Chapter XI.
(Vers. 1.)
(Verse 1) And there was given to me a measuring reed like a rod, saying: Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it. By the reed with which the ancients used to write, the Gospel that was given to him by the Lord, and which he later wrote, is signified; but by the rod, discipline is often understood. Therefore, the reed that was given to John had the likeness of a rod; for the discipline of Christians is the Gospel. Both the temple and the altar and those who worship in it are measured; for the temple is the Church, the altar is holy and perfect men who stand in the Church, and those who worship in it represent the rest of the multitude who are instructed by their teaching. Indeed, the temple of God and the altar, and each preacher who worships in it, are measured, as each one administers the teaching of spiritual grace according to their own capacity; for a wise person is to be taught differently than a foolish one, a literate person differently than an illiterate one, a pagan differently than a Christian, a heretic differently than a Catholic. For the Lord also says in the Gospel, that the father of the family, going abroad, called his servants, and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one; to every one according to his proper ability.
(Vers. 2.)
(Vers. 2.) Following: But, cast out the outer courtyard, and do not measure it; for it has been given to the Gentiles. If it was outside, how could it be cast out? Therefore, the Jews are designated by the courtyard: therefore, the Jews were outside due to their unbelief: but John and the other apostles still held them in their hearts through love, as the apostle Paul says: I myself wished to be anathema from Christ for the sake of my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites (Rom. IX, 3). Where he is instructed not to measure it, that is, let him not serve the words of preaching to them, as he himself commands in the Gospel, saying: Do not cast your pearls before swine; lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you (Matthew 7:6). And the Lord speaks to the prophet Ezekiel, saying: Behold, I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb and not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house (Ezekiel 7:26). And it is said that this atrium was given to the Gentiles; because the Jews, due to their unbelief, were united with pagan nations: either they were handed over to the nations, that is, to the Romans, so that they would be wiped out and exterminated by them. And they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. Suddenly, it jumps to Elijah and Enoch, who are to come in the times of the Antichrist: and in a quite beautiful order, namely, that he who had presented the expulsion of the Jews by means of the atrium as a figure, silently connected their restoration; for it is certain that at the end of the world the Jews will return to the faith of Christ through the preaching of Elijah and Enoch. Therefore, Antichrist and his ministers will trample upon the holy city, that is, the Church, persecuting it for forty-two months, which amounts to three and a half years.
(Vers. 3, 4.)
(Vers. 3, 4.) And I will give my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. The Lord calls these two witnesses Elijah and Enoch, who will precede his coming, just as John preceded the first coming. They are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth (Matt. 5:15). The olive tree produces oil, which is then placed above the lampstand to give light to everyone in the house. Through oil in this place, we can receive spiritual wisdom. For each one is like an olive when, while remaining at rest, they strive to serve God through the grace of contemplation. They strive to fulfill what the Lord says in the Gospel: 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing; let your alms be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you' (Matthew 6:3). And the candlestick becomes so, when it fulfills what the Lord says in the Gospel: 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven' (Matthew 5:16). Therefore, these two holy olive trees are now in some place on earth where divine majesty has commanded them to dwell, they serve God by the grace of contemplation; they will become candlesticks when they come to fulfill their preaching duty, when they will proclaim the word of God to everyone, both the faithful and the wicked. Concerning this candlestick, the Lord says in the Gospel: Neither do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that it shines on everyone in the house (cf. Matthew 5:15). Indeed, a lamp is placed on a lampstand when the duty of preaching is entrusted to a holy man who illuminates the good that he preaches with the flames of good works. But a lamp is placed under a bushel basket when the duty of preaching is entrusted to a wicked person who governs the good that he preaches with evil works; so that he may not offer light to those who are in the house, as Saint Gregory says, because when someone's life is despised, it follows that his preaching is also despised. Therefore, two olive trees and two lampstands are said to stand in the presence of the Lord; because being placed on earth, they await that time when they fulfill the duty of their preaching and pay the debt of death, as the following things make clear.
(Vers. 5.)
(Vers. 5.) And if anyone wants to harm them, fire will come out of their mouths and consume their enemies; and if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in that way. For the Holy Spirit speaks through the mouths of the saints, as the Lord says in the Gospel: It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you (Matthew 10:20); fittingly, the words of the saints are called fire, as the Psalmist says about the Lord: Your word is exceedingly fiery, and your servant loves it (Psalm 119:140). Therefore fire will come out of the mouths of these saints, and it will devour their enemies; for their teaching will destroy the errors of the Antichrist in such a way that to all those possessing a sound mind, it will appear that there is nothing that the Antichrist and his ministers will be able to assert. As for what follows, 'And if anyone wishes to harm them, it is necessary for him to be killed,' it pertains to the same thing.
(Vers. 6.)
(Version 6) They have the power to shut the sky, so that it will not rain during the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want. We read that Elijah closed the sky with prayer and opened it again, and that Moses turned water into blood. Therefore, it should not be thought that Elijah had less power when he came to fulfill the duties of his preaching than he had when he dwelt among men, but rather more. We can also understand the Church through the heavens, and understand the words of the saints spiritually through rain. For the heavens are closed to the wicked when God allows their hearts to be hardened by His judgment, so that they do not give any way for the word of God to enter their hearts and be saved. For even the prophet Isaiah closed the heavens to the Jews when the Lord said to him: Blind the hearts of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed (Isaiah 6:10). He closed the sky against his enemies, as he said to the Lord: Do not have mercy on their iniquity, and may their sin not be erased from your presence. Let them fall before you: in the time of your visitation they will perish (Jer. XVIII, 23). Did not Moses have the power to close the sky and open it, to whom the Lord said, when the people sinned: Let me be, so that my anger may rise against them, and I may destroy them, and make you into a great nation (Exod. XXXII, 10)? Therefore, those saints whom some will shut out of heaven, so that the rain of God's mercy does not descend upon them, namely, those whom they will not be able to recall from the errors of the Antichrist; and others they will open, namely, those whom they will have recalled from the errors of the Antichrist; and the rain will pour upon them when they make God propitious to them with their prayers. By the waters that are said to be turned into blood, the peoples are designated; but the blood indicates divine vengeance. Therefore, they will turn the waters into blood, when the nations that have departed from the faith of Christ will be condemned to eternal death by their own judgment.
(Vers. 7.)
(Verse 7.) And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises out of the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. This beast signifies the Antichrist. It will make war on them, when it will pursue them; it will conquer them not by overcoming them with words, but by killing them.
(Vers. 8.)
(Verse 8.) And so it follows: And they shall be killed, and their bodies shall lie in the street of the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt; where also our Lord was crucified. If we want to understand by the great earthly city Jerusalem, for this reason that it says: Where also our Lord was crucified, we will wander from the truth; because that Jerusalem has been completely destroyed down to the ground, and what has been built for it is said to be situated not in that place, but in another: nor should it be called Sodom and Egypt, because it is inhabited by Christians. At the same time, we must consider that wherever in this book a great city is mentioned, it signifies Babylon, which is the city of the devil, and consists of all the wicked. And when it is said that their bodies are to be thrown into the street of the great city, we can understand this simply to mean that they should lie in any street that belongs to the jurisdiction of a wicked person. But it seems better to me that just as we said all the wicked should be understood through the great city, so we should understand the hearts of the wicked through the street: therefore, the bodies of the saints will lie in the street of the great city; because the saints lie with those who are considered of no importance: on the contrary, they stand with the faithful, who behold with the eyes of the heart the extent of their virtue and glory. But the city of the devil is rightly called Sodom and Egypt; because Sodom means blindness, and Egypt darkness. For who suffers a worse blindness and darkness than the wicked, who with precipitous steps, in their eagerness to plunge into the sewer of hell, cease not to hasten by their evil deeds? Moreover, it is said that the bodies of the saints are to be thrown out in the street of the great city, where the Lord was crucified; because just as Christ was crucified by the members of the devil, so the two prophets will be killed by the same people.
(Vers. 9-12.)
(Vers. 9-12.) And they will see from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations, their bodies for three and a half days, and their bodies will not be allowed to be placed in tombs; and the inhabitants of the earth will rejoice over them, and they will be glad, and they will send gifts to one another; for these two prophets tormented those who dwelt on the earth. And after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon all those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: Come up here. And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. If this is fulfilled according to history, it is indeed unknown to men but known to God, who knows all things. However, we can also apply a spiritual understanding to this story, but it seems rash to want to adorn that story, which we understand, with spiritual meanings. Indeed, we can decorate the outside of our house, but let us not appear to be completely silent, let us say a few words. We can understand through three days and a half, three years and a half, during which those two prophets will preach: through monuments, however, we can understand the minds of the reprobate. The Lord speaks about those monuments, saying: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, because you are like whitewashed sepulchers, which indeed appear white on the outside, but inside are full of every uncleanness and dead men's bones (Matthew XXIII, 13). And so you indeed appear just to people on the outside, but inside you are full of robbery and iniquity. Therefore, the bodies of the saints will not be allowed to be placed in monuments of the ungodly, because they reject their teachings from their minds. However, it is said that after three and a half days, the spirit of life from God will enter into them, and they will stand on their feet, indicating the time of resurrection, which will happen after three and a half periods, though not immediately, but soon. Indeed, they will stand upon their feet, when after the time of resurrection, the greatness of their power and magnificence will be revealed to all the wicked. Truly, great fear will fall upon their enemies when they see them; for on the day of judgment, when they see them and their glory, they will be troubled with terrible fear, saying: These are the ones whom we once held in ridicule and in a likeness of disgrace. We, foolishly, deemed their life to be madness and their end without honor. How are the children of God counted, and their lot among the saints? (Wis. 5:3) And because the prophet Malachi speaks in the person of the Lord, saying: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, who will turn the hearts of fathers to their children (Mal. 4:5); and so on: we believe that the Jews should be converted to the faith of Christ through the preaching of Elijah, as we have shown above, as best we could. But we can understand through two witnesses, namely the preachers of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles. They are said to be prophesying for twelve hundred and sixty days; because during the entire time in which the persecution and deception of the Antichrist will rage throughout the world, they will strive to bring back to the path of truth whoever they can.
(Vers. 13.)
(Verse 13) And in that hour there was a great earthquake. Now it returns to the beginning of the preaching of Elijah and Enoch. The earthquake, as we have already said, usually signifies the movement of hearts; the earthquake will occur when many will be converted to repentance and faith through the preaching of Elijah and Enoch. And a tenth part of the city fell. It does not seem to me to be a sound interpretation to understand by the city, of which a tenth part fell, the Church; because this discourse refers more to the city of the devil than to the city of God. Therefore, he says that the tenth part of that city fell in this place, which he had previously called the great city, Sodom, and Egypt, and in whose streets it is said that the bodies of the saints lay unburied for three and a half days. And because the number ten is often used to symbolize the Law, since the Law was accepted through the Ten Commandments, we can understand by the tenth part that fell, the Jews who are observers of the Law, who, upon accepting the faith of Christ through the preaching of Elijah, will fall and be cut off from the city of the devil. And seven thousand people were killed by an earthquake, and the remaining ones were sent into fear, and they gave glory to God in heaven. Just as the number ten is often used to represent the Law, the number seven is often used to represent the grace of the Gospel. Look, the tenth part of the city, which we have taught does not consist of stones but of people, has fallen; and they say that not ten thousand, but seven thousand have died. Therefore, the number ten has been changed into seven; because the Jews, rejecting legal observances, accept the teaching of the Gospel: which is represented by the number seven because of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is described that seven thousand have died because they will die to the devilso that they may live to God; the rest who are sent in fear designate the other chosen ones, who, seeing the conversion of the Jews and the divine Scripture to be complete in them, will make progress in the fear and love of God and will not cease to praise God for their conversion.
(Vers. 14.)
(Verse 14) Woe to the second, as it has passed away, and behold, woe to the third, for it will come quickly. Woe to the third for those evils which the devil, through the Antichrist, will bring about, pertain to the day of judgment. And because the angel mentioned earlier, whom he saw standing over the sea and over the land, declared an oath by the living eternity; for in the days of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God, which he proclaimed through his servants the prophets, will be completed. He desired to briefly establish the day of judgment and then returned to speaking of the evils of the Antichrist. But if we look carefully, we will see that he did this in an orderly manner; for we know that the holy preachers, who are to be born at the end of the world, will preach this, that the day of the Lord is near, so that those whom they cannot bring back to the path of truth through exhortations, at least they may provoke to repentance through terrors. And because before the persecutions of the Antichrist, the day of judgment will begin to be proclaimed, John wanted to place the same day of judgment before narrating the persecutions of the Antichrist himself.
(Vers. 15.)
(Verse 15.) And the seventh angel sounded the trumpet. By the seventh angel, as we have said, the holy preachers who are to be born at the end of the world are designated. They will sound the trumpet when they announce the word of God. And there were loud voices in heaven, saying. Through the heavens, we can understand the Church, and through the loud voices, the words of the saints who will rejoice when they come to judge in the coming of the Lord, as the Lord says in the Gospel: Look up and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28).
The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever. Was there not already the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ in this world? But it is called the kingdom of this world by men, in whose minds either God reigns or the devil reigns. God reigns in His saints: the devil reigns in those who belong to him; for he is the king over all the children of pride (Job 41:25). Therefore, the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ in this world will happen when the devil, along with all those he has deceived, is cast into hell: when that will be fulfilled, which the Angel speaks to Daniel, saying: But the kingdom and the power, which is under every heaven, will be given to the people of the saints, who will possess it forever and ever (Daniel 7:27).
(Vers. 16.)
(Verse 16.) And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying. By the twenty-four elders in this place, we can understand the souls of the saints who dwell in heavenly bliss with the Lord; and the thrones signify eternal rest. The twenty-four elders sit on their thrones before God, because the souls of the saints, without bodies, now rest in heavenly bliss with the Lord. They fell on their faces and worshipped, for the saints of God, upon seeing the most just judgment of God being carried out and His indescribable power, cast themselves down in humble submission before their Creator, knowing that everything that exists is nothing compared to Him, who is God.
(Vers. 17, 18.)
(Verses 17, 18.) We give thanks to you, O Lord God Almighty, who are, and who were, holy, and who have taken your great power and reigned. And the nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time for the dead to be judged; and to give reward to your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those who fear your name, small and great; and to destroy those who have corrupted the earth. Christ is now, after he assumed human form, of the same holiness as the Father, of the same eternity, of the same power: he was equal in all things to the Father before he assumed human form. But he received his great power when he conquered the devil through his passion; he truly reigned when he subjected the human race to himself. The nations were angry because wicked men persecuted the Church of God in order to extinguish the name of Christ from the world. But the wrath of God will come when the day of judgment arrives; the time will come for the dead to be judged, namely, for the dead to be judged. Namely, those dead who, when placed in this life, did not fear to kill their own souls by living wickedly. And to give a reward to your servants the prophets and the saints, and to those who fear your name, both small and great. This will be fulfilled when on the day of judgment he will say: Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34). The small ones he calls those who have less merit, and the great ones those who obtain greater grace from God. And to exterminate those who have corrupted the earth. He calls the corruptors of the earth impious: this will be fulfilled then, when he says: Go, you cursed, into eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels (ibid., 41). But it is necessary for us to inquire, which earth the wicked have corrupted. Surely they have corrupted themselves by living wickedly, when they nourished their bodies in luxury and other vices. They have also corrupted the earth of others, namely those whom they have led to evil deeds by words and examples. Now he returns to those things which he had neglected, that is, to narrate the evils of the Antichrist. And in order to more conveniently reach the expression of those things, he begins from the advent of Christ and, recalling the evils which the Church has suffered from the devil, he attaches how the same devil attempts to destroy the same Church through the Antichrist.
(Vers. 19.)
(Verse 19) And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. We can understand the blessed Virgin Mary as the temple of God, and Christ as the ark of the covenant, who assumed flesh from her. The temple of God is not called open because the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary was opened in giving birth to the Lord, she who was a virgin before childbirth, a virgin in childbirth, and a virgin after childbirth. But it is called open because through her our Lord Jesus Christ became visible to us. We can also understand the Old Testament through the temple: through the ark, the sacraments that are contained in the Old Testament about Christ. For when Christ came in the flesh, the Old Testament was opened and the spiritual understanding that was hidden in it was revealed to the faithful. And there were lightnings, and voices, and earthquakes, and great hail. The lightning represents the miracles that were done through Christ, and His preaching is signified by the voices. But earthquakes symbolize the movement of hearts; for people are often moved to carry out the preaching of Christ for the purpose of repenting from their sins: they are moved from unbelief to faith: they are moved from evil to good. And because hail often strikes the earth, we can understand through hail the threats of eternal fire, which are frequently found in the Gospels; by which the hearts of the wicked are struck, so that they may repent from their iniquities.