What you have to remember is that we don’t just make up theories that fit the text, or worse, make the theory fit the text. It should be our design to understand what the passage says, and nothing else. We know there will be two witnesses that will confront the world in Jerusalem, and we know that they will be killed by the Antichrist. This is not all we know, because there is more to come about them, and we will learn it directly.

11-14: The two witnesses also are raised from the dead…

Let’s just get into the text, I don’t want to blow it more than my outline title already has: They are raised from the dead. What? Yes, they are resurrected.

11: 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.

Interestingly, after the three-and-a-half days. Why is there a definite article here? We don’t use that in English! It turns out that they do in Greek, because it is a specific three-and-a-half days. It’s like in John 1:1 when it says and the Word was God. In Greek, because it was specific to God, a definite article was used rather than not using an article, which would be in Greek an indefinite article. It is these three-and-a-half days, and not three-and-a-half days at some other time.
The breath of life of God. The Greek here is pnemas zoes. Does that mean the Holy Spirit came upon them or that they started breathing again? Well, if you ask me, the answer is yes. God raised these two men to newness of life for His own purposes.
They stood on their feet. Not as zombies, as those whom God has now raised from the dead, as I said, to newness of life. What would you think if you saw something like this? Would you be surprised? I bet the ones looking on would be, especially the Antichrist if he is watching. He had killed them! And here they were, standing, together again at the will of the God Whom you are fighting against. Against YOUR OWN will. I’m starting to hear in my ears that Rolling Stones song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want…”

12: 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.

These men heard a loud voice from heaven telling them to come to Heaven. Did anyone else hear more than Thunder? I do not know, but these two did, and they obeyed, right in front of their enemies. Someday, I look forward to hearing that cry in the darkness even if it is the middle of the afternoon. I long to answer it like these men will answer it at this event that is in our collective future. I trust you all do as well. I look forward to that even if I have died. It is the voice of the living God calling you to obey! How could we not? I know this isn’t the same harpazo event, but it is still that kind of event, as these two witnesses are rescued from the midst of their enemies, just as we will be rescued from this present evil age. What does death mean in this light? It means those who have died in Christ get to go first. And our enemies may see us as well as we ascend at the invitation of God to join Him forever. That’s what these men are doing, with their ministry on Earth all finished, God is inviting them to join Him for the rest of eternity to work for Him there. That’s what I am looking forward to!

13: 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.

After these men had gone up to heaven, that very hour, there was a great earthquake. Now this one is not that great age-ending earthquake, I see this one as a little more local than that one. Still, it is a significant quake if it destroys a tenth of the city and kills seven thousand people. This seems on par with the kind of quakes that levelled those cities in Turkey a couple of years ago. Those who were not killed became terrified, and here is the key activity, they gave glory to the God of Heaven, or gave glory to God in Heaven. Why? Because of the connection with the resurrection and rapture of the two witnesses right in front of their enemies.

14: The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

This is a transitional verse telling us what is past, and setting the stage for what is coming next, in this case the sounding of the 7th trumpet in the next verse.

This isn’t supposed to be a treatise on the rapture, but it kind of is. These two men were faithful witnesses for Christ on Earth, and at the end of their work here, they were rescued from this present evil age. A verse is appropriate here. Galatians 1:3-4 read, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.” Can we really say this was anything other than that rescue for these two faithful men?

What I think we can take away from these two witnesses is that they are no different from us (other than the God-given abilities they have over these curses, their gifts for serving the Lord if you will), and we will not be made complete or perfect (telios) apart from them, just like the writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11:39-40. (And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.)

My application is to stand for Christ no matter what happens to me, knowing that in the end, He will rescue me from all of this benighted nonsense we face today.