No; Interpretation; Necessary
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As you read, you will see that no human interpretation of ;measure the Temple” is necessary. The Bible and the simple meanings of key words in the Greek will be seen to do all of the work for us. All you must do is accept Scripture and basic word definitions, and remember Mr. Armstrong’s statement a few pages back regarding Revelation in general and chapter 10 in particular. He said that ;There was NO WAY it [the prophecy] could have been understood then—until after subsequent events…” had occurred.
Do not permit the assignment to be more complicated than this! ;Subsequent events” have occurred, and they have permitted God’s plain meaning to open to us as a result.
John—A Type of Another Later
Like the instruction appearing as though it is to John to prophesy again, the assignment to ;measure the Temple” also cannot actually refer to John. This would be no more possible for a man living 2,000 years ago than would be Ezekiel’s assignment to carry out today the ;watchman” responsibility (of Ezekiel 3:17 and 33:1-9) when he lived 26 centuries ago. It is clear from the previous chapter that these assignments were designated to men living in the last days.
It should be obvious that the instruction also could not possibly apply to Mr. Armstrong. If you understood just the last chapter, as well as the fact that the Revelation 11:1-2 setting immediately leads up to and precedes the arrival of the Great Tribulation, this much is clear. This is a reality some cannot accept, but the setting ;is what it is.”
Notice again that the prophecy is sandwiched into the text immediately before the mention of the Two Witnesses, meaning the Two Witnesses could not be candidates to fulfill the instruction. (After all, there are two of them.) Understand that they have not yet been introduced in the text, and their ;job description” lacks any such mention in an assignment that is said to only last the 1,260 days of the Great Tribulation.
The instruction is to one person—the same man whom John types within the instruction to ;prophesy again.” Notice that Revelation 10:11 begins, ;And he [the angel] said unto me [John]…”, similar to how 11:1 begins, ;And there was given me [John again, meaning the one he types]…” to fulfill this extraordinary duty.
Any attempt to say that either John, Mr. Armstrong (that he either did this in the past, or that he will beresurrected to do it, as some believe) or the Two Witnesses—or any other individual—fulfill this passage is to force the meaning. So is the obvious assertion that the Temple of God is already being measured now by the idolatrous, blaspheming splinter ;prophet” who claims to carry ;Aaron’s budded rod” given him for this task. However ridiculous this is to the thinking Christian, thousands have fallen for this idea.
Remember that Satan counterfeits everything, so do not fall for any of these theories!
Now realize that there is no other Temple that the passage could be referencing than God’s spiritual Temple today—Christ’s New Testament Church or Body. Obviously, no human being is capable of measuring the Temple of God in the third heaven at God’s Throne (Rev. 14:15, 17, etc.), nor would there be a reason for one to measure any possible future physical temple in Jerusalem. If so, how would any man accomplish such a task, particularly when there is no clear indication that such a temple will be built? And again, why would God assign such a thing? Also obvious is that it cannot be talking about measuring the not-yet-here temple described in Ezekiel 40-48. And finally, the temple of God described in Revelation 21 ALL and Revelation 22 ALL cannot be a possibility for measurement because its arrival is even farther into the future—and it would involve a man ;measuring” God and Christ.
Finally, there is the matter of the time setting of the prophecy. Considering its location in the text—sandwiched between two giant prophecies—on what basis could God expect us to conclude this is other than something culminating immediately after God’s Work (prophesying again) is finished and immediately before the arrival of the Two Witnesses?
Unless one ignores the prophecy’s location, there is no other ;time” possibility.
Be sure to get all these preliminary issues completely straight in your thinking before continuing. Do not allow yourself to think ;Mr. Pack is leading the reader.” Be sure you see the natural, scriptural ;funnel” into whichGod leads those who desire to know the PLAIN MEANING we will learn. (Beginning now, the key phrases in the prophecy form subheads in all capital letters to differentiate them from other subheads within the flow of explanations given.)
A REED LIKE UNTO A ROD
We can now begin with the first phrase in the prophecy—that John was given by the angel ;a reed like unto a rod.” First, simply notice that it was neither a reed nor a rod per se, but rather the phrase must be taken for what it says. But what does it mean?
The Greek word for ;reed” is kalamos, meaning ;A reed (the plant, or its stem), by implication: a pen.” From all indications, such a reed was a long stem-like object, perhaps most like a pole, to be used for measuring. It is interesting that the Hebrew word for reed is kaneh, which carries an almost identical meaning: ;A reed by resemblance of a rod, especially for measuring; shaft, tube, stem, or a stalk.” (For instance, Ezekiel 40:5 speaks of ;in the man’s hand a measuring reed of six cubits long, by the cubit and an handbreadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.” This leads into the nine chapters introducing the physical millennial temple to come of Ezekiel 40-48 ALL.)
Mark 15 ALL records two places where the meaning of a reed is obviously not a mere flimsy stem or stalk of a plant. In 'Mark 15:19 it says that ;they smote Him [Christ] on the head with a reed [again, kalamos]…”, and in Mark 15:36 is added, ;one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink…”
So far there is no difficulty in understanding, but what about ;like unto a rod”? The Greek word for rod carries fascinating meaning. It is ;A stick, wand, cane; baton of royalty; scepter, staff.”
This adds much more to the meaning of the phrase. It becomes clear that the instrument given to John is one that both has substance and carries ruling authority, as would a scepter. But there would have to be a FIXED STANDARD in place so that proper measurement could occur when there was need. It is interesting that the English word canon derives from the Hebrew kaneh, which we just saw defined. It is also interesting that the apostle John was the last person whom God used to finalize the canonization of the New Testament, and thus the whole Bible.
It should not be difficult to see that the scriptures themselves function as ;a reed like unto a rod,” and, when in the hands of God’s appointed leader, typed by John, they become the ultimate measure of the Temple, altar and worshippers. Take a moment to read Hebrews 4:12, II Timothy 3:16-17, Revelation 20:12, I Peter 4:17 and John 10:35 to see that God’s people are not only under judgment now, but the measure by which they are judged is Scripture!
It will help to think of how Mr. Armstrong led the Philadelphian era of the Church over a 52-year period. The only standard by which he ;measured” everything was the PLAIN WORD of God.
RISE;
The definition of the Greek word for ;Rise” is egeiro, and it means ;To awaken, rouse from sleep, from setting, or from inactivity.” Notice it can have two alternate meanings, with the first one the obvious applicable meaning here—;from setting.”
Since the one described in this prophecy would obviously not be asleep and in need of being awakened, the latter meaning applies—to rouse from one’s ;setting” to another. (Again, just as obvious would be that this leader would hardly have been ;inactive” prior to this change in setting.) It will be seen as the picture here develops that this man will, in fact, change very suddenly from previous setting to the work of Revelation 10:11and to that of the stunning responsibility you are about to understand.
Keep this simple. To look for more than this is to overanalyze the word. Remember, no human interpretation is necessary.
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