I
was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the
temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the
outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They
will trample on the holy city for 42 months.
Revelation 11:1-2
John in his vision from
the Book of Revelation measured the temple.
Why? God wanted to see if the
temple “measured up” to God’s standards.
Ezekiel was given a measuring rod in Chapters 40-42. In 43, God explains why:
While
the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the
temple. He said: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place
for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites
forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they
nor their kings—by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at
their high places. When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and
their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they
defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my
anger. Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols
of their kings, and I will live among them forever.
"Son
of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed
of their sins. Let them consider the plan, and if they are ashamed of all they
have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its
exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write
these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow
all its regulations.
"This
is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will
be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.
Ezekiel 43:6-12
God is saying "This
is MY house! I live here!” It was his
address and he didn't like the way they were treating it. God shut it down before in 586 BC when
Babylon destroyed it. Ezekiel was
written around this time, 592-570 BC.
The temple was rebuilt in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, then
refurbished by King Herod around the time of Jesus.
Once again God asked
John to see if the new temple measured up.
Obviously it didn’t. Because of
their disobedience it would be destroyed again, in 70 AD by Roman armies who
devastated the temple and the city. The
temple has never been used for sacrifices to this day.