And a measuring reed like a staff was given to me, saying: “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it. And exclude the outer court and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.” Revelation 11: 1, 2

These verses continue as part of the parenthesis or interlude that is taking place between the sixth and seventh trumpets; an interval that begins in Rev. 10:1 and ends in 11: 13.

The measuring reed represents God’s law or His righteousness. The temple of God is God’s church here on earth. In other words, the people or worshipers of God, whose bodies are God’s temple and are the pillars of His temple as a whole.

John is given the symbolic task of measuring God’s church. That suggests a work of judgment.  What John is to do, and for us to understand, is to compare the worshipers’ characters to the standard of God’s righteousness. And in doing so, there will be a shaking out of the tares (carnally minded) from the wheat. This means that the judgment of the dead from the beginning of time will soon be over and the judgment of the living worshipers will begin (judgment begins at the house of the Lord. 1 Peter 4: 17).

The outer court that’s not to be measured is the world in which the Gentiles live (this world is not ours. Heb. 11: 13). As for the holy city, that too is on earth. It has to be in order for it to be trampled. Trampled is figurative language for persecution.

The church throughout the ages has always been persecuted. That will be the case until Christ returns. But for a particular period of earth’s history – 42 prophetic months or 1260 years, from 538 AD to 1798 AD – God’s true people were under severe attack due to papal tyranny. It’s estimated that during that time, 50-100 million believers were tortured or killed. These were the dark ages, and also known as the “times of the Gentiles.”