Revelation Chapter 11 verse 12 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. The reading ἤκουσα, "I heard," for ἤκουσαν, "they heard," in a correction of א, and in B, Coptic, Armenian, Andreas, may have arisen from the similarity of the passage to Revelation 6:6; Revelation 9:13. Dusterdieck, who reads, "I heard," points out that in Revelation 6:11; Revelation 9:4, the phrase used in addressing others is, "It was said unto them." Thus the fate of the Church is that of her Lord, and it is the fate of each individual who may witness of God. Suffering, apparent extinction, perhaps, but ultimate triumph and ascension into the presence of God is their common inheritance. If so be that they suffer with him, they are also glorified with him (Romans 8:17). Alford remarks that "no attempt has been made to explain this ascension by those who interpret the witnesses figuratively of the Old and New Testaments, or the like." Is it not the resurrection of the just, of the witnesses of God, and their exaltation at the beginning of the last judgment? Thus St. Paul says, "But each in his own order: Christ the Firstfruits; then they that are Christ's, at his coming. Then cometh the end" (1 Corinthians 15:13). This "end" is immediately referred to by the seer. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them; in the cloud. The parallelism with Elijah and Christ (see vers. 5, 6, 8) is carried still further. The Church is triumphantly vindicated and glorified as they were; the only difference is that now all men behold it. The cloud is not that which hides them from view, but rather, like that in Revelation 14:14, something which exalts and enhances the glory of the witnesses. The effect upon the worldly is told in vers. 11, 13.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) And they heard . . .--Translate, And they heard (or, I heard; the MS. authority is divided, though the balance inclines to the first) a great voice out of the heaven saying to them. Come up hither. And they went up into the heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them. The resurrection of the witnesses is followed by their ascension. It is the token that in this too they shall have a portion with their Lord; rejected and slain, there is welcome and honour for them; they take their place with those who through faith and patience inherit the promises; they rest from their labours. But this is not all. Like Elijah (2Kings 2:11), they are taken up gloriously, but not, like Elijah, in comparative secret; their enemies see their exaltation. As for the witnesses themselves there is the welcome rest of heaven, so there is the visible recognition of their work and power on earth; the cause which seemed dead revives, and with its revival comes the recognition of those who laboured for it; the martyred are seen transfigured, they become glorious in the eyes of men:"Persecution dragged them into fame,And chased them up to heaven."They went up in the cloud: There is here, perhaps, a touch of recollection. St. John remembers the cloud which received his Lord out of sight. Since then the cloud mingles with his every thought of ascension or descending from heaven. (Comp. Revelation 1:7; Acts 1:9.) The witnesses, like their Master, disappeared in the cloud.