Marko Jauhiainen, «The Measuring of the Sanctuary Reconsidered (Rev 11,1-2)», Vol. 83 (2002) 507-526
The act of measuring in Rev 11,1-2 does not portray the Church as spiritually protected but physically vulnerable, as normally thought. Not only are there lexical and interpretive difficulties with the traditional view, it is also not supported by the OT and extra-biblical evidence commonly adduced. Reading two kai/j differently and recognizing an allusion to Ezek 8:16 LXX addresses both the lexical and interpretive issues. The act of measuring is used to communicate the fact that contrary to Ezek 8–9, this time God will not abandon his earthly sanctuary, though idolatry among his people will still be judged.
acknowledge the problem but to treat it only as an indication of the symbolic nature of John’s language11.
Another lexical problem is the verb e)kba/llw, especially together with e!cwqen or e!cw. That phrase in the NT always refers to people who are expelled or driven out12. Even though John possibly meant the "outer court" to symbolize people, the case remains that if e!kbale here refers only to the "outer court", it stands as the sole example of such usage in the NT 13. It may perhaps be objected that the phrase "cast outside" is found twice in the LXX (in Lev 14,40 and in 2 Chr 29,16), where it is not referring to people. However, this objection is not as serious as appears at first, as we will see later.