The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 270

" which was sacred to Israelites only, And so it represented all those· outer-coui:,t worshippers, those mixed multitudes which are found associated with God's true people everywhere-of them, but not truly belonging to them. The courts of the temple· were aeparated literally, No Gentile durst pass the boundaries which parted the outer court from the rest of the temple on pain of death. llut there is no such visible, material, &eparation in the throng of worshippers in the professing Church of God, We cannot draw the line nor apply the measure. But all the same there is such a line drawn, and it is clearly visible to the eye of God. He can discriminate, though we cannot, between those who profess and those who possess true religion, and one day he will make this difference plain. 'l'ares get in amongst the wheat, bad fish amid the good, the foolish virgins were associated with the wise ; and the worshippers in the true temple of God to-day are mingled with thQIW_ whose place is in the outer court. But as in the parables referred to separalion did come at last, so will it be for the Church of to-day, when the Son of man sends forth his angels, and they "gather out of bis kingdom all that do offend, and they that work iniquity," 'l'be question, there- fore, for us all is-Where do we belong! In that outer court were many who were well disposed towards Israel's God, and professed more or less of attachment to his worship; but they were not true Israelites. And the like is true still, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him" take his place in the Church of God. III. THE MEANING OF ALL THIS. It was because a. time of sore trial was imminent, close at hand. For "forty and two months" the court and the city were to be trodden underfoot by the nations, 'l'he invasion and overthrow of Jerusalem by the Romans, and thllescape of the Christian Church to Pella, supply illustrative historical incidents of the treading underfoot told of here, and of the measuring, like the sealing of eh. vii., for the purpose of separating and preserving God's faithful ones. God ever bas, even in the worst of times, a remnant of such; like the " seven thousand" who bad not bowed the knee to Baal. And he takes notice of them, and will keep them securely, whilst those who are not as they a.re subjected to his sore judgments. The measuring means preservation for the faithful, judgment for all else. " As the mountains are round a.bout Jerusalem, so the Lord is round a.bout his people." The measuring is ever going on. Let us each ask-On which side of that unerring line am I ?-B. C. Vers. 3-13.-The two witnesses. In the absolute impossibility of certainly ascer- taining what definite historical events were in the mind of St. John when he penned these mysterious chapters of bis Apocalypse, we are driven, as perhaps it was designed we should be driven, to take them as an inspired parable or allegory, and so gather from them lessons for our own times, We have done so in regard to the" little book" told of in eh. x,; and in regard to the measuring of temple, altar, and worshippers, told i,f in the first ten verses of this chapter; and we purpose dealing with this record of the two witnesses in a similar way; for we knuw of no other in which our consideration of them can be of any service to us. This entire episode, stretching from cb. x. 1 to eh. xL 13, has to do with these witnesses; eh. x. showing their preparation by means of the book ; eh, xi. 1, 2 showing the people before whom they would witness; and now the vers. 3-13 tell more especially of the witnesses themselves and their witness for God, and then that of God for them. It might seem as if in ver. 4 we had an authoritative explanation of these two witnesses, as it points us back to the prophecy of Zech. iv. 1-3, and tells us that what he saw was now fulfilled. But Zecba.riab's symbol merely tells of the characteristics of these witnesses; that they were to be as the olive trees were-supporters and sustainers of the life to wl,ich they ministered. The olive trees so ministered to the lamps, and these witnesses so ministered to the people of God. They Wtl1'8 also to be as lamps, letting their light shine in such wise as should glorify God, St. John's word, "'l'hese are," etc., therefore means no more than that these are represented by, and correspond to, the two olive trees, etc. But we may, we believe, find the antitypes of those ancient symbols and types of St. John's allegory in our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church. 'l'bey are the two witnesses, and are one to the other as the trees and the lamp; but before the world, both wituess, Look at the life of our Lord and the history of his Church; all that is told of here may be read therein. Christ himself is called in this book, "The faithful and true Witness;" and he himself said of bis Church in her ministry, "This gospelshall be preached for a witness in all nations;,. 302 TBE REVELATION ,Ol!' ST.- JOHN THE DIVINE. tou. xt. 1-11.