After their Exodus from Egypt, God commanded Israel to build a Tabernacle or Tent (see Exodus 25-40). A curtain divided the outer room, called the "Holy Place," from the inner room, called the "Most Holy Place." The inner room contained a gold box called the "Ark of the Covenant" or the "Ark of the Testimony," with two gold cherubim on the lid. Above the Ark hovered the "glory" of God, a bright light serving as a visible sign of the invisible God's presence. The Lord told Moses:

Have [Israel] make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them ...There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the Ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelities. (Exodus 25:8, 22, NIV)

The Tabernacle signified God's presence with Israel -- the Lord's own Tent pitched among the Israelities' tents. The priests who served in the Tabernacle could draw closer to God than the rest of the Israelities. However, only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place, the direct presence of God . And he could do so only once per year on the Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 16).

Years later, King Solomon built a Temple in Jerusalem, a more permanent structure to replace the older Tabernacle. At the dedication ceremony, the Lord's presence filled the Temple:

When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Temple of the LORD. ?And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled His Temple. (1 Kings 8:10-11)

So the Temple, too, signified God's presence with his covenant people.

In Revelation 21-22, John symbolically portrays the "New Jerusalem," the consummated Kingdom of God, as a "Temple" where the Lord continually dwells with His people. How does John do it?

First, he writes:

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22)

In other words, there is no single building in the Kingdom where God and Christ are present, because they are directly present everywhere. The entire City -- the entire redeemed community -- is a "temple."

Second, an angel measures the City:

The City was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. (Revelation 21:15-16)

In other words, the City has the shape of a perfect cube. This has theological significance, for the Most Holy Place was also shaped like a perfect cube:

The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high." (1 Kings 6:20; compare 2 Chronicles 3:8-9).

John's symbolic dimensions suggest that living in the consummated Kingdom of God will be something like living in the Most Holy Place forever. All God's people will be "High Priests" in the sense that we will have direct access to the Lord not just once per year, but always.

Now the dwelling (literally the "Tent") of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)

Third, in the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple, the presence of God took the form of "glory," a bright light. John pictures the same divine glory filling the heavenly City:

It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. (Revelation 21:11)

Living in "New Jerusalem" means continually enjoying the blessing of God's presence.

Reflect...

1. Read Matthew 27:50-51. How does the tearing of the Temple curtain relate to Jesus' death and the "New Jerusalem"?
   
   
2. Revelation 21:23-25 and 22:5 say that the New Jerusalem "does not need the sun or the moon." Why not? How does this relate to John's Temple symbolism?
   
   
3. Read (a) Exodus 33:18-34:7, (b) 1 John 3:2, and (c) Revelation 22:4. How do these events relate to John's Temple symbolism?

Christopher A. Davis, Ph.D.
Professor of New Testament
Hope International University
Fullerton, California

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