This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to our look at Revelation 11 in
Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're going to start today with verses 1 and 2 and
as we begin into verse 11 and the last part of verse 10, we've begun a change in
the book of Revelation in our look at this book, what's happening in the
Revelation of John. We've gone from sweeping judgments over the entire earth in
the seals and in the first trumpets and now we've begun to focus more on
individuals and what is happening in these lives of individuals that affect
these sweeping judgments.

And as that's happening, we're seeing that John's involved in that. John, who is
the writer of the book of Revelation, who's the one who saw this, wrote it down
and is sharing it with us, now he is beginning to get involved as the prophet.
Last week we saw him eating the scroll, experiencing what it meant to hear God's
truth and take it into his life.

And now we're going to see him in these first couple of verses of chapter 11,
we're going to see him measuring out a temple. Remember as we go into this
chapter, we're finishing a sort of an interlude between the sixth trumpet and
the seventh trumpet as this chapter begins, verses 1 and 2 of Revelation chapter
11. John writes, "I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, 'Go and
measure the temple of God in the altar and count the worshippers there, but
exclude the outer court.

Do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample
on the holy city for forty-two months. '" Well first, the holy city, that last
phrase that we read, what does that mean?

That's the city of Jerusalem. We're going to see as we read through this chapter
that there's much about Jerusalem in this chapter. The city where Jesus lived
and died and was resurrected, it is still at the center of history in some way,
even in the book of Revelation we're going to see.

And in these verses, John is told to measure the temple of God in that city. Now
as people talk about what this means, what does it mean that he was told to
measure a temple? There are three major interpretations of what this means.

Some people think it means the literal temple. There's no temple in Jerusalem
today, it was destroyed back in 70 AD. But some think that a literal temple is
going to be rebuilt in Jerusalem during the time of tribulation, and John here
is measuring it out.

Some people think that this refers to the Jewish people, that somehow it has to
do with the Jewish people being brought back to God during this time of
tribulation. Some think that it means a third interpretation, think it means the
church, that the temple of God is now by God's spirit in God's church, and it's
a symbol of the fact that God's church is going to be protected by God during
the time of tribulation. Now what does it mean?

A literal temple of God could certainly be rebuilt. Of course it could. I
believe that this very well may happen.

But could there also be a different understanding in these verses, in which it's
not talking about a literal temple being rebuilt? Of course that's a possible
understanding. That's why many strong believers have had that understanding.

My concern? My concern is that we not get so caught up in possible indications
of the rebuilding of a temple that we miss the depth of truth in these verses.
I've seen some, they read these verses and instead of talking about the
spiritual truth in these verses, we tend to turn to news stories about, "Well, I
heard this rumor about a temple being rebuilt," or "This happened in a certain
Jewish organization.

" Listen, if God's going to allow a literal temple to be rebuilt, He will do it.
I don't need some news story to let me know that. And if God's going to do it a
different way, He will do it.

I don't want to miss the truth. What are three truths that are in this passage
that are not to be missed? Truth number one, God is the owner.

Truth number two, God protects those who are His. And truth number three, God
will judge those who are not His. Those are the three truths that are in this
passage.

Truth number one is God is the owner. Why is John challenged to measure out the
temple and the worshipers that are there? Measuring is a sign of ownership.

I don't know if you've ever been maybe working in an office and you've got your
cubicle and somebody walks by someday and they have a measuring tape with them
and they start to measure out your office. Whenever somebody does something like
that, you're thinking, "Oh, what's going on here? They must be moving in.

I must be moving out. " That's why you measure something. If you go to buy a new
house, you start to measure the rooms.

Measuring is a sign of ownership. And what's happening here is it's being very
clearly communicated. God is the owner.

God's the owner of everything. And as the owner, it is His right to bless and it
is His right to judge. He is measuring out this temple of God as He's counting
the worshipers there.

He is showing that it is His intention to protect those who are His. That's the
second major truth here. God protects those who are His.

This is a symbol of the protection of God over true believers during this time
of tribulation. I don't know what is going to happen physically to true
believers during this time of tribulation. We're told a little bit.

We're not told a lot. I do know that even today, God allows believers in Christ
to go through physical torture, physical problems, physical suffering, but He
always protects us spiritually. I may go through a physical circumstance in my
life that is a place of suffering, but I am protected by God's promise no matter
what I go through to know I am secure in His love.

Romans 8, the last couple of verses remind us that neither death nor life nor
angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come, nothing in all
creation can separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. We are
His. You are His.

And nothing can separate you from that love. There is no circumstance, there's
no tribulation, even this great tribulation that can separate those who are
truly God's children from God. This is a great truth.

The temple of God is measured, the altar of God is measured, those who worship
in it are measured saying God is going to protect those who are His. Now some
think when it comes to the practical nature of what's happening here that this
indicates that somehow the church has not yet been raptured during this time.
How could God measure them out if they had been raptured?

Others think that these are those who have become believers after the rapture
and before Jesus' final return. That's not really the point here. It's not
really talked about in these verses, but the point is whoever is here during
that time God is going to protect them because He protects spiritually those who
are His.

You are safe in His hands. Your spirit, your soul is safe in the hands of God.
Do not rely on the circumstances of your life to give you a false sense of
spiritual protection.

You cannot get spiritual protection from physical circumstances. There's ups and
downs with those. The protection comes from Him.

That's the focus of these verses. These verses also tell us a third thing. First
God's the owner, second God protects those who are His, and number three, God
will judge those who are not His.

You probably noticed in these verses John was to exclude the outer court, not to
measure it because it had been given to the Gentiles. Now here the word Gentiles
doesn't mean believers who are not Jews. Here it particularly means those who
are living for themselves or those who are living apart from a relationship with
God, those who are separated from His presence.

And God says they are going to be judged. In fact, He says they will trample on
the city for 42 months. And He's going to use those who will be judged as an
instrument of judgment.

God often does this. He uses others as an instrument of judgment. You can see
this all through the Old Testament when God used foreign nations as an
instrument of judgment upon Israel when they wandered away from God.

And you see it here in the book of Revelation. But the fact that God uses
another as an instrument of judgment doesn't mean that they're the judge.
Sometimes they think that pridefully.

And then they have to realize, no, no, it's not true. God is still the judge. In
fact, notice in these verses that God is still in charge.

He's in charge of the amount of time of this judgment. Notice it was for 42
months. He's controlling exactly how far the judgment can reach.

It can reach to the outer courts, the place where those who are not worshipers
of God, it is not going to be able to reach to the inner courts in this case.
God is in control. Now I said 42 months.

That's the time. If you're quick with math, you've realized, okay, that's three
and a half years. And you know that in the book of Revelation, three and a half
years is an important number.

We're going to talk about that more tomorrow. For today as we end, I want to
just focus again on these truths. God is the owner.

Live that truth today. God is going to protect those who are His. You can live
secure in His love.

And God will judge those who are not His. You can live secure in His justice.
Let's pray together.

Thank you, Father. Thank you for your wonderful love that's revealed in powerful
ways. And even as we go through the book of Revelation, let us not forget the
grace and the love that you poured out in Jesus Christ.

Those who suffer in this book, they don't have to suffer. We can be protected in
you. And I pray, even as we listen to this now, that you would give a sense of
security into our hearts and souls, that whatever the circumstance we're facing,
God spiritually, to the depth of our soul, where it really counts, into
eternity, you will protect us.

We are safe in your eternal hands. We thank you for this, Father. In your name,
we pray, Jesus, amen.