We are Protected by Faith (Rev. 11.1-2)

We are Protected by Faith in Christ
By the Temple Above (Raptured)

"Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told: 'Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months'." (Rev. 11.1-2)

11.1-2 “TEMPLE . . . ALTAR”

11.1 What is meant by “measure”? (cf. Num. 35.2,5; Ez. 45.1-3; 42.15,20; 48.8,12,15) Measure means protection or a setting apart for God.

“A reed like unto a rod”—What is its significance? Revelation 21.15-17 mentions only a measuring with a reed, without specifying any using of the reed as a rod. This is due to the simple fact that at the time of the new heaven and new earth, sin, Satan, Antichrist, and the false prophet have all been cast into the lake of fire; all is therefore peaceful. The measuring in Revelation 11.1, however, implies a sense of judgment (cf. Prov. 10.13; Ps. 89.32). Whatever is measured is holy and thus protected by God; but what is left unmeasured is dangerous and worldly.

“The temple of God”—Is this temple in heaven or on earth? It is the temple in heaven, for two reasons: (1) it is the only temple emphasized in this book (11.19, 16.17); and (2) the future temple on earth will be desecrated by idols: how, then, can God protect it as though it were holy?

“Altar”—This is not the brazen altar, since the latter stands in the court and is left unmeasured. But the altar mentioned here is measured, and hence must be in the temple itself. Only the altar of incense is in the temple. This is further confirmed by the phrase “them that worship therein” at the end of the verse.

To measure those who worship in the temple is to say that God protects those who are raptured.

11.2 “The court which is without the temple” has reference to the temple on earth. The temple in heaven is the true temple; the temple on earth is considered here to be the court which is without the temple. Although during the time of the Old Testament kings the altars had been erected on high places to worship God, the task of those few kings who were raised up for the purpose of reformation had always been to try to get rid of these altars at the high places. What men had erected was rejected by God. Only during the transitory period of the calling of the nations to Christ did the Jews who became Christians go also to the temple to worship God (Acts. 2.46, 3.1, 5.20).

In the Old Testament period there was a central temple, but in New Testament times there is no physical building called a “church”; for under the New Covenant we are to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4.23,24). Further, we are called to worship God in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 10.19-22).

How does God abolish the earthly temple so as to draw men to worship Him in the heavenly one? The Lord Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice. At His death all the sacrifices were terminated. And seventy years after the birth of Christ the Romans destroyed the temple at Jerusalem. With the result that there is no longer any temple on earth.

Yet here in the passage before us we find the temple on earth again. This, therefore, is a return to the Old Covenant. “The abomination of desolation” mentioned in Matthew 24.15 has reference to an idol, whereas the phrase “the holy place” is a reference to the temple. During the Great Tribulation an idol will be placed in the sanctuary (2 Thess. 2.2-4; Rev. 13.14).

“The holy city” is Jerusalem (Matt. 4.5). Those who worship in the temple above are the people described in 7.9-17.

“Tread under foot” is the same as is spoken of in Luke 21.24. The nations will have domination for 42 months over the holy city.

"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21.24).

Conclusion: there is the temple above from which is for those who are ready to be received at first rapture will be raptured to before the throne. God can not promise protection to Christians who will be martyred in the Tribulation, though they will be rewarded. Those who are raptured at the end of the Tribulation will meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4.15-17) at the last trumpet (Rev. 11.15, the 3rd woe) before the 7 bowls of the 7th trumpet.

So we see here in the midst of the Great Tribulation there are those protected before the throne. Who were protected? There were those at the first rapture, the martyrs raptured to the throne 3 and a half days after they were martyred, and there will also be those raptured at the last trumpet (Rev. 11.15) who are protected as well before the bowls of the 7th trumpet are poured out.