Tribulation Worship: Apostate or
Approved Rev. 11:1-2
What distinguishes the
first half of the Tribulation from the second half is a visible event that occurs
in Jerusalem when that future figure known as the Antichrist desecrates the
temple in Jerusalem and that signals a change in what will transpire during the
Tribulation period. The trouble that people have is trying to figure out how
the details of Revelation chapter four through nineteen fit within that three
and a half-year and second half three and a half-year and how they relate to
that event at the mid-point known as the abomination of desolation. The seal
judgments and the trumpet judgments occur prior to the mid-point of the
Tribulation and the bowl judgments take place after that.
There is a gap in these
chapters from the end of chapter nine to the beginning of chapter fifteen. In
Revelation chapter ten there is the appearance of the mighty angel who has a
little book in his hand, and this little book contains the elements of the
events that are covered between chapter ten and chapter fourteen. Each of the
events in chapters 11-14 actually go back in time dealing with a particular
theme and then brings us up to date to the mid-point of the Tribulation period.
Chapter eleven focuses on the two witnesses that appear in
Now we come to chapter
eleven and the first verse brings up several important questions that must be
answered before we can really understand what is happening in the chapter.
Revelation 11:1 NASB “Then there was given me a measuring rod like a
staff; and someone said, ‘Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar,
and those who worship in it.
As we get into thinking
about this passage we have to address a number of important questions, one of
which is: When does this measuring take place? Is it at the mid-point of the
Tribulation? Is it at the beginning of the second half of the Tribulation? Or
is it much earlier? As we look at the text it is important to see where these
chapters fit within what God has already revealed. It gives us certain textual
clues for the chronology. Chapters eight and nine record the trumpet judgments
and in chapter nine the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments are described, both
of which involve demonic activity. The last three of the seven trumpet
judgments are identified as woe judgments—8:13 NASB “Then I looked,
and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, ‘Woe, woe,
woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the
trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!’” This indicates an
intensity in these judgments. Then the third thing we recognize is that the
section from 10:1 to
When the church is
raptured before the Tribulation takes place there is a shift back to the focus
on Israel because this Tribulation period is the last seven-year period in the
time frame that God has revealed to Daniel in Daniel chapter nine, which is why
it is called the seventieth week or seven-year period, and this completes the
time for bringing Israel to a point of national recognition of Jesus as their
Messiah and saviour. During this time approximately two-thirds of the Jews who
are alive will die, but at least as many Gentiles during that time will die as
well. Those Jews who survive are those who have trusted in Jesus as their
Messiah.
Revelation 11:1 NASB
“Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, ‘Get
up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it’.”
This raises a number of questions. We have to understand the meaning of the
word “measure.” Is this a literal measurement for dimensions or is it a
figurative or idiomatic sense? Is it used for judgment or is it used for making
a positive evaluation? Or is it used for demarcating a section of the temple
that is to be protected by God? Another question that we must answer is who and
what is measured? – trying to identify the worshippers here and the altar that
is mentioned. We also need to decide which temple this is. Is this a figurative
use of the word “temple”? Then we have to address the question: is this a
heavenly temple or an earthly temple? Everywhere else in the book of Revelation
where we see the word “temple” it is the heavenly temple. Fourth, what altar is
this? Is this the bronze altar or is it the altar of incense? Everywhere else that we have the term “altar”
used in Revelation it is the altar of incense. Fifth, who are the worshippers?
Are they apostates? Are they Tribulation believers? Are they apostate Jews
worshipping in an apostate temple? Or are they members of the remnant during
the Tribulation period? Sixth, is the temple itself apostate? Seventh, when
does this measuring take place? Is it in the first or the second half of the
Tribulation? Then last but not least, is there any significance to the labeling
of 42 months, v. 2, and the description of 1,260 days, which is the same period
of time, v. 3. All of these interact with each other, so we can get ourselves
in quite a spaghetti bowl of confusion if we are studying through all the
issues in this particular passage.
Even though these
questions are discussed by scholars sometimes people get the idea that if they
can’t agree as to the meaning of the text then who are we to figure out how all
these things come together. Unfortunately in the culture today the worldview of
postmodernism has provided a rationale that we can’t really know anything for
sure and so all we can really know and understand is our own feelings, our own
emotions, so let’s not get too caught up in the analytical details of the Bible
or any other religious book, let’s just sit around and worship God, worship our
feelings, and just be warm and filled and emote, and not worry about trying to
figure out what the Scripture says. But the Bible doesn’t approach knowledge in
that way at all; it was written so that we may know. Many times in the
Scripture we have passages that say, These were written that you may know. It
doesn’t say that we may easily know, or that we can know without any study. It
involves study. In fact, there are different aspects of different doctrines and
branches of systematic theology that took centuries for Christians to work
through and to be able to really articulate what the Scriptures teach. It is
our responsibility to continue that process of studying the Word.
There are three things
that we should recognize at the very foundation of studying the Word of God.
First of all, God had a purpose: that we might know these things, and we are to
study these things so that they will be a part of our understanding of His
plans and purposes. A second assumption that we need to make is that the
Scripture was revealed in a way that we might know. It is not revealed to
obscure or cover, it is revealed to uncover. In fact, that is the meaning of
“Revelation.” It is to uncover something, to disclose something. So the
Scriptures were written in a way that we might understand them. Third, it is
revealed in a way that demands that we study it and study it consistently. God
has revealed His Word in a way that demands that we constantly go back and
reread, restudy and reevaluate it. As we do that the Holy Spirit works within
that process to reveal and to open up to us the meaning of His Word. So it
demands a dedication, a commitment; we don’t grow spiritually if we don’t study
the Word of God and come to learn it and understand it.
If we reject the
possibility of knowledge (and that happens a lot) it really means: a) that you
have a small God who can’t communicate clearly. You are saying that God didn’t
make it clear; b) you have an impotent God who could not design man in such a
way that he could understand what He is communicating. He not only communicates
clearly but he designed us in such a way that the receiver works, and we can
understand what he has to say; c) we are really saying that there is a flaw
with the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come
and guide us in all truth; d) what we have done is elevate our own subjectivity
and arrogant agenda to a level where we have refused to let God work through
that garbage in our soul to clarify truth. This happens with so many people.
They are so arrogant, so focused on their own agenda, their own independence
from God and their own rebellion, that they look at the Word of God and if what
it says doesn’t fit what they want it to say they say we can’t know what it
says; e) one of the things that we are saying when we reject the possibility of
knowledge is that we are just too lazy to do the work. We are too lazy to study
the Word, too lazy to make it a priority in our lives, and so we would much
rather take the path of least resistance and go to some church where we can
hold hands, sing Kumbaya, rock back and forth, listen to a praise and worship
man, and just get all of our emotions stimulated and feel good and not have to
worry about thinking.
That brings us to some
important principles: a) You can’t apply what you don’t know; b) You can’t know
something apart from study. Nothing in life worth doing and doing well is
absent of study, learning, working at it. As we study we recognize that study
takes time, it takes energy, it means we have to make it a priority, it
involves a lot of mental sweat, and when it comes to the Word of God it
involves a lot of prayer. Sometimes you have to dig around in a lot of detail
just to figure out what is going on in the Word, but the rewards that come are
truly tremendous.
Revelation 11:1 NASB
“Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, ‘Get
up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it’.”
This first statement here is a passive verb which doesn’t tell us who gives the
giving. It is probably the strong angel of chapter ten, but it could be the
Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ who is just not mentioned here, but the point that
the writer is making is not about who gives but the fact that there is this
measuring rod that is given to John and the task that he is supposed to carry
out. The measuring rod is compared to a staff. The Greek word kalamos [kalamoj] which refers to a type
of reed that grows down along the
John is give instruction:
“Get up and measure the
When we look at the
context of Revelation 11:1, 2 we realize that to understand this idea of
measure it seems to indicate an evaluation marking off something as God’s. And
it is contrasted to verse 2. That is really our clue as to how to understand
this. John is to measure the temple, the altar of God and those who worship in
it. But he is not to measure the outer courtyard outside the temple, he is to
leave that unmeasured because that has been given to the Gentiles and they will
tread under foot—an image of military domination and control—the holy city.
This leads us to an
important question. Why is their worship acceptable? Today in
The application we learn
comes out of what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John 4:23, 24 NASB
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.