THE REVELATION
OF ST JOHN THE DIVINE
CHAPTER 11
In the last days two prophets shall be slain in Jerusalem—After three and one-half days they shall be resurrected—Christ shall reign over all the earth.
[ Elder Pratt commented on this chapter:
John, in his 11th chapter of Revelation, gives us many more particulars concerning this same event [the appearance of Jesus Christ to the Jews]. He informs us that, after the city and temple are rebuilt by the Jews, the Gentiles will tread it under foot forty and two months, during which time there will be two Prophets continually prophesying and working mighty miracles. And it seems that the Gentile army shall be hindered from utterly destroying and overthrowing the city, while these two Prophets continue. But, after a struggle of three years and a half, they at length succeed in destroying these two Prophets, and then overrunning much of the city, they send gifts to each other because of the death of the two Prophets, and in the meantime will now allow their dead bodies to be put in graves, but suffer them to lie in the streets of Jerusalem three days and a half, during which the armies of the Gentiles, consisting of many kindreds, tongues and nations, passing through the city, plundering the Jews, see their dead bodies lying in the street. But after three days and a half, on a sudden, the spirit of life from God enters them, and they will arise and stand upon their feet, and great fear will fall upon them that see them. And then they shall hear a voice from heaven saying, 'Come up hither,' and they will ascend up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beholding them. And having described all these things, then comes the shaking, spoken of by Ezekiel [Ezek. 38:18-20], and the rending of the Mount of Olives, spoken of by Zechariah. [Zech. 14:4-5.] John says, 'The same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand.' [Rev. 11:13.] And then one of the next scenes that follows is the sound of voices saying, 'The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.' [Rev. 11:15.] Now, having summed up the description these great events spoken of by these Prophets, I would remark, there is no difficulty in understanding them all to be perfectly plain and literal in their fulfillment. Suffice it to say, the Jews gather home, and rebuild Jerusalem. The nations gather against them in battle. Their armies encompass the city, and have more or less power over it for three years and a half. A couple of Jewish Prophets, by their mighty miracles, keep them from utterly overcoming the Jews, until at length they are slain, and the city is left in a great measure to the mercy of their enemies for three days and a half, the two Prophets rise from the dead and ascend up into heaven. The Messiah comes, convulses the earth, overthrows the army of the Gentiles, delivers the Jews, cleanses Jerusalem, cuts off all wickedness from the earth, raises the Saints from the dead, brings them with Him, and commences His reign of a thousand years, during which time His Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh, men and beasts, birds and serpents, will be perfectly harmless and peace and the knowledge and glory of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; and the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the Saints of the Most High. (Parley P. Pratt, A Voice of Warning, 1847, pp. 40-42.) ]
1 A
ND there was given me
a reed like unto a rod: [ The Hebrew word at the end is "rhabados" which was translated here as "rod" but it could also be rendered as "scepter" which would be appropriate as later in verses 5-6 John appears to have achieved the status of kingship; and kings measure people as an act of judgement. So sometype of measuring device. ] and the angel stood, saying,
Rise, and measure the temple of God,
[ John measures out the Temple described by Ezekiel (cp. Ezek. 40-44) ] and the altar, and them that worship therein. [ Why does God have him perform this measurement? Because they will be preserved. The temple will be built before this conflict and those who are worshiping there in will be protected. (President Nelson - Perfection Pending pg 184.) (History of the Church Vol 5 pg 337). ]
2 But
the court [ The temple grounds. ] which is without the temple leave out,
and measure it not; [ Why? Because it is given to the Gentiles and where will they be killing each other? Right up on the temple mount, they will not be protected as those who are attending the temple will be. ] for it is given unto the Gentiles: and
the holy city [ Jerusalem. ] shall
they [ Gog = leader of army and Magog = evil force. ] tread under foot
forty and two months.
[ A thousand two hundred and threescore days", both are metrics for 3.5 years, suggesting they are in fact overlapping. 3.5 is one half of seven or the number for perfection, for God. So symbolically the fact that they lay in the street 3.5 days, means that the adversary appears to have won but the Lord is saying by the time that he has allowed it to happen for a short period but that his work will go forward until it is complete or at 7. God is in control. ]
3 And
I [ Christ. ] will give power [ A more literal translation would be "I will endow my two witnesses". ] unto
my two witnesses, [ If they are witnesses for Christ then they need to be either members of the First Presidency or Quorum of the twelve of the church. The two prophets who will prophesy in Jerusalem in the last days. See D&C 77:15 they will come forth at the time of restoration. What restoration are we talking about here? It is not the restoration of the gospel which happened in 1830. It refers to the restoration of the ten tribes as is outlined in the 10th article of faith. So this is when these prophets return to Jerusalem. See also D&C 133:26 These events will transpire prior to the Savior's coming to the Mount of Olives to deliver the Jews from destruction (see Zech 14:4-7; D&C 45:47-53 D&C 77:15) "Appear to be some of the last to occur before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. What will these two prophets be able to do with the power that is given to them? Based on these abilities, what authority do you think these prophets will hold? (They will hold off their enemies, seal the heavens so that rain does not fall, and smite the earth with plagues. They will hold the sealing power of the Melchizedek Priesthood.)" https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/new-testament-teacher-manual/the-revelation-of-st-john-the-divine/lesson-54-revelation-4-11?lang=eng "Since the number 2 symbolizes witnesses and three and one-half the momentary triumph of evil, neither number need be taken literally. There may be more than two witnesses, and the period of their death may be more or less than three and one-half days. God’s point is that there will be a point when evil seems to have won, but that dream will be shattered the moment these prophets arise." https://rsc.byu.edu/shedding-light-new-testament/understanding-images-symbols-book-revelation ] , and
they [ The two apostles. ] shall prophesy [ Rev 19:10 Explains what message they will declare. "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." So they will be bearing witness that Jesus is the Christ, and that he will soon make an appearance there. ] a thousand two hundred and threescore days, [ 3 years 5 months and 15 days. Note that the army will be attacking the city 3 years and 6 months, so we have a little gap here of about 2 weeks. That is when the army over run the city. So symbolically their work will be stopped short as well, as if they were to preach 7 years then they would have completed their work. So what is implied is that the wicked men of the world will think that they have stopped these men, that they are in control. But what God is saying is that he is still in control and he will complete his mission - symbolically at 7. ] , clothed in
sackcloth.
[ Denotes humility. So to restate it we have two humble sweet apostles of Jesus Christ testifying of him. That is their mission. ]
4
These [ The two prophets who stand as witnesses in Jerusalem. ] are the two olive trees, [ From the olive trees we receive oil, which is used to heal. ] and the two
candlesticks [ Which are used to give light and direction. They teach of the atonement, repentance and the ways of the gospel. ] standing before the God of the earth.
5 And
if any man will hurt them, [ Or rather is any man trys to hurt them. ] fire [ This is a declaration of power that comes forth from their mouths. ] proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6
These have power to shut heaven,
[ Just as Elijah did. We can see that they exercise great power in their ministry over the course of 3.5 years. ] that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and
have power over waters to turn them to blood, [ Like Moses. ] and to smite the earth with all plagues,
as often as they will. [ This is the reason why the army cannot over run the city is because of these two apostles. ]
7 And when
they [ The two apostles. ] shall have finished their testimony,
[ When their mission has been completed. ] the beast [ Described further in Chapter 13. This great war is the one described as Armageddon, cf. 9:14-21, 16:12-16. ] that ascendeth out of the
bottomless pit [ There is no end to the depth of misery of that place. ] shall make war against them, and shall overcome them,
and kill them. < [ Will this be the Jewish people themselves who will kill the two apostles? Israel has always been the ones who have killed the prophets. Even Joseph Smith was helped to be killed by covenant members of the church. Why would the Jewish people kill them? Well think about it. You have rockets and bombs exploding everywhere, you city is in ruin, there has not been any letting up of the blood shed for some time and two foreign men come to town and tell you that you need to repent, and they do it constantly and continually. It would be like pouring gas on a match. There is death everywhere, and someone says that you need to repent - yeah right. ]
8 And their dead bodies
shall lie in the street of
the great city, [ Jerusalem. ] which spiritually is called sodom and Egypt, [ So what is the Lord teaching use here? That Jerusalem will be spiritually corrupt like the filth that the immorality and adultery that took place in Egypt and sodom. ] where also our Lord was crucified.
[ "also" - or just like. Is this a link that suggests that since the Jews were the ones to kill Christ so will they be th eones to kill these two prophets? Verse 7. ]
9 And
they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations [ We have four groups, or divisions. Symbolically when you get four groups called out individually ot is a representation for the earth. ] shall see their dead bodies [ It will be published worldwide in every news channel. ] three days and an half, [ So they will not lay there forever. but 3.5 or 1/2 of 7 the number that would make them complete. Again showing that God allows things to happen but in the end he will bring all things to the completion of 7. Here again God is sending a message to us. He has established the number of 7 as being complete, So 1/2 of completion is not completion but a short stoppage which will continue to go forth after a short pause as God is the one who is in control. So when the evil of the world begins to dance and rejoice that they have won, you can have hope that God is simply letting them have their agency, and that he is in charge. ] and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry,
[ The people of the world will be so glad that these prophets are finally dead. The wicked initially rejoice at their demise. ] and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets
tormented them [ HOw did these two prophets torment the people of the earth? They told them that they needed to change their ways, they needed to repent and come unto Christ. All of those would be reasons for the world in it's wicked Godless state to want to have these men dead. In addition they have been the reason why the battle has gone on so long, where it not ofr them Jerusalem would have been over run some time ago during this 3 year 5 month and 18 day period. ] that dwelt on the earth.
11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them,
and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
[ Only to be shocked and over come with great fear when they are resurrected 3.5 days later. Those that were close enough to see it happen real time. The cameras most likely are not streaming their dead bodies at this time. ]
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.
13
And the same hour was there a great earthquake,
[ All of this is followed by a terrible earthquake. ] and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past;
[ Ending the sixth sounding. The second woe, the sixth sounding, is finished, the third
woe, the seventh sounding, is next. The first woe was the sixth sounding per 9:12. ] and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
15
And the seventh angel sounded ;
[ The sixth sounding was back in 9:13. ] and there were great voices in heaven, saying,
The kingdoms of this world are become [ The second coming. They are excited because of the imminent retribution. ] the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign
for ever and ever.
[ Through all eternity. ]
16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17 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.
18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great;
and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
[ One of the Saviors jobs is to destroy those who destroy the earth. The word used here in destroy means to destroy utterly. ]
19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.