THE TEMPLE
OF REVELATION
THE CHURCH
PART 2
MF Blume
Hebrews 12:28
Wherefore
we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby
we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Jesus said he will not return
during the times of this shaking. They asked Him when the temple would be
destroyed and when He would come and the world (age) would end. They obviously
considered His coming with the time of the end of the age. The shaking of
the first five seals and the passages read in Matthew 24:4-26 are limited
to the shaking of things in earth. Nothing heavenly is mentioned. In the
following verses, after lengthy discussion about the signs of the temple
destruction and the following discussion about the shaking of all things,
we read...
Matthew 24:23-26 Then if any man shall
say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall
arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold,
I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he
is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe
it not.
He will not come during this
shaking.
The sign of the coming of the
Son of man will be seen after the tribulation of those days of shaking.
Matthew 24:27-31 For as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the
eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall
all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
This statement answered part
of their last question. "What is the sign of the coming of the Son of man?"
Revelation 6 and the sixth seal
agrees.
Revelation 6:13-17 And the stars of heaven
fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when
she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when
it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And
said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of
him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great
day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Jesus referred to the end of
the age earlier on in Matthew 24.
After the second seal was spoken
about, Jesus said:
Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of
wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things
must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
The end is not yet. The end
of what is not yet come? The end of the age, to which as the disciples
referred.
The following mentions the end,
also.
Matthew 24:13-14 But he that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall
the end come.
The AGE will end after the Gospel
has been preached to all nations. And that is when Jesus will come. The
end is not seven years before the Lord comes. Jesus said the end would
come after the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached to all nations.
Many believe the rapture will
catch the church away seven years before the end of the world. They make
it sound as though the Gospel is preached to all the world, and then the
Gospel is not preached because the Church is taken out of the world. Seven
years after the church is removed, and seven years after the Gospel has ceased
to be preached, the end of the world comes. But Jesus said the end of the
age will occur as soon as the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached to
all the world.
There is only One Gospel. Some
promote that there are two gospels. They say the Gospel of the Kingdom
is not regarding the salvation of Jesus Christ, but regards the Millennial
reign. They say the Gospel of salvation is not the same thing. This is
nonsense. There is only one Gospel, and it is the salvation message of Jesus
Christ. It is called the Gospel of the Kingdom, because the Kingdom is in
you now through salvation.
Luke 17:20-21 And when he was demanded
of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and
said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they
say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Jesus comes at the end of the
age in which the people then lived. This is when the end of the world, or
"age," occurs.
The book of Hebrews, from which
we read of the shaking of all things, begins with a reference to the heaven
and earth.
Hebrews 1:10-11 And, Thou, Lord, in
the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are
the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they
all shall wax old as doth a garment;
These things will perish. But
Jesus remains.
Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Heaven and earth shall be shaken,
but Zion alone will remain as the Bride of Christ. After Heaven and earth
are gone and a new heaven and earth remains, we read of the Bride.
Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white
throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away; and there was found no place for them.
With Heaven and earth fled and
shaken away, we then read...
Revelation 21:1-2 And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;
and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
The Bride is the HOUSE on the
Rock of Zion. She is the Church, the New City.
Hebrews 12:22-23 But ye are come unto
mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
A few verses after the above
passage, we read of all being shaken. See how Hebrews, Matthew and Revelation
all coincide with one another!
Revelation 6 involves events
that occur because Jesus was rejected, as clearly seen in cross reference
of this chapter with Matthew 24. Matthew 24 gives the reason for all the
events of Revelation 6 as being His rejection, as seen in Matthew 23. The
old temple was destroyed and a new temple would last forever.
Jesus comes after the sixth
seal. Men hide from the wrath of the lamb in the sixth seal of Revelation
6. Rev. 6:14 reads that the heavens and earth depart as a scroll rolled
together. Why are these removed and shaken? It is because God wills that
that which cannot be shaken be all that remains. It is a sifting process.
THE 144 THOUSANDS
Revelation 7 opens with a reference
to 144 "thousands" (as the original Greek reads). These people are sealed
from wrath.
Revelation 7:3-4 Saying, Hurt not the
earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of
our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed:
and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes
of the children of Israel.
Young's Literal Translation reads
correctly of the "thousands" :
YLT Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number
of those sealed, (one hundred and forty four thousands were sealed out of
all the tribes of the sons of Israel):
These people are seen on Mount
Zion, in Revelation 14.
YLT Revelation 14:1 And I saw, and lo, a
Lamb having stood upon the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty-four
thousands, having the name of his Father written upon their foreheads;
Zion is that which the Church
is built upon, according to Hebrews 12:22. And in the context of Hebrews
12, where Zion alone remains while heaven and earth are shaken, we see a
great parallel with the 144 thousands. While these people "stand" ion Zion,
we read...
YLT Revelation 14:8 And another messenger
did follow, saying, `Fall, fall, did Babylon, the great city, because of
the wine of the wrath of her whoredom she hath given to all nations to drink.'
Back in Revelation 7, we continue
reading and note that a great multitude stands on the sea of glass in the
holiest of Heaven's temple, who received palms in their hands. All that
could be shaken has been shaken in the sixth seal of Revelation 6 due to
Israel's rejection of Jesus Christ. Now, these people stand with palms
in their hands. The original "Hosanna's" and praises given to Him in Jerusalem
were silenced, and these of the multitude have replaced them as the new
temple and cry praise:
Revelation 7:10 and crying with a great
voice, saying, `The salvation is to Him who is sitting upon the throne--to
our God, and to the Lamb!'
Crying forth these words is exactly
what HOSANNA means in English.
hosanna {ho-san-nah'}
of Hebrew origin yasha` and na'; AV - Hosanna
1) hosanna
2) be propitious
It comes from...
yasha` {yaw-shah'}
a primitive root; v AV - save, saviour, deliver, help, preserved,
salvation, avenging, at all, avenged, defend,
rescue, safe, victory;
1) to save, be saved, be delivered
1a) (Niphal)
1a1) to be liberated, be saved, be delivered
1a2) to be saved (in battle), be victorious
1b) (Hiphil)
1b1) to save, deliver
1b2) to save from moral troubles
1b3) to give victory to
and from...
na' {naw}
a primitive particle of incitement and entreaty, which may
usually be rendered: "I pray," "now," or "then"; part
AV - now, I beseech ..., I pray ..., Oh, go to;
1) I (we) pray, now, please
1a) used in entreaty or exhortation
The multitude cried, "Salvation
to our God which sitteth upon the throne."
Matthew 21:9 and the multitudes who
were going before, and who were following, were crying, saying, `Hosanna
to the Son of David, blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest.'
They cried the same cry as did
the multitude in Revelation. But they were silenced and ceased to praise
Him, moving Christ to complete His unsuccessful entry to Jerusalem and to
the temple with a new temple and a new Jerusalem. The multitude of people
is the group of rocks that surely cry out! The City is a New Jerusalem.
This is a great replacement of Temples and Cities. Remember that the Church
is the eternal temple.
OVERVIEW
Chapters 1-4
The Church us the Temple built
by Jesus because Israel rejected Him. Worship is given to God for creating
all things. This implies that the Church is ordained from the foundation
of creation.
Chapter 5
Jesus' whole purpose in coming
was to redeem mankind. This is how the Church would come about. The death
of Christ is seen as the Lamb takes His blood to the Father to pay the price
of sin.
Chapter 6.
The sealed scroll is opened
to show the judgment on the world and especially Jerusalem for rejecting
Jesus. The church endures tribulation as all is shaken in heaven and earth.
Chapter 7.
144 Thousands are sealed from
the four winds of destruction (the four horsemen). The winds blow on the
house built on the Rock but it falls not. The house stands. The multitude
on the sea of glass "in the temple" gives Christ praise with palms in their
hands, crying Hosanna.
THE MULTITUDE
This multitude in Revelation
7 came out of great tribulation. This depicts how that the gates of hell
cannot prevail against the Church. The believers come forth victorious.
They are the temple made of lively stones. They serve Him day and night
"in the temple."
Revelation 7:15 because of this are
they before the throne of God, and they do service to Him day and night
in His
sanctuary, and He who is sitting upon the throne
shall tabernacle over them;
Jesus said the tribulation was
the first five seals. The multitude endured the first five seals! They
were delivered. Saved. They were "come out of great tribulation". This
means they were delivered from it.
REVELATION 8
The temple picture continues
in Revelation 8 where we read of the golden altar of incense. Let us also
mention at this time that the martyrs of the fifth seal were underneath
the brazen altar of blood sacrifice in Rev. 6:9.
The seven trumpeter angels stand
prepared to sound while an angel from the temple's golden altar of incense
is given much incense to offer up with the prayers of the saints. This altar
is before the throne. And the multitude, recall, stands before the throne
as did the golden altar as though they stood before the ark of the covenant.
It seems the sounding forth
of the trumpets has a connection with the prayers of the saints. Let us
notice that the incense involves the prayers. When the incense is enlightened
with fire in the censer, and the censer is thrown into the earth, the trumpets
sound and wrath occur. So it all goes back to the prayers. Since the censer
was thrown onto the earth, and then trumpets were blown, we see that the
trumpets involve wrath upon the earth.
The trumpets affect the following
in this order:
1) trees and plants
2) Salt water
3) fresh water
4) Heavens.
Before the net three trumpets
sound, Revelation 9 comes into the picture. The next three trumpets are
said to be woes and they are found to affect man in a direct fashion, rather
than effect man through dealing with nature. Revelation 8 closes by speaking
of these final three trumpets as three woes.
Revelation 8:13 And I saw, and I heard
one messenger, flying in the mid-heaven, saying with a great voice, `Woe,
woe, woe, to those dwelling upon the land from the rest of the voices of
the trumpet of the three messengers who are about to sound.'
The last three trumpets deal
directly with man. They differ from the first four in that respect.
Revelation 9 begins with the
fifth trumpet.
5) A star falls from heaven
and is given the key to the abyss to open it and release smoke and locusts.
These locusts are spirits or
demons loosed to torment humanity for five months. This is obviously symbolic
of a spiritual matter.
At the sixth trumpet, a voice
from the four horns of the golden altar speaks in 9:13. This reference to
the golden altar points us back to the prayers of the saints because incense
was offered in the golden altar.
Revelation 9:13 And the sixth messenger
did sound, and I heard a voice out of the four horns of the altar of gold
that is before God,
6) The angel of the altar tells
the 6th angel to loose the four angels bound in Euphrates. One third of
mankind is killed by 200,000,000 man army on horseback. The remainder of
men do not repent of worshipping devils in idols.
REVELATION 10 shows Jesus coming
in a cloud. The little book is opened in His hand. Seven thunders utter
an unknown word as Jesus roars like a lion while standing on land and sea.
He swears that time will not yet be. This seems to mean that time's end
is not yet to occur. But it will occur at the sounding of the seventh trumpet.
Jesus holds the mystery unsealed
and opened. The mystery is the entire purpose creation was made by God.
John is told to take the book
and eat it, and to then prophesy to all nations as if he was strengthened
to preach the Gospel of the Church on Zion. Jesus returned after having
ascended to the Father, and told the disciples to preach repentance and remission
of sins in His name to all nations. Matthew 24:14 says that the end shall
come after this is preached.
REVELATION 11
We see the temple measured by
John. The Church on Zion, the temple, is measured. The outer court is
not measured because it is given to the Gentiles who will tread Jerusalem
for the duration of 3.5 years.
Luke 21:24 and they shall fall
by the mouth of the sword, and shall be led captive to all the nations, and
Jerusalem shall be trodden down by nations, till the times of nations be
fulfilled.
The "times" of the nations are
said to be 3.5 years in Revelation. Revelation reads of the gentiles treading
down the City for 3.5 years, and Luke reads that the City shall be trodden
until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled. Luke's reference is found
in the midst of the account in that Gospel of the rejection of Jesus Christ
and the pronunciation of the temple's destruction. This compares to Matthew
24.
Luke 21:23-25 `And woe to those with
child, and to those giving suck, in those days; for there shall be great
distress on the land, and wrath on this people; and they shall fall by the
mouth of the sword, and shall be led captive to all the nations, and Jerusalem
shall be trodden down by nations, till the times of nations be fulfilled.
`And there shall be signs in sun, and moon, and stars, and on the land is
distress of nations with perplexity, sea and billow roaring;
So we have yet another connection
with the temple in Revelation and the destruction of the original Temple
of Jesus' day in which He found no praise. There is the unmistakable connection
with all of Revelation and the rejection of Jesus in Jerusalem. This ties
in the entire thought of the Church as the New Temple.
It is interesting that The City
was besieged by Rome for 3.5 years in 70 AD, when the temple was destroyed,
until the remainder of the Jews were conquered. This was prophesied of in
Daniel.
Daniel 9:26 And after the sixty
and two weeks, cut off is Messiah, and the city and the holy place are not
his, the Leader who hath come doth destroy the people; and its end is with
a flood, and till the end is war, determined are desolations.
It is interesting that Young's
Literal Translation says that the City and the holy place are not his.
His holy place and His city are the CHURCH.
It seems the time in which Jesus
spent in ministry to Israel, to the fig tree (3.5 years), parallels the time
in which Jerusalem would be destroyed.
Luke 13:7-9 and he said unto the
vine-dresser, Lo, three years I come seeking fruit in this fig-tree, and
do not find, cut it off, why also the ground doth it render useless? `And
he answering saith to him, Sir, suffer it also this year, till that I may
dig about it, and cast in dung; and if indeed it may bear fruit--;and if
not so, thereafter thou shalt cut it off.'
The image of Daniel foretold
the earthly kingdoms of the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks
and finally Rome. The years from Babylon to Rome are the times of the Gentiles.
But in the end of Rome's rule, the end of the rule of feet of iron and clay,
would come the Kingdom of God crashing down upon Rome spreading its influence
and rule over all the world. The Rock, Christ, became a mountain filling
the entire earth. From a Lamb to a Lion, standing on earth and sea, Jesus'
Kingdom fills all the world. And when it has been spread abroad to every
nation, then shall the end come.
TWO WITNESSES
Revelation reads that the Gentiles
tread Jerusalem down for 42 months. Two witnesses prophesy for these 42
months. These are the two anointed ones. They are not necessarily two
people. They are the two olive trees that stand by the God of the whole
earth. In the book of Zechariah, Joshua and Zerubbabel are indicated as
being the two olive trees -- two anointed ones. They restored the Temple
of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. And they were symbolized as
two olive trees aside either side of the seven golden candlesticks in Zechariah.
4. Temple imagery.
Two cherubims made of solid
Olive wood stood in the TEMPLE of Solomon on either side of the Ark in the
holiest. More temple imagery is seen here. Cherubims speak of restoration
of creation because they had the faces of earthly creatures. Adam named
the four classes of creatures depicted on these beings when He was given
rule over the earth. But he lost that dominion and flung all creation in
to bondage. These creatures stood blocking his way back into the garden
as emblems of restoration to come.
And we see Moses and Elijah
beside Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah were men
of restoration for Moses restored Israel to the Land and Elijah restored
praise to God back to Israel.
So these two witnesses obviously
speak of restoration.
All this is inferred in the
midst of the destruction of Jerusalem's temple as witness of the true restoration
of the Edenic Garden Temple from which Adam fell. The Garden was the pattern
from which the temple was made. Jesus would make a temple of lively stones
on Zion, and truly be praised. When the temple of Israel was destroyed,
the witnesses of restoration ministered that Christ truly is Christ. There
is witness that Christ was correct, and that He truly restored the order
of God to have One as His Bride. Christ restored the Garden Sanctuary wherein
man should have originally been united to God as one spirit but fell away.
The 24 elders fall down again
and praise God because they hear the voice of Heaven declare that the kingdoms
of the world have become the Kingdoms of God and His Christ. These elders
fell down when they heard the cherubims praise God. And the cherubims speak
of the restoration of the anointing of mankind to rule the creation again.
Now they praise Him for taking His great power to Himself and reigning.
Adam had that power, that anointing, and lost it. Jesus took it and reigned
Himself as the Last Adam.
They said the nations were angry,
God's wrath had come, and the time of judging the dead and giving of reward
to the His servants had come. The time God would take to destroy those
who destroy the earth had come.
All these are references to
the original loss of man's dominion over the earth. Mankind became sin-infected
and began destroying that over which he originally was to rule and protect.
The earth suffered havoc!
At this point, the temple is
opened. And the ark is exposed for all to see.
Revelation 11:19 And opened was the sanctuary
of God in the heaven, and there was seen the ark of His covenant in His
sanctuary, and there did come lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an
earthquake, and great hail.
The church is then to be fully
known to all that it possesses God's glory, for the church, remember, is
the Temple. And with the temple opened to reveal the Ark, the world sees
the CHURCH as the possessor of God's glory, made One with Him as a bride.
We are not to think of a literal Ark being found, but rather the implications
of the ark must be understood to represent the Tree of Life in the midst
of the Garden -- The throne of God.
The opening of the Temple seems
to signify the completion of the Temple -- all lively stones have been added
to it and the temple is complete. The Gospel (mystery) has gone out to
all nations and the end has come. This occurred at the seventh trumpet.
Revelation 10:7 but in the days of the
voice of the seventh messenger, when he may be about to sound, and the secret
of God may be finished, as He did declare to His own servants, to the prophets.
Matthew 24:14 and this good news of
the reign shall be proclaimed in all the world, for a testimony to all the
nations; and then shall the end arrive.
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which
must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto
his servant John:
The ark was the last thing put
within the Temple of Solomon before it was dedicated to God. And the Ark
is what we read about after all the seven trumpets have sounded.
God told Haggai that He would
fill the temple with glory when the desire of all nations is come. That
desire is Jesus.
CONTINUED IN PART 3