Revelation 11 – A Prophetic Study of the Two Witnesses & the Seventh Trumpet

Overview: Prophecy, Persecution, and Proclamation

🔹 Theme: Truth may be silenced, but it cannot be defeated.

🔹 Focus: God’s protection of His people and proclamation of His reign.

🔹 Outcome: The Kingdom of Christ is announced, and judgment is revealed.

Prophetic Themes in Revelation 11

🔹 Two Witnesses – Represent God’s faithful truth-bearers, past and present.

🔹 1,260 Days – A recurring prophetic period of tribulation and testimony.

🔹 Beast’s Power – Introduced here, expands in Revelation 13.

🔹 Temple & Ark – Symbol of God’s covenant and law.

🔹 Seventh Trumpet – Culmination of warning, transition to final judgment.

Time and Eternity in Revelation 11 

One of the most striking elements in Revelation 11 is how time is referenced and experienced. The chapter makes bold prophetic declarations about the rule of Christ while events on Earth are still unfolding.

1️⃣ The Eternal Nature of God and Time’s Fluidity in Revelation

Throughout Revelation, God is described as:

🔹 “Which art, and wast, and art to come” (Revelation 11:17) – This phrase presents God’s existence as ever-present, outside of time.

🔹 Revelation 1:8 – “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord.”

🔹 2 Peter 3:8 – “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

🔎 This suggests that time in Revelation does not function as we experience it. What appears future to John is already complete in God’s eternal plan.

2️⃣ The Prophetic Overlap of Time – Past, Present, Future as One

🔹 The Two Witnesses minister for 1,260 days, are killed, and are resurrected before ascending to heaven.

🔹 The Seventh Trumpet announces that Christ’s Kingdom has come, yet judgments are still occurring.

🔹 The Beast (Antichrist) rises to power, but Christ’s reign is already declared.

🔎 How can Christ’s reign be proclaimed before He physically returns?

🔹 From Earth’s perspective, these events happen in sequence.

🔹 From Heaven’s perspective, God declares what is already established in eternity.

The Nature of Time and Prophecy

Revelation presents time in a way that challenges linear thinking. Rather than simply moving from past to future, the events unfold in a layered, prophetic structure where fulfillment is both declared and awaited.

🔹 Time in prophecy appears both fulfilled and ongoing.

🔹 God speaks of the future as already accomplished.

🔹 Prophecy often repeats, with events mirroring past fulfillments in new ways.

This suggests that time in Revelation is not purely sequential but part of a divine framework where prophecy is already completed in God’s eternal reality.

🔎 Could it be that the way we experience time on Earth is only a shadow of how it exists in eternity?

🔁 Chiastic Structure in Revelation 11

Revelation follows a Chiastic (Mirrored) Structure, where events unfold in stages from two different points and converge on a central moment.

1️⃣ Chiastic Patterns in Revelation 11

🔹 The Two Witnesses & The Seventh Trumpet → Their ministry lasts 1,260 days, mirroring the Gentiles trampling the outer court for 42 months (Revelation 11:2-3). Both meet at the Seventh Trumpet.

🔹 The Dragon & The Beast (Revelation 12-13) → The Dragon persecutes the Woman for 1,260 days, while the Beast rules for 42 months. They meet at the midpoint of the Tribulation.

🔹 Trumpets & Bowls Judgments (Revelation 8-16) → Trumpets introduce partial judgments, Bowls bring final judgments, and they meet at the outpouring of God’s wrath.

2️⃣ Why This Matters

🔹 Prophecy unfolds in loops rather than a strict timeline.

🔹 Time is layered, meaning what appears to be a separate event might be the same event from a different perspective.

🔹 Heaven sees past, present, and future as one—we only experience them sequentially.

🔎 This strengthens the view that Revelation is not strictly linear but rather a divine pattern repeating toward fulfillment.

The Dual Fulfillment of Prophecy

🔁  Just as Israel represents the physical covenant while Christianity fulfills it spiritually, so too do many prophetic events carry both a spiritual and physical fulfillment.

🔁 Spiritual Fulfillment: The Two Witnesses represent the Old and New Testaments, which testify to God’s truth.

🔁 Physical Fulfillment: In the future, two literal prophets will appear, mirroring Moses and Elijah and facing persecution before their resurrection.

🔁 This pattern mirrors other biblical dual fulfillments, such as Christ’s first and second coming, the earthly temple vs. the heavenly temple, and Israel’s role before and after Christ.

Key Takeaways

🔑 God always preserves a witness.

🔑 Prophetic truth rises even after attempted suppression.

🔑 The beast cannot win—God raises His messengers.

🔑 The seventh trumpet brings the beginning of the end.

Prophetic Patterns & Fulfillment

🔮 Parallels the ministry of Moses and Elijah—miracles, boldness, ascension.

🔮 1,260 days matches Daniel and Revelation’s time prophecies.

🔮 Seventh trumpet echoes Joshua’s conquest (seventh day, seventh trumpet).

🔮 Ark reappearing in heaven signals final judgment tied to God’s law.

Historical & Cultural Context

📜 Sodom & Egypt – Symbols of immorality and bondage.

📜 Public Shaming – Ancient enemies would leave bodies unburied to mock.

📜 Trumpets – Used for divine warning and military victory in Israel’s history.

📜 Measuring the Temple – A priestly act tied to holiness and readiness.

Final Reflection: The Kingdom Declared

The world rejoices in temporary victory over truth, but God always has the final word. The seventh trumpet has sounded. The Kingdom of Christ is not just coming—it is being declared.

📌 Are you standing with the witnesses?
📌 Are you living for the coming King or the present world?
📌 Will you rejoice when His trumpet sounds?

🚀 The testimony may cost us everything—but the Kingdom will repay with glory.

Rev 11:1  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. 
Rev 11:2  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. 
Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 
Rev 11:5  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. 
Rev 11:6  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. 
Rev 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. 
Rev 11:8  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. 
Rev 11:9  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. 
Rev 11:10  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. 
Rev 11:11  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. 
Rev 11:12  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. 
Rev 11:13  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. 
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. 

The Seventh Trumpet
Rev 11:15  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. 
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 
Rev 11:17  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. 
Rev 11:18  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. 
Rev 11:19  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.