Revelation 11:1-2

Revelation 11:1-2 The Church Prophetic

Revelation 11:1-2

As I sat down to study this passage of Scripture I read many different commentators, some I agreed with and some I did not, I read several different sermons, listened to a couple of sermons and watched a few sermons online. I will tell you that for the very first time in my studies of Revelation I found that everyone agreed concerning this passage. I have never seen that before. Every commentator, every teacher, every preacher agreed that this is the most difficult passage to understand in all of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. That is the only thing they all agreed on but they did agree on that so we have a place to start our look at this very difficult passage. Before we get to our passage this morning I feel the need to quote a preacher that is very dear and close to me; and quite frankly one of my favorite preachers, one I always agree with. I am going to quote something that I said in the very first sermon in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Before I do that let me remind you that I hold to an eclectic approach to understanding Revelation meaning that I take from the preterist view, the historicist view, the futurist view and the idealist view, which means that I understand that much of what we read will be imagery and symbolism rather than being literal (though some things are literal), and it will express principles that the church throughout history needs to hear and apply; the Revelation is not just future events. Here is my quote: “I will be telling you my understanding. From that you are responsible to search the Scriptures remembering that these are not points of faith on which salvation is secured, therefore if I am wrong or if you are wrong we can lovingly disagree and celebrate that God’s Word spoke.” With that being said let’s pray then we will look into God’s word.

We will be reading this morning from Revelation 11:1-14 but only focus in on the first 2 verses. If you will remember we talked last week about chapter 10 being an interlude between the 6th and 7th trumpet plagues. Well chapter 11:1-14 is part 2 of the interlude but the scene changes. In chapter 10 John was given a little scroll and told to eat it. It would give him heartburn but it would taste as sweet as honey in his mouth. Then he was told to be a witness or prophecy about many people, nations, tongues and kings. He was to be the witness of his time. In ancient Israel, the Northern Kingdom, there was a time when those who were supposed to be God’s people were worshiping false gods. We all remember all the events of 1st and 2nd Kings. It was as if everyone was doing what they wanted to do and no one was doing anything about it. Then came Elijah on the scene. He called down fire from heaven on the sacrifices on Mt. Carmel then killed all the prophets of Baal. His nemesis was King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. After Ahab died Ahaziah took over. He was injured so he sent messengers to go inquire of a false god in Ekron. Elijah met the messengers and told them to tell the king that he would die. They went back and told the king and he recognized that the message came from Elijah so he sent a captain with 50 men to bring Elijah to him. The men were rude and Elijah called down fire from God and killed the men protecting Elijah. This happened again and finally the third time the captain asked Elijah kindly to come with them and he did. What we see there is that God had a prophet for that time to proclaim His message. In chapter 10 of Revelation we see that God had a prophet for that time; John. In this passage we will see that God has prophets that He protects for the end time as well.

This leads us to Revelation 11:1-14 1Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. 7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.[1]

If this were a play we would say that there was a scene change. John had been where the water met the shore and he finds himself looking at a holy city with its temple, altar and outer court. At first glance we would think that John is in the literal Jerusalem looking at the Temple there. However that would be difficult because the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans some 25 years prior to John’s exile to Patmos. Some people believe that this is a future Temple built during the millennial reign of Christ but from the attacks from the Beast on the witnesses I have to disagree with that interpretation. That leaves two choices. This is either a future Temple that will be rebuilt in the tribulation time. Or this Temple is figurative, or representative in manner. As for this being a future Temple it mixes the actions of an historical person, John, with happenings in a future literal place. However this is not normal in prophetic writings. This leaves us with the idea that the Temple in this vision is figurative. In Revelation 21 we get a hint at what this means. In that vision an angel shows John the holy Jerusalem presented as the bride, the wife of the Lamb descending from heaven. This is representative of the church fully glorified and perfected. When we look at the holy city and the Temple in chapter 11 we see the church not yet fully glorified, still on its earthly pilgrimage. In 2 Corinthians 6:16 we read: 16And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you£ are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” And in Ephesians 2:20b-21 Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Peter even alluded to the church being the Temple of God in 1 Peter 2:5-9 when he referred to the church as: chosen by God and precious, as living stones built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, His own special people. With this scriptural evidence we can see that it would not at all be out of line for God to represent His church as His Temple.

John is told to measure the Temple the altar and those who worship at the altar. There are several times in the Old Testament that people are told to measure something. In Ezekiel 40-42 a Temple is measured and the purpose is to show that it is protected by belonging to God. In Amos the people of Israel are measured beside a plumb line to mark them out for judgment. Measuring was for two purposes, to show ownership and therefore protection and for marking out for judgment. Since the Temple is representative of the church that is still in the world, being sanctified, struggling with tribulations and trials then we must believe that the measuring of the Temple is to mark it out as belonging to God and thereby protected from His wrath. Remember we saw that back in chapter 7 with the sealing of the 144,000. The measurements are not given in this “measuring” but later on (Revelation 21:15-17) when the church is fully glorified the measurements are given indicating that it is finished. The only altar we have seen thus far in Revelation is the altar where the prayers of the saints have been offered and here we see them worshiping God. We can see here that the church is God’s Temple, with a primary duty of being His worshippers as they offer their prayers to Him. At no time is the church fulfilling its divine calling more than when it worships together and when it worships together it is obedient.

But notice that John is told not to measure the outer court that is outside the Temple. This is difficult in itself. There are a couple of ways to look at this. First: The outer court was literally the court of the Gentiles in the actual temple in Jerusalem and in the temple John remembered it was about 20 acres in size. No one who was not a Jew was allowed to enter into the Temple proper but they could watch from the gate and see the sacrifices and watch the people of God worship. So this outer court could be those who are part of the congregation yet not a part of the body of Christ, not a part of the church and therefore are not protected from the wrath of God. Second: These could be a part of the church that is protected from the wrath of God but still suffer end time persecution from evil men, Satan and the Beast which we will get to at a later time. To be honest with you it is a tossup, to me, as to which one is correct. But since we are told that the Gentiles will trample on the outer court and the holy city I tend to think that these are believers that are persecuted as witnesses of the Lamb, protected from God’s wrath but not the wrath of the Beast. Remember this though; we should not fear one who can kill the body but not the soul. We should fear and revere Him who has the power to kill the body and condemn the soul to hell.

The outer court and the holy city (I will talk a little more about the holy city next time) but the outer court and the holy city will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles for 42 months. “Gentiles” usually refers to nations or people who oppose God. Paul was very clear that there was a distinction between the church and Gentiles in 1 Corinthians 5:1 and 1 Thess. 4:5. This is another way to speak of the “world” or “the people of the earth”. John is here referring to those who are opposed to God, the things of God and the people of God; the Gentiles. This imagery is similar to two historical events in the life of historical Jerusalem. For three years, 168-165BC, the wicked Syrian king Ant-eye-o-cus (Antiochus) Epiphanes warred against Jerusalem and took over the inner court of the Temple and offered swine on the altar. Then in AD 70 the Roman legions under General Titus trampled and demolished Jerusalem and the Temple. Both of these events involved Jewish wars that lasted about 3 to 3 ½ years (42 months). Let’s talk about those 42 months, 3 ½ years, 1260 days or time, times and a half time of Daniel 7:25, 12:7. The original readers of Revelation would have understood that John was referring to the same thing Daniel had in mind which is a limited time of great suffering. Whatever it is that Daniel meant most likely by the time it got to John it had become an idiom or figure of speech cueing the reader to understand that it was a limited time that would be characterized by intense tribulation. Jesus used the idiom Himself in Luke 4:25 when he noted that the famine of Elijah’s day lasted 3 ½ years even though we are not told in the Old Testament how long the famine lasted. Certainly it could be possible that the time reference will turn out to be precisely literal, but it is also possible that they do not define the exact length of time of the Great Tribulation any more than saying that a 40 hour work week fully describes being employed full time. But to make certain we know, it is God who determines how long His church will suffer this trampling on, not the Gentiles, not the Beast and not Satan. Even in this tribulation God is in control.

I think what we need to do now is stop and make sure we understand the imagery we have seen thus far this morning. The Temple and those around the altar are those who are believers who have been sealed by God, they are the church, the wife of the Lamb. The outer court is the believers who, though protected from the wrath of God, will suffer and die at the hand of the people of the earth, the Gentiles, under the leadership of the Beast of the bottomless pit. The measuring of the inner court, the altar and those who worship around the altar shows God’s ownership and protection. Not measuring the outer court shows human wrath against believers. The nations or Gentiles trampling for 42 months indicates a coming limited time of great suffering that is determined by God and no one else.

I know we read a much larger swath of Scripture than I have really covered this morning but we will come back to the two witnesses and their fate next time. But I want now to look at how this applies to us today. As I said earlier much of what we find in Revelation will express principles that the church throughout history needs to hear and apply; the Revelation is not just future events. So what principles from the two verses we looked at today do we need to hear and apply? First I think we need to remember that God has His spokespeople, His prophets, for every generation. There was Moses and Elijah along with other prophets in the Old Testament and it seemed that when God’s people were most rebellious God sent more spokespersons. In the New Testament God raised up the Apostles including Paul and at the time of the Revelation John was given a mandate to be a prophet and to proclaim a call to repentance. Every single one of those spokespersons God raised up experienced a world that literally trampled on them because they proclaimed God’s righteousness and His coming judgment. Just so you know, it was not just the Apostles that were martyred and harassed and persecuted. Every believer that was bold enough to be prophetic voice was persecuted. With what we see in Revelation and what we know from church history I have to ask; where is that prophetic voice today? If I am correct that God has spokespersons for every generation, and I believe I am, then where are they? Is it supposed to be just the pastors who speak out calling people to repentance? Is that just for the “elite” Christians? Folks I think it is time for the Church, especially the Church in America, to be honest or at the very least to be willing to seek to be honest. Do we really care that there are people who will die and spend an eternity in hell? Or are we so comfortable that we are unwilling to be inconvenienced by the possibility of being unpopular at best or persecuted at worse? Where is the prophetic voice of the church? Will you be it?

Finally, will you pray with me that there will be a spirit of repentance that sweeps across the Church? I have seen and heard so many times people quoting 2 Chronicles 7:14 14if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land; using it to proclaim that the US needs to pray, seek His face and repent. But folks this is not addressed to the people of the US, it is addressed to the Church. If MY people, If MY people. There will be no repentance in the US until there is repentance among the wife of the Lamb. Will you pray with me that God’s church will repent because if we repent we will be that prophetic voice warning of coming judgment and proclaiming God’s grace through Christ. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 11:1–14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.