Measuring the heavenly temple.

Excerpt from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897

Revelation 11-

p 529 -- VERSE 1. 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.   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.

We here have a continuation of the instruction which the angel commenced giving to John in the preceding chapter; hence these verses properly belong to that chapter, and should not be separated by the present division. In the last verse of chapter 10, the angel gave to John, as a representative of the church, a new commission.

Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

In other words, as already shown, we have in that verse a prophecy of the third angel's message.

Now follows testimony showing what the nature of that message is to be.

It is connected with the temple of God in heaven, and is designed to fit up a class of people as worshipers therein. The temple here cannot mean the church; for the church is brought to view in connection with this temple as "them that worship therein."

The temple is therefore the literal temple in heaven, and the worshipers the true church on earth. But of course these worshipers are not to be measured in the sense of ascertaining the height and circumference of each one in feet and inches; they are to be measured as worshipers; and character can be

p 530 -- measured only by some standard of right, namely, a law, or rule of action. We are thus brought to the conclusion that the ten commandments, the standard which God has given by which to measure "the whole duty of man," are embraced in the measuring rod put by the angel into the hands of John; and in the fulfilment of this prophecy, this very law has been put, under the third message, into the hands of the church. This is the standard by which the worshipers of God are now to be tested.

Having seen what it is to measure those who worship in the temple, we inquire further, What is meant by measuring the temple? To measure any object requires that we give especial attention to that object; so, doubtless, the call to rise and measure the temple of God is a prophetic command to the church to give the subject of the temple, or sanctuary, a special examination. But how is this to be done with a measuring rod given to the church? With the ten commandments alone we could not do it. When, however, we take the entire message, we find ourselves led by it to an examination of the sanctuary on high, with the commandments of God and the ministration of Christ connected therewith. Hence we conclude that the measuring rod, taken as a whole, is the special message now given to the church, which embraces the great truths peculiar to this time, including the ten commandments.

By this message, our attention has been called to the temple above, and through it the light and truth on this subject has come out. Thus we measure the temple and the altar, or the ministration connected with the temple, the work and the position of our great High Priest; and we measure the worshipers with that portion of the rod which relates to character; namely, the ten commandments.

"But the court which is without the temple leave out." As much as to say, The attention of the church is now directed to the inner temple, and the service there. Matters pertaining to the court are of less consequence now. It is given to the Gentiles. That the court refers to this earth is proved thus: The court is the place where the victims were slain whose blood was to be ministered in the sanctuary. The antitypical victim

p 531 -- must die in the antitypical court, and he died on Calvary in Judea. Having thus introduced the Gentiles, the attention of the prophet is directed to the great feature of Gentile apostasy; namely, the treading down of the holy city forty and two months during the period of papal supremacy. He is then directed to the condition of the word of God, the truth, and the church during that time. Thus by an easy and natural transition, we are

carried back into the past, and our attention is called to a new series of events. 

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Our attention is directed to the Holy Heavenly Temple, which from our previous studies we know is a REAL temple in heaven, a temple the earthly was an example of. This heavenly temple needing to be measured, the altar within needing to be measured, them that worship in the temple needing to be measured.   What sort of measuring? Of course it has to be a spiritual measuring. The reed like a rod given to John, symbolic, a measuring must take place but it is a measuring of prophetic origin. 

To leave out the court of the gentiles is to focus on those belonging to our Savior, to our God. We have to put our focus on these and measure them according to a standard of measurement that is GODLY, not earthly, not manmade, but of divine origin.

God does have a measuring standard, doesn't He? As mentioned above, there is a standard by which people are measured. To say there is no standard is to say there is no good or evil, and believe me some people would have us believe this even when throughout their own lives they witness good and evil all the time.

There is a moral standard we are all held to, every single one of us. And while the Ten Commandments written in stone by God's own finger are the written moral laws, the SPIRITUAL aspect to these laws was given to us by our Savior. A MORE stringent comprehension of the truth of the laws was given to us by our all compassionate Savior. Some would have us believe the moral ten commandments given to Moses, by God, are harsh and unforgiving and something to be done away with. But our Savior not only reaffirmed those ten moral laws, He told us they go much deeper than the mere letter of them, they go to our hearts, out intents! We can break those law by mere intent, by thought!  How many people before our Savior came and revealed the truth thought they got away with things because they stuck to the letter while their hearts were deep in defilement? They pat themselves on the back, thrilled to be able to say they kept all the law, and all the while they were breaking the heart of the law over and over and over again.  Of course our Savior had to do away with the comprehension that a heartless keeping of commandments was truth. And by our Savior's standard of the moral law we are ALL measured and we ALL fall short, and HE and HE alone is meets that standard, and we only meet it THROUGH HIM.

In this part of the prophetic word we are to read and be blessed upon reading and understanding we are having our minds directed to the heavenly temple… more tomorrow to continue the prophecy, by the will of God.

All in the love and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Amen.