11:7Revelation 11:7

The two witnesses are the Old and New Testaments, whose testimony was finished at and near the close of the 1,260 years of papal supremacy and oppression from A.D. 538 to 1798.4SP 190.3–4+4 The beast from the bottomless pit is a new and distinct manifestation of satanic power, the atheistical infidel power that ruled in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, making open, avowed war upon the Word of God where Rome had kept it hidden.GC 273.3–274.3+4 To overcome and kill them was to silence their reproving voice, which was done in 1793 when France by national decree abolished the Christian religion and the worship of God, collected and burned Bibles, trampled God's law underfoot, set aside the weekly rest-day, and prohibited baptism, the communion, and all worship except that of liberty and the country.GC 273.3–274.3+4 After three and a half years the same power granted toleration to the Scriptures, showing the witnesses would not remain dead and silent.GC88 286.1 The chapter is to be read every verse together with chapter eighteen to learn God's special warnings and display of power against the sins of the cities, and in the last crisis the power leading opposition after the testimony is finished is the papal power.21MR 91.4–5+2

The finishing of the testimony comes at and near the close of the witnesses' 1,260 years of prophesying in sackcloth, in obscurity, understood as the 1,260 days and the forty-two months, ending in 1798, with the attack coming a little before and shortly before 1798.4SP 190.3–4+4 The 1,260 days and forty-two months are 1,260 years of papal supremacy and oppression of the church, beginning in A.D. 538 and terminating in 1798, when a French army entered Rome and took the pope prisoner.GC88 265.3–266.3+1 The pope died in exile, and though a new pope was afterward elected, the papal hierarchy never since wielded the power it before possessed.GC 266.1–4 The persecution did not continue through the whole 1,260 years, for God in mercy cut short the fiery trial and through the Reformation brought persecution to an end prior to 1798.GC 266.1–4

The prophecy belongs to the period of papal oppression, when through the papacy Satan long controlled the powers ruling church and state, and it points to the suppression of the Scriptures and the terrible results of the domination of the man of sin, especially upon France and in countries that rejected the light of the Reformation.4SP 190.3–4+2 The beast from the bottomless pit is a new manifestation of satanic power, of satanic origin and character, distinct from the papacy.GC88 268.3–269.1+1 Where Rome professed reverence for the Bible yet kept it locked in an unknown tongue and hidden from the people, this power rises to make open, avowed war upon the Word of God and silence the testimony.GC88 268.3–269.1+1

The beast is the atheistical, infidel power that ruled in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, a satanic power making open war on the Bible.GC 273.3–274.3+3 In the land where the testimony is silenced appear the atheism of Pharaoh and the licentiousness of Sodom.GC 268.3–269.3 The great city reflects Egypt in denial of the living God and defiance of His commands, and Sodom in lawbreaking and sexual corruption, identifying the spirit of the nation fulfilling the prophecy.GC 268.3–269.3+1

The two witnesses that are overcome and killed are the Old and New Testaments, the Bible and its testimony, the word of truth.GC 684.5–685.2+2
To overcome and kill them is to silence the reproving voice of God's witnesses so that the word of truth lies dead in the streets, accomplished by national prohibition as a symbolic slaying of Scripture.GC 273.3–274.3+2
That slaying took place in 1793, when the French Assembly passed decrees abolishing the Christian religion and setting aside the Bible.GC88 286.1+1
It was a general suppression and destruction of the Scriptures in France during the Reign of Terror late in 1793, so that wherever a Bible could be found it was persecuted to death.GC 684.5–685.2

The killing meant the National Assembly abolishing the worship of the Deity, collecting Bibles and publicly burning them with scorn, trampling the law of God under foot, abolishing the institutions of the Bible and the weekly rest-day, setting aside the Sabbath and devoting every tenth day to reveling and blasphemy, prohibiting baptism and the communion, posting over burial-places that death is an eternal sleep, prohibiting all religious worship except that of liberty and the country, and bringing priests and even the constitutional bishop of Paris to publicly deny the Deity and priestcraft before the Convention.GC 273.3–274.3+1
That war against the Bible and God's law brought rebellion with bloodshed, insecurity, violence, terror, and crime.4SP 192.2
The prohibition was rescinded three and a half years later, when the same body granted toleration to Scripture, and the revival of respect for the Bible showed the witnesses would not remain silent.GC88 286.1

The whole eleventh chapter must be read every verse, together with the scenes portrayed in the eighteenth chapter, to learn the things that are yet to take place in the cities.21MR 91.4–5+1 Read in that way it gives understanding of the meaning of present events.Lt 158, 1906, par. 8–9 It shows God's special warning and wonderful display of His power against the sins of cities, both in destruction already seen and in destruction to come.21MR 91.4–5+1

That warning and display of power stands because of the sins of a city recently destroyed.Lt 158, 1906, par. 8–9 It must not be ignored or treated with indifference, but heeded as God's rebuke and call to make wrongs right.Lt 158, 1906, par. 8–9 Those who defiantly rebuild and invest as before invite God to exercise His power against them.Lt 158, 1906, par. 8–9

In the last crisis the power leading the opposition after the witnesses have finished their testimony is the papal power.7T 182.2 It unites people against God's witnesses.7T 182.2 At the same time it works to divide those who uphold the truth.7T 182.2