Even in the New Jerusalem we read in
Rev 21:22, And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
in Revelation it tells John to measure the temple, and, the gentiles will tread the city. The second temple was still standing when revelation was written.
Good example Brother
kiwidan, and I too believe there will be another temple built, but I do not think anything of the Jew's national sacrificing will be holy. As I paste below, I think it has to do with comparing the true and the false. As to the temple standing when the book of Revelation was written, the date I have is that it was written in 96 AD, whereas the temple that was in John's time was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD. John had been caught forward to the viewpoint of the Lord's Day (Rev 1:10).
The following excerpt is from a study of Revelation presented by Gene Hawkins I transcribed from CD's.
"Revelation 11:1.
"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." A rod or a staff and an Angel, and this is the same angel we have been talking about; it is the Angel Christ and He is still operating under that same authority we have seen there in Chapter Ten and He stood saying
"Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein." Now this once again is going to give us a little indication of Who He is talking about, because He is talking here about the true worshippers. He is talking about the true Israel of God and you will notice,
"Rise, and measure the temple of God." What we must understand is that the Jews will still have a certain freedom to worship in the temple during the first half of the week, or three and one half years of the tribulation, but now in the middle of the week as we have seen in Daniel and as we're also going to see later on here, the antichrist is going to set up his image, and that means that all religious worship is going to cease, and all worship is going to be directed toward the antichrist.
And after that the antichrist is going to set up his image, and it is called the abomination of desolation; you'll find that in Matthew 24:15.
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand." Daniel 9:27 again reads this way;
"And he (The antichrist)
shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease" and so up until that time the Jews are permitted to worship. Now you'll notice that John is instructed to measure the temple of God, and now this is symbolic you see because he is not actually measuring the temple for a revelation or something like that, He is talking about measuring the true temple of God by the word of God. We know that even today we are being measured by the scriptures of God's word and things will not change at all in that day. So when John is told to measure the temple, it is actually symbolic of the ministry of the two witnesses that are going to begin here in Revelation 11:3 because that's exactly what they are going to be doing; they are going to be measuring so they can actually put a difference. God will bring a specific difference between the true and the false, and of course these two witnesses as we're going to get into here shortly have a ministry of judgment. So this measuring line, this measuring reed, or this staff is symbolic of the word of God, and that is what they're going to be doing is measuring people by the authority, and the measure of God' sword. It will be a measure of the true believers here at this time.
Revelation 11:2.
"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." Now this court without the temple means there are those here that are going to be present, but they are not a part of God's true temple, and so the court that is without the temple leave out and measure it not and they are not actually measured here. God is measuring only those who are believers and notice this;
"For it (That is this court)
is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." Now when it speaks of this forty and two months here we are talking about the last half of the tribulation which is under the authority, and under the rule, and under the reign of the antichrist.
So in the first three and one half years these Jews are given liberty to worship and they are being measured by the word of God during that time. Once we reach the middle of the week then there is a decided change and then He says you don't measure this court because this is now given unto the Gentiles. Well it means the ruler of the Gentiles at that time which will be the antichrist, and make note of the time because it is forty-two months. Now forty-two months is exactly the same as three and one half years, or twelve hundred and sixty days. I bring these days out because as I've said before, when God deals with the Jews, He deals in exact times and exact days. When He deals with the Gentiles it is figurative or symbolic, but we now have switched back to genuine Jewish times because Jesus has been enthroned and therefore we are in the times of the Jew; not the times of the Gentile. Therefore these days are exactly specific as we're going to see here in just a moment.
Revelation 11:3.
"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth" Now then, notice in this verse;
"I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy." 1 Corinthians 14:3 tells us,
"But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort" and that is what the two witnesses are going to be doing from the time they begin their ministry. We're going to see here in just a moment that their ministry begins when the covenant with the antichrist is signed and that is the same covenant we read of in Daniel 9:27 and when that is signed, that is the signal for the beginning of the ministry of these two witnesses. During that time they will be giving a message of edification; that is to give out the word of God so people will grow up unto Christ in all things to edify them.
They will be exhorting them and they will be comforting them because the three of them; edification, and exhortation, and comfort are going to be very much needed in that time of very severe devastation and destruction. Yes they have been given liberty to worship in their temple but things are really going to be in a bad way for the Jews who are trying to do that and eventually it will come as we'll see here in just a little while where that liberty is going to be cut off and there will be nothing but persecution facing those who dare to stand up for Christ.
Now notice,
"I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days." Twelve hundred and sixty days, and it means from the very day that the covenant with the antichrist is signed in Daniel 9:27 to the middle of the week; this is how long their ministry lasts and this is the first twelve hundred and sixty days of the tribulation period. Now we see these referred to as two witnesses, but will there be two men, or will there be two groups and there is no definitive answer on that. If they are two groups I'm sure they will be led by two men, but I'm really prone to believe there are simply two men. That's my opinion and with the media that we have today; radio, television, computer, and all of this I'm confident they could get their message out around the world, especially speaking to the Jewish community. Be that as it may, there are two of them and there is reason for that because two is the minimum number of witness in the scripture. John 8:17.
"It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true." So that is a staple throughout the law is that there had to be a minimum of two witnesses, and so God has it here. And these are undoubtedly the two other men that Daniel saw in Daniel 12:5 and that verse says.
"Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river." So these have to refer to that same ministry of these two witnesses, and we're dealing exactly with the same time period at this time.