There are no godless people in the New Jerusalem,1 and there is no Temple either. “I did not see a Temple in the City, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple.”2 So this Temple in the Book of Revelations refers to the earthly Jerusalem, called the holy city.3 This is where the Temple has to be measured—like gold diggers who have obtained their ‘concessions’ and stake their little picket posts in the ground and, after having first measured them exactly, wire them off to make clear no one intrudes into their property. This too is like the Levites who were given an area that had to be measured precisely.4 It cannot refer to Solomon’s or Zerubbabel’s/Herod’s Temples because they had already been destroyed. It could not be the Final Temple referred to in Ezekiel 40–48 because that is maybe not even located in Jerusalem. It does not refer to God’s Temple in Heaven because that can never be trampled underfoot by Gentiles. It refers to a Temple that is yet to come. So an argument for a small Third Temple. Must the prophet make use of the standard/measure just to measure a piece of ground in centimetres? No, John in his prophetic activity should not just measure the area that is holy to the Lord, he must ‘measure’ the people inside and outside the Temple spiritually as well. Do they meet God’s check of their personal lives? Are they really serving the Lord? What is their true value for God and their significance for the Kingdom of God? In this respect it is remarkable to see that both the inner and the outer forecourts are mentioned, as in Solomon’s5 and Ezekiel’s6 Temples. In the inner forecourt was the altar upon which sacrifices were made. In Ezekiel’s Temple the contrast between the Temple area proper and the outer forecourt is so great that the priests have to put different clothes on when they are in the outer forecourt.7 This marks out a sharp separation, a great distinction and contrast between the inner section of the Temple of God, with the altar, along with those who worship inside, and the forecourt that is ‘outside the Temple’, the outer forecourt that is given to the Gentiles. Does this mean that this Temple area both includes the worship of the true God and the worship of idols—a Jewish Temple with true Jewish believers inside, as well as a ‘holy place of worship’ of and for the ‘anti-Christ’ and his followers outside? Is it referring to a Jewish Temple flanked by two mosques with its preaching from the Koran that Allah has no Son (a clear refutation of Biblical Christian beliefs) that is preaching hatred of the Jews whom the Bible calls God’s firstborn son?8 Has it been built as a compromise of negotiations in a ‘Peace Process’ where the Pope, as the representative of Christendom, is the chairman of an interreligious committee of the three so-called monotheistic religions? In my opinion though there is only one monotheistic religion which is Judaism of which Christianity is a branch and Islam is another religion with another god. Could there be such a committee that manages the ‘Holy Places’ in Jerusalem on behalf of the United Nations, considering all the religions of the world as paths leading to Rome, as a Dutch proverb says, but in this case to Jerusalem? Religions and Political Power that go together and fit as hand and glove? Who can say? Apparently, in it are true worshippers of God as well. A bridgehead, being the true heart of the ‘Temple’, with its altar and its blood that points to the completed work of Christ. True worshippers that daily serve God in the Temple, like in Jesus’ days Simeon and Hannah.
Luke 2:25-32 and 38-38 (NIV 1984): “Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the Temple Courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for Him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took Him into his arms, praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel…””…And there was also a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the Temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”
A true Temple with true worshippers. The holy remnant in Israel. Preparing for the Coming of God’s Kingdom over the world.
• As ever: whatever happens to Israel, it has a meaning for us Christians as well. Examples for us, as Paul writes: “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us…9 Spiritual lessons for all of us.
• This also is the case with what will happen in the future with Israel, Jerusalem and the Temple. The Christian Church will also always be ‘trampled underfoot’ by all kinds of ‘powers of darkness’ that will attack and undermine it. But there will always be a nucleus, a remnant of true worshippers. A remnant that will not go along with the false church of the end times.
Bible References:
1.Revelation 21:2, 10, 27 2.Revelation 21:22 NIV 1984 3.Nehemiah 11:1 and 18; Isaiah 52:1, 48:2; Matthew 4:5 4.Numbers 35:5 5.1 Kings 6:1, 36, 7:12; 2 Chronicles 4:9; Jeremiah 36:10 6.Ezekiel 10:5, 40:17 7.Ezekiel 44:19 8.Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1; Romans 9:4 9.1 Corinthians 10:1–11
