#5 - Revelation Temple (Rev. 11:1-2) - Revelation Already Complete?

    The main point in my blogs up to this time has been to try to grapple with the heated debate surrounding a future temple built in Jerusalem. While one side believes that Scripture states that a return to animal sacrifices is imminent, the other side sees this as contrary to the gospel and work of Christ. There are three New Testament passages that the future-view hold to be evidence of a future coming of the Temple and sacrificial system (Matt. 24:15, 2 Thess. 2:4, Rev. 11:1-2) and it is these that I am surveying to try to understand the context in the timing. So far we have covered two of these three passages in previous posts and discovered that the timing of the context supposes an already past fulfillment of those texts, not a future one. We will now take a look at Revelation 11:1-2. It states, 

"1 Then there was given to 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. 2 Leave out the courtyard which is outside the temple and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations; and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months."

Consequence of Two Opposing Views

    Remember, the date that one places on the book of Revelation determines whether the temple spoken of in Revelation 11 is the one that was already destroyed in the past (70 AD) or if it is still an expected event in our future today. If the book of Revelation was written prior to the temple's destruction then Revelation 11 must be speaking about the soon coming destruction of the temple that was standing at that time (probably in the mid-60s AD). If one understands that the timing of the writing of Revelation was after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, then we are still waiting for another temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem and a return to the animal sacrificial system, Levitical priesthood, and old Mosaic law can be fully re-instituted. In other words, the dispute over the timing of the temple in Revelation 11 is about the date of the writing of Revelation itself and it has major implications as to how believers in Christ might live their lives.

The Future Temple View

    The future view understands that the book of Revelation was written sometime between 92 and 96 AD. Amongst other details, this belief is based on the understanding that John, the writer of Revelation, was put into exile during the reign of the Caesar Domitian, 81-96 AD. This stance on the context is really based on a single quote from Ireneaus, an early writer in church history (180-190 AD). All other commentators throughout history that claim the future view get their dating from this quote from Irenaeus' writings, which states, 

"We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of the Antichrist; for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign."

It would seem, at first glance, that the future view holds true if the apocalypse "was seen...almost" in Irenaeus' own day, near "the end of the reign of Domitian" (Caesar from 81 to 96 AD). With the temple destroyed in 70 AD, this would mean that the book of Revelation was written after the temple's destruction and due to the predictive nature of this passage it must be therefore looking toward a still yet future temple today. Additionally, this would imply the return of animal sacrificial ceremonies and a Levitical priesthood in which Christians would make offerings and devotion. 

The Historically Fulfilled Temple View

    Still, a past fulfillment of Revelation 11:1-2 seems to be a more compelling view. This view places the book of Revelation in the early to mid-60s AD. And when dealing with Irenaeus' statement above, some further questions arise. The phrase "for that was seen" (in bold above) in the original Greek could more easily be translated "for he was seen" thereby changing the whole focus of the passage from when John may have seen the vision to when John, himself, was last seen. S. H. Chase clarifies it in his very comprehensive lecture on the date of Revelation and Irenaeus' statement saying,

"What is the subject? He or it??? But if Irenaeus meant that he, John, was seen, this is in accordance with his favorite phraseology of the Greek original." (italics mine)

We know from other history that John was released from the Island of Patmos following his exile and lived to be close to 100 years old, thereby giving him appearance to many "toward the end of Domitian's reign." Interestingly, Domitian was an emperor that was not necessarily hostile toward Christians and it would appear that John was already freed during Domitian's reign if others were actually seeing him. This would indicate a much earlier time for the writing of Revelation since it was written during a time of persecution and tribulation (Rev. 1:9) while John was imprisoned. This time period would most likely be during the reign of Nero Caesar, 54 to 68 AD, prior to the Jerusalem temple destruction in 70 AD. 

Some Further Support to the Fulfilled View

1. The Syriac version of Revelation, one of the earliest renderings of the complete New Testament (2nd Century AD), includes a prologue that states "The Revelation which was made by God to John the evangelist on the island of Patmos, into which he was thrown by Nero Caesar." 

2. Also, it must be noted that the numerology of Nero Caesar's name adds to 666 when derived from the Hebrew Gematria (i.e. numerical values from the Hebrew alphabet). This connects the beast from Revelation 13:18 to Nero directly and thereby situates the book itself during Emperor Nero's reign before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. 

3. Rev. 17 speaks of a beast on which the harlot is riding, which has seven heads. We are told that the seven heads represent seven mountains and also seven kings. One would not have to look far to understand that the beast is Rome, known anciently as the City of Seven Hills. So then these seven kings also must be representative of Rome. The text of Revelation 17:10 gives us another clue as to the timing of the writing when it states, 

"and they are seven kings, five have fallen (i.e. died), one is (currently alive), the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a short time."

The question regarding the timing of the book of Revelation is who is this sixth king from Rome, who apparently is alive at the time of John's writing. According to the historian Seutonius, who wrote a well known history entitled The Lives of The Twelve Caesars, the order of the Caesars begins with Julius Caesar and numbers the Caesars this way: (1)Julius, (2)Augustus, (3)Tiberias, (4)  Caligula, (5) Claudius, (6) Nero. Again, we are given the name associated with the date of John's writing, Nero Caesar who died in 68 AD prior to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. This speaks clearly of the book of Revelation not only in terms of its date of writing but also that the temple in Revelation 11 is the one that would be destroyed shortly during the war between the Romans and the Jews (66-70 AD).

4. The opening introduction that John gives for the whole book is that the events of the book would "shortly take place" (1:1) and that the closeness of these events to the original audience was "near" (1:3). With respect to time, the only temple of God in Revelation 11 that could possibly be spoken of is the one that was destroyed in 70AD. To take the future temple view on the "shortness" of time for these events to take place is to completely ignore the words "shortly" and "near" in the opening verses of Revelation. Additionally, the conclusion of Revelation uses these same words ("shortly" and "near") to encapsulate all that is contained within the book of Revelation at the end of the book (read Rev. 22:6 and 22:10). Therefore, the book of Revelation has the catastrophes of the first century in view, not our future.

5. The times of the Gentiles in Rev. 11:2 has its fuller context in Luke 21:24. Jesus uses almost the exact wording to speak about the Gentiles arriving to trample Jerusalem "until the times of the Gentiles are filled" which John prophesies would be a period of "42 months". This is particularly important because Jesus was speaking of the temple standing right before His disciples' eyes. Therefore, the date of Revelation finds greater support in a mid-60s AD dating than does the later date in the 90s AD.

Conclusion

If we survey the New Testament to try to find the claim that another temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, we will only derive that from our own will to see a restored Law of Moses and temple ceremony re-instituted. This is not what the New Testament speaks of in any of the three supposed future temple passages that I have covered (though not inexhaustibly) in my blog posts. The New Testament speaks of there no longer being any sacrifices for sin (Heb. 10:18) and that in the time of the Apostles the temple and its system under the Law of Moses was "becoming obsolete and growing old, ready to disappear". This is accomplished because Jesus is our new High Priest, not according to the Law of Moses (Heb. 7:14), and that with Jesus' priesthood we are told that the Law of Moses would be changed, and it did with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. Hebrews 7:12 tells us, "For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of Law also." So then, the subject matter is whether we as Christians will go back to the observance of the Law of Moses, offering animal sacrifices, and making Jerusalem on the earth our home. The answer is that the New Testament does not allow for it. Still, this debate finds some reaching back into the Old Testament to churn up more passages that supposedly speak of a future temple. 

In the upcoming posts, I will cover the context and timing of predictions made in the prophets of the Old Testament. I will begin this in Daniel 9 in the next post.

***For an in-depth resource on the dating of Revelation, see Kenneth L. Gentry Jr.'s book Before Jerusalem Fell.