Let’s take a look at the Temple of God so we can come together in understanding of what it is & what Revelation 11 is describing for us.
The Temple is a picture of how Man is created in God’s Image & likeness as well as a picture of the threefold nature of our Father & the ultimate relationship with His Creations that has been His intention from the Beginning.
As the Father, Son & Holy Spirit are mirrored in the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place & the Courtyard, Man consists of Body, Soul & Spirit.
Matthew 28:19
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit . . .”
Luke 3:22
“And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him [Jesus] in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My [the Father’s] beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
John 14:26
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My [Jesus’] name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
Man in His Image
I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow (body), and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
Scripture also clearly tells us the Man is the True Temple of God, the 1st & 2nd Temple buildings were just a guideline & place holder, an essential part of the 1st Covenant & law of Moses & like that Covenant & law were designed to pass away at the arrival of the Perfected 2nd Covenant, Jesus Christ, through whom the True Temple of God was founded & we washed clean & made a kingdom of priests & kings, a Royal priesthood in HIM with Him as our High Priest before the Throne of God.
Psalm 118:22
The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.
1 Peter 2:4-10
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. [[**18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.**]]
Now, let’s read Revelation 11:1-3 with all of the above Scripture & explanation in mind….
Revelation 11:1-3
Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
The measuring of the Temple is the picture of the utter, emphatic completion of His children, ALL the individual bricks which are each of His children & their Soul & Spirit is the Temple itself containing the Holy of Holies where He dwells in our hearts, the Altar where we serve & the Courtyard is our Flesh bodies given over to the Gentiles, living in the Great Tribulation that we must Physically walk with Him through in willingness to lay down that FLESH into Death, knowing that we ALREADY LIVE in Him & His Kingdom in Heaven.
