As the subject of the temple specially concerns the Jews, we will speak of it as it were to them. And more especially as some are earnestly inquiring about these things. You will notice your temple, the temple of God, is again to be rebuilt. No other temple but that at Jerusalem is ever called the temple of God on earth. We are at once reminded of Ezekiel: “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.’ This could not possibly apply to the church, or Christendom. In, the church there are neither Jews nor Gentiles, for all are one in Christ Jesus. But when the Jewish time begins again, there is the same distinction between the highly favored Jews and the Gentiles that there was before, Christianity and the church. (See Isa. 60:3, 5, 113And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. (Isaiah 60:3)
5Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. (Isaiah 60:5)
11Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. (Isaiah 60:11), &c.; 56:6, &c.)
There are, then, Jewish worshippers in the temple: but the court is still trodden underfoot of the Gentiles, forty-two months: that is, three and a half years of your ancient time reckoned. This, again, is in perfect harmony with your prophet speaking of the last time of the end—the last week, or seven years. “And in the midst of the week he shall [that is the Prince of the Gentiles, the restored Roman empire] cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease,” &c. (Dan. 9:2727And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27), compare Dan. 12:7, 117And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:7)
11And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. (Daniel 12:11).) Jesus has told you to mark this epoch. (Matt. 24:1515When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) (Matthew 24:15).) Read all He says about it.
Do not forget that at the end of these three years and a half, the Son of man shall come with the clouds of heaven, and set up His kingdom on earth. (Dan. 7:13, 1413I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13‑14); Matt. 24:29, 3129Immediately 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: (Matthew 24:29)
31And 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. (Matthew 24:31).)
What scenes have yet to happen in and around that city Jerusalem!
Verse 3. “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth.” This shows that God will, during these three and a half years, even day by day, maintain an adequate witness or testimony. Two witnesses, being adequate, sufficient, does not necessarily mean two men. There will be a distinct and sufficient witness for God, even when the world, led on by Satan, is against the Jewish remnant of that terrible period. And men will not be able to kill or destroy this testimony. God gives them power, as he gave to the prophets of old. Almost each particular has a parallel in the Old Testament. They prophesy until the beast rises out of the bottomless pit; we shall read all about him farther on. He puts to death the witnesses at Jerusalem, and after three days and a half they are raised from the Lad, at the very time the nations are rejoicing over their death. Such is man. From the day that Cain slew his brother Abel, the wicked have hated the righteous.
All this is surely not about Christians, but the Jewish remnant, and that city called Sodom and pt. It is getting ready for the winepress of wrath of God.
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Vers. 15-18.) The sounding of the seventh angel brings the general history down to the close. Then other distinct revelations are given.
Man is a rebel against God; what real right then can he have to the kingdoms of this world? True they were given into his hands for a time, but how has he used the power from Nebuchadnezzar to this very day? These verses look at the transfer of the kingdoms of the world to Messiah, as a then accomplished fact: they “are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever.” How blessed to pause and contemplate the happy change that awaits this groaning creation!
Verse 16. The four and twenty elders are still seen seated before God on their thrones, and they fall on their faces and worship God. How calm their thanksgiving and praise in the presence of God! They give a summary to the end; they are wholly occupied with the glory and majesty of God. “We give thee thanks, O Lord God, Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.” How perfect the harmony of redeemed with the mind and work of God! What is man with all his vain boasting, and daring wickedness, when God puts forth His infinite power? Well may we say, Greater is He that is for us than all they that be against us. The anger of the nations, what is it, when His wrath shall be come?
Here then closes the general, connected prophetic history of the revelation. It is not the revelation of the church, but first of Christ, in His judgments of the churches, or assemblies, right on to the end of their history on earth. It is to him that hath an ear to hear what the Spirit saith unto the assemblies. The words of Christ to such are full of the deepest meaning and instruction, in each of the seven stages of the course of the churches, or of Christendom. After the history of these seven distinct stages of Christendom, the redeemed are seen (having been caught up to heaven), as royal worshipping priests in heaven. Then the judgments that will take place on earth. The first are the providential judgments on the opening of the seals. That hour of temptation that shall come on all the world thus begins.
Then before the more terrible judgments of the trumpets, God reveals His future purposes of grace both to the elect and numbered remnant of Israel, and also to those of the nations.
After this pause, there are the direct judgments from heaven. Angelic blasts of judgment, first on the circumstances, and then on the persons of men. Then time is no longer delayed. The time of the end begins according to Daniel’s prophecy, and a short summary brings us, as we have seen, to the end, when the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
CHAPTERS 12, 13, 14.
These chapters form a division of the book. in the last verse of chapter 11 which should be read with what follows, the temple of God is opened in heaven: all is safety there—there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament. He will be faithful to His covenant in the midst of all that has yet to be judged, and further judgments have yet to. be revealed. There were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. Thus is connected the covenant of God with His ancient people. Chapter 12 opens: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Yes, emperors and kings of the earth may trample and persecute the scattered sons of Israel, but what a destiny according to the covenant of God do these words reveal, and confirm: “Daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” (Mic. 4:88And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. (Micah 4:8).) It will be truly marvelous when the purposes of God are fulfilled in giving the supreme dominion of this world to the despised people of Israel. With all subordinate governments at her feet she; is crowned with the perfect administration of the world.
Like many of the psalms the first verse in these chapters gives the leading thought. It is a great mistake to confound this woman with the church. The church is not seen on earth, or even the churches or assemblies, after chapter 3.
It is the woman, Israel, which will travail in birth, and be in pain to be delivered. Read on in Mic. 4:99Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. (Micah 4:9): “Now why dost thou cry out aloud?... for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to. Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.”
Notice that in both Micah and Revelation the supreme dominion of Israel is assured, and then is foretold the awful time of her travail and pain. This labor is not at the birth of Christ, the man-child, but her future travail and flight as described by the Lord in Matt. 24.
Verse 3. Here we have the source of the wicked power of the Roman Empire. This is none other than Satan as the great red dragon, having seven heads and two horns, and seven crowns upon his head. How many mighty ones, stars of heaven, had he cast down! This is a most humiliating discovery. Power was given by Jehovah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar; but here in the Roman Empire, Satan as a great dragon is using man as his tool! This was clearly seen at the birth of Christ, the man-child. Herod was the instrument, but it was really the dragon seeking to destroy the infant Jesus; yes, as soon as He was born. God thus reveals everything to us in its true colors. We can read the narrative in the Gospels, and know the mover in the scene is Satan, the dragon, or destroyer.
Verse 5 refers to the past, the birth of Jesus, not the future travail of Israel. Indeed there was no travail of Israel at the birth of Messiah: as says the prophet: “Before she travailed she brought forth: before her pain came, she was delivered of a MAN CHILD.” And this is shown to be quite distinct from the future travail of Israel, “for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” (Isa. 66:7, 87Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. (Isaiah 66:7‑8).) At the birth of Jesus the man-child, there was no travail in Israel: this was before her travail, When she brings forth her children then will be the time of tribulation such as never was. They man-child she brought forth was “to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne.” This also was foretold by the prophet Micah: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Mic. 5:22But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2).) Then after this you read that Israel were to be given up, “until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth.”
All this actually took place. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He was rejected by Israel His people. He was caught up to God. And they have been given up, and will be, until the time of their travail. Yet two things are true of Jesus, Messiah. He is to be ruler in Israel, and He is the everlasting God, whose goings forth have been from of old, from eternity. Who but God could have foretold all this 700 years before the birth of the man-child? Now to pervert these scriptures as if the woman was the church, is either great folly, or a wicked attempt to turn the scriptures into confusion. The whole subject is very simple if we follow scripture, in dependence on the Holy Ghost, and seek to make no intellectual system of our own.
Verse 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, &c., —just as we have seen of Israel, in Micah, when the time of her travail arrives. Only here the length of time of her travail is given 1260 days, or the last half-week of years, as foretold in Daniel.
Verse 7. It would seem it is at this crisis that there is war in heaven, &c. This will be an immense change in heaven, and a terrible event for the earth. There can now be no doubt as to who the dragon is, that is cast out of heaven. “That old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Not yet cast out of the earth, but into the earth. God thus begins His mighty conquest by casting him and all his angels out of heaven. At present we wrestle with wicked spirits in the heavenlies. He is now the accuser of the brethren: and we can only overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the testimony. There will be great joy in heaven, but woe to the inhabiters of earth.
And now mark, when Satan is cast out of heaven he does not persecute Christians. Most assuredly he would have done so if they had not been caught up to heaven. “He persecuted the woman which brought forth the man.” It is against her he manifests his hatred. She flies into the wilderness to her place of safety. There will be a remnant that will believe the testimony of Jesus, and keep the commandments of God. Thus we see this chapter is chiefly occupied with the Jews, or Israel, as the earthly people of God. Many of them are feeling assured that the time of their deliverance is near, and God will not forget the ark of the testimony in heaven. Satan may send forth waters like a flood to destroy them, but God can, and will preserve the sealed remnant.
Many speak of this chapter as difficult to understand. It is in perfect harmony with all other parts of scripture, and most strengthening to our faith in the word of God. Only let us not be led away by the fancies of men; and there are those that lie in wait to deceive.
May we be kept in the presence of the Lord, as we meditate on the further marvelous revelations of this book. Yes, the heavens have received Jesus “until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”