Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

It was of zero confirmation to me as I began to study for this week’s sermon that commentary after commentary preceded their comments on Revelation 11 with something along the lines of “this is the most challenging chapter in the book of Revelation to understand as an interpreter.”

At first I thought they were probably just joking but the more I dug the more challenging it became to solidly identify exactly what John is describing in these chapters.

So before we begin I want to offer up a caution to us as Bible readers to be careful that we don’t make the Bible say more than what it actually says.

One of the reasons that so many commentators struggle so greatly with Revelation 11 is because they’re trying to attach meaning to things that John never really defines.

There’s a great deal of ambiguity in this chapter of what John means by some of what he says.

I believe John does that “by design” as did many of the OT prophets as well.

Answering The Right Questions

As we make out way through this passage we’re going to be exposed to certain interpretive questions that must be answered.

Unfortunately, as we’ll find, there are not “easy answers.”

But in addition to answering these interpretive questions we must also be diligent to understand the “main point.”

It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees.

So as we go through this chapter I’m going to expose you to the various different options that might be going on.

However, I’m also going to try and resist the urge to go beyond what the text allows.

Because if we overcorrect here we won’t have enough roadway left to finish the book and maintain a cohesive understanding of its main thrust.

A TEMPLE TO MEASURE:

So the passage opens up with John being given a measuring reed to go and measure the temple.

Revelation 11:1–2 (CSB)

1 Then I was given a measuring reed (Kalamos) like a rod, with these words: “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who worship there. 2 But exclude the courtyard outside the temple.

Don’t measure it, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

Measuring reeds were used to measure the distance between two points or also to separate one type of thing from another.

Right away we have an interpretive question that needs to be answered and that is “what exactly is John being asked to measure?”

Is this a literal physical temple (like the one built in Jerusalem?)

is this a heavenly temple (like comes out of heaven later in the book?) ,

is this a spiritual temple that represents something else (like the people of God?)

Almost always the commentaries I read spill fountains of ink of trying to identify this temple and what it represents.

A good number of people say that this temple represents “the Church.”

Throughout the NT the body of Christ is referred to as “God’s temple.”

(even in 1 Corinthians Paul says our bodies are temple of the Holy Spirit).

Other suggest this is describing a physical temple in Jerusalem.

The fact that there is no temple now means that one will be rebuilt and in Jersualem at the old location.

What you believe about the meaning of this temple in some ways is determined by your overall interpretive grid.

(For example, whether or not you think the church is still on the earth during the Great Tribulation and - if so - for how much of that Tribulation are they present?)

Pre-trib would say the church is gone so this is not a reference to a Christian remnant (maybe a remnant of believing Jews from the 144K)

Mid/Post/Pre Wrath could go either way.

It might be a reference to the believing church, might be a reference to a literal physical temple, could go either way.

People who take an idealist or spiritualized approach to the book say pretty confidentially that this is clearly a metaphorical reference to God’s faithful remnant on the earth.

Some would read this passage and immediately think of OT parallels.

Does that help shed any light as to whether this is a literal measurement or metaphorical?

Not really.

In Ezekiel 40 the prophet is told to measure the temple and the various courts and it certainly looks to be a physical measuring of a literal temple.

However in Amos 7:7-8 or Zech 2:1-5 the measuring is applied to people and not buildings.

It was to separate the true from the false.

Boundaries that make distinctions between God’s people and the people of this world.

So is John measuring something literally or figuratively?

A physical building or the true believers from the false?

The Main Point

I am sympathetic to the view that there are indications in the text of this particular temple being figurative.

However - I also believe that there will be a literal temple desecrated by the antiChrist during the final days preceding the return of Christ.

It could be John is being intentionally ambiguous so that it encompasses both a spiritual temple in a macro sense and a literal temple finally at the very end of days.

Whether or not it’s literal or physical is not the point.

The point is that God knows the people who belong to Him and they will be protected.

God’s people will always be protected!

Some of you need to be reminded of that today.

It’s so easy when the world is falling apart to think God is checked out or doesn’t care or that you’re all alone but you’re not.

He has measured out his people!

He knows them by name!

It’s also a reminder that God makes a clear distinction between those who are his and those who are not.

There is no certainty that you belong to the Lord when you live one foot in the world and one foot in the church.

Choose you this day who you’re going to serve.

There will be a measuring and you will be found one or the other.

A TIME TO ENDURE:

The second interpretive question that needs to be asked from this passage is what are these 42 months?

What do they represent.

What’s 42 divided by 12? It’s 3 1/2 years.

We’ve seen this time measurement before from the book of Daniel.

It actually shows up in a variety of ways.

Sometimes it’s listed as time, (1 year) times (2 years) and half a time.

(Dan 7:25)

Sometimes it’s listed as 2,300 evenings and mornings (Dan 8:14)

Sometimes it’s listed as 1,290 days (Dan 12:11)

Sometimes it’s just referred to as a half week (Dan 9:27)

We’ve already seen earlier in our study of the book of Revelation that John is drawing from the prophecy in Daniel 9:27 to describe the events surrounding the end times antichrist.

So it’s likely this 42 months is in association with that basic discussion.

Antiochus Epiphanes - TYPE

The question for the interpreter is in what way is John using the prophecies of Daniel to describe these end times events?

The immediate fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy was with a type of antichrist known as Antiochus Epiphanes.

He fulfilled all of the prophecies stated by Daniel between the years 167-164BC.

(Josephus - Wars of the Jews, 5.394)

He was an arrogant pagan king who greatly oppressed God’s people.

(Dan 7:23-24)

He stopped the sacrifices in the temple for 3.5 years (Dan 8:11-14).

He desecrated the temple with the slaughter of a pig (unclean animal).

(Dan 11:31) (1 Maccabees 1:54)

God’s faithful remnant resisted and they were persecuted and killed (Dan 11:32-35)

God’s people will be given over to that persecution for time, times and half a time (or 3 and 1/2 years) After that, judgment will fall on him (Dan 7:25-26)

Literal or Figurative?

If John is using this reference of 42 months from Daniel to say there’s an exact parallel between the actions of Antiochus and the actions of the End Times Antichrist then it should be understood as a literal 3 1/2 year period.

If, however, John is using the terms 42 months to encapsulate the idea that God’s people will experience persecution for a defined period of time then there may be more elasticity to the time frame.

(in that sense 42 months like like a catchphrase)

As usual, your interpretive grid determines how you understand this time reference.

Some (historicist) say that the days = years and it’s 1,260 years (though there’s no agreement as to when it starts and when it ends)

Some (preterist) say it refers to the period of time before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70AD.

Some (idealists) say that it’s just John’s way of saying “a definite period of time.”

It has an appointed beginning and an appointed end.

There are some who say the beginning started with the ascension of Jesus and describes the persecution of God’s people from then until Jesus comes again.

Some say it’s a definite period of time at the end of days but could be longer or shorter than just 3.5 years.

Those who come from the futurist camp are all across the board.

This could be the 3.5 years before the abomination of desolation.

Some say it’s the 3.5 years after the abomination of desolation.