Revelation 11:7

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. FINISHED THEIR TESTIMONY. The same verb is used of Paul's ending his ministry by a violent death (). THE BEAST THAT ASCENDETH OUT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT - `the wild beast ... the abyss.' This beast was not mentioned before, yet is introduced as "the beast." John, viewing revelation as a whole, mentions objects to be described hereafter by himself (: cf. ): a proof of the unity that pervades Scripture. MAKE WAR AGAINST THEM. So...

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 11:7. _THE BEAST THAT ASCENDED OUT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT_] This may be what is called _antichrist_; some power that is opposed to genuine Christianity. But _what_ or _whence_, except _from the_ _bottomless pit_, i.e., under the influence and appointment of the devil, we cannot tell; nor do we know by what name this power or being should be called. The conjectures concerning the _two_ _witnesses_ and the _beast_ have been sufficiently multiplied. If the whole passage, as some think, refer to the persecution raised by the _Jews_ against the _Christians_, then some _Jewish power_ or _person_ is the _beast_ from the bottomless pit. If it refer to the early ages of Christianity, then the _beast_ may be one of the persecuting _heathen emperors_. If it refer to a later age of Christianity, then th...

AND WHEN THEY SHALL HAVE FINISHED THEIR TESTIMONY - Prof. Stuart renders this, “And whenever they shall have finished their testimony.” The reference is undoubtedly to a period when they should have faithfully borne the testimony which they were appointed to bear. The word rendered here “shall have finished” - τελέσωσιν telesōsin, from τελέω teleō means properly to end, to finish, to complete, to accomplish. It is used, in this respect, in two senses - either in regard to time or in regard to the end or object in view, in the sense of “perfecting it,” or “accomplishing it.” In the former sense it is employed in such passages as the following: “Till the thousand years should be fulfilled,” Revelation 20:3. “Ye shall not have gone over the cities

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 WHEN THEY SHALL HAVE FINISHED THEIR TESTIMONY,.... For Christ, his truths and ordinances; when they are about to finish it, and almost concluded it, even towards the close of the 1260 days or years, in which they must prophesy in sackcloth: or else their testimony and their prophesying may be considered as two distinct things, and the one be finished before the other; their open public testimony, as witnesses, so as to be heard, attended to, and received, will be finished before the last war of the beast against them, in which they will be killed; but their prophesying will continue to the end of the beast's reign, these two being contemporary, of equal date, beginning and ending together; for they will prophesy when they are dead; being dead they will yet speak, and their very death will be a prophesying or foretelling that the ruin of antichrist is at hand; and upon their resurrect...

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

I will. exposed in the broad street of the false Church, or somewhere in the dominions or presence of Rome. During the long period extending from A. D. 533 to 1792,. prophetic period of 1260 years, the two witnesses, the Old and New Testaments, remained in sackcloth. Even where the light had begun to spring up and the Protestant Reformation had taken the place of the Romish faith, there was still intoleration. Puritans were persecuted in England, Baptists in Lutheran Germany, Calvin burnt Servetus in Geneva, Quakers and Baptists were punished for their religion in the American colonies. Still, although the Bible had been translated into various tongues, the witnesses, until nearly the close of the eighteenth century, everywhere testified in sackcloth, for the reason that the world had not yet learned the principles of free religious toleration. Men were not allowed to read and understand...

ANTICHRIST (Revelation 11:1-19) In the passages of the Revelation which we are now about to approach we will on many occasions meet the figure of Antichrist. This figure has exercised a strange fascination over the minds of men and many have been the speculations and theories about him. It will, therefore, be convenient to collect the material about Antichrist at this stage and to try to piece it into a connected whole. We may lay it down as a general principle that Antichrist stands for the power in the universe which is against God. Just as the Christ is the Holy One and the Anointed King of God, so Antichrist is the Unholy One and the King of all evil. Just as the Christ is the incarnation of God and goodness, so Antichrist is the incarnation of the Devil and of evil. The idea of a force opposed to God was not new. Antichrist had his predecessors long befo