In the days when the final trumpet was poised to sound, I was given a measuring rod like a staff and told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who worship there. But do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.”

And so I measured the sanctuary, its golden altars and lampstands, its veils embroidered with cherubim, while beyond the inner courts, the outer court echoed with the footsteps of foreign soldiers and the profane shouts of those who desecrated what was holy. The city itself seemed to groan under the weight of this occupation, its stones worn smooth by the relentless tread of unbelievers.

Then a voice like thunder proclaimed, “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” These were the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. One bore the mantle of Elijah, with eyes like burning coals and a voice that could call down fire from heaven. The other carried the spirit of Moses, his face radiant with the awful glory of the Law, his staff gnarled like an ancient oak. They stood in the public squares of the great city—which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified—and their message was one of repentance and coming judgment.

For those forty-two months, they prophesied while clothed in coarse sackcloth, their faces gaunt from fasting, their feet bare and bleeding on the cobblestones. When anyone sought to harm them, fire poured from their mouths and consumed their adversaries. They had power to shut the sky, that no rain might fall during the days of their prophesying, and the earth cracked open in great fissures, thirsting for water. They had power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desired. The rivers ran crimson, and the seas became as the Nile in the days of Pharaoh, teeming with death. The air grew thick with locusts, and sores broke out on the bodies of those who rejected their testimony.

The people gnawed their tongues in anguish because of the plagues and the torment, yet they refused to repent of their deeds. Instead, they blasphemed the God of heaven, gathering in secret places to plot against the witnesses. The kings of the earth made alliances, and merchants closed their shops, for no one could buy or sell without cursing the name of the prophets. The streets filled with murmurs of rebellion, and the witnesses became like solitary rocks in a raging river, unmoved and unyielding.

But when they had finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit made war on them and conquered them and killed them. This beast, with ten horns and seven heads, emerged with the stench of sulfur, its eyes burning with hatred for the light. Its followers gathered in the great city, and there in the street where our Lord was crucified, they slew the two witnesses with the sword. Their bodies lay in the open street for three and a half days, and the peoples and tribes and languages and nations gazed at their corpses, refusing to let them be placed in a tomb. The world rejoiced and exchanged gifts, for these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.

But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them ascend. At that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

The second woe had passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come. And in heaven, the temple of God was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. The elders fell on their faces before the throne, crying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.”