Measuring the Temple
After eating the
scroll (which represents the
testimony of Jesus), John was told to
“prophesy again” and it is
this final proclamation of the true
gospel of Christ that will determine
the size of the inner court of the
temple (those near to God). “I
was given a reed like a measuring rod
[a yardstick] and was told,
‘Go and measure the temple of
God and the altar, and count the
worshipers there.’”
(Revelation 11:1) The difference
between the inner court and the outer
court of the temple warrants a little
explanation. Prior to its destruction
in A.D. 70, the temple had two
courts. “Pure Jews” could
enter the inner court (the area
closet to God) and Gentile converts,
considered “impure Jews,”
had to stay in the outer court (an
area farther away from God). This
practice stemmed from the law of
Moses: “No one born of a
forbidden marriage nor any of his
descendants may enter the assembly of
the Lord, even down to the tenth
generation. No Ammonite or Moabite or
any of his descendants may enter the
assembly of the Lord, even down to
the tenth generation…. Do not
abhor an Edomite [the descendants
of Esau], for he is your brother.
Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you
lived as an alien in his country. The
third generation of children born to
them may enter the assembly of the
Lord.” (Deuteronomy
23:2,3,7,8, insertion mine)
John was given a
yardstick and told to measure the
inner court. Putting the pieces
together, this language means the
144,000 will proclaim the gospel
again and their plumb line of
God’s Word will determine who is
close to God and who is not –
regardless of religious background.
Those who listen to the Holy Spirit
and receive the Truth will be counted
as the inner court. Those who reject
the law of God and the Holy Spirit
will not be counted as God’s
children. In fact, the outer court
(people having some form of
godliness) will not be counted
because these people refuse to
“line up” with the plumb
line of God’s Word. Obviously, a
person cannot obey the Holy Spirit
and reject the law of God. This is
why John was told, “But
exclude the outer court; do not
measure it, because it has been given
to the Gentiles. They will trample on
the holy city for 42 months.” (Revelation
11:2)
During the Great
Tribulation, people who love Truth
and righteousness will openly
denounce their past religious views
and embrace the gospel of Jesus.
Speaking figuratively, these
honest-hearted people will then enter
“the inner court” of
God’s temple (the area closes to
God) and God will recognize
them as “pure Jews.”
(Revelation 2:9)
Because of their faithfulness to the
demands of the gospel, the
righteousness of Christ will be
imparted to these sinners (their
carnal natures removed) and they will
receive the wedding garment, the seal
of God. There is no need to
“measure up” to the
righteousness required for salvation.
Remember the fate of the man at the
wedding banquet who did not have the
wedding garment?
Two Holy Cities
Currently, God has two
holy cities. One in Heaven and the
other is on Earth. The one in Heaven
has physical dimensions (Revelation
21:15-17) and its construction
includes precious metals, pearls, and
gemstones. (Revelation 21: 18-21) The
city in Heaven is called “New
Jerusalem” because it
replaces the original Jerusalem.
God’s second holy city is on
Earth, but it is not a physical city.
It is a group of honest-hearted
people who live all over the world.
These people are called citizens
of God’s kingdom on Earth.
(Ephesians 2:19)
Many people
erroneously think that the “holy
city” trampled on in Revelation
11:2 is the original city of
Jerusalem. They believe a large horde
of Gentiles (Palestinians, Arabs,
Russians, etc.) will attack Jerusalem
at some point during the Great
Tribulation. It is always possible
that Jerusalem will experience
another attack. Jerusalem has been
attacked countless times throughout
the centuries, but the “holy
city” mentioned in Revelation
11:2 has nothing to do with the city
of Jerusalem. The “holy
city” in Revelation 11:2
represents God’s people.
When Israel rejected
the Messiah, Jesus redefined Israel.
For the past 2,000 years, the Bible
declares a “Jew” to be
anyone who submits to the teachings
of Christ. (Romans 2:28,29; Galatians
3:28,29) Conversely, a Gentile is
defined as anyone who refuses to
submit to the teachings of Christ.
This means that the city of Jerusalem
today for the most part is a Gentile
city, since most Jews do not believe
in or submit to Jesus Christ.
Therefore, most of the people living
in Jerusalem today are Gentiles in
God’s sight!
(Revelation 2:9)
There is another city
mentioned in the book of Revelation.
It is called “Babylon, city of
power.” (Revelation 18:10) This
title reflects the great authority
and power that Babylon will impose on
the people of Earth.
In its day, ancient
Babylon was a “city of
power.” Until he spent seven
years eating grass, the king of
Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had no equal
in arrogance and authority. (Daniel
5:18-21) Babylon (the Gentiles) will
persecute God’s people (the holy
city) for forty-two months. No one
will be able to withstand the
persecution unless the Holy Spirit
enables them to stand firm in their
faith!
Babylon’s
forthcoming persecution and
destruction of the saints parallels
the experience of Jesus. The Jews did
everything possible to destroy Jesus,
but Jesus overcame them by going to
His death. In this fallen world,
victory is pinned on life, but in
God’s economy, victory is pinned
on dying without guilt. (1 John 5:4;
Revelation 12:11) A God of love will
permit the devil and his forces to
conquer and kill millions of saints
because He wants the universe to see
that life itself must ever remain
secondary to the law of love. Truth
and righteousness are greater than
life and they must be loved more than
life. When a person allows the Holy
Spirit to take control of his life,
that person is given grace to live
and die (if necessary) for something
grater than himself. This produces a
huge contrast. The wicked will
prostitute their core beliefs and
receive the mark of the beast to
avoid death, but the saints would
rather die than give up their love
and faith in God.
The Two Lampstands and
the Two Olive Trees
“And [Jesus
said to John] I will give power to
my two witnesses, and they will
prophesy [on my behalf] for
1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth [a
coarse fabric, not pleasant to wear,
indicating a time of great upheaval
and distress]. These [the Two
Witnesses] are the two olive trees
and the two lampstands that stand [that
is, they’re positioned] before
the [throne of the] Lord of
the earth.” (Revelation
11:3,4) How can two lampstands
and the two olive trees (four
objects) in Heaven serve as Two
Witnesses on Earth? Before we address
that question, a short study from the
book of Zechariah is necessary
because the identity of the Two
Witnesses is explained and
demonstrated there.
A Really Neat Story
The Babylonian Empire
fell to the Medes and Persians in 539
B.C. About two years later, Darius I
(the king of the Medes who ruled over
the province of Babylon) died. The
death of Darius I enabled Cyrus (who
had been king of the Persians for
several years) to become sovereign
over the province of Babylon. When
Cyrus learned (perhaps through
Daniel) that the Most High God of the
Jews had called him by name 150 years
before he was born and appointed him
to rebuild His temple, Cyrus was
deeply impressed with the God of the
Jews. (See Isaiah 44:28, 45:1-6.) The
timing of Darius’ death could
not have been more perfect because
Cyrus inherited the province of
Babylon. In other words, a Persian
king was put in a position where he
could set the Jews free from a
province that was formerly governed
by a Mede and restore them to Judea.
Because Cyrus ruled over Judea and
Babylon during the seventieth year of
Israel’s captivity, the
restoration of the Jews became
possible through one man. With God,
timing is everything.
“In the first
year [536 B.C.] of Cyrus king
of Persia [that is, as ruler over
the province of Babylon], in order
to fulfill the word of the Lord
spoken by Jeremiah,’ the Lord moved
the heart of the Cyrus king of Persia
to make a proclamation throughout his
realm and to put it in writing:
‘This is what Cyrus king of
Persia says: “The Lord, the God
of Heaven, has given me all the
kingdoms of the earth and he has
appointed me to build a temple for
him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of
his people among you – may his
God be with him, and let him go up to
Jerusalem in Judah and build the
temple of the Lord, the God of
Israel, the God who is in
Jerusalem.”’”
(Ezra 1:1-3, italics
mine and insertions mine)
Get out of Jail!
After Cyrus issued the
decree, an excited group of 42,360
Jews departed Babylon for the ruins
of Jerusalem. (Ezra 2:64) However,
their excitement soon turned into
despair because during their absence
from Judea, powerful warlords had
overtaken their homeland. Of course
the squatters did not want more Jews
returning to Judea, so they made the
lives of the arriving Jews a
difficult and miserable as possible.
Nevertheless, the Jewish king,
Zerubbabel, and Israel’s high
priest, Joshua, appointed Levites to
begin rebuilding and restoring the
temple. There was great rejoicing and
celebrating among the Jews that
following spring when the foundation
of the temple was laid, but their joy
didn’t last long.
“Then the
peoples [the warlords and the
Canaanites] around them set out to
discourage the people of Judah and
make them afraid to go on
building [the temple and the
city]. [For many years] They
hired counselors [lobbyists] to
work against them [the Jews] and
frustrate their plans during the
entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia
and down to the reign of Darius
[II] king of Persia. (Ezra
4:4,5 insertions mine)
Note: The
resentment and actions of the
squatters and warlords explains why
three Persian kings had to issue four
decrees to rebuild and restore
Jerusalem and the temple over a
period of ninety-three years. Cyrus
gave the first decree in 536 B.C.
Darius II, king of Persia (not to be
confused with Darius I< the king
of the Medes who put Daniel in the
lion’s den) issued a second
decree in 519 B.C. Sixty-three years
later, the Persian king, Artaxerxes,
issued two decrees. His first decree
was issued in 457 B.C. and the second
was issued in 444 B.C.
Each time the Jews
received permission to move forward,
the devil found a way to thwart
God’s work and bring the process
of rebuilding to a halt. Finally, in
515 B.C., the temple was completed.
It was dedicated the following year
(the Sabbath year of 514 B.C) even
though enhancements to the temple and
the city of Jerusalem would not be
completed for another seventy-five
years. “… They [the
Jews] finished building the temple
[the basic structure] according to
the command of the God of Israel and
the [four] decrees of Cyrus,
Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of
Persia. The temple was completed on
the third day of the month Adar, in
the sixth year of the reign [515
B.C.] of King Darius [that is
Darius II, king of Persia].” (Ezra
6:14,15, insertions mine)
