Revelation 11:1: And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar.

John describes the seven-year battle of Physical Armageddon (Second Woe) in Revelation 9:11-13:14.¹ Revelation 9:13-21 gives an overview of the entire seven-year battle.² Revelation chapter 10 describes events at the 3½-year midpoint when righteous saints from all ages will gather to Adam-ondi-Ahman³ and Christ will begin to take dominion on the earth.⁴ Revelation 11:1-14 describes the ministry of the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem during the last 3½ years of Armageddon,⁵ which is also called the Great Tribulation.⁶ Revelation chapter 11 begins where Revelation chapter 10 left off without interruption, interlude, or any passage of time.⁷

In Revelation chapter 10, Christ gave John a little book as a mission that John had to perform to prepare the Lost Ten Tribes to attend the gathering of saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁸ In Revelation chapter 11, Christ gives to John⁹ a reed like unto a rod to measure the temple at Jerusalem.¹⁰ The imagery of the reed comes from Ezekiel 40:2-3, and from Zechariah chapter 2.¹¹ Both prophets described the reconstruction of the Second Temple of Zerubbabel after the Babylonian captivity. The construction of that Second Temple foreshadows the reconstruction of the Third Temple at Jerusalem before the Second Coming.¹²

The symbolism of the reed in John's vision comes from a plant that grows in the swampy areas of Palestine. These plants have a long circular stem¹³ that can be used for measuring.¹⁴ Ordinarily, the reed symbolizes weakness because reeds bend and break when the wind blows against them.¹⁵ However, in this case, the reed was also a strong staff like unto a rod.¹⁶ The rod symbolizes a standard measure for the things of God.¹⁷ John symbolically used this reed like unto a rod to determine the measure of God's chastisement against the Jews during the period of the Great Tribulation.¹⁸ The rod is also a symbol of John's power and authority¹⁹ as reflected by his charge to immediately rise (come) and measure the temple.²⁰

John measured²¹ the temple of God, and the altar to symbolize that Christ will take possession and ownership of these things during the Great Tribulation.²² This exercise of dominion²³ flows naturally from the gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman where Christ receives back the keys that give him earthly dominion.²⁴ Christ will exercise the dominion given him at Adam-ondi-Ahman to preserve²⁵ the Third Temple in Jerusalem and its altar as objects of his ownership²⁶ during the 3½ years of the Great Tribulation.²⁷ Christ will protect the Third Temple and its altar²⁸ through the Two Witnesses who will minister as his agents in Jerusalem during the 42 months (3½ years) of the Great Tribulation.²⁹

The temple refers to the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place.³⁰ The altar must therefore refer to the golden altar of incense located inside the Holy Place.³¹ This is also apparently true because the Savior specifically told John in Revelation 11:2 not to measure the outer court where the brazen altar of sacrifice would be located.³²

Some scholars believe that John did not measure the image of an actual temple in his vision because the Romans destroyed the Second Temple of Herod in 70 AD, which occurred 26 years before John's vision on Patmos island in 96 AD.³³ The destruction of Herod's Temple in 70 AD is not material to the vision in Revelation chapter 11 except as a type and foreshadow. In Revelation 11:1, John measured the future³⁴ Third Temple³⁵ that the unconverted Jews will build in Jerusalem³⁶ no later than the first half of Armageddon³⁷ according to the timing predicted in the Seventy Weeks Prophesy.³⁸ The Jews may not even realize that the construction of this temple is a primary reason for their latter-day gathering³⁹ to Jerusalem that began in the 1800's.⁴⁰ The Third Temple will be built before the redemption of the Jews as God's covenant people at the Second Coming.⁴¹ There will be intense opposition to construction of the Third Temple as there was when the Samaritans blocked⁴² Jewish efforts to construct the Second Temple of Zerubbabel after the Babylonian captivity.⁴³

The Jews must build the Third Temple and worship therein before the Gentiles can cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease at the midpoint of Armageddon as predicted in Daniel 9:27.⁴⁴ During the last 42 months (3½ years) of Armageddon,⁴⁵ the Two Witnesses will use the sealing power to preserve Jerusalem generally⁴⁶ and to protect the Jews that worship therein specifically.⁴⁷ After the Great Tribulation of 42 months, however, the Two Witnesses will be martyred⁴⁸ and their dead bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for 3½ days.⁴⁹ The Gentiles will then have power to overrun half of Jerusalem as predicted in Zechariah 14:2.⁵⁰ In the same 3½ days, the Third Temple will be utterly destroyed in yet another Abomination of Desolation,⁵¹ just as Herod's temple was destroyed during the Abomination of Desolation in 70 AD.⁵²