Глава 11

Rev.11:1. And a reed like a rod was given to me, and it was said: Arise and measure the church of God and the altar and those who worship in it. Rev.11:2. But exclude the outer court of the temple and do not measure it, for it was given to the pagans: they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. “The reed” indicates that everything that appeared in heaven, although we consider it inanimate, is reasonable, namely: the altar, the throne and something else, for the words “rise and measure the church of God” are spoken by the reed given to him, which indicates the measurement of the church of God with angelic understanding. If anyone says that he heard these words from the Angel who gave the reed, then he must be answered that the reed means the measure of knowledge and intelligence corresponding to the recipient, which will be awarded to all those who are distinguished for good deeds by God and His Angels, for “God knows his own being,” says the word of God (2 Tim. 2:19). You need to know that some understood the Old Testament by the “church of God,” and the New Testament by the “outer court,” immeasurable in the abundance of those being saved; by “forty-two months” is the shortness of time until the second coming, which will contain the secrets of the New Testament. And we think that the church of the Living God is the Church in which we make verbal sacrifices. The outer court is a society of unbelievers and Jews, unworthy of the angelic dimension for their wickedness: “God knows his own being,” but He, the Omniscient, does not know the wicked. The same thing that the holy city - new Jerusalem, or the Universal Church will be trampled underfoot by the pagans for forty-two months, as I think, means that at the coming of the Antichrist, the faithful and steadfast will be oppressed and persecuted for three and a half years. Rev.11:3. And I will give to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. Rev.11:4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. Many teachers thought that these two witnesses, Enoch and Elijah, at the end of the world, would receive from God time for prophecy of three and a half years, signified by one thousand two hundred and sixty days. “Clothing in sackcloth” means that then all those who live and are turned away from the delusion of Antichrist will be worthy of weeping and lamentation. Under the guise of two olive trees and two lamps, the prophet Zechariah pointed to them (Zechariah 4:2, 3, 11–14), since the food for intelligent light consists of the oil of good deeds. Rev.11:5. And if anyone wants to offend them, fire will come out of their mouth and devour their enemies; if anyone wants to offend them, he must be killed. Rev.11:6. They have power to shut the heavens so that no rain falls on the earth in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague whenever they want. “And others will desire to offend them.” Oh, the wonderful Grace of God! For she offers an equivalent cure for the wound. The Antichrist, according to the action of the devil, with his false signs and wonders, will be the most glorious of all the magicians and deceivers; God will also arm these His saints with the power of true signs and wonders, so that with light and truth they will reject darkness and lies and turn those deceived to the path of righteousness with a word of admonition or punishment: lack of rain, fire, changes in the elements and the like, and they will expose the seducer himself, without suffering any harm from him until the end of his sermon. Rev.11:7. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes out of the abyss will fight with them and defeat them and kill them, Rev.11:8. and their corpses will be left on the streets of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified. When it becomes known about the removal from his seductions, the “beast,” that is, the Antichrist, will come out of the dark and underworld places into which the devil was cast, and will kill them by God’s permission, and leave their bodies unburied in Jerusalem, ancient and devastated, where Christ suffered. In this city, the Antichrist will establish his kingdom and royal throne in the likeness of David, whose son according to the flesh was Christ, our true God, in order to show by this that he is Christ, fulfilling the prophecy: “I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David, and will recompense it that fell” (Am. 9:11), which the Jews, mistakenly, attribute to his coming. Rev. 11:9. And many of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their corpses for three and a half days, and will not allow their corpses to be put in graves. Rev.11:10. And those who live on the earth will rejoice and be glad, and will send gifts to each other, because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth. Jews and pagans, deceived by the false miracles of the Antichrist and having written his name indelibly in their hearts, will not allow the bodies of the saints to be buried and will rejoice that they have been delivered and freed from the punishments that they endured for their own admonition, not understanding that the Lord “whom he loves, he punishes, and beats every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:6), and “with the reins and "with a bridle" draws to Him those who do not approach Him (Ps. 31:9), so that, although under compulsion, they turn to the right path, from which they turned aside through deception. And we must pray to the Lord: “It is good for us that we suffered in order to learn Your statutes” (Ps. 119:71); “Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cease Your indignation against us” (Ps. 85:5), and “Do not enter into judgment with Your servants” (Ps. 143:2). For we are judged by You, the humane-loving Master, and we will be punished, so that we will not be condemned with the world (1 Cor. 11:32) and we will escape eternal torment through a little punishment, because You are rich in Your mercies, Christ our God, and You are due thanksgiving, glory, honor and worship with the Father and the Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. About the resurrection of two prophets of God killed by the Antichrist Rev.11:11. But after three and a half days the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they both stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who looked at them. Rev.11:12. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven on a cloud; Killed for the same number of days as the years they prophesied, they will again ascend to heaven on the Lord's chariot - a cloud, to the shame and fear of those who see it. and their enemies looked at them. Rev.11:13. And at that same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell, and seven thousand names of men perished in the earthquake; “And at that hour the coward became great.” Perhaps then an earthquake will occur in a visible way, but in a spiritual sense, we think this means the transition of those who waver to constancy and firmness. The fall of a tenth of the city means the fall of wickedness, uncorrected by the ascension of the prophets, while some will be saved. “Seven thousand” dead indicate those who are tied to the time of this life, measured in the number of seven days, and do not expect the eighth - the resurrection; they will be killed in fiery hell with eternal torment - the second death. But maybe these are seven thousand Jews who will submit and believe in the Antichrist. and the others were overcome with fear and gave glory to the God of heaven. Rev.11:14. The second grief passed; behold, the third grief is coming soon. "And give glory to God." After the punishment of the wicked and the glorification of the martyrs for Christ, those worthy of salvation will praise God. Following the second tribulation after the seventh trumpet comes the third tribulation. About the seventh trumpet and about the saints glorifying God for the future Judgment Rev.11:15. And the seventh angel sounded, and loud voices were heard in heaven, saying: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. Rev.11:16. And the twenty-four elders, sitting on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, Rev.11:17. saying: We thank You, Lord God Almighty, Who art and was and who is to come, that You have received Your great power and reigned. Rev.11:18. And the pagans became furious; The Holy Angels and those who lived like angels thank God, for He deigned for our sake as Man to accept the Kingdom, which He possessed as God from the beginning, and, being long-suffering, finally sent punishment on the unfaithful pagans, who were irritated by this new and strange teaching. Therefore he says further: and Your wrath has come and the time to judge the dead and to give retribution to Your servants, the prophets and saints and those who fear Your name, small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth. It indicates the time of the resurrection of the dead, when everyone will be given reward according to their deeds. By prophets, saints and those who fear God we must understand three degrees of people: those who bear fruit of a hundred, sixty and thirty, while the apostles will inherit the first place and twelve thrones. “Small and great,” we think, are called either the lesser and the greater saints, or the small ones are sinners humiliated in the future life, and the great ones are the righteous. About the persecution of the Church before and under the Antichrist Rev.11:19. And the church of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His church; and there were lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail. The opening of heaven and the appearance of the ark means the discovery of the blessings prepared for the saints; they, according to the word of the Apostle, are all hidden in Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of the physical Godhead (Col. 2:3, 9). When terrible “voices, lightning, thunder and hail” befall the lawless and wicked, these benefits will be revealed through a change in the present in an earthquake, when eternal torment begins. You might be interested in: