Revelation 11:12
And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
The ones who ascend are God's two witnesses, which are the Scriptures, the word of God. The ascent follows France making war upon the witnesses and a period of rejection, death and revival after they had been thrust down, with the fulfillment dated from the French Revolution. To ascend up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies beheld them means their renewed, public exaltation in the sight of enemies, in which after death and revival they were honored as never before with unprecedented honor.
This exaltation was fulfilled in the great spread of the Scriptures through the organization of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804, followed by similar organizations with numerous branches upon the continent of Europe, and the founding of the American Bible Society in 1816. Before this the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues, but by this work it was translated into more than four hundred languages and dialects. The same fulfillment includes Bible societies forming, translations and circulation spreading widely into nearly every language throughout the world, and the rapid growth of foreign missions.
Every verse of the eleventh chapter must be read to understand the meaning of these things and to learn the things that are yet to take place in the cities. Together with the scenes portrayed in the eighteenth chapter, the verse gives special indications from God that must not be ignored with indifference. It shows a wonderful display of the power of God on account of the sins of a recently destroyed city.