There is no temple in the eschatological vision of John.
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb (Rev. 21:22).
He sees a city, but a city with no temple; no separate holy space because the presence of God and of the Lamb are there in fullness.
At the time of the crucifixion there are creational signs such as an earthquake and an eclipse of the sun; there are temporal disturbances that affect the realm of the deceased; and there is a huge sign in the Temple when the curtain, that separated the holy of holies, was torn apart. The ultimate holy space was no longer separate from creation. The temple in process of being constructed (or better that is in process of growing) is described in Ephesians. It is a temple that is not of one physical stone placed upon another, but of one person being joined to another as each building block is aligned to Jesus ‘the cornerstone’.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us, abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone; in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God (Ephes. 2:13-22).
To suggest that this work will eventually be expressed in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem would be to suggest a symbol that belongs to the past will be restored as a fulfilment! The fulfilment is the presence of God in and throughout the whole earth.
Matthew’s Gospel is wonderfully focused on ‘fulfilments’ of Scripture and it seems there is a deliberate shaping of the Gospel that frames the whole book within the ‘normal’ shape of the Jewish Scriptures as a whole. The Jewish Scriptures can be described as ‘the law, the prophets and the writings’, thus shaping the various scrolls into an order different to what we term the ‘Old Testament’. With that ordering we have ‘Genesis’ as the first scroll and ‘Chronicles’ as the last scroll. The opening words of Matthew:
An account of the genealogy (genesis: beginning / birth) of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
An account of the genesis of Jesus. Surely in a book of fulfilments the first book of the Torah is alluded to. Jesus is the fulfilment of the whole of what has gone before, and when we come to the closing words (the Great Commission) of Matthew we have clear resonances with the closing words in the last book of the Writings. We read:
In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also in writing, saying: “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Let any of those among you who are of his people—may the Lord their God be with them!—go up.” (2 Chron 36:22,23).
Cyrus makes a claim to having received a level of authority that means he can commission people to go to Jerusalem to build God a house there and he proclaims that God will be with them. Matthew seems to consciously report the Great Commission as not simply echoing but transcending Cyrus’ commission.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20).
The same themes:
- Authority, but an authority beyond that of Cyrus. Jesus has all authority within all creation.
- Direction: but not going to Jerusalem, but going from it and the scope is universal (all nations).
- Presence: the intimate and committed presence of Jesus is promised.
And what is being ‘constructed’? In both cases a temple, but this one that is of disciples from all nations, the presence of God filling all creation, the glory of God coming to cover the earth. This commission being the means by which the eschatological temple will be finally manifested. Thus the ‘Great Commission’ and the ‘Creation Mandate’ are one and the same, to multiply and fill the earth with the image of God (indicating how important humanity is). Images, biblically, point to what they image and draw what they image to themselves. ‘Even so come, Lord Jesus.’
Ezekiel’s temple vision
In the closing chapters of Ezekiel there are detailed descriptions of the eschatological temple that expressed the future hope. Those visions certainly influenced John in Revelation, who saw ‘no temple’ in the eschatological fulfilment, and given the texts in Ephesians and the structure of Matthew’s Gospel it would be strange indeed if Ezekiel should be used to fuel a hope of a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. I suggest we cast a look at Ezekiel as it will also underline why I do not try and make OT prophecies into a literal fulfilment but seek to understand them as promise.
Ezekiel can be divided into two. The first part begins with Ezekiel in Exile and by the river he sees the glorious throne of God in Babylon. The idolatry in Israel has caused the glory to depart the Temple in Jerusalem. Into this he prophesied judgement, judgement on Israel, the nations and on Jerusalem, and within the proclamations of judgement we encounter a wonderful section of hope that God will give Israel a ‘new heart’ and will put his Spirit within them (Ezek. 11: 14-21). There is a transition in chapter 34 that picks up on that restoration hope. God will restore and just as Ezekiel has spoken of judgement on Israel and the nations he now speaks of hope for Israel and the nations… and beyond the nations for creation.
The hope for Israel is in a new David being raised up (surely that fulfilment is in Jesus as the ‘Good Shepherd’). The nation is depicted as corpses lying in a valley, but being raised up with the breath of God within them. This restoration is followed by the judgement on the nations – symbolically referred to as Gog (the leader) and a group of nations – that oppose God. The re-ordering of the world is in view, and it is in that context we have those final visions of a renewed Temple. Ezekiel is shown around this temple which is beyond anything that has gone before, beyond Solomon’s Temple.
The glory had departed the Jerusalem Temple with the Babylonian exile, but the glory returns to this new (future) temple in chapter 43. He then sees a mighty river flow from that future temple bringing life to the most dead of places. Trees will grow, their leaves providing healing.
It might be possible to postulate that this vision of the future temple is to be fulfilled literally in the future, but the whole vision seems beyond that. John in Revelation is deeply influenced by Ezekiel’s temple vision, and he moves beyond even what Ezekiel recorded; John describes a city where there was no temple. He includes, among other aspects, the trees with healing in their leaves and at the conclusion of John’s words he writes:
But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him (Rev. 22:3).
The throne of God that Ezekiel had seen had departed from Jerusalem returns to the Temple (Ezekiel). John has the throne within the city, for there is no temple for it to return to. Nowhere does Ezekiel say that the city is Jerusalem – the city is called:
And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There (Ezek.48:35).
For John God (and the Lamb) is there within the new Jerusalem. The presence of God in the new city that comes down from heaven (Revelation) is where God dwells. That city in Revelation is described without a Temple, and is measured and occupies the then known world. John, influenced deeply by Ezekiel, understands the fulfilment to be the presence of God within all creation.
Ezekiel is best understood as describing a future hope for the restoration of all creation, and when we read New Testament texts they take what Ezekiel saw and take it even further. The future temple inside a future city disappears. The temple and city become one, and one can even say the city and planet become one.