Revelation 11:1: ... measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

In Revelation 11:1, John measured the Third Temple at Jerusalem and its altar, which the Jews will rebuild before the midpoint of Armageddon.¹ Christ also directed John to measure or evaluate² them that worship therein.³ Many scholars believe that John symbolically measured the Christian church.⁴ However, that interpretation misinterprets the meaning because John's vision pertains to the future Third Temple at Jerusalem as a center for Jewish worship.⁵ This part of John's vision is focused exclusively on the Jews and Jerusalem in the period of the Great Tribulation⁶ when Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles for 3½ years (42 months).⁷ The worshipers measured by John symbolize the Jews who will be worthy⁸ to stand with Christ when he appears to them on the mount of Olives at the Second Coming.⁹

Jewish worship in the Third Temple will include an unauthorized form¹⁰ of Levitical sacrifice¹¹ patterned after the law of Moses.¹² Such practices are not authorized or efficacious because Christ fulfilled the law of Moses by the sacrifice of his own life.¹³ Nevertheless, these future Jewish sacrifices and oblations will be performed‒by a devout, but misguided people‒in the Third Temple until the midpoint of Armageddon.¹⁴ At this midpoint, the gentile armies gathered against Jerusalem will cause this Jewish sacrifice and oblation to cease.¹⁵ This scene will closely resemble the desecration of the Second Temple of Zerubbabel by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC.¹⁶ On that occasion in history, Jews faithful to the worship of Jehovah rose up and began the Maccabean revolt.¹⁷ The Maccabean freedom fighters retook Jerusalem from the Greek Empire after 3½ years of bloodshed, and they cleansed the temple in 165 BC.¹⁸ Similarly, when the Third Temple is desecrated at the midpoint of Armageddon,¹⁹ the faithful Jews‒those that John will measure‒are those that worship therein. They are those who will fight against the Gentiles for 3½ years (42 months) and ultimately prevail‒both physically and spiritually‒after the Great Tribulation.²⁰

The conditions of the Great Tribulation will separate the proverbial wheat and tares found among the Jews then living.²¹ The wheat consists of those Jews measured by John who remain committed to the worship of Jehovah at the peril of their lives in the likeness of the Maccabean freedom fighters.²² The modern faith of these latter-day Jews may be misplaced by the traditions of their fathers,²³ but they will be purified by the trials they endure.²⁴ This more righteous²⁵ remnant of the Jews will be preserved by God²⁶ through the ministry of the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem for 3½ years.²⁷ They will metaphorically stand in the holy place during the final Abomination of Desolation in the city of Jerusalem.²⁸

The final Abomination of Desolation will occur when the Two Witnesses die and Jerusalem is no longer protected by their sealing power.²⁹ It will mirror former abominations.³⁰ Thus, the Third Temple will be destroyed by modern gentile nations as Herod's Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.³¹ The final Abomination of Desolation will also threaten the entire Jewish population in Jerusalem.³² Nevertheless, Christ will spare the more righteous Jewish remnant from complete destruction when he appears and steps foot on the mount of Olives.³³ He will then gather these more righteous Jews to himself as wheat.³⁴ The tares, on the other hand, are those Jews that give themselves over to the world³⁵ as others before them have done.³⁶ The tares in this context are those Jews that place their self-interests and self-indulgences ahead of God's kingdom.³⁷ Consequently, they shall be bundled and burned like tares at the Second Coming³⁸ because they spiritually stand with the telestial-worthy Gentiles in the unmeasured court that is outside the temple as described in Revelation 11:2.³⁹

John's measurements in Revelation 11:1-2 distinguish telestial-worthy Gentiles in the outer court from terrestrial-worthy Jews⁴⁰ that metaphorically stand in the Holy Place of the Third Temple⁴¹ and worship where the golden altar of incense is located.⁴² The Holy Place in the earthly temple symbolizes the terrestrial kingdom of God in heaven.⁴³ Terrestrial-worthy people will abide the day of Christ's Second Coming,⁴⁴ including the worthy Jewish remnant that will stand with Christ on the mount of Olives in the day of their conversion to his gospel.⁴⁵ This remnant of righteous Jews, will become members of Christ's millennial Church of the Firstborn,⁴⁶ and they will rebuild Jerusalem as a holy city after the Second Coming.⁴⁷ The converted Jews will also build a Fourth Temple in Jerusalem,⁴⁸ and upon its completion the Lord will come to it suddenly.⁴⁹

The Fourth Temple in Jerusalem will be a place where exalting ordinances from the gospel of Jesus Christ will be performed⁵⁰ throughout the millennium.⁵¹ The purified sons of Levi⁵² will also make offerings to the Lord in righteousness in this temple⁵³ as members of Christ's millennial Church of the Firstborn.⁵⁴ Their righteous offerings will include burnt offerings⁵⁵ according to the pattern given in the Law of Moses‒even though Christ's atonement ended the need for all such sacrifices by the shedding of blood.⁵⁶ These sacrifices performed anciently will occur again on a limited basis⁵⁷ as part of the restoration of all things.⁵⁸ Furthermore, burnt offerings will initially be necessary after the Second Coming because the Feast of Tabernacles will also be celebrated then and throughout the millennium.⁵⁹ Ultimately, however, since the millennium will be a period of peace and the complete absence of enmity between humans and animals,⁶⁰ it stands to reason that the killing of sacrificial animals will not continue throughout this 1000-year period.