1.  What was given John and what was he told to do? Revelation 11:1.

Fill In: “And there was given me a like unto a ; and the angel stood saying, ‘Rise, and the of God, and the altar, and that therein.’”

John was told to “measure” THE TEMPLE.  Thus we see that the Seventh-day Adventist Church which came out of the Great Advent Awakening of the 1840s, which chapter 10 told of, was to “prophesy again” to all nations.  See chapter 10:11.   One of the messages they were to give would be an emphasis on the heavenly sanctuary!  This was what the world was to “measure”! Not only was John told to measure the temple, but “them that worship therein”!  This measuring depicts in symbol the investigative judgment that began in 1844 and is still going on now!  How do you and I measure up?  The investigative judgment will find out who has on the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness and who does not!  This is what Matthew 22:8-13 is about!

Remember when you are about your business, God is measuring you.  When you are at home, God is measuring you.  Our words and actions are being recorded in the books of heaven!  Let us leave behind all sin and unrighteousness and wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb!

2.  What was John told NOT to measure?  See verse 2 again.

Answer: The .

The work of the investigative judgment is not for the "Gentiles" -- the unbelievers.  It is for those who profess Jesus and who have accepted the invitation to the wedding feast!  The unbelievers will be judged during the 1000 year Millennium we will study about in a future lesson.  See 1 Corinthians 6:3 now.

3.  For how long would the holy city be tread underfoot by the “Gentiles”?  verse 2.

Answer: for .

This forty two months equals 1260 days, or years in prophecy as we have already learned.  It is the period of time when the false church ruled supreme.  We will see when we study chapter 12 that this 1260 year period was a time of persecution for the true believers.  They had to flee from the fallen Roman church, which began in 538 AD and continued to 1798.  This period was called the “Dark Ages.”

4.  Who did the Lord say He would give “power” to during this time of 1260 years of darkness?  See verse 3.

Answer: His .

These two witnesses cannot be human because they live for 1260 years!  Remember that a day is a year in prophecy.  See Ezekiel 4:6.   In verse 4 the prophet declares that “these are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.”

The Bible says God’s word is “a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  Psalm 119:105.  Oil represents the Holy Spirit in Scripture.  These two witnesses that spoke God’s truths through the Dark Ages were the Old and New Testaments!  They prophesied “In sackcloth” because the Bible was kept from the people by the fallen church.  Bibles were written in Latin and chained to the pulpits.  The common people could own a translation of the Bible only at peril to their lives!

5.  What did the Lord say would happen to anyone who tries to hurt His two witnesses?  See verse 5.

Answer: They will be .

The word of God is not to be tampered with!  See also Revelation 22:18-19.   The WHOLE Bible is a witness to the plan of salvation.  For this reason we must not discard the Old Testament as being unnecessary for the Christian!

6.  What did these two witnesses have the power to do?  See verse 6.

Answer: To heaven that it not and power over to turn them to , and to smite the with all .

The Lord’s word can do all these things.  What God speaks must come to pass.  God’s word made it rain not in the days of Elijah. See 1 Kings 17:1.   The seven last plagues will be brought on by the word of the Lord!

7.  What would happen after these two witnesses finished their testimony?  See verse 7.

Fill in: “The that ascendeth out of the pit shall make against them, and them.”

“When they shall have finished their testimony” refers to the testimony given in “sackcloth.”  This time period was to be from 538 AD to 1798 AD.  According to the prophecy, a power would rise at that time that would make war with the Bible and even “kill” it for a time!

This was fulfilled during the French Revolution of the late 1700s! During the French Revolution, in 1793, the world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice and announce that there was no God!  Women as well as men danced and sang proclaiming freedom from the religious tyranny at the hands of the fallen church!  It had been the devil’s purpose to have the people look upon the abuses of the fallen church and then blame Jesus and the Father for these abuses.  By rejecting the abuses of the Roman Church, the French Revolution rejected God as well!

France at that time, with its atheism and abandonment of moral restraints, had the characteristics which especially distinguished Sodom and Egypt of old!  (hence the reference to Sodom & Egypt in verse 8).  During the Revolution there was manifest a state of moral debasement that rivaled Sodom!

Marriage was reduced to a civil contract.  The worship of God was abolished by the National Assembly.  Bibles were collected and publicly burned in the street.  During the Revolution Jesus Christ was declared to be an impostor, and the rallying cry of the French infidels was ‘Crush the Wretch’ meaning Christ!  See The Great Controversy, page 273.

The French Revolutionary Assembly also did away with the weekly rest day and instead every tenth day was devoted to reveling and blasphemy.  Baptism and Communion were prohibited.  That is why in verse 8 it says, "where our Lord was crucified!"  The atheism and exaltation of ‘reason’ above the word of God was the birthplace of Communism that was to be the thorn of Christianity for the next two hundred years!

8.  For how long would the "two witnesses" of God lay dead in the street?   See verses 8-9.

Answer: For and a .

In 1793 a decree that abolished the Bible passed the French Assembly.  Exactly three and a half years later, the Assembly rescinded that decree and toleration for the Scriptures was adopted!  This was exactly what the prophecy of Revelation 11 said!  Remember that a day equals a year in prophecy.  The three and a half days of verse eight referred to this three and a half year period!

9.  What was to happen after this three and a half year period?  See verses 11-12.

Fill In: And after days and a the of from God into them, and they upon their , and great fell upon them which saw them. 

[12]: And they heard a from saying unto them, " up hither." And they up to in a cloud; and their beheld them. 

Since the time when the France of the Revolutionary period had made war against God’s two witnesses of the Old and New Testaments, these two witnesses have been honored as never before!  In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Societies were formed.  In 1816 the American Bible Society was formed.  Up until the French Revolution, the Bible had only been translated into some 50 languages.  Since then is has been translated into thousands of languages and dialects and now is beamed via satellite around the world!  The Lord truly has said, "Come up hither" to His word as Revelation 11:12 said!

10.  What did John say occurred the same hour?  See verse 13.

Answer: A .

The symbol of an earthquake is often used In the Bible to portray turmoil and upheaval that has characterized the world since the French Revolution and will continue to do so up until the coming of Jesus!  The fact that ‘seven thousand’ were slain in the earthquake might be a symbolic number (seven is often used this way in the book of Revelation) of the many who have been slain by war, political strife, etc.

The reference to a ‘tenth part of the city fell’ may be applied to France which was one of the ten kings to arise from the fall of the Roman Empire.  See Daniel 7:24.   In fact, when we study chapter 17 we will see that the fallen church, ‘the great whore’ rides a beast with ‘ten horns.’  This false church will control Europe and ‘ride’ with the support of the nations of Europe -- the ten horns!  France is one of these!

11.  What happened next?  verses 14-15.

Fill in: "The second is past; and behold, the cometh .

[15]: And the angel sounded; and there were great in heaven, saying, 'The of this world are become the of our Lord, and of His ; and He shall forever and ever.' "

Now occurs the sounding of the seventh trumpet which is the second coming of Christ!  This is the "last trump" that Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53!  The culmination of this present system of things is the coming of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

12.  What do the 24 elders do at this time?  See verses 16-17.

Answer: They on their and God praising Him because He has taken His great and begun to !

13.  How will the nations feel just before Jesus returns?  See verse 18.

Answer: They will be .

It says also “thy wrath is come.”  The wrath of God is revealed in the seven last plagues that will fall prior to Jesus’ return!  See Revelation 16:1.

It also says that the “time of the dead, that they should be judged” takes place before Jesus returns.  This refers to the righteous dead because it says they are given “rewards.”  The ones who will be destroyed then will be those who are slain by the brightness of His coming!  See 2 Thessalonians 2:8.   The judgment of the wicked will take place during the 1000 year Millennium.  After that they will have to suffer the “second death” in the “Lake of Fire.”  See Revelation 20:7-9 & 13-15.

14.  What did John see in the heavenly sanctuary?  See verse 19.

Answer: The of His .

The ark of the covenant was where the Ten Commandments were kept in the earthly sanctuary!  See Deuteronomy 10:2.   This door John saw opened in heaven was the door to the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.  This portrays the last phase of Jesus’ ministry which began in 1844.  We are in the heavenly Day of Atonement which we talked about when we studied chapter 10!

The fact that John saw the “ark of His testament” there reveals that the law of God is still in effect in the last days and that the Ten Commandments which were in there are STILL valid for every man, woman and child on earth!  In fact, the great issue in the last days will involve one of the commandments of God versus the "mark of the beast" which we will study about in a future lesson!  See Revelation 14:9-12.   We are living since 1844 in the last moments of time!  Jesus is coming soon!  Are you ready to meet Him?

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