TEXT: Revelation 11:1-2
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 the holy city for forty-two months.
Introduction
(Rev 11:1-2)
God’s decree ensures the establishment of His
presence among His people
and their effective witness,
which protects them in the midst
of persecution and suffering
Revelation 11:1-13
shows that the church is sealed
(Rev 3:12, 7:2-4, 9:4, 14:1) in order
to bear a loyal and enduring
witness for the gospel.
This message is one of judgment
for those who reject the persevering
witness of Christians and persecute them.
It’s the first explicit answer to the
prayers of the saints for vindication
(Rev 6:9-11, 8:3-5, 9:13).
This expresses what the trumpets imply.
The crucial question is:
What role does this section of God’s Word
play in the overall context of Revelation?
The Spirit speaks in the canon
of Scripture (the word canon is derived
from Hebrew, ” kaneh,”
“a reed,” the word here used;
and John it was who
completed the canon).
(Ezekiel 40:3; Zech 2:1-5)
Like a rod, “namely, straight: like a rod of iron” unbending, destroying all error, and that “cannot be broken.” Rev 2:27; Greek, “a rod of straightness,” English Version, Heb 1:8, “a scepter of righteousness”
This “measuring” of persons shows both God’s protection and His ownership. It also suggests that the temple itself symbolizes the saints. (1 Cor. 3:16–17; Eph. 2:20–22; 1 Pet. 2:4–10; see Rev. 3:12; 21:22).
Forty- two months
is equivalent to “1,260 days” (counting 30 days to
a month; cf. Rev 11:3; Rev 12:6)
and “a time, times, and half
a time” (three and a
half years; Rev 12:14)
which is one-half of a sabbatical-year cycle, symbolizing the brevity of the church’s suffering, which lasts until Christ comes. These calculations of time echo Dan. 7:25; 12:7.
