Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
When the Apostle John was writing “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) in the late first century, the temple in Jerusalem had already been destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. Moreover, the Jewish people had been slaughtered and scattered. A new temple seemed unlikely; in fact, nearly 2,000 years later, there is still no temple in Jerusalem. The words of Revelation 11:1-2 are thus surprising to many: “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.’” We must insist that this will be a real temple; it is not something symbolic. The context presents a specific location (Jerusalem, “the holy city:), a specific time frame of 1,260 days (42 months of 30 days each), two specific witnesses (verse 3), a specific enemy (the Antichrist – verse 7 – “the beast”), and even a specific earthquake (verse 13). These detailed descriptions require a literal interpretation of this passage and necessitate that a real temple will one day be built in Jerusalem. Our Savior, Who rules over all (including earth, life, and death), also reigns over Jerusalem and over the Temple Mount.