Revelation 11: The Two Witnesses and the Seventh Trumpet

Introduction

It is a Friday night prayer vigil at Full Gospel Tokyo Church. After the choir sings, the pastor brings a message titled "The Trumpet of the Seventh Angel." He is continuing his verse-by-verse study of the book of Revelation, preached in Korean and interpreted into Japanese. The passage read together that evening is Revelation 11:14-19: the second woe is past, the third is coming soon, the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, and loud voices in heaven say: "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!"

Before reaching this last trumpet, the pastor takes time to retrace the thread. He summarizes the seals and trumpets already studied, "in a very condensed way," because, as he tells the congregation, you remember them. Then he dwells at length on the two witnesses of chapter 11: their ministry, their death and their resurrection.

The thread running through his message is one conviction: from the first seal to the last bowl, everything is in God's hand. Sovereignty belongs to him, and life belongs to him. That is why anyone who walks in the mission God has given has nothing to fear.

Outline of the Message

1. The Seals and the Trumpets: Judgment Stays in God's Hand

When the first seal is opened, the rider on a white horse holding a bow comes forward (Revelation 6:2). For the pastor, this is the time of the Antichrist.
The red horse spreads war, the black horse stands for famine, and then comes the pale horse, which the text associates with death (Revelation 6:3-8).
He offers an image to gauge how serious these days are: if the earth's population is eight billion, two billion already perish through these four plagues.
Next come the prayer of the saints before God, a great earthquake, the opening of the seventh seal and the arrival of the seven angels holding seven trumpets.
With the trumpets, a third of the earth is destroyed, and not only the earth: the sea, the springs of water, the day and the night are struck by a third (Revelation 8:7-12). Another two billion people disappear. At this point, half, four billion, have perished.
The key to the abyss is given, and the locusts that were shut up there come out. They can torment, but the Lord does not allow them to take life (Revelation 9:1-5). The pastor insists: in the midst of all these things, "all sovereignty was in the Lord's hand."
Then the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates are released (Revelation 9:14).

2. Measuring the Temple: God Knows Those Who Worship Him

Before the next trumpet sounds, John is given a reed like a rod and told to measure (Revelation 11:1).
In the Bible, the pastor explains, to measure means to establish with certainty that something belongs to God.
A person is measured too: does he belong to God or not? This is where it is decided who is protected and kept by God, and also who will be the object of judgment.
John is to measure the temple of God, the altar, and above all those who worship there. The objects matter, but the worshipers matter even more: they are at the center, and John must discern them carefully.
The pastor recalls his reading of the book: when these things happen, "we are not on the earth." The Church has been raptured and is in heaven.
He draws an encouragement from this for the congregation: to the very end, God sets apart those who worship him.

3. Two Witnesses for the Last Half

What comes before the seventh trumpet, the pastor says, is God putting everything in order before the second half, the three and a half years that remain.
This is where two men appear. He asks the congregation: who makes fire come out of his mouth? Elijah. Who turned water into blood? Moses (Revelation 11:5-6).
These are the two men who stood with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration and spoke with him in his glory (Matthew 17:1-3). Elijah represents the prophets, Moses represents the law.
In his reading, during the first half of the seven years, the 144,000, twelve thousand from each tribe, proclaimed the gospel at the risk of their lives. After they are taken up, only these two prophets remain to carry the rest of the gospel.
Their message has two parts. They testify that the Antichrist is an impostor. And they announce that God's judgment is near.
The pastor draws a parallel with the beginning of Jesus' ministry: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 4:17). This time the call becomes: repent, for God's judgment is near.
These two men proclaim the good news to the end, up to the final battle, Armageddon.

4. Nothing Can Touch Someone Who Walks in His Mission

The devil's attacks against the two witnesses are extremely violent, and yet they do not die. When someone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth (Revelation 11:5).
Many sought to kill them, many raised a hand against them. They could not touch "a single hair" of their head.
The pastor applies this directly to his church, which carries the vision "Japan, ten million": you have received this great mission from God, he reminds them. No enemy can lay a hand on believers committed to this mission.
Whatever people do against us, we belong to God, and no one can lay a hand on us. Since the Lord keeps us, we have absolutely nothing to fear.
He prays that the congregation will believe that the Lord still watches over them today and leads them.
When the two witnesses begin their work, persecution falls on them. How people hated them! But all authority and every trial, he reminds them, are in the Lord's hand.

5. Dying Like Their Lord

Verse 7 announces that the beast that comes up from the abyss makes war on them and kills them. The pastor stresses the timing: their work is finished. They have completed their mission, and only then do they die, "simply."
He adds that, in that time, an idol's temple is set up on top of the holy temple in Jerusalem.
Their bodies lie in the street of the great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified (Revelation 11:8).
Sodom is the symbol of a people corrupt before God. Egypt is the symbol of rebellion against God. And just as Jesus died on the cross, these two men die in the same way.
For three and a half days, the peoples look at their bodies and do not allow them to be put in a tomb (Revelation 11:9-10). In Israel, leaving a body unburied is a grave humiliation: even a man condemned to death was buried.
These people had been tormented for a long time by the testimony of the two prophets. When they see them dead, they say to themselves: at last, we are saved, we live again.
Instead of mourning the death of these precious prophets, they rejoice and send gifts to one another. The pastor sees in this the same scene as the crowd that spat on Jesus and struck him on the road to the cross (Matthew 27:30).

6. The Breath of Life: Your Life Is in God's Hand

The pastor invites the congregation to picture the scene: bodies on display for three and a half days. They could have begun to decay.
But when the spirit of life from God enters them, they stand up. "They stood up with strength." And everyone hears the voice of God: "Come up here!" (Revelation 11:11-12).
How terrified their enemies must have been! They remembered everything they had done and regretted it, but the time had passed.
The lesson is clear to him: man's life and death are in God's hand, because life belongs to the Lord.
He quotes the words of Jesus: he is the bread of life (John 6:35), the light of life (John 8:12), and "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me" (John 14:6). Life is found only in the Lord.
"That is why, even if you are sick, you must never be afraid." Just as God breathed life into these two men, he is able to give life, whatever situation you are in.
"If you believe, you will experience the Lord, because it will be according to what you believe."
During the time of prayer that follows, he comes back to it: life is entirely in God's hand, and we already have eternal life. So we have nothing to fear.

7. The Seventh Trumpet: Do Not Go Up Alone

The pastor finally reads verse 13: a great earthquake strikes the city, and those who remain give glory to the God of heaven.
The seven seals, the seven trumpets and the seven bowls are all in God's hand, the pastor reminds them.
The death of the last two prophets is a sign: the final battle of Armageddon is near. But the tribulation is not over yet.
With the seventh trumpet, the seven bowls come on the scene. This is the beginning of judgments beyond comparison with the first ones.
The passage read that evening shows the other side of this trumpet: the twenty-four elders fall on their faces and give thanks to the Lord God Almighty, who has taken his great power and begun to reign. The time has come to reward his servants, the prophets, the saints and those who fear his name, small and great. God's temple in heaven is opened and the ark of his covenant appears (Revelation 11:16-19).
The pastor ends with a question for each person: "We will be raptured. But is it good that we be raptured alone?"
He wishes that everyone would be raptured with their family, that we would take the hand of those we love and go home together to our home in heaven.

Key Takeaways

From the first seal to the last bowl, sovereignty stays in the Lord's hand, even in the midst of judgment.
God knows those who belong to him. In the measuring of the temple, the worshipers are at the center.
Whoever walks in the mission received from God is kept: no one could touch a hair of the two witnesses before their work was finished.
Life belongs to the Lord. The one who raised the two witnesses by his breath can give life, and the believer already has eternal life.
The hope of heaven is not lived alone: the pastor calls us to enter it holding the hand of our family and of those we love.

Personal Application

What situation frightens you right now: an illness, opposition, an uncertain future? What changes for you when you are sure that your life is in God's hand?
What mission has God given you where you live, and are you pursuing it with the assurance that he keeps you until it is accomplished?
If God were to "measure" those who worship him today, would he find in you a worshiper at the center, or only someone who attends the temple?
Which members of your family or which loved ones do you want to "take by the hand" so that they know Jesus, and what can you do for them this week?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the two witnesses of Revelation 11 according to this message?

The preacher links them to Moses and Elijah. The fire that comes out of the witnesses' mouth recalls Elijah, and the water turned into blood recalls Moses. They are also the two men who spoke with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration: Elijah, representing the prophets, and Moses, representing the law.

Why do the two witnesses die if they were protected?

Throughout their ministry, no one could touch them, not even a hair of their head. They die when their mission is accomplished. The preacher draws an assurance from this: whoever walks in the mission God has given is kept by the Lord, and his life remains in God's hand.

What does it mean to measure the temple in Revelation 11:1?

For the preacher, to measure means to establish what belongs to God. A person is measured to see whether he belongs to God or not: this is where it is decided who God protects and who will be judged. John is to measure the temple and the altar, but above all those who worship there, because the worshipers are at the center.