Measuring Rod

 

Revelation 11:1-2 “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.”

 

            The measuring rod is sometimes used to indicate a building or rebuilding as in Jeremiah 31:39: “The measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah.”  In Zechariah 1:16 the Lord indicates that His house will be built by saying that “the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.  Chapter 11 is about the building of the true Temple, by THE BRANCH, as foretold by Zechariah, (6:12-15).  (See also Commentary on Revelation 11:3.)

            Ezekiel was the quintessential measurer of the Bible.  Chapters 40-42 gives an elaborate description of the measurements of the entire building and chambers of the building, posts, gates, tables, altars, windows, arches, steps, etc.  Indeed, Ezekiel was given the dimensions for everything pertaining to the Holy Land, the tribal allotments, the allotments for the Priests and Levites, the City, the gates of the City, the Temple, details of the altar, and other appliances and furnishings, even the measurements for time, the feasts, Sabbaths, new moons, etc.

            In Zechariah 2:1-5 the young man with the measuring rod is told not to measure Jerusalem for she is to be inhabited as a city without walls, (i.e., open gates), because of the multitude of her inhabitants and because she needs no other protection than the glory of the Lord within her.  Isaiah also saw the City as being protected by spiritual forces:  “We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks”, (Isaiah 26:1 RSV).  Again: “You shall call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise”, (60:18 RSV).  This Jerusalem is realized in Revelation 21:9-22.

            In Revelation 11:1 the measure of the inner court of the temple is allowed, but the outer court is given over to the Gentiles who will tread down the unholy earthly city of Jerusalem.  This indicates that the earthly city itself has become as the court of the Gentiles was in Old Testament times.  Only the inner court, the Holiest of All, the Body of Christ, is now measured as the true Temple of God.

            In Revelation 11:19 we see that the Temple was translated to heaven along with the ark of the Covenant.  In Revelation 21:15-17 the Holy City is perfected and measured.  It is the Bride of Christ in all her splendor.  This compares to Ezekiel 42:15-20; 43:1 where the measuring which Ezekiel saw was finished and the glory of the Lord returned to inhabit His Holy Temple.

 

 

 

 

 

The Holy City Shall Be Trodden

 

Revelation 11:2: “But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months.”

 

            The Gentiles, that is, all who are outside the Covenant, are to “tread under foot” the outer court.  This has as a referent the fact that the city of Jerusalem had previously been called “Jebus“, (yəbûwç), meaning “to tread,” (1 Chronicles 11:4-5; 21:15-28; 2 Chronicles 3:1).  The unholy earthly city was to return to its former role as a threshing floor and a winepress to be trodden down.

            The Pilel form of the root word bûç, ‘to tread’, means ‘to tread with the feet a holy place”, as found in Jeremiah 12:10; Isaiah 63:18.  In the Hophal form of the word it means “trodden under foot as an unburied corpse”, as in Isaiah 14:19.  In Luke 21:24 Jesus foretold that the earthly city would indeed suffer these consequences:

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.

 

Time, Times and Dividing of Times

 

Revelation 11:2-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5.

            11:2: The Gentiles tread the “outer court” for forty-two months;

            11:3: The testimony of the two witnesses lasts for 1260 days;

            12:6: The woman is nourished in the wilderness for 1260 days;

            12:14: The woman is nourished in the wilderness for a time, times and half a time;

            13:5: The beast continues his blasphemies for forty-two months;.

            The forty-two month period would be 1260 days, counting thirty-day months.  This forty-two month period would be expressed in years as three and one half years, or, translating the word “times” instead of “years” we would have “a time, two times, and a half a time.”  So the period of 1260 days in 12:6 during which the woman is nourished in the wilderness is the same as that of 12:14 which indicates the time as “time, times, and half a time”.  It would seem also that the period of 1260 days, as exact as it is, in 11:3 would therefore be the same as that in 12:6 and 12:14 and is therefore the same as “time, times and half a time.”  In other words: 1260 days = forty-two months = 3 l/2 years = time, times, and half a time.

            The period of three and a half years is often used in the writings of the Rabbis in regard to the intercalation of the year and is often expressed as “time, times and half a time”.  Not only was this a standard measure of time, but the principle was also applied to larger units of time, such as Sabbatic years, (seven-year periods), and Jubilee periods.  Therefore, a period of seventy years could be called a “time” and half of that period, i.e., thirty-five years, could be called a “half a time”.  Intercalation of the year was an important and significant duty of the priesthood and the one-half-seven was a well known unit.

            Lightfoot reports that their tradition said that:

The Messias shall converse very much in this mountain [Olivet]…For when they think his primary seat shall be at Jerusalem, they cannot but believe some such thing of that mount.  R. Janna saith …[Shekinah] the Divine Majesty stood three years and a half in mount Olivet, and preached, saying, ‘Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found; call upon him, while he is near.[1]

This shows that Christ fulfilled their expectations in this particular tradition.

            The question remains: “Is the ’42 months’ the same as the ‘1260 days‘ and is the ‘time, times and half a time’ related to that in Daniel 12:7?  (See Commentary on 19:10 “The Angel is Daniel?”)  Daniel had been given the prophecy concerning the seventy weeks that would lead up to the abomination of desolation, (9:24-27), but then was told to seal the book until the end, (12:4).  Daniel then asked the question: “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” (12:6)  The answer was: “That it would be for a time, two times, and half a time,” (12:7).  (See Introductory Articles: “Calculating the Seventy Weeks”.)  This was to be calculated from the time of the abomination of desolation, (12:11-12).  From the time of Antiochus Epiphanes’ desecration of the Temple to the destruction in AD 70 was a period of 245 years, or, counting a “time” as seventy years, a time, (70), plus two times, (2×70), and half a time, (1/2 of 70).

            If the seven seals described in the book of Revelation represent the time leading up to the abomination of desolation wrought by Antiochus Epiphanes, then the time of the treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles began at that point and lasted the “forty-two months,” which is another way of saying “time, times, and half a time”, to the final destruction in AD 70.  Daniel had foreseen that Jerusalem would be under the Gentile rulers “Until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”  The “desolator” was, in the final analysis, the evil rulers of the Jews who tried to destroy the Church but only succeeded in destroying their own nation and City.  Jesus saw that this “end” was to come within a generation, (circa 40 years) of the time of His ministry, Matthew 23:35-38; 24:34; Luke 11:50-51.

            The “time, times and half a time,” or “dividing of times”, the “forty-two months”; the “one thousand two hundred and sixty days”, and the “three and a half days” are not necessarily all identical, neither are they consecutive, but may be nested.  That is, the “time, times, and dividing of times” can represent the two hundred forty-five years from Antiochus to Titus, or the forty-two months can represent half of a seventy-year period, or the one thousand two hundred and sixty days can represent half of a seven-year period and the three and a half days can represent half of one week.

            If the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3 represent the double anointing of the kingship and priesthood, then they witnessed in sackcloth from the time of Antiochus to the crucifixion, (see Commentary at 11:3 “Two Witnesses: Priesthood and Kingship”).  Jesus was the last of the fleshly lineage Who was anointed with this double anointing.  When he was slain, these witnesses lay dead for three and a half literal days, (11:9), although the people refused to bury their belief that they had a king and a priest.  At the resurrection and ascension, these anointings were elevated to the spiritual kingdom of Christ, (11:11-12), not to fleshly lineage.  Satan was cast down in Christ’s ministry, (Luke 10:18; Revelation 12:7-12).  In Revelation 11:15-18, Christ takes the kingdom and reigns.  Then in verse 19, he opens the Temple in heaven, that the saints might have access to the Holy of Holies and the very throne of God.  (See also Hebrews chapter 9).

 

The Woman in the Wilderness (12:6, 14)

            The Woman of Revelation chapter 12 is Israel as the wife of God, about to bear the promised Redeemer, the Christ Child.  We know that there was war in heaven to try to destroy the Child, but in His life and ministry, satan was cast down, (Revelation 12:7-12).  After Christ’s ascension, the Woman, the true Israel, the Church, fled into the wilderness because of the persecution in Judea, (Acts 8:1, etc.; Revelation 12:13-14).  The Dragon, satan, pursued her to the seashore where we see him standing, (13:1).  From there he gives power to the Beast beyond the borders of Judea, i.e., Rome, to persecute her throughout the world.

            This Woman reappears later in two images, that of the pure Bride, the New Jerusalem, representing those who accepted Christ; and that of the harlot, Mystery Babylon, representing those who refused Him.

 

The Beast’s Blasphemy, (13:5)

            The blasphemy of the Beast continued for “forty-two months”.  This represents those who pretended to be “Israel”, yet denied the power of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.  (See Commentary at 2:9 “Blaspheme/Profane”.)  From the time of Antiochus, there were those who contended for the special privileges of God’s promises to “Israel”, yet lived in the Flesh, and not in the Spirit.  When Christ was crucified, the Flesh was forever put down.  The Saints rejoiced in heaven, (14:1-5); the Gospel was preached to the whole Jewish world, (14:6-7); and the earth/land of Judea was harvested, (14:14-20).  This was literally fulfilled in the wars that devastated the land during the period of time from Christ’s resurrection to the final destruction, a period of approximately 35-40 years.

 

Two Witnesses: Priesthood and Kingship

 

Revelation 11:3 “And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.”

 

To find the identity of these two witnesses, we must go to Zechariah 4:2—14.

And said unto me, What seest thou?  And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof.

3. And two olive trees by it, one upon the right [side] of the bowl, and the other upon the left [side] thereof. 4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What [are] these, my lord? 5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. 6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. 7 Who [art] thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel [thou shalt become] a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone [thereof with] shoutings, [crying], Grace, grace unto it. 8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. 10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel [with] those seven; they [are] the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.  11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What [are] these two olive trees upon the right [side] of the candlestick and upon the left [side] thereof? 12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What [be these] two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden [oil] out of themselves? 13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these [be]? And I said, No, my lord. 14 Then said he, These [are] the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. (Zech. 4 KJV)

            In Zechariah‘s vision, the Lord showed him the holy candlestick and the two “olive trees” that stood on either side of it to pour the holy oil into it for the light.  Zechariah was puzzled by this and inquired as to what it meant.  The answer was that it meant the work was to be accomplished by the anointing of the Spirit, not by the might or power of man. 

            Zechariah still had a question:

What are these two olive trees upon the right of the candlestick and upon the left thereof? …. What are these two olive branches which through the golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

            The angel answered him: “Knowest thou not what these be?”  Zechariah answered? “No, my lord.”  Then the angel said: “These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” (KJV).

            Jewish tradition tells us that the holy oil of anointing had ceased to exist in the second temple period in which the prophet Zechariah prophesied.[2]  He was concerned with the absence of this anointing oil.  The Lord gave him a vision of the two golden pipes that fed the oil into the candlestick.  The angel interpreted this as: “The two anointed (ones) who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” (RSV)  This might be translated: “The two anointings,” that is, the anointings of Kingship and Priesthood.  These two offices had been carefully kept separate in Israel, but Zechariah prophesies of the Messiah, the Branch: “He shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both,” (i.e., the Kingship and the Priesthood, Zechariah 6:13).

            This union of King and Priest would produce peace on earth because of the reconciliation of the spiritual and the physical worlds.  There are two parts to total reality: God on the one hand and the creation on the other.  Connecting these two parts is the Priest-King.  The King rules over the creation, the works of God; the Priest acts as intermediary between the creation and God the Creator.

            We know that the offices of Kingship and Priesthood were intended to last until Christ came to fulfill these roles of ministry, (Gen. 49:10).  This is indeed what happened.  When Herod the Great was made king of Israel in about 37 B.C. the legitimate Kingship ceased.  He was not set up because of his God-ordained lineage but rather was made king by the Romans.  The Jews strongly objected to this and called him “the Idumean” with reference to the fact that he was not qualified for kingship according to the Law as he was not in the genealogies required for that position.  In response to this Herod burnt the genealogical records so that no other Jew could make a better claim than he.  He slew his wife, Mariamne, a descendant of the Maccabean family, and her two sons because they were legitimate members of the royal priestly family through their mother’s lineage.  Thus the office of Kingship was slain in the streets of Jerusalem.  But “In the days of these [Roman] kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.” (Daniel 2:44).  Christ, the true, eternal King came.

            The office of priesthood suffered a similar fate.  The first breach of succession to that holy office occurred when Antiochus Eupator had Onias Menelaus slain and appointed Alcimus Jacimus who was not of the High Priestly stock (Ant.12.9.7).  Then Onias, grandson of Onias, fled to Egypt and there built a temple like the temple at Jerusalem.  The office of High Priest then was filled by the Roman government, going to the highest bidder.  It was very financially lucrative and so those wishing to be High Priest courted the favor of the Roman officials and even raised their own armies in order to try to take the office by force.  Thus the Priesthood became a pawn in the hands of the Romans.

            Therefore, it could well be said that the two anointings, the Kingship and the Priesthood, after they had finished their testimony to old fleshly Israel, were slain and lay prostituted in the streets of Jerusalem.  These two anointings found their resurrection in Christ.  He rose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of the Father in Heaven and evermore fills the anointed position of both King and Priest.