The Book of Revelation: Part 21, Measuring the Temple

Revelation 11:1-2 (BSB)

Last week, we saw the first of three more things that need to happen before the second woe is finished. To review, the first woe happened after the fifth trumpet sounded: locusts were released from the abyss to torment all people who were not marked with the seal of God on their foreheads. Then after the sixth trumpet sounded, the second woe began, and one third of humanity was killed–but the woe wasn’t finished yet.

Before we jump into the text, though, we need to remember that John had just seen a vision of an angel coming down from Heaven. The angel had one foot on the land and one foot on the sea, holding a small, open scroll in his hand. Then, a voice from Heaven spoke to him and told him to eat the scroll, and John did. John had also heard “the seven thunders” speak, but he was told not to write down what they said. Then, verse 11 concluded by saying, “And they told me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.’”

Some translations have indicated that it was the seven thunders who spoke those words to John. They could be correct because whoever spoke to him, John records that it was the plural pronoun “they” and not a singular person. But regardless of who spoke, those instructions seem to be linked to the open scroll that John ate, and it’s likely that the scroll represents God’s Word. John is told he’s going to prophesy further, and as we keep reading this Book of Revelation, we see that is true. And the first thing he prophesies further about is going to be about people and nations and tongues and kings, just like he was told.

So now, let’s look at the next thing that happens before the second woe ends. This second event is mentioned so quickly that if you blink, you might miss it: John is told to “measure the temple of God.”

Let’s read through this brief text for today. Revelation 11:1-2 says:

1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. 

2 But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.” 

Even though this passage is only two verses long, let’s look at each verse individually. Verse 1 says, “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, ‘Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there.’”

At first glance, this is pretty simple, isn’t it? John is given some sort of measuring rod and is supposed to measure the temple and the altar and find out how many people are worshiping there. No problem, right?

There might be a big problem. When did this vision happen? If John wrote the Book of Revelation before A.D. 70, then the second Jewish temple was still standing, and it’s possible he could have traveled to Jerusalem and physically measured it. But that would mean that John wrote Revelation before he wrote his epistles and his Gospel account. But if Revelation was written later, sometime between A.D. 90-96, as I believe it was, then there was no standing temple. It had already been destroyed.

Some Bible scholars think these instructions to John to measure the temple are proof that he wrote this before A.D. 70. It’s one of their main reasons for thinking so. But even if John had this vision and wrote Revelation before A.D. 70, how could he have traveled to Jerusalem to measure the temple? You might remember that he began this letter by stating in Revelation 1:9, “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus.” He was in exile on this island; he could not have freely traveled anywhere.

So if John can’t leave the island of Patmos and couldn’t literally measure the temple (whether it was still standing or not), then why is he given a measuring rod and told to measure it? Before we answer that question, who is it who is speaking to him?

There are really only a few options. The voice telling him to measure the temple could be the same voice John heard from Heaven—the voice that told him to take the small scroll from the angel. Or it could be the same angel who gave him the little scroll and told him to eat it. Or it could be the seven thunders. The text doesn’t actually tell us. The last voice to speak to John, as we saw earlier, isn’t conclusive. In this text, it also doesn’t tell us where the measuring rod came from or who gave it to him.

Like all verses in Revelation, we need to remember that this is a vision John is seeing. And like many things in the Bible, oftentimes something that seems straightforward actually has a deeper meaning. And we know from other instances of “measuring” in the Bible, usually, the act of “measuring” something carries a much greater meaning than simply finding out the size of something.

I think it’s similar to the act of taking a census. The kings of Israel were not supposed to take censuses unless told to do so by God. That is because the act of counting their people had a greater meaning than simply finding out the number of people they ruled. When they took a census unbidden to do so, they were attempting to accomplish something in their own power instead of trusting in God. From our perspective, it might look like a responsible way to take inventory and be a good leader. But from God’s perspective, it obviously held a much greater meaning. I think it’s the same idea whenever we see a prophet being told to measure something in the Bible. To measure something is symbolic of something far more important than simply finding out the size of something.

For example, in Zechariah 1:16 it says, “Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’” God was going to bring the people back from their Babylonian exile and have them rebuild the temple, but the measuring was more significant than just determining the size of the temple. Zechariah 2:1-2 says, “Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. ‘Where are you going?’ I asked. ‘To measure Jerusalem,’ he replied, ‘and to determine its width and length.’” Zechariah is told that, but he doesn’t hear or see anything further about measuring. Unlike the measuring of the temple that takes place in Ezekiel 40-42, Zechariah’s vision is like John’s vision: neither one shows anyone actually measuring anything.

Later in Revelation, in chapters 21–22, we will see an angel measure the “New Jerusalem,” but even that vision seems like it should not be taken as a literal description of the city. Rather, the act of measuring seems to be a part of the vision’s symbolism.

Biblically, measuring often means that God owns something; that what He measures belongs to Him and is under His protection. And because of this, that helps us understand that John being given a measuring rod in a vision and being told to measure the temple is symbolic. He’s not measuring a literal temple. It’s similar to how John was told that the wind was stopped so that God’s servants could be marked with a seal upon their foreheads: no one received a literal mark on their forehead.

But we also know that he’s not literally measuring a literal temple because we know that by the time John is given this vision (even if the Jerusalem temple was still standing), the followers of Jesus Christ knew that the true temple of God is no longer a building.

We will come back to that important point in a minute, but first, let’s look again at verse 2, and this time, let’s keep in mind that this is all symbolic. Verse 2 says, “But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.”

First of all, to be totally transparent, you should know that this verse is part of why this entire section of Revelation is considered by many theologians to be one of the most confusing parts of all of Revelation.

If we read verse 2 from a literal point of view, then, like verse 1, it might seem very simple to understand. But even from a literal point of view, since we know that measuring something has a greater meaning than simply finding the size of something, we can understand that those who are “outside the temple” are not measured, and so that could mean that they are not put under God’s protection or are not marked as belonging to Him.

Now, as to what these 42 months signify, there is a lot of speculation and opinion on this. The same people who think John is measuring the size of the literal temple also tend to think that these 42 months mean that for three and a half years there will be a war in Jerusalem centered around a newly built Jewish temple. Maybe they’re correct. But even if we interpret these 42 months literally, how would we ever know for sure which three-year period of time it is foretelling? We don’t.

Also, it seems very likely that the 42 months do not equal three and a half years. Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says, “Literally, this would be three years and a half; but if the time here is prophetic time - a day for a year - then the period would be twelve hundred and sixty years - reckoning the year at 360 days.”

Interestingly enough, Revelation mentions these 42 months again. In verse 3, which is the rest of this message that John is told, says, “And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” And, later in chapter 12, we see that exact number mentioned again.

But adding to the complication of this verse is that some people think that by excluding the courtyard and stating that it’s been given over to the nations means that only the Jews are included in this measuring.

But we know that God no longer defines Jews only as the people who are ethnically from the tribes of Israel. As Galatians 3:26-29 explains, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

Even those who are called “Jews” are not necessarily those who are Jews ethnically. As Revelation 2:9 says, “I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.” Also in Revelation 3:9 it says, “As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.”

To be a true Jew—to be a child of God—a person must believe in Jesus Christ. Some of these people who were still worshiping at a synagogue in Smyrna or in Philadelphia were not believing what is true. That’s why Jesus says, “those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews,” they are “liars.” They were believing a lie instead of believing the truth.

This is what Paul explained, too, in Romans 2:28-29 when he said, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

If we understand that, then we know that those who are excluded from the measurement are all people who do not belong to Christ. It has nothing to do with a person’s ethnicity. Remember earlier how John testified in Revelation 7:9 that he “saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”

Again, who are those people wearing white? The letters to the seven churches gave us a pretty great explanation of who will be there. But so does Ezekiel in a vision that he was given that is similar in a lot of ways to John’s vision.

In Ezekiel 8, God showed Ezekiel all the sinful things that people were doing, and God said that He was about to bring judgment against Jerusalem, but before He did, it says in Ezekiel 9:4 that God told him, “’Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,’ said the LORD, ‘and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.’”

Back in Revelation 7:3, we saw that God’s servants were marked with a seal on their foreheads. And in Revelation 9:4, we see that those who are marked with that seal are spared from being tormented by the terrifying locusts. But back in the letters to the churches, we see how God was pleased with the people who hated the sins of the Nicolaitans and was greatly displeased with those who tolerated the teachings of Jezebel. Those letters show us that God looks into our hearts and sees what we really think about sin. Either our hearts are grieved by it, or we are making excuses for it, or worse—even loving it. But as Jesus said in Revelation 3:4-5 in the letter to the church in Sardis, “But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and because they are worthy, they will walk with Me in white. Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.”

What seems to be clear from all that John has told us before this moment is that God has been bringing judgment through these woes. This measuring of the temple, the altar and those who worship there—but excluding those who are in the courtyard—is still part of this second woe. I think it’s showing us that the true worshipers of God are measured before His next judgment begins. And this judgment seems to be centered around those who would seem to be included in the temple of God but really are not.

And indeed, going back to Ezekiel, in that vision, we see that judgment begins at the sanctuary. Ezekiel 9:6 says, “’Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.’ So they began with the elders who were before the temple.”

We also see this same thing in 1 Peter 4:17, which, in the Berean Literal Bible translation, says, “For it is the time for the judgment to have begun from the house of God; and if from us first, what will be the end of those being disobedient to the gospel of God?”

During this second woe, in which we’ve seen a third of humanity die, God is measuring the Church and is excluding all those who seem to be a part of His Church, but who are not actually worshiping Him. And He’s bringing judgment by allowing the Church to be trampled.

And again, I think it’s correct to conclude that this is also part of His efforts to bring people to repentance. Remember when we saw that a third of humanity was killed by plagues that issued from lion-headed horses’ mouths? That was in response to the cries of God’s people, calling for vengeance. Yet the people did not repent. Then, the angel brought down the little scroll and stood on the land and sea, and that vision seems to represent God’s Word being sent out and brought to all people around the world. And now John is told to measure the temple but to exclude those who are not worshiping at the altar, but who are in the courtyard. God is marking out those who are true believers from those who pretend and at the same time, allowing the Church to be trampled by those who do not worship Him.

As Barnes’ Notes on the Bible explains: “This, as we have seen, would properly mean that a separation was to be made between what was the true church and what was not, though it might seem to belong to it. The one was to be measured or estimated; the other was to be left out, as not pertaining to that, or as belonging to the Gentiles, or to paganism. The idea would be, that though it; professedly pertained to the true church, and to the worship of God, yet that it deserved to be characterized as paganism. Now this will apply with great propriety, according to all Protestant notions, to the manner in which the papacy was regarded by the Reformers, and should be regarded at all times. It claimed to be the true church, and to the eye of an observer would seem to belong to it, as much as the outer court seemed to pertain to the temple. But it had the essential characteristics of paganism, and was, therefore, properly to be left out, or, cast out, as not pertaining to the true church.”

While this could certainly pertain to the state of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, I think this passage applies to many periods of time in which the Christian Church has been filled with people who pretend to be a part of God’s church but are not actually worshiping in truth.

But I also appreciate what Matthew Henry says about this passage and how this time of judgment is limited to “42 months.” He says, “The holy city, the visible church, is trodden under foot; is filled with idolaters, infidels, and hypocrites. But the desolations of the church are limited, and she shall be delivered out of all her troubles.”

That means that, while God is allowing His visible Church on earth to be overrun with unbelievers, it will not go on forever. He’s marked and measured out those who are true believers. Eventually, the wheat will be separated from the chaff.

But all of this leads me to an important question. Before we move on to the third thing that happens before the seventh trumpet sounds, I want us, too, to pause and consider all of this. If God was going to “measure” His temple today, would you be found among the worshippers?

The first important thing we need to understand in order to answer that question is this: What is God’s temple today?

We’ve been seeing all throughout John’s vision a scene of the throne room of God. And from his descriptions, we’ve seen how the earthly temples which God instructed the Israelites to build reflect His throne room. The earthly temple was the place that God chose for His presence to dwell. It was also the place for the people to show their faith in Him through making animal sacrifices.

When Jesus came to earth and was born of a woman, God then dwelled with us in human form. Jesus grew up, performed miracles and taught the disciples that His purpose was to reveal God the Father to all people. He willingly died on the Cross and became for all people who believe in Him the ultimate sacrifice. And notably, when He died on the Cross, the temple curtain tore in two. No longer would there need to be any further sacrifice, and no longer would there need to be a temple for God’s presence to dwell in. All who believe in Jesus Christ receive the Holy Spirit and become the temple of God. This is part of the new covenant that Jesus’ death on the Cross has established. And that’s why God is not going to build another temple for sacrifices or for His presence to dwell in again.

This is important to understand because there is a huge movement within Christianity that believes in something called “Dispensationalism” and they believe that before Jesus returns, God will cause Israel to rebuild the temple and cause animal sacrifices to take place again, and they are trying to help bring that future about. But if you read to the end of Revelation, you’ll see that there is no future physical temple. John says that plainly.

And we know this is true because after Jesus’ death and resurrection, God’s temple is no longer built with human hands. John knew this. Regardless of whether he had this vision before the Jewish temple was destroyed or not, John knew that the real temple of God is us. The disciples all knew this, and we see many of them explaining this new concept.

For example, in Ephesians 2: 19-21, Paul says, “Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.”

Also, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says, “Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

And one more, 2 Corinthians 6:16 says, “What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.’”

So we see in this vision of John’s, as he’s being told to measure the temple, that the true worshippers are inside the temple, around the altar, worshiping God. Those who are outside it are excluded. Even those who are hanging about the outside, in the court of the temple, are excluded. As I like to say, there’s a sermon in that.

How many people today mistakenly think they are measured among the people of God, but they are not actually worshiping Him—they are just hanging out in the courtyard of the temple? Maybe they call themselves Christians even, but they do not follow Jesus in any way. Maybe they think because they’ve been baptized or taken communion, that means they’ve secured their place in Heaven. Maybe they think all religions lead to God, and through sincere beliefs in a “higher power,” they think they are included. But if John’s vision has told us anything, it’s told us that the only people who are marked with a seal or measured among God’s people are those who worship the Lamb who was slain. It is those who have been washed clean in the blood of Jesus Christ and have overcome.

In John 4, Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well. She mentions to Him that the Jews say that people must worship God in Jerusalem, meaning at the temple. But Jesus corrects her and explains in verse 21 that, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” And then in verse 23, He says, “a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.” This same John wrote down those words of Jesus. He fully knew that the true worshipers of God worship Jesus in spirit and in truth. We who worship Jesus are among the measured. Is that you? 

Next week, we will continue in this vision. The voice speaking to John telling him to measure the temple is not finished speaking, and I don’t think you’ll want to miss what happens next.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You for Your great love toward us. Thank You for sending us Jesus to die on the Cross for our sins so that we may worship You in spirit and in truth. Please help us by the Holy Spirit to keep our faith in Jesus and follow Him each day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.