Interpreting Revelation 11

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The Creation Concept


A brief commentary

The temple in heaven

Malachi's prophecy

Measuring the temple of God

The two olive trees

How heaven is shut

War with the beast

Spiritual warfare

The church overflowed by the world

Samson and the two witnesses compared

John Napier's paraphrase

Commentary on Revelation 11:1-15 by David Pareus

Thomas Cartwright on the two witnesses

The Two Witnesses

Spiritual warfare

In Revelation 11, the beast makes war with the two witnesses.

Revelation 11:7
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

In Revelation 12, the angels of Michael war against the dragon.

Revelation 12:7-8
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Clearly, these scriptures must refer to the same spiritual warfare. Here, the war is about a "place" where the dragon and his angels have no right to be, so, like most wars, it is a war about "turf," or possession of a "land," which in this case, is heaven, the location of the temple of God in Revelation 11:19, and the heavenly woman of Revelation 12:1, who represents the church.

When the dragon is cast out to the earth, the saints are said to be victorious.

In this prophecy, heaven is symbolic, and represents the status of believers, who in Ephesians 2:6 "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," and the earth and sea are symbolic of worldly society. Stars that are drawn by the dragon's tail and cast to the earth are believers, who are deceived, and who fall, and so return to the world.

Just as the ancient Israelites were promised a land, those who are in Christ have a promised land too. Paul said the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness occurred for our examples.

1 Corinthians 10:11-12
Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

In Revelation 12, the woman flees to the wilderness, in verse 6, and again in verse 14. In verse 6, it is for a period of 1,260 days, the same time period mentioned in Revelation 11:3, which is the time span assigned for the ministry of the two witnesses.

In verse 14, her sojourn in the wilderness is for "a time, times, and a half" which is the period mentioned in Daniel 7:25, when the saints are dominated by a "little horn" who has "eyes like the eyes of a man" and "a mouth speaking great things." I suggest the "eyes like the eyes of a man" represent a human viewpoint, which contrasts with a divine perspective.

The divine perspective is represented by the wings of an eagle, that are given to the woman. An eagle soars at a great height, and views the earth from above, so the eagle's wings represent the divine perspective, that is provided by a right interpretation of prophecy. Thus, in her second flight to the wilderness, the woman is equipped with a divine perspective, one which is not evident in her first flight to the wilderness in Revelation 12:6.

The two witnesses in Revelation 11 are killed, and are revived again, which suggests that the right approach to understanding prophecy has already existed in the past, but was suppressed, and abandoned. And this may be well illustrated by the explanation that Hengstenberg provided for the time periods mentioned in Revelation 11 and 12, and by the work of other men who employed a spiritual approach to prophecy, applying many of the prophecies that refer to Israel and Jerusalem to the church, rather than ethnic Jews. That was the approach employed by the apostles, in the NT. But in contrast, the basic approach of dispensationalism is to deny that the church fills the role of Israel, and preterism is similar; their view seems to elevate the writings of Josephus, an unbeliever, almost to scriptural status!

Paul in Galatians 4 identifies the unbelieving Jews with Hagar and Ishmael rather than with Isaac. He says:

Galatians 4:28-31
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

So, is the modern Jewish state the subject of prophecy? Perhaps it is, as in Revelation 13, one of the heads of the beast had received a deadly wound, that was healed. Perhaps the Jewish state is one of those heads, the one that received the deadly wound in 70 AD, and it revives the Roman province of Judea.

Revelation 13:1-5
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

The "beast" described in Revelation 13:1-5 incorporates each one of the animals described in Daniel's vision of Daniel 7, and the total number of heads and horns are the same in both prophecies. The 42 months in Revelation 13:5 corresponds to the "time, times and a half" of Daniel 7:25, and to the time that Gentiles trample the holy city, in Revelation 11:2, which refers to the church being under the domination of worldly men, and "a human point of view."

The "blasphemies" of the beast, which includes the political, economic, military and intellectual heritage of the ancient Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman civilizations, likely include such names as "Holy Roman Empire," "The Third Reich," and "Israel." The world views the modern Jewish state as "Israel," but John said the dragon "deceiveth the whole world."

Copyright © 2010 by Douglas Cox
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