Revelation 11 describes, in abbreviated form, the entire tribulation period including the restoration of the church.  Before Christ described the end of time in Matthew 24, He told a parable in Matthew 22:1-14 that parallels Revelation 11.  The believers from all over the world are asked to fully commit themselves to God and willingly go out into the world as workers in God's final harvest.  Many in the house will be too busy with the routine and mundane duties of life.  Many just want to hang around the banqueting table and could care less about the fields.  However, God will identify those in His house that like Isaiah will say, "Send me."  These individuals will be anointed as prophets and like the prophets of old, they will be scorned, beaten, and killed. 

God has allowed the shedding of innocent blood of the saints and the prophets for millennia because He is long suffering and patient.  This is the travail that was brought upon believers of all the ages, but it is through the travail of the bride of Christ that others are "born again" into the kingdom of God.  This also explains why Eve was cursed with pain during child birth.  It is an object lesson reflecting the suffering of the woman (believers) that Christ loves more than He loves Himself.  Disobedience always results in travail.  It is not because God wills it, but because it is the way of flesh.

The blood of these innocents cries to Him from the ground making Him eager to avenge their blood in the fullness of times.  Genesis 4:10; Revelation 6:9-11  Since God is merciful and long suffering, He will give the final generation a grand opportunity to recognize the last days delusion and enter His kingdom.  Once the house is full, and those that will not enter in demonstrate their depravity by slaying the prophets, God's patience ends and His wrath falls on an unrepentant world.  Then the end comes.  It is the end of the daily grind that currently preoccupies many, but it is also the end of bondage for all God's people of every era and global area. 

A new kingdom is ushered in and the rightful heir to the throne will rescue and resurrect His subjects.  All those that persecute God's own touch the apple of His eye and will pay a great and mighty penalty for that.  The wrath of God poured out on the the final generation is just the first installment.  There will be a greater reckoning at the great white throne judgment when God moves His kingdom from Heaven to earth and makes all things new.  Let's look through the small window found in Revelation 11 and take a peak at the end of all things earthly.

 1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.

Revelation 11:1-2

There are two altars found in the Jewish sanctuary service.  The brazen altar in the courtyard is where the patriarch of a family brings his sacrifice.  The golden altar is found in the holy place of the temple where the priests conduct their duties.  This is the altar of incense where the smoke and the fragrance of the incense continually rise to God.  This sweet odor gives a savory scent to our otherwise odorous prayers.  We may enter here into this place of worship only after we have offered ourselves on the brazen altar of sacrifice in the outer court.  However, this place of worship would not be open to us if Christ had not first come and offered Himself as a living sacrifice at the brazen altar on our behalf.  He is the sweet odor that ascends into the Most Holy Place making it possible for all of us to come boldly and worship at the altar of incense.  This invitation was given in the book of Hebrews to the church.  Hebrews 4:14-16

God is always beckoning the world to come to the brazen altar to symbolically slay self by offering everything you have and all you are.  When you give yourself to the Lord, you may now enter into the holy place to serve the world as a priest.  When the Christian leaves the church pew and walks down the aisle to make a profession of faith, he is demonstrating to the world that he is offering himself to Christ as a living sacrifice.  Everyone that comes to the brazen altar will go to the brazen laver and wash himself becoming a member of the priesthood made fit to serve the world.  When the Christian is baptized in water, he is demonstrating to the world that the old man is dead and buried, and the new man in Christ has risen.  He is now made clean like the priests that wash themselves in the laver. 

We then demonstrate our priestly duties through communion by partaking of the bread and the wine as commanded by Christ to remind us that we are now in Him.  Once the Levitical priest makes the sacrifice and washes himself in the laver, he is ready to begin his duties by entering the holy place and eating the bread and drinking the wine from the table of shewbread.  As he does so, he becomes like the menorah delivering light to those around him.  The church is now the light unto the world and is commissioned to deliver the gospel to a world in desperate need of good news.  Matthew 5:14-16  The angel is sent to measure the holy place including the golden altar to determine how many are in the priesthood.  God knows the number of hairs on our head so I know he knows how many worshippers are in the priesthood.  Therefore, these verses describe something grander than Godly curiosity regarding the number of priests providing service to the world.  It is a special invitation to those within the church. 

Christ is asking for volunteers from within the church.  Most churches take count of attendance on a weekly basis and are filled with pride when our numbers are up and our pews are full.  Every week we are reminded that Christ calls us into the church; however, these verses describe a time when Christ will come to the church and ask us to go out.  He will send us out into the highways and hedges to compel them to come in because we are at the end of the ages and the harvest is ripe.  Many in the church that originally said they wanted to enter in will be too preoccupied with this world to desire the new one.  They profess to love God, but have a preference for this world and have no genuine longing to usher in God's kingdom.  These worshippers are only playing church.  Certainly, they will not care one bit about other lost souls.  Therefore, the laborers that will go out into the field and work to harvest souls will be a small percentage of those worshiping at the golden altar of incense.  The reward of the laborers will be grand, but those that deny the call forsake everything.

Our labor in the fields will be dangerous work.  The enemy will resist our efforts causing us much distress.  Christ made us kings and priests.  He now wants us to exercise our rights and responsibilities of this office and provide service to those in the world.  He is calling us to go back out to the brazen altar representative of the world.  We are not going out in unbelief but to deliver the last altar call to the final generation.  Jesus served publicans and sinners and so will Christ's own.  The ones we are serving will turn and trample us for the duration of our witness.  However, as a result of our testimony by the power of the Word and the Holy Spirit many will be compelled to enter into the outer court, make their sacrifice and enter the priesthood of believers replacing those that would not labor in the fields.  Luke 14:15-23

When Jonah went to Nineveh, the king wore sackcloth and led his people in repentance to God.  It is the Spirit of God that leads men to repentance while under the influence of the Word of God.  Jonah was not the witness.  He was just the clay vessel that housed the witnesses of the Living Word and the Holy Spirit; therefore, God spoke to the people of Nineveh through the voice of Jonah.  He will do the same during the last days through the final generation.  Jonah considered Nineveh to be godless and unworthy of such great attention and benevolence.  Many in the church will see the world in that same light and will not go out and work in the fields because they are too self-righteous.  In refusing to work in the fields of the final days, they will abandon their own place in the kingdom and refuse the right of others to also enter in.  However, within the church, God will have some that will answer the call resulting in a great harvest of the final generation.  Learn more. . .