Revelation 11
To measure something is to claim it for yourself, as when the new owner of a house measures it for carpets, drapes, and so forth. John claims the temple in Jerusalem for the Lord even though in a short time the Antichrist will take it over (2 Thess. 2:3–4). God may seem to lose some battles, but He will finally win the war. We walk by faith.
We do not know who the two witnesses are, but they encourage us to be faithful to the Lord in difficult times. God protects them and then permits them to be slain (Acts 12:1–10). God’s servants are immortal until their work is done. But Satan’s victory is short, for God takes the two men to heaven. Satan’s victory is defeat, but God’s seeming defeat is victory.
No matter what the enemy may do to the temple on earth, he cannot touch the temple in heaven (v. 19). The rejoicing of evil men soon becomes lamentation (vv.
“No doctrine in the whole Word of God has more excited the hatred of mankind than the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God. The fact that “the Lord reigneth’ is indisputable, and it is this fact that arouses the utmost opposition in the unrenewed human heart.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon