Revelationchapter 11

A.Measure the Temple: Two Witnesses in Sackclothvv. 1-6

1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. 2 But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. 6 These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

B.Bodies in the Street, Then Breath From Godvv. 7-14

7 When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified. 9 For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them, and will celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them. 11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them. 12 And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them. 13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly.

C.The Seventh Trumpet: The Kingdom Has Become Hisvv. 15-19

15 Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give thanks to You, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. 18 The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead and to reward Your servants the prophets, as well as the saints and those who fear Your name, both small and great—and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

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John is given a reed and told to measure the temple and the altar, but to leave out the court without, 'for it hath been given unto the nations: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months': the three and a half years that govern the middle of the book. Two witnesses prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days in sackcloth: 'these are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks' (Zechariah 4), with power to shut the heaven that it rain not: Elijah and Moses plainly behind them. Then 'the beast that cometh up out of the abyss,' here first named, kills them, and their bodies lie in the street until the breath of life from God enters them. The seventh trumpet announces the outcome in advance: 'The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ' (11:15).

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament.

Context

Apocalyptic · John — Revelation overview

A. 1–6 Measure the Temple: Two Witnesses in Sackcloth
B. 7–14 Bodies in the Street, Then Breath From God
C. 15–19 The Seventh Trumpet: The Kingdom Has Become His

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Daniel 73 verses
- Daniel 7:14And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
- Daniel 7:25He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.
- Daniel 7:27Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey Him.’
- Read Daniel 7 →
Revelation 43 verses
- Revelation 4:1After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.”
- Revelation 4:4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads.
- Revelation 4:10the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
- Read Revelation 4 →
Revelation 122 verses
- Revelation 12:6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.
- Revelation 12:10And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God.
- Read Revelation 12 →
Zechariah 42 verses
- Zechariah 4:2“What do you see?” he asked. “I see a solid gold lampstand,” I replied, “with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven spouts to the lamps.
- Zechariah 4:11Then I asked the angel, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?”
- Read Zechariah 4 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Romans 82 verses
- Romans 8:2For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
- Romans 8:11And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.
- Read Romans 8 →
Revelation 62 verses
- Revelation 6:10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
- Revelation 6:12And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red,
- Read Revelation 6 →
Revelation 152 verses
- Revelation 15:1Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed.
- Revelation 15:5After this I looked, and the temple—the tabernacle of the Testimony—was opened in heaven.
- Read Revelation 15 →
Revelation 162 verses
- Revelation 16:5And I heard the angel of the waters say: “Righteous are You, O Holy One, who is and was, because You have brought these judgments.
- Revelation 16:21And great hailstones weighing almost a hundred pounds each rained down on them from above. And men cursed God for the plague of hail, because it was so horrendous.
- Read Revelation 16 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.