“When they complete their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and he will conquer them and kill them. And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city that is figuratively called “Sodom” and “Egypt,” the city where their Lord was crucified. And for three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will stare at their bodies. No one will be allowed to bury them. All the people who belong to this world will gloat over them and give presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets who had tormented them.” Revelation 11:7-10
Why does God allow His faithful witnesses to die? To teach us that death is not our end. If we die in obedience, and in serving God, we have a hope; the Kingdom. The resurrection speaks of the reality of the Kingdom. The Messiah rose first, as the first fruits; but we are also going to have a resurrection experience as part of the harvest. “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23) Resurrection is a victory. It is Kingdom power/authority. Death is not our end. It is a transition. Death is simply preparation for resurrection.
Sodom and Egypt were not good places. They were full of immorality and ungodliness. Where there also our Lord was crucified: This is speaking about the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is going to become an affront to God. The antichrist will be ruling there and championing a religion of pluralism.
There will be a celebration, with the sending of gifts to one another, it was a celebration of the victory for God’s people. In this verse, the world is celebrating because they feel as if they have been victorious and have defeated God’s people. This is the opposite of truth. The dwellers of the earth felt that the witnesses had tormented them by giving them the truth of God, and calling them to repentance in order to find God’s forgiveness.