Disciples Digital Library

The destructive forces unleashed by the last plagues echo the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea – Revelation 15:5-8.  Having seen the saints standing victorious on the “ sea of glass ,” John now sees the “ sanctuary ” and the “ Tent of Testimony ” opened fully in “ heaven .” From it, the seven angels with the “ bowls of fury ” are dispatched to deliver their deadly cargoes to the inhabitants of the earth.

Paul consistently applies the term “ sanctuary of God ” to the church, and he also uses related language when describing Christian congregations, terms used originally in the Hebrew Bible for the Tabernacle and Temple. While the Apostle’s language is metaphorical, it describes new realities and the identity of God’s new covenant people.

The New Testament usage of the term “assembly” is based on the image of Israel assembled before Yahweh for worship in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek noun rendered “church” in English is  ekklésia , meaning “assembly, congregation.” In secular Greek it may refer to an “assembly” of citizens gathered to conduct matters of state; however, that is not the sense found in the New Testament.

Jesus will not “ arrive ” on the “ day of the Lord ” until two events occur - the “ apostasy ” and the “ revelation of the Man of Lawlessness ,” and they are inextricably linked. Not only will this figure cause many to apostatize, but his unveiling will take place “ in the sanctuary of God ” where he will “ sit down .”

The sanctuary must be “measured” before the city can be inhabited, but first, it must be “trampled underfoot” by the nations - Revelation 11:1-2.  In the preceding vision, John was commanded to “ prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings ,” which set the stage for the next two visions, the “ measuring of the sanctuary and the altar ,” and the testimony of the “ two witnesses .” Both are connected by the equivalent figures of “ forty-two months ” and “ 1,260 days. ”

SYNOPSIS: An analysis of the final week of the “Seventy Weeks” prophecy – Daniel 9:26-27. We now reach the end of the “Seventy Weeks” prophecy, its final or so-called seventieth “ week ” ( Daniel 9:26-27 ). This passage describes a set of events for which the preceding sixty-nine “weeks” have prepared. The text says  nothing about the destruction  of the city or the Temple. Instead, in this final “ week ,” the people of the city are “ corrupted ,” and the Sanctuary is defiled by the “ abomination that desolates .