Measure Those Who Worship - Rumor notes 68

 Revelation 11

1 A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, "Rise, and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don't measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.

Rise and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it - Review

The cities of refuge were 6 out of 48 cities designated for the Levites to live in scattered throughout the land of Israel and symbolize the people of God who will make up the ultimate city of refuge – the New Jerusalem. (Numbers 35:2-6)

Behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said to him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,' says Yahweh, 'will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her. (Zechariah 2:3-5)

The standards of measure involve heart issues and moral condition.

I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. (Isaiah 28:17)

You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. (Ezekiel 43:10)

measure God's temple

Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

Originally the temple was a sanctuary. The word sanctuary is used today to designate a safe place, an area of protection. Not only the temple but the cities of refuge served as safe places.

In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:17-18)

This idea of refuge runs like a thread throughout history and Scripture and is part of the revealing of God's heart and God's ways of relating to sinners in the pattern, not only for the sanctuary but in the social arrangement of God's people.

They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea. It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:9-10)

Ultimately the heart's of God's children will be a safe city of refuge in which God may find rest, peace, fellowship and joy.

It happened as they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. (Luke 10:38-39)

Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, which you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

(2 Corinthians 6:16)

God's temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord's covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed. (Revelation 11:19)

For a more in depth exploration of measuring the altar, see the document on the Altar Syndrome.

measure...those who worship in it

But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)

He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Again we note that the measuring being referred to in his passage is not the typical kind of measuring we usually think of. This is about character, disposition and likeness – on other words, what is being evaluated, measured, assessed is the condition of all who make up the occupants of the temple of God. In this last passage what becomes clear is that the standard of measure is the fullness of Christ.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: who in time past were no people, but now are God's people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don't obey the Good News of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

Worship is all about identifying with and receiving identity from, sources of value from which we derive perspective, sense of identity, our reason for existence and on which we depend to provide for what we need and want. Human beings will always worship, for it is impossible to be human and not reflect an outside source by how we think, act and relate to ourselves and others. Humans are created to image God, but we are free to choose what god we will believe, emulate, admire and obey. This lies at the very heart of the war we are all involved in that is about who we will choose to serve.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For Yahweh's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. (Deuteronomy 32:8-9)

Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don't measure it, for it has been given to the nations

Then brought he me into the outer court; and behold, there were chambers and a pavement, made for the court round about: thirty chambers were on the pavement. The pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north. The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured the length of it and the breadth of it. (Ezekiel 40:17-20)

Then said he to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy. When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to the people.

Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about. He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about. He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common. (Ezekiel 42:13-20)

This is highly relevant to the instructions we find in Revelation 11 regarding the outer court. There are even more significant clues we have yet to examine here as well, but consider this point about separation between the holy and what is common and think about what that means in reality. What does it really mean that something is holy or common? How do we perceive the meaning of these words, and is it possible that we have been conditioned by traditions and subtle replacements of definitions of words that keep us looking at the wrong things to determine this differentiation?

Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, "Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, but you prepared a body for me; You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.'" Previously saying, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn't desire, neither had pleasure in them" (those which are offered according to the law), then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10)

Be extremely cautious about rushing to judgment as to the meaning of this enormously significant passage. Do not ignore the plain, strong emphasis here insisting that God is not pleased with nor desires offerings and sacrifices for sin. This is repeated over and over for very good reason, that reason being that we are so entrenched in lies about God and the nature of sin and how we imagine the problem of evil must be resolved, that we can ignore the plainest statements right in front of us. This is especially true in this case. What this states is the annihilation of an entire system of thinking, living, relating to God that must be replaced with a new way of thinking radically different from the former.

The entire book of Hebrews is an exposé on this very issue. It is a direct assault on the mentality promoted in Satan's counterfeit system designed to keep us afraid of God and imagining that God relates to sinners like we do, rooted in the balance system of good and evil with its motivations of rewards and punishments. Offerings and sacrifices quickly devolved into the mindset of appeasing offended deities and became the standard by which nearly every religion in the world defines how we are to relate to God. This runs so deep in the psyche of humanity that it is extremely difficult to even identify or admit. Yet this doctrine of demons that is at the very heart of paganism has totally taken over the teachings of Christianity until anyone even questioning it becomes the target of strong attacks and is denounced as heretical. Yet it is this core truth about the nature of God's character and how He intends to solve the sin problem that must be clarified and that will be the separating factor between those who worship God as He designed them to do from those who worship a fiction of God as pagans do. This is the difference between the holy and the common, the holy and the profane.

Take note of the meaning of the word leave here that makes this truth even more clear.

Leave, literally: to eject, cast out, drive out, send away.

What does that remind us of in Scripture?

The child [Isaac] grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, Isaac."

The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son. God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called. I will also make a nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is your seed."

Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. (Genesis 21:8-14)

Why is this so significant and what does this have to do with not measuring the court of the temple?

Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don't you listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the free woman. However, the son by the handmaid was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants.

One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, "Rejoice, you barren who don't bear. Break forth and shout, you that don't travail. For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband."

Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. However what does the Scripture say? "Throw out the handmaid and her son, for the son of the handmaid will not inherit with the son of the free woman."

So then, brothers, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the free woman. Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. (Galatians 4:21 – 5:1)

We must have a mature appreciation of the reality described here and not be confused by the false arguments that use this passage to insist that freedom means liberty to violate the Laws of God with impunity. The entire system of argumentation and theology blanketing the world today is saturated with the wine of Babylon that intoxicates and distorts perceptions about reality. This is why we must know the real truth that sets us free but does not deny the reality of principles of creation that are reflected by the Law of God which is eternal and outlines the very attributes of love.

This measuring process taking place here in Revelation 11 is a correlation to what we call judgment. The reason Peter says that judgment begins at the house of God is because judgment is all about exposing inner motives, thoughts and attitudes with the light of the truth as brought by Jesus. He is the light that has come into the world as a human being, unveiling the truth about our Father's heart, disposition and thoughts. In other words, God sent His own beloved Son to judge the Father, for judgment means to expose, to reveal what has been hidden to make it plain for all to observe and evaluate. Thus the Father is the first to offer Himself to be judged, for He has nothing to hide from us that might incriminate Him.

In this process of judgment where light exposes what is hidden, everyone becomes involved in judgment, for light exposes everything and everyone around it, not just some. This is the true nature of judgment and we must appreciate this to come free of our fears, for judgment is always in our favor as we embrace our true identity as defined by Christ our representative and high priest in heaven. Christ represents God to the universe and to us, and at the same time He also represents humanity to the universe and with God. The separating factor of sin is not God or even Jesus passing arbitrary sentences based on what we do. Rather, judgment is how we choose to relate to the testimony of Jesus about God's heart that becomes the unifying or separating catalyst.

It is Jesus, the Lamb of God, the hero of Revelation and the leader in the entire war between light and darkness, who exposes the truth that God is light and love, and in Him is no darkness at all. It is Jesus who declared that the Father judges no one, and additionally that Jesus did not come to judge or condemn but to save. So what is the factor in true judgment that brings about separation between those who serve God and those who do not? What is it that separates the temple being measured with this reed like a rod, from the outer court that is given over to the Gentiles to be trampled?

If anyone listens to my sayings, and doesn't believe, I don't judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me, and doesn't receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke, the same will judge him in the last day. (John 12:47-48)

Yahweh's voice calls to the city, and wisdom sees your name: "Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it." (Micah 6:9)

It is becoming more and more clear in this study how this separation will affect each one of us. It is our choices, our decisions as to how seriously we take the words of Jesus that determines the outcome of our judgment that separates who is part of the temple and who will be left outside.

it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months

The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things: for she has seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you did command that they should not enter into your assembly. (Lamentations 1:10)

Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:23-24)

Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.

Don't you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things? Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming; even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn't receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Because of this, God sends them a working of error [a strong delusion], that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who didn't believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12)

Does this mean that God sends people a strong delusion to believe a lie? Is God complicit in the rejection of truth on the part of those who are lost? This is a question that has troubled many and must be addressed directly. What is going on here?

God never compels anyone to believe the lie. What happens is that when His offers of grace are persistently rejected and repulsed, the outcome appears as if He did. Our continued rejections of His offers of mercy, grace and truth about Him means that we use our will – our piece of divine authority – to repulse His Spirit and harden our heart against love. The more we do this the more He is forced in respect for our freedom of choice, to withdraw His Spirit that alone provides any effective internal resistance against the enchanting power of the father of lies. Once God's Spirit is compelled to withdraw from us, there is no effective inhibition left within us to resist evil or to repent, for repentance is a gift from God (Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25; James 1:17) that must be embraced willingly. Repentance is not something we can work up in ourselves but has to be accepted and acted upon. When we persistently refuse to give God's Spirit access to our heart, we hand over to the enemy the authority of our will, and he casts his spell over our soul until our capacity to repent becomes permanently disabled (1John 5:16). Thus the strong delusion is the enchanting power of evil that moves into every vacancy created by the withdrawal of the presence of God in the heart.

But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; (1 Timothy 4:1-2)

Branding with a hot iron is an allusion to how cattle are branded to signify to all who possesses them.

But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof. Turn away from these, also. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months

Does this time prophecy also give us clues for understanding the meaning of the measuring process and what the result might be of separating the holy from the common? Notice that Jesus in predicting the fall of physical Jerusalem, intermingled this with events that would happen much later when spiritual Jerusalem would fall as well. He referenced fulfillment of the times of the Gentiles. This likely corresponds to the period during the Dark Ages when sinister doctrines of Satan infected the citadel of apostate Christianity that ruled the Western world with ruthless tyranny. Roman apostate Christianity absorbed pagan concepts of God so thoroughly that the gospel lost its light of love, becoming a legalistic reign of terror. This is after the working of Satan, for Satan always seeks to infiltrate those who know the truth but hold it in the context of pleasure in unrighteousness.

It is this specter of a distorted, dark version of the gospel treading down the holy city of God that enters the temple of God's children to hold them hostage. This matrix of enchanting and threatening lies compose the inebriating wine of Babylon that induces confusion and darkness. It is corrected by making a distinction between the false and the true, the light and the shadows, restoring the true temple to what it means to be holy to the Lord and and cleansing it of the demonic doctrines of demons held by Gentiles. This is when the measuring reed like a rod brings separation between the truly holy and what has been profaned and amalgamated with error. This is why the outer court is released to be occupied by the Gentiles, for they have corrupted the pure simplicity of the gospel by pagan concepts that are incompatible with the revelation of God's goodness in our Savior Jesus Christ.

This confrontation between the false gospels promoted by religion and the truth of God is seen in the chapter of Micah 6 where God contends that a sacrifice mentality was never His intent as part of true worship. What we find in the two witnesses we are coming to in the following verses is not God's original design, but rather a mixed message testimony resulting from confusion brought in by the enemy that affected minds of God's followers throughout the Old Testament period. With the arrival of the pure gospel in the life and teachings of Jesus, the darkness is challenged and the veil removed from the hearts of all who are willing to listen to the One who appointed the rod, the only valid measuring tool of those who compose the true temple of God on earth.

The holy city that was trod underfoot for 1260 years involved the lives of devoted followers of the Lamb who were severely persecuted. It is true followers of the Lamb who make up the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven at the end of this book. This is radically different from the old Jerusalem that Paul says is in bondage with her children like Hagar. The measuring of the temple is the process of separation between these two cities just as there had to be a separation between the two first sons of Abraham, so that the inheritance would decidedly reside with the son of promise.

Will this number of 42 months be repeated in these last days of history? I am not convinced it will not be so, though I am reluctant to make definite speculations about when or how. I suspect that numbers used for previous long-term prophecies that again show up in Revelation may well be recycled, only this time without the multiplying factor of the day for a year principle. But that is another discussion we are not ready to take on at this point.

Altar Syndrome - Rumor notes 67 supplement

 References throughout the New Testament to the altar provide a set of clues as to its deeper meanings. We begin with all the references in Revelation and then review others from the New Testament.

The Souls Under the Altar demand that God Judge and Avenge

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course. (Revelation 6:9-11)

Here the altar becomes associated with the desire to avenge killings. This signals strong sympathy with the system of earning and deserving in the reward punishment system.

An Angel Over the Altar wields a Censer

I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it on the earth. There followed thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake. The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. (Revelation 8:2-6)

Why was so much incense needed for prayers of the saints? Was it because their prayers were so full of wrong sentiments and motives and needed a great deal of interpretation and mediation to fit the system of heaven? And why is fire thrown to the earth?

Horns of the Altar Speak their opinion

The sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had one trumpet, "Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!" The four angels were freed who had been prepared for that hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind. (Revelation 9:13-15)

Horns represent power and force. They demand that demonic forces be released to kill humans. The issue of what means we are to rely on to overcome is a key issue in judgment.

Measure the Altar with the temple and those who worship in it

A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, "Rise, and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don't measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months. (Revelation 11:1-2)

A reed alone is for simple measuring. But a reed like a rod may imply ideas of punishment. This measuring involves ascertaining the disposition or nature of such things. It is not necessarily an issue of legal measurement of perfection but rather assessing which system we embrace.

An Angel comes Out from the Altar having Power over Fire

I looked, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. Another angel came out from the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Send forth your sickle, and reap; for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!" He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Send forth your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth's grapes are fully ripe!" The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The winepress was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out from the winepress, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia. (Revelation 14:14-20)

The angel coming from the altar specializes in fire power and insists that a second harvest is needed, though Jesus has already finished His harvesting. This second harvest results in significant bloodshed whereas the first one was completely free of such violence.

The Altar itself Speaks, affirming the views of another angel

The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. I heard the angel of the waters saying, "You are righteous, who are and who were, you Holy One, because you have judged these things. For they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this." I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments." (Revelation 16:4-7)

From these references to the altar it appears that the altar may be symbolic of the whole earning deserving system.

New Testament references to the Altar

If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him in the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny. (Matthew 5:23-26)

Which system will we rely on to solve differences and resolve offenses? Reconciliation in humility, or zero-sum accounting based on the debt/credit system used for balancing tallies?

Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who was living in it. He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it. (Matthew 23:16-22)

Which system will we rely on to estimate value or importance? The relative value system used in trading, or the egalitarian system of inherent value according to God's design in creation?

Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.' Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. (Luke 11:47-51)

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna? Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city; that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar. Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' (Matthew 23:29-39)

What kind of measure did the fathers use? Why did they feel compelled to kill prophets? Is Jesus in a way measuring the temple and altar and those who worship according to that way of thinking that involves killing anyone who dares question religious or political authorities?

The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Don't be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. You will have joy and gladness; and many will rejoice at his birth. (Luke 1:10-14)

Fear and unwillingness to believe God is here connected with the altar and the one serving at it.

Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, "You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you.

The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things. He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.' (Acts 17:22-28)

This altar is linked with ignorance of God and also a desire to be sure to cover all possible options to insure that nothing was overlooked when it came to placating deities.

What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn't eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn't drink from the flock's milk? Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn't the law also say the same thing? For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it for the oxen that God cares, or does he say it assuredly for our sake?

Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things? If others partake of this right over you, don't we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ. Don't you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News. (1 Corinthians 9:7-14)

This associates the altar with a deserving to receive provision by those who assist in its services. It speaks of a right and privilege, but involves the ways of men and hope derived from the law.

I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, isn't it a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn't it a communion of the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread. Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don't those who eat the sacrifices have communion with the altar? What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don't desire that you would have communion with demons. You can't both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can't both partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are profitable. "All things are lawful for me," but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor's good. (1 Corinthians 10:15-24)

Receiving benefits and provision such as food from serving in the altar system also involves communing and being strongly affected by whatever spirits are identified with that altar.

Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people have received the law), what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is of necessity a change made also in the law. For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord has sprung out of Judah, about which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. This is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest, who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life: for it is testified, "You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek." For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7:11-19)

Here the entire system associated with the temple altar is found to be incompatible to the new arrangement brought in by Jesus, requiring a radical change in how things are perceived and carried out.

Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and an earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lampstand, the table, and the show bread; which is called the Holy Place. After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can't speak now in detail. Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services, but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the people. The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place wasn't yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing; which is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshipper perfect; (Hebrews 9:1-9)

The entire system involving all the earthly furniture, altars and endless sacrifices are symbols of the whole system that is found incapable of dealing with damage at the conscience level, unable to bring restoration and wholeness to those who rely on such worship to find peace.

Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Don't be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the holy tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate. Let us therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach. For we don't have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come. Through him, then, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name. But don't forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

(Hebrews 13:7-16)

This altar is entirely outside and separate from the kind of altars involved in the old sanctuary system under law that fell short of providing effective restoration. Those clinging to that former system of legal worship are disqualified to fellowship within this new system because they fail to grasp the real meaning of grace and do not have peace at the heart level. The kind of sacrifices experienced beyond that old system are strikingly different in nature, disposition and motives for worship from the kinds of sacrifices and worshippers in the former.

Yes, a man will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness;" and he was called the friend of God. You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. (James 2:18-24)

Abraham is a shining example of those who understand the nature of the new way of thinking involved in learning to be a friend of God rather than always thinking God has to be placated. Ironically, it was his willingness to follow the promptings of the Spirit of God that seemed to contradict what he was coming to know about the love of God that led him to the breakthrough of learning that God never wanted that sort of sacrifice but rather wanted only his heart and affections. All who come to trust God's heart as did Abraham will likewise act on the promptings of the Spirit of love, not just talk about it in theory.

Measure the Temple - Rumor notes 67

 Revelation 11

1 A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, "Rise, and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don't measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.

Rise and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it

Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and suburbs for the cities round about them shall you give to the Levites. The cities shall they have to dwell in; and their suburbs shall be for their livestock, and for their substance, and for all their animals. The suburbs of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits round about. You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities. The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to: and besides them you shall give forty-two cities. (Numbers 35:2-6)

Behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said to him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,' says Yahweh, 'will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her. (Zechariah 2:3-5)

I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. (Isaiah 28:17)

You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. (Ezekiel 43:10)

We tend to think of measuring as having to do with externals, with adding up sums, evaluating strength by assessment of human resources, advantages, weaponry and other means of overcoming problems or enemies by means of force. Yet what these passages indicate is that the measuring done by heaven is on a very different scale, not a means of assessing how much resources of human power is available to God, for God already has unlimited power and does not need anyone to add to it. What is brought to light here is condition of character, disposition, attitude and internal heart condition. What is indicated here that needs to be recognized as the standard of measure is what we believe and embrace as the true nature of justice, what we imagine righteousness involves and how that affects the way we think, live and relate to others.

Yahweh says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet." Yahweh will send forth the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth. (Psalms 110:1-3)

What is being evaluated through this process of measuring are conditions of the heart and mind. Measuring the pattern means comparing the original with the copies or images. In the process things like lies and inner things obscured even from ourselves become more evident, like iniquities.

Iniquity is an important word to understand because it involves the twisted ways of perceiving reality we inherited from Adam. This condition is not something to hide but rather to become aware of how much it infects our thinking, our beliefs, our presumptions embedded in tradition, culture, religion. Iniquity affects how we perceive reality and how we imagine God relates to us. Iniquity can seem to be gospel truth strangely enough. Iniquity can hide behind morality and even affects our concept of righteousness. Yet God calls us to be ashamed of our iniquities, meaning that these ideas, beliefs and practices are in fact of no worth (the meaning of shame) in heaven's view and need to be seen for what they really are – counterfeits and lies to be discarded in favor of God's truth.

measure God's temple

Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

What and where is the temple of God? The temple is a place we imagine God as living in. Originally it was called a sanctuary. The word sanctuary is used today to designate a safe place, an area of protection. This resonates with the concept of 6 cities of refuge that were designated by God as a means of preventing human desires for revenge to preempt justice for someone who had killed someone else. These 6 cities were part of 48 cities assigned by God from throughout the land of Israel for the Levites to live in and where they could keep their animals. In that day, livestock was more like what we think of as currency today. This is what we read about in Numbers 35.

Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Assign you the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by Moses, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly and unawares may flee there: and they shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood. He shall flee to one of those cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city to them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. If the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver up the manslayer into his hand; because he struck his neighbor unawares, and didn't hate him before. (Joshua 20:2-5)

In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:17-18)

This idea of refuge runs like a thread throughout history and Scripture and is part of the revealing of God's heart and God's ways of relating to sinners in the pattern, not only for the sanctuary but in the social arrangement of God's people. These commands regarding the cities of refuge were an important element of that plan and are symbols of how God relates to all of us. But I would like to extend this even further, though it may seem strange at first, for accidental murders are not the only thing needing to be addressed but also places of safety in general. And from the larger perspective, the collective people of God who make up the ultimate city described near the end of this book constitutes the ultimate city of refuge.

They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea. It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:9-10)

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says Yahweh. (Isaiah 65:25)

The ultimate city of refuge will be a safe place, not only for all who seek refuge from zealous 'justice' vigilantes, but amazingly will be a safe place in which God may find rest, peace, fellowship and joy.

It happened as they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. (Luke 10:38-39)

Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, which you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

(2 Corinthians 6:16)

Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. (Revelation 8:3)

God's temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord's covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed. (Revelation 11:19)

Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, says the Lord Yahweh. I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who disobey against me; I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am Yahweh. (Ezekiel 20:36-38)

For a more in depth exploration of measuring the altar, see the document on the Altar Syndrome.