Apocalypse Revealed # 486
486. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." This symbolizes the Lord's presence and His command to see and learn the state of the church in the New Heaven.
The Lord is meant by the angel, here as in nos. 5, 415, and elsewhere, since an angel does nothing of himself but is impelled by the Lord. That is why the angel said, "I will give power to my two witnesses" (verse 3), when they were the Lord's witnesses. The angel's standing by symbolizes the Lord's presence, and his speaking symbolizes the Lord's command. To rise and measure means, symbolically, to see and learn. We will see below that to measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a state.
The temple, altar, and those who worship there symbolize the state of the church in the New Heaven - the temple symbolizing the church in respect to its doctrinal truth (no. 191), the altar symbolizing the church in respect to the goodness of its love (no. 392), and those who worship there symbolizing the church in respect to its formal worship as a result of those two elements. Those who worship symbolize here the reverence that is a part of formal worship, since the spiritual sense is a sense abstracted from persons (nos. 78, 79, 96), as is apparent here also from the fact that John is told to measure the worshipers. These three elements are what form the church: doctrinal truth, goodness of love, and formal worship as a result of these.
[2] That the church meant is the church in the New Heaven is apparent from the last verse of this chapter, where we are told that "the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple" (verse 19).
This chapter begins with the measuring of the temple in order that the state of the church in heaven might be seen and learned before its conjunction with the church in the world. The church in the world is meant by the court outside the temple, which John was not to measure, because it had been given to the gentiles (verse 2). The same church is then described by the great city called Sodom and Egypt (verses 7, 8). But after that great city fell (verse 13), it follows that the church became the Lord's (verses 15ff.).
It should be known that the church exists in the heavens just as on earth, and that the two are united like the inner and outer selves in people. Consequently the Lord provides the church in heaven first, and from it, or by means of it, then the church on earth. That is why the New Jerusalem is said to come down from God out of the New Heaven (Revelation 21:1-2).
The New Heaven means a new heaven formed from Christians, as described several times in the following chapters.
[3] To measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a thing because the measure of something symbolizes its character or state. All the measurements of the New Jerusalem (chapter 21) have this symbolic meaning, as does the statement there that the angel who had the gold reed measured the city and its gates, and that he measured the wall to be one hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man which is that of an angel (verses 15, 17). Moreover, because the New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church, is it apparent that to measure it and its component parts means, symbolically, to learn its character.
Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in Ezekiel, where we read that an angel measured the house of God: the temple, the altar, the court, and the chambers (Ezekiel 40:3-17; 41:1-5, 13-14, 22; 42:1-20, and 43:1-27). Also that he measured the waters (47:3-5, 9). Therefore the prophet is told:
...show the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the pattern... and... its exits and its entrances, and all its patterns..., so that they may keep its whole design... (Ezekiel 43:10-11)
Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in the following places:
I raised my eyes..., and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem...." (Zechariah 2:1-2)
He stood and measured the earth. (Habakkuk 3:6)
(The Lord Jehovih) has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and gauged heaven with a span... and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. (Isaiah 40:12)
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ...Who determined its measurements? ...Or who stretched the line upon it? (Job 38:4-5)
Job 38
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Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,
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"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
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Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!
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"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
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Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
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Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,
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when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
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"Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the womb,
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when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,
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marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,
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and said, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?'
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"Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;
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that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?
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It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment.
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From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.
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"Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
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Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
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Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.
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"What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,
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that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?
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Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
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Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
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which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
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By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?
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Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;
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To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;
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to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
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Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?
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Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?
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The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.
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"Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
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Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
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Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?
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"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?
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Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?'
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Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
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Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,
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when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?
39
"Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
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when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?
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Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
