The Court Defined
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We discussed, and you should by now realize, how no one (including the apostle John) could know the meaning of the Temple of God unless God revealed that meaning. You have seen that He did this. Similarly, since John was told not to measure the court, God would have to make known what IS the court. It would be unfair of Him to do less. The one whom John types would have to know what it is—and so would YOU to avoid being in it!
The very fact of a mention of an area not to be measured by John means that there is an important distinctionto be necessarily made. So then, what is the distinction? I ask again, what is the point of making a distinction—a separation—a difference—between the Temple and the court without revealing what it is—and how it applies? The answers to these questions are obvious: God would also have to REVEAL what the court is!
In fact, your future turns on understanding it, so let’s speak plainly.
First, let’s ask: Who might be candidates to be ;in the court? Let’s put this another way, bringing a helpful angle: What group or groups will be most likely to think themselves to be in the Temple of God—part of the Body of Christ—when they are merely close to it?
Understand. It is apparent—in fact, obvious—that those in the court must have come to believe that they are inGod’s Temple. They have to be told they are not—that close, or nearby, is not good enough!
The answer to the last question above is fairly simple, and comes via another question: Remember one more time that the Bible teaches and Mr. Armstrong taught that, just as the Temple or House of God is one Building, there is only one unified, organized Church and Body of Christ. Now, what have most of God’s people today come to believe about the definition of the one true Church and the Body of Christ? What definition for these have they unconsciously substituted for what over 150,000 people formerly believed before the apostates got finished with their minds?
The only possible answer to who is in the court—and it should not be difficult to see—is that it is the tens of thousands attending the splinters that constitute Laodicea. They form what have become hundreds of ;rooms in the outer court, around and OUTSIDE the MAIN TEMPLE BUILDING!
Who else could it be? Who else could even be candidates of the remotest possibility, besides the splinters, meaning those with God’s Spirit in these groups? If you say there must be other candidates, WHO are they?—WHERE are they?—HOW do other possibilities you may have in mind FIT with all of the understanding you have seen here? If you say ;no to the explanation given, WHAT ELSE WORKS?
As you consider, come to grips with the fact that the MAIN TEMPLE was a small structure and was only accessed by a relative few (the priests) compared to the much larger numbers who frequented the courts.
The modern parallel is almost painfully obvious!
Ponder Carefully
Be very careful in your conclusions. Mull, ponder, distill, and crystallize your thinking. Now let me ask these questions in another way: If you believe the explanation you have seen for all the elements of measuring the Temple is wrong, why do you believe this? Where is it wrong? For instance, if you believe some or all of the terms discussed must have different meanings—which ones, and what would be the correct meaning in your opinion? And will you base your life on whatever theory you devise as better? If so, is anyone else presenting you with what you deem a better ;theory?
Break down the important questions in your mind: For instance, do you believe that the Temple of God is other than what Mr. Armstrong taught? If so, why? How and where did he misunderstand Paul’s writings? And if he was wrong about something that you have seen to be so central to all that the Bible teaches about what the Church IS, was he even sent from God? He certainly could not have been the Elijah, who restored all things, if he got wrong such a central biblical understanding—if he could not even comprehend what Jesus Christ promised to build!!!
Another example might be: If you feel the explanation of the court must be wrong, how is it wrong? What scriptures or examples used did not apply? What other idea better fits?
Then the altar. A thorough explanation was given straight from the Old Testament pattern of Solomon’s Temple and altar. Which elements of what was presented do you disagree with? If God intended His people to reject the Bible pattern, and all the parallels within it, as a basis for this term, what else could He have had in mind?—and again, how could He expect His people to know of this change?—to be able to discern that He had made an end-of-the-age switch in meaning?
Examine—prosecute—your own thinking! Make yourself focus on, digest and COME TO GRIPS with the issues in this chapter. Do not permit yourself to take a slipshod approach to matters of such colossal importance to you.
As you ponder, also recognize that God would necessarily have had to send a man to explain the things of this chapter. Who else is doing this? Again, can you name any others who have taken even half as serious an approach—never mind WHAT they say—to all you have learned?
Do not get WRONG the answers to each of these questions!
Frantic Millions—and ;the Court
Let’s pull back and look ahead to events at the very end. We often think that only those who ;hate the Church will have an interest in it as the Work shuts down. But more than our enemies, worldly governments and the great false religions will be focusing on us.
There will be many others with a very different sentiment than those of God’s people.
Now return to the 1,335 days—the moment when the Great Commission ceases. The book has carefully described this coming ;famine of hearing the Word of God—the conclusion of ;prophesying again. We saw that vast millions will be in shock—stunned that God’s Work has suddenly ended in a ;famine unlike any other, and that this occurred while they thought more time remained. We saw that great numbers are described as ;run(ning) to and fro to discover what happened to the ;word of the LORD, as they try to figure out what happened to the ;lovely song.
Now also consider that millions of ;Bible students at least know of the scriptural references to prophetic events centering around Jerusalem, and to the three references to ;them which be in Judea.
Bear in mind that, while most professing Christians do not read their Bibles very much or at all, a great many do, and many of these are enamored with a host of popular ideas about how prophecy will play out. Just look at the religion section of a major bookstore. So God’s Church will be far from their only source of information. Seduced by misunderstanding, this will almost certainly lead to a rush of potentially great numbers of ;believers to ;where the action is. If you have not thought about this confusing element of deceived ;Christians who will also expect to be spared by God from what lies ahead, you might ponder how such future realities will play out. You should also think about this in light of what you have read in this volume about the vast millions who will generally know of what THIS CHURCH and THIS WORK teach about what the then-immediate future holds for the nations of Israel. You should at least think about how Satan not onlycounterfeits everything, but he brings confusion everywhere!
Jerusalem and Judea will be a bigger focal point than most of God’s people begin to realize. The eyes of the whole world will be fixed on this region. In fact, with the Vatican even now openly setting its sights on controlling the ;holy sites in Jerusalem, and with prophecy showing that Jerusalem will become an open city guaranteeing the ;three great religions there under the Vatican’s control, it becomes clear that a great many people will make a journey to Jerusalem to realize their life’s goal of ;walking where Jesus did. Millions do this now, and it will only increase as great numbers of prophecy watchers want to be at the place of His Return.
Now here is what is much more important to understand, however. We also saw—and this is where you, the reader, come in—that there would be tens of thousands of brethren in the collective splinters constituting Laodicea who will have similarly miscalculated not only timing, but also who and what is the true Church, Body of Christ and Temple of God.
But there will be a big difference between those in the splinters and their worldly counterparts. Professing Christians will be less familiar with the verses, conditions and events, as well as the precise timeframes and sequences, of the earlier subhead about this and all the material in this book when the famine strikes. These millions will of course be shut out of that which they do not fully comprehend—either salvation or protection.
Those of Laodicea will have considerably more knowledge of everything that is at stake from a truer spiritual perspective. They will obviously have greater comprehension of what is happening. Recall that the seventh era has ;the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17), which is interpreted by Christ later in Revelation as ;the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10). These basically know at least most of the picture (blurred though it is) of what lies ahead, but will not act on this knowledge. This said…
They will see this Work of God come to an end…
They will see those who say they are God’s Temple suddenly ;taken…
They will know that Judea is the place to be…
They will hear of us arriving there…
But they have been conditioned to believe Philadelphia and Laodicea are the co-mingled Body of Christ, only separated at the end…
They will desperately hope to be included…
Sensing the gravest of miscalculations, panicking splinter leaders will attempt one final ;spin away from reality…
They will direct their organizations to also flee…
Let’s now momentarily turn our attention to another question!
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