‘And after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them, and they heard a great voice from Heaven saying to them, “Come up here!”. And they went up into Heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw the whole thing (literally - ‘beheld them').'
The bodies of the remaining people of God lay exposed in the streets, including their two outstanding prophets who represented them, but then something amazing happens. ‘The breath of life from God entered into them and they stood on their feet'. The language of Revelation 11:11 echoes Ezekiel 37:10, especially the LXX. The surprise at the raising of Lazarus kept Jerusalem agog, but compared with this it was as nothing. All the partying immediately ceases. The impossible has happened. The dead bodies have come alive again. But only to be carried up into Heaven in a cloud as Jesus was in His ascension (Acts 1:9). There can really be no doubt that this is describing what is often called ‘the Rapture of the saints'. Jesus has come for His own. John was allowed up into heaven temporarily (Revelation 4:1), their entry is permanent. There is great stress on the fact that what is described is what was seen by the spectators, and we are made aware of the awe that it produced.
This is not a separate rapture. John is encapsulating what is happening to the whole church in terms of what happens to the church in Jerusalem. Around the world similar things are happening. Paul describes it differently. ‘The Lord himself will descend from Heaven with a shout (‘come up hither'), with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God. And indeed the last trumpet now sounds (Revelation 11:15)). And the dead in Christ will rise first. (This is pictured in the raising of these witnesses). Then we who are alive and remain will together with them be caught up in the clouds (the witnesses are carried up in a cloud) to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord' (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). But all this is not made known to the watchers. They see only what is before them. In other cities similar things will be experienced.