Posted by Elana Janson on May 18, 2004 at 14:36:09:
Measure the temple of God
I believe that we have reached that point in time that we can not only understand that the words of Revelation measure time through history (as was illustrated in How Near Armageddon), but through that which is taking place to-day, internationally, we can finally understand the total construction of Revelation. We can understand how the concepts, for example, the “temple of God”, the “altar”, “the outer court” (Rev 11:1-2), the sounding of the “seven trumpets” (Rev 8:6) and the “Gog and Magog” (Rev 20:8) relate to time measurement in history and the end time. In the light of the global and cosmic happenings at the end of 2003, it seems as if the entire Revelation is coming together rather quickly. It seems that the sequence of events in the second half of 2003, that correspond with of the opening of the sixth seal, is an important end measurement.
We will now proceed to measure the “temple of God”, that appears in
Rev 11:1-2: “And there was given me a reed like a rod: and the angel stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court that is without (the outer court of) the temple leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles.” We shall firstly consider the first section of Rev 11:1. The word “rod” relates to the use of the word “rod” in Rev 2:27,19:15 and 12:5. 2:27 “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers.” Rev 19:15 “And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword , that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.” Rev 12:5 “And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” Revelation uses the word “rod” in Rev 11:1 because through the past two thousand years Almighty God has been in control of all that has taken place within the nations and peoples of the globe in the spread of Christianity to the ends of the earth. An important aspect that one must keep in mind is that all the aspects of the ruling of the nations are now coming together. It is predicted in Revelation that the entire globe will be the “great city”, when all the nations are linked economically and through modern technology and communication. See Rev 10:11 “And he (the angel) said unto me (John), Thou must prophecy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues and kings.” The following posts will illustrate how we can already see how the prophecy of Revelation encompasses all the nations of the globe.
In How Near Armageddon it was explained in great detail how the “temple” is measured. I am going to give a short summary here for we have reached the point in time that the “temple” can be measured. The measurement of “temple” is crucial in understanding how Revelation wishes to inform the nations of what is happening. The word “temple” in Rev 11:1 refers back to the words of Jesus Christ in John 2:19 and 21 “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up….But he spoke of the temple of his body”. These words refer to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but in the understanding of Revelation 11:9 and 11:11 where the time of “three days and a half “ is mentioned, they also relate to the rise of the Christian Church. That the word “temple” has to do with the rise of the Christian Church is substantiated by the words of Rev 11:1 “and them that worship therein”. The believers within the Christian Church take the bread and the wine in Holy Communion, and are symbolically part of the body and blood of Christ. This rise of the Christian Church within the nations is calculated in “days”. A “day” in Revelation is a time span of 287 years. To understand this read the post on this Forum on the opening of the sixth seal. [Bear in mind that in certain verses of Revelation a “day” can also mean a day of twenty-four hours. The use of the word “day” in Rev 10:7 “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound” indicate a “day” of twenty-four hours. Also Rev 11:3 “A thousand, two hundred and threescore days” refers to “days” of twenty-four hours.]
From the time of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in the year 66AD (70 years after the birth of Jesus Christ calculated from the birth of Jesus Christ in 4BC), three periods of a “day “ each are measured. 66AD + 861years (287x3) brings us to the time 927 AD. By the year 927, most of the nations of Western Europe had converted to Christianity. It would be from these nations that Western Christianity would spread to the ends of the earth. If another period of 72 years (about a quarter of a “day”) is added to this we reach the time 999AD. In total this is a time span of about 1003 years or “three days and a half” (Rev 11:9). Therefore in the first millennium after the birth of Jesus Christ Revelation measures “three days and a half”.
Because there is a repetition of the words “three days and a half” (Rev 11:11) Revelation also measures “three days and a half”, in the second millennium. The second time measure of “three days and a half” relates to the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 12:40 “ For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” These words of Jesus Christ also refer to his death and resurrection, but in the understanding of Revelation in the end time, they also relate to the time of “three days” that the nations will be misled by the influence of the “beast out of the sea” and the “beast out of the earth”. The time span of the second millennium is measured in ‘three days’ and ‘144’ years. It is therefore of significance that the planet Mars was at its nearest point to earth in 2003. I believe that the sequence of events at the end of 2003 indicate the opening of the sixth seal and that the length of a day in Revelation is indicated by the time that the planet Mars was at its nearest point to the earth on 28 August 2003 and will be again after 287 years. We have reached the time of the ‘day of the Lord’. [Refer back to the post on this Forum on the opening of the sixth seal.]