Revelation 11:12

And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. THEY. So 'Aleph (') A C, Vulgate; but B, Coptic, Syriac, Andreas, 'I heard.' A CLOUD - `the cloud:' possibly the generic expression for what we are familiar with, 'the clouds.' I prefer taking the article as definitely, alluding to THE cloud which received Jesus at His ascension, (where there is no article there being no allusion to a previous cloud, as here). As they resembled Him in their three and a half years' witnessing, their three and a half days' lying in death (though not for exactly the same time, nor put in a tomb as He was), so also in their ascension: which is the translation and transfiguration of the sealed of Israel ...

3-13 In the time of treading down, God kept his faithful witnesses to attest the truth of his word and worship, and the excellence of his ways, The number of these witnesses is small, yet enough. They prophesy in sackcloth. It shows their afflicted, persecuted state, and deep sorrow for the abominations against which they protested. They are supported during their great and hard work, till it is done. When they had prophesied in sackcloth the greatest part of 1260 years, antichrist, the great instrument of the devil, would war against them, with force and violence for a time. Determined rebels against the light rejoice, as on some happy event, when they can silence, drive to a distance, or destroy the faithful servants of Christ, whose doctrine and conduct torment them. It does not appear that the term is yet expired, and the witnesses are not a present exposed to endure such terrible o...

Verse Revelation 11:12. _THEY ASCENDED UP TO HEAVEN_] Enjoyed a state of great peace and happiness....

AND THEY HEARD A GREAT VOICE FROM HEAVEN - Some manuscripts read, “I heard” - ἤκουσα ēkousa - but the more approved reading is that of the common text. John says that a voice was addressed to them calling them to ascend to heaven. COME UP HITHER - To heaven. AND THEY ASCENDED UP TO HEAVEN IN A CLOUD - So the Saviour ascended, Acts 1:9; and so probably Elijah, 2 Kings 2:11. AND THEIR ENEMIES BEHELD THEM - That is, it was done openly, so that their enemies, who had put them to death, saw that they were approved of God, as if they had been publicly taken up to heaven. It is not necessary to suppose that t

EXPOSITION REVELATION 11:1 AND THERE WAS GIVEN ME A REED LIKE UNTO A ROD. We are not told by whom the _reed _is given, but in Revelation 21:1. the angel has the reed, and so also in Ezekiel 40:1., upon which the incident seems founded (see Ezekiel 40:1.; and cf. the reference to the outer court in Ezekiel 40:17). The reed is "like a rod;" that is, like to a _staff. _It is for a measuring line, as in...

AND THEY HEARD A GREAT VOICE FROM HEAVEN,.... The Complutensian edition reads, "I heard", i.e. "John"; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions; but the copies in general read "they"; not the enemies, but the witnesses: and this seems not to come from any Christian civil magistrate in the church, but from Christ himself; not but that Christ may make use of, such for the bringing of his people into a more glorious and comfortable state in this world: SAYING UNTO THEM, COME UP HITHER; as the angel said to John, Revelation 4:1, and Christ will say to his people, though on another account, Matthew 25:34. AND THEY ASCENDED UP TO HEAVEN IN A CLOUD; which is to be understood not literally, for no man hath ascended to heaven, nor will any, until the thousand years are ended,

REVELATION 11:12 h;kousan {B} Instead of h;kousan î47 ac 046 many minuscules copbo arm _al_ read h;kousa. Not only does the weight of external evidence favor h;kousan, but since the Seer constantly uses h;kousa throughout the book (24 times), copyists were more likely to substitute h;kousa for h;kousan than vice versa....

CHAPTER 11:1-18 Revelation 11:1 . We see at once how Jewish things come now into view. To apply these verses to the Church and make the temple the Church is absolutely wrong. The temple and the altar are Jewish; the holy city is Jerusalem. After the Church has left the earth the Jewish people will be fully restored to their own land, and their land restored to them. They will possess Jerusalem once more. When the Jews are once more masters in their own promised land they will erect another temple and then restore the Levitical worship as far as it is possible. Such a temple must be in Jerusalem. (See Isaiah 66:1 .) In that temple the personal Antichrist, the beast out of the land of whom we shall read in chapter 13, will appear and claim divine worship. (See...

THE INTERLUDE CONTINUED. THE SECOND EPISODE. The first two verses are introductory, and represent the survey or measuring of the holy city by the seer. Then comes the prophecy concerning the two witnesses, followed by the first appearance in the book of the beast or Antichrist (Revelation 11:7). REVELATION 11:1. A REED: a measuring rod (Ezekiel 40 ff., Zechariah 2:1), Ezekiel's reed (Ezekiel 40:5) was nine feet long. MEASURE THE TEMPLE: the allusion is not to the heavenly sanctuary but to the Temple at Jerusalem. The object of the measuring was to provide for its preservation in the day of crisis. The referen

THE TRIUMPH OF THE WITNESSES. After three days and. half the witnesses came to life. This implies that they regain their power and influence. The French "Convention," which inaugurated the Reign of Terror, guillotined all the royal family and many thousand citizens, decreed the dethronement of God, and made itself. terror to mankind, continued in existence for. little more than three years, and in about three and. half years the French nation began to recover from its madness. Its atheistic laws were repealed, and Christianity was acknowledged as the religion of the State. This was not all. The resurrected witnesses were in sackcloth no longer. The age of religious toleration had come. With the beginning of the present century. movement began to sweep over every civilized land in favor of religious liberty. It began in the United States, it extended to Great Britain, and has swept on unt...