The Temple of God

INTRODUCTION

Revelation chapter 11 tonight. The last time we were together, we covered chapter 10.

QUESTION: Does anyone remember what happened in chapter 10?

REVIEW:

Who is the seven peals of thunder that spoke to John?

ANSWER: God

How do we know that?

Verse 8

QUESTION: What truth did we take away from John being told to seal up the things which he heard and do not writ them?

ANSWER: There will always be mysteries about God and our faith that we cannot know and do not need to know.

QUESTION: Who are the eternal mysteries of God made known to?

The prophets and His servants

What is the eternal mystery of God

The coming judgement and triumph of Jesus Christ

QUESTION: Why is the scroll that is given to John sweet to his mouth but bitter to his stomach?

ANSWER: The Word of God is both sweet and bitter. The whole message of the Bible must be digested, not just the parts we want to hear

CHAPTER 11 continues the parenthetical scene from chapter 10

Revelation 11:1–3 “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. “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.

What is the temple John is measuring?

There are two views

One sees this as a third literal earthly temple that will exist before Jesus returns.

Reasons:

Correlates with other Scripture

Matthew 24:15 ““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),”

2 Thessalonians 2:4 “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.”

Some say it only makes sense literally because it speaks of the outer courts which were in the literal temple

The other view sees this as a symbolic temple or heavenly temple. The temple then would represent the people of God, not a physical temple that believers will worship in.

Reasons:

All throughout the book of Revelation references to the temple always refers to the heavenly temple

The correlating OT Scripture is from Ezek which carries symbolic meaning with measuring in his vision

The OT sacrifices have ended when Christ came, so true believers will not be offering sacrifices

Why view do you think?

I think it is symbolic primarily because this passage is primarily about the protection of God over His people

And true believers are in Christ, trusting in Christ and His sacrifice and are not going to begin to offer animal sacrifices.

This reference to the temple likely represents the church, the community of God’s people.

Remember the first parenthetical chapter was about the sealing of the 144,000 we said represented all the Christians alive during that time. Here that picture is visited again but this time by measuring of the temple.

Often in the NT, the temple refers to the church

2 Corinthians 6:16 “Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God

1 Peter 2:5 “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

This passage closely correlates with Ezek 40-41 who also measures the temple with symbolic meaning

In the OT, the temple was the place where God’s manifest presence dwelled on earth.

Ezekiel’s vision was of a new temple where God’s presence would be reestablished forever.

Ezekiel 10:18 “Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim.”

But today, our bodies are the temple of God and He dwells in us and His presence is always with us. He never leaves us. He never departs from us.

So when John is measuring the temple, it symbolizes is God’s protection and ownership of His people.

It is symbolic of God providing a spiritual sanctuary for the faithful believers during that time.

But the protection was not physical, but spiritual protection

Just like salvation is not physical but spiritual

Application

Those who have the Spirit of God within them have God’s divine protection over them

Psalm 1 “As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.”

Our help comes from God

He is the One in whom we should repeatedly cry out to

Psalm 121:3–6 “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night.”

God is our Keeper

He watches over us day and night

He keeps us from harm

Psalm 121:7–8 “The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.”

He protects us from evil

He keeps our soul

How does God protect us?

He has angels

Psalm 91:11–12 “For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.”

He provides a way of escape

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

He hears our prayers

Matthew 7:7 ““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

He has given us the Holy Spirit

John 14:26 ““But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

(v 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.”

Notice that John is told to not measure the outer courts, “for it has been given over to the nations”.

The word “nation” is the same word for “unbelievers” and it speaks of the world

In this vision, John sees the people of God in two different places.

Some are inside the temple and outside of the world’s power

Others are in the courtyard, and will be trampled by the world

This is a very difficult passage to interpret.

But the majority of commentaries I have read, they suggest this is part of God’s people that will be handed over and killed.

In other words, those that God will allow to die in the tribulation.

But though they lose their physical lives, they DO NOT lose their spiritual lives

And the time that the gentiles will trample them is 42 months

Application

What truth can we take away from this and apply to our lives today?

We will suffer for Jesus.

The temptation is to thin that there is a form a Christianity, a church somewhere, a redeemed life that one can live without suffering: IMPOSSIBLE

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A FOLLOWER OF JESUS TO NOT SUFFER FOR THEIR FAITH

You are going to suffer persecution! I am going to suffer persecution. It is inevitable if we are going to truly follow Jesus.

What kind of persecution do we suffer today?

We suffer persecution from the world

You will have people whom used to be your friends but do not care anything about you anymore

John 15:18–19 ““If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

There are people who hate me, that used to like me, that I have done nothing to, but they hate me

Why do they hate us?

Because of who we represent. Because of who we stand for. When you live out a life of righteousness, it exposes the sin of the world.

Living righteously is like shining a light into a dark world and exposing everything it truly is

Be prepared to lose friends

Be prepared to no longer be liked by some of your family

Be prepared to not be liked

And remember this

Matthew 5:10–12 ““Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

We suffer persecution from religious people

What do I mean by religious people?

People who claim or profess to follow Jesus. These can and are often church people. These are people in religious organizations. Religious people in associations. Religious people who say they are of Christ but are not

Do you remember who the primary enemies were of God’s faithful in the 7 letters at the beginning of this book?

The Jews.

Those who claim to follow God, yet did not.

And who were the ones who gave Paul the hardest time?

The Jews

And who were responsible for hanging Jesus on the cross?

The Jews, The Pharisees, and the Sadducees

Do you know who I have had the most difficulty with since I started ministry?

Religious people

LESSON 1: I learned this lesson early in my walk with Jesus: Just because someone professes Christ does not mean they are your friend, or are for you, or will not turn against you

A profession of faith does not mean faithful follower of Jesus

LESSON 2: No one has any right to tell you something over what God is telling you

If you know God is telling you to do something, and it lines up with the Word of God

We suffer persecution from Satan

And we will see from this book that he is the primary enemy behind all these things going on in this book.