“In turning to matters in [Revelation] 11:1–14,” Robert H. Mounce comments, “we come to a passage that is universally recognized as difficult to interpret.”[i] Too see just how difficult, consider four basic interpretations of this passage laid out by Grant R. Osborne:
“(1) The preterist view…sees this as a description of the destruction of Jerusalem and preservation of the church in John’s day…. (2) The idealist view…believes this depicts the world’s opposition to the church…. (3) The dispensational view…sees this as the rebuilt temple of the tribulation period, with the converted Jewish ‘worshipers’ (the 144,00 of 7:1–8) as persecuted by followers of the Antichrist for ‘forty-two months’ (the great tribulation). (4) A modified futurist view holds that this teaches the spiritual preservation of either the church…or the remnant of believing Jews in this final period of tribulation (the forty-two months).”[ii]
Confused? Join the club!
Basically, interpreters differ over whether 11.1–14 describes a past (preterists), presently ongoing (idealists), or future (dispensationalists, modified futurists) event, which takes place in either the literal, geographical Jerusalem (preterists, dispensationalists, and some modified futurists) or in the spiritual point of contact between the church and the world (idealists and other modified futurists). They also differ over whether the temple and the two witnesses refer to an actual temple and actual people or whether they are symbolic of the church as a whole.
So, in the midst of this confusing welter of interpretations, what is an ordinary believe like you or me supposed to do? If the scholars do not agree on the meaning of the details, can the passage mean anything to us? Well, yes. Let me suggest of few points of common ground and application.
First, as Osborne puts it, “the measuring of the temple signifies God’s ownership and protection of his people.”[iii] John’s instructions in verses 1–2 are very similar to the instructions given to Ezekiel (Ezek. 40–42) and Zechariah (Zech. 2.1–5), both of whom were told to measure the temple as an indication of its protection.
Second, however, the protection of the temple—and more broadly, the people of God—does not mean that no harm will come to them or that the forces of evil will not make them suffer. Rather, as John puts it, the temple’s outer court “is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.” Additionally, John tells us, when the two witnesses “have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street…for three and a half days.” It seems to me that John is speaking of the same event in these two passages, for forty-two months is three and a half years, and Scripture sometimes speaks of years in terms of days.
But how can God protect his people when he nonetheless allows them to be persecuted? That is the topic of our next devotional.
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