Revelation 11:7-13

The two witnesses are slain and arise again Revelation 11:7-13: During the miraculous age of the church the gospel was preached with great success. (Acts 12:24) This time was followed by a period when the beast came out of the bottomless pit and the gospel seemingly was crushed to the ground. It appeared that evil had won. At the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation the gospel was going through this critical stage.

The beast is mentioned with no introduction. He had been around sense the Garden of Eden. Satan constantly makes war against the church of Christ and against the gospel of Christ. Satan is able to kill the word of God in many hearts. He does this by scoffing at it, by denying it, by changing it and by contradicting it. The great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, is Rome. It is called Sodom because of its worldliness. It is called Egypt because of its false religion. It is called Jerusalem where the Lord was crucified because of persecution.

After a short, indefinite period of time three and a half days God's power would cause Rome to be overthrown and the message of redemption to again be proclaimed. Rome simply had not taken into account the power of the word of God. The two witnesses went up to heaven in a cloud. This is a picture of victory. The enemies of God would both see and feel His might.