Revelationchapter 11
19 verses · John, by tradition · AD 95 or 96 · Revelation
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.”
Introduction
John, by tradition, Revelation, Revelation Overview.
The apostle John wrote this book on Patmos to seven churches in the province of Asia, and he meant it to be read aloud. This chapter closes a pause in the trumpet judgments that began in chapter 10. Its first hearers knew the temple from Scripture and from memory, and they knew Moses, Elijah and Zechariah's lampstand. Listen for the numbered spans of time and for who is given power and for how long. Listen also for the change of voice when the last trumpet sounds and heaven begins to sing. Read it as the hinge between the trumpets and the visions of the dragon and the beasts.
Context
- Who
- Christians who had watched the Jerusalem temple burn, or heard about it from those who had
- What
- The measuring of the temple, the ministry, death and rising of the two witnesses, and the seventh trumpet with the elders' song of the kingdom.
- Where
- Written on the island of Patmos for the seven churches of Asia, with the vision moving between the holy city on earth and the temple of God in heaven.
- When
- About AD 95 under the emperor Domitian, the date most often given, while others hold an earlier date under Nero, about AD 68.
- Why
- To show that God keeps a witness on the earth through the worst of the judgments, and that the seventh trumpet brings the reign of Christ over the world.
Historical context
John is given a reed and told to measure the temple, the altar, and the worshipers, but to leave out the outer court because it is given to the nations, who will trample the holy city for forty-two months. Measuring in the prophets is a way of marking off what belongs to God and will be preserved.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The forty-two months, and the 1,260 days that follow, are the same span counted two ways, three and a half years, the same period Daniel gives as "a time, times, and half a time." That length had become shorthand for a bounded season of persecution.
The two witnesses prophesy in sackcloth and have power to shut heaven and to turn water to blood, the signature miracles of Elijah and Moses. They are killed, and their bodies lie in the street of the great city for three and a half days while people from all nations look at them and celebrate and send each other gifts. Leaving a corpse unburied was, in that culture, the deepest humiliation available.
The city is called "spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified", a description that points at Jerusalem while refusing to flatter it.
Then breath from God enters them, they stand, and they go up in a cloud while their enemies watch. The seventh trumpet sounds and heaven declares that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
Significance
This chapter admits the thing believers most feared: that faithful witnesses can be silenced and left in the street while the world throws a party. It does not deny the defeat. It puts a time limit on it, three and a half days.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And the seventh trumpet gave them the sentence they were waiting for. Not "will become" someday in a vague fog, but announced in the past tense in heaven while Rome still stood: the kingdom has changed hands.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Measure the Temple: Two Witnesses in Sackcloth
Revelation 11:1-2
measure the temple of God: John is told to measure the temple of God and the altar, but to leave the outer court to the nations for 42 months. Some read a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, others the true worshipers marked off, and the 42 months equal the 1,260 days of verse 3.
Revelation 11:1
“And there was given me - He does not say by whom, but the connection would seem to imply that it was by the angel. All this is of course to be regarded as symbolical. The representation undoubtedly pertains to a future age, but the language is such as would be properly addressed to one who had been a Jew, and the imagery employed is such as he would be more likely to understand than any other.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Revelation 11:1
“Ezekiel's prophecy was not fulfilled at the return from the Babylonish captivity.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 11:1
“Heb 1:8, Greek, "a rod of straightness," English Version, "a scepter of righteousness"; this is added to guard against it being thought that the reed was one "shaken by the wind" In the abrupt style of the Apocalypse, "saying" is possibly indefinite, put for "one said." Still WORDSWORTH'S view agrees best with Greek.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
exclude the courtyard outside the temple: The courtyard left unmeasured was the outer court, which John Wesley notes stood open to the heathen who worshipped the God of Israel. Hippolytus counts the forty-two months as the half week of Daniel 9:27, when the sacrifice ceases. Adam Clarke reads the Roman destruction of the temple here.
Revelation 11:2
“But the court - is given unto the Gentiles - The measuring of the temple probably refers to its approaching destruction, and the termination of the whole Levitical service; and this we find was to be done by the Gentiles, (Romans), who were to tread it down forty-two months; i.e., just three years and a half, or twelve hundred and sixty days. This must be a symbolical period.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:2
“As all things are there so largely described, St. John is shorter and refers thereto. But the court which is without the temple - The old temple had a court in the open air, for the heathens who worshipped the God of Israel.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 11:2
“Many will own and acknowledge Christ in times of prosperity who will desert and deny him in times of persecution; one witness, when the cause is upon trial, is worth many at other times. It is a sufficient number; for in the mouth of two witnesses every cause shall be established. Christ sent out his disciples two by two, to preach the gospel.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 11:3-4
I will empower my two witnesses: The two witnesses prophesy for 1,260 days, and verse 4 names them the two olive trees and the two lampstands of Zechariah 4. They are read as Moses and Elijah, as Enoch and Elijah, or as the witnessing church, and two meets the rule of Deuteronomy 19:15.
Revelation 11:3
“I will give power--There is no "power" in the Greek, so that "give" must mean "give commission," or some such word. my two witnesses--Greek, "the two witnesses of me." The article implies that the two were well known at least to John. prophesy--preach under the inspiration of the Spirit, denouncing judgments against the apostate.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 11:3
“Enoch no doubt was translated, and so was Elijah; nor did they experience death: it was postponed, (and only postponed, ) most certainly: they are reserved for the suffering of death, that by their blood they may extinguish Antichrist. Even John underwent death, although concerning him there had prevailed an ungrounded expectation that he would remain alive until the coming of the Lord.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · A Treatise on the Soulpatristic
the two olive trees: Zechariah saw one lampstand and two olive trees. John sees two lampstands, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read them as light-bearers who stand for the church in a time of apostasy. Hippolytus sets the pair beside Malachi 4:5, where Elijah comes before the great day of the Lord.
Revelation 11:4
“The phrase alludes to Zec 4:10, 14, "the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." The article "the" marks this allusion. They are "the two candlesticks," not that they are the Church, the one candlestick, but as its representative light-bearers (Greek, "phosteres," Php 2:15), and ministering for its encouragement in a time of apostasy.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:4
It is a matter of course that His forerunners must appear first, as He says by Malachi and the angel, "I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before the day of the Lord, the great and notable day, comes; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, lest I come and smite the earth utterly."
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Hippolytus Dogmatical and Historical Fragmentspatristic
Revelation 11:4
“These are the two olive trees - Mentioned Zec 4:14, which there represent Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest. The whole account seems taken from Zec 4:1-14. Whether the prophet and the apostle mean the same things by these emblems, we know not.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
ConnectionsZechariah 4:3
Revelation 11:5-6
fire proceeds from their mouths: When anyone would harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies, as fire fell on Elijah's captains in 2 Kings 1. They can shut the sky so that no rain will fall, as Elijah did, and turn the waters into blood, as Moses did.
Revelation 11:5
"If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies." That fire proceedeth out of the mouth of those prophets against the adversaries, bespeaks the power of the world. For all afflictions, however many there are, shall be sent by their messengers in their word. Many think that there is Elisha, or Moses, with Elijah; but both of these died; while the death of Elijah is not heard of, with whom all our ancients have believed that it was Jeremiah.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
power to shut the sky: Adam Clarke traces the two powers to their sources, Elijah's closed sky in 1 Kings 17 and the Nile turned to blood in Exodus 7. Elijah's drought ran three years and six months by Luke 4:25 and James 5:17. That is the span of these witnesses' 1,260 days.
Revelation 11:6
“These have power to shut heaven - As Elijah did, 1 Kings 17:1-18:46. To turn them to blood - As Moses did, Exo 7:19-25. They shall have power to afflict the land with plagues, similar to those which were inflicted on the Egyptians.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Bodies in the Street, Then Breath From God
Revelation 11:7-8
the beast that comes up: When their testimony ends, the beast that comes up from the Abyss kills them, appearing before chapter 13 describes him. Their bodies lie in the street of the great city, figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified, most naturally Jerusalem.
Revelation 11:7
“Shall make war with them - It is at his last ascent, not out of the sea, but the bottomless pit, that the beast makes war upon the two witnesses. And even hereby is fixed the time of "treading the holy city," and of the "two witnesses." That time ends after the ascent of the beast out of the abyss, and yet before the fulfilling of the mystery.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:7
“And when they shall have finished their testimony - Prof. Stuart renders this, “And whenever they shall have finished their testimony.” The reference is undoubtedly to a period when they should have faithfully borne the testimony which they were appointed to bear. The word rendered here “shall have finished” - τελέσωσιν telesōsin, from τελέω teleō means properly to end, to finish, to complete, to accomplish.”
Revelation 11:7
“It is a proof of the unity that pervades all Scripture. make war against them--alluding to Da 7:21, where the same is said of the little horn that sprang up among the ten horns on the fourth beast.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Victorinus reads the great city as Jerusalem, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that Isaiah 1:10 already called the rulers of Jerusalem rulers of Sodom. John Gill answers that this book calls Rome the great city, so he reads Rome here. Adam Clarke leaves the question open.
Revelation 11:8
"And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt." But He calls Jerusalem Sodom and Egypt, since it had become the heaping up of the persecuting people. Therefore it behoves us diligently, and with the utmost care, to follow the prophetic announcement, and to understand what the Spirit from the Father both announces and anticipates, and how, when He has gone forward to the last times, He again repeats the former ones.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:8
“The great city - Some say Rome, which may be spiritually called Sodom for its abominations, Egypt for its tyrannous cruelty, and the place where our Lord was crucified, because of its persecution of the members of Christ; but Jerusalem itself may be intended. All these things I must leave to others.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Revelation 11:8
“It must, therefore, have an anticipatory reference to the mystical Babylon. which--Greek, "the which," namely, "the city which." spiritually--in a spiritual sense. Sodom--The very term applied by Isa 1:10 to apostate Jerusalem (compare Eze 16:48). Egypt--the nation which the Jews' besetting sin was to lean upon. where . . .”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 11:9-10
will view their bodies: For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and refuse them a tomb. Those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them and send one another gifts, glad that the prophets who had tormented them are silenced.
Revelation 11:9
“And they of the people - Some of the people; a part of the people - ἐκ τῶν λαῶν ek tōn laōn. The language is such as would be employed to describe a scene where a considerable portion of a company of people should be referred to, without intending to include all. The essential idea is, that there would be an assemblage of different classes of people to whom their carcasses would be exposed, and that they would come and look upon them.”
send one another gifts: Adam Clarke points to Esther 9:19 and 22, where the Jews kept Purim by sending gifts to one another. Here the earth keeps its own feast over the dead. Matthew Henry names the torment as a wounded conscience, stirred by the witnesses' doctrine and example.
Revelation 11:10
“Shall send gifts - This was a custom in days of public rejoicing. They sent gifts to each other, and gave portions to the poor. See Est 9:19, Est 9:22.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:10
“They were glad to be rid of these witnesses, who by their doctrine and example had teased, terrified, and tormented the consciences of their enemies; these spiritual weapons cut wicked men to the heart, and fill them with the greatest rage and malice against the faithful. The resurrection of these witnesses, and the consequences thereof.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 11:10
“Fanaticism shall lead Antichrist's followers to exult in having at last seemingly silenced in death their Christian rebukers. Like her Lord, the Church will have her dark passion week followed by the bright resurrection morn.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 11:11-12
the breath of life from God: Then the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and great fear fell upon those who saw them. They rise in a cloud as their enemies watched them, as Christ rose in Acts 1:9 and the church will in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
Revelation 11:11
“And after three days and a half,.... When it was certain they were dead, and all hope of reviving was over; see Joh 11:39; that is, three years and a half: the spirit of life from God entered into them; this phrase is expressive of a resurrection the Jews frequently call the general resurrection תחייה, "a quickening", and have the very phrase here used; for, speaking of the resurrection, they say (u), רוחא דחיי, "the spirit of life" does not dwell but in the holy land.”
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:11
“And after three days and an half - See the notes on Rev 11:9. The Spirit of life from God - The living, or life-giving Spirit that proceeds from God entered into them. Compare the notes on Job 33:4. There is evidently allusion here to Gen 2:7, where God is spoken of as the Author of life. The meaning is, that they would seem to come to life again, or that effects would follow as if the dead were restored to life.”
Revelation 11:11
“Translate as Greek, "After the three days and an half." the Spirit of life--the same which breathed life into Israel's dry bones, Eze 37:10, 11 (see on Eze 37:10, 11), "Breath came into them." The passage here, as there, is closely connected with Israel's restoration as a nation to political and religious life.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 11:11
“Here may be a reference to the resurrection of Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Or there may be a reference to the resurrection of Lazarus on the fourth day, when they thought it impossible.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
they went up to heaven in a cloud: The witnesses hear Come up here, the call John heard at 4:1, and went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them. Albert Barnes sets the cloud beside Elijah's going up in 2 Kings 2.
Revelation 11:12
“The Church caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and transfigured in body, is justified by her Lord before the world, even as the man-child (Jesus) was "caught up unto God and His throne" from before the dragon standing ready to devour the woman's child as soon as born.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
there was a great earthquake: At once there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed, and Seven thousand were killed. The rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven, the one place in the judgments where survivors give glory.
Revelation 11:13
“And the same hour - In immediate connection with their triumph. Was there a great earthquake - “An earthquake is a symbol of commotion, agitation, change; of great political revolutions, etc. See the notes on Rev 6:12. The meaning here is, that the triumph of the witnesses, represented by their ascending to heaven, would be followed by such revolutions as would be properly symbolized by an earthquake. And the tenth part of the city fell - That is, the tenth part of that which is represented by the “city” - the persecuting power.”
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 11:13
“When the whole multitude gives glory to the God of heaven, then that "treading of the holy city" ceases. This is the point so long aimed at, the desired "fulfilling of the mystery of God," when the divine promises are so richly fulfilled on those who have gone through so great afflictions.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
The second woe has passed: , closing the sixth trumpet that began at 9:13 and the interlude of 10:1 to 11:13. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly, and the seventh trumpet sounds in the next verse.
Revelation 11:14
“The seconds wo is past - That which took place under the sixth trumpet, and has been already described. The third wo cometh - Is about to be described under the seventh trumpet, which the angel is now prepared to sound. Of the three woes which were denounced, Rev 8:13, the first is described, Rev 9:1-12; the second, Rev 9:13-21. These woes are supposed by many learned men to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem. The first wo - the seditions among the Jews themselves. The second wo - the besieging of the city by the Romans.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:14
“The second woe is past,.... Not in John's time, only in a visionary way; the meaning is, that the second woe trumpet, which is the sixth, will now have done sounding, when the four angels, bound in the river Euphrates, shall have been loosed, and they, with their horsemen, shall have done what they were designed to do; when the two witnesses shall have been slain, and are raised again, and ascended to heaven; and the things attending, or following thereon, as the earthquake, and slaughter, and the conversions of men, are accomplished.”
Revelation 11:14
“Instead of the third woe being detailed, the grand consummation is summarily noticed, the thanksgiving of the twenty-four elders in heaven for the establishment of Christ's kingdom on earth, attended with the destruction of the destroyers of the earth.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The Seventh Trumpet: The Kingdom Has Become His
Heaven says, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, spoken as done before chapters 12 to 19 tell it. He will reign forever and ever answers Daniel 7:14 and the nations promised in Psalm 2:8.
Revelation 11:15
“Evidently "the LAST trumpet." Six is close to seven, but does not reach it. The world judgments are complete in six, but by the fulfilment of seven the world kingdoms become Christ's. Six is the number of the world given over to judgment.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 11:15
“And of his Christ - This appellation is now first given him, since the introduction of the book, on the mention of the kingdom devolving upon him, under the seventh trumpet. Prophets and priests were anointed, but more especially kings: whence that term, the anointed, is applied only to a king. Accordingly, whenever the Messiah is mentioned in scripture, his kingdom is implied.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
ConnectionsRevelation 22:5
Revelation 11:16-17
the twenty-four elders who sit: The elders thank God as the One who is and who was, without the future clause of 1:4 and 4:8, for His coming has arrived. They give thanks that You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
Revelation 11:16
“And the four and twenty elders which sat ... - See the notes on Rev 4:4. Fell upon their faces, and worshipped God - Prostrated themselves before him - the usual form of profound adoration. See the notes on Rev 5:8-14.”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:16
“Here again he says that the holy angels and those who live as do the angels send a hymn of thanksgiving to God, because for our sake he has become worthy to receive as man that kingdom that as God he possessed from the beginning.”
Andreas of Caesarea · written before 614 · Commentary on the Apocalypse 11:15-18patristic
Revelation 11:16
“The four and twenty elders - The representatives of the universal Church of Christ. See on Rev 5:8-10 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
have begun to reign: The elders thank God that You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign, a power always His now taken up. Verse 18 then unfolds the reign in the judgment of the dead and the reward of His servants.
Revelation 11:17
“The consummation having actually come, they do not address Him as they did when it was still future, "Thou that art to come." Compare Re 11:18, "is come." From the sounding of the seventh trumpet He is to His people JAH, the ever present Lord, WHO IS, more peculiarly than JEHOVAH "who is, was, and is to come." taken to thee thy great power--"to Thee" is not in the Greek.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The nations were enraged: , and Your wrath has come, the rage and the answer of Psalm 2 in one line. The time has come to judge the dead, and to destroy those who destroy the earth, as chapters 19 and 20 narrate.
Revelation 11:18
“The nations were angry - Were enraged against thy Gospel, and determined to destroy it. Thy wrath is come - The time to avenge thy servants and to destroy all thy enemies. The time of the dead, that they should be judged - The word κρινειν, to judge, is often used in the sense of to avenge. The dead, here, may mean those who were slain for the testimony of Jesus, and the judging is the avenging of their blood. Give reward unto thy servants - Who have been faithful unto death.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 11:18
“And the time of the dead is come - Both of the quick and dead, of whom those already dead are far the more numerous part. That they be judged - This, being infallibly certain, they speak of as already present. And to give a reward - At the coming of Christ, chap. xxii, 12; but of free grace, not of debt, 1.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 11:18
“And to destroy those who corrupt the earth. This is the final woe. Thus far concerning the seven angels blowing their trumpets, now he recapitulates from the birth of the Lord, saying the same things differently and more broadly.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Revelationpatristic
Revelation 11:18
“And the nations were angry,.... See Psa 99:1, which the Septuagint render, the "Lord reigns, let the nations be angry".”
the temple of God in heaven: Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared, the ark lost on earth since Babylon took Jerusalem. Lightning, thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm make the fullest storm yet, building toward the seventh bowl at 16:18-21.
Revelation 11:19
“And the ark of the covenant was seen in his temple - The ark of the covenant which was made by Moses was not in the second temple, being probably burnt with the first temple by the Chaldeans. But here is the heavenly ark of the everlasting covenant, the shadow of which was under the Old Testament, Heb. ix, 4.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: A detour in the vision that tells the story of the two witnesses between the sixth and the seventh trumpets, as Oecumenius classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| One period named three ways | The holy city is trampled for 42 months in verse 2 and the witnesses prophesy for 1,260 days in verse 3. Adam Clarke counts the two as the same three years and a half. Hippolytus draws the span from the half week of Daniel 9:27, and John Gill reads the three and a half days of verse 11 as three and a half years on the same scale.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on Revelation 11:2. | Revelation 11:2, Revelation 11:3, Revelation 11:11 |
| Two prophets drawn from Elijah and Moses | Verse 6 sets two powers side by side, the closed sky of Elijah and the waters turned to blood under Moses. Adam Clarke names both sources, 1 Kings 17 and Exodus 7. The two greatest prophets of judgment stand behind the two witnesses.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on Revelation 11:6. | Revelation 11:5, Revelation 11:6 |
| The woes counted off | The eagle of 8:13 announced three woes, and the book marks each one off as it passes, at 9:12 and here at verse 14. Adam Clarke sets out the three: the first at 9:1 to 12, the second at 9:13 to 21, and the third under the seventh trumpet. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the third woe is announced and then summed up in the elders' thanksgiving.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on Revelation 11:14. | Revelation 11:14 |
| The elders' hymn | Verses 17 and 18 are a hymn spoken to God, a thanksgiving for the reign now begun. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the elders drop the words who is to come, since the coming they awaited has arrived. Alcuin draws the same point and places the hymn at the last judgment.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 11:17. | Revelation 11:17, Revelation 11:18 |
Where the imagery comes from
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
John Gill ties the measuring reed to Ezekiel 40:5, where a man measures a temple in vision with a rod six cubits long (Exposition of the New Testament, on Revelation 11:1). John Wesley adds that Ezekiel's prophecy was left unfulfilled at the return from Babylon (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on Revelation 11:1). Adam Clarke takes the olive trees and lampstands from Zechariah 4:1 to 14 (Commentary on the Bible, on Revelation 11:4). Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear Ezekiel 37:10 in the breath of life that raises the witnesses (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 11:11).
Where it sits in the book
The site's exposition note on 11:14 reads chapter 10 and 11:1 to 13 as a pause between the sixth and seventh trumpets, as chapter 7 stands between the sixth and seventh seals. Oecumenius calls the account of the witnesses a detour in the vision (Commentary on Revelation, on Revelation 11:15). Bede holds that after the seventh trumpet the book goes back to the birth of the Lord and tells the same things more broadly (Commentary on Revelation, on Revelation 11:18). Albert Barnes begins a new series of visions at 11:19 (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on Revelation 11:19).
The debated concept: who the two witnesses are
The earliest readers took the witnesses as two men sent before the end. Tertullian holds that Enoch and Elijah, taken up without dying, are kept to die at the end and to overcome Antichrist by their blood (A Treatise on the Soul). Hippolytus sets them under Malachi's promise that Elijah comes before the day of the Lord (Hippolytus Dogmatical and Historical Fragments). Victorinus reports that many named Moses or Elisha with Elijah, objects that both of those died, and gives the ancients' view that Elijah's partner is Jeremiah (Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, on Revelation 11:5).
The site's exposition note on 11:3 to 4 sets out three readings: Moses and Elijah, named from the powers of verse 6, Enoch and Elijah, and a witness of the church in the last days. The death of Moses is the objection to the first, as Victorinus says. Matthew Henry reads two as a small but sufficient number, the count the law requires, as Christ sent out his disciples two by two (Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 11). The objection to a corporate reading is the detail of the text: two bodies, one street, three and a half days, and a rising their enemies see.
The debated concept: the measured temple
Hippolytus reads the holy city as the church and the forty-two months as the half week of Daniel 9:27, when the false Christ persecutes her (Commentary of Dionysius Barsalibi on the Apocalypse, on Revelation 11:2). Adam Clarke refers the measuring to the coming destruction of the temple by the Romans and calls the period symbolical (Commentary on the Bible, on Revelation 11:2). Albert Barnes holds the scene symbolical and set in a future age (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on Revelation 11:1). The site's exposition note on 11:1 to 2 takes the temple as a rebuilt structure in Jerusalem in the last days.
Where the rest of the New Testament touches it
Alcuin hears the call Come up here as the voice of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (Commentary on Revelation, on Revelation 11:12). Albert Barnes sets the witnesses' cloud beside the Lord's ascension in Acts 1:9 (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on Revelation 11:12). Matthew Henry reads their rising against the resurrection of Christ and the raising of Lazarus in John 11 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 11:11). John Wesley notes that the title His Christ is given here for the first time since the book's opening, as the kingdom passes to the anointed King (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on Revelation 11:15).
The numbers
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the seventh trumpet as the last trumpet and hold that six falls short of seven, so the world's judgments run to six and the kingdoms become Christ's at the seventh (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 11:15). The same work counts the seven thousand of verse 13 as names of men, numbered as though each were written down. It holds that the nine tenths of the city that remain become, once purified, the center of Christ's earthly kingdom (on Revelation 11:13).
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Bede, Commentary on Revelation, on Revelation 11:18; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 11:14 and Oecumenius, Commentary on Revelation, on Revelation 11:15.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Alcuin of York, COMMENTARY ON REVELATION; Hippolytus of Rome; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John.