At the end, toward the rear, there are the boiling places, two places for the priests to boil their offerings and to bake the meal offerings (46:19-20). These are the priestly “kitchens.” The kitchens for the people are at the four corners of the outer court, but the kitchens for the priests are these two places within the holy place.
After the measuring of the temple was completed, Ezekiel was brought outside the compound of the temple, where the man measured the land outside the wall (42:15-20). In each direction the measurement of the land was not five hundred cubits but five hundred reeds (vv. 16-19). One reed equals six cubits. Hence, the land outside the wall is three thousand cubits square, making a total of nine million square cubits. However, only an area in the center five hundred cubits square was used, leaving a wide, spacious land surrounding the temple compound.
The design of the temple gives a strong impression of separation. The wall around the spacious piece of land separated what was holy from what was common.
Altogether, there were at least four walls: the wall around the entire lot, the wall around the outer court, the wall around the inner court, and the wall around the temple. These walls enclosed the temple, separating the holy from the common. This reveals that when a person enters the temple, he has passed a fourfold separation. What a great margin of separation there is! On every side of the temple compound, there is a spacious “suburb” of one thousand two hundred fifty cubits reaching to the wall. This indicates the spaciousness of the separation in Christ.
The design of the temple also gives an impression of progression. The further we advance inward, the higher we become. When we are in the temple, we are fifteen cubits higher than ground level. Also, the higher we become, the broader and wider we become. Inward, higher, broader, wider—this is progression. This experience of the holy building of God is progressive.
Moreover, in the appearance of the temple there is a clear impression of balance, of symmetry. In this design nothing is unbalanced or crooked. Everything is fully balanced, square, and upright. Nothing is crooked.
This is a picture of the church life. The church life is a life of absolute separation, a life of progression, and a life of balance. The church life is upright, square, and straight.