Click here for the Revelation 11:7-14 PODCAST
7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. 13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. ~ Revelation 11:7-14
Our text for today begins with: "Now when they have finished their testimony." No one will be able to interfere with the work of these two witnesses until their work is done. But then, according to v.7, "the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them."
This is the first mention in the book of Revelation of the beast. There will be thirty-five more mentions. The mentioning of this beast takes us back to Revelation 9:11 where we saw the star that fell from heaven who was given a key to open the Abyss and out of it came awful locusts. Their king, we are told, was from the Abyss. His name was Abaddon, which means "destruction," and Apollyon, which means "destroyer." It was evident, as we saw then, that this was Satan himself, the king over all the demons.
The Man of Sin, the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2, will be possessed of Satan. Just as Satan entered into Judas before his betrayal of the Lord, so Satan will possess the antichrist, this Man of Sin. It is he who attacks these two witnesses and puts them to death. By the time he will kill them, they will have been a constant thorn in his side. They will tell the truth to the people, pointing out to them the deceptive tactics of Satan. They will warn the poeple that they are being deceived by the lies that will be widespread in that day. This will outrage the antichrist who will have all the world under his control, except for those who believed the two witnesses. But now, at last, he will be allowed to kill them.
In v.8-10 we read, "8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth."
Remarkably, because of the death of the two witnesses, there will be a great celebration on earth. In fact, they will refuse to bury these two men but gloat over them and display their bodies for all the world to see.
The city is here figuratively called "Sodom and Egypt," because of its corruption, and persecution. Yet it is clearly identified as the city "where the Lord was crucified." The hatred of the world against the cause of Christ will be put on display as they celebrate the deaths of these two who had been such a painful rebuke to their sinful practices.
In ancient times, when pagan people wanted to dishonor their enemies, they would leave their corpses lying in the street. That was the ultimate dishonoring, the ultimate denigration of someone.
In v.11-14 we read, "11 But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. 13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon."
This part of the story proves one thing: Signs and wonders do not make the gospel believable, the Holy Spirit does. When the two witnesses are raised to life, it will be at the perfect moment when everybody on the earth will witness this miracle. At that moment there will be a strong earthquake. Interestingly, the largest earthquake fault on earth runs just east of Jerusalem, down the valley of the Jordan River. It is called the "Great Rift Valley," and it extends under the Dead Sea into Africa. The theory of continental drift and the movement of tectonic plates upon which the continents rest enables us to understand how all of this will take place exactly as described. Immediately afterwards, the seventh angel will sound his trumpet.
As we come then to the seventh trumpet, we come to the very end. And, we wonder, “Why does the book go on from there?” Because beginning with the seventh trumpet, God takes us back and describes the career of the Antichrist, describes the one-world church, describes the one-world economy, and we will look at that in our next blog and podcast.
