Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

11:1-2
angelic priest measures the ideal Temple, the New
Covenant people of God, the Church (cf. Mark 14:58;
John 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb.
3:6; 1 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 3:12). R. J. McKelvey explains how
the idea of the Temple is interpreted in the Letter to
the Hebrews: “According to the writer to the Hebrews
the sanctuary in heaven is the pattern (typos), i.e., the
original (cf. Ex. 25:8f .), and the one on earth used by
Jewry is a ‘copy and shadow’ (Heb. 8:5, RSV). The
heavenly sanctuary is therefore the true sanctuary
(Heb. 9:24). It belongs to the people of the new
covenant (Heb. 6:19-20). Moreover, the fact that
Christ our High Priest is in this sanctuary means that
we, although still on earth, already participate in its
worship (10:19ff., 12:22ff.). What is this Temple? The
writer supplies a clue when he says that the heavenly
sanctuary was cleansed (9:23), i.e. made fit for use (cf.
Num. 7:1). The assembly of the firstborn (Heb. 12:23),
that is to say, the Church triumphant, is the heavenly
Temple.” 1
That this is St. John’s meaning as well should be clear
from what we have already seen, for much of the action
in this book has either taken place in, or originated
from, the inner sanctuary. Moreover, those who
worship at the incense altar in the Holy Place are
priests (Ex. 28:43; 29:44): St. John has told us that we
are a kingdom of priests (1:6; 5:10; cf. Matt. 27:51;
Heb. 10:19-20), and he has shown us God’s people
offering up their prayers on the altar of incense (5:8;
6:9-10; 8:3-4).
St. John is to measure the inner court, the Church, but
he is to cast out the court that is outside the Temple,
and is specifically commanded: Do not measure it.
Measuring is a symbolic action used in Scripture to
“divide between the holy and the profane” and thus to
indicate divine protection from destruction (see Ezek.
22:26; 40-43; Zech. 2:1-5; cf. Jer. 10:16; 51:19; Rev.
21:15-16). “Throughout Scripture the priests are those
who measure out the dimensions of the temple of God,
the man with the measuring rod of Ezekiel 40ff. being
but the most prominent example. Such measuring, like
witness-bearing, entails seeing, and is the precondition
of judging, as we have seen these in God’s covenant
actions in Genesis 1. The priestly aspect of measuring
and witnessing can be seen in that it correlates to
guarding, because it sets up and establishes boundaries,
and bears witness regarding whether or not those
boundaries have been observed. We might say that the
kingly function has to do with filling, and the priestly
with separating, the former with cultivation and the
latter with jealousy, propriety, and protection.” 2
Between the Sixth and Seventh Seals, the 144,000
saints of the True Israel were protected from the coming
judgment (7:1-8). That action is paralleled here by St.
John’s measuring of the inner court between the sixth
and seventh Trumpets, now protecting the True Temple
from the outpouring of God’s wrath. The outer court
(the “court of the Gentiles”) accordingly represents
apostate Israel (cf. Isa. 1:12), which is to be cut off from
the number of the faithful Covenant people, God’s
dwelling place. St. John, as an authoritative priest of
the New Covenant, is commanded to cast out
(excommunicate) the unbelievers. This verb (ekballo – )
is generally used in the Gospels for casting out evil
spirits (cf. Mark 1:34, 39; 3:15; 6:13); it is also used for
Christ’s ejection of the moneychangers from the
Temple (Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15). Jesus
warned that unbelieving Israel as a whole would be cast
out from the Church, while believing Gentiles would
stream into the Kingdom and receive the blessings
promised to the Seed of Abraham:
Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you,
will seek to enter and will not be able, once the head of the
house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand
outside and knock on the door, saying, “Lord, open up to
us!”
And He will answer and say to you, “I do not know
where you are from.”
Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in Your
presence, and You taught in our streets!”
And He will say, “I tell you, I do not know where you
are from! Depart from Me, all you evildoers!”
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there
when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the
prophets in the Kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast
out [ekballo – ]. And they will come from east and west, and
from north and south, and will recline at the Table in the
Kingdom of God. (Luke 13:24-29; cf. Matt. 8:11-12)
Unbelieving Israel has been excluded from the
protective measuring, for it has been given to the
nations; and they will tread under foot the holy
city for forty-two months (see Luke 21:24). God
guarantees His protection to the Church, but Jerusalem
has been delivered up to destruction. Forty-two
months (which equals 1,260 days and three and a half
years) is taken from Daniel 7:25, where it symbolizes a
limited period during which the wicked are
triumphant; it also speaks of a period of wrath and
judgment due to apostasy, a reminder of the three and
a half years of drought between Elijah’s first appearance
and the defeat of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 17-
18; cf. James 5:17). Whereas seven is used to represent
wholeness and completion, three and a half appears to be
a broken seven: sadness, death, and destruction (cf.
Dan. 9:24; 12:7; Rev. 12:6, 14; 13:5). The periods of
time mentioned in the Trumpets section are arranged
chiastically, another indication of their symbolic
nature:
A. 11:2 – forty-two months
B. 11:3 – twelve hundred and sixty days
C. 11:9 – three and a half days
C. 11:11 –three and a half days
B. 12:6 – twelve hundred and sixty days
A. 13:5 – forty-two months
1. R. J. McKelvey, “Temple,” in J. D. Douglas, ed., The New Bible Dictionary (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., [1962] 1965), p. 1249.
2. James B. Jordan, “Rebellion, Tyranny, and Dominion in the Book of Genesis: in Gary North, ed., Tactics of Christian Resistance, Christianity and Civilization No.
3 (Tyler, TX: Geneva Ministries, 1983), p. 42.
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