The church overflowed by the world
Samson and the two witnesses compared
Commentary on Revelation 11:1-15 by David Pareus
Revelation
11:1-2
And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood,
saying, Rise, and
measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it
not; for it is given
unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty
and two
months.
To measure something could mean determine its weight, or its dimensions, or strength, or may mean simply to describe it. The Church is called a holy temple, Ephesians 2:21. These verses mean describe the Church! This chapter and the two chapters which follow do that. The court without the temple is given to Gentiles, which by interpretation, refers to those who are not genuine believers, or saints. Not all those who claim to be Christians really are, but they are called Gentiles who occupy the court outside the temple of God. This temple is symbolic of the true Church, as is the name "holy city". The holy city and the saints are trodden under the feet of Gentiles. This indicates they are dominated by unbelievers. Is this referring to those who control the various religious denominations?
Revelation
11:3
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a
thousand two
hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before
the God of the
earth.
Verse 2 mentions 42 months, and verse 3 mentions 1,260 days. Taking a month as 30 days, the 1,260 days is equal to 42 months. Both of these time periods are references to the "time, times, and a half" which can be interpreted using Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks. It refers to the remaining time of the Church when Christ confirms his covenant with believers.
The two witnesses are called two lampstands, and two olive trees,
that stand before the Lord of the earth. Who is the
lord of the earth? In Genesis 1:26
it is man who
is given dominion over God's creatures. The scriptures also mention two
trees that were
prominent in the Garden of Eden. So this prophecy of the two trees is a
theme of several
passages in the Bible.
Olive trees are mentioned in both Zechariah
4:14 and
Revelation
11:4. In Zechariah 4,
oil flows from two
olive branches, representing the role of the Spirit of God in the
world. The olive
branches are called "two anointed ones, that stand by the lord of the
whole earth"
(Zechariah
4:14).
Zechariah 4:5-6
Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest
thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the
LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my
spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
The word of the LORD, and God's Spirit, were identified by Jesus as
things that would "testify" of him, in John's gospel. One who
"testifies" is a "witness."
Jesus identifies the scriptures and the Spirit as things that "testify" of him, so they are two "witnesses". One who "testifies" is a witness.
John 5:39
Search the scriptures, for in them you think ye have eternal life: and
they are they
which testify of me.
John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of
me:
In Revelation
11:4 the two
witnesses are called two candlesticks, but in Zechariah 4
only one candlestick
is mentioned. Is that because the Spirit was not yet
given?
The word of God is called a light and a lamp:
Psalm 119:105
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Revelation
11:5
And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and
devoureth their
enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be
killed.
The "fire from their mouth" alludes to the fire of God's word, and
the judgment. The lake of fire is a metaphor of the judgment which
awaits their enemies.
Revelation
11:6
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their
prophecy: and have
power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with
all plagues, as
often as they will.
The "rain" represents God's word. No further revelations, no new
prophecies, no more scriptures have been written since the days of the
apostles.
The idea of rain as symbolic of God's word is found in Isaiah.
Isaiah
55:10-12
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give
seed to the
sower, and bread to the eater:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in
the thing whereto I
sent it.
They "turn the waters to blood." In the plagues during the exodus
from Egypt, waters were turned to blood so the Egyptians could not
drink. The meaning is that the gospel, and many of the promises of God
to his saints, are seen as unpalatable, and so are avoided. Prophecy is
one example.
In 2 Kings 3 there is an account of a battle in which the outcome hinged on people mistaking water for blood. The kings of Israel, Judah and Edom went out into the wilderness with their armies in order to punish the king of Moab, who stopped paying tribute to the Israelite king. But they ran short of water. So they called for the prophet Elisha.
Elisha advised them to make ditches in the valley. During the night, the ditches filled up with water. In the morning the Moabite army looked over the valley, and the reflection of the red sky on the water appeared to them like pools of blood.
2 Kings
3:21-23
And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight
against them, they
gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in
the border.
And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the
water, and the Moabites
saw the water on the other side as red as blood:
And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have
smitten one
another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.
Assuming there had been a battle, the Moabites approached the camp of the Israelites, expecting to find them wasted, but instead were slaughtered themselves.
Many of those who oppose the gospel and the Bible are much like those unfortunate Moabites, who mistook water for blood. They view the truths of the gospel which Christians accept, as notions unfit for human consumption! The gospel which is as cool, clean, fresh drinking water to believers, is as distasteful as blood to them. Several facts make the scriptures unpalatable for people; the flawed cosmology that resulted from changes made to the OT by the hellenistic king Antiochus IV and his agents in the 2nd century BC is one reason. Another reason is that the scriptures record miracles and prophecies. Yet another is their own lack of imagination, and a literal reading of passages in the Bible that are symbolic, or written in poetic style. For these or several other reasons, many view the Bible and the message of the gospel not as clean, refreshing, life-giving water, but as blood that they cannot bring themselves to drink!
The waters that were turned to blood by Moses in Egypt made them unfit to drink. The scriptures, which are the source for the truth about our salvation through Christ, are considered unfit to be believed by those in the world, just as the Egyptians could not drink the water when Moses turned to into blood.
The two witnesses "smite the earth with all plagues, as often as
they will." These must be the plagues and other events already
specified in the prophecies of scripture. No humans have that power.
Neither does the Jewish state, or the church.
Copyright © 2010 by Douglas Cox
All Rights Reserved.