We're going to get back to the prophetic activity that we find John involved in in Chapter 11. This is verses one and two deals with his activity of rising and measuring. But of course, this is all coming after his recommission in Chapter 10, which we spent some time looking at. But in Chapter 11, verses one and two, God seems to be revealing to John some different realities, and we'll look at those again here by way of review. And I would say that these are the realities, the true realities, that will be going on during the time of the greatest tribulation and persecution of God's people that is yet to come. Obviously, we live in the age of martyrs, and there's a lot of tribulation and a lot of persecution going on now, but it certainly seems to, from a biblical standpoint, intensify in frequency, but also in severity over time, and to reach this pinnacle of this great tribulation that we read about in chapter 7. That was even introduced to us all the way back in chapter 3, I believe it was. But if you remember here in chapter 11, verse 1, the first reality is the best reality, and that is the reality in heaven. And John recounts this there when he says, And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, And the angel stood, and of course, that isn't probably original. So someone, the one who gave him the rod, would then also say, rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein. So even though some see, These three elements that we find in this verse, which is the temple and the altar and the worshipers, some will see that in a physical sense here on earth. Others will see that in a very spiritual way, referring to the people of God on the earth. It seems best to me, at least. to see them in the same heavenly way that they are all found just about everywhere else in Revelation. We spent some time looking at every place the temple of God is found in Revelation, and it seems like it always refers to the heavenly one. And I think if you kind of change that here, it just kind of is an abrupt change to us than what we find everywhere else. Doesn't mean that it can't be, but I don't think it is. And so what we find here is just like the scroll This kind of ties back to chapter 10. Just like the scroll that John was to eat, this verse is something that is sweet. It deals with the realities of heaven. It expresses the security and the stability of everything and everyone in heaven. We looked at the idea of measuring in the Bible, and that many times when this measuring is done, it can also be used in a very positive way to show the security and the stability of something, and I think that's the case here as well. And so that is the sweetness of John's message to God's people. No matter what is going on down here on Earth, there is security and stability in heaven, especially for God's people that are in heaven, the worshipers there in right. How many of the martyrs have actually gone on to be with the Lord? And they're experiencing right now that safety and security within the very temple of God. And regardless of what's going on here on Earth, But we also move to verse two. So we see in verse one, sort of a vertical point of view. So he's looking up into heaven, but then we find a more horizontal view here in verse two, where his eyes are brought down to earth. And we find the realities here, the reality on earth in verse two, then John is told, but the court, And I think it is significant that we have court singular instead of the courts plural because when it came to the Old Testament temple, there were multiple courts as well as the very temple that Jesus was in. There were multiple courts. This is dealing with a singular court, the court, which is without the temple, leave out and measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles or the nations and the holy city shall they tread under foot 40 and two months. So as we've looked already, The court seems here to best refer to the world as John and we know it even today. And we know that this world is not secure and it's not stable. And that's certainly one of the reasons why he's told not to measure it, but to leave it out, pass it out. Because in God's plan and God's purpose, it's still going to be a very difficult time here in the world for anyone that's in this world. And that, of course, led us to those two main groups of people that we find in this verse. And, of course, these two main groups of people have been in spiritual conflict from the very time of the fall. God's people, as well as the people of this world, people that are not God's people. And so we have here the Gentiles or the nations, ethnos, that refers to the people who dwell on this earth, who possess the same nature and the same character as all of the great cities of the world. And so we connect what we find here, these nations, to what we're going to find later on here. dealing with the verse eight, the cities of Sodom and Egypt, the city where our Lord was crucified, the earthly city of Jerusalem, and even later on the city of Babylon. So those who are part of these nations dwell on this earth, and they possess the very same evil, wicked, character as those great cities. And of course, they are in direct conflict with the Holy City, which is certainly the true citizens of the Holy City of the New Jerusalem that we found back in Chapter 21, where expressly the New Jerusalem in Revelation is called the Holy City. And so we recognize that there's still an outpost of heaven in this world, and that is the people of God in this world, not just now, but even in the future, and especially during this greatest time of persecution and affliction of God's people. So they will be living, as it says elsewhere in Hebrews, as strangers and pilgrims on this earth. And so, again, there's a conflict, right, between the heavenly city and the earthly city, between the New Jerusalem, the holy city, and even Babylon, that great city, which really is only great in the eyes of the world. And we'll learn more about those two cities as we go forward. One day, though, this spiritual conflict between these two cities will escalate, not just in a spiritual way, but even more in a physical way than it ever has before. bits and pieces of that. I think we mentioned some of this, even our men's Bible study yesterday. You know, we certainly are in that age of martyrs, but it seems like it will continue to intensify in frequency and severity as we get closer to the end and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so last time we started looking at what we described as the extremity. that John sees here in verse two. And so really the reason why we're spending so much time looking at these two verses is because it lays a foundation for what else is going to come. And we'll notice that a little bit more today. But here we find the extreme distress that will come someday on God's people. And so we first looked at the people of the distress. These are the ones who make up that holy city. Again, they are God's heavenly outpost in the court of this world. And what John describes next, we can describe as part of the bitterness that he felt in his belly after eating the scroll. And certainly there's more to this bitterness and sweetness as we move forward in the book of Revelation. But remember back in chapter 10, one of the things that the angel told him to do was to take that little scroll that was in his hand. He said, eat it. It will be sweet in your mouth, sweet as honey, but then it'll turn very bitter in your stomach. And that's exactly what happened. And it certainly is a picture of some of the message that he's going to give. And so verse one, very sweet, secure and stable, even in the temple of God in heaven. And yet it's also very bitter, especially for the members, the citizens of the holy city, the people of God, as they will be tread underfoot these 42 months. And we'll look at that a little bit more today. Because when we come to verse two, we find the persecution of that distress. The persecution of that distress. Again, we learn here, and this is where we left off last time, we learn that the nations shall tread underfoot the holy city. The underlying Greek word that is here translated with four English words, right? So we actually have one underlying Greek word that is translated with shall tread underfoot. I'm not sure why I put treat, shall tread underfoot. The Greek word is pateo. It's a very common word for just walking on something, treading on something, but actually has the idea of crushing something, right? You know, if you are walking down the sidewalk or getting on your driveway and you see, you know, an ant or something that, you know, you really don't want coming into your house, what are you going to do with that? You're going to stomp it, right? You're going to stamp it out. You're going to kill it. And that's the idea here of pateo. Out of the five times that we find it in the New Testament, three times we find it in Revelation. Each time, though, it carries the idea of defeat and destruction. So you could even have the idea of crushing. So you could translate it that way. The nations shall crush the holy city. Shall crush the holy city. And so it has the idea of defeat and destruction. The other two times, so there's three times in Revelation where we find Pateo. The other two times are in chapter 14, verse 20, chapter 19, verse 15, and it's used for the defeat of God's enemies. Okay? So the destruction, defeat of God's enemies, you don't need to turn there, but in chapter 19, verse 15, it talks about how Christ Jesus will tread, pateo, crush the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And of course, that has the idea of crushing grapes, right? And we'll look at that when we get closer to it. But if you remember how they used to do the grape crushing to get their juice back then for their wine and their, you know, the various things that they would use it for, is that they would have a big vat, they would put the grapes in there, and then there would be people that would be barefoot, and they would be stomping and crushing those grapes to get out all of the fluid, to get out all of the juice. And so that's the idea here. It is the idea of crushing with your feet, the idea of treading, the idea of destruction, and even defeat. There is another place in the Gospel of Luke, and we saw this last time, but in Luke 21-24, Jesus prophesies that Jerusalem shall be trodden down, again, pateo, trodden down, crushed underfoot by the nations, by the Gentiles, until the times of the nations be fulfilled. Now, one of the things that we focused on last time is what Jesus is talking about in his Olivet Discourse there is not the same thing that John is describing here. What Jesus was describing was a physical destruction of the city of Jerusalem that actually took place historically in AD 70. And we know that because we have a time of the Gentiles that started then. And that time of the Gentiles continues until the return of Christ. We're living in the time of the nations. But, when John is given this, he's talking about something yet to come, not talking about the physical holy city in the context of the Old Testament, but the spiritual holy city in the context of Revelation. The holy city that is the New Jerusalem, that really has the citizens of the New Jerusalem even here on Earth. And so even though Jesus and John are not talking about the same thing, the sense that we have here is that as the old city of Jerusalem was crushed by the Romans, Even so, this holy city of God's people one day will be crushed by the worldly city through extreme persecution and even death. And we're gonna notice that as we go forward. There's gonna be a lot more persecution in chapters, in going forward, chapter 11, 12, 13, and 14, before we get into God's final wrath. However, even though Jesus and John may not be describing the same things, it does seem to be related more to the prophecy that Daniel was given. So keep your finger here in Revelation 11 and go back with me to Daniel chapter 12. This is the very last chapter in the book of Daniel. And of course, Daniel has been given a lot of rich prophecy already about not just the end, but about the things that will come up to the end, right? But here at the end, he's given some things that he doesn't quite understand, right? He even asked the Lord, and he asked the one that's sharing these things to him, what all these things mean. But if you look at verse seven, Daniel 12, verse seven. I'll pick it up there in verse six. One of the questions that Daniel asked, how long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And some of the wonders that we're talking about deal with God's judgment of this earth. We see this in chapter 12, verse one. So how long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And now we come to verse seven. And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever, that it shall be for a time, times and a half, And when he shall accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. Now, in the King James, the word that is translated scatter here also has the idea of shattering. So it really has the idea of potato as well of crushing something. So it's not just, you know, dispersing people, but rather shattering them and destroying them, trying to do whatever they can to get rid of them. So what we have here is from Daniel's time, from Daniel's time, a final time of great tribulation for all of God's people has been anticipated. Again, he uses the phrase of the holy people. And we can correlate that with the very holy city that we found in chapter 11. So I think even though Jesus and John may not be talking about the same thing, though what Jesus was talking about is sort of a precursor, a type of what's going to come, I think what Daniel's talking about here is the same thing as what John is talking about. And we'll learn a little bit more as we go forward in Revelation to see how they correspond. Because not only do we have the people of distress, during this time of tribulation, where they will be scattered and really shattered by the world. We also find here the period of distress, right? So we know from even Daniel that the period of distress is limited in duration, because again, just before he says, when he shall have accomplished to scatter or shatter the power of the holy people, what's the timeframe that he gives there? It shall be for a time, times, time and a half. Now keep those things in mind. Keep the holy people from Daniel chapter 12 and this time frame from Daniel chapter 12. Go back now to Revelation 11 because we see a similar period of distress in verse two. Here, though, we're told that the holy city, the people of God who are the outposts of heaven on earth during this great time of tribulation, the holy city shall they, the nations, tread underfoot, pateo, how many months? 40 and two months. And you can look at time, times, time and a half. If a time is a year, you've got a time. Two times. and a half a time is three-and-a-half times, okay? Forty-two months is the monthly equivalent for a three-and-a-half year period of time, which then, if you look at verse three, is given in days, 1,260 days. And so if you use the solar lunar calendar of Israel, of the Jews, They actually still use it today, but their months are 30-day months. It's sort of a lunar month. And so if you add up 42, or you multiply 42 months times 30 days, you get 1,260 days. Now, we're going to see these same numbers again in future chapters. So when we think about the 42 months, and this is going to be our primary focus today, all right, the 42 months here of Revelation 11-2. The 42 months we'll find again in chapter 13, verse 5. The 1,260 days we're going to find again in chapter 12, verse six. And then, the time, times, and half a time that we find in Daniel chapter 12 will also be mentioned in chapter 12, verse 14. So, it's really interesting to see all of these times and really brought together. So, we're going to build our understanding of these times as we move forward in Revelation 11, starting with the 42 months. Now, in both of these cases, when we talk about the months and we talk about the days, it's interesting to see how they're related to the people that are in this world during the time of this great tribulation. The months are related to the persecutors of God's people. Okay, so verse 2, it's the Gentiles, the nations, who will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months. But when we come to those who are persecuted, the people of God, and especially when we come to those two witnesses there in verse three, the days are related to those who are persecuted, even though they might be described in different ways. Now, is there any significance? Why did you have months and days and time times and half a time to relate to a three and a half year period of time? Is there any significance to this? Well, we've already seen something like it before. If you remember back in chapter nine, verse five, this is under the fifth trumpet judgment, right? Under the fifth trumpet judgment, the unbelieving world experiences torment from a horde of scorpion-like locusts. And we believe that they are certainly demonic, you know, demonically possessed. But you remember how long they are supposed to be out there in the world tormenting for five, months, okay? So we have something dealing with months, dealing with those that are of the world, those that really are opposed to God and unbelievers, okay? So that's similar to the 42 months here. The nations have 42 months to tread on the holy city of God. However, all the way back in chapter 2, verse 10, if you remember to the church in Smyrna, one of the faithful churches that we found there, the Lord actually says, you will have tribulation 10 days. And so the days are related to those who are believers. The days are related to those who are following after and being faithful to the Lord. And he says, you shall have tribulation 10 days. You know, this is not talking about the same thing. It's just showing us a pattern here in Revelation that the months deal with those that are unbelievers. And the days are dealing with those who are believers. The months are dealing for those who will be persecutors. The days will be dealing with those who are persecuted. But he says to the church in Smyrna, you will have tribulation 10 days, be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. So is there some significance between this? It seems like the use of days instead of months may be meant to serve as a reminder to God's people under any time of tribulation, so we have it in Smyrna, but also here, but especially during the great tribulation of what Jesus said in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. In Matthew 24, 21, you don't need to turn there, but he says, For then you shall have great tribulation, such as not was since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be, and except those days shall be shortened. There should be no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." I wonder if God is sharing with John the idea, the difference between months and days, to encourage God's people to persevere, to remind them that, yes, those days are limited, and God is going to bring them to an end so that that suffering will not last forever. Now, that may or may not be the significance of the difference between months and days. Either way, it does seem to distinguish the people of the world versus the people of the Lord. The people of the world, 42 months. The people of the Lord deals with days. There may also be some significance to the three and a half years. Obviously we don't have that time frame given to us, but obviously they all add up to that. Because during the time of Elijah, we find that it was the length of the drought that we found in 1 Kings 17 and 1 Kings 18. It's actually summarized for us with that same period of time in James chapter 5, verse 17, where James reminds us, Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. He prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And so there might be some background to this three and a half year period, even there in the time of Elijah. There have been some who have seen the number 42 to point back to another Old Testament passage, Numbers chapter 33, where the children of Israel made 42 encampments as they wandered through the wilderness. And so maybe the 42 has an idea of being in the wilderness of the world. When we get to chapter 12, we're gonna meet a woman who is actually going into a wilderness, right? And so there's a lot of these Exodus themes that we find in Revelation as well. Now, when you go to numbers 33, it doesn't say 42 encampments. You actually have to count them up. You have to look at each one of those places where they camp, and it adds up to 42 places. Whatever the background is for this period of time, still, people wonder if they refer to something either literal or just symbolic. Obviously, if it's literal, it would refer to an actual three-and-a-half-year period of time. whether in the past, there are some who hold it as something that happened already in the past, or yet in the future, all right? So if it's literal, we'd be talking about a certain period of time. If it's symbolic, though, it could refer to any period of time in which God's people suffers extreme persecution, though it would still be a very short but intense time. There have been some that see these 42 months to describe the entire period of the Church Age, So they're very symbolic, okay? I don't necessarily see it that way, but we do live in the age of martyrs. I mean, that's pretty clear from what we see in the fifth seal. We see that there's still persecution in this world, continues to intensify in severity and frequency as time goes on. So I would say that more than likely, this period of time, 42 months, this 1,260 days, even the time times, time and a half, it refers to an actual period of time. It actually refers to time that is yet in the future that is reckoned according to this Jewish lunar calendar that is still even in use. And when we get to verse three, we'll look at some of the reasons why I would say it's more literal than symbolic. And we'll look at that starting next time. But even though there have been much persecution of God's people throughout the age of the church, it just doesn't seem like it's ever been quite what we find in these verses. It's not quite as bad as what we find in these verses and then also in chapters 12 and 13 and even 14. You see, from verse 2 of this chapter, for 42 months, We have a prophecy that the nations of this world, all right, the nations, the Gentiles it's referred to, and the King James, the nations of this world will physically crush the citizens of the holy city of God. And that's gonna be a great period of tribulation. However, this also seems to point us to the second passage where we find the same period of time given to us, 42 months. And let's go now to chapter 13, Because here in chapter 13, we're going to find the same period of time, but also it explains a little bit more of what we find here in chapter 11, verse 2. So, here in chapter 13, this is part of what is another section that is found between the seven trumpet judgments and the seven bowl judgments of God's wrath. When you look at the structure of Revelation, this is sort of a way to keep in mind where we're at, all right? We're looking at a lot of the trees, but here's more of the forest for us, okay? If you remember, starting in chapter six, we had the first six seals that Jesus opened and things happened, right? Well, right at the end of chapter six, you don't get right to the seventh, seal being opened. Instead, there's what we call an interlude, sort of a parenthesis, sort of a break in the action, if you will, and explains some of the things that are going on previously in probably the fifth and sixth seals. So we have the seals going on in chapter six, then we have the interlude in chapter seven, which we've looked at, and then starting in chapter eight, we have the seventh seal being opened. And when that seventh seal's open, what happens? Instead of the Lord coming, now we have the trumpet judgments. And so starting in chapter eight through chapter nine, we have the first six trumpet judgments as the angels are blaring the trumpet and things happen. And we look at those, right? Well, just before we get to that seventh trumpet judgment, what do we find? We find another interlude, and that's where we're at, right? We're in chapters 10 and 11 that we describe as the trumpet interlude that will then later on here in chapter 11, get us to that seventh trumpet judgment. And we find that in chapter 11, verse 14, you know, when, um, when the seventh or verse 15, when the seventh angel sounds. So we have six seals, interlude, seventh seal. That then leads to six trumpets, interlude, and then we have the seventh trumpet. But then we know about the bold judgments, and we've already explored some of these earlier. But before you get to all seven bold judgments, which are actually described as the wrath of God, and they all come in rapid succession in chapters 15 and 16, but before you get there, we have a prelude. So instead of an interlude between the seals, between the trumpets, we have a prelude before the bowls, and the prelude is in chapters 12 through 14. And obviously we're not quite there yet, but just like all of the interludes, this prelude gives us additional information about the time that is briefly described here in chapter 11. It gives us more information about the great tribulation that both God's people and the people of the world will experience, though, in different ways. So when we break down this prelude in chapter 12, we find, we learn that there's a spiritual individual that is behind everything, right? Chapter 12, we learn about the devil who is called the dragon. He is the one behind all of the tribulation of God's people, and it's been this way all along, and it will continue to intensify, right? So in chapter 12 of the prelude, which we'll get to in a few weeks, it talks about the devil, who is the dragon. But then, chapter 13. In chapter 13, we learn more about the physical aspect of this tribulation. So chapter 12 is talking about the devil and the spiritual oppression of God's people. Then we come to chapter 13, where that spiritual oppression is now made manifest in a physical way through something known as The Beast. Now, there's two beasts in chapter 13, but it's all really related to that one beast who we believe is the Antichrist. This is the beast there in chapter 13, verse one, where in John's vision is rising up out of the sea. He is the one that this dragon, the devil, will use to take his spiritual war into the physical realm. This is the same beast that we will learn about in chapter 11, verse seven, who actually ends up killing the two witnesses. So there's a lot of connection between chapter 11 and chapters 12 and 13. And so we need to keep that in mind. Chapters 12 and 13 go back to chapter 11 to help explain further the spiritual and physical nature of what's going on in that time period. So that's why we're looking at it here and the connections. There's so many different connections between Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 and Chapter 13. And so what we find here is that it explains to us even more and helps us understand Chapter 11 verses one and two. So let's look at Chapter 13, verse one again. So we're introduced to this beast, right? A beast that rises up out of the sea. We find a little bit of his description there in verse one. We find in verse three something that happens to him, all right? He has some kind of a deadly wound, and then it's healed, and all the world wonders after the beast, and we'll look more into the detail of that as we get to that chapter. But then, of course, in verse four, the world worships this dragon and the beast, right? So they worship both, the spiritual and the physical. But why? What is significant about this beast? Look at verse five. We find that there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power, authority, was given unto this beast to continue, how long? Forty and two months. Here we find the same period given to the beast as was given to the nations to persecute God's people in chapter 11, verse 2. So the 42 months that we find in chapter 11 correspond with the 42 months that we find here in chapter 13. Again, there was given unto this Beast, a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, authority was given unto him to continue forty-two months." So, here we have that same period, and this is what we can describe as the period of his assault, which happens to him after what we find in verses three and four. So there's a correlation of time and I think that the point is John I want you to take what's here in chapter 13 to inform what I already told you in chapter 11, but then we go further How can we how can we relate that to chapter 11? Look at verse 6. We're then told That this beast opened his mouth in blasphemy. So he's given this authority to do so. So obviously God's in still in control and He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." Now, to blaspheme means to slander. It means to lie. It means to reproach someone with your words. And ultimately, it is meant to hurt someone. It is slander. It's to blaspheme. But here we have the very place of his assault. Not only who he is assaulting with his words, but where he is assaulting with his words. And if you look in verse six, he is blaspheming God, his name, and his what? His tabernacle. And what is the tabernacle? If you think back to the Old Testament, the tabernacle was the place where God dwelt before the temple, right? But when the temple was finally built, that became the place of God's special presence. And we already learned that heaven itself is the very throne and temple of God. And so we have a parallel between the tabernacle of God here in verse 6, that is blasphemed by this beast, and chapter 11, verse 1, where John is told to measure the temple of God and the altar, but then also them that worship therein. Because who else does this beast blaspheme? Verse 6, and them that dwell in heaven. If this temple in chapter 11 is truly that heavenly temple, which I believe it is, and I think that's probably the strongest view, then what we have here in chapter six is describing the same thing. The beast is the one blaspheming, trying to denigrate the God in heaven and the people that are worshiping in heaven, and yet, even though the beast will not be able to reach God, remember, it's totally secure and stable in heaven, right? It's measured out by John, we know that. He will do all he can to blaspheme God and all who are in heaven with him. So not only do we have the parallel of the time period, we also have the parallel of the very people and place where he's going to assault or try to assault. But then in verse seven, we're told about the people of his assault. What about this beast? What else was given to him? It was given to him to make war with the saints and overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations." Now, we need to remember that whenever we see the word saint in our Bibles, it is a translation of the word that is often translated holy. So these are holy ones, okay? These are the saints. These are the holy ones of God. And this also points us back to chapter 11, because what is the city that is going to be tread underfoot by the nations? The holy city. the saintly city, who are made up of the saints of God himself. And so here, the beast is also allowed to make war with the saints and overcome them, and what will happen to the holy city in chapter 11, verse two? It will also be tread underfoot. So there's some more parallels between chapter 11, verses one and two, and here in chapter 13. But ultimately, when you look at chapter 13, verse seven, who follows the beast to do his bidding? Power was given over all kindreds and tongues, and look at that word next, nations. So here we have another parallel with chapter 11, verse two. The very nations that will crush and tread underfoot the holy city in chapter 11, verse two, They do so because they're following after the beast. The whole world will be united behind the beast in his persecution of God's people during this unprecedented time of the Great Tribulation. So what we find in chapter 13 is really an expansion of the prophecy of chapter 11, verse two. And the holy city shall the nations tread underfoot 40 and two months. And so even though through all that time, 42 months. It'll seem like the devil and his world will have completely overwhelmed and overcome God and his people. Go back to chapter 11 now. Right after we find that, what happens next? What do we read next in verse three? We find, and I, God, will give power, authority, unto my two witnesses. Isn't that amazing? So even through such a great tribulation as the one that is described here, God will still have his witnesses in and to this world. So again, this is the outpost of heaven in this world. And they will be as safe and secure in this world until it is time for God to bring them home to be with him. Doesn't mean they won't be persecuted, doesn't mean they won't experience tribulation, doesn't mean that they won't experience pain and sorrow, but ultimately God will have his witnesses in and to this world. And these witnesses certainly are are representatives of the very people of God, this holy temple that will be trodden underfoot by the beast and the nations who follow him. Next time we'll actually start to look at the ministry of those two witnesses and how their period of witness relates to the period of persecution that we just looked at. So the main theme that we've been looking at today is those 42 months. And hopefully as we go forward in chapters 12 and 13 and 14, it'll help us understand better what we find here in chapter 11 verses one and two. So that is John's activity in his prophecy. He's told to rise and measure the temple of God. He's describing the reality as heaven, it's safe and secure, even while here on earth, it is not stable, it is not secure, because the court, this world, is given unto the nations so that they might tread underfoot, they might crush the holy city of people, God, God's people in this world, for that period of time, but there's still his witnesses that will last in this world. and we'll learn a little bit more about their witness, their testimony, and about the days that they have to serve.