Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #3 of Revelation, chapter 11, and we are reading Revelation 11:1-3:

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.

In our last study, we saw how the holy city which was tread under foot is a reference to the corporate church.   We went to Luke 21 and we are going to go there, again, and read Luke 21:24:

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Luke 21 describes the judgment which comes upon the churches at the time of the end, as the Lord tells us, in 1 Peter 4:17, judgment begins at the house of God.  It begins the Great Tribulation and that is what is in view by the holy city being given unto the Gentiles and tread under foot for forty and two months.

In the Old Testament the Lord moved Jeremiah the prophet to write the Book of Lamentations and it is a Book that is appropriately named because it is a “lament,” which is describing God’s wrath upon His people, Judah, due to their unfaithfulness.  It fits very well with the Book of Jeremiah and it teaches, spiritually, the identical thing: God at the time of the end will judge the churches and congregations of the world.  It says in Lamentations 1:14-16:

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress. For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.

This is describing God’s wrath that has fallen down upon the rebellious people of Judah, which typifies the churches.  Notice that the Lord is the One who is said to have tread under foot the daughter of Judah in a winepress, but it says in Revelation 11:2: “the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”   The judgment of Judah in the Old Testament is picturing exactly what Revelation 11:2 is talking about – the holy city under judgment.  But why does it say they (the enemies of God) will tread it under foot, yet Lamentations says it is the Lord?  It is because it is the Lord that raised an assembly against Judah (the Babylonians) to crush them and it is the Lord that loosed Satan after he was bound for that figurative period of “a thousand years,” which encompassed the entire church age, an actual time span of 1,955 years.  Christ loosed Satan and Satan immediately entered into the churches and overcame the churches and congregations – he overcame the saints.  Now that is what we read in Revelation 13, where God is also speaking of the “forty two month” period, and it says in Revelation 13:4-5:

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

The beast is Satan and he is given power or authority by God to “continue forty and two months.”  This is not a literal period of time.  It represents something and God gives power to the beast to continue forty two months, nothing less and nothing more.  He will continue only for that period of time, whatever actual time this represents.  This is referring to the complete time period of the Great Tribulation, which worked out to be an exact 23 years.  The Great Tribulation began on May 21, 1988 and continued 23 years until May 21, 2011, and then it concluded.  It was given by God to the beast (Satan) to rule as the man of sin and to be the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.  He had an official capacity and official rule.  He was legitimately ruling in the congregation because God allowed it, as God gave up His churches.  During that time, the beast would be victorious and would overcome the saints.  Look at what it says in Revelation 13:6-7:

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

So God gave the beast the ability to be victorious in the warfare over the saints and that agrees with Revelation 11: “for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”  It was given to the nations, the unsaved people of the world that are in the kingdom of darkness and, therefore, ruled over by Satan.  It was given to the Gentiles to tread the holy city under for forty two months, just as it was given to the beast to continue forty two months and to make war with the saints and overcome them.  Now, why does that sound so familiar?  Returning to Revelation, in a later verse, it is referring to the “two witnesses,” and it says in 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…

This is exactly the language of Revelation 13:7: “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.”

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 11:7-8:

… 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.

This is important because some people have gotten very confused after May 21, 2011 came and went and they have decided that Revelation 11:7 is speaking of what happened on that day: we are the ones that the beast made war against and overcame and we were killed.  They are saying, “Is that not very obvious?  Look at how the events unfolded after May 21, 2011.  I remember how awful I felt.  I remember how the churches were gloating and they said, ‘See, did we not tell you that no man knows the day and the hour?’  I remember how the world was mocking and so many people were ridiculing us and the Gospel declaration was finished and it was as though our testimony had come to an end, just as it says in 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.’  We were killed on May 21, 2011.”  That is what some people say and, of course, it is all based on their “personal feelings” and their perception of what took place on that date.  It is all based on outward circumstances as they perceive them in the world.  Now, is that how we are to come to truth?  Is that how we are to study the Bible and come to understand a verse?  No – absolutely not.  We are never to go by how we “feel” or how the media reports things or what happened when the churches posted on their signs, “We told you so.”  We are never to look at those kinds of things.  How can we ever determine what the Bible teaches by looking at the outward circumstances?

Let me give a Biblical example concerning how outward circumstances can be very deceptive.  For instance, the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross after he was betrayed by Judas and He was brought before the Jewish council and then turned over to the Roman authorities and crucified as a common criminal.  He hung there on the cross and they were mocking Him and giving him gall and vinegar to drink, and so forth.  Every ugly thing you can think of was happening and everything seemed to be going wrong.  It definitely appeared to the Apostles and disciples of Christ (the ones that knew the truth and knew Him best) that the “cross” was a great defeat.   But, remember, Christ made an appearance to two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  It said in Luke 24:13-21:

And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

They were sad.  In their statement, “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel,” there is a note of sorrow and there is a suggestion that they felt they had been wrong and apparently there would be no redemption for Israel through Christ.  Look at what had happened – there was no victory.  There was every appearance of the greatest of defeats.  The disciples were scattered and frightened by the authorities and they dared not show their faces and Christ was now dead.  Certainly, Satan and the forces of evil had won.  That was the appearance, if you were to look at the outward circumstances in 33 A.D.  If you or I had been there, we would have been sorrowful, also, and we would not have properly understood what God had done.  And this is what the Lord Jesus Christ pointed out to them, in Luke 24:25-26:

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

The attention is turned away from the outward events and circumstances which had taken place.  Christ tells them, “Do not look with your eyes.  Do not look at the body that is in the tomb.  Do not look at these things because the circumstances can be very deceptive and misleading.  Look at the Bible.”  And in the Bible, what would they hear from the Lord Jesus?  They would hear that these things had to happen.  He had to suffer and enter into glory.  The Bible would also reveal that it was not a defeat, but the greatest of victories for the Lord Jesus and the kingdom of God.  It was a time when Satan was bound at the cross and now limitations would be placed upon him and he could not prevent the sending forth of the Gospel into the nations of the world.  Soon, on the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 would be saved in one day through the preaching of Peter.

You see, we cannot tell what happened on May 21, 2011 by looking outwardly at what happened to us.  We have to look to the Bible and when we do, the Bible tells us that May 21, 2011 was not a time of defeat for the kingdom of heaven.  How could it be?  It was the time when God had finally, after thousands of years, completed His salvation program.  It was a time when all that were predestinated to obtain salvation from before the foundation of the world had all received salvation – every one whose name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life was found and brought safely into the sheepfold.  All had now obtained the salvation that Christ had obligated Himself to give to them when He died for their sins.  Is that not an incredibly glorious thing?  Is it not the greatest of days, when we can say that God completed His salvation program?  He has achieved salvation to the uttermost – there are no more elect to be found and no more to be saved.  It is finished, in that sense, and all the fullness of joy over those that repent has been realized and, not only that, but it was the end of the Great Tribulation and the end of the time that was given to the beast.  It had been given unto him to continue for forty and two months, a figure representing the entire Great Tribulation period, but no longer.   The Great Tribulation ended on May 21, 2011, after 23 full years, and the official rule that had been given to Satan in the churches and in the world was taken from him.  All official capacity that God had given him was restored to the Lord Jesus Christ and now Christ would rule the nations with a “rod of iron.”  Christ is now ruling over all that Satan had once ruled over.

The historical example of this is Haman, an awful “type or figure” of Satan.  He was hanged on the seventeenth day of the second month, in his day, and when he was hanged, the house of Haman was given to Mordecai, the Jew, who was a great type of Christ.  And this is what happened on May 21, 2011, which had the underlying Hebrew calendar of 2/17 and this also matched the day that the flood came and all went into the ark and God shut them in.

This is what happens when we look at the Bible – May 21, 2011 was not a time of defeat.  It was not a time when the believers were killed and when Satan had overcome them.  That happened twenty three years earlier when God loosed Satan and Satan entered into the churches.  That is when he and his emissaries were treading down the holy city and the saints within the churches and congregations.  It was not (twenty three years later) on May 21, 2011.  That was the time when his time had come to an end and we can prove this.  There is no way that anyone can say that Revelation 11, verse 7, is pointing to May 21, 2011.  It is impossible.  It is unbiblical and it is a teaching that is derived from the physical observations of men and it is not derived from the Bible, in any sense.   Anyone that puts forth this teaching does not understand at all what God did on May 21, 2011.  It says in 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.

The clue here that locks in exactly when this took place is the reference to the beast ascending out of the bottomless pit.  Remember, in Revelation 20, Jesus placed Satan in the pit:  It says in Revelation 20:1-3:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

The “little season” refers to the little season of the Great Tribulation.  Satan was bound for 1,955 years, from 33 A.D. until 1988 A.D. and then he was loosed for the “little season” of twenty three years.  Therefore, he was cast into the bottomless pit in 33 A.D. and he did not ascend out of the pit until he was loosed and he was loosed on May 21, 1988, at the beginning of the Great Tribulation.  Did he go back into the pit after that?  The Bible does not say anything about that and Satan certainly would not have volunteered to go back to the pit.  It is not like he came out, then returned to the pit and then was loosed again.  It said he was bound and then he was loosed; there is only one loosing and that was at the beginning of the Great Tribulation.  At that point, he ascended and immediately he came against the camp of the saints; immediately he entered into the churches and the churches were trodden under foot at that point.   Again, let me read 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.

At that point, the “two witnesses” lie dead in the streets for “three and one half days.”  We will get into what that represents in our next Bible study.