The Witness and the Seventh Trumpet

The Symbol of the Church as Temple (1-2)

We are about to enter a tough moment in the book. In chapter seven, we noticed God sealing His saints, promising ultimate harm would not come upon them. Now in the eleventh chapter, we discover this does not mean we will be invulnerable to occasional attack. John was to go measure the Temple and altar and count the people (1). By the time John wrote Revelation, it was a common thought to consider Jesus the true Temple on Earth, especially since the Jerusalem Temple had been removed for the superior Temple found in Christ. The symbolism was not lost—the Temple of Jesus was large enough to house everyone; the outer court of the Temple, however, the Earth side of the Temple, was going to be vulnerable to the nations. It would, or they would, be trampled but not hurt. They would be trampled for 42 months or half of seven years—seven symbolizing completion, and 42 months being God's symbol for an incomplete trampling. The promise remained: God's people would be vulnerable to attack, but not overcome by the attack (2).  

The Symbol of the Church as Witness (3-6)

During this incomplete time, this half of a seven-year period (1,260 days), God was going to give power to the Church to bear witness. The two witnesses represent not two actual people, but the faithful and prophetic witness of the Church as it denied itself, waited, and depended upon God for vindication, bearing witness as those who mourned (sackcloth) the wickedness of the earth (3) (Matthew 18:16). These two witnesses are reminiscent of Zechariah 4 where olive trees and lampstands are employed as symbols. It is in that prophecy where God finished His Temple through the ministry of two faithful witnesses and with shouts of grace to it (4). When any sought to harm the witness of the Church, they would be met with judgment and doom (5). Their witness was filled with miracle power like that of Elijah and Moses (6). This was all a powerful testimony of God’s witness through the Church in the middle of great trial and persecution. 

The Symbol of the Bottomless Pit (7-11)

The witness of the Church would, from time to time, be met with great opposition from the bottomless pit from where all the horrors of moral decadence were released. This beast coming out of the pit sought to conquer and kill the witness of the Church (7). It looks like their witness lay dead as the horrors of moral decadence (Sodom) and political evil (Egypt), the same powers that executed Christ, executed Christ’s witness (8). The apparent death of their witness and their demise were incomplete, however, as the world looked on, celebrating their demise, but for some unknown reason the world refused to bury them completely (9-10). God then showed up, gave them their prophetic resurrection breath, and their witness was back (like Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37). And when their witness returned, fear gripped the world, for their witness possessed not only a message but also power (11).  

The Symbol of the Church’s Success as Witness (12-14)

The point is clear: the witnesses, the faithful martyr witnesses of the Church, would be vindicated; they would ascend into a cloud and come with Christ on the clouds (Daniel 7:13-14) while their enemies watched (12). After their witness, when the earth shook, instead of God destroying a city because He could not find 10 righteous (Genesis 18:32), only a tenth of the city fell. And instead of God only having a remnant of 7,000 who had not bent their knee to Baal as God (1 Kings 19:18), only 7,000 of the total fell. God’s point is fantastic: where plagues have failed, the martyr witness of the Church is going to have unparalleled success in bringing hearts to the truth. Remember, these numbers are symbolic and do not represent actual numbers of the saved, but the greater effect of the martyr witness of the Church (13).

The first woe was released in concert with the fifth trumpet, and its immorality and evil smothered its victims in despair (Revelation 5:!2). The second woe was released, which was the near-destruction of the witness of the Church due to the evil pouring out of the bottomless pit. Again, God faithfully saw His people through (14).

The Kingdom of the World Has Become Christ’s (15-18)

I suppose if you were to ask if I had a favorite verse in the whole of scripture, this is it; something in me thrills every time I read it. This is the fulfillment of the promise made back in Revelation 10:7 by the angel standing on land and sea, that when the seventh trumpet sounded, God’s mysterious plan for restoring the earth would be fulfilled. We hear loud voices declaring from Heaven, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord …” (15) The 24 elders, likely representing God’s leadership on the earth, fell on their faces and worshiped (16). Their gratitude was aimed at God having used His great power not to destroy the world He had created, but to reign over it (17). Like in Psalm 2, the elders’ singing recognized the raging of the nations who sought to resist God’s rule; but in the end, God’s wrath prevailed, the dead were judged, and the servants, prophets, saints, and worshipers were rewarded, while those who sought to destroy the earth were destroyed. The scene shifted back from the elders’ worship to the vision. John saw the Temple in Heaven open, the ark of the covenant there, all symbolizing the way to His presence had been opened, the veil between the heavens and the earth torn down, and the earth restored to the covenant presence of God. As John watched, another heavenly storm began to brew (18).