Tribulation Temple: Apostate
or Approved Rev. 11:1-2
The first half of the
Tribulation will see the first two periods of judgments, the seal judgments and
the trumpet judgments. In between these judgments in Revelation are what we
might call interludes and it is a challenge to the student of the Word to try
to figure out how these interludes fit in terms of the broad chronology. The
prophecies of the little book in chapter 10 come with additional information
related to what has been going on already as well as setting up for the final
judgments that occur in the bowl judgments and the events in the second half of
the Tribulation period. Each of the next four chapters relate to different that
are going on in different spheres within the seven-year period of the
Tribulation and they all ultimate focus on Israel because Israel is God’s focal
point during the Tribulation period to bring the Jews to a point of repentance,
to where they recognize that Jesus is indeed their Messiah and that they will
accept Him as their Messiah. Chapter eleven focuses on the two witnesses that
we believe are prophets from the Old Testament who comes back, are restored to
physical life, and have a ministry to Israel and against the Antichrist. So there is the
introduction of the two witnesses and the remnant which is the believers within
Israel during the Tribulation period. This is then expanded
in the twelfth chapter where the remnant is described as the woman who has
twelve stars around her head. The woman pictures Israel, she gives birth to a
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the woman is persecuted by the dragon and ends
up fleeing to the wilderness where she is protected by God during the last half
of the Tribulation period. Then we have the description in chapter thirteen of
the dragon who empowers the two beasts, the Antichrist and the false prophet,
and the mentality of the earth dwellers, i.e. the unbelievers who will continue
to resist the truth and in resistance to God and rejection of Christ during the
Tribulation period. Then there is an act of grace by God in chapter fourteen,
three angelic announcements to mankind, further indications that God’s grace is
profound in the Tribulation period and millions of people will come to trust in
Jesus Christ as their saviour. It is not just a time of judgment, it is also a
time when God’s grace is manifest to all of the human race.
Revelation 11:1 NASB
“Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, ‘Get up
and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.
[2] Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for
it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city
for forty-two months’.”
When is this taking place?
Chronology is important. A key verses here is verse 14 NASB “The
second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.” So after the
description in chapter eleven of the ministry of the two witnesses we are given
this chronological marker that the third woe comes after this. In chapter nine
we saw the angel state that the last three trumpet judgments were the three
woes, so that the second woe would be the sixth trumpet judgment. The fifth
trumpet is the first woe, the sixth trumpet the second woe, the seventh trumpet
is the third woe. That tells us that the ministry of these two witnesses occurs
prior to the seventh trumpet judgment which contains the seven bowl judgments,
the final series of judgments that culminate in the Lord Jesus Chris’s return
to the earth at the second coming, His defeat of the Antichrist, the false
prophet and Satan at the campaign of Armageddon, and then the establishment of
His kingdom upon the earth. So the question, then, has to be addressed as to
how that all fits into the overall scheme of Daniel’s week and we believe that
the trumpet judgments are in the first half.
The question we have to
answer is, just what is the nature of this temple and its worship? It is clear
from Revelation 11:2, 3 that this is talking about the earthly temple in
Jerusalem because it mentions the fact that the outer court is given to the
Gentiles, the holy city is going to be trod under foot for 42 months, and
everything else described in the chapter is earthly and in Jerusalem. The
worshippers are of the remnant, Jewish believers of the Tribulation period who
have come to understand that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and they trust in Him.
They are still engaged in sacrifices and they are Levitical sacrifices. Those who
have built the temple are not saved. There are movements today by several
different groups in Israel where they have rebuilt furniture for the temple,
have identified those who can serve as priests, are rehearsing all of the
different sacrifices and how to perform them, and they believe that very soon
the temple mount will be given to Israel and they will rebuild a temple. Their motivation is
not from a positively spiritual viewpoint because they have not yet accepted
Jesus as Messiah; they are just going back to the old Mosaic ritual. It is not
the sacrifices that are important for salvation, it is the heart attitude to
believe in Christ. There will be a reinstitution of the Levitical sacrifices
and then there will be those who trust Christ as Messiah. The apostle Paul went
into the temple in his time, the time when he said that it was the end of the
law, and it should be noted that during the period of 30-70 AD the temple
observance was never challenged. We read nothing in the New Testament attacking
that sacrificial service as apostate. The writer of Hebrews says that those
sacrifices were not effectual for permanent cleansing and permanent salvation.
This temple in the Tribulation period is recognized by God as His temple—“the temple of God.”
Verse 1 says, “measure the
temple of God
and the altar, and those who worship in it.” Verse 2 says, “leave
out” – ekballo [e)kballw], meaning cast out, literally, “cast out what is
outside” or “what is outside, cast out.” It is a play on words in the Greek
focusing on the fact that there is a rejection of that which is outside the
temple. The term of temple there is naos
[naoj] which indicates the inner part of the temple.
Consistently God focuses on the attitude, the belief of the individual, in what
He requires, not just external sacrificial observance. So the real issue in
worship has to do with one’s trust in God and his heart or volitional
orientation to God. The same thing is true in the New Testament. John 4:22, 23,
we are to worship God in Spirit and by means of truth. It is crucial to
understanding what Jesus is talking about here, that there is a unique change
in history. It is that with the coming of the Holy Spirit in the church age it
is the Holy Spirit who is to empower the believer’s life. We are to worship by
means of the Holy Spirit and by means of truth. So what we see when we come to
these worshippers in Revelation 11 is that they are worshipping God according
to their acceptance of Jesus Christ as saviour, i.e. truth. The Holy Spirit is
not present in the spiritual life of the Tribulation saints. 2 Thessalonians 2
tells about the restrainer who is removed, i.e. the Holy Spirit, and so they go
back to the type of spiritual life that is comparable to the spiritual life of
the Old Testament. That is why there is this return to the ritual. That is not
condemned in Revelation at all and it will lead eventually to the establishment
of the new covenant sacrifices in the Millennial temple.
This temple may have been
initiated by those who were apostate, those who have not accepted Jesus as
Messiah, but the spiritual condition of the builders of the temple was never an
issue. Those who rebuilt the temple under Zerubbabel may or may not have been
believers. Those who worked on the reconstruction of the temple may or may not
have been believers. But these who are worshipping in Revelation 11:1 are
Jewish believers.
Review of the history of
the temple: Initially there was the tabernacle, the description of which was
given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and then this was constructed by the Jews during
their year at the foot of the mountain. This became the temporary dwelling
place of God until a permanent house was built by Solomon. So from 1440 BC until 960 BC God dwelt
among the cherubs on the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle, except in a few
instances such as when the ark was captured by the Philistines. Then there was
the first temple period from 960 BC until it was destroyed in 586 BC by
Nebuchadnezzar. After the 70 years of captivity there is a return to the land
under Zerubbabel in approximately 538 BC and there is an attempt to rebuild the second temple.
Finally in 516 BC the second temple is finished and it continued until AD 70. There
were two stages to the second temple but all through that period the sacrifices
never stopped. Then the temple was destroyed in AD 70 and in 691 there was the
Islamic mosque built, the Dome of the Rock which is there to the present day,
and we don’t know when it will be removed but we know that it must be gone by
at least the mid-point of the Tribulation. There will be a third temple built,
the Tribulation temple. It may begin to be built before the Tribulation begins
or during the first half of the Tribulation, all that we know for sure is that
by the time of the mid-point of the Tribulation it is functional. Daniel tells
us that sacrifices and offerings will have been reinstituted—Daniel 9:27. Then we have the Millennial temple built after the
return of Jesus Christ.
When we look at Daniel’s
seventieth week we see that the first three and a half years is a time of peace
for Israel—not for the world but for Israel because the Antichrist has entered
into this treaty with Israel—but it shows that Israel is under the control of
the Gentiles. Ever since the Babylonians conquered Judah in 586 BC Jerusalem has
ultimately been under the control of the Gentiles; there has never been a time
when they have had the kind of autonomy which they had under David or
Solomon—then the temple will be desecrated with the abomination of desolation,
and this will be followed by three and a half years of great tribulation.
With reference to the
question as to whether this is an apostate temple or an approved temple there
are three passages that refer to it in terms of it being the property of God.
Matthew 24:15 NASB “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place (let the reader understand).” Even if it is built by
current apostate Jews it is still a holy place because God has put His name of
the temple mount. It is a set-apart place for His name. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 NASB
“Let no one in any way deceive you, for {it will not come} unless the apostasy
comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship,
so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being
God.” Paul uses the same terminology as in Revelation 11:1 calling this
Tribulation temple the temple of God. So it is accepted by God as His because it is on His
holy mountain where he has placed His name
When we look at 11:2 it
says, “Leave out the court which is outside the temple.” Literally it is “cast
out the outer courtyard.” The holy of holies and the holy place, and then the
bronze altar, the altar of sacrifice outside, is the area that is measured in
11:1. Then the outer is where there was the court of Israel, the court of the
women, the court of the Gentiles, and that area and the rest of Jerusalem is stated in verse 2 to be under the domination of
the Gentiles.
One of the questions that
has to be addressed is when the treading under foot of the holy city occurs.
Many scholars say that this must be the second half of the Tribulation period. There
is a problem with that because the distinction made in verse 2 is that there is
still approval by God of the inner sanctuary, the naos, and it is only the outer courtyard and the rest of Jerusalem that is under the domination of the Gentiles. But what
happens at the mid-point of the Tribulation is that the Antichrist will set
himself up to be God. He will, according to 2 Thessalonians 2, take his seat in
the temple of God
to be worshipped as God. That suggests that it is not just the outer court at
that time that is under the domination and control of the Gentiles but it is
the entire temple mount, including the inner sanctum, the holy of holies, that
comes under the domination of the Antichrist. So this would put the treading
under foot of the holy city as being in the first half of the Tribulation, and
then complete control goes to the Antichrist during the second half of the
Tribulation.
It is interesting to look
at the terms that are used. In 11:3 God says, “And I will grant {authority} to
my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days,
clothed in sackcloth.” The use of the forty-two months (three and a half years)
and the use of the 1260 days (using a 30-day lunar month) seem to be used with
two different orientations. In Revelation 13:5 is the only other use of 42
months and it describes the time of absolute power given to the Antichrist.
Revelation 11:2 talks about the Gentiles dominating the holy city for forty-two
months; 13:5 talks about the Antichrist’s authority for forty-two months. These
refer to the judgment on Israel when something negative is happening. These are the
bad guys in power for 42 months, basically. Then we have the use of the term
1260 days, describing in 11:3 the two witnesses (the good guys), and in 12:6
the woman (Israel) flees into the wilderness where she has a place prepared for
her, and God protects her for 1260 days. So the bad guys are described in
months; the good guys are described in days. Some have observed that months are
used to describe judgments; days are used to describe what man is doing. It is
believed that that is where the distinction should come in terms of this time
period.
In verse 3 we see that
there is a shift to two individuals who have a unique ministry that is
described in the rest of the chapter. They are called the two witnesses. NASB
“And I will grant {authority} to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for
twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” Some have suggested that
the clothing in sackcloth (a type of fabric, usually very rough, turned on the
inside so that it is very uncomfortable. It was worn to indicate mourning,
being distressed about something) is a reaction to the abomination of
desolation, but there is nothing in the text to indicate that. There are many
other explanations as to why these two witnesses would be in mourning. Their
ministry is to an apostate nation, an apostate people; the apostate Israel that has rejected the Messiah since the first advent.
Their coming in mourning is because during this time of the seventieth week of
Daniel Israel is under condemnation and are going to be under judgment. For all
of these reasons they could be justifiably be wearing sackcloth because they
are calling the nation to obedience in the same vein as Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
the great prophets of the Old Testament. So the reason they are wearing
sackcloth is because they are in mourning over the spiritual condition of Israel.
Revelation 11:4 NASB
“These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the
Lord of the earth.” This imagery comes out of Zechariah where in chapter four
there is a picture of two olive trees. Out of the olive trees oil is coming to
empower the two men who are leading Israel at that time, Zerubbabel and Joshua. When we look at
Zechariah chapter four we see a historical circumstance which occurred after
the small band of Jews returned after the Babylonian captivity. They had begun
to reconstruct the temple but then had stopped and had become spiritually
negligent. They didn’t care about their spiritual life and in Zechariah and
Haggai the focus is on rebuilding the temple. The vision is given to Zechariah
related to his ministry in relationship to the temple. It seems that the
central verse that we find in this chapter is verse 6 NASB “Then he
said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but
by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” The rebuilding of the temple at that time
(the second temple) would be done not in human power or human effort but by “My
Spirit.” This is the point of comparison between the ministry of Zerubbabel and
Joshua the high priest. At the time of the rebuilding of the second temple,
even though they reinstituted sacrifices at that time before the temple is
completed, it is the Spirit-empowered ministry that is the focal point of
comparison between Zechariah chapter four and the event of the two witnesses in
Revelation chapter eleven.
Zechariah 4:6 is a great
promise because the principle is one that we need to be reminded of in our own
spiritual lives. We face all kinds of challenges in life, all manner of
adversity in life, and often we try to solve out problems and face our negative
circumstances in our own power and in our own wisdom. But the principle that
God states to Zerubbabel is one that is true for every believer throughout the
church age, and that is that we live our lives, handle our problems and face
the adversities, not on the basis of our own power, our own wisdom, but by God
the Holy Spirit. He is the one who empowers us and enables us, the one who
helps us to understand God’s Word, puts it in our soul and brings it to our
memory so that we can then apply it.
Illustrations