Revelation 11:1 Commentary and Bible Study

We are part way through the seven trumpets of warning (chapters 7 – 11), the third of the seven scans of the gospel age that are in the Book of Revelation. The sixth trumpet has been sounded, and before the seventh trumpet sounds John is shown two additional visions, the second of which is found here.He is given a measuring reed rod and told to measure the temple (see Zechariah 2:1; Ezekiel 40:3). The measuring of the temple is John’s first subsequent act of prophesy. But which temple is this? This Book of Revelation is one of the last New Testament books to be written. There is no doubt that by the time it was written by the elderly apostle John in exile on Patmos, the Roman devastation of Jerusalem had taken place, and the temple had been destroyed. So what temple is this that is referred to? Obviously it is symbolism. In the vision John sees a temple, which represents the church of God. This language is often used in Scripture in this connection. In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul speaks about us being the temple of the living God: ‘Ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you’ (1 Corinthians 3:16), and the apostle Peter says the same. When he describes the church, he says, ‘Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices’ (1 Peter 2:5). The church was predicted in this way in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 54 the church of the future is described in terms of a woman, and she’s forsaken, and she’s desolate, but she is going to have many children, and she is going to need to enlarge. In the course of the chapter the woman turns into a temple, covered with jewels, and then into a fortified city. This is all prophetic of the New Testament era when the Gentiles come into the church. So this is a metaphorical measuring, which measure the true temple, the altar representing Christ’s atoning sacrifice, the worshippers consisting of living people, not lifeless stones.