Commentaries:
The New King James puts this verse at the tail end of the narrative about the Two Witnesses, but it should stand by itself. It is a transition verse, telling the reader, "Now it is time to return to the chronological flow. Remember where we were? The second woe had just passed, and the third woe will be explained in the next revelation of events." We have come through an entire inset, spanning chapters 10 and 11, and this verse puts us back on track, returning us to the timeflow of Revelation 9:21. Chapters 10 and 11 are, in publishing terms, a sidebar. They are outside the flow of the main chronology of the book of Revelation.
The woes are announced in Revelation 8:13:
Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!
The "woe, woe, woe" are the three remaining blasts of the trumpet, which means that the fifth trumpet (Revelation 9:1-12) is the first woe.
One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. (Revelation 9:12)
Then it explains the sixth trumpet in Revelation 9:13-21. This is the whole second woe. Immediately following are two inset chapters—Revelation 10 and 11—which are hooked together because they talk about the same general topic. With Revelation 11:13, the inset is done, so the narrator, John, says, "Now we will return to the story flow. The second woe is past, which, as you'll remember, was in chapter 9. Now, behold, the third woe is coming quickly." So now we are back on track in the chronology.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Two Witnesses (Part Seven)
All the inset chapters are introduced in a significant way: by an angel coming down from heaven or a spectacular and unusual vision of someone or something, such as a woman clothed with the sun, moon, and stars or a Beast rising up out of the ocean.
Chapter 11, however, does not begin this way because it is not the beginning of the inset. The inset actually begins in Revelation 10:1 where the spectacular vision occurs. Chapter 10 does not follow chapter 9 in time sequence anymore than the material in chapter 11 does. Chapter 11 merely continues the vision begun in chapter 10.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Revelation 10 and the Laodicean Church
Revelation 11 is inset material. The only possible period of time when the Two Witnesses could testify is during the three and a half years that precede Christ's return—the time of the Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.
Most of this period of time has already been covered by chapters 6 (the fifth and sixth seals) and 8-9 (the trumpet plagues). Chapter 11 clarifies what has already occurred in the narrative, answering how people can possibly be converted during the Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. The answer is that they are hearing a message thundered by the Two Witnesses! Revelation 7:9-17 suggests that by their preaching, an innumerable multitude will be converted.
The information is given in a digression—an inset chapter— from the main story flow. Inset chapters clarify what is happening within the time sequence.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Revelation 10 and the Laodicean Church
