Holy Tape Measures ... Digging into Revelation Chapter 11.1-2

Many scholars consider Revelation Chapter 11 one of the most challenging sections in the Book of Revelation. It is packed not only with Old Testament images and allusions, but with people and actions that require the reader to make clear interpretative positions.

Keep in mind that Chapters 10 and 11 are considered interludes (between the sixth and seventh trumpets) in the drama of Revelation. In Chapter 10, John is instructed to eat the scroll, which would initially taste like honey, but would be sour in his stomach. Chapter 11 shows us why the scroll was both sweet and sour.

God orders John to measure the temple, specifically those inside the temple; and to exclude the outer courts of the temple. This measuring is reminiscent of God's command to Ezekiel (600BC) to go and measure the temple (Ezekiel 40-42). The measuring action is a dramatic way of showing who belongs to God. Some will be counted as part of God's family, others will be counted as outside of God's family. In Revelations, the word ‘Temple’ always refers to the heavenly Temple vs. an actual Temple.

In Revelation 11.2 we are told that the enemies will ‘trample on the Holy City for 42 months.’ There are different possibilities for this specific time designation:

1. 3 1/2 year length of time is found in Daniel 7 and 9.

2. 3 1/2 year drought in the time of Elijah - I Kings 17.1

3. 42 months is the length of the wilderness wanderings -Numbers 33

4. Reference to Jewish suffering under Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes in 167-164 BC.

Noted Revelations scholar Robert Mounce, declares that the period of 42 months, ‘...became a standard symbol for a limited period of time during which evil would be allowed free reign.’  NICNT: Revelations, pg. 215.  This means that the 42 months represents a general period of suffering vs. a specific length of time...

John is asked to replicate the prophet Ezekiel’s actions of measuring the Temple. The point of this measuring of God’s People and those who oppose God, is to show that God divides people according to their relationship with Him. This isn’t politically correct and goes against our American zeitgeist, but it is the Truth.

Sunday Left-Overs Revelation 10 April 22, 2012

On Sunday we continued our tour of Revelation by focusing on Chapter 10. Chapter 10 and 11 are interludes -pauses in the final drama of Christ's return. The complexity of Revelations reminds me of the multi-dimensional chess game featured on Star Trek. There are many different levels to the action, and the End Times unfolds on these different levels.

Chapter 10 is filled with Old Testament images and allusions that are re-appropriated to the context of the Roman Empire. To fully understand the command to 'eat the scroll' we need to turn back to the Book of Ezekiel- specifically Chapters 2 and 3. 600 years before Christ -Ezekiel is told to eat a scroll which would taste like honey to his lips. This command is designed to show that Ezekiel must internalize the message. In Revelation Chapter 10, God gives John the same command: 'eat the scroll!'

Revelation Chapter 10 tells us that John will deliver a message that will be both pleasing and disturbing. This is the great truth of God's Word: it is both a message of hope and foolishness. The message of the Cross is sweet. Freedom from past sins, redemption, forgiveness -all provided by Christ. And at the same time the message of the Cross is bitter. I must die to myself, surrender everything and allow Christ first-place in my life.  This is a difficult pill to swallow.