1A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, “Rise and measure God’s temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don’t measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months. 3I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands, standing before the Lord of the earth. 5If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
7When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them. 8Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations, people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10Those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
11After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them. 12I heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” They went up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13In that day 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.
14The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe comes quickly.
15The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
16The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God’s throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17saying: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and reigned. 18The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and those who fear your name, to the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
19God’s temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed.
God’s intention to judge Jerusalem was shown in “someone’s” instructions to John to measure the temple, altar, and worshippers with the promise that Jerusalem would be “trodden under foot” for forty-two months while two witnesses prophesy
This is reminiscent of Ezekiel’s measuring rod and will appear again at the end of the Revelation when New Jerusalem is measured. Here, nothing is said of its length, nor are any measurements described, unlike Ezekiel’s temple and New Jerusalem. The focus of this vision is not the dimensions, but the content, namely, the temple itself, its altar, and the people.
The temple is called “God’s temple,” and so indicates its location is Jerusalem. At the time of this vision, the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed for approximately 25 years, so it could not have been the first-century temple. Rather, it is better to see this as the tribulation temple. The reference to forty-two months places it in the second half of the tribulation period. Since the Gentiles will possess it, we know that the time of the Gentiles is not yet over (Luke 21:24). This is hinted at in the command for John not to measure the court of the temple since it belongs to the Gentiles.
When will this temple be built? A possible scenario for the appearance of this temple is that it will be built during the first half of the tribulation. Daniel and Jesus’ references to the abomination of desolation that occurs at the mid-point of Daniel’s seventieth week are likely connected to this temple. Israel will be permitted to build its temple by the Antichrist. At its completion and then dedication, the Antichrist will desecrate it in a way similar to Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ desecration of the second temple in 167 B.C. Then he sacrificed a pig on the altar and demanded to be worshipped as a god. The Antichrist will likely do the same. This is when the two witnesses will appear to the world.
The two witnesses are introduced here, whose ministry will last the same amount of time the city is trodden under foot by the Gentiles, though given in days rather than months. As in Daniel’s prophecies, prophetic years and months are counted using 30-day months rather than the lunar calendar or our Julian calendar.