Revelation 11:2

And the court which is without the temple leave without, and measure it not; for it hath been given unto the nations: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Measure not ... the court which is without ... Although associated with the temple, this court was not part of the sanctuary; and, symbolically, the leaving out of this means that there are people who are nominally "Christian," associated in every way with Christianity, but who actually are no part of it. "This represents the unfaithful portion of the church."[16]

Leave without ... "This means that John was commanded to, "Throw it out; reject it as profane, and to draw no boundary to mark any part of it as sacred."[17]

For it hath been given unto the nations ... Lenski thought that this should be rendered "unto the heathen";[18] but we believe John's use of the same language here that Jesus used in the prophecy of Luke 21:24 is the true key to understanding what is meant by the forty and two months. Jesus said:

And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles (nations), until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21:24).

It could hardly be an accident that so much of the terminology of Jesus' prophecy appears in John's words in this verse. We are therefore justified in viewing the "times of the Gentiles" there with the "forty and two months" here, both expressions having the meaning of this entire dispensation.

And the holy city they shall tread under foot ... Just as the Gentile world would tread the literal Jerusalem under foot until "the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," in like manner would a great host of (so-called) Gentile Christians desecrate the true church by their perversion of Christianity. This would be accomplished by their wholesale invasion of it, "in the form of a false Christianity."[19] The use of "holy city" here should not mislead us. "In A.D. 30, the once holy city of Jerusalem had already joined Sodom and Egypt as a typical example of all great wicked cities."[20] Despite this, there is, however, still a holy city, which is the holy church of Jesus Christ.

For forty and two months ... This passage makes the meaning of this expression transparent. It is the same as "the times of the Gentiles" mentioned by Jesus; that is, "the entire period of the Christian dispensation."[21] The mention of this specific time period reveals that, "There is a limit of the extent to which the Gentiles can do their treading under foot."[22] The historicists (Barnes) find this to mean that, "On the year-day principle, there is a reference to 1,260 years of Papal supremacy, ending in 1517 A.D."[23] We do not doubt that the apostasy of the Medieval Church, continuing until the present time, is indeed a significant part of what is here prophesied; but the "modernist" churches of Protestantism are equally also a part of it. Many of them have also rejected the word of the Lord and despised the true head of the church.

There may be another thing symbolized by the time period here, which is the same as 3 1/2 years, the half of the perfect seven. Roberson interpreted this as, "the true expression of the church's state as half of the required perfection."[24]

We shall meet with this forty and two months, or its equivalent, in Revelation again and again; but in every case, the same is meant, "The Gospel Age."[25]

[16] Frank L. Cox, Revelation in 26 Lessons (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1956), p. 73.

[17] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 330.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid., p. 331.

[20] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 132.

[21] Frank L. Cox, op. cit., p. 73.

[22] Leon Morris. op. cit., p. 147.

[23] Ralph Earle, op. cit., p. 563.

[24] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 70.

[25] William Hendriksen, op. cit.. p. 154.