Revelation 11:1-2; Court Without the Temple (3)
Revelation 11:1-2 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, and them that worship therein. 2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
John was told to measure the temple of God, including the altar, and those who worship in it. Obviously, this was not an effort to determine its physical dimensions, since none are given, but was conveying some important truth beyond architecture. It could have indicated, as on occasion in the Old Testament, that God sometimes marks things out for destruction (e.g., 2 Sam. 8:2; 2 Kings 21:13; Isa. 28:17; Lam. 2:8; Amos 7:7–9, 17). But John’s measuring is better understood as signifying ownership, defining the parameters of God’s possessions (cf. 21:15; Zech. 2:1–5). This measuring signified something good, since what was not measured was evil (v. 2). It is best to see it as God’s measuring off Israel, symbolized by her temple, for salvation and for His special protection, preservation, and favor. The prophecies yet to be given to John will thus distinguish between God’s favor toward Israel and His wrath on the pagan world.
That truth was no doubt very encouraging to John. At the time he wrote Revelation, Israel’s future looked bleak. A quarter-century earlier, the Romans had brutally suppressed the Jewish revolt of A.D. 66–70, slaughtering over one million Jews, devastating Jerusalem, and burning the temple. But in spite of that massive destruction, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew” (Rom. 11:2), and will preserve them until that future day when the believing remnant of the nation will be saved (Rom. 11:4–5, 26; cf. Zech. 12:10–13:1, 8–9).
Naos (temple) does not refer to the entire temple complex (cf. v. 2), but to the inner temple, made up of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The altar is probably the brazen altar, located outside the inner sanctuary in the courtyard, since that is where those who worship in the temple would have gathered. The people were never permitted into the inner temple; only the priests could enter the Holy Place (where the incense altar stood; cf. Luke 1:8–10). The worshipers in John’s vision depict a remnant of believing Jews alive during the Tribulation who are worshiping God.
The presence of the temple in this vision of the time of great tribulation brought with it the encouraging realization that the temple, destroyed by the Romans many years before John wrote, would be rebuilt in the future. The Bible mentions five temples. Solomon built the first, Zerubbabel built the second after the exile, Herod built the third (during the time of Christ), and the Lord Himself will build the fifth during the Millennium (Ezek. 40–48; Hag. 2:9; Zech. 6:12–13). The temple John saw in this vision was the fourth temple, which will be built in Jerusalem during the Tribulation (Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4), and, along with it, the Jewish sacrificial system will be restored (cf. Dan. 9:27; 12:11).
The Tribulation temple will be built early in the first half of the Tribulation under the patronage and protection of Antichrist. Many orthodox Jews today dream of rebuilding their temple, but its site is now occupied (and in the minds of many Jews desecrated) by the Islamic shrine known as the Dome of the Rock. Because Muslims believe it to be the place from which Muhammad ascended to heaven, it is among the most sacred shrines in the Islamic world. For the Jews to wrest that site away from the Muslims and build their temple there would be unthinkable in today’s political climate. But during the Tribulation, under the protection of Antichrist (cf. Dan. 9:24–27), they will be able to rebuild the temple.
The reinstitution of the temple worship will reawaken interest on the part of many Jews in the Messiah. Many will realize that “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” (Heb. 10:4). God will use that dissatisfaction to prepare their hearts for the day when He will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:9-14 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. Zechariah 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. (Zech. 12:10–13:1)
But the reawakening of interest in the true Messiah will provoke the insane jealousy of the false one. As more and more Jews return to the temple worship and begin seeking their Messiah, Antichrist will act. At the midpoint of the Tribulation, he will halt their worship, desecrate the temple (the abomination of desolation; Dan. 9:27; 12:11; Matt. 24:15), and set himself up as the only acceptable object of worship (13:15; 2 Thess. 2:4).
Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Daniel 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Matthew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Revelation 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
2 Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
John’s measuring of the temple symbolized the marking out of the believing Jewish remnant that God will spare from judgment.
Zechariah wrote of that coming day:
Zechariah 13:8-9 And it shall come to pass, thatin all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It ismy people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Zechariah 14:1-5 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
John’s instructions on measuring the temple included a significant omission. He was commanded, Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it. The reference is to the court of the Gentiles, located outside the courtyard containing the brazen altar. It marked the boundary beyond which Gentiles were forbidden to go. In New Testament times, the Romans had given the Jews the right to execute any Gentile who went beyond the court of the Gentiles. For a Gentile to do so was to defile the temple. In fact, it was the false charge that Paul had brought Gentiles into the temple that sparked the riot that led to his arrest and imprisonment (Acts 21:28–29).
God redeems Gentiles, and will continue to do so during this age and the time of tribulation (5:9; 7:9). But He will reject those unbelieving Gentiles who have united with Satan and the beast and oppressed His covenant people, Israel. The sharp distinction in this vision between Jews and Gentiles suggests that the church, having earlier been raptured (cf. 3:10), is not present during the Tribulation, because in the church, “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision” (Col. 3:11). In Ephesians, Paul writes that Christ:
is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:14-15)
By way of explanation, John was told not to measure the outer court because “for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” The forty-two months (1,260 days; three and one-half years) correspond to the overtly evil career of Antichrist, which dominates the last half of the Tribulation (13:5). That period will be the culmination of the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24)—the thousands of years during which Gentile nations have in various ways occupied and oppressed the holy city of Jerusalem. Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, the Turks, the British, and the Arabs have all ruled Jerusalem, and today Israel’s self-rule is fragile and under incessant attack. But the devastating destruction and oppression by the rule of Antichrist and his demonic and human cohorts will surpass all other oppressors.
During this same forty-two-month period, God will shelter many Israelites in a place He has prepared for them in the wilderness (some speculate the rock city of Petra). Revelation 12:6 reads, “ And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days. ” (cf. v. 14).
Many Jews will heed Jesus’ warning to flee to safety:
Matthew 24:15-20 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
The rest, however, who remain (some in Jerusalem; 11:13) will face terrible persecution from the forces of Antichrist. At that time, God will bring salvation to Israel, using the two powerful preachers who will appear in Jerusalem (v. 3), and will also suffer hostility and hatred (vv. 7–8).
At the end of the 1,260 days (forty-two months; three and one-half years), Christ will return (19:11–16), destroy Antichrist and his forces (19:17–21; 2 Thess. 2:8), judge the nations (Matt. 25:31–46), and establish His earthly millennial kingdom (20:1–10). Daniel 12:11–12 indicates that there will be a seventy-five-day gap between the victorious return of Christ and the beginning of the kingdom to take care of the features just mentioned.
So despite the maniacal efforts of Antichrist to destroy Israel, God will measure off Israel to save, preserve, and protect the nation. As Zechariah wrote, two-thirds of Israel will be purged in judgment and the remaining one-third will be saved and enter the glory of Messiah’s earthly kingdom (Zech. 13:8–9). Instrumental in their conversion will be a unique, invincible two-man evangelistic team, which John introduces.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1999). Revelation 1–11 (pp. 293–297). Chicago: Moody Press.