Introduction
At the outset of our temple discussions, creation was described as the erection of a grand cosmic temple. Further, the tabernacle and subsequent temple structures were argued to model creation. These structures had three separated spaces, two of which had accompanying restrictions with the Holy Place restricted to priests and the Most Holy Place restricted from all but the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.
We then argued that Christ and the Apostles envisioned the temple during our age, “the eschatological age”, as the church, a combined body of Jews and Gentiles made one in Christ. It is hard enough to grasp such a transformation from a stone structure on a mountain in Jerusalem to believers infilled with the Spirit who fill the earth yet are described as “Zion” or “Mount Zion”. The temple is no longer a physical structure on a physical mountain, but a spiritual structure (believers) “elevated” spiritually and thus envisioned as a spiritual mountain. For many Christians steeped in literal translation (as the author has been), such a great change in perspective is hard for us. It is easier to dismiss such thoughts as accept them.
But this is why the discussion of the temple follows the discussions of the Genesis 1 creation account. Our intent in studying Genesis 1 was to show how each element of creation experienced a transformation in Christ, a transformation so stunning as to justly be called a new creation.
We must now take the next step and begin the process of “connecting the dots” in the hope that an improved outline becomes visible. This task is complicated by difficult visions John recorded in Revelation in which much of the end-time action revolves around God’s temple in heaven. It adds a further distinction between God’s earthly temple (believers resident on earth) and His heavenly temple.
John’s visions include: 1) Jesus trimming the lamps of the seven churches (Revelation 1:12-20) – emblematic of the lampstand in the Holy Place and Jesus as High Priest ministering, 2) vision of the throne of God (Revelation 4-6; cf. 7:15 where the throne is in the temple) – emblematic of the Holy-of-Holies in heaven, 3) vision of the great multitude of redeemed in the temple (7:9-17); 4) vision of the seventh seal, the golden censer and the trumpets (8:1-9:21) which occur in heaven before the throne with temple paraphernalia, 5) vision of the little scroll where an angel comes down from heaven, 6) vision of the measurement of the temple (11:1-19) ending with the sounding of the seventh trumpet and God’s temple in heaven being opened, 7) vision of the woman and the dragon (12:1-12:18) in which the child is caught up to the throne in heaven, 8) vision of the harvesting of the earth in which three angels come out of God’s temple in heaven (14:14-20), 9) vision of the seven angels with the seven last plagues who emerge from the temple, 10) a sea of glass, 11) the heavenly temple opened and and then filled with smoke (15:1-16:21), 12) vision of Babylon’s destruction where a voice came from heaven (18:1-8), 13) vision of rejoicing before the throne and the heavenly warrior (19:1-21), 14) vision of the angel descending from heaven with the key to the Abyss and the great white throne judgment (20:1-15) and 15) the vision of the new Jerusalem with the temple as God, Jesus Christ and restored Eden (21:1-22:5).
With so much action in the temple in heaven, it is clear John sees great significance in the temple’s role at the eschaton. It is not our current purpose to explain all these phenomena. Some will be addressed in future posts, but our purpose here is only to broaden understanding by tying together some key elements of God’s eschatological program in a way that assists understanding the temple’s critical role in prophetic texts.
We will first analyze the transformation of God’s cosmic temple with Christ’s death and ascension in which is becomes conflated from three compartments to a single compartment. We will next provide a parallel picture that shows how each compartment was “cleansed”, steps required for God’s eternal residence in His cosmic temple. Implications will also be examined with special emphasis upon possible insights from viewing creation as a temple and viewing prophecy through a “temple lens”. We will also attempt to provide some possible insights into the Millennium, a source of much confusion and controversy. Our hope is to provide some new insights that assist understanding of end-time prophecy, the book of Revelation and the temple.
The Transformation of God’s Cosmic Temple
The temple was built with three compartments: a Holy-of-Holies, a Holy Place, and an outer court. These three compartments modeled three similar cosmic compartments: a Holy-of-Holies where Yahweh’s throne was (in heaven), a Holy Place that housed his priesthood (on earth), and an outer court that was reserved for the disobedient in rebellion against God (the deep/the abyss). [1] A most significant eschatological event occurred with the death of Christ, when the curtain of the temple was rent from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). The rending was accompanied by an earthquake, rocks splitting, tombs opening, holy ones resurrected and the sun darkened for three hours. These phenomena all point to powerful changes in the cosmos. The biblical descriptions suggest the disciples interpreted these events as portending the destruction of the old creation [2]
The rending of the curtain symbolized the tearing of the firmament, the heavenly vault that separated God in heaven from His people on earth. The tearing of the curtain in the Herodian temple thus pointed to the greater event that the firmament of the cosmos had been rent. The cosmos was permanently and dramatically modified. Hebrews 10 speaks of the dramatic impact this event had upon believers:
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
We now have access to the Most-Holy-Place in God’s cosmic temple, a compartment from which we were prior barred. Our hearts have been sprinkled, following the Old Sinaic practice of sprinkling the people with blood from the sacrifice at confirmation of the covenant (Exodus 24:8). We have been cleansed and can now stand in God’s presence. In effect, the two inner compartments of God’s cosmic temple – the Holy-of-Holies and the Holy Place, have been conflated into one chamber – at least in inauguration. Just as we can enter the Most-Holy-Place, God can enter our hearts though we are in the Holy Place because we have been cleansed. God’s divine Presence is within us, as it had prior infilled the Most-Holy-Place of His temple. While we have entered the inner compartment and been infilled, we are also still in the Holy Place here on earth, awaiting final consummation through our death and entry into His eternal presence. Yet God’s cosmic temple has now been reduced from three to two compartments. [3]
After Christ’s death, Jesus descended into hell, rescuing the righteous dead. Note Ephesians 4:7-10:
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says:“When he ascended on high,he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
Note the further implication of rescuing the righteous dead from the Abyss: the separation between God’s cosmic Holy-Place and the Outer Court (the Abyss) has been eliminated for the righteous, as the dead were seen in the streets of Jerusalem, indicative that hell (the Abyss) was opened and the righteous dead rescued from death. They were present on earth as a witness to the world and soon thereafter taken to heaven, ascending with Christ. It portends elimination of the bound between between earth (the Holy-Place) and tĕhowm/abyssos (the Outer Court) for the righteous. Further testimony to the removal of the bound is seen in Revelation 9:1-3. Though not explicit, the release of demonic creatures upon the earth to harass those in the kingdom of the beast, seems to suggest elimination of the bound prior uncrossable. These breaches support that conflation of the remaining two compartments into one has occurred, encompassing all creation.
When we reach Revelation 20:7-15, we see the defeat of Satan and His forces, Satan’s judgment in the Lake of Fire, the great white throne judgment and the destruction of death and Hades, the abode of the dead. It would appear from this passage that the outer court of God’s cosmic temple (typically called the Abyss), has been destroyed in consummation, leaving only one compartment. His cosmic temple then no longer has an outer court, typically thought of as the place of the spiritually dead. John then has a vision of the new creation and a new Jerusalem:
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
John’s vision of a new heaven and new earth represents the consummation of the new creation, and mark the completion of God’s redemptive plan. That he sees “no longer any sea” supports that the Abyss or outer court of the temple has been abolished (the sea was envisioned as the remnant of the watery deep). The declaration “God’s dwelling place is now among the people” – literally “the tabernacle of God is with men”, affirms that God now can freely dwell with all His creation, unfettered by sin, as cleansing has been made for His people, temple and all creation.
John further describes the centerpiece of the new creation, the new Jerusalem having dimension of 12,000 stadia in length, width and height (about 1400 miles or 2200 kilometers). The city’s dimensions are a perfect cube, after the fashion of the Most-Holy-Place in the tabernacle/temple. Yet the dimensions are wildly different. In the tabernacle/temple, the Holy-of-Holies was only ten cubits ten cubits ten cubits (twenty cubits on a side for the temple). The dwelling space that Yahweh specified for Himself in the tabernacle could not hold His divine Presence, being too small. That appears to be by design. At the consummation of God’s redemptive plan, His Most-Holy-Place has been greatly expanded so it can fully show forth God’s glory through all those He has redeemed. It is not that the city is 1400 miles on a side. Its dimensions of 12,000 stadia are cultically significant with twelve representative of God’s people and one thousand emblematic of a great or large number. In effect, the city fills all creation.
It is a striking transformation. His cosmic creation, so carefully divided and separated into three domains that He then filled, has been totally transformed into a creation with only one domain (see Figure 1). The path is ironic, with God intentionally destroying the separating barriers earlier put in place to establish order! That God eliminates these barriers without chaos speaks to His superintending power to establish true order in redemption. But importantly, God eliminates the boundaries because He has separated the righteous from the unrighteous and thus there is no longer fear of covenantal violations! In Christ, God’s people have been perfected and are capable of living in full conformance with His laws (Ezekiel 11:19-20; 36:27-29). At the end of the age, God has separated the righteous, made them fruitful so they fill all creation in final fulfillment of the Genesis 1:28 mandate!
Thus, God can truly dwell throughout His creation. The infinite separation between He and His creation, symbolized in the firmament, has also been eliminated and the outer court, the watery tĕhowm has also been eliminated. All chaos has been permanently subdued, God has been victorious over all His enemies, and there is peace and rest eternally for all His servants. Death has been eliminated and our probation has ended (symbolized in the absence of a tree of knowledge of good and evil. There is only the tree of life in the final Eden). The final temple at the eschaton is so different from the initial temple that one can truly say the temple is new, with the path to its creation not ex nihilo, but transformative.
The Cleansing of God’s Cosmic Temple
In Revelation 12, John is given a vision of a woman, clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and twelve stars crowning her head. There is near ubiquitous agreement that the woman represents Israel. She gives birth to the Messiah while an enormous red dragon with seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns on its head attempts to devour the Messiah at birth. The Messiah is envisioned miraculously rescued, caught up to heaven and to God’s throne. The woman is seen fleeing into the wilderness to a place God has prepared for a period of 1260 days. Following this, John describes a war in heaven with the forces of the dragon against Michael and his forces. The dragon and his forces lose their place in heaven and are hurled down to the earth.
Some expositors believe the cosmic war is yet future though most believe this event immediately followed Christ’s ascension to heaven (Acts 1:9) where He took His rightful position on the throne in heaven. If one views the conflict from the standpoint of a cosmic temple, then it would appear that Christ’s ascension and subsequent victory over the forces of Satan represents a cleansing of the Most-Holy-Place in God’s cosmic creation-temple. Satan’s defeat has effectively barred him from further entrance into the inner compartment of God’s creation-temple, purifying the Most-Holy-Place. His presence is then restricted to the earth (the Holy-Place of God’s cosmic creation-temple) and the outer court (the Abyss) of God’s cosmic creation-temple.
Later, in Revelation 20, John sees an angel coming down from heaven with a key to the Abyss and a chain in his hand. He seized the dragon and bound him in the Abyss for a thousand years. The Abyss is locked and sealed, signifying that Satan is now barred from the earth, the Holy-Place of God’s cosmic creation-temple. He is now restricted to the outer court, the Abyss of God’s cosmic creation-temple. It is said that during the thousand years, Satan cannot deceive the nations. His power to deceive is in effect constrained. The exegesis of this passage has been difficult and scholarly agreement is lacking. Yet if viewed from a temple perspective, one sees the possibility that this passage may be related to Revelation 12 in that each represents a step in the process of cleansing God’s comic temple. The picture John appears to provide, is the cleansing of the Holy Place of God’s cosmic temple, the earth.
At the end of the thousand year period, Satan is released from the Abyss to deceive the nations but is defeated and thrown into the lake of fire. Then follow the resurrection and judgment of the dead. The scene concludes with each resurrected person judged according to their deeds, death and Hades thrown into the lake of fire, and those whose names were not found in the book of life also thrown into the lake of fire. Immediately following is John’s vision of a new heaven and a new earth, implying the consummation of God’s redemptive plan. What should not be missed is the destruction of Hades (the Abyss), the destruction of death and the destruction of all those who were judged evil. In effect, the outer court has now been cleansed as it had been the holding place of the dead and the place of those awaiting judgment. It completes the cleansing of the three cosmic compartments of God’s temple. The cleansing (and elimination) of the third compartment allows God to dwell openly throughout His creation. The elimination of the outer court is confirmed in Revelation 21 with John’s mention that “there was no longer any sea” (vs 1), the symbolic representation of the deep/Abyss, the remnant of the pre-creative ocean of chaos.
In John’s consummating vision of the new cosmos, a new eternal temple is now seen. That it immediately follows the cleansing of the outer court and its elimination suggest the temple cleansing may be a parallel picture of the temple transformation that conflated the temple from three compartments to a final state of one compartment. John provides these two parallel pictures to assist understanding the complexity of God’s redemptive plan for creation.
Implications
A first implication is the cosmic scope of God’s redemptive plan. While its centerpiece is the saints, its scope includes the heavens and the earth, things seen (physical) and things unseen (spiritual). The symbolism of the rending of the temple curtain changed the cosmos, giving God’s people direct access to God through the work of Christ. That the “unseen” spiritual cosmos is included is suggested by the imagery that involves spiritual powers in heaven and the Abyss, with both the forces loyal to God and those in rebellion. That the graves were opened and many dead were seen in the streets of Jerusalem also signals a dramatic change in the cosmos. It signals the victory of Christ over death and Hades, with the righteous dead similarly gaining access to heaven and God’s presence.
It brings a second implication that the conflict is spiritual, involving battles between spiritual powers in heaven that spill over into our world. The battle is between spiritual forces, but the object is creation – more specifically God’s new creation, the church. Satan’s objective was to thwart and destroy the Messiah. Having failed, he now seeks to destroy as much of God’s creation as possible and critically, to thwart the coming of the new heaven and new earth. He desires to prevent that creation would show forth God’s glory. His means is to destroy as much of mankind as possible as this would limit the revelation of God’s glory throughout creation.
With Satan’s defeat in heaven, the focus of his activities is on earth, directed at the church and her mission. His attacks upon God’s church and those the church seeks to reach, must be viewed from a spiritual perspective. Satan employs deceit, lies, hatred, war, poverty, envy, famine, carnality, misogyny, racism, violence and immorality. These are his tools to destroy those in the world. He must get them either to participate in destroying God’s creation or to turn a blind eye to the destruction of masses of humanity that desperately need the gospel. He uses false teaching and false prophecy to subvert those in the church, thwarting the message and dooming as many as possible to eternity without God.
While the primary focus of Satan’s activities in our age is here on earth, the reality is the fight is over space – the three creation spaces that comprise God’s cosmic temple. The fight began over Satan’s place in heaven, then proceeded in the earthly realm but is not completed until the outer court is no longer trampled by Satan and the Gentile powers aligned with him. The outer court, while often symbolized as the Abyss, also is the place of the spiritually dead, the unredeemed. When the church understands John’s symbolism this way, it becomes imperative that the church, working in tandem with Christ not lose sight of the prize to redeem as many from the outer court as possible. The church should not become alarmed as it sees apparent denigration of the gospel and the values we espouse. This is a natural consequence of the battle we fight. Though it may seem at times as if the church is losing, God has a master military plan and He is flawlessly executing that plan according to His timing. That plan is the cleansing of God’s creation and Satan is losing. God will vindicate His church.
As there is a cooperative mission shared between God and the church, there is also a cooperative effort between Satan and evil men in our world. Behind the evil done by men are powerful spiritual forces, deluding these men and leading them into unholy and unrighteous activities. These men have destruction of the church as a chief goal with the secondary goal to thwart the gospel message, dooming as many to destruction as possible. With these objectives understood, it becomes imperative that God’s people reach out to those victimized during the warfare (see Luke 10:30-35). Many are victimized by those who do evil and need mercy. The church must use the authority it has been given (Luke 10:18-19), binding and loosing powers on earth, trusting that it will reflect back into the spiritual arena (Matthew 16:19; 18:18).
A third implication is that the temple is not created ex nihilo but is a transformation of the Old Testament temple. That the temple is cleansed and transformed is consistent with New Testament teachings about the sanctification of the believer, in which he is made holy and transformed from a sinner with a carnal mind into a holy saint with a heavenly perspective. One could argue that the transformation and cleansing of God’s temple is a corporate representation of the individual work of sanctification in the believer. As sanctification of the believer happens throughout a Christian’s life, so the cleansing and transformation of the church corporately occurs throughout our age. As with the creature, so with all creation as the creature is part of creation and thus reflecting creation’s goal. Likewise, the cleansing and transformation of the church corporately is to prepare the bride of Christ as a holy people in contrast with the harlot Babylon, which represents the false and unrepentant church that refuses to submit to the transformative work of the Spirit.
A fourth implication can be seen from viewing the conflict as a conflict within God’s creation-temple. Many scholars have argued that the church should not expect a Millennial reign post Parousia, envisioning the thousand years as the current age seen from a heavenly, rather than earthly perspective. In this view, Satan has already been bound in the Abyss during our age. For some, this seems unlikely as evil continues unrestrained on earth. If however, Satan’s binding in the Abyss is viewed from a temple perspective, then those who are the true priests in God’s new temple (the church), are inherently given assurance that they are protected from the attacks of Satan and His forces. Such assurances can carry great force for believers facing martyrdom, which appears to be the focus of John’s vision of Revelation 20. Satan’s activities and deceptions may be limited in our age to the unredeemed, some of whom are present in the church community but not truly redeemed as they live their lives in violation of the covenant. If true, it provides a further assurance to the redeemed who see their local congregations under Satanic attack in which some in the local body appear to be deceived. If John intends to send an assurance to true believers, then there is no reason for believers to become alarmed or worried.
God’s separating activities seems key to this understanding. If true believers are priests who minister in the Holy-Place, then they are safe from Satan’s attacks (see Revelation 11:1-2. But “safe” does not mean they are not subject to Satan’s persecutions. It means only that their eternal salvation is secured and they are empowered to overcome these attacks. This outcome is evident in the testimony of the two witnesses who are martyred yet resurrected to life (vss 3-12).
The pictures John provides seem to emphasize separation. The righteous dead have been separated from the unrighteous dead and secured in heaven, safe from Satanic attack. Living believers are “measured” as the temple but without inclusion of the outer court – i.e. they are separated from the unsaved and those in local congregations who are false teachers and false prophets. Though subject to Satanic attack, their salvation is secured. They will be resurrected and spend eternity with Christ.
Those of the false community of the beast are separated and subject to God’s judgment (Revelation 9:4-5) by demonic creatures from the abyss. Though not killed by these demonic creatures, they have secured their damnation in taking the mark that identifies them with the false community of the Antichrist. The final group, members of the harlot community called Babylon, are those who are deceived by the carnal pleasures of this world and are at risk of becoming complicit with the beast’s persecutions (Revelation 17:2-6). This is the church’s target audience, those we are tasked to win to Christ. Those favoring Christ must leave the harlot community and join the church to secure eternal life (Revelation 18:4). God’s end-time program for our age, is a program of separation of righteous from unrighteous. Ironically, separation of righteous from unrighteous allows “un-separation” of the separated spaces of His cosmic creation-temple.
Relevance to Christians Today
Though not one of our longer posts, complexity is still apparent. Adding to the problem is widespread unfamiliarity with the temple and its meaning. When end-time prophecies of Revelation are added, the challenges are greatly magnified. While God’s redemptive program seems heavily coded, our hope is that some insights have been gained from an examination of the temple-pictures Scripture provides. Also, we hope some awareness has emerged regarding why Revelation has proven such a difficult book to understand. John’s heavy reliance on temple-terms when envisioning the end-times certainly should spur us to more deeply examine and understand the temple.
Despite the complexities, a few key observations can be made. First, God’s plan was that He always dwell with His people. God’s dealings with Israel begin with Him on a mountain of darkness, fire, gloom and storm (Hebrews 12:18) on which no one was allowed even a foot, not even from Israel’s herds. After consummating a covenant with them, God dwelt among His people as a pillar and cloud, yet separate. After their idolatry with the golden calf, God moved outside the community, again distant from His people. This narrative was recapitulated when David subdued the land and built a temple. God indwelt the temple but after the idolatry of Ezekiel’s day, He removed Himself from the temple and city of Jerusalem, again distancing Himself from the people.
But with Christ’s coming came a new and better covenant that allowed God to dwell in a new and better temple, the temple of God’s people. God could now truly dwell with His people in a greater way – by indwelling each believer. This new covenant finally allowed God’s people to live faithfully to the covenant, precluding the possibility of God distancing Himself again from His people. This is the great assurance we have against attacks of Satan, regardless how brutal. The better covenant has changed our position so that we stand in God’s presence. It means we also stand in the presence of the righteous dead now dwelling in heaven. We enjoy heavenly benefits though we are still on earth.
The assurance we have is not limited to this world. With Christ’s coming, the end of God’s redemptive plan has come. Christians need never fear God will distance Himself from His people again. God dwells with His people already . . . forever. What began with separation between God and men, has now become unbreakable unity with God. He will never leave or forsake us. It is only we who can choose to walk away.
Second, the theater for accomplishing God’s redemptive plan is likened to a temple. God’s redemptive plan does not simply guarantee our reconciliation to Him, but also assures we have a “place” with Him. The drama is presented in a way that shows man had an initial place – Eden in which to commune with Him. The place not only provided communion with God, but importantly also served as the place of testing. Having failed their probatory test, our earthly parents were taken from the garden, or perhaps the place of communion was taken from them.
What is striking is the breadth of the redemptive plan. It is not Eden that is restored, but a better Eden is created for God’s people. It’s not just that God’s people, failed and imperfect as they are, are restored to God. God’s program perfects His people, cleansing them and giving them the capability to withstand and overcome sin. God’s people begin as physical beings and end in resurrection as spiritual beings. Even their bodies post-resurrection are better than the bodies they lost to death and de-composure from sin. Also striking, what begins with two persons falling, ends with an innumerable multitude restored.
But restoration must be presaged in testing. It is first tested in our leader, Jesus Christ, but then recapitulated in every member of the human race. Each person faces the same “Edenic” test as our earthly parents. The “place” of testing is again likened to a temple, the place of service to God. The testing provides the evidence that we truly love God and His redemptive agent Jesus if we follow His commandments (John 14:15).
The theater or place of redemption’s drama is presented as a conflation of the Holy Place and Holy-of-Holies. But to the unredeemed, it is described as the outer court, an Abyss of the spiritually dead. During our age, the forces of God are conducting a campaign to cleanse all of God’s temple (His creation) by separating evil from good with the ultimate purpose to bring curse-judgment on the unrighteous and blessing to the righteous. During the spiritual war, God’s people are urged first to conduct spiritual warfare through prayer and godly living, and second to care for the human victims of these destructive battles, offering them refuge from death and injury caused by the war. Refuge is found in Christ who also provides a “place” of refuge for them, described as an Edenic land.
Critical to understanding, is realization of God’s objective to fill all creation with people who will bring glory to God through righteous living. Realization comes through separation and separation results from testing. Those failing are doomed to the abyss (the outer court), awaiting judgment in the lake of fire. Those who pass the test, upon death “cross over” from death to life, entering God’s heavenly land, finding themselves in God’s presence in consummation. Critically, passing the test requires an effective personal witness which should be accompanied by soul winning and discipling, behaviors Scripture describes as fruitfulness.
Regarding the Millennium, whether it is subsequent to Christ’s Parousia or contemporaneous with our age is a hotly debated question. But it should be understood as a time of judging (Revelation 20:4). While John’s words seem to indicate judgment following the Millennial period, Christians should bear in mind that judgment is still happening in our age through the process of testing and separation. Whether the judgments occurring in our age are the inauguration of the Millennial period, each should decide for oneself. For Christians living today, our priority should be upon the events prophesied for our age.
To that point, an important outcome of our studies concerns the prophesied appearance of the man of lawlessness, the Antichrist. His appearance brings persecutions not prior seen in history in large part due to their global nature. They are worldwide and no one is exempt. Then Christians are exposed to persecutions so intense that many fall away. More than that, Paul warns in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 that it is not that people fall away, but a rebellion against the authority of God and His Christ. The implication is that the rebellion is willful and thus must be judged. The instrument of God’s judgment is the Antichrist. He together with the harlot, provide the final “test” to God’s community of believers. But those who overcome, remaining true to Christ even amidst the threat of martyrdom, are safe within the Holy-Place of God’s temple, excluded from the Outer Court of the spiritually dead to be eternally judged. Those in Christ will not be deceived despite the onslaught of the enemy (Matthew 24:24).
A closing warning: our studies reveal that Paul’s warnings in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 must apply directly to the church. Many have concluded that Paul’s warning cannot apply to the church since the Antichrist “sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God”. At first glance it seems to require a rebuilt temple-structure in Jerusalem. Our studies reveal that Paul envisions the temple as God’s people. It portends a final insurrection and rebellion within the church against the authority of Christ. [4] Believers should pause, considering the words of Daniel 10:35 that “some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end”. Our strongest defense will be the washing that comes from a deep knowledge and application of the Word to our lives.
[1] It is possible a second parallel could be drawn of a heavenly temple in which God dwells alone above the starry heavens in a Holy-of-holies, the cherubim and angelic hosts dwell below a firmament as the starry host, a Holy-Place, and an outer court for the disobedient angels, the deep/Abysss, (1 Peter 3:19).
[2] Note Beale: “When Matthew 27:50 narrates Jesus’ death, Matthew immediately adds in vss 51-53, ‘the earth shook; and the rocks split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many’. These strange phenomena signal to Matthew’s readers that Christ’s death was the beginning of the end of the old creation and the inauguration of a new creation. Is it accidental that Matthew 27:51, describing the tearing in two of the veil of the temple, directly precedes the language of cosmic dissolution and resurrection in vss 51b-53? Josephus says that on the outer veil of the temple was needlework portraying the starry heavens (Wars 5.5.4; Ant. 3.6.4; 3.7.7). Therefore, the tearing of the veil may be suggestive of the beginning destruction of the old cosmos. This is consistent with the following ideas: (1) the Old Testament notion that the temple was a microcosmic model of the true divine macrocosmic temple in heaven; (2) Jesus’ statements in John 2 that, after the destruction of the Herodian temple, his own resurrection body was the beginning rebuilding of the new temple promised to be rebuilt at the time of the new creation in Ezekiel; (3) the Old Testament represents the sky as a curtain or tent (Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; cf. b. B. Mes. 59a) and other Old Testament and New Testament texts speak of the ‘rending’ of the heavens on ‘the Day of the Lord’. In the light of this Matthean imagery, it is consistent that right on the heels of 1 John 2:2 concerning Christ being a propitiation for sins, 1 John 2:17-18 can say ‘the world is passing away . . . it is the last hour.’” Beale, Greg K., The Eschatological Conception of New Testament Theology, presented in Brower, Kent E. & Elliott, Mark W. , Eschatology in the Bible & Theology, Downers Grove, Il, Intervarsity Press, 1997, p. 33
[3] It is necessary to look at the conflation of the Most-Holy-Place with the Holy Place as inaugurated but not consummated. Those who have passed away fully enjoy eternal existence in Yahweh’s Most-Holy-Place. They have seen the fulfillment in consummation. For we who are still here on earth, we experience all the benefits of being in the Most-Holy-Place, though only in its inauguration.
[4] There may be a parallel with the words offered to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-16 in which God’s people are taken captive but are promised liberation and a land but not until the sins of the Amorites have reached full measure. The restraint that prevents the coming Antichrist until the appointed time may portend that God is waiting for the sins of His opponents to reach full measure. Until that time, Babylon is left to test the hearts of believers who seek God’s liberation from sin and who are on an exodus to God’s heavenly land.