Revelation 11, Two Witnesses and the Seventh Trumpet

John has eaten the scroll of a might angel, feeling the sweetness, then the nausea of that scroll.  Then he is told to prophesy to all the world....

Revelation 11: 1-2, John to measure the temple

I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.  But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 

John measures the temple.  Why?  (This measurement is then not mentioned again, as we move on with the events regarding the witnesses.)

Revelation 11: 3-6, The two witnesses

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."  These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 

If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.  These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. 

We have two witnesses, two olive trees, two lampstands.  [As Tim Hall points out in a comment, this imagery occurs in the Old Testament, in Zechariah's vision, Zechariah 4.]  

The Witnesses seem indestructible, with supernatural powers.  They seem to represent God, in some way?

If we view a year as 360 days then the period 1260 days is 3 and a half years. Much has been made of this. Those who see a specific historical period of the "Great Tribulation" see that period as lasting seven years and so this event would occur halfway through that time.

Revelation 11: 7-10, The death of the two witnesses

Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.  Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.  For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.  The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. 

The witnesses seem indestructible.  And then they are destroyed.  They are destroyed by a Beast that comes up out of the Abyss (Hades?) Their bodies are displayed for 3 1/2 days.

Why does 3 1/2 suddenly appear throughout this passage?  (1260 days = 42 months = 3 1/2 years.)

Revelation 11: 11-14, Their revival

But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.  Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.  

At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 

The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. 

Yet the Witnesses live on, at God's command.  Who are they? Nothing is said here about the beast; presumably it lives on?

And so ends the second woe.

Revelation 11: 15-18, The last trumpet

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."  

And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.  The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great-- and for destroying those who destroy the earth." 

Finally, the seventh trumpet sounds. It apparently announces the final kingdom of the world, the heavenly kingdom.

What is said to occur with the sounding of this last trumpet?

Revelation 11: 19, The last trumpet

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

What does it mean for God's temple to "open"?

The chaos here will continue in the next chapter as a woman dressed in sunlight appears, and is pursued by a red dragon.