Verse 12. And they heard a great voice from heaven. Some manuscripts read, "I heard" -- hkousa but the more approved reading is that of the common text. John says that a voice was addressed to them calling them to ascend to heaven.

Come up hither. To heaven.

And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud. So the Saviour ascended, Ac 1:9, and so probably Elijah, 2 Ki 2:11.

And their enemies beheld them. That is, it was done openly, so that their enemies, who had put them to death, saw that they were approved of God, as if they had been publicly taken up to heaven. It is not necessary to suppose that this would literally occur. All this is, manifestly, mere symbol. The meaning is, that they would triumph as if they should ascend to heaven, and be received into the presence of God. The sense of the whole is, that these witnesses, after bearing a faithful testimony against prevailing errors and sins, would be persecuted and silenced; that for a considerable period their voice of faithful testimony would be hushed as if they were dead; that during that period they would be treated with contempt and scorn, as if their unburied bodies should be exposed to the public gaze; that there would be general exultation and joy that they were thus silenced; that they would again revive, as if the dead were restored to life, and bear a faithful testimony to the truth again, and that they would have the Divine attestation in their favour, as if they were raised up visibly and publicly to heaven.

{a} "cloud" 1 Th 4:17 {b} "enemies" Mal 3:18