The Temple of God Is Opened

This is an interesting verse and it shows once again that the book of Revelation is mostly about God and his people the Jews. Right after the announcement of victory, comes this observation, “and the temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament.” This is not the temple that John measured, that temple is the rebuilt temple on the earth, this is the temple of God in heaven and it contains the ark of the covenant.

You might wonder what is happening and why the ark of the testimony is in heaven. The truth is that this ark of the testimony has always been in heaven as has this temple. John specifically says “the temple of God in heaven.”

When God gave Moses the plans for the tabernacle, back in the book of Exodus, it was meant to be a representation, a foreshadowing of this Temple in Heaven. The tabernacle was not just a place of meeting for Israel it was also a 3-dimensional model of the heavens God had created.

We see this Shadow of Heaven’s Temple in  Hebrews 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

The tabernacle was divided into three areas the outer court, the holy place and the most holy place. The outer court corresponds to the heavens that surround the earth, the firmament of the clouds and birds; the holy place is the heaven beyond the atmosphere of earth, it would be the heavens of the planets and stars, the sun and moon. Some would include in 2nd heaven the place where the angels dwell and those who have died in faith dwell, Paradise. The most Holy Place was a representation the third heaven, the very throne room of God.

The Three Heavens - Paul mentions these heavens in 2 Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

When the seventh trumpet blows and the temple is opened, we see the heavenly Temple opened and the reason it is opened is that the people of God, the nation of Israel can see the ark of God. The ark that has been lost since the time of the Old Testament, the most precious possession of the people of Israel is safe in the Temple of God.

The ark on earth was the place where the presence of God dwelt between the two cherubim, the two arch angels. The lid of the ark was the mercy seat, where the priests sought forgiveness for the sins of the nation of Israel. It was a representation of God’s throne of mercy.

Psalms 89:14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne:
mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

Proverbs 20:28 Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.

When the Temple is thrown open in heaven and the ark of the covenant is seen there, it shows God’s mercy, truth and faithfulness in keeping the covenant with Abraham and Moses. It shows God’s forgiveness and His love. It shows His promises are true and never to be forgotten. It shows God never forsakes His own. What they thought was lost was always safe in the keeping of God.

The people of God could not keep the covenant, but the God of the people could and did. The ark seen in heaven is proof of that promise kept.

The Promise of the Gospel

Today, the Bible tells us that God’s Mercy, Truth and Promises are open to Us through the Gospel. Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The mercy seat, the seat of atonement has never been lost. It has always been found at the throne of God.

Illustration: Newton and the throne of Grace

John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace truly was a wretch, he was slave trader taking men, women and children from Africa, transporting them in the worst conditions you can imagine, treating them with less dignity than animals. He was a drunkard. He was cruel to his men, they hated him so much that once when he fell drunk overboard, they rescued him by throwing a harpoon into his leg and dragging him back on board. He sunk so low that he himself became a slave to the very people he used to sell, like so much cattle. Even worse as he puts it he became a runaway slave. But John Newton found grace at the throne of God become a pastor and a hymnwriter. We all know Amazing Grace but here is one that isn’t published in hymnals anymore, not since the late 1800s. In most hymnals it is only a number but in one written in 1810 it is title “Coming To The Throne of Grace”

1 Not to Sinai's dreadful blaze,
But to Zion's throne of grace,
by a way marked out with blood,
Sinners now approach to God.

2 Not to hear the fiery law,
But with humble joy to draw
Water by that well supplied,
Jesus opened when he died.

3 Lord, there are no streams but thine,
Can assuage a thirst like mine;
'Tis a thirst thyself didst give,
Let me therefore drink and live.

The throne of mercy is open and the ark of the covenant is sure and fast. And just as God has held the nation of Israel in His hand all these centuries and now with the 7th Trumpet blowing, into eternity, He also will keep His promises through the Gospel to us.

John 10:27-29 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Paul believed the promise of God and boasted that nothing could take him from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.