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...
 

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.
 

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.
 

Jesus referred to the end of the age earlier on in Matthew 24.

After the second seal was spoken about, Jesus said:
 

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.
 

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.
 

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.
 

These things will perish.  But Jesus remains.
  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.
  With Heaven and earth fled and shaken away, we then read...
  The Bride is the HOUSE on the Rock of Zion.  She is the Church, the New City.
  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.
  Young's Literal Translation reads correctly of the "thousands" :
  These people are seen on Mount Zion, in Revelation 14.
  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...
  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:
  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."
 

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."
 

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.
 

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.
 

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.
 

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.
  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.
 

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.
 

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.
 

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.
 

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

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