Chapter 11 (pdf)
Download1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. 2 But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
The measuring line was a form of judgement, see Lamentations 2:8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together. In 622 there was the first Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, and the city would be trampled for 42 months (1260 years) until 1882 at the First Aliyah. The tribes have been sealed (Chapter 7) and the four winds have scattered the tribes. They were trampled underfoot, which Strong's define as being mastered, conquered, profaned or judged. They will return as the bride in chapters 18-22 after they are again measured and found worthy, shown in Zechariah 1:16 and again in 2:1-5. Glory to God!
Witnesses are those that are professing the Word of God to others. It says they will prophecy, which means to speak the words of judgement against a people. They prophecy in sackcloth, showing they are in mourning, poverty and are destitute. They were two lampstands, which Jesus calls "churches" in Revelation 2, so we need to find two church groups that fit this description. Don't be deceived in thinking these are 2 individuals preaching 3.5 years of a supposed 7 year tribulation. We cannot change the description that Jesus clearly gave us.
These two churches also are olive trees, which the beginning of this prophecy is found in Zechariah 4:1 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts...(11) “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” 12 And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil (in Hebrew it is just "gold) is poured out?” 13 He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 14 Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones (sons of new oil) who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
I recommend you go to the bible study above and go through the examples of oil listed there, but for simplicity, the Word of God is the olive tree, and understanding and revelation brings about the oil. Similar to the olive, we take the word, and crush and press into it until it produces the oil of understanding and revelation. Revelation is the gold coin in the parable of the minas/talents. To him who has, even more will be given, to him who has not, what he has will be taken from him. The two branches above were the sons of NEW oil, showing there will be a fulfillment of a new testament church. The olive trees are the Law and the Prophets. If you study those, which have the true Word of God, then you will receive gold for your lamp. Again, look at the references in the bible study and be blessed! Jesus commands us to buy from him gold refined in fire in the Laodicean church.
There were two groups of people in the 1100s in Europe that professed the Word, even transcribing Bibles, (were olive branches) , and were missionaries to others (witnesses), the Cathars/Albigenses of France and the Waldensians in Italy and parts of Germany. Between 1022 and 1163, the Cathars were condemned by eight local church councils, the last of which, held at Tours, declared that all Albigenses should be put into prison and have their property confiscated. The Third Lateran Council of 1179 repeated the condemnation. The Third Lateran Council excommunicated the Cathars and mercenary groups that were plaguing Europe at the time. The Catholic Church viewed the Waldensians as unorthodox, and in 1184 at the Synod of Verona, under the direction of Pope Lucius III and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, they were excommunicated. Pope Innocent III, the most powerful pope in the middle ages, went even further during the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, officially denouncing the Waldensians as heretics. Added to that, Jews and Muslims were targeted by being forced to wear clothing that differentiated them from Christians. The Cathars were burned at the stake as the Roman church tried to wipe them out physically as well as historically. The Cathars were the first victims of the Inquisition, the Episcopal Inquisition in 1184. Much of the narrative about them is suspect, as evidenced when you read their writings. The plague that came across France, Italy and Germany was St. Anthony's Fire, or ergotism, which affected the land (France) and the sea (Northern Italy and Germany) where the angel in verse 1 stood.
One short example from the Cathar's Book of Two Principles: [14] On Service to God. From this comes the basis for our service to God, in that we may fulfill His works, or rather, that God may con- summate through us that which He proposes and wishes to be done. In this wise He achieved salvation of His people through the Lord Jesus, although Christ did nothing good through himself or even by free will. For He said of himself: "I cannot of myself do anything"; and again, "But the Father, who abideth in me, he doth the works." " And so, we serve God when we fulfill His will with His help, not that we are able through free will to do anything good of which He himself is not the cause and principle. Thus, the Blessed James says in his Epistle, "Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights." " And in the Gospel of John, Christ says, "No man can come to me except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him." And of himself, He said: "I cannot of myself do anything. As I hear, so I judge"; and again, "But the Father, who abideth in me, he doth the works." And the Apostle says to the Ephesians: "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man may glory." " And the same Apostle says to the Romans, "So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy.
Verse 3 shows another prophecy about two witnesses God will anoint to spread the Word, separate from the one in verse 1 concerning the temple. The 1260 days (three and a half prophetic years of 360 days), start with the Synod at Verona in 1184, ending 350 years later with the Act of Supremecy in 1534, where the Reformation will remove their sackcloth of suffering and poverty. See more about the reformation in chapter 12.
Wikipedia: Medieval Inquisition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Inquisition
"The Medieval Inquisition was a series of Inquisitions (Catholic Church bodies charged with suppressing heresy) from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184–1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). The Medieval Inquisition was established in response to movements considered apostate or heretical to Roman Catholicism, in particular Catharism and Waldensians in Southern France and Northern Italy. These were the first movements of many inquisitions that would follow.
The Cathars were first noted in the 1140s in Southern France, and the Waldensians around 1170 in Northern Italy. Before this point, individual heretics such as Peter of Bruis had often challenged the Church. However, the Cathars were the first mass organization in the second millennium that posed a serious threat to the authority of the Church. This article covers only these early inquisitions, not the Roman Inquisition of the 16th century onwards, or the somewhat different phenomenon of the Spanish Inquisition of the late 15th century, which was under the control of the Spanish monarchy using local clergy. The Portuguese Inquisition of the 16th century and various colonial branches followed the same pattern."
Between 1022 and 1163, the Cathars were condemned by eight local church councils, the last of which, held at Tours, declared that all Albigenses should be put into prison and have their property confiscated. The Third Lateran Council of 1179 repeated the condemnation. The Catholic Church viewed the Waldensians as unorthodox, and in 1184 at the Synod of Verona, under the auspices of Pope Lucius III, they were excommunicated. Pope Innocent III went even further during the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, officially denouncing the Waldensians as heretics. The Third Lateran Council excommunicated the Cathars and mercenary groups that were plaguing Europe at the time."
worldhistory.org https://www.worldhistory.org/Medieval_Church/ Some of those who objected to the policies of the Church joined alternate religious sects and attempted to live peacefully in their own communities. The best-known of these were the Cathars of Southern France who, while they interacted with the Catholic communities they lived near or in, had their own services, rituals, and belief system. These kinds of communities were routinely condemned by the Church and destroyed, their members massacred, and whatever lands they had confiscated as Church property.
Cathars. Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained. 2008. http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Religious-Phenomena/Christian-Mystery-Schools-Cults-Heresies-Cathars.html Since most of the Albigensian communities were first sacked, then burned, their records and their libraries were destroyed. Because the testimony of exactly what the Cathars really believed was wrung out under extreme pain from those who survived the massacres and endless sieges long enough to be tortured and burned at the stake, it has been difficult to gain access to their true belief structure until recent times. Research now indicates that far from the devil-worshipping heretics that Pope Innocent III decreed warranted extermination, the Albigenses were devout, chaste, tolerant Christian humanists, who loathed the material excesses of the medieval church.
(Wikipedia) By the 12th century, organized groups of dissidents, such as the Waldensians and Cathars, were beginning to appear in the towns and cities of newly urbanized areas. In western Mediterranean France, one of the most urbanized areas of Europe at the time, the Cathars grew to represent a popular mass movement,[55][56] and the belief was spreading to other areas. One such area was Lombardy, which by the 1170s was sustaining a community of Cathars.[57] The Cathar movement was seen by some as a reaction against the corrupt and earthly lifestyles of the clergy. It has also been viewed as a manifestation of dissatisfaction with papal power.
The Cathar movement occasionally mingled with Waldensianism. However, it was distinct from it, for while Waldensians agreed with the Cathars in their opposition to the Catholic hierarchy and emphasis on poverty and simplicity, they generally accepted most Catholic teachings. Both movements eventually came under violent persecution, but the main energies of the Church were directed against Catharism, which was both the more radical and the more numerous of the two sects.
Massacre at Béziers: The Crusaders captured the small village of Servian and then headed for Béziers, arriving on 21 July 1209. Under the command of Arnaud Amalric,[88] they started to besiege the city, calling on the Catholics within to come out, and demanding that the Cathars surrender.[89] Neither group did as commanded. The city fell the following day when an abortive sortie was pursued back through the open gates.[90] The entire population was slaughtered and the city burned to the ground. It was later alleged that Amalric, when asked how to distinguish Cathars from Catholics, responded, "Kill them all! God will know his own." Strayer doubts that Amalric actually said this, but maintains that the statement captures the "spirit" of the Crusaders, who killed nearly every man, woman, and child in the town. Amalric and Milo wrote in a letter to the Pope, claimed that the Crusaders "put to the sword almost 20,000 people". (see Wikipedia Albigensian Crusade for additional attacks from the popes until the 1200s)
With the military phase of the campaign against the Cathars now primarily at an end, the Inquisition was established under Pope Gregory IX in 1234 to uproot heretical movements, including the remaining Cathars. Operating in the south at Toulouse, Albi, Carcassonne and other towns during the whole of the 13th century, and a great part of the 14th, it succeeded in crushing Catharism as a popular movement and driving its remaining adherents underground.
The Waldensians were more adherent to the Catholic ways, so had not been so severely attacked. They were declared heretics in 1215, but managed to stay out of the heat of persecution until the 1500s.
(Wikipedia) Outside the Piedmont, the Waldenses joined the local Protestant churches in Bohemia, France, and Germany. After they came out of seclusion and reports were made of sedition on their part, French King Francis I on 1 January 1545 issued the "Arrêt de Mérindol", and assembled an army against the Waldensians of Provence. The leaders in the 1545 massacres were Jean Maynier d'Oppède, First President of the parliament of Provence, and the military commander Antoine Escalin des Aimars, who was returning from the Italian Wars with 2,000 veterans, the Bandes de Piémont. Deaths in the Massacre of Mérindol ranged from hundreds to thousands, depending on the estimates, and several villages were devastated.
The treaty of 5 June 1561 granted amnesty to the Protestants of the Valleys, including liberty of conscience and freedom to worship. Prisoners were released and fugitives permitted to return home, but despite this treaty, the Vaudois, with the other French Protestants, still suffered during the French Wars of Religion in 1562–1598.
As early as 1631, Protestant scholars began to regard the Waldensians as early forerunners of the Reformation, in a manner similar to the way the followers of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, also persecuted by authorities, were viewed.
Although the Waldensian church was granted some rights and freedoms under French King Henry IV, with the Edict of Nantes in 1598, persecution rose again in the seventeenth century, with an extermination of the Waldensians attempted by the Duke of Savoy in 1655. This led to the exodus and dispersion of the Waldensians to other parts of Europe and even to the Western Hemisphere.
5 And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.
See Jeremiah 5:11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the Lord. 12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. 13 The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!’” 14 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them." Because the "men of God" were treacherous, lying and arrogant, God sent a consuming fire to their mouths. Ergotism is caused by eating contaminated bread. Here fire is divine vengeance, words of truth that burn and condemn.
In the 1300s we have the start of divine justice. See these bullets by a google search of St Anthony’s Fire Cathars:
St. Anthony's Fire as a disease
St. Anthony's Fire as a period of persecution
6 They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
There was the great famine of 1315-1322, killing 10-25% of the population. The Black Death – Bubonic Plague from 1346 to 1353 was the result of unclean and poisoned wells, hence waters to blood. Death estimates between 25-50 million people.
7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,
We have here the first definition of the beast described later as the red beast of chapter 17, which is the red dragon in chapter 12 and 20.
Revelation 12:3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. Revelation 20:2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Revelation 17:3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. 12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.
The interpretation of the Red Beast is given in chapter 17. The red dragon who becomes the beast will attack the remaining Waldensians in the 1500s.
8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
Sodom in the Bible were the godless, men who were ruled by their flesh. Egypt in the Bible were pagans and worshipped many gods that The Most High God found as an abomination. France would later be a nation of atheists, and Italy and Germany are where the harlot is seated in chapter 17. The Cathars and the Waldensians were tortured by flogging, and hung on a stake as our Savior was, before being burned at the stake. These were permitted by the pope, much like the Sanhedrin called for the crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of the Romans.
9 For three and a half days some from 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 those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
At the Lateran Council in 1179, Popes forbid mass and burials for those that were labeled as “heretics” by the papacy and were martyred at the hands of the Catholic Church. Another decree was issued on 1254 that forbade burial to not only “heretics” but also those who believed them or defended them. They left the bodies out in the open to remind others of the consequences of siding against the Catholic Church.
11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour 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; behold, the third woe is soon to come.
The three and a half days is another fulfillment of prophecy in addition to the two in verses 1 and 2 above. On May 5, 1514, the popes convened for the 5th Lateran Council, Session 9, to declare that the heretics had been taken care of. The pope waited until the “noxious brambles of heresies had been first uprooted from the Lord's field” and then convened so they could get on with the matters of making more rules for the Roman church. Three years after that council would be 1080 biblical days (360 x 3) and 179 more days after May 5, 1517 puts you to October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses. The next day on their pagan "All Saints Day", they would have seen his scathing rebukes, which were the breath of life from God, causing the believers of the true Word of God to stand up on their feet. Great fear fell on the leaders of the Roman church because this started a Christian revolution against the harlot church. The revolution went from Germany to France to England simultaneously causing believers to be lifted up and promoted, as described in Proverbs 25:7, even as their enemies ruled the land. God was on the move!
Come up here! is a phrase God used to describe promotion, as in Proverbs 25:6 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of great men; 7 for it is better that he says to you, “Come up here!” than that you should be demoted in the presence of the prince. Even what you have seen with your own eyes, 8 do not bring hastily to court. Otherwise, what will you do in the end when your neighbor puts you to shame?
The prophecy in verse 3 of the 350 years in sackcloth ended with the Act of Supremacy from England in 1534 that declared common men able to read the Bible in their own language. The king of England even required a new Book of Prayer in churches so that the congregation could participate and understand the services. The cloud in this instance is like the cloud of witnesses as described in Hebrews 12:1. The great city is the nations of Europe, which we will look at in chapter 13 and again the great city Babylon in chapter 18. The Act of Supremacy was also the catalyst for England to break away from the rule of the Catholic authority over government by establishing an independent Church of England. The seven thousand people killed were the seven provinces of the Netherlands that signed the Union of Utrecht in 1579, and the Dutch revolt of 1581. Even those that stayed under Catholic dominion were starting to see the truth of God and give him glory!
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 Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
The 24 elders are first introduced in chapter 4 before the opening of the seals. Here they worship God for fulling his promise of the coming kingdom. This connects with the phrase in verse 15 that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of Jesus, and the 24 represents 12 sons of Jacob and the 12 disciples, the complete revelation of God. We also need to note the phrase “begun to reign” which looking at the Strong’s interpretation, there should not be the word "begun." We have the beginning of the reign of Christ in Chapter 5. Here’s the KJV version of this verse: Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
The dead here are those dead in Christ, as Paul talks about in Romans 6 and 8. They (starting in chapter 12) will be judged by the law of Christ because believers now have the word in their own language spoken at their church services. They can rightly divide the word for themselves speak the words of truth over others making disciples of others without the hierarchy of the Roman Church. Verse 18 foreshadows how the common people have the word, both small and great, and they will be rewarded with all the promises held in the Bible for believers. God’s temple will be opened, the word will be sent out instead of kept hidden in the small communities like the Cathars and Waldensians had to do.
Verse 19 foreshadows the coming great revivals where many experienced the presence of God that was previously experienced by the high priest in the holy of holies, would now be experienced on a scale of revival the world has not ever seen. We see the fulfillment starting in chapter 14.
After the ark was opened, and the revivals were nearing their end, we would see the fulfillment of the lightning, thunder earthquake and heavy hail. God describes this 30 year event as: the great day of the Lord, the wedding feast, the two great sickles/WWI and WWII, the first lake of fire, and the time where Jesus comes as a thief. Jesus gave this warning, and there were warnings in chapter 3, but the false prophecy of a coming rapture had already taken hold at the end of the many revivals. That would cause the earth beast to be called the false prophet beast in direct correlation to this teaching from the dragon.