A Reed Like a Rod

John is told to prophesy. Then he is given a “reed like a rod” and told to measure. Which is it – prophesy or measure? And if the former, why these tools?

For starters, we can link this to the scene of measuring that is found in Ezekiel. John has been following the lead of Ezekiel in chapter 10, because Ezekiel too was given a book to eat that was like honey but made his stomach bitter. In Ezekiel 40, Ezekiel sees a man like bronze with a measuring line and a reed (v. 3, kalamos) who begins measuring the temple and all its guardhouses and gates and so on. Ezekiel watches as the man measures; John actually is commanded to do the measuring. In Ezekiel, Ezekiel declares the measurements so that the people of Israel will be ashamed of their sins (43:10-12). The temple’s clean lines and symmetrical measurements and strong guardhouses are a portrait of what Israel should be, of the kind of “house” the house of Israel is called to be. When they realize that they don’t “measure up” to God’s measures, they will be ashamed.

What is measured in Scripture is always holy. Measured things are holy things. Measured spaces are holy spaces, and measured furniture is holy furniture. When John receives a measuring rod and is told to measure the temple, he is marking off a holy space. Holy places are inviolable. They belong to God, and they are spaces that God protects and defends. Holy spaces are safe spaces. John is marking off a space that will be protected and will not be violated, and he marks it off in distinction from an area that will be “cast out” and trampled.

John’s reed is like a rod (rabdos). This is not a measuring device, but an instrument of rule and power. Shepherds use rods (Genesis 30), and Moses’ rod is the instrument of his power in Egypt (cf. Exodus 7). The son installed by Yahweh on his throne bears a rabdos of iron (Psalm 2), and the shepherd king of Psalm 23 leads with a rabdos and a staff. In Revelation, the word is used of the rod of iron that Jesus wields (2:27; 12:5; 19:15). John is measuring off a holy space, but the fact that his reed is like a rod also means that he is sharing in the rule of the Son. This is what Jesus promised: Those who overcome will rule with a rod of iron like Jesus’ own and will shatter their enemies like earthenware. John is one who overcomes and therefore shares in the work of Jesus.

A reed like a rod is a prophetic tool because prophecy rules by division. Jesus warned that He brought a sword not peace, and He said that the preaching of His disciples would likewise cause division among the hearers. Some hear and believe, some hear and hate Jesus. 

We can see it happening before our eyes. As Christians have “prophesied” to America over the past fifty years, the lines of division have become starker. The Democratic party and liberal institutions like the university have become bastions  of abortion and of same-sex marriage, places where orthodox Christianity is allowed little room to operate. But the division will penetrate further, dividing unbelieving  conservatives from believers, as conservatives find ways to trim their sails to the winds. We might consider that politically unfortunate, but it’s what happens when the church takes up the “reed like a rod” that Jesus offers.

Faithful prophecy creates a division, and in this way the Word of God accomplishes its work in the world, because the Word of God always divides before reassembling, always breaks down before recreating.