The Temple's Measurement: Proof that Revelation Deals With pre-A.D. 70 Events
Below is the 18th of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell:
"The Measurement of the Temple.
"CHAP. xi. 1, 2 [Rev. 11:1-2].---‘And there was given to me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without [outside] the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.’
"If anything were wanting [lacking] to prove that in these apocalyptic visions we are dealing with contemporary [i.e., 1st-century] history, with facts and things extant [still existing] in the days of St. John, it would be supplied by the passage before us. Here we have distinct and decisive evidence with respect to time and place. The vision speaks of the city and temple of Jerusalem; the literal city and the literal temple. They were therefore in existence when the Apocalypse [Book of Revelation] was written [meaning before A.D. 70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans], for the vision before us predicts their [imminent] destruction.
"CHAP. xi. 1, 2 [Rev. 11:1-2].---‘And there was given to me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without [outside] the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.’
"If anything were wanting [lacking] to prove that in these apocalyptic visions we are dealing with contemporary [i.e., 1st-century] history, with facts and things extant [still existing] in the days of St. John, it would be supplied by the passage before us. Here we have distinct and decisive evidence with respect to time and place. The vision speaks of the city and temple of Jerusalem; the literal city and the literal temple. They were therefore in existence when the Apocalypse [Book of Revelation] was written [meaning before A.D. 70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans], for the vision before us predicts their [imminent] destruction.
"What can be more forced and unnatural, what more uncritical and groundless than to interpret a statement like this as symbolical of the Protestant Reformation and the Church of Rome [or other post-A.D. 70 events in history]? Such interpretations are indeed a humiliating proof of the extravagance and credulity of some good men; but they do incalculable mischief by setting an example of rash handling of the Word of God, and passing off the fantastic speculations of men for the true sayings of God. ...
"...[In this vision]... [t]he Seer [John] receives a measuring rod or staff, and is commanded to measure the temple of God, the altar, and the worshippers. We naturally revert to the scene in Ezekiel xl. [40], where the prophet sees an angel with a line of flax and a measuring reed taking the dimensions of the temple that was about to be built. But it is plain that in this apocalyptic vision it is not construction that is intended by the symbol, but demolition and destruction.
"It is important always to keep in mind that the whole action of the Apocalypse [Revelation] is hastening on to a great catastrophe, now not far off. Israel and Jerusalem are never for a moment out of sight. Two woe-trumpets have already sounded the doom of the apostate nation, and the final consummation only waits the blast of the third. The archangel has already declared that ‘no more time shall be given,’ and the Seer has tasted the bitterness of the ‘libel,' [little book]---the little book which contains the indictment and punishment of that wicked [1st-century] generation.
"In such circumstances nothing but coming destruction can be the theme. That the measuring-rod or line is employed in Scripture as an emblem of destruction is indisputable, more frequently indeed than of construction. A few instances must suffice. In Lamentations ii. 7,8 [Lam. 2:7-8], we find a passage which might well be the interpretation of this apocalyptic vision: ‘The Lord hath cast off his altar; he hath abhorred his sanctuary; he hath given up into the hands of the enemy the walls of her palaces. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line; he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying.’ Again, in the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the destruction of Babylon (chap. xxxiv.11 [Isa. 34:11]) we read, ‘The cormorant [hawk] and the bittern [porcupine] shall possess it; and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.’ The prophet Amos also uses the same emblem (Amos vii. 6-9 [Amos 7:6-9]): ‘Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood by a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: and the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,’ etc. Another very suggestive passage occurs in 2 Kings xxi. 12,13 [2 Kings 21:12-13]: ‘Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab.’ (See also Psalm lx. 6 [Psalm 60:6]; Isaiah xxviii. 17 [Isa. 28:17].)
"But not only is the measuring line or rod used as a symbol of the destruction of places, but, what is more singular, of persons also. There is a curious passage in 2 Samuel viii. 2 [2 Sam. 8:2] illustrative of this fact.... There is some obscurity in the passage, but the meaning appears to be that the captives being ordered to lie down, a certain portion was measured off, equal to two-thirds of the whole, who were appointed to death, while the remaining third was spared. This explains, what would otherwise be almost unintelligible, why in the vision the worshippers are measured as well as the temple and the altar. We think it is plain, then, that the command to measure ‘the temple, the altar, and them that worship therein’ is significant of the impending destruction which was about to overwhelm the most sacred places of Judaism and the unhappy people themselves [in A.D. 70]."
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"But not only is the measuring line or rod used as a symbol of the destruction of places, but, what is more singular, of persons also. There is a curious passage in 2 Samuel viii. 2 [2 Sam. 8:2] illustrative of this fact.... There is some obscurity in the passage, but the meaning appears to be that the captives being ordered to lie down, a certain portion was measured off, equal to two-thirds of the whole, who were appointed to death, while the remaining third was spared. This explains, what would otherwise be almost unintelligible, why in the vision the worshippers are measured as well as the temple and the altar. We think it is plain, then, that the command to measure ‘the temple, the altar, and them that worship therein’ is significant of the impending destruction which was about to overwhelm the most sacred places of Judaism and the unhappy people themselves [in A.D. 70]."
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[For further reading on the subject of Revelation's date of composition, see Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament by Jonathan Bernier (2022), Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. (1989), and Redating the New Testament by John A.T. Robinson (1976).]
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