MEASURE
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The next key word to be defined comes from the Greek metreo, meaning ;To measure; ascertain in size by a fixed standard.”
It is not hard to see from where the English word meter derives. The universal standard for distance and measuring almost the world over springs from this Greek word—kilometer (1,000 meters), centimeter (1/100th of a meter), millimeter (1/1,000th of a meter), etc.
It becomes absolutely clear that John’s instruction includes a highly-defined standard, one that cannot be misunderstood by those who know anything at all about measuring. Understand this. There is absolutely nothing on Earth—or in life—that can be measured without use of a FIXED STANDARD!
Other standards, whatever they might be speculated to be in this case, would not and could not apply. For instance, in the United States, unlike the rest of the world, distance and measurement is counted in inches, feet, yards and miles. Travelers and businessmen operating here must constantly adjust for this difference. For purposes of illustration, it could be said that America falls short of the world’s ;meter” standard.
Do not be confused by this second reference to a fixed standard. You may be thinking that the Bible has already been established as God’s ultimate standard for measurement. That is certainly true. However, history shows that the Bible can mean ;a million things” to ;a million different people.” This is why Christendom is split thousands of ways, and the splinters are divided into hundreds.
The one given this assignment cannot be in confusion about exactly how he uses his biblical reed/rod of ruling authority in carrying out the measuring assigned him. He must know exactly how to fulfill his duty! And this must be a man first ruled by God before he can rule others.
Keep reading!
THE TEMPLE OF GOD
The prophecy takes a crucial turn at this juncture—the point at which WHAT is to be measured is presented. The ;Temple of God” is the first of three items listed.
The chapter has already thoroughly defined God’s Temple of the New Testament. You should not be any longer in doubt at this point that John has been told to measure the Church of God, the Body of Christ—the spiritualTemple of God (or the House of God) as it consists at a point in the near future. No other meaning can be substituted. If there were another definition to be applied here, what would it be? And how could God expect His people to know that the meaning of this all-important term is suddenly something else at the end of the Bible—in the middle of the book of Revelation—than what was understood before? More particularly, if so, how would the modern leader typed by John know this?
This would be an unreasonable leap—and God could not permit this to occur!
This said, the Greek word for temple here is naos. Recall that it means ;A feign shrined temple—the central sanctuary itself,” different from heiron, which we saw means ;A sacred place, that is, the entire precincts of the temple (at Jerusalem or elsewhere).”
A seed must be planted at this point. Since ;the court” is not to be measured, but is certainly within ;the entire precincts of the temple,” it becomes of obvious importance why naos is used instead of heiron. Also recall from Paul’s writings that every time the New Testament spiritual Temple—the Church—was referred to, he usednaos. (John’s record is here seen to be consistent with what Paul recorded.) In other words, God’s Church does not include what were called the outer and inner courts of the temple, but rather just the inner sanctuary, where the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies and the Ark of God were located, among other things, and where only the priests were permitted to enter for official purpose.
This is a crucial distinction that will soon prove to be incredibly important. I repeat, keep reading!
THE ALTAR
The second item John was to measure is ;the altar.” This term is not here by accident. The purpose for its inclusion—and its definition, its meaning—must be clearly understood. Like the ;temple” (and the other elements, or key words, of the prophecy), the meaning cannot be left to human interpretation or opinion. You will see that the stakes involved here are much, MUCH too important for this to be allowed to happen!
There is a great deal to learn.
The Greek word translated as ;altar” is thusiasterion, meaning ;A place of sacrifice; an altar.” This definition is as basic as it gets. While this section stays just as basic, it is necessarily much longer.
It is interesting to note that the English word enthusiastic derives from this Greek word. In other words, in Greek culture, which would be reflected in the language, if one is enthusiastic, it is as though he is worshiping, something one would do at an altar.
The altar in the Old Testament temple was at the entrance to the main building—recall the illustration—where we saw only the priests could perform or even enter. Do not let it be lost on you that the New Testament Church was called both ;a holy priesthood” and ;a royal priesthood” in I Peter 2:5 and 9, respectively. We saw this.
Think of this in two ways to make it most clear: Only those who are in the Temple are, or can be, God’s spiritual priesthood, and, conversely, only those in God’s priesthood are permitted into His Temple or to sacrifice on His altar. Recall that our future is to be ;kings and priests” (Rev. 5:10). (Also, recall that I Peter 2:5 states that this royal priesthood ;offer[s] up spiritual sacrifices, ACCEPTABLE to God by Jesus Christ.” What is ;acceptable” will carry greater significance in a moment when discussing what is brought to the altar.)
Only One Location
Now consider two crucial points: First, the only acceptable sacrifices were those offered on the altar of the Temple of God at Jerusalem. No other locations—meaning any other altars in any other places—were acceptable to God. They had to be at the one designated location, God’s House in Jerusalem!
Various kings of Israel, such as Jeroboam (II Chron. 11:14-15), as well as kings of Judah, such as Ahaz (II Chron. 28:4, 25) and Manasseh (II Chron. 33:1-3), disobeyed this instruction. These rebellious, evil kings built high places, groves, molten images and ;alternative” altars around the country. Invariably, as always happens, the people followed along. But it is recorded that righteous kings, such as Hezekiah (II Chron. 31:1; 32:12) and Josiah (>II Chron. 34:3), always destroyed the other locations of supposedly acceptable worship.
Take time to read of these evil and righteous kings, and what distinguished them from each other in Scripture. Evil kings brought and taught ;abominations” in Israel and Judah. Righteous kings threw down and destroyed all forms of false worship. Recall that the Bible records of these accounts, ;All these things happened unto them for ensamples [types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (I Cor. 10:11). Will we be admonished by them?
Grasp this fact of history. God set apart just ONE LOCATION—one temple and one altar—to offer sacrifices before Him. No humanly-devised alternatives were ever acceptable—I repeat, EVER! This is directly analogous to the one true Church and spiritual Temple of God today. In this light, it is interesting that the high places and altars in Israel sometimes came to number in the hundreds—exactly as do the splinter ;alternative altars” today!
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