Глава XI

Measurement of the church of God, the altar and worshipers in the church (1-2), the appearance of two witnesses, the duration of their preaching, their power and power of miracles (3-6). The death of witnesses from the beast from the abyss, the joy of sinners on this occasion and their fear at the resurrection and ascension of witnesses (7-12). Great earthquake (13th century). The heavenly celebration, which began with the sound of the seventh Angel's trumpet (14–17); explanation of heavenly joy (18); final vision of the open church of God (19). 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 first thing in which John's prophetic ministry was expressed was the assignment given to him to measure the church. He was given a cane, but by whom, John himself, in his sublimely tense state, did not notice: it seemed to spontaneously end up in the hand of the seer. A voice, obviously belonging to the Lord Himself, commands John to stand up, which amounted to a call to begin urgent action: begin, begin. In accordance with this call, John must immediately begin measuring the church of God. This measurement has the meaning of description, defining boundaries in order to preserve and communicate the integrity of the measured and described object. The first thing to be measured is the church itself, that is, the Holy of Holies and the Sanctuary, as well as the altar of burnt offering, which was taken instead of the space where it was located, that is, the courtyard for the people. Finally, the worshipers in the church should also be measured. By worshipers (in the Holy of Holies and Sanctuary) we mean only persons of priestly dignity. Therefore, measuring the church is necessary only insofar as through this the idea of ​​​​measuring the worshipers is clarified. And the idea or purpose of this dimension is (cf. Art. 2) to separate and distinguish them from other people - to separate the Church of Christ from the anti-Christian world 52 . These other people are referred to in v. 2. under the outer courtyard, which was intended for ordinary worshipers and proselytes. The outer courtyard is not ordered to be measured because it was given by God's permission to be trampled underfoot by the pagans. Pagans are all people who do not belong to the number of true worshipers of the Lord God. The trampling of the Divine Temple by pagans, that is, by unbelievers and atheists, should be attributed to the time of the Antichrist, and it means at the same time destruction, devastation, and desecration of holy places, actions closely related to hostility to God, which is what will distinguish the time of the Antichrist 53. The reign of hostile people will last 42 months. This number is repeated several times in the Apocalypse (Rev. 11:3, 12:6, 14, 13:5; cf. Dan 7:25, 12:7), indicates the period of time of the activity of the Antichrist and, according to the opinion of the Orthodox Church, is a period determined not only for Divine Providence, but also for people, i.e. exactly as it is said: 42 months or 3.5 years. The vision of the dimension of the church and those worshiping in it speaks of the separation of the Christian Church, the society of true Christians, from the rest of society. Thus, the holy city of Jerusalem in the vision represents the whole world; the church of God is a community of believers in Jesus Christ. This inner church, the inner church, that is, the society of true believers, will be finally singled out; true Christians will worship God in spirit and in truth. True Christians, being true priests (1 Peter 2:9), will have access to God, as true children in the house of God, as true priests in the sanctuary 54. And the outer court of the church, that is, the unbelieving and wicked world, instead of the church and Christian leadership, gives itself over to the leadership of its godless representatives. They will trample the outer courtyard of the church, that is, they will destroy everything holy and Christian in the soul and life of the sinful humanity that has submitted to them. And this will continue throughout the 42 months of the reign of the Antichrist until the second coming. 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. The name witnesses is used in the general sense of preachers of Divine truth and Christian teaching. They were prophets and preachers in the broadest sense of the word, and the purpose of their preaching was not so much the admonition of the wicked, but rather the general edification and consolation of the righteous through the foreshadowing of God's coming judgment 55 . So their clothing in sackcloth (cf. Jer 4:8; Matt 11:21) can be understood in the general meaning of the clothing of preachers. The period of their preaching - 1260 days (42 months, 3 1/2 years) should be considered as an indication of a specific time. This is required by the very precision of expression, reaching to such a small unit as a day, and in such a large quantity as 1260. Two witnesses are undoubtedly two separate real persons. Such an understanding is required not only by the description of their personal characteristics, but also by their comparison with the Antichrist and his false prophet. There are two events in the Bible that remain unexplained: this is precisely the denial of the fact of the death of Enoch and the taking of the prophet alive into heaven. Elijah. How could these two people avoid death when it is the common lot of all mankind (Heb. 9:27)? Are they therefore the two apocalyptic witnesses who will come at the end of time? 56 This is also supported by the fact that some features of the depiction of the witnesses (their confinement of heaven, the production of fire from their mouths) seem to be taken from the historical figure of the prophet. Elijah. Finally, the authority of the ancient patristic interpretations speaks in favor of this interpretation (St. Hippolytus, St. Ephraim the Syrian, St. John of Damascus, St. Andrew Kecap.). In subsequent verses, some features of the life and activities of the witnesses are revealed in more detail. They are two olive trees and two lampstands (Zechariah 4:2–3, 14). This speaks of their special endowment with Divine gifts, thanks to which they are powerful and authoritative preachers of Divine truth and enlightenment. They thus stand before God, i.e. sent, appointed by God to be His witnesses before people (“earth”) living throughout the universe, before all humanity. 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. By fire from the lips of witnesses (cf. Rev. 1:16) one can understand the special miraculous power of their words. Anyone who does not accept their preaching of repentance and even begins to show himself so stubborn that he decides to harm them will destroy himself, as one who rejects the word of God. The power to perform miracles, this power of the witnesses, will continue throughout all the days of their prophetic ministry, all 1260 days; and only when the witnesses finish their work of preaching, having fulfilled everything that was assigned to them from God, will the time of power and inviolability end. 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. 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. The exponent of the power of evil (in the fight against good - witnesses) and its representative, according to the image of the Apocalypse, will be a beast emerging from the abyss. The name of the beast emerging from the abyss makes it possible to get closer to understanding this apocalyptic image. Even earlier, Rev. 9:1–11, John spoke about the abyss and about an angel from the abyss. This beast from the abyss is the same angel of the abyss, the same Apollyon - the destroyer, the only difference is in the time of their appearance, their activities on earth. You need to see the devil underneath; and if the name of the beast can be applied to the Antichrist, then only in the sense and significance that this latter will receive his strength, power on earth and, in particular, his victory over the witnesses from the devil (Rev. 13:2 - the dragon-beast). In the vision under consideration, it is not the very face of the Antichrist that is depicted (it will be discussed later, in Rev. 13), but only his work, which in reality will be the work of the devil. And therefore, the significance of the Antichrist among the society of that time will be so great that his killing of the holy witnesses will not only not be condemned, but will be completely approved, and their corpses will be ridiculed on the streets of the city. This city is the future of the anti-Christian kingdom, the ancient historical Jerusalem, because the Antichrist, having the intention of overthrowing Christianity, will naturally try to act in those places that are especially sacred to Christians. The name of the city Sodom and Egypt corresponds to this understanding, and the word “spiritually” indicates that this city in its religious and moral, “spiritual” state is similar to Sodom and Egypt. In the same way, the last characteristic of the city: “where their Lord was crucified” is an indication of the actual historical Jerusalem, which will also be the place of death of two witnesses of the last time. Their death will be rejoiced for 3.5 days (longer than the usual time for burial) not only by the inhabitants of the city as adherents of the Antichrist, but also by those living outside the city of Jerusalem. The reason for the joy of the wicked will undoubtedly be that the preaching of the witnesses disturbed the complete peace of their sinful complacency and disturbed them with the executions that struck everyone who dared to offend the righteous. 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. Both the death and the revival of the witnesses were not apparent, but real events for those who contemplated their corpses; and their rising from the dead was a proof of the omnipotence of God, whose servants they were. At the same time, the ascension of the witnesses to heaven was an indication of the extreme lawlessness that was revealed in their killing. Therefore, it is said that their enemies were struck with great fear, since they saw a real Divine miracle 57. 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; 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 the others were overcome with fear and gave glory to the God of heaven. The earthquake that followed the ascension of the witnesses, the destruction of a tenth of the city and the death of seven thousand people, indicate the beginning of those terrible disasters that were soon to follow. The numbers 10 and 7 are taken here as ordinary sacred numbers. Scriptures. The earthquake and its consequences can be considered the punishment of the wicked, as fair retribution for their lawlessness and unrepentance. The punishment was so obvious that other people, that is, those who remained alive among the corpses and ruins of the city, were overwhelmed with fear and gave glory to God. But since we are still talking about the wicked here, fear should be seen as an indication not of repentance and turning to God, but of simple fear that does not promise correction. Rev.11:14. The second grief passed; behold, the third grief is coming soon. 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. The third and final woe is not revealed in detail in the second order of apocalyptic visions. The seer only foretells this grief (v. 18), and the order ends with the depiction of a vision of the inhabitants of heaven and the heavenly church. – At the sound of the trumpet of the seventh Angel, the seer heard new loud heavenly sounds and voices - probably the same ones that were always heard around the throne of God and which belonged to the four seraphim - animals (Rev. 4:8), Angels (Rev. 5:11) and the host of glorified saints (Rev. 7:9). The voices said that instead of the kingdom of the world, the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ had come, for the royal power 58 (dominion) of the Antichrist had already ceased over the world. Rev.11:18. And the pagans became furious; 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. These voices were joined by the elders, who, calling the Lord God Almighty in their praise, also added another epithet, Who art and was and who is to come. - In accordance with this, the elders further point out that for all the evil deeds and intentions of the wicked, for their unrepentance and perseverance, the punishing wrath of God will fall on them. Their expression: “judge the dead” can be understood as equivalent to the expression: the time has come for resurrection and judgment - judgment not only over the dead, but also over the living, both over the righteous and over sinners who destroyed the earth with their sins and abuses. 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. And the mysterious vision of the opened church and the ark of the covenant standing in it speaks of the future perfect union of God with people. Just as (in the vision) the church (holy of holies), previously inaccessible, became accessible, and the ark of the covenant, previously hidden and invisible, became visible, so in the same way for righteous and perfect people after the Last Judgment the closest communication with God, the closest and inner union 59 will become available. The revelation of this secret was accompanied by lightning (the threat of judgment), voices and thunder (an indication of the judgment itself), an earthquake (a symbol of the change of things) and great hail (the terrible consequences of the judgment) 60. Andrew of Caesarea, Kliefoth, Krementz. Andrew of Caesarea, Primasius, Calmet, Lutardt. Hengstenberg, Kliefoth, Ebrard. You might be interested in: