Chapter Twenty-Five/Reviving the Two Witnesses - 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." (Revelation 11:2) 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 the test. Would they uphold Jehovah's righteous standards during these war years? Most did not. En-bloc, 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 n 1918, the United States had also entered that blood- spilling, and the clergy of all Christendom had incurred a bloodguilt that still cries out for divine vengeance. (1 Peter 4:17) Their being cast out has become permanent, irreversible. - ISAIAH59:1-3,7, 8; JEREMIAH 19:3, 4. 

Next time: Chapter Twenty-Five/Reviving the Two Witnesses - The Trampling of the Courtyard - Conclusion

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