Daily Devotional • November 4
A Reading from Revelation 11:1-19
1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Come and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner. 6 They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will wage war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is propheticallycalled Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.
11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them. 13 At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Messiah,
and he will reign forever and ever.”
16 Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 singing,
“We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
18 The nations raged,
but your wrath has come,
and the time for judging the dead,
for rewarding your servants, the prophets
and saints and all who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple, and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
Meditation
The account of the two witnesses is the second consolatory vision before the sounding of the seventh trumpet. There are two of them, just as Jesus sent out his disciples two by two. They proclaim their testimony, although no details are given; the testimony is energized by kingdom-sourced power. The measuring of the sanctuary (the true spiritual Israel) and the leaving out of the nations is a prophecy that even in the time of savage oppression, God has the faithful in sight and shall deliver them. The numbers, 42 months and 1,260 days, are both 3 and a half years. That is half of seven, meaning a truncated time. Olive trees and candlesticks mean that the Church under persecution is still fruit-bearing and light-shedding.
The witnesses’ death comes when it will bear more fruit than their being alive. Their bodies lie in the street for 3 and a half days, again a limited time. Like Jesus, their death is not defeat but a requisite prelude to exaltation. Their ascension is an irrefutable sign of undefeatable power, followed by an earthquake. The witnesses are “wiping the dust from their feet” as they leave forever those who refused their testimony. The 7,000 people who are killed means an uncountable number. Evil in its mightiness is shown to be weak and easily conquered.
Then sounds the seventh trumpet and the end of this section of Revelation. Loud voices in heaven proclaim absolute victory, the destruction of all evil. The 24 elders are a double twelve, twelve being the number of the Church. Here both Old and New Testament elders worship together and join in the shouts of final victory.
And then, with shivers up our spines, we see the Ark of the Covenant within the Temple! The Ark, lost but not destroyed at the time of the Babylonian conquest, is the greatest sign of God’s presence with his people. Lost and longed for for a hundred generations, it is revealed at the heart of the Kingdom. Without a doubt, we are on the winning side!
David Baumann is a published writer of nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. In his ministry as an Episcopal priest, he served congregations in Illinois and California.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
Church of the Good Shepherd, Corpus Christi, Texas
The Diocese of Pretoria – The Anglican Church of Southern Africa
