The Trampling Of The Courtyard

Why was John forbidden to measure the courtyard? He tells us in these words: "But as for the courtyard that is outside the temple sanctuary, cast it clear out and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city underfoot for forty-two months." (Revelation11:2) We have noted that the inner courtyard pictures the righteous standing on earth of spirit- begotten Christians. As we shall see, the reference here is to the literal 42 months extending from October 1914 into 1918, when all professing Christians were put to a severe test. Would they uphold Jehovah's righteous standards during those war years? Most did not. Enbloc, the clergy of Christendom put nationalism ahead of obedience to divine law. On both sides of the war, which was fought mainly in Christendom, the clergy preached the young men into the trenches. Millions were slaughtered. By the time that judgment started with the house of God in 1918, the United States had also entered that blood spilling, and the clergy of all Christendom had incurred a blood guilt that still cries out for divine vengeance. (1 Peter 4:17) Their being cast out has become permanent, irreversible. -Isaiah 59:1-3, 7, 8; Jeremiah 19:3, 4)

What though, of the small group of Bible Students? Were they to be measured immediately in 1914 by their adherence to divine standards? No. Like the professed Christians of Christendom, they too must be tested. They were 'cast clear out, given to the nations' to be severely tried and persecuted. Many of them realized that they should not go out and kill their fellowman, but as yet they did not fully appreciate Christian neutrality. (Micah 4:3; John 17:14, 16; 1 John 3:15) Under pressure from the nations, some compromised.

How was it, though, that the holy city was trampled underfoot by those nations? Clearly, this does not refer to the Jerusalem that was destroyed over 25 years before Revelation was written. Rather, the holy city is New Jerusalem, described later in Revelation, that is represented now on earth by the remaining anointed Christians in the temple's inner courtyard. In time, these also will become a part of the holy city. So trampling on them is tantamount to trampling on the city itself. -Revelation 21:2, 9-21.

Next time: The Two Witnesses