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Revelation 11

KJV · Chapter 11/22

1And 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.

2But 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.

3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

4These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

5And 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.

6These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

7And 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.

8And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9And 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 in graves.

10And 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.

11And 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.

12And 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.

13And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

15And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

16And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

17Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

19And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

John measures the temple of God and describes two prophetic witnesses who preach dressed in sackcloth for 1,260 days, are killed by the beast, but are then raised to life and taken up to heaven in full view of everyone. The seventh trumpet finally sounds, announcing that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of God and of his Christ.

Explanation

The 'two witnesses,' with power to shut up the sky like Elijah and turn water into blood like Moses, likely represent the faithful prophetic witness of the church amid persecution, more than two specific literal historical figures, though this is debated among interpreters. The number 1,260 days (equivalent to three and a half years, or 'a time, times, and half a time') appears repeatedly in this book and in Daniel, symbolically representing a period of intense persecution that is nonetheless limited and controlled by God. The chapter's climax, with the seventh trumpet announcing that 'the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,' is one of the most celebrated verses in the book, inspiring Handel's famous 'Hallelujah' chorus. Today's practical application is that faithful witness, even at the cost of persecution and apparent defeat, will in the end be publicly vindicated by God.

Fun facts

  • Verse 11:15, 'the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,' is the direct textual basis for the famous 'Hallelujah' chorus from George Frideric Handel's 'Messiah,' one of the most performed choral works in the history of classical music.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Revelation 11:1Measuring with a rod was, since the book of Ezekiel, a way of marking something as belonging to God and protected, unlike the outer court, which is left exposed without that protection.
  2. Revelation 11:2Excluding the outer court of the temple and handing it over to the nations for “forty and two months” repeats the same period of three and a half years (half of seven) used elsewhere in the book to mark a limited time of suffering.
  3. Revelation 11:3A thousand two hundred and threescore days equal three and a half years, half of seven, a ‘broken’ number the book uses several times to mark a limited period of hardship, not an exact calendar count.
  4. Revelation 11:4This image comes from the prophet Zechariah, who originally spoke of the king and the priest of his own time. Here it is reused to describe two witnesses with powers similar to those of Moses, who turned water into blood, and Elijah, who stopped the rain - the two great prophetic figures of the Old Testament.
  5. Revelation 11:5The image of fire coming out of the mouth to destroy enemies echoes the prophet Elijah, who brought fire down from heaven upon his adversaries, one of several parallels linking these two witnesses to Old Testament prophetic figures.
  6. Revelation 11:6The power to shut up the sky so it does not rain directly recalls Elijah, who brought about a prolonged drought; the power to turn waters into blood and bring plagues recalls Moses in Egypt - the two witnesses seem to combine features of Israel's two greatest prophetic figures.
  7. Revelation 11:7This introduces for the first time “the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit,” a character who will only be detailed more fully in chapter 13; here it appears defeating the two witnesses after their mission is complete.
  8. Revelation 11:8The text warns that it is using nicknames, not real place names: Sodom, from Genesis, a symbol of wickedness, and Egypt, from Exodus, a symbol of oppression, describe a city hostile to the people of God, without pointing to a specific city from John's own time.
  9. Revelation 11:9Leaving bodies unburied was considered a great dishonor in the ancient world; the scene describes people from everywhere celebrating this humiliation for three and a half days, the same symbolic number used before.
  10. Revelation 11:10The reaction of joy and exchanging gifts is a reversal of the mourning expected in the face of a death, showing just how much the uncomfortable message of these two witnesses had irritated those who lived on the earth.
  11. Revelation 11:11This resurrection scene, with the same “spirit of life” reviving the bodies, directly echoes the vision of the dry bones of the prophet Ezekiel, which also suddenly come to life.
  12. Revelation 11:12The invitation “Come up hither” and the ascent in a cloud, in full view of their own enemies, reinforces the complete reversal of the scene: from humiliated to publicly vindicated.
  13. Revelation 11:13An immediate earthquake causes partial destruction in the city and unexpectedly leads the survivors to give glory to God, a rare moment in the book where fear leads to divine recognition instead of resistance.
  14. Revelation 11:14This marks the end of the second “woe” in the sequence begun in chapter 9, warning that the third and final one is near.
  15. Revelation 11:15This declaration echoes the language of the book of Daniel about a kingdom of God that would replace all human empires, one of the central points of the whole narrative of Revelation.
  16. Revelation 11:16The twenty-four elders, already introduced in chapters 4 and 5, repeat the same gesture of falling down and worshiping before God.
  17. Revelation 11:17The song of thanksgiving marks a subtle shift from the greeting in chapter 1: there God was “which is, and which was, and which is to come”; here, since He has already taken up power and begun to reign, the phrase “which is to come” drops away.
  18. Revelation 11:18This sums up several themes of the book in a single sentence: the wrath of the nations, God's wrath in response, the judgment of the dead, the reward of the faithful, and the destruction of those who destroy the earth.
  19. Revelation 11:19Jewish tradition held that the Ark of the Covenant had been hidden away before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Showing it again, now in the heavenly temple, is a way of saying that God's covenant with His people still stands.

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