Apocalypse Revealed # 487
487. "But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it." (11:2) This symbolically means that the state of the church on earth, as it is still, must be set aside and not learned.
The court outside the temple symbolizes the church on earth, because that church is outside heaven, heaven being the temple (no. 486). To leave out means, symbolically, to remove, here to remove from heaven, because its state is of such a character. And not to measure means, symbolically, not to learn or investigate its character (no. 486). The reason follows: "for has been given to the gentiles, and they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months."
That the court outside the temple here symbolizes the church on earth as it is still, is apparent from the following particulars in this chapter, where it is described by the great city called Sodom and Egypt, in which the Lord's two witnesses lay dead, and which afterward fell in a great earthquake, and seven thousand people by name were killed in it - and many other particulars besides.
[2] Elsewhere in the Word the court symbolizes the outward aspect of the church. For there were two courts 1 to be crossed when entering the Temple itself in Jerusalem, and as the Temple symbolized the church in respect to its inner aspect, therefore the courts symbolized the church in respect to its outward one. Consequently strangers who came from the surrounding nations were admitted into the courts, but not into the Temple itself.
Moreover, because the court symbolized the outward aspect of the church, it symbolized therefore also the church on earth, and heaven as well in its outmost manifestations, inasmuch as the church on earth is an entryway into heaven, and so is heaven in its outmost manifestations.
[3] A court has this symbolic meaning in the following places:
Blessed is he whom You choose... He shall dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, with the holiness of Your temple. (Psalms 65:4)
Praise the name of Jehovah..., O you... who stand in (His) house, in the courts of the house of our God. (Psalms 135:1-2)
How lovely are Your habitations, O Jehovah...! My soul... indeed faints for the courts of Jehovah. (Psalms 84:1-2)
Enter into His gates with confession, His courts with praise. (Psalms 100:4)
The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree... Those who are planted in the house of Jehovah shall sprout in the courts of our God. (Psalms 92:12-13)
...a day in Your courts is better than thousands. I have chosen to stand at the door in the house of my God... (Psalms 84:10)
And so on elsewhere, as in Psalms 96:8; 116:18-19, Isaiah 1:12; 62:9, Zechariah 3:7, Ezekiel 10:3-5.
Regarding the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem, see 1 Kings 6:36; 7:12.
Regarding the courts of the new Temple, Ezekiel 40:17-44; 42:1-14; 43:4-7.
And regarding the court outside the Tabernacle, Exodus 27:9-18.
Фусноте:
1. I.e., the inner court or court of priests, and the outer court or great court. See 1 Kings 6:36; 7:12
Ezekiel 43
1
Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east.
2
Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory.
3
It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.
4
The glory of Yahweh came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
5
The Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house.
6
I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by me.
7
He said to me, Son of man, [this is] the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings [in] their high places;
8
in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their doorpost beside my doorpost, and there was [but] the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: therefore I have consumed them in my anger.
9
Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them forever.
10
You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.
11
If they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its exits, and its entrances, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, and all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them.
12
This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
13
These are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and its border around its edge a span; and this shall be the base of the altar.
14
From the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit.
15
The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns.
16
The altar hearth shall be twelve [cubits] long by twelve broad, square in the four sides of it.
17
The ledge shall be fourteen [cubits] long by fourteen broad in the four sides of it; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom shall be a cubit around; and its steps shall look toward the east.
18
He said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.
19
You shall give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the Lord Yahweh, a young bull for a sin offering.
20
You shall take of its blood, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around: thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it.
21
You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, outside of the sanctuary.
22
On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bull.
23
When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.
24
You shall bring them near to Yahweh, and the priests shall cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
25
Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.
26
Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it.
27
When they have accomplished the days, it shall be that on the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, says the Lord Yahweh.
