The Court of the Gentiles

Note that not everyone is being judged at this point. After all, Scripture tells us that “judgment … [begins] at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). This pre-advent judgment is an investigation into the claims of those who plead innocence under the blood of Christ.

The Gentiles, those who do not rank themselves among the people of God, are left out. This is not referring to literal Gentiles and Jews but to spiritual. In no way does this mean that the Gentiles will not be judged: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10, emphasis added).

In Ezekiel’s vision, the man measured “a wall, [which was] … to separate the holy areas from the common” (Ezekiel 42:20). Our attention is being drawn to the forming of two groups, one outside the temple and one inside. We are still in the interim between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets, during which we are given a look into these two groups. The first group is represented by those described in Revelation 10, God’s remnant whose enduring faith in Jesus guides them through the darkest of hours. The second group is introduced here, ?in Revelation 11.

The character of this group is seen in what took place during a certain prophetic time period, “forty-two months,” more commonly known as the 1,260-year prophecy. (See Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Revelation 11:3; 12:6, 14; 13:5.) Keep in mind that this marks a break in chronology from 1844.

These people, unlike those in the first group, are not the ones being persecuted—they are the persecutors, “[treading] the holy city underfoot.” We see this same language in the book of Daniel (7:7, 19, 23; 8:10, 13), yet notice that what is trampled is “the residue,” or, in other words, the remnant. “The holy city” and the remnant are one and the same, the people of God, united as one body, one temple. Also note that the interim between the sixth and seventh seals has, interestingly, a similar focus: the people of God who overcame persecution.

Merciful Judge, may we, through persecution and trial, still be found within Your holy temple, unified under Your precious blood.

For Further Study: Ezekiel 44:9; Matthew 25:31–46; Luke 21:24

Key Bible Texts

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. (Revelation 11:2 KJV)