Revelation 11:10
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
The two witnesses are the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, suppressed during papal supremacy. This rejoicing points to the terrible results coming especially upon France from the domination of the man of sin. The verse comes after the witnesses finish their testimony, when the beast from the bottomless pit makes war against them, overcomes and kills them, and their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where the Lord was crucified. After three days and a half the Spirit of life from God enters them, they stand on their feet, and great fear falls on those who see them.
Those dwelling on the earth rejoice over the dead witnesses, make merry, and send gifts to one another because the testimony of the two prophets tormented those who rejected and hated its reproof. The rejoicing was fulfilled in infidel France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, when the reproving voice was silenced and the word of truth lay dead in her streets. Those who rejoiced hated the restrictions and requirements of God's law, were jubilant at its suppression, and publicly defied the King of heaven.
The forty-two months and the thousand two hundred and threescore days are the same 1,260-year period of oppression of the church by Rome during papal supremacy, beginning in A.D. 538 and ending in 1798 when a French army entered Rome, made the pope a prisoner who died in exile, after which the papal hierarchy never wielded its former power. The persecution did not continue through the whole period because God in mercy cut the fiery trial short for the sake of the elect, bringing it to an end through the Reformation before 1798. Together with the scenes portrayed in chapter eighteen, the verse must be read verse by verse with the rest of chapter eleven to learn things yet to take place in the cities, showing a wonderful display of God's power in judgment because of the sins of cities, as lately seen in a recently destroyed wicked city.
This display must not be ignored, made light of, met with indifference, or answered with flattering plans to erect still greater buildings and defiantly invest means as before. It is the Lord's voice and rebuke calling those who have abused privileges and wronged fellow men to make amends for the wrong done, lest God exercise His power to counteract their efforts.