Revelation 11:1: “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.”

Apostle John was told to get a reed like a rod, which is like a measuring stick to measure the temple of God. 

The next question is ‘what is this temple of God?’ In Revelation 8, there was a temple of God and an altar up in heaven, so some people think it refers to the temple up in heaven. But no, it’s not in heaven, it’s on the earth. Because He’s talking about Jerusalem.

“and them that worship therein.”

This is a place where people are coming to worship.

Revelation 11:2: “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.”

When the Jews had their temple, the court is outside. The verse also says the same, the temple is not on the court.

“leave out,”

Leave out the court.

“and measure it not;”

John is told not to include the court for measurement. Why?

“for it is given unto the Gentiles:”

Because the gentiles are the ones that are going to take it over. If this court is given to the heathen, then this means that this temple is not up in heaven. If this refers to a Jewish temple with a Jewish court and a Jewish altar, if that’s not the one up in heaven, we know it’s talking about the temple on earth. So this is an earthly Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

“and the holy city”

That’s plain now, this is Jerusalem.

“shall they tread under foot”

The Gentiles are going to trample this.

“forty and two months.”

That’s 3.5 years. So the Gentiles get this place for 3.5 years and notice that they’re desecrating, and they take over the Jerusalem court and city.

Daniel 9:27: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

The verse says one week, which equals seven days. The middle of the week refers to 3.5 days.

The Bible says in 2 Peter that ‘a day with the Lord is a thousand years, as a thousand years as one day.’ Also, in the book of Deuteronomy, the Bible shows that forty days they were out spying the land that it was representing forty years as well. So each day could represent one year.

This is the only passage in the entire Bible where we get our seven years tribulation from. 

There’s a desecration going on in mid-point, in the midst of that seven weeks. “in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,” The Gentiles are treading it underfoot. They’re the ones spreading the abomination.

Matthew 24:15: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”

Notice what Jesus says concerning the tribulation. The “abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet (Daniel 9:27). 

“stand in the holy place,” 

In Revelation 11, the temple and the court are in the holy city, so Matthew 24 is undoubtedly talking about the same thing. Matthew 24 says holy place. They’re going to do the abomination of desolation. 

In the middle of the seven years of tribulation, the Antichrist and the Gentiles will come in and take over the Temple Mount. They’re going to stop the Jewish worship system.

Back to Revelation 11:2, notice that it’s called the holy city. If it’s talking about a Jewish temple, Jewish court Jew altar, it’s called the holy city. That means that Rome is not the holy city God is looking at. God gives an opposite name, He calls it Babylon at Revelation 17 and 18. But Jerusalem is known as the holy city. The anti-semites always confuse when they find several Jewish elites there. They fail to see that the Antichrist is a Jewish elite, but even he goes against the nation of Israel during the tribulation.

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.”

“And I will give power unto my two witnesses,”

The Antichrist will take over that place right, so God’s going to send two witnesses to take care of this issue.

When do these two witnesses show up?

In Dr. Ruckman’s Bible Study Charts and Outline, it looks like these two witnesses are placed at the latter 3.5 years of the tribulation. 

In Revelation 11:1-2, when does that abomination of desolation take place? At the latter 3.5 years. Because it says ‘in the midst of the week’, so after the first 3.5 years have passed, then comes the middle of the week, and that’s when the abomination of desolation happens. Revelation 11:1-2 says that once this desecration takes place, what happens next at verse 3? “ I will give power unto my two witnesses.” It seems like these two witnesses are coming out when the Antichrist is desecrating the whole Jerusalem temple. 

Why would God send His two witnesses during that time? Because that’s when the Jews need help, they’re going to be persecuted by the Antichrist.

Who are the two witnesses?

Many people like to say Enoch and Elijah because they both never died. They both got raptured. It makes sense why they would naturally think of both Enoch and Elijah because they never died, but there’s no qualification for that in the Bible. It just says there’s two witnesses. 

By the way, a lot of Christians are raptured before the tribulation. There’s going to be thousands of us, if not millions, raptured up to heaven before the tribulation. So it’s not just two people who never experienced death. It’s going to be thousands. That’s why it’s not a good argument to say Enoch and Elijah. Their other argument is that later on in Revelation 11, these two witnesses do die. So if it’s Enoch and Elijah who never tasted death when God raptured them, it would make sense that they tasted death once at Revelation 11, and thus everyone died at least once.

Hebrews 9:27: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

Notice right here, man has to die once, and then the judgment comes. But here’s another problem, every man is not going to die once. Some people will not taste death and go to heaven at the pre-tribulation rapture. 

A second argument is this, some people didn’t die once. They died twice. 

  • Lazarus died, got resurrected, and then he died again. 
  • The boy that Elijah raised from the dead, died once, and he died again. 
  • Elisha raised another woman, she died once, and she died again. 

So this statement is simply saying a general rule, that it. It’s not an absolute statement that every single person has to die. It’s a general rule that mankind has to die. It’s the same thing with how our society functions. Within our society, there are always rules, but they’re generally used, but we allow exceptions. That’s a rule of logic, exceptions only prove the rule, they don’t disprove the rule.

Back to Revelation 11:3, who’s the one that’s speaking here? The angel who stood. The angel who stood at Revelation 10:2 was standing one foot on the sea and one foot on the earth. That angel is saying, ‘I’m going to give the power to the two witnesses,’ and he said, ‘my two witnesses.’ Again, another supporting verse is that this mysterious angel of Revelation 10 is Jesus Christ because He said ‘my witnesses’ and ‘giving my power to them.’