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.
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.
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,
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