Revelation 11:9

‘And from among the peoples and tribes and languages and nations do men look on their dead bodies for three days and a half, and do not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.'

These ‘peoples and tribes and languages and nations' are in direct and deliberate contrast with the redeemed from every tribe, tongue, people and nation (Revelation 5:9), and the faithful servants of Christ out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues (Revelation 7:9) who come from the same source. They thus have no excuse, for their compatriots have responded to Christ. It was to them that John was to prophesy (Revelation 10:11). Their behaviour is inhumane and abominable, and is shown to be even worse in the next verse, but there is no limit on man's behaviour when he seeks revenge on those who make him feel uncomfortable.

When he speaks of many peoples and nations John may have thought in terms of people gathering to Jerusalem for the feasts, or he may have had in mind the armies of the nations who were treading it down. But he intends us to see Jerusalem as a microcosm of the whole earth, just as the church in Jerusalem is the microcosm of the whole church. (He could never have dreamed of television and computers and things yet to be invented). The three and a half days clearly parallels the three and a half years. God allows the crowds to enjoy, a day of shame for every year of the ministry they have rejected. That is all they have.