Revelation 11:1 - Meaning and Application

This prophetic picture of measuring the temple clearly points back to Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 40:3 and following). Yet it is not easy to know exactly how to understand either vision. In Ezekiel, the measuring seems to have been for rebuilding the temple in a better form. Here, the measuring may serve one of three purposes: to protect the temple in a time of public danger and disaster, to test it against the true pattern shown by God, or to reform it so that what is too much, too little, or changed is brought back to the right model.

Notice first how much was to be measured. The temple stands for the gospel church as a whole, asking whether it is built and ordered according to the gospel rule, whether it is too narrow or too broad, and whether its entrance is too open or too strict. The altar also is to be measured. Since the altar was the place where worship was offered most solemnly, it can stand for worship in general. The question is whether the church keeps the true altar, both in what it believes and where it places it, meaning whether it takes Christ as its altar and brings all its offerings to him, and whether it places that altar in the holy place, that is, whether it worships God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

The worshippers themselves must also be measured. The issue is whether they make God’s glory their aim and his word their rule in all worship. It also asks whether they come to God with fitting hearts and whether their way of life matches the gospel.

Second, notice what was not to be measured (Revelation 11:2), and why it was left out. “The court that is outside the temple” was not to be measured. Some think Herod, in his additions to the temple, built an outer court called the court of the Gentiles. Others say that Adrian later built the city and an outer court, called it Aelia, and gave it to the Gentiles.

Why was the outer court left out? It was not part of the temple in the pattern given for either Solomon’s temple or Zerubbabel’s temple, so God gave it no special care. He would not mark it out for protection. Since it was meant for the Gentiles, and since pagan customs and ceremonies were being brought in and attached to gospel churches, Christ left it to them to use as they pleased. The city and that court were trampled underfoot for a set time, forty-two months, which some take to mean the whole reign of antichrist.

Those who worship in the outer court are like people who worship in a false way or with hypocritical hearts. God rejects such worshipers, and they will be counted among his enemies. From this whole passage, we may learn several things. God will keep a temple and an altar in the world until the end of time. He watches this temple closely and observes how everything in it is handled.

We also learn that those who stay in the outer court will be rejected, and only those who worship within the veil will be accepted. The holy city, meaning the visible church, is often trampled on in this world. Yet the church’s troubles will last only a limited time, and for only a short time. In the end, she will be delivered from all her troubles.