Ezekiel 40:5

The Measurement of the Wall of the Outer Court.

‘And behold there was a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six ‘long cubits', being a cubit and a handbreadth in length. So he measured the thickness of the building, one reed, and the height one reed.”

The measuring reed was six ‘long cubits' in length. A long cubit was about 50 centimetres (Ezekiel 20:5 inches) per long cubit (a cubit and a handbreadth) compared with the normal cubit of (44 centimetres) Ezekiel 17:5 inches. Thus the wall around the temple was about Ezekiel 3:2 metres (10 foot 3 inches) thick and Ezekiel 3:2 metres (10 foot 3 inches) high, in perfect symmetry.

So the first thing we learn about the new temple is that it was protected from the outside world by a wall of perfect symmetry, which declared its perfection. Access was thus limited to those who had the right to enter. It was not open to anyone. Like the linen screen round the courtyard of the tabernacle, the wall separated the holy from the profane (Ezekiel 42:20). Without was the world. Within was God's holy provision for His true people, and a place of worship and prayer where they could meet with Him.

So the wall was to be seen as providing perfect protection, a perfection indicated by its symmetry, for the temple of God itself, protecting it from the profane. But it was also to be seen as providing a sanctified place within it, protected from the world, for the true worship of God. In New Testament terms it gave access into the heavenlies. None, however, could pass in except those granted privileged access, who could enter to meet with God, and entry would be only by those who sought His face and were obedient to His covenant, those of a humble and a contrite heart (Isaiah 57:15). The high and lofty One was in His heavenly temple, and only those whose hearts were right could approach Him.

Thus when Paul later likened the people of God to the temple it indicated not only the glorious fact that they were the dwellingplace of God by His Spirit, but also that they too enjoyed His full protection and were separate from the world in His eyes, a people set apart for Himself, walled off from the world and its degradation, and with open access to Him.