Revelation 11:12

And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they went up into heaven in the cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

This view is a glimpse of the final judgment. Only then will God's saints ascend to heaven (2 Timothy 4:8f). Coming here, as it does, just before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, it occupies a place in the sixth trumpet, just as did the judgment connected with the sixth seal in Revelation 6:14-17.

Is not the resurrection of the witnesses of God and their exaltation the beginning of the last judgment? Paul said, "Each in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, then they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end" (1 Corinthians 15:13). This "end" is immediately referred to here.[69]

And they went up into heaven ... and their enemies beheld them ... All of these judgment scenes show that the wicked shall not be destroyed in the lake of fire until after they have witnessed the salvation of the righteous. There is only one time revealed in the Scriptures when people will go to heaven, and that is at the Second Coming of Christ and the final judgment day. Significantly, this final event is represented here as occurring at a time of near-universal rejection of the two witnesses, and simultaneously with the mockery and glee of an unbelieving world. This was not preceded by any so-called triumph of an Antichrist, nor by any secret "rapture" of the church, nor by any glorious millennium of universal peace and happiness on earth.

And their enemies beheld them ... "The church ascends to heaven in a cloud of glory; and their enemies beheld them. No secret rapture."[70] But John's vision of the judgment at this point retrogresses a bit to show how that event affects the wicked. "The next verse shows what takes place just before this final day."[71]

[69] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 292.

[70] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 158.

[71] Ibid.