Revelation 11:3 - Meaning and Application

In this time of crushing opposition, God has kept for himself faithful witnesses. They will not fail to testify to the truth of his word, the worth of his worship, and the beauty of his ways.

First, notice how few these witnesses are, and yet how enough they are. The number is small, because many people will claim Christ when life is easy, but abandon or deny him in persecution. When a cause is on trial, one faithful witness is worth many who only speak up in peaceful times. Yet the number is also enough, because by the mouth of two witnesses every case is established, and Christ sent his disciples out two by two to preach the gospel.

Some think these two witnesses are Enoch and Elijah, who will return to earth for a time. Others think they are the believing Jewish church and the Gentile church. It seems more likely that they are God’s especially faithful ministers, who will keep confessing the Christian faith and preaching it in the worst of times.

Second, notice the time of their prophesying, or giving testimony for Christ. It lasts for 1,260 days. Many understand this as the full period of antichrist’s reign, and if the starting point were known, these prophetic days, counted as years, would give some sense of when the end will come.

Third, notice their clothing and posture. They prophesy in sackcloth, like people deeply grieved over the poor and distressed condition of Christ’s churches and cause in the world.

Fourth, notice how they are supported in so hard a work. They stand before the God of the whole earth, and he gives them power to prophesy. He makes them like Zerubbabel and Joshua, the two olive trees and the lampstand in Zechariah’s vision (Zechariah 4:2). God gives them the oil of holy zeal, courage, strength, and comfort. He makes them like olive trees, and their lamps of public profession keep burning because of the inward grace he supplies. They have oil not only in their lamps, but also in their vessels, meaning a lasting stock of spiritual life, light, and zeal.

Fifth, notice their protection while they carry out their work. If anyone tries to harm them, fire goes out of their mouths and destroys their enemies. Some think this points to Elijah calling down fire from heaven on the captains and their men who came to seize him (2 Kings 1:12). God also told Jeremiah, “I will make my words in your mouth like fire, and this people like wood, and it will consume them” (Jeremiah 5:14). Through their praying, preaching, and courage in suffering, these witnesses will strike the consciences of many persecutors and leave them condemned by their own hearts. They will be like Pashur, who was terrified by Jeremiah’s words (Jeremiah 20:4).

God will also give them such access to himself, and such favor with him, that at their prayers he will bring judgments on their enemies, as he did on Pharaoh. He turned Pharaoh’s rivers to blood and shut up the heavens so no rain fell for many days, as he did in response to Elijah’s prayer (1 Kings 17:1). God has his arrows ready for persecutors, and often he is striking them even while they are attacking his people. They find it hard to keep fighting against him.

Sixth, notice the killing of the witnesses. To make their testimony more powerful, they must seal it with their blood. They are safe until their work is done. Some think the text means that they are killed just as they are about to finish their testimony. After they have prophesied in sackcloth through most of the 1,260 years, they will suffer the final outbreak of antichrist’s hatred.

Their enemy is the beast that rises from the bottomless pit. Antichrist, as Satan’s chief tool, makes war against them, using not only clever and deceitful arguments, but also open force and violence. God allows his enemies to triumph over his witnesses for a time.

The treatment of these slain witnesses is cruel. Their enemies are not satisfied with their blood and death, but go after their dead bodies too. They will not let them have a peaceful grave. Their bodies are left in the open street, in the great street of Babylon, or the highway leading into the city. This city is spiritually called Sodom because of its shocking wickedness, and Egypt because of its idolatry and tyranny. In this place, Christ in his people has suffered more than anywhere else in the world.

Their dead bodies are mocked by the people of the earth, and the antichristian world rejoices over their death (Revelation 11:10). The world is glad to be rid of these witnesses, whose teaching and example had troubled, frightened, and tormented their consciences. These spiritual weapons cut wicked people to the heart, and that fills them with rage and hatred against the faithful.

Seventh, notice the resurrection of these witnesses and what follows. After lying dead for three and a half days (Revelation 11:11), which is a short time compared with the long period of their prophesying, they rise again. This may point to Christ’s resurrection, since he is the resurrection and the life. It may also echo Lazarus, who was raised on the fourth day, when people thought it was impossible. God’s witnesses may be killed, but they will rise again, not in their own bodies until the general resurrection, but in their successors. God will revive his work when it seems dead in the world.

The power that raises them is the spirit of life from God, which enters them and makes them stand on their feet. God gives not only life, but also courage. He can make dry bones live. It is the Spirit of life from God who gives life to dead souls, and who will also give life to the dead bodies of his people, and to his failing cause in the world.

Their enemies are filled with great fear when this happens. The revival of God’s work and witnesses strikes terror into those who oppose them. Where there is guilt, there is fear. A persecuting spirit may be cruel, but it is not truly brave. Herod feared John the Baptist.

Eighth, notice the ascension of the witnesses into heaven and what follows (Revelation 11:12, Revelation 11:13). By heaven, we may mean either a higher place in the church, the kingdom of grace in this world, or a high place in the kingdom of glory above. The first meaning seems to fit best. They ascend to heaven in a cloud, in a symbolic way rather than a literal one, and their enemies see it.

It will be part of the punishment of persecutors, both now and on the last day, that they will see God’s faithful servants greatly honored and lifted up.

They did not try to rise to this honor until God called them and said, “Come up here.” The Lord’s witnesses must wait for God to raise them up, both in the church and in heaven. They should not grow tired of suffering and service, or rush ahead of their reward. Instead, they must wait until their Master calls them, and then they may gladly go up to him.

The next result of their rising is a powerful shock and shaking in the antichristian empire, and the fall of a tenth part of the city. Some understand this as pointing to the beginning of the Reformation from popery, when many princes and states broke away from their obedience to Rome. That great work faced strong resistance. The whole western world felt the upheaval, and the antichristian cause suffered a heavy blow and lost much ground and influence.

This happened in two ways. First, by the sword of war, which was then drawn, and many who fought under the banner of antichrist were killed by it. Second, by the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. The fear of God came upon many. They became convinced of their errors, their superstition, and their idolatry. By true repentance and by receiving the truth, they gave glory to the God of heaven. So when God’s work and God’s witnesses rise and flourish, the devil’s work and his witnesses fall before him.