LEAVE OUT the Court
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This section is inseparable from those on the court. In Revelation 11:2, the one of whom John is a type is told But the court which is without the Temple leave out, and measure it not.
Before more closely examining the words ;leave out—and they carry a very sobering meaning far beyond what you could imagine—it should now be clear why John had to be instructed to exclude the court from his measuring. Unless so instructed, his automatic assumption would have been that the courts should beincluded. But we see that only the MAIN TEMPLE BUILDING—where the priests could enter!—was outlined for ;measuring.
You must get this point clear in your thinking before you can understand the stunning truth you are about to learn!
The Greek word translated ;leave out has a definition very different from what the King James translators selected. It is ekballo and does not carry the passive meaning of ;leave out, but rather an active one, which is ;to eject, cast out, drive out, expel, send away.
See this difference!
The phrase ;leave out is similar to discount, overlook, ignore, work around, do not consider, etc. These are all passive terms, and clearly different from the meaning of ekballo. The question becomes WHY is John told to eject, cast out, drive out, expel or send away ;the court? Of course, a man cannot expel or drive away a place, so the obvious meaning is intended to reference those who are IN that place—in this case, IN the court.
While this much is not difficult to understand, obvious questions come to mind: Who is in the court? Why—or how—could it be that whoever these people are, they must be sent or driven away?—and from what are they driven away? Further, who would have the authority—or power—to carry this out? Related to this is where and when would this casting or driving out occur?
These questions must all be answered. Every one of them involves you and all others of God’s people! But something else in the prophecy must be understood before addressing them.
Contents
GIVEN UNTO THE GENTILES
The most ominous part of the prophecy—and you will soon learn why—comes next, and is contained in thereason John is told not to measure the court. Notice this from the middle of John 2:2: ;for it [the court, meaning those in it] is given unto the Gentiles [Grk: ethnos—the nations]: and the holy city [Jerusalem] shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Grasp this part of the prophecy. Whoever it is that is in the court gets ;tread upon—we might say today ;tromped or ;trampled would be better word choices. But, knowing just the basics of what happens in the Great Tribulation, ;stomped might be the very best or most accurate translation. Another way of saying this is that, by being cast out and driven away, those in the court are left unprotected from what those ;measured—those in the Temple’s main building—the priesthood!—escape!
It should be clear by now that this is a very serious issue coming to a head at a very serious time for God’s people—in fact, at one of the most serious periods in history. You cannot afford to get the meaning wrong.
Let’s understand more. The ;42 months referenced in John 2:2 is of identical length as the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord, and it is obviously the same as—and exactly equal in length to!—the ;thousand two hundred and threescore days of John 2:3 that the ;two witnesses…prophesy in Jerusalem (John 2:8).
This question arises: How does this ;tread[ing] under foot fit with prophecy as a whole as the end draws closer? What could it have to do with the Temple and those in the court? In other words, how might the ;Gentiles—the nations—intersect with those in what must be a kind of adjacent relationship with the New Testament Church? Remember, the events described above are in Jerusalem. So where then are God’s people in relation to this?
These are additional questions, begging answers.
Revisiting Key Prophetic Periods and Conditions at the End!
All of the questions at the end of the last two sections are answered by recognizing the overall conditions extant in both the world and among God’s people just as the true Work of God comes to an end. These answers are intertwined with the playing out of incredible events foretold to come upon the world just before the Great Tribulation. Generally speaking, God’s people know of at least some of the pieces within the ;puzzle analogy described earlier, but have not been able to assemble them correctly.
Let’s now review from the past some long-understood basic elements—key pieces!—of prophecy so that the picture comes clear. Let’s begin some critically important assembling.
The Great Tribulation, which we saw lasts 1,260 days, is one of three key periods at least at one time familiar to virtually all of God’s people. The others are ;1,290 days and ;1,335 days.
The Church has always understood that the latter number, 1,335 days before the Return of Christ, signals the end of the Work and when God’s faithful people—the Church also always understood this to mean those of Philadelphian thinking, conduct and Work—are to be ;taken (Luke 17:34-36; Matt. 24:40-41) to the Place of Safety. This has not changed. Then, 45 days later, at 1,290 days until Christ’s Second Coming, the Church actually flees from its assembled location. (We will momentarily see where the faithful—those in the Temple of God—are taken.)
Daniel, Matthew, Mark and Luke
The prophet Daniel closed his book with this statement encompassing both time periods: ;And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the ABOMINATION THAT MAKES DESOLATE set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days (Daniel 12:11-12).
Note that the element of waiting is tied to individuals who ;come to the 1,335 days—and, we will see, to the end of the Work. This will soon become clearer. But there will come a dramatic moment in which God makes known to His Church—those in His Temple—that they have waited long enough—that time is up. The faithful are now to be ;taken.
The New Testament adds more about the abomination of desolation, with Christ in Luke warning God’s people living in the last days, ;In your patience possess you your souls [eternal lives]. And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the DESOLATION thereof is near [now just 30 days to go]. Then let them which are in Judea [take note] flee to the mountains [is this Petra, 100 miles to the south?]; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto (Luke 21:19-21). 22 then declares that ;these be the days of vengeance, with Luke 21:24 stating that ;Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Notice that Christ uses almost the exact same wording as does Revelation 11:2. This should not be surprising since He was the Revelator of what John merely recorded!
It also becomes obvious that the ;holy place of Matthew 24:15 is in the same place as the ;holy city of Revelation 11:2, and that the ;armies of Luke 21:20 are the same as the ;Gentiles of Revelation 11:2. Of course, Jerusalem is in the center of ;Judea.
Patience—and God’s Work
Matthew adds more to what Luke recorded. There, Christ specifically ties waiting (Daniel) and patience (Luke) to, among other things, finishing the Work: ;And this gospel of the KINGDOM shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When you therefore shall see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea [note again] flee into the mountains (Matt. 24:14-16).
Get straight in your mind that those in the Temple of God PARTICIPATE IN the commanded responsibilities described all through this book! How many times already have you seen Mr. Armstrong tell you that the Great Commission continues until the Great Tribulation—until ;the end come?
Mark’s parallel chapter 13 account is almost identical to Matthew’s in each of the key elements. Mark 13:10 states of God’s continuing Work, ;And the gospel must first be published [same Greek word as ;preached, used in Matthew] among all nations, with Mark 13:14 repeating, ;But when you shall see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that reads understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains. (Ask: Why is Judea mentioned in each gospel account—three times!—if God’s people have been taken to another place? Also, elements of difficulty with the flight about which to pray appear in each account.)
Mark 13:19 in Mark’s account, however, is stronger than its more oft-quoted parallel in Matthew 24:21, and presents this chilling statement of what will then be about to fall on the world’s greatest nations: ;For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
Two prophets also describe this time as worse than anything civilization has ever experienced. Daniel said, ;There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time (Daniel 12:1). And Jeremiah recorded, ;Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it (Jeremiah 30:7). Frankly, most of God’s people have been lulled by passing years into forgetting the awesome seriousness of what lies ahead!
No wonder then that both Matthew (Matthew 24:13) and Mark (Mark 13:13) state identically, ;But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Now note also then that when Luke described ;patience as the key to ;possessing your lives, he had to have also been referring to eternal life—being ;saved. With this in mind, it becomes even more apparent why the same Jesus Christ described Philadelphians as having ;kept the word ofMy patience (Rev. 3:10). This is unmistakably similar to what He had instructed His disciples to do in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and to what Daniel stated earlier about waiting. Christ must be reinforcing in this passage His own words of Matthew, Mark, Luke and Daniel. (Of course, Christ also inspired what Daniel, like John, was merely used to record.) And then it is not strange that Christ also added in Revelation this description of God’s saints through the ages: ;Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12). Both tremendous patience and unwavering faith will surely be needed at this time.
A brief reference to another monumental aspect of the picture that almost no one seems to consider is related here. It is found in the six verses preceding ;in your patience possess you your lives of Luke 21:19. Revelation 14:13-18 there describe two kinds of people who will be required to give ;a testimony on Christ’s behalf, almost certainly in the period just before the 1,335 days begins and continuing to the 1,290 days. After the point of Christ ;giving you a mouth and wisdom (Revelation 14:15) that cannot be resisted, careful reading reveals that some are obviously protected—;there shall not a hair of your head perish (Revelation 14:18)—but also, ;and some of you shall they cause to be put to death (Revelation 14:16'). Intrinsic then to the verse is that people of TWO CONDITIONS enter this final period!
Finally, it is also no wonder then that physical protection, starting in Judea, is directly tied to patience by Christ who promises Philadelphians that He ;will keep you from the hour of temptation [trial], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev. 3:10). Near the chapter’s end, you will learn why a lot more brethren should have remembered this passage, and that it follows the description of a people who continued walking through a miraculous ;open door (Revelation 3:8)—and stayed focused on exactly how to qualify for protection.
Several points of supreme importance emerge, and God’s people—YOU!—are told by Christ to ;UNDERSTAND them: (1) Warning and preaching the true gospel—the Work—concludes just before the end. (2) The abomination of desolation is 45 days thereafter heralded by armies gathering around Jerusalem. (3) When this happens, God’s people flee! (4) They do this from Judea! (5) Waiting patiently for this moment—enduring to the end—is essential, and is tied to saving one’s eternal life, and to being protected during the Tribulation and Day of the Lord!
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