1) What must take place before Jesus returns? What are the signs we should be looking for?
2) What would be your message if you had the opportunity to speak just before the final trumpet sounds?
3) If you were among the angels in heaven, how would you introduce the final chapter of the story of the end of the world?
John is told to measure the temple of God. This seems to refer to an actual temple on earth (see verse 19 for a reference to God’s temple in heaven). This is consistent with passages that refer to the Antichrist desolating the temple during the last days (Daniel 9:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). If this is the case, then it appears that the building of a temple in Jerusalem must take place before Jesus returns. We’ll need to do some more studying on this (see Ezekiel 40-43; Daniel 7-9; and Matthew 24).
In Chapter 11 we are introduced to the two witnesses. While we don’t know what their message is, we have a couple of clues. They are clothed in sackcloth (11:3) which indicates grief and repentance. They are well protected, so their message is probably not popular (11:5). They are also given power to bring plagues indicating their judgment (11:6). The sixth trumpet was sounded in Revelation 9:13 and was referred to as the second of three woes. The end of the time of the two witnesses brings about the end of this second woe: “The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon (11:14).”
While the seventh trumpet sounds in Chapter 11, the details of the seven bowls that bring about God’s final judgment are not revealed until Chapter 16. The finality of all that will take place is expressed this way in 11:15: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Comments