Measuring the Temple (Rev. 11:1-2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

07/20/2005

 

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Measuring the Temple

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 11:1-2

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, ‘Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.  2 ‘Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.’”

            At the time when this book was written the temple in Jerusalem had already been torn down by Tutus and his Roman Legions in 70 AD so there is no way that John would have been referring to that temple.  The Temple was first built by Solomon and that was destroyed in 587 BC and was rebuilt some years latter by the returning Jews, and that was the Temple that was there when Christ was upon the earth.  Christ said that that Temple would be destroyed and it was in 70 AD.  The Temple which is spoken of in Revelations 11 will be rebuilt when antichrist comes to power and it is the Temple that the antichrist will go into and desecrate as prophesied by the prophet Daniel and also by the Apostle Paul in 2Thessolians.

            The question is why is John measuring it?  Dr. Wiersbe points out that when something is measured it is the property of the one who is having it measured, so this Temple and the city it is in is owned by God.  John is told to leave out the outer court and not to measure it, and is then told that the Gentile nations will tread under foot the city of Jerusalem for three and a half years, speaking of the last half of the seven year tribulation period.  I am not read anything as to why John was told not to measure the outer court.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I think of ownership I think that God is the One who owns me because He, through Jesus Christ, paid for my sins on the cross and so as Paul said I am not my own for I have been bought for a price and so I must continue to try and be obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The Word of God was convicting to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord through all that is going on in my life at this time.  God is my refuse and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

 

Memory verses of the week:  1Thes. 4:3-4

 

For this is the will of God, your sanctification; this is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possesses his own vessel in sanctification and honor.