Charles Ellicott Commentary 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." — Revelation 11:12 (ASV)

And they heard . . . — Translate: And they heard (or, I heard; manuscript authority is divided, though the balance of evidence favors the first) a great voice out of the heaven saying to them, Come up hither. And they went up into the heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them.

The resurrection of the witnesses is followed by their ascension. It is the sign that in this also they will have a portion with their Lord. Rejected and slain, there is welcome and honour for them; they take their place with those who through faith and patience inherit the promises; they rest from their labours.

But this is not all. Like Elijah (2 Kings 2:11), they are taken up gloriously, but not, like Elijah, in comparative secrecy; their enemies see their exaltation.

For the witnesses themselves, there is the welcome rest of heaven; correspondingly, there is the visible recognition of their work and power on earth. The cause that seemed dead revives, and with its revival comes the recognition of those who laboured for it. The martyred are seen transfigured; they become glorious in the eyes of men:

“Persecution dragged them into fame,
And chased them up to heaven.”

They went up in the cloud: There is here, perhaps, a touch of recollection. St. John remembers the cloud which received his Lord out of sight. Since then, the cloud mingles with his every thought of ascension or descending from heaven. (Acts 1:9.) The witnesses, like their Master, disappeared in the cloud.