Revelation 11:1-6 meaning

The interlude continues between the sixth and seventh angels who sound trumpets bringing judgment to the earth. The seven angels were appointed to sound seven trumpets when the seventh (and last) seal was broken on the scroll (Revelation 5:1,, 98:1-2). At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the kingdom of Christ will be announced, Satan will be thrown to earth, and seven bowl judgments will be initiated, where bowls of wrath will be poured upon the earth (Revelation 11:15, 12:10, 16:1).

Much destruction has already happened, and an angel has been sent to announce that “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, then the mystery of the God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:7). The biblical prophecies yet to be fulfilled are about to be completely accomplished.

However, although the seventh angel will sound his trumpet at the end of this chapter, for now we are still in the interlude (as of the year 2024) and waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.

In Chapter 10, John was told to take and eat the book in the hand of the angel (Revelation 10:9), which mirrors a similar command that Ezekiel was given (Ezekiel 3). Now again, John is given instructions similar to those Ezekiel received. We see through this the fulfillment of earlier prophecies and how they have all been working together to culminate in God’s plan:

Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months (vs. 1-2).

Historically, the temple was the place that housed the presence of God, and Jews would go there to worship Him.

In Ezekiel’s vision, he records being shown a temple and a man with a measuring rod. Ezekiel writes down what all of the measurements of the temple are (Ezekiel 40). But in Revelation, John does not record what the measurements are, just that he was told to measure the temple.

A detail that should not be overlooked is that in being told to measure the temple, we can infer that it is a real, physical temple that can be measured. This is not a spiritual or metaphorical temple. It exists in physical space.

The fact that there is a temple helps root us in the time period shown to John in this vision. Previous commentaries have mentioned that the Book of Revelation can be paired against the seventy weeks of years described in Daniel: weeks that were prescribed for the people of Israel (Daniel 9:24). Thus this prophecy speaks of 490 total years. The prophetic clock began at the proclamation to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, then stopped some time during the first advent of Jesus, at the end of the sixty-ninth week. During that time, a part of the prediction of Daniel 9:24-27 was fulfilled, including Jesus making an “an end of sin” and an “atonement for iniquity” when He died on the cross for the sins of the world (Daniel 9:24).

However, as predicted, at the end of the sixty-ninth week it was fulfilled that “the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing” (Daniel 9:26). Jesus, the Messiah, was sentenced to be crucified (although He was pronounced innocent) and buried in a tomb. The prophetic clock of Daniel 9 has been on hold since Jesus was “cut off.”

According to Daniel 9:27, the seventieth week begins when there is a covenant between Israel and “he” who appears to be the same world ruler that is called the beast of Revelation. Then, it says that in the middle of that “week” (after three and one half years), there is an “abomination of desolation” that takes place. This is mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24:15 as a sign of the beginning of great troubles, a time Jesus called a “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21). This “great tribulation” appears to begin during the middle of the last seven years of Daniel’s prophecy.

Another piece of information that John gives us is that the Gentiles, or the nations, have been given the court outside the temple. We know that the Gentiles took over the court in the abomination of desolation which occurred during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek ruler over Israel (175—164 BC). This abomination was a foreshadowing of the abomination that will occur in the future (as of this writing in 2024). Perhaps at the time of the end, Israel will have reconstructed a temple that has a court outside. It could also be that the court outside the temple has another meaning.

What is certain is that permission will be granted to the Gentiles to tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months (v. 2). The holy city refers to Jerusalem. The Gentiles will apparently occupy the city and impose a harsh reign upon its people. The phrase tread under foot can be found also in Micah 7:19 which says God will “tread our iniquities under foot.” This is equated with throwing Israel’s sins “into the depths of the sea.” The idea is an utter domination. This time could correspond to the prediction of Zechariah 14:2.

Next, authority is granted to God’s witnesses:

And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth (v. 3).

Jews use a lunar calendar, so every month is 30 days. That means that twelve hundred and sixty days is equal to forty-two months. In other words, the Gentiles with tread under foot the holy city for the same amount of time that the witnesses will prophesy. Twelve hundred and sixty days would equal three and a half lunar years. Seven 360-day years is 2520 days (7 X 360). Half of 2520 days is twelve hundred and sixty days. 

It would seem then that the time of “great tribulation” predicted by Jesus is the same as this time predicted in Revelation 11.

Twelve hundred and sixty days (v 3) is also the same as forty-two months (42 X 30, verse 2). We might wonder why the same period of time is given two different ways, forty-two months to describe the time Jerusalem is dominated by the Gentiles and twelve hundred and sixty days that the two witnesses will testify.

Perhaps it is to underscore that the act of prophesying and wearing sackcloth will be undertaken every day by the witnesses. Perhaps this indicates that their testimony will be a daily, moment by moment, ministry.

The overarching message of Revelation is to encourage the listeners/readers to be faithful witnesses and to not fear rejection, loss, or even death. Perhaps the text is making a subtle point that being a faithful witness is a day-by-day endeavor. We are faithful witnesses when we are faithful every day in the little things of life.

What is asserted is that the two witnesses God appoints will be given the power and authority to prophesy all twelve hundred and sixty days. The entire time they prophesy, the two witnesses are clothed in sackcloth. Wearing sackcloth in scripture is a sign of mourning or repentance (Genesis 37:34, 2 Samuel 3:31, Isaiah 37:1-2, Psalm 35:13). The two witnesses are described as standing before the Lord as lampstands, as the seven churches were said to stand before the Lord as lampstands (Revelation 1:20):

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way (vs. 4-5).

The churches were witness of Jesus as well, and also stood before the Lord (Revelation 1:20). This would indicate that both the churches and the two witnesses were simultaneously in God’s presence as well as fully functioning upon the earth. The emphasis would seem to be that God is in complete control in both instances.

The two witnesses are also called two olive trees. The olive tree was an important asset for daily life in Israel. Its fruit provided food and oil for cooking as well as fuel for light. The olive tree is used as a symbol for the nation of Israel (Jeremiah 11:16, Romans 11:17, 24). It is also used to symbolize prosperity and provision.

Perhaps the two witnesses whose two lampstands continually stand before the Lord are also called olive trees because the purpose of their witness is to give both life and light to the people of earth. This would seem appropriate since the scene being described is occurring in Jerusalem, during a period where it is occupied and being trod under foot by the Gentiles (Revelation 11:2).

God granted the witnesses the power to prophesy. To prophesy is to speak what is true, regardless of the time frame. The truth leads people into the light (John 3:19-21). It appears however that most people on earth at this time will prefer the darkness. As John 3:20 states, people who practice evil hate the light. Consistent with the description of Jerusalem’s occupants treading the city under foot, there are people who desire to harm the two witnesses for their testimony.

Accordingly, the two witnesses have been given special protection against anyone who wants to harm them. We can infer from this that the world has turned to wickedness to the extent that anyone professing the truth is likely to be attacked and harmed. This would be, again, evidence that the world at this time is full of darkness. A significant reason for this might be because many believers have been removed from earth through being caught up into the air with Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:17). When the salt is removed, the earth begins to morally rot (Matthew 5:13).

The two witnesses have a supernatural power: fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies. Revelation contains a substantial amount of figurative speech. This fire that flows from their mouth could be metaphorical. But whatever the power of protection they are given actually is, it is clearly supernatural.

The result is so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. Anyone that seeks to harm the two witnesses is killed with the fire that flows from the mouths of the two witnesses.

Fire is often used as a symbol for judgment. It could be that the two witnesses will pronounce judgement upon anyone seeking to harm them, and their adversaries will die. Jesus did something like this to the unfruitful fig tree, which could foreshadow this power (Mark 11:14, 21-23).

The witnesses also have the power of Elijah to bring drought upon the land:

These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire (v. 6).

Elijah was a prophet during the reign of Israel’s evil king Ahab, whose wife was the evil queen Jezebel. Scripture says Ahab did more to provoke God than the kings who came before him (1 Kings 16:33). Therefore, the prophet Elijah pronounced that no rain would fall upon Israel except by his word (1 Kings 17:1). These witnesses in Revelation will be granted the same prophetic power; they will have the authority to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. This will include withholding rain so that it will not fall during the days of their prophesying. 

It is possible that these two witnesses are among the 144,000 chosen among the tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:4). It is also possible that these two witnesses are Enoch and Elijah, who apparently did not die physically, but were transported directly to heaven (Genesis 5:24, 2 Kings 2:11). Since it is appointed to man once to die, perhaps these two return to serve this prophetic function, die, then resurrect again (Hebrews 9:27). But since the scripture does not specify, these are simply some possibilities among many others.

Another observation is that apocalyptic literature is not necessarily sequential. So, while we are receiving the information in this section between the sixth and seventh trumpets, it could be that the plagues mentioned here stem from the destruction of the earlier trumpets, like the plague of the locusts with the fifth trumpet (Revelation 9). Another example is the power over the waters to turn them into blood exercised by the two witnesses. This is also mentioned at the sound of the second trumpet and could be related to the pronouncements by the two witnesses (Revelation 8:8).