Revelation 11:1–2 - The Lines Have Been Drawn
In the second round of the 2021 NBA playoffs, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks were taking on Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets. Giannis and Durant are considered two of the best to ever play basketball at the highest level. It was a classic matchup.
And in the seven-game playoff series, they had reached the decisive Game 7. A classic series. The stakes couldn’t have been higher. Winner advances; loser goes home. With 6 seconds remaining in that final game, the score was Milwaukee 109, Brooklyn 107. Brooklyn had the ball. Only 6 seconds to make something happen.
Try to picture this. The ball is inbounded to Durant – their star player. He dribbles out around the three point line, tries to drive to the basket but the way isn’t clear. So he backs up to the three point line again, and with 2 seconds left, Durant rises and shoots, and the ball goes in the basket with 1 second left on the clock! The hometown Brooklyn crowd goes wild. The TV announcer exclaims, “Durant hits a three!”
But – video revealed that Durant’s foot was on the three point line; therefore, it was a two-pointer, which didn’t win the game, but tied it. So the game went into overtime, which Milwaukee (not Brooklyn) won, on their way to winning the 2021 NBA championship.
After the game, Durant said that he initially thought the shot was a three. “But,” he said, “my big foot stepped on the line. I just saw how close I was to ending their season with that shot.” Incidentally, Durant wears a size 18 shoe!
The lines matter, don’t they? Boundaries must be respected. Transgressing the boundaries – going over or beyond the limits – matters in sports, but even much more in life. God has drawn boundaries for mankind in the world He made. But we naturally want to redraw the lines so that we find ourselves inside God’s boundaries.
Wouldn’t Kevin Durant have been pleased if that three-point line was just a little farther toward the basket and away from his size 18 sneaker? Of course, but the boundaries are fixed. In God’s world, mankind doesn’t draw the lines of His moral law. We don’t determine what makes someone “acceptable” or “unacceptable” in God’s presence. God does, and He has pronounced all mankind outside the boundaries because of our sin. Every one of us has transgressed the lines God has drawn.
Yet we can be welcomed inside the lines. We can come to God. Only Jesus Christ lived a human life inside the lines in the place of those He came to save. And trusting in Him, He brings us to God. He saves us. And just as Christ rose to new life, those who claim to trust in Him should walk in newness of life by living for Him in these last days – by making every effort to operate within the boundary lines of God’s moral law.
But why do these lines matter so much? If grace covers all sin, what difference do the boundaries make? What’s at stake when it comes to aligning ourselves with the boundaries of God’s Word and His will?
Notice the outline printed for you. According to Revelation 11:1-2, God’s boundary lines are a matter of heaven or hell because, In the last days, true Christians will persevere within the lines God has drawn, but nominal Christians will perish outside the lines God has drawn.
“Nominal” means “in name only.” A nominal Christian is someone really isn’t truly a Christian. They outwardly profess to be believers, but aren’t part of God’s temple – of His people. This vision that Christ gives to the apostle John indicates that these people see themselves as part of the church. But their lives and their beliefs don’t reflect it, and their future will reveal it. So let’s look these verses together.
This first part of chapter 11 continues what began in chapter 10. Like Revelation 7, which was an interlude or break between the 6th and 7th seal. this is an interlude or break between the 6th and 7th trumpet. The purpose of these breaks is to encourage and instruct believers as we live in the last days: as we walk by faith, make every effort to obey God, and wait on the return of Christ.
This is a brief pause before Christ gives another vision of the Last Day – the day of Judgment. The 7th seal and the 7th trumpet look at the Judgment Day from different angles. And this pause addresses the believer’s experience during the last days. The 1st through 6th trumpets showed that the natural disasters and all the wickedness and the wars that we observe are loud warnings to turn to God. They proclaim our need for Him. These things will be ongoing until the 7th trumpet sounds – that moment when Jesus returns.
Now look at verse [1] Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff.” Like so much in Revelation, there is OT precedent for this. Ezek. 40 and Zech. 2 refer to a device for measuring the temple. The prophets were to observe God’s boundary lines. And that comes up again here, see the rest of the verse: “and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.”
What is Christ telling John to do? Basically to observe the boundary lines which contain His people on earth. He is to note the borders, to recognize the confines of the place where His presence dwells. These are dimensions that God has determined. John does not determine the measurements; rather he’s told to “trace them out.” To point them out.
There’s some disagreement broadly speaking among believers regarding what temple this is. Some think it refers to the old Jewish temple, but with the coming of Christ into the world, that physical temple was superseded. The OC sacrifices and worship became irrelevant. Christ is the fulfillment of all those things. And so the apostles of Jesus recognized that the true temple of God – His dwelling place on the earth – is not within a building, but with His people.
For instance, in Ephesians 2, Paul says the people of God – the church – Jews and Gentiles together who are saved in Christ – are actually like a building. Paul says we are, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” The people of God are the temple. The body of an individual Christian who has the indwelling Holy Spirit is described by Paul in 1 Cor. 6 as “a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
But Christianity is not about you going off by yourself. In 1 Peter 2, the apostle Peter tells first century believers, “As you come to [Christ], a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” Those who are saved are God’s temple on earth. And God decides the “specs” of His temple.” He determines who is accepted or rejected.
Look again at God’s command: “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.” Apparently John sees the earthly Jerusalem with its earthly temple. After all, it foreshadowed the coming of Christ into the world. But like the rest of Revelation, what John sees is symbolic. His visions symbolize reality.
For example, in chapter 1 the lampstands represent the church. In this verse, the temple with its altar and worshippers represent the true church. Inside the lines measured by John are those who truly know God in Christ – those who are made clean by the blood of Jesus, who offer acceptable worship to Him, and who desire to live for Christ because the Holy Spirit within them prompts that desire.
The message here is very clear. In the last days, true Christians will persevere within the lines God has drawn. And so you can see the importance of His written Word and the correct interpretation, explanation, and application of it. God had given His Word and His Holy Spirit to His church so that we may know where the boundaries are.
Now, the boundaries of knowing God are clear. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Any and everything you’ve done or could do is on the other side of the line when it comes to how you are saved. It is Christ alone: His perfect life and sacrificial death and glorious resurrection. Salvation is not by works, therefore, no one can boast. No one can claim a molecule of glory for their salvation. It is all Jesus and only Jesus.
With that being understood, Scripture reveals that true salvation in a person will be demonstrated by repentance. There is a desire and attempt to turn from sin and live within the lines of God’s moral law. Of course, we still naturally transgress those boundaries. In Romans 7, Paul describes the battle going on within a true Christian. We are pulled in two directions: between respecting God’s boundaries and rejecting them. This inner struggle troubled Paul so much that he cried out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Christ alone is our hope to be saved. We don’t hope in our ability to keep His law to be saved. But you must accept that the moral law of God is good. It outlines the best way to live. It shows us how to operate according to God’s ways, in line with His character and values. It’s not easy to live that way in this world, with the battle going on inside of us.
But it’s the way of wholeness and healthiness of soul and mind. It’s the way of true and lasting peace within. It is the way of soundness. It’s the truly sensible and rational way to live in the world God has made. But the world and even your own sinful nature hates everything about God’s moral law.
Don’t you find this to be the case? You agree that God’s way makes sense, but the way of the sinful nature feels right. It feels like it would satisfy and put you at ease. But it only destroys. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. But it destroys. It destroys the self, it destroys relationships.
And please listen to me very carefully: if you persist in transgressing and disregarding God’s lines without remorse, with no humility, but with carelessness, this may be revealing that you, in fact, don’t truly know God. You may think you have Christ, when in reality, you don’t. That’s the point of this next verse. Look at verse 2.
Jesus then tells John, [2] “but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out.” Don’t regard that part as included in the true temple of God. Don’t trace those lines. Why? “for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.” The “holy city” of Jerusalem was no longer holy when John received this vision. It used to be holy – or “set apart” – but that was only during the time that it pointed to Jesus. Holiness is not based on geographic location or ethnicity. Being set apart is based on faith.
This language of God “giving people over to something” is used throughout the NT. God gives these people what they want. They don’t truly want Christ. They don’t want God or want His ways. They don’t want His truth. They don’t want His law. They want to use the common expression today – “their truth.” These are people who don’t want to fight the good fight of respecting the lines God had drawn. They want to move the lines for themselves or for others. They want to redraw the lines so that their wants and desires are inbounds.
This area of “the court outside the temple” represents or symbolizes those who are nominal Christians. As I said before, they are Christians “in name only.” NT scholar William Hendriksen makes this powerful comment about verse 2, describing this area immediately outside the inner court as “the false church.” He writes, “The world invades this false church and takes possession of it. Worldly church members welcome the ideas of the world; they feel themselves perfectly at home with the world; they have a good time in worldly company; in voting for political offices they are prompted by worldly considerations; in brief, they love the world. This condition lasts throughout the forty-two months; that is, throughout the gospel age.”
Like these other numbers we’ve seen in Revelation, 42 months is symbolic. This amount of time comes up again multiple times in Revelation. It’s sometimes stated as “1260 days,” or as “time and times and half a time.” These are symbolic ways of describing the last days as a finite amount of time. God already knows how long it will be because He has established the length of time.
Interestingly, the number 7 symbolizes completion in Revelation and the number 6 symbolizes failure, as with the 666 mark of the beast. Both numbers are factors of 42, and in other passages of Scripture we see the significance of multiples of certain numbers. However, there’s no conclusive understanding of why Christ chooses this number.
But in the end, we should understand that the length of the gospel age is perfect in that it is measured out by and decreed by God, and yet it falls short of perfection in that the saving work of Christ is not complete until He returns to gather His people, judge the wicked, and make all things new. So, throughout the last days, the gospel of Christ must be proclaimed.
And Jesus tells John that during this time, the nations will trample the outer court. You see, true Christians will persevere within the lines God has drawn; but those who are Christian in name only – those who are nominal Christians – will perish outside the lines God has drawn. Nominal church members and regular attenders will be carried away by the world, far beyond the boundaries of Christ and His law, and into eternal ruin.
Glance again at these verses. There is protection inside the temple. Destruction outside of it. There is life in Christ with the people of God; there is destruction and death outside without Christ and away from the people of God.
Remember, this vision is given to encourage the church in every generation until Jesus returns. Life is not easy with Christ, but it is secure. True Christians may lose possessions in this world. We may lose opportunities for our obedience to Christ. We may lose various worldly freedoms,
we may lose health, or wealth, or personal relationships with family or friends, we may lose worldly status or reputation. But, as the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, “we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are [not lasting], but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Look within. Try to be honest with yourself. Are you persevering with Christ? If not, you will perish – you will be destroyed – without Him.
These are difficult times in which we live. Today is much like the times of the OT judges in ancient Israel, when, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” In other words, when so many of the people were trying to redraw the lines of God, and remap His boundaries. They wanted to walk out to where they could please their own sinful nature or please their sinful family members or neighbors, and draw a new line – one that would include them in safety and success.
That’s why we move the lines, isn’t it? To be accepted by the world, or to feel that God is not disapproving of our deeds or desires? You don’t make the boundaries. God does. You don’t draw the lines. The church does not shape God’s holy Word; His Word shapes the church.
We don’t bring any good thing to Christ for our salvation. We come inside the boundaries of His presence by His grace. There’s an old song the church sings called “Rock of Ages.” One verse says, “Not the labors of my hands, Can fulfill Your law's demands.” Then the author says he couldn’t have enough zeal for God or shed enough tears for sin. “All for sin could not atone, You must save and You alone! Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to the cross I cling! Naked come to You for dress, Helpless look to You for grace.
Look to Christ and learn Christ. Rest in Jesus and abide in Him, as He says in John 15. What that means is to obey His Word and remain with Him. To stay with Jesus – where the safety is, where the truth and the life is.
Whatever boundaries of God you’ve been trampling over, will you reject those lies now and draw near to Jesus? If not, the lines you trample today will leave you trampled by the world in the end.
Let’s bow in prayer.
And in the seven-game playoff series, they had reached the decisive Game 7. A classic series. The stakes couldn’t have been higher. Winner advances; loser goes home. With 6 seconds remaining in that final game, the score was Milwaukee 109, Brooklyn 107. Brooklyn had the ball. Only 6 seconds to make something happen.
Try to picture this. The ball is inbounded to Durant – their star player. He dribbles out around the three point line, tries to drive to the basket but the way isn’t clear. So he backs up to the three point line again, and with 2 seconds left, Durant rises and shoots, and the ball goes in the basket with 1 second left on the clock! The hometown Brooklyn crowd goes wild. The TV announcer exclaims, “Durant hits a three!”
But – video revealed that Durant’s foot was on the three point line; therefore, it was a two-pointer, which didn’t win the game, but tied it. So the game went into overtime, which Milwaukee (not Brooklyn) won, on their way to winning the 2021 NBA championship.
After the game, Durant said that he initially thought the shot was a three. “But,” he said, “my big foot stepped on the line. I just saw how close I was to ending their season with that shot.” Incidentally, Durant wears a size 18 shoe!
The lines matter, don’t they? Boundaries must be respected. Transgressing the boundaries – going over or beyond the limits – matters in sports, but even much more in life. God has drawn boundaries for mankind in the world He made. But we naturally want to redraw the lines so that we find ourselves inside God’s boundaries.
Wouldn’t Kevin Durant have been pleased if that three-point line was just a little farther toward the basket and away from his size 18 sneaker? Of course, but the boundaries are fixed. In God’s world, mankind doesn’t draw the lines of His moral law. We don’t determine what makes someone “acceptable” or “unacceptable” in God’s presence. God does, and He has pronounced all mankind outside the boundaries because of our sin. Every one of us has transgressed the lines God has drawn.
Yet we can be welcomed inside the lines. We can come to God. Only Jesus Christ lived a human life inside the lines in the place of those He came to save. And trusting in Him, He brings us to God. He saves us. And just as Christ rose to new life, those who claim to trust in Him should walk in newness of life by living for Him in these last days – by making every effort to operate within the boundary lines of God’s moral law.
But why do these lines matter so much? If grace covers all sin, what difference do the boundaries make? What’s at stake when it comes to aligning ourselves with the boundaries of God’s Word and His will?
Notice the outline printed for you. According to Revelation 11:1-2, God’s boundary lines are a matter of heaven or hell because, In the last days, true Christians will persevere within the lines God has drawn, but nominal Christians will perish outside the lines God has drawn.
“Nominal” means “in name only.” A nominal Christian is someone really isn’t truly a Christian. They outwardly profess to be believers, but aren’t part of God’s temple – of His people. This vision that Christ gives to the apostle John indicates that these people see themselves as part of the church. But their lives and their beliefs don’t reflect it, and their future will reveal it. So let’s look these verses together.
This first part of chapter 11 continues what began in chapter 10. Like Revelation 7, which was an interlude or break between the 6th and 7th seal. this is an interlude or break between the 6th and 7th trumpet. The purpose of these breaks is to encourage and instruct believers as we live in the last days: as we walk by faith, make every effort to obey God, and wait on the return of Christ.
This is a brief pause before Christ gives another vision of the Last Day – the day of Judgment. The 7th seal and the 7th trumpet look at the Judgment Day from different angles. And this pause addresses the believer’s experience during the last days. The 1st through 6th trumpets showed that the natural disasters and all the wickedness and the wars that we observe are loud warnings to turn to God. They proclaim our need for Him. These things will be ongoing until the 7th trumpet sounds – that moment when Jesus returns.
Now look at verse [1] Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff.” Like so much in Revelation, there is OT precedent for this. Ezek. 40 and Zech. 2 refer to a device for measuring the temple. The prophets were to observe God’s boundary lines. And that comes up again here, see the rest of the verse: “and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.”
What is Christ telling John to do? Basically to observe the boundary lines which contain His people on earth. He is to note the borders, to recognize the confines of the place where His presence dwells. These are dimensions that God has determined. John does not determine the measurements; rather he’s told to “trace them out.” To point them out.
There’s some disagreement broadly speaking among believers regarding what temple this is. Some think it refers to the old Jewish temple, but with the coming of Christ into the world, that physical temple was superseded. The OC sacrifices and worship became irrelevant. Christ is the fulfillment of all those things. And so the apostles of Jesus recognized that the true temple of God – His dwelling place on the earth – is not within a building, but with His people.
For instance, in Ephesians 2, Paul says the people of God – the church – Jews and Gentiles together who are saved in Christ – are actually like a building. Paul says we are, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” The people of God are the temple. The body of an individual Christian who has the indwelling Holy Spirit is described by Paul in 1 Cor. 6 as “a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
But Christianity is not about you going off by yourself. In 1 Peter 2, the apostle Peter tells first century believers, “As you come to [Christ], a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” Those who are saved are God’s temple on earth. And God decides the “specs” of His temple.” He determines who is accepted or rejected.
Look again at God’s command: “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.” Apparently John sees the earthly Jerusalem with its earthly temple. After all, it foreshadowed the coming of Christ into the world. But like the rest of Revelation, what John sees is symbolic. His visions symbolize reality.
For example, in chapter 1 the lampstands represent the church. In this verse, the temple with its altar and worshippers represent the true church. Inside the lines measured by John are those who truly know God in Christ – those who are made clean by the blood of Jesus, who offer acceptable worship to Him, and who desire to live for Christ because the Holy Spirit within them prompts that desire.
The message here is very clear. In the last days, true Christians will persevere within the lines God has drawn. And so you can see the importance of His written Word and the correct interpretation, explanation, and application of it. God had given His Word and His Holy Spirit to His church so that we may know where the boundaries are.
Now, the boundaries of knowing God are clear. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Any and everything you’ve done or could do is on the other side of the line when it comes to how you are saved. It is Christ alone: His perfect life and sacrificial death and glorious resurrection. Salvation is not by works, therefore, no one can boast. No one can claim a molecule of glory for their salvation. It is all Jesus and only Jesus.
With that being understood, Scripture reveals that true salvation in a person will be demonstrated by repentance. There is a desire and attempt to turn from sin and live within the lines of God’s moral law. Of course, we still naturally transgress those boundaries. In Romans 7, Paul describes the battle going on within a true Christian. We are pulled in two directions: between respecting God’s boundaries and rejecting them. This inner struggle troubled Paul so much that he cried out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Christ alone is our hope to be saved. We don’t hope in our ability to keep His law to be saved. But you must accept that the moral law of God is good. It outlines the best way to live. It shows us how to operate according to God’s ways, in line with His character and values. It’s not easy to live that way in this world, with the battle going on inside of us.
But it’s the way of wholeness and healthiness of soul and mind. It’s the way of true and lasting peace within. It is the way of soundness. It’s the truly sensible and rational way to live in the world God has made. But the world and even your own sinful nature hates everything about God’s moral law.
Don’t you find this to be the case? You agree that God’s way makes sense, but the way of the sinful nature feels right. It feels like it would satisfy and put you at ease. But it only destroys. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. But it destroys. It destroys the self, it destroys relationships.
And please listen to me very carefully: if you persist in transgressing and disregarding God’s lines without remorse, with no humility, but with carelessness, this may be revealing that you, in fact, don’t truly know God. You may think you have Christ, when in reality, you don’t. That’s the point of this next verse. Look at verse 2.
Jesus then tells John, [2] “but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out.” Don’t regard that part as included in the true temple of God. Don’t trace those lines. Why? “for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.” The “holy city” of Jerusalem was no longer holy when John received this vision. It used to be holy – or “set apart” – but that was only during the time that it pointed to Jesus. Holiness is not based on geographic location or ethnicity. Being set apart is based on faith.
This language of God “giving people over to something” is used throughout the NT. God gives these people what they want. They don’t truly want Christ. They don’t want God or want His ways. They don’t want His truth. They don’t want His law. They want to use the common expression today – “their truth.” These are people who don’t want to fight the good fight of respecting the lines God had drawn. They want to move the lines for themselves or for others. They want to redraw the lines so that their wants and desires are inbounds.
This area of “the court outside the temple” represents or symbolizes those who are nominal Christians. As I said before, they are Christians “in name only.” NT scholar William Hendriksen makes this powerful comment about verse 2, describing this area immediately outside the inner court as “the false church.” He writes, “The world invades this false church and takes possession of it. Worldly church members welcome the ideas of the world; they feel themselves perfectly at home with the world; they have a good time in worldly company; in voting for political offices they are prompted by worldly considerations; in brief, they love the world. This condition lasts throughout the forty-two months; that is, throughout the gospel age.”
Like these other numbers we’ve seen in Revelation, 42 months is symbolic. This amount of time comes up again multiple times in Revelation. It’s sometimes stated as “1260 days,” or as “time and times and half a time.” These are symbolic ways of describing the last days as a finite amount of time. God already knows how long it will be because He has established the length of time.
Interestingly, the number 7 symbolizes completion in Revelation and the number 6 symbolizes failure, as with the 666 mark of the beast. Both numbers are factors of 42, and in other passages of Scripture we see the significance of multiples of certain numbers. However, there’s no conclusive understanding of why Christ chooses this number.
But in the end, we should understand that the length of the gospel age is perfect in that it is measured out by and decreed by God, and yet it falls short of perfection in that the saving work of Christ is not complete until He returns to gather His people, judge the wicked, and make all things new. So, throughout the last days, the gospel of Christ must be proclaimed.
And Jesus tells John that during this time, the nations will trample the outer court. You see, true Christians will persevere within the lines God has drawn; but those who are Christian in name only – those who are nominal Christians – will perish outside the lines God has drawn. Nominal church members and regular attenders will be carried away by the world, far beyond the boundaries of Christ and His law, and into eternal ruin.
Glance again at these verses. There is protection inside the temple. Destruction outside of it. There is life in Christ with the people of God; there is destruction and death outside without Christ and away from the people of God.
Remember, this vision is given to encourage the church in every generation until Jesus returns. Life is not easy with Christ, but it is secure. True Christians may lose possessions in this world. We may lose opportunities for our obedience to Christ. We may lose various worldly freedoms,
we may lose health, or wealth, or personal relationships with family or friends, we may lose worldly status or reputation. But, as the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, “we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are [not lasting], but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Look within. Try to be honest with yourself. Are you persevering with Christ? If not, you will perish – you will be destroyed – without Him.
These are difficult times in which we live. Today is much like the times of the OT judges in ancient Israel, when, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” In other words, when so many of the people were trying to redraw the lines of God, and remap His boundaries. They wanted to walk out to where they could please their own sinful nature or please their sinful family members or neighbors, and draw a new line – one that would include them in safety and success.
That’s why we move the lines, isn’t it? To be accepted by the world, or to feel that God is not disapproving of our deeds or desires? You don’t make the boundaries. God does. You don’t draw the lines. The church does not shape God’s holy Word; His Word shapes the church.
We don’t bring any good thing to Christ for our salvation. We come inside the boundaries of His presence by His grace. There’s an old song the church sings called “Rock of Ages.” One verse says, “Not the labors of my hands, Can fulfill Your law's demands.” Then the author says he couldn’t have enough zeal for God or shed enough tears for sin. “All for sin could not atone, You must save and You alone! Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to the cross I cling! Naked come to You for dress, Helpless look to You for grace.
Look to Christ and learn Christ. Rest in Jesus and abide in Him, as He says in John 15. What that means is to obey His Word and remain with Him. To stay with Jesus – where the safety is, where the truth and the life is.
Whatever boundaries of God you’ve been trampling over, will you reject those lies now and draw near to Jesus? If not, the lines you trample today will leave you trampled by the world in the end.
Let’s bow in prayer.
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