Now we must read Revelation 11:19: “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened, and the Ark of His Covenant was seen in His temple.” This verse, however, says clearly that the temple of God is in heaven. This surely is God’s dwelling place in heaven. The word for temple in Greek in this verse is naos, the inner temple. The throne with the rainbow in 4:2-3 is the center of all the judgments executed over the earth in chapters six through eleven, on the negative side; whereas “the temple” with “the Ark” is the center of all God’s accomplishments in the universe carried out in chapters twelve through twenty-two, on the positive side. The throne is the center of God’s administration before chapter eleven. Then from chapter twelve the center of God’s government is no longer the throne but the temple with the Testimony, the Ark. Revelation 11:19 is continued by Revelation 15:5 which says, “And after these things I saw, and the temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in heaven was opened.” In this verse we see the temple of the tabernacle. Therefore, the tabernacle is the heavens and the temple is the inner sanctuary. This inner sanctuary is the Holy of Holies where the ark is.
We also see in Revelation 21:10 that the New Jerusalem, considered by some others as the heavenly mansion, comes down out of heaven. Is this temple in Revelation 11:19 and 15:5 the heavenly mansion? Many Christians might say that this is the heavenly mansion, God’s dwelling place, which descends out of heaven in Revelation 21:10. John, however, said that he saw no temple in the New Jerusalem because its temple is God and the Lamb (21:22). We must remember, though, that the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the tabernacle and of the temple in the Bible. The New Jerusalem is also called the tabernacle of God in Revelation 21:3.
First, in Hebrews 9:24 we saw that the heavenly tabernacle is heaven itself. Then in Revelation 11:19 and 15:5 we saw that in this tabernacle, which is heaven itself, is the temple of God, the Holy of Holies, within which is the ark. Revelation tells us, though, that the New Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God, comes down out of heaven. Does this mean that the entire heaven comes down? The entire heaven could not come down because the tabernacle of God comes down out of heaven. We also saw that in the New Testament there is first the tabernacle for the enacting of the new covenant, and then there is the temple to replace the tabernacle for God’s administration. In Revelation 21, though, the tabernacle as the New Jerusalem is without the temple because God and the Lamb Himself are the temple.
My burden in pointing out these things is to show you that all these complications indicate one thing—that the New Jerusalem is a particular item which has nothing to do with the earthly tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament. The New Jerusalem is not the tabernacle and the temple on this earth, nor is it the tabernacle and the temple in the heavens in Revelation 11:19 and 15:5. Many would interpret the passages in Revelation to mean that there is a temple in the heavens which eventually comes down out of heaven to be the New Jerusalem. Therefore, according to this interpretation the New Jerusalem is a physical dwelling place to God, just as the temple in heaven is. These complications, though, indicate that the New Jerusalem is neither the heavenly tabernacle nor the temple in heaven. Some may ask, “After the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven, where did the heavenly tabernacle go?” My answer is that the heavenly tabernacle is heaven itself. When the New Jerusalem, God’s eternal tabernacle, comes down out of heaven, heaven is left there as it is.
Then others might ask, “Where is the temple in the heavens when the New Jerusalem descends?” My answer to this is that I do not know. We know from history that the temple in the Old Testament was destroyed, but the Bible does not tell us where the temple in heaven will go. The New Jerusalem cannot be the temple in heaven in Revelation 11:19 and 15:5 because in the New Jerusalem John saw no temple (21:22). According to some people’s concept, the New Jerusalem is a temple and God and the Lamb are another temple. Then there would be two temples—a temple within a temple. Actually, though, God and the Lamb are the temple and this temple is the New Jerusalem. This is not the temple in heaven in chapters eleven and fifteen but a new temple, a particular temple. The temple in heaven surely was not God Himself, but this temple is God and the Lamb Himself.
By this we can see that the New Jerusalem was not the tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testament on the earth. The New Jerusalem is not even the heavenly tabernacle (15:5) nor is it the temple in the heavens (11:19; 15:5). Let us summarize our two reasons for saying this:
(1) In Hebrews 9:24 is a heavenly tabernacle, but this verse also tells us clearly that this heavenly tabernacle is heaven itself. The New Jerusalem is called the tabernacle of God in Revelation; this is not, however, the heavenly tabernacle because the heavenly tabernacle is heaven itself, but the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven.
(2) In Revelation 11:19 and 15:5 is a temple in heaven. Then when the New Jerusalem came, John said he saw no temple in it because now the temple is God and the Lamb Himself. This indicates that this temple, the New Jerusalem, is not that temple in heaven. John told us that the temple he saw was not physical and not a place, but personal. This temple is a person, God and the Lamb, but the temple in heaven surely is a place.
This strongly proves that the New Jerusalem is altogether a new thing apart from the tabernacle and the temple both on earth and in heaven. The temple in heaven in 11:19 and 15:5 is not in the holy city. In this city is the new temple—God and the Lamb Himself. This New Jerusalem as God’s tabernacle is God and the Lamb Himself as the temple. It is a particular tabernacle and a particular temple.