01.36. The Measurin Reed, Temple, &c

The Measuring Reed, Temple, &c.

"And there was given me a measuring reed like a rod, and it was said, Arise, and measure the temple of God, (and the altar,) and those who worship in it. But the court which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not; for it is given to the Gentiles: and they will tread the holy city under foot forty-two months."-- Revelation 11:1-2.

These symbols are evidently taken from the temple and altar of Jewish worship, and represent corresponding analogies under the Christian dispensation. To measure anything, is to examine and take notice of its parts and proportions; and that by which it is measured, is the standard or rule to which it should conform. The temple, is a proper symbol of the church of God; which is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Corner Stone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord," Ephesians 2:20-21. At the epoch of the Reformation, the nominal church was subjected to the scrutiny of the word of God; and its pretensions were measured by the scriptural rule. The reformers found the Man of Sin, "as God sitting in the temple of God," (2 Thessalonians 2:4); and they had to re-model their church relationship, in accordance with the pattern presented in the New Testament. This involved the consideration of what constituted the church,--its organization, its ministry, its sacraments, and its membership,--their mutual relation to God, and to each other. The altar, must symbolize the sacrifice and atonement of Christ,--the "altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle," Hebrews 13:10. The great question, of justification by faith in the death of Christ, was the rallying cry of the Reformation. The fundamental principles of Christian truth were then unfolded anew, and the doctrines of the Papacy, including the sacrifice of the mass, were rejected as contrary to Bible teachings. The worshippers in the temple, who were to be measured by the same rule, are Christians. All who were to be recognized as such, were to give evidence of conformity to the Bible standard. Regeneration by the Holy Ghost, was held by the reformers to be necessary to church membership. The Papists required only baptism and confirmation. The court without the temple, was that to which the Gentiles had access, and beyond which their entrance was prohibited. Devout foreigners were there permitted to pay their devotions to the God of heaven. As the Gentiles must symbolize those who are not Christians, the occupants of the outer court, must be the congregation--the nominal worshippers who throng the outer courts of the Lord, in distinction from the true worshippers. Such were to have free and unrestricted access to the places of Christian worship. The holy city is that in which the temple is situated, and must embrace the church as a whole, subjected to Gentile rule. Its being trodden under foot, indicates that the civil polity under which the church would subsist, should, during the period specified, be under the control of those who worship only in the outer court. The forty and two months, is a period of time, corresponding with the thousand two hundred and three score days of the verse following, the time and times and half a time of Revelation 12:14, and the corresponding periods of Revelation 12:6; Revelation 13:5; Daniel 7:25; and Daniel 12:7; symbolizing a period of twelve hundred and sixty years, according to the almost unanimous opinion of Protestant writers. This period does not commence with this epoch, but began with the subjection of Christianity to the power of the civil arm, which was to continue during the time predicted,--notwithstanding the re‰djustment of the temple-worship,--when Christians should cease to be responsible to any human tribunal for the orthodoxy of their faith.

During the same period, also, power to prophesy, though shrouded in sackcloth, was to be given to: