What is the meaning of Revelation 11:9? For three and a half days • The number is precise, echoing earlier time markers in the chapter—“They will prophesy for 1,260 days” (Revelation 11:3). Just as the 1,260 days are literal, the three-and-a-half days of death are literal. • God often uses short, distinct periods to mark turning points: Jonah spent “three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish” (Matthew 12:40); Jesus lay in the tomb three days before rising (Luke 24:7). • After this brief pause, “the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet” (Revelation 11:11). The drama underscores God’s control of time—He sets both the limits of opposition and the moment of vindication. all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations • The phrase mirrors the redeemed multitude in heaven (Revelation 7:9), but here it spotlights an unbelieving world united in hostility. • Global witness is now technologically feasible; the same worldwide audience that hears the witnesses’ preaching also watches their apparent defeat. Jesus foretold such worldwide exposure of end-time events: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations” (Matthew 24:14). • The reach is total, leaving no excuse; Psalm 2:1-3 describes the nations raging against the Lord and His Anointed—exactly what is seen here. will view their bodies • The bodies are those of the two witnesses just slain by “the beast that comes up from the abyss” (Revelation 11:7). Their corpses lie in “the great city” (11:8), physically visible to onlookers. • Public display of the dead was a sign of triumph for the wicked and shame for the victim (Psalm 79:2-3). Yet God allows it only temporarily, turning the spectacle into a stage for resurrection glory (Revelation 11:11-12). • The watching world thinks the witnesses are silenced, but heaven is watching too (Hebrews 12:1), ready to reverse the scene. and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb • Burial was a basic act of respect (Genesis 23:3-4); denying it signified ultimate contempt. Deuteronomy 21:22-23 warns against leaving a body exposed overnight, so the refusal here is a deliberate violation of God’s law. • Leaving the witnesses unburied fulfills the pattern of godless regimes disgracing God’s servants, as when Jezebel denied Naboth honorable burial (2 Kings 21:13). • The world’s hatred reaches its peak, yet this very dishonor sets up the Lord’s dramatic reversal—“Come up here!” (Revelation 11:12). The stone the builders rejected will again become the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22). summary Revelation 11:9 paints a literal, time-stamped scene: for three and a half days the entire world gapes at the dead bodies of God’s two witnesses, gloating and refusing burial. The episode showcases human rebellion and God’s sovereign timetable. By allowing this brief humiliation, the Lord sets the stage for a resurrection that will jolt the watching nations and vindicate His servants, reminding believers that every second of history remains firmly in His hands. |
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