Revelation 11:7-12 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

When they shall have finished, &c.— Or, When they shall be about to finish their testimony, the wild beast that ascendeth out of the abyss, &c. After the description of the witnesses, their power and offices, follows a prediction of those things that shall befal them at the latter end of their ministry: and their passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, are copied from our Saviour's, who is emphatically styled, The faithful and true Witness, ch. Revelation 3:14 but with this difference, that his were real, theirs are figurative and mystical. When they shall be about finishing their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the abyss,—the tyrannical power of Rome, (of which we shall see more hereafter,) shall make war, &c. Revelation 11:7. The beast, indeed, shall make war against them all the time that they are performing their ministry, but, when they shall be near finishing it, he shall so make war against them as to overcome them, and kill them. They shall be subdued and suppressed; be degraded from all power and authority; be deprived of all offices and functions, and be politically dead, if not naturally so. In this low and abject state they shall lie some time, Revelation 11:8 in the street of the great city,—in some conspicuous place within the jurisdiction of Rome, which spiritually is called Sodom, for corruption of manners; and Egypt, for tyranny and oppression of the people of God; where also our Lord was crucified, spiritually, being crucified afresh in the sufferings of his faithful martyrs. Nay, to shew the greater indignity and cruelty to the martyrs, their dead bodies shall not only be publicly exposed, (Revelation 11:9.) but they shall be denied even the common privilege of burial: and their enemies shall rejoice and insult over them, Revelation 11:10 and shall send mutual presents and congratulations one to another, for their deliverance from these tormentors, whose life and doctrine were a continual reproach to them. But after three days and a half, Revelation 11:11 that is, in the prophetic style, after three years and a half, (for no less time is requisite for all these transactions,) they shall be raised again by the Spirit of God, and, Revelation 11:12 shall ascend up to heaven: they shall not only be restored to their pristine state, but shall be further promoted to dignity and honour: and that by a great voice from heaven;—by the voice of public authority. At the same hour there shall be a great earthquake,—there shall be great commotions in the world; and the tenth part of the city shall fall, as an omen and earnest of a still greater fall: and seven thousand names of men, or seven thousand men of name, shall be slain, and the remainder in their fright shall acknowledge the great power of God. Some interpreters are of opinion, that this prophesy of the death and resurrection of the witnesses received its completion in the case of John Huss and Jerome of Prague; others refer it to the Protestants of the league of Smalcald. Some again think it applicable to the horrid massacre of the Protestants at Paris, and other cities of France, in the year 1572: others imagined, that the persecution carried on by Lewis XIV. against the Protestants of France, in the year 1685, would be the last persecution. And others again apply it to the poor Protestants in the vallies of Piedmont, imprisoned, murdered, or banished, in the year 1686. In all these cases there may be some resemblance before us, of the death and resurrection of the witnesses: but though these instances sufficientlyanswer in some respects, yet they are deficient in others; and particularly in this, that they are none of them the last persecution: others have been since, and probably will be again. Besides, as the two witnesses are designed to be the representatives of the Protestants in general, so the persecution must be general too. We are now living under the sixth trumpet; and the empire of the Euphratean horsemen, or Othmans, is still subsisting: the beast is still reigning, and the witnesses are still, in some times and places more, in some less, prophesying in sackcloth. It will not be till toward the end of this testimony, and the end seems to be yet at some distance, that the great victory and triumph of the beast, and the suppression, resurrection, and exaltation of the witnesses, will take effect. When all these things shall be accomplished, then the sixth trumpet will end; then the second woe shall be past, Revelation 11:14 the Othman empire shall be broken in the same manner that Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38-39) and Daniel (Daniel 11:44-45.) have predicted; the sufferings of the witnesses shall cease, and they shall be raised and exalted above their enemies: and when the second woe shall be thus past, behold the third woe, or total destruction of the beast, cometh quickly: some time intervened between the first and second woes; but upon the ceasing of the second, the third shall commence immediately. It appears then, that the greater part of this prophesy relating to the witnesses, remains yet to be fulfilled. But possibly some may question whether any part of it has been fulfilled; whether there have been any such persons as the witnesses; any true and faithful servants of Jesus Christ, who have in every age professed doctrines contrary to those maintained by the Pope and church of Rome? The truth of the fact may be made appear by an historical deduction; and it can be proved, that there have constantly been such witnesses, from the seventh century down to the reformation, during the most flourishing period of Popery. Those who are desirous of seeing this deduction, may find it in Flaccius Illyricus, in the Centuriators of Magdeburg, in Usher, in Alix, in Spanheim, in Calmet, in Mosheim, and in all the ecclesiastical writers.