Revelation 11:11–13 - At the Return of Christ

There’s an old story about a frog – a male frog – who desperately wanted to meet a female frog. He wanted so badly to fall in love and get married.

And one day, he was talking to one of his buddies – on the lilly pads, of course – and he was going on and on about wanting to know more about his future. Then he said, “I think I’m going to visit a fortune teller.”

Well, his buddy frog looked at him like he was crazy, and he said, “No! That stuff is completely fake! Don’t do that! They just take information they already know about you and give you some general answer about what might happen. They can’t really see your future.” But the frog who wanted to fall in love said, “I know, but I’m desperate.”

So he went, and the fortune teller said to him, “How can I help you?” The frog replied, “I want to know if I’m going to meet a female one day?” The fortune teller said, “Ok, come, sit down. I’ll look into my crystal ball.”

And she looked for about a minute, and then she started to nod her head. And she said, “I see something.” The frog replied, “What is it?” She said, “You are going to meet a beautiful young female.” Well, the frog’s heart almost skipped a beat. So he said, “Tell me more!” The fortune teller said, “From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you.”

The frog was about to jump for joy. He said, “What else?” The fortune teller said, “She will be compelled to get close to you – you'll fascinate her.” And now the frog was just overwhelmed with happiness. He thought, “Maybe the person really can see my future!” So he said, “This is amazing! Where will I meet?” And the fortune teller replied, “In a biology class.”

There are no shortcuts to learning our future!

And so we worry, or get anxious, or grow discontent and self-absorbed. We lose sight of God’s power, and His love, and His good plans for us. It’s natural to want to know everything about the future, but that isn’t how God has designed life for you and me. Rather, He says, “The righteous will live by faith.” Jesus Christ told his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

There will be problems to endure and pleasures to enjoy in life, but God shows His people the big picture. God has revealed that Jesus Christ will return, and we should live in light of what will happen at that time.

But what exactly will happen? Notice the outline for you there. At the glorious return of Jesus Christ, the whole church will be present for participation, the church will receive her long-awaited vindication, and the world will receive its well-deserved humiliation. This is encouragement for God’s people!

Now, verses 7-10 described a period “When they have finished their testimony” – in other words, when the church’s Great Commission is complete. And at that time in history, the church will appear to be left for dead. This is not to say that all Christians at that time will be physically deceased, but as William Hendriksen puts it, the church “no longer exists as an influential and powerful missionary organization.”

But that won’t be for long. Look at verse 11 with me. Look at what the Lord Jesus shows to His servant John in this apocalyptic vision. “After the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them.” Compare this amount of days with the amount of days given for the gospel age. Both numbers are symbolic, as numbers typically are in Revelation. Jesus said for 1260 days the church would be at work, proclaiming Christ and pronouncing judgment. And then for 3.5 days the church would be at rest, when the work is done.

It’s obviously very lopsided. The second one is not a long time at all.

It’s similar to the amount of time Christ spent in the grave. But remember, that was literal – these numbers represent something. The church’s labor for God is finished at that point. There is no more being born again. There is no more “finding Jesus.”

This “breath of life from God” repeats similar language used by OT prophet Ezekiel to figuratively describe God raising up the Israelites after their fall to Babylon. It also revisits the literal creation of Adam by God when God made Him and brought him to life.

Where this event falls in the vision of the seven trumpets leads us to believe that it symbolizes what the apostle Paul describes in 1 Thess. 4. I have it printed for you there. Second paragraph. “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” Now notice the rest of verse 11. “and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.”

I mentioned last week that Scripture does not describe a secret rapture – this taking away of the Church followed by more opportunities of salvation for anyone who is left. The anti-Christian world will watch the rising up of the Church. This 1 Thess. 4 passage has an interesting background. Apparently there was a rumor at that time in the city of Thessalonica that those who had died would miss the return of Christ. Paul writes this, in part, to dispel that rumor. “The dead in Christ will rise” and go to Jesus, who is ascending from heaven.

In Acts 1 in the NT, the disciples are told, “Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Christ ascended to heaven in a cloud. So will he descend. The dead in Christ will rise from their graves to meet him, and those alive at that time who are saved will join them on the way.

In his book The Work of Christ, Dr. R.C. Sproul explains this meeting of Christ in the sky. It is comparable to how ancient Roman armies would return home after war. He writes, “When the Roman legions were dispatched to go into a foreign country on a military campaign…it was understood…that the conquests of the military were not simply for the politicians who governed, but for all the citizens of the city. The army might be gone for a campaign of two or three years. Finally, the soldiers would return.

When that news arrived, the people began to prepare to receive the conquering heroes. When everything was ready, a trumpet was sounded. With that, the citizens of the city went out to where the army was camped and joined the soldiers in marching into the city. The idea was that they had participated in the triumph of their conquering army.

This is exactly the language that Paul used here. He was saying that when Jesus comes back in conquering power, believers, both dead and alive, will be caught up in the air to meet Him, not to stay up there, but to join His return in triumph, to participate in His exaltation.”

Sproul goes to say, “The purpose of the dead rising and our being caught up into the sky is not to go away but to meet Jesus as He is returning. He will not be taking us out of the world to stay. He will be lifting us up to participate with Him in His triumphal return.” We triumph with Him. And on that Day, the whole church will be present for participation.

If you are in Christ – whether you are still alive on that Day or you have passed away by then – you will participate in that exhilarating event. Those who have long been deceased, such that their bodies have deteriorated to dust, will be formed again by God just as He formed Adam in the garden on the sixth day, when He “formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Whatever may have happened to you in your life before now, or whatever may yet happen to you in the future, cannot hinder your participation on that Day if Christ is your Savior and Lord. Now look with me at verse 12.

John writes, “Then 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 watched them.” These are the enemies who persecuted the church. They scoffed at the followers of Jesus, just as the religious leaders in Judea mocked Jesus as He suffered on the cross.

Matthew 27 recalls how they ridiculed Christ. It says, “The chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

Have you ever been ridiculed or mocked for something you said or stood for because others didn’t immediately see evidence that you were right? This is a common characteristic of the Christian life. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to some of His disciples. But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

When Jesus later appeared to Thomas, he said to Him, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Christians long to be vindicated, to be proven correct about Jesus Christ and God’s Word.

In this life, we have to walk by faith and aim to remain loyal to Jesus and follow Him. We make decisions in life based on the moral law of God, based on God’s truth articulated in His Word. We follow the leading of His Holy Spirit in our lives. And the unbelieving world doesn’t always approve, much less understand.

To many, we look and sound foolish. But at the return of Christ, the church will receive her long-awaited vindication. Verse 11 says, “great fear fell on those who saw them.” Verse 12 says “they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.” Those who attempt to strike down the church, who dismiss and underestimate her, those who hate her because they hate God’s truth – they will be put to open shame on that Day. Christ will vindicate His people, and He will make the world watch.

Have you made some kind of decisions for Christ based on faith – based on how you believed  God was leading you at the time – and now the next step is uncertain? Maybe the way of success is no longer clear. You’re not alone – this is how it goes with walking by faith. That’s what makes it faith. It’s not by sight. You’re trusting God to come through.

There are many who have died in Christ through the ages with desires unfulfilled, with hopes unmet in this life. They died faithful to Jesus and the world said, “What a fool! What a waste!” If you are in Christ – whether you are still alive on that Day or you have passed away, you will receive your vindication. Hold on to Jesus. The coming return of Christ is always proof that God’s not done yet. Walk in His ways, because for those apart from Him, a different future awaits. Notice verse 13.

“And 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 Lord Jesus collects His people – getting them away to safety – and then He begins to demolish the planet behind them.

Have you ever watched one of these home renovation shows? The experts describe their plans to redo the house inside and out, and then they have “demo day.” That’s where they tear out what needs to be replaced. They effectively destroy the place so they can restore it – so they can renovate it and make it better. Verse 13 is a figurative description of literal Earthly destruction. In Revelation 16, it’s called “Armageddon.” Jesus described it in Matthew 24.

That’s the first paragraph printed on page 6. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days [that’s these “last days” in which we now live; the gospel age] the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. [30] Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. [31] And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Verse 13 says some non-believers will die in the destruction, but not all of them will die. These numbers in verse 13 symbolize this. We saw earlier in Revelation that 7 symbolizes completion in the Scripture and 1000 is a multitude. A complete multitude will die on “demo day.” But many will remain and observe with terror in their hearts. And notice that in John’s vision he watched as they “gave glory to the God of heaven.” This doesn’t mean they are born again and give honorable worship to God. It’s too late for that.

In Philippians 2 in the NT, Paul describes a time when “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Certainly that isn’t the case now, though Christ does now reign as king. Paul described a future time. The world disrespected Jesus for a little while.

But on the Last Day, they will begin to respect Him for eternity. They won’t be saved, but they will be afraid. And after this will come the final judgment. The church will participate in Jesus’ grand exaltation, and The world will receive its well-deserved humiliation.

Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” God opposes the proud – the arrogant, those who boast in themselves. And that’s the primary characteristic of the anti-Christian world. “Look what we did! Look what we made! Look what we figured out and accomplished! We didn’t need God! We are good – we don’t need Jesus!” Don’t you want to see the church proven right and the world humbled!

The writer of Psalm 94 felt that way. He wrote, “O LORD, God of vengeance…shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! O LORD, how long shall the wicked…triumph? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

Oh, He sees. He sees and He perceives. If you are in Christ, take heart, because God is just and He will by no means pardon the guilty. Those who have Jesus will be pardoned, and the rest will pay, to the last penny. The world will scoff at your love for God and your faithfulness to Jesus. And you may not live to see them humbled, but if they remain unsaved, they will be humbled.

So this is – in quick summary – the future of the church. But what about today? Are you like that little frog, desperate to know your future? Are you worried about today’s circumstances? God has plans for the Last Day, and He also has a plan for today.

There’s an old song of the church – a hymn written almost 120 years ago – called His Eye is on the Sparrow. It’s inspired by the words of Jesus in Matthew 10. Jesus says God cares even for the little birds; He cares much more for you. The hymn goes,

Why should I feel discouraged / Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely / And long for heav’n and home;
When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is he
His eye is on the sparrow / And I know he watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” / His tender word I hear,
And resting on his goodness / I lose my doubt and fear;
Though by the path he leads / But one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow / And I know he watches me.

Whenever I am tempted / Whenever clouds arise;
When songs give place to sighing / When hope within me dies,
I draw [the] closer to him / From care he sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow / And I know he cares me;

I sing because I’m happy / I sing because I’m free;
For his eye is on the sparrow / And I know he watches me.


Have you come to Jesus with faith, admitting your sin to Him and asking for forgiveness?

Have you told Jesus you want to trust in Him and turn from the world to follow Him?

If so, the future Christ holds for you is a good future. But if you do not trust in Christ, a good future does not await you. So trust in Him now. One day, you will die or Jesus will return – we don’t know which will be first. Entrust your future to His hands and His plans.

Let’s bow in prayer.