And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. The reading ἤκουσα, "I heard," for ἤκουσαν, "they heard," in a correction of א, and in B, Coptic, Armenian, Andreas, may have arisen from the similarity of the passage to Revelation 6:6; Revelation 9:13.
Dusterdieck, who reads, "I heard," points out that in Revelation 6:11; Revelation 9:4, the phrase used in addressing others is, "It was said unto them." Thus the fate of the Church is that of her Lord, and it is the fate of each individual who may witness of God.
Suffering, apparent extinction, perhaps, but ultimate triumph and ascension into the presence of God is their common inheritance. If so be that they suffer with him, they are also glorified with him (Romans 8:17).
Alford remarks that "no attempt has been made to explain this ascension by those who interpret the witnesses figuratively of the Old and New Testaments, or the like." Is it not the resurrection of the just, of the witnesses of God, and their exaltation at the beginning of the last judgment?
Thus St. Paul says, "But 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 by the seer.
And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them; in the cloud. The parallelism with Elijah and Christ (see Revelation 9:5, Revelation 9:6, Revelation 9:8) is carried still further.
The Church is triumphantly vindicated and glorified as they were; the only difference is that now all men behold it. The cloud is not that which hides them from view, but rather, like that in Revelation 14:14, something which exalts and enhances the glory of the witnesses.
The effect upon the worldly is told in Revelation 14:11, Revelation 14:13.