There is perhaps no more hotly debated passage in the Book of Revelation than chapter 11. It is a particularly complex passage filled with challenging allusions to various Old Testament texts such as Zechariah, Daniel, Exodus, 1 Kings, and Ezekiel. It is a passage filled with temple imagery and the symbolic use of numbers. The passage portrays “two witnesses,” described also as two olive trees and two lampstands. They are protected from harm as they prophesy powerfully to the nations. Finally, they are killed by a beast that arises from the abyss. But after a period of time the witnesses are raised to life and taken up into heaven.

What can the church expect in terms of treatment from the world in the period between the Lord’s two advents? And what is the church to be doing during these days? These questions come to mind as we consider the days of God’s judgment depicted in Revelation chapters six through sixteen. What ought we expect and what ought we be doing? These are the key questions addressed in this passage.

Revelation 10-11:14 is a theological break in the action between the sixth and seventh trumpets. Much like the break between the sixth and seventh seals (chapter 7), this break directs our attention to the church as she makes her way between Christ’s incarnation and his return. And just like the interlude between the sixth and seventh seal, the break between the sixth and seventh trumpets looks at the church from two vantage points. In chapter ten we see the church’s apostolic inheritance as stewards of God’s Word in all of its sweetness and bitterness. In 11:1-14 we see the church as persecuted but ultimately a triumphant witness to Christ in the world.