Rev 11:1-6
Jerusalem Temple is the central focus in these verses.
Solomon’s temple or 1st temple was destroyed in 586BC by Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar.
2nd Temple built by King Herod was also destroyed in 70 AD by Roman general Titus.
The second Temple was standing during the time of Lord Jesus. 
Roman general Titus was the one who destroyed both the temple and Jerusalem city and later became next Caesar of Rome.
The only piece of the entire Temple compound left today is the fragment of the Western Wall, which we know as The Wailing Wall.
Lord Jesus predicted this destruction in Mark 13:-12.
“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.”
During Apostle John’s life the 2nd temple was very much part of his life.
When John was writing this book around 95 AD the temple was already destroyed.
Jews never built the 3rd temple so far.
But John is able to see the future of the 3rd temple and also be able to measure it.
Jews cannot build the 3rd temple at the exact location because Muslims built a shrine there.
This shrine is called ‘Dome of the Rock’ which their 3rd holy place.
Muslims believe that prophet Mohammed along with angel Gabriel ascended to heaven.
Verse one talk about measuring the temple of God on earth.
A. 3rd Temple is built by unbelieving Jews during the first part of Tribulation.
B. John was asked to measure the temple and brazen altar where animal sacrifices are conducted.
He is measuring the structure as well as evaluating the people who came to worship.
C. Outer court was excluded from measurement as non-Jews come and go as they like.
D. Holy city Jerusalem will be visited by all nations during later part of the tribulation and they almost trample the place for 42 months.
Second half of tribulation draws most attention of Book of Revelation because it ends with the Second Coming of Christ.
Non-Jews, the gentiles will have more control of the temple and Jerusalem city.
In Verses 3 & 4 God appoints two witnesses to prophesy for 1260 days.
These two witnesses will prophesy for 1260 days during the entire second part of tribulation.
The Olive trees and lamp stands description is similar to Zechariah 4.
This combination of Olive trees and lampstands refer to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Their main role is to prepare for the coming of the Messiah like John the Baptist prepared for the coming of Christ in the first advent.
They both had super natural power to breath fire from their mouths and devour anyone who comes to harm them.
So nobody could come near to them for 1260 days as they prophesied about the coming of the Lord Jesus.
They have power to shut down rain as Elijah did.
They have power to turn water into blood as Moses did and strike the earth with all kinds of plagues whenever they want.
Some think that these witnesses are Elijah and Moses but the Book of Revelation does not specify who they are.
The two witnesses needed to depend on the ministry of the Holy Spirit and His supernatural power to witness for God in the later part of tribulation. 
The world is under Satan’s control at this time before the second coming of the Lord.
With our technology today, live coverage of all networks around the globe will follow these two witnesses 24/7 and the world will definitely hear what they prophesy.

Rev 10:1-11
In every chapter in Revelation we come across angels, mighty angels and strong angels.
The seven trumpet judgments are part of the seventh seal judgment. 
So far we have studied six of the seven trumpet judgments.
One critical observation is that Apostle John is personally involved in the 10th chapter.
This chapter begins with the coming down of a mighty angel from heaven.
Mighty or strong angels are mostly revelatory angels who communicate to man specific information from God.
The description compels some scholars to believe that this angel is Lord Jesus.
But I go with other interpreters that this angel is not the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because in post Gospels accounts HE was never described as an angel.
His face is shining like sun because of his close proximity of Almighty God.
This angel’s face reflects the glory of God and his feet indicate he came to execute God’s judgment.
He had a little open book in his hand not the one that the Lord opened after breaking 7 seals.
One foot on the land and one foot one the sea was to announce that he has authority over the world granted by God the Father.
This angel is claiming the world for Christ.
The shout of this mighty angel like a roar of lion resounded throughout the world.
In response to his shout even seven thunders responded.
John was about to write the message came from the 7 thunders which he thought to be a very specific message from God.
John was asked not to write this message.
The point seems to be that John must keep the particular information shared by the seven thunders "secure." 
He must not write it down and he must never tell anyone what was said.
We have to understand the three verses 5, 6 &7 together.
As we raise our right hand to take an oath, so also this mighty angel raising his right hand to swear on God the Father.
“Swore by Him who lives forever and ever” signifies importance of the statement about to be made by the angel.
Simply to put it this angels is telling an important truth from God.
“There will be no more delay!”
God is waiting patiently and delaying to draw the final curtain on the world.
He is bestowing HIS grace upon the human being to be saved through Gospel message.
So far we have seen six trumpets and the seventh one to go.
This is the midpoint in 7 year tribulation.
Now this mighty angel declares on oath that there will be no more delay.
As one scholar says, the earth is ‘ripe for judgment’.
The mystery of God is nothing but saving the human soul from sin through atoning sacrifice of Lord Jesus Christ.
The mystery is how God could save gentile nations who were not part of the chosen race Israel.
Now the time has come for final judgment to unfold with sounding of the 7th trumpet.
Time has run out for Satan’s dominion over the earth. 
Show down with Satan is about to take place as God Almighty draws the curtain on the world.
God will not delay His judgment by granting further extension to humanity under ‘grace period’.
Here the voice of God commands John to go take the scroll from the mighty angel.
So John takes the book from angel’s hand and eats it as was told.
What we can understand is that John has to digest the message.
When John ate the little book, it soon became part of him. 
Verse 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”
Here John has a new commission to prophesy.
The emphatic ‘must’ is John has to do what he was told.
The scope of John’s prophecy is universal that includes all humanity of the world.
John was told to tell the people the impending destruction and the end of the world.
John was faithful to record the events of the last days for future generations to come.
John’s prophecy will be a judgment against the whole world.
Gospel message is always good news and bad news..
Good news for those who accept the message of the gospel and believe in the Lord Jesus as Savior.
Bad news is that who refuses to believe will face eternal punishment which is hell.
Every believer in Lord Jesus Christ has responsibility to tell people the good news of heaven and the bad news of hell.
That is why it is sweet to the repenting sinner and bitter to the rejecting .

Rev 9:13-21
God is unleashing judgment upon humanity as a specific answer to the prayers of saints.
In 7th chapter we saw 4 angels were asked to hold the winds to blow on earth.
In 9th chapter 4 angels were released to unleash terrible blow on humanity.
These angels are fallen angels – demons. 
Demons can only act with God’s permission, even to the very precise hour of a given day. 
Nothing can change God’s timing.
The first demonic army attack of locusts was to inflict pain and torture on humans.
The second army of devils numbering 200 million in the shape of horses is set out to kill one third of human population.
They are precisely kept for this hour and day.
Verse 17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 
Do we take this description literal or images used to describe a modern warfare?
In the Scripture we come across spiritual armies on horses in the OT.
Elijah caught up to heaven in chariots of fire.
Elisha’s servant sees a vast army of angels on the horses and chariots of fire.
The overall description was that of supernatural armies of demonic spirits.
The death comes not by the teeth of the lion but by three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 
I would go with literal description than the symbols to compare them to chemical weapons.
Some thought that these are weapons of mass destruction.
But the main purpose is to kill one third of world’s population on earth.
The death occurred to the midpoint of tribulation is around 2 billion people.
Tails with snake heads were to inflict injury to people.
At this point we need to keep in view that half of the world population was either raptured, killed in natural calamities or supernatural death blows from demonic attacks.
Verse 20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 
These people are still listening to the message of hope from 144000 messianic Jews.
But they chose to follow their own progressive thinking and the ways of the world.
Satanic worship will be at all time high and people will be very religious worshiping Satan in all forms available to them.
They rejected the truth of the living God and carried away by the evil in ‘strong delusion’.
Worship of demons will lead to the other forms of evils in human society.
When we see God of the Bible is replaced with human hand made gods, all hell breaks loose.
Evil is practiced in all walks of life on earth and the entire atmosphere is thick with occult practices, sorcery, divination, murder and finally ends in sexual indulgences.
One Scholar said like this.
“Many of the things taking place today, such as the widespread distribution of pornography, abortion on demand, the offer of free condoms to high school students, and the drive to legalize homosexual marriage, are all paving the way to what we read about here in the tribulation period”.
Immoral behavior is always the result of false religion and occult practices.
Far advanced technology creates delusion of the mind to reject God completely.
People begin to follow their progressive ideologies glorifying all forms of evil which contradict Biblical principles, morals, and values.
This leads to the stage that was described here in this chapter.
The events happening around them did not impact people and they continue to reject the Living God of Bible.
During this time in tribulation the humans reach a point of no return as they began to think they are gods.
Unfortunately we are witnessing such delusion of human behavior right before our very own eyes.
What does that say to us today?
The Lord Jesus coming for HIS Church is very close at hand.
My question is are you ready to hear the trumpet sound and meet the Lord Jesus in midair.

Rev 9:1-12
Satan is tormenting humanity for a long long time since the creation.
He troubled and hurt God’s people as well as the unbelievers.
He persecuted and tortured believers in Lord Jesus Christ since the birth of the church.
He carries out his work thru his devils.
We have to keep in mind that God allows Satan to inflict suffering on humanity for God’s greater purpose.
In these twelve verses we see that God allows Satan to torment people in the tribulation period for five months.
Verses 1-12 deals with 5th trumpet and verses 13-21 with the 6th trumpet.
John describes a fallen star on the planet earth who is none other than Satan.
Now he gets a key to open the shaft of the Abyss.
What is Abyss?
Word ‘Abyss’ was mentioned 7 times in Revelation.
Abyss is a place of punishment for the evil angels.
Luke 8:30-31
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 
31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
Even the demons shudder to go there.
This bottomless pit is a temporary holding place for all evil beings.
Before our Lord begins HIS 1000 years rule on the earth, Satan was bound and thrown into Abyss for 1000 years.
This place is a bottomless pit with a lid on it.
In Revelation, Abyss is described to have a shaft or a lid with a key to open.
Now Satan gets the permission or authority or the key to release some of the evil creatures from it.
When Satan opened the shaft to the Abyss, thick smoke came out into the atmosphere and darkened the sun.
Verse 3 tells us that locusts came out of the Abyss to inflict pain on people because of the stingers like scorpion at the end of their tails.
It is a global phenomenon and all people are subjected to this torture and torment.
Verses 7-10 describe their physical appearance of strange combinations.
Apostle John tried to describe these strange evil locusts with faces like human, hair like women, teeth like lion and tail like scorpion stinger.
They were to torture human beings for five months but no permission to kill them.
Verse 11 informs us that they have king whose name is Destroyer.
In the Bible Satan is always the Destroyer.
Satan leads these evil locusts to torture humans for 5 months.
Verse 4 tells us that they cannot touch those people with the seal of God on their forehead.
From the previous study we know that these people with seal of God are the 144000 messianic Jews who are evangelizing the world with the Gospel message during tribulation.
Verse 6 describes that people wanted to die to escape the torture from the evil locusts but even death eludes them.
My friend, every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, has a seal of God on the forehead.
We are separated for God to obey HIS will and to serve HIM faithfully.
The world will ridicule us, laugh at us, and call us bigots, narrow minded and religious fanatics.
May we never lose sight of the fact that we have a mission to spread the Gospel through our life style, through our deeds and through our words.
Like those 144000 people we too have a mission to spread the Gospel till our last breath.
Today every believer is an instrument in God’s hand for HIS service.
The Lord is cautioning us that we are marked people in the eyes of this world.