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Revelation 11

the revelation of jesus christ
John the Apostle · c. 95 AD
Chapter the Eleventh

The Kingdoms of This World: Thread 3's Midpoint Announcement

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
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.
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
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.
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.
And 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: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
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.
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.
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.
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Questions answered from Revelation 11

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Chuck Smith on Revelation 11

Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verses 1-19 So there was given unto me a reed like unto a rod ( Revelation 10:11 ; Revelation 11:1 ): and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those that worship therein ( Revelation 11:1 ). Now, this tells us many things. First of all, that the temple is to be rebuilt, because this is a yet future event. In fact, this is a event that takes place during the midst of the tribulation period, for we have not yet come to the seventh trumpet nor have we yet come to the seven vials of God's wrath that are to be poured out. So, during the tribulation period the temple will be existing in Jerusalem. So, the temple is to be rebuilt and the worship is to be reestablished in the temple in Jerusalem. At the present time there is a small, but very dedicated group of Jewish people who are fanatically involved, almost religiously so, in the desire to rebuild their temple. There are two or three organizations in Jerusalem that have dedicated themselves to the purpose of the rebuilding of the temple. Some of them are extremely radical to the point that they feel that they have to by force drive the Moslems off of the Temple Mount and claim it for the rebuilding of their temple. There are others who have taken a much more moderate view and feel that the Temple Mount should be divided. So, as not to create a holy war, they should partition the Temple Mount with a wall just to the north side of the Dome of the Rock allowing them to rebuild their temple on that northern half of the Temple Mount area. There are scholarly men, such as Dr. Asher Kaufman who has made a study over many years of the Temple Mount. And in his studies of all of the ancient records that he can get hold of, of all of the pictures of that area, all of the accounts, he has become convinced that Solomon's Temple stood to the north of the Dome of the Rock Mosque. That three hundred and twenty-two feet north of the Dome of the Rock Mosque, where this little flat rock outcropping called "The Dome of the Spirits, or the Dome of the Tablets" exists, that is where the Holy of Holies was in Solomon's Temple. The fact that looking from it directly east, you look over the east gate to the Mount of Olives helps to confirm the position of Solomon's Temple. And thus, he and other Jews take a more moderate stance believing that they can rebuild the temple over the site of Solomon's Temple and not disturb the Dome of the Rock, and thus, not disturb the Moslems. I believe that Dr. Asher Kaufman's group will prevail. For here as John is told to rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those that worship, But the court which is without the temple [that is the outer court] leave out [that is don't measure it]; and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot for forty and two months ( Revelation 11:2 ). So, this outer court, the area where the Dome of the Rock stands, is not to be measured because it is given to the Gentiles. There is in Ezekiel another prophecy of the temple that is to be built. Ezekiel also is told to measure it, and Ezekiel records the measurements. But Ezekiel says that he measured a wall around it and the wall was to separate the Holy place from the profane. So, I am convinced that the temple will be rebuilt, but I am convinced that the solution will lie in a wall north of the Dome of the Rock partitioning off the Temple Mount, giving the Jews ten to fifteen acres there on the north side of the Temple Mount for their new temple, and it definitely will be rebuilt. I expect that to take place probably not in the time that I am here. I believe that the whole arrangements will be made by the antichrist once the church has been taken out. For he shall make a covenant with the people, but in the midst of the seven years he will break that covenant. And he will come to the temple and stand in the Holy of Holies and declare that he is god and demand to be worshipped as god. So, I don't expect to see the temple built. I think that will take place after I have departed with the rest of the church, and when the antichrist then takes over. So, it is interesting to see this powerful movement growing in Jerusalem. There is one of the Ushivas, a school for the training of rabbis in the old city, that are training these young men how to butcher the animals for the sacrifices according to the Levitical law. They are actually training them now for sacrifices, the offering of sacrifices. So, it is something that they are very committed to and they would like to do it now. In fact, there was a group last year that was headed up there with explosives. They were going to blow up the Dome of the Rock Mosque. They were caught by the Israeli police and arrested and are still facing trial. But in God's time it shall be, but I don't believe it will happen until we're gone and they didn't know that I was still here when they made that preemptive attack last year. They can do anything they want after I am gone, because it is going to be theirs. Now, the Lord said to John, I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy for thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devour their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed ( Revelation 11:3-5 ).