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Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Chapter 11:

We continue the pause in earthly events before moving to the seventh trumpet. This chapter is filled with prophetic and symbolic visuals, language, and numbers of the Old Testament. John is told to measure the earthly Temple, but not the courtyard which will be trampled. The implication is that God will protect His own who are inside the Temple. God sends two witnesses to prophesy during the upcoming tribulations. They are struck down by a supernatural beast, and their deaths bring joy to those who did not like the words of God that they spoke. But the witnesses are resurrected, an earthquake follows, and those who survive give glory to God. As the seventh trumpet is blown, we move back to the heavenly Throne Room where God is worshipped. God’s heavenly Temple opens as we see the Ark of His Covenant, the earthly throne of God that had been in the earthly Temple but not seen since approximately 587 B.C. (2 Maccabees 2:4-5).

The Book of Revelation, Chapter 11:

The Two Witnesses

1 Then I was given a mea­suring rod like a staff, and I was told: “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-­two months. 3 And I will grant my two witnesses power to proph­esy for one thousand two hun­dred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if any one would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; if any one would harm them, thus he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to afflict the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit will make war upon them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is allegorically called So­dom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three days and a half men from the peoples and tribes and tongues and na­tions gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and ex­change presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And in the sight of their foes they went up to heaven in a cloud. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thou­sand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

The Seventh Trumpet

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever 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, Lord God Almighty, who are and who were,
that you have taken your great power and begun to reign.
18 The nations raged, but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

*Daily Lectio Divina Question:

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ! And He shall reign for ever and ever!" (v.15) Think about your life and areas where you are currently experiencing discouragement or defeat. Imagine the Lord taking those things and declaring them his--they are under his reign now. How does that impact you?

Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc, or online.

Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this.
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