REVELATION 11:1-2

 Q: As I look at the drawing/model of Herod's Temple, it seems that most of the area is devoted to the Gentiles rather than the Jews. I am wondering why this would be....assuming I am viewing it correctly.

The problem is not in the way you are viewing the drawing, but in the way the Court of the Gentiles is labeled. Thus, only the high priest could enter the innermost Holy of Holies, all of the priests could enter the Priest's Court, only Jewish men and women could enter their respective courts, but the Court of the Gentiles was not really “devoted to the Gentiles” as the name seems to imply. Anyone could occupy that court whether they were male or female, Jew or Gentile.

The underlying meaning behind the architecture was to demonstrate the separation that existed between a Holy God and mankind, with increasing degrees of holiness required to approach Him. The Court of the Gentiles was the closest that Gentiles could get to the Holy of Holies, where God symbolically dwelt. But any attempts they might have made to worship peacefully there were disturbed by the hustle and bustle of business being transacted in that Court. This is why Jesus, as he overturned the money-changers' booths cried out, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers!” (Mark 11:17)

The Court of the Gentiles (outer court) appears specifically in Revelation 11:1-2 where John is told to measure the temple of God, but not the court outside the temple. G. K. Beale (The Book of Revelation) summarizes the five main lines of interpretation of this passage:

1. Dispensational – A literal temple of the future is being described in which believing Jews will be protected during the Tribulation period.

2. Preterist – Herod's Temple housed a group of Zealots who held off Roman troops during the siege of 70AD.

3. Modified Futurist – The temple = believing Jews while the outer court = unbelieving Jews. Both will undergo future persecution but only the former are assured of their salvation.

4. Symbolic – The two areas, temple and outer court, symbolize respectively the true Church and the professing but apostate church of all time periods.

5. Modified Symbolic – both areas represent the true church. The outer court stands for the physical persecution it will undergo, but the measured temple indicates that it will be preserved spiritually by God.

Revelation 21:22 concludes references to the temple in the Bible by stating that the New Jerusalem will have no temple. That is because all who dwell there will now have direct access to God, not just a select group of priests.