The Temple of God in the Book of Revelation

By R. Larry Overstreet

[R. Larry Overstreet is Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Theology, Northwest Baptist Seminary, Tacoma, Washington.]

Christians in the seven churches of Asia who received the Book of Revelation confronted pagan temple worship daily. People in Ephesus worshipped Artemis in a majestic temple. Smyrna, with its Caesar-cult, built the second Asian temple to the emperor Tiberius. Pergamum’s Caesar-cult held the honor of building the first temple dedicated to Tiberius, in addition to its worship of Aesculapius (also spelled Asklepios) and Zeus. The main deity of Thyatira was Apollo. Ruins of the great temple of Artemis at Sardis, fashioned after the one in Ephesus, speak to its former splendor. Philadelphia was called νεόκορος (“temple warden”) because of its connection with the emperor worship cult. Laodicea was built near the temple of Men Karou, a high god in the local pantheon. In contrast, Revelation emphasizes the temple of the true and living God, including characteristics of this temple that served as poignant reminders to readers of their position before God in their daily lives.

This article first examines elements of the pagan worship in the cities of the seven churches of Revelation. An overview of the references to God’s temple in the book comes second, stressing significant distinctions between God’s temple and pagan temples. Areas of interpretive interest are also considered, culminating in a discussion of the apparent discrepancy of Revelation 21:22 with the other temple texts in the book.

Temple Worship In The Seven Cities

A brief survey shows the contrast between what was visible in the different earthly communities and in God’s temple.

Temple Worship In Ephesus

The seven cities of Revelation 2-3 are arranged in the order a traveler might visit them, starting at Ephesus, and following a somewhat circular route going northward, then east, and finally south. It began at Ephesus since that city was the largest and most influential of the cities in that area.

The population of Ephesus in New Testament times was approximately 200,000.[1] The Greek geographer Strabo (64 B.C.–A.D. 24) called Ephesus “the greatest emporium in Asia.”[2] Although several temples stood in the city, the temple of Artemis dominated its religious culture (cf. Acts 19:26-28). Artemis was the twin sister of the god Apollo; she was the wild goddess of the hunt, and she assisted women at childbirth. When John wrote Revelation, the temple of Artemis was the city’s architectural masterpiece. “According to Pliny [in Historia Naturalis 36.21 §96], the temple in the first century measured 69 by 130 meters (225 by 425 feet) with 127 columns 18 meters (60 feet) high and 2 meters (6 feet) in diameter.”[3] The columns had Ionic capitals and carved circular sides, marble steps surrounded the building, and its roof was of white marble tile.[4]

Worship of Artemis at the Ephesus temple extended far beyond the city limits of Ephesus. “During the first century, there was an annual month-long festival in honor of Artemis which drew as many as half a million people from all over the Mediterranean world.”[5] The temple of Artemis was more than just a place of worship. It also served as an international bank and an asylum for criminals. Alexander the Great decreed that “anyone who was within a stade [about 200 yards] of the temple was safe,” and Mark Antony “doubled the radius of the safety zone. This meant that any fugitive who managed to get within four hundred yards of the temple was safe.”[6]

The temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. All that remains of it today, however, is one standing column. Various artistic renderings show how the temple probably appeared.[7] When people all over Asia Minor in John’s day read Revelation, they would have had this temple in their minds, in addition to other temples in Ephesus, dedicated to Athena, Dionysius, Demeter, and Cybele.[8]

Temple Worship In Smyrna

Moving along the Roman road that connected the primary cities in Asia, a traveler could leave Ephesus, journey about forty miles north, and arrive next in Smyrna. Estimates on its population in New Testament times range from 100,000 to 200,000. Strabo called it the “most beautiful of all” the cities, except that its engineers failed to provide underground drainage for its streets which left them particularly filthy during rains.[9]

Smyrna aligned itself early on the side of Rome, and in 195 B.C. “built a temple for the cult of the city of Rome.”[10] The province of Asia gained permission from Rome to build a temple to the emperor Tiberius in 23 B.C. Of the eleven cities that requested to build the temple, the Roman Senate gave the privilege to Smyrna because of its many years of loyalty to Rome.[11]

In addition to emperor worship Smyrna worshipped numerous other gods. For example worship of the “mother of Sipylus,” a form of “Cybele worship”[12] (the deification of the “Earth Mother”) was practiced there. The remains of a temple to Athena (goddess of wisdom and crafts, as well as a war goddess) are still visible.[13]

Temple Worship In Pergamum

Approximately seventy miles north of Smyrna a traveler would come to Pergamum, a major city as early as 282 B.C. It was the political capital of Asia under the Romans, and in New Testament times it had a population approaching 200,000. In the city were five palaces, an amphitheater seating 15,000, and a library with 200,000 volumes. Pergamum was also a city given over to a wide spectrum of worship.

The city was founded by Greek colonists and had its own coinage by 400 B.C. Dionysus, the god of wine, joy, theater, and agriculture, was revered at his temple. Sick people from all regions of Asia came to the temple of Aesculapius (god of medicine who was represented by a snake symbol), hoping to be cured. Worship of the goddess Athena and various Egyptian gods was also practiced widely. Most dominant of all, however, was worship of Zeus, the supreme god and ruler of humankind.

The worship of Zeus provided a particular connection with the Hellenistic population of the city. A magnificent throne-like altar of Zeus was in the city. The remains of this altar were discovered in 1871 and taken to Berlin; there the altar complex was reconstructed and is now on display in the East Berlin Museum. In New Testament times this marble altar was 112 by 118 feet. “Dominating the altar was a huge frieze, 365 feet long and 7.5 feet high, constructed of 118 panels, most of which are preserved. The frieze depicts a battle between gods and giants.”[14] “The Great Altar of Pergamon [is] one of the most significant (and stunning) monuments to survive from the Greco-Roman world.”[15]

In addition to these worship practices was an emphasis on emperor worship. “The first temple of the cult was located there in 29 B.C., and is shown as a device on coins down to the principate of Trajan at the end of the 1st cent.”[16] When Revelation was written, emperor worship dominated this city.

Temple Worship In Thyatira

Archaeological excavations in Thyatira are recent. Few remains from the ancient city are available today, and no remains of any temples exist. Thyatira was located between Pergamum and Sardis, about forty miles north of Sardis, and about fifty miles southeast of Pergamum.[17] Thyatira was a prosperous, commercial city, “but never a metropolis.”[18] In the city “several divinities were worshipped . . . such as Aesculapius, Bacchus [Dionysus], Artemis, above all, Apollo [god of music, prophecy, and intellect], in whose honour games were instituted.”[19]

The historical patron deity of the city was a god by the name of Tyrimos, “who appears riding on a horse and brandishing a battle-ax. This god was subsequently syncretized with Apollo.”[20] The most adored female deity was Artemis, and “the high priest of Tyrimos-Apollo was the husband of the high priestess of Artemis.”[21]

Temple Worship In Sardis

Sardis is about forty miles straight south of Thyatira and about fifty miles east of Smyrna. “One of the oldest and most important cities of Asia Minor, Sardis had been the capital of the kingdom of Lydia until 549 B.C., and the imposing residence of the proverbially opulent King Croesus.”[22] Its importance continued through the centuries, and Sardis had a population in the first century A.D. estimated at 120,000.[23] Even though the city had a long history, at the apostle John’s time it was basically a new city. This is because an earthquake devastated it in A.D. 17. Of the earthquake, Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79) said, “The greatest earthquake which has occurred in our memory was in the reign of Tiberius, by which twelve cities of Asia were laid prostrate in one night.”[24] Tacitus (ca. A.D. 56-117) confirmed and expanded Pliny’s statement: “That same year twelve famous cities of Asia fell by an earthquake in the night, so that the destruction was all the more unforeseen and fearful. Nor were there the means of escape usual in such a disaster, by rushing out into the open country, for there people were swallowed up by the yawning earth. Vast mountains, it is said, collapsed; what had been level ground seemed to be raised aloft, and fires blazed out amid the ruin. The calamity fell most fatally on the inhabitants of Sardis, and it attracted to them the largest share of sympathy.”[25]

The city of Sardis had many temples, including one dedicated to the emperor Augustus in 5 B.C. The most impressive temple, however, was that of Athena. “The 328 foot-long temple was pseudodipteral.”[26] “There were eight Ionic columns along the front and eight along the back. Rows of twenty columns stood along either side.”[27] Bolen provides a photo of the remains of this temple.[28] In addition to the temple of Athena and in “continuation of the ancient Asiatic fertility cult of Cybele or Demeter, there is a fourth-century [B.C.] Ionic temple of Artemis imitating that of Diana of the Ephesians; though never completed and damaged by an earthquake in A.D. 17 (Tacitus Ann[als] ii.47; Strabo xii.8.18), its columns and ground-plan survive more imposingly today than those of Ephesus.”29

Temple Worship At Philadelphia

Philadelphia, twenty miles east of Sardis and sixty miles east of Smyrna, has not been thoroughly excavated because the modern Turkish city of Ala£ehir (“the city of God”) is built over it. It was founded by Attalus II (ruled 159-138 B.C.) of the Pergamene dynasty. It was a generally prosperous area, although it too was devastated by the earthquake of A.D. 17. The Roman emperor “Tiberius came to its aid, and in gratitude the city assumed the epithet of Neocaesarea.”[30]

The city’s “temples merited it a prosperous stream of pilgrims.”[31] The city was also called Νεόκορος (“temple warden”) in connection with the cult of the emperor.”[32]

Temple Worship In Laodicea

The seventh city on the circuitous Roman road in Asia Minor was Laodicea, about sixty miles southeast of Philadelphia and about one hundred miles east of Ephesus. Although settlements existed there for many years, an actual city began “in the first half of the III century B.C.” when King Antiochus II (261-246 B.C.) founded it and “named it after his queen, Laodicea” (sometimes spelled Laodice).[33] Its greatest prosperity occurred under the rule of Rome, beginning in 133 B.C. Its commercial endeavors centered around “its world-renowned black glossy wool” and a “well-known eye remedy popularly known as ‘Phrygian powder.’ ”[34]

In A.D. 60 an earthquake destroyed the city. As Tacitus commented on this event: “One of the famous cities of Asia, Laodicea, was that same year overthrown by an earthquake, and, without any relief from us [in Rome], recovered itself by its own resources.”[35]

The religious milieu of Laodicea was similar to the other cities of Asia Minor. “Its coins and inscriptions show evidence of the worship of Zeus, Aesculapius, Apollo, and the emperors.”[36] Pliny the Elder noted that the city’s original name was Diospolis, meaning City of Zeus,[37] indicating the prominence given to that god.

Un-doubtedly the city had a temple to Zeus and probably numerous other temples. Since “Laodicea has never been extensively excavated,” however, “nothing of the temple has been discovered.”[38]

Summary

As evidence from the seven cities of Revelation 2-3 shows, temple worship was common in that culture. Worshippers observed temple practices in elaborate architectural masterpieces and made sacrifices on extravagant altars. John was familiar with the religious milieu of his day, as were his original readers. When references to the temple occur in Revelation, therefore, they were read with that cultural background in view.

The Temple In The Book Of Revelation

The Greek word for temple used in Revelation is ναός, occurring sixteen times (ἱερόν never occurs in the book). The word ναός refers “to the inner shrine or sanctuary, corresponding to the holy of holies . . . in the wilderness tabernacle and Jerusalem temple.”[39] The word ἱερόν, in contrast, includes “the whole temple precinct w. its buildings, courts, etc.”[40] As the temple of God in Revelation is examined, the fact that John used ναός, which corresponds to the holy of holies, is especially significant.

The references to the temple are considered in their sequential order. Comments are limited primarily to the temple elements in the verses.

Revelation 3:12

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”

John’s Gentile readers had a vivid grasp of the presence and impact of their pagan temples. His description of God’s temple therefore contrasted with their cultural understanding. Although John’s Jewish readers knew that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed years earlier, they did have a concept of a heavenly temple of God. This is commented on, for example, in the apocryphal book of 1 Enoch 14:15-20 (ca. 170 B.C.):

And I beheld a vision, And lo! there was a second house, greater than the former, and the entire portal stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire. And in every respect it so excelled in splendour and magnificence and extent that I cannot describe to you its splendour and extent. And its floor was of fire, and above it were lightnings and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire. And I looked and saw therein a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon. And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow.[41]

In the Jerusalem temple Jewish women were separated from Jewish men, and Gentiles were “even further away from the sanctuary.”[42] But John asserted that all believers have an equal place in God’s temple. In this context, with the temple’s immediate connection with the new Jerusalem which will descend from heaven, it seems clear that this is “the heavenly temple, the dwelling-place of God with his eschatological people.”[43] It is intriguing that John’s first mention of the temple of God in Revelation 3:12, and his last mention of the temple in 21:22, both directly connect the word “temple” with the new Jerusalem.

Each believer is metaphorically a “pillar” in God’s temple. All the original readers of Revelation were cognizant of pillars in temples. They would naturally expect a temple to have pillars. Pillars were symbols of permanence and stability, as evidenced by the fact that many of the ancient pillars are still standing today. “To a city that had experienced devastating earthquakes which caused people to flee into the countryside and establish temporary dwellings there, the promise of permanence within the New Jerusalem would have a special meaning.”[44]

Revelation 7:15

“For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.”

The tribulation martyrs before God’s throne will serve Him in His temple. They will do so “day and night,” that is, continually. This is again in contrast to earthly temples, including the one in Jerusalem, in which worship “ceased from the evening sacrifice to the morning sacrifice, during which time the temple gates were closed. But in the heavenly temple worship will be continuous.”[45] John’s words here are also consistent with the fact that the “heavenly temple is mentioned in early Jewish literature as the location of the throne of God.”[46]

Revelation 11:1-2

“Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, ‘Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.’ ”

Commentators differ as to whether this should be interpreted literally in reference to God’s heavenly temple, or the second Jerusalem temple, or a rebuilt tribulation temple, or the professing apostate church.[47] It seems clear that the text “cannot refer to a heavenly temple because the context portrays the Gentiles trampling down the surroundings.”[48] Dispensationalists commonly “understand this to imply that during the great tribulation the Jewish temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, and Jewish worship will be reinstituted there, and that it is here that, in the middle of the tribulation, the Antichrist will take ‘his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God’ (2 Thess. 2:4). They understand the reference to the holy city to mean literal, earthly Jerusalem.”[49] Its characteristics correlate well with an earthly temple. It is called the “temple of God” just as the temple of Solomon and the second Jerusalem temple bore that name.

Revelation 11:19

“And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”

Scott asserts that neither the temple nor the ark in this verse “is actually located in Heaven” because 21:22 states that there is “no temple therein.” Scott takes this text as “the sign that God is taking up the cause and the interests of Israel, and when seen in Heaven, that it is there He is occupied with His people on the earth.”[50] In contrast to Scott, other interpreters see 11:19 as indicating “a heavenly temple and worship.”[51] In view of the wording in this verse, this is the better view. “What is opened here is the Holy of Holies, that most sacred place in the temple where God truly dwelt.”[52] John’s earthly readers, thoroughly familiar with temples in their culture, were again assured that the true and living God still dwells in His heavenly temple.

Scripture attests that Moses constructed the tabernacle “according to all that I [the Lord] am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it” (Exod. 25:9). God then repeats His stipulation about the tabernacle’s construction. “See that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain” (v. 40).

The temple of God in heaven contains the ark of the covenant. The ark represented God’s presence and was the place of atonement. Some suggest that the earthly ark was destroyed when Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon. In contrast stands a Jewish legend concerning Jeremiah: “It was also in the same document that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. Jeremiah came and found a cave-dwelling, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense; then he sealed up the entrance” (2 Macc. 2:4-5).[53] Regardless of what happened to the earthly ark, John testified that its heavenly counterpart still remained in God’s heavenly temple.

Revelation 14:15, 17

“And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ . . . And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.”

In both verses 15 and 17 an angel exited the temple of God in heaven. That these angels will come “from the heavenly temple implies the divine authorization”[54] for judgment to begin.

Revelation 15:5-6, 8

“After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. . . . And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”

Some interpreters say that in these verses the temple is equated with the church.[55] However, “with the setting of the vision in heaven in the very presence of God, it makes no sense for this to be the church.”[56]

The temple’s description as the “tabernacle of testimony,” is “an appositional phrase: ‘the sanctuary, which is the tabernacle.’ The temple is ‘the tabernacle of testimony’ as the heavenly equivalent of the tabernacle that was with Israel in the wilderness.”[57] More specifically it refers to “the innermost part of the temple, the Temple of the temple, the Holy of holies, the deepest centre of the dwelling-place and throne of God.”[58] The phrase “of testimony” “refers to the stone tablets placed in the ark to signify the Ten Commandments as a ‘witness’ to the centrality of Torah for Israel. . . . The Holy of Holies or the ark itself are often called ‘the Testimony’ in the Old Testament (Exod. 16:34; 27:21; Lev. 16:13; Num. 1:50; 17:4, 10).”[59] Throughout Old Testament history, only the high priest could enter the holy of holies, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16). Because of the sacrifice of Christ, Christians have free access to God’s holy of holies, that is, heaven (Heb. 10:19), and those in heaven have access to God’s temple as well (Rev. 7:15).

In this heavenly scene, however, as God’s angels come out from the temple, it is filled with smoke so that no one can enter until these plagues are completed. The filling with smoke probably has multiple Old Testament referents. For example “Smoke is an O.T. symbol of the Divine Presence when the aweful [sic] majesty of God is to be insisted upon”[60] (Exod. 19:18; Ps. 18:8-9; Isa. 65:5). Furthermore John’s readers would remember the filling of the tabernacle with the cloud of God’s glory which hindered Moses from entering it (Exod. 40:35), and the filling of the temple that hindered the priests from entering (1 Kings. 8:11). Also Isaiah witnessed God’s heavenly temple filled with smoke (Isa. 6:4).

Osborne succinctly summarizes three major views as to why God’s temple is closed: “(1) Some believe that the temple is closed because there is no longer a place for intercession, either for divine mercy or for the nations (R. Charles, Bruce, Mounce, Krodel) or for vindication and vengeance for the saints (Beale 1999). (2) Others (Swete, Lohse, Lohmeyer, Chilton, Roloff, Thomas, Giesen) say no one can approach him until his wrath is complete. (3) Several (Beckwith, Caird, Beasley-Murray, Johnson) state that the temple is closed due to his awesome holiness, majesty, and power.”[61]

Osborne suggests that either the second or third view is more likely. In this author’s opinion the context of the passage seems to support the second view most strongly.

Revelation 16:1

“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.’ ”

Since Revelation 15:8 asserts that no one will be in the temple at this time, the loud voice in 16:1 must be the voice of God Himself, heard again in verse 17. These are the only verses in which an unidentified voice speaks from the temple. “The wicked have trampled the earthly temple (11:2), so judgment goes forth from the heavenly temple.”[62] This contrasts with the earthly temples, which were known as places of refuge and safety (see the preceding discussion on the temple of Artemis in Ephesus).

Revelation 16:17

“Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, ‘It is done.’ ”

The Lord’s voice again speaks from the heavenly temple, but this time it is also coming from “the throne.” The union of the temple and the throne occurs here and in Revelation 7:15. “It is altogether appropriate that the One who sits upon that throne should speak in the administering of the very last of the last plagues (cf. 21:3) and that the voice should come out of His heavenly temple.”[63]

The Lord pronounces only one word, γέγονεν (“It is done”). Custer aptly comments that the “solitary perfect tense verb It has come to pass (γέγονεν) is a divinely simple way of showing that the wrath of God has been fully accomplished, with results that will last for all eternity; the power of evil has been broken. This is a parallel to the perfect tense verb in the cry from the cross: ‘It has been finished’ (τετέλεσται, John 19:30), which showed that the atoning sacrifice for sin had been fully accomplished, with results that the redeemed will dwell in heaven for all eternity.”[64]

Revelation 21:22

“I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

In the Book of Revelation John referred to God’s temple in heaven fifteen times in twelve verses. Therefore this statement in 21:22 that he saw “no temple” in the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, at first seems incongruous. That the Jews anticipated a temple in the renewed Jerusalem is evident from the fourteenth prayer regularly recited in their Eighteen Benedictions, “Be merciful, O Lord our God, in Thy great mercy towards Israel Thy people, and towards Jerusalem Thy City, and towards Zion the abiding place of Thy glory, and towards Thy glory, and towards Thy temple and Thy habitation.”[65] Therefore at first glance John’s statement would strike any Jewish believers as particularly strange. Also this “picture of the new Jerusalem would have appeared striking even to a pagan unfamiliar with Jewish expectations; all normal Greek and Roman cities included temples.”[66]

The statement that there will be no temple in the new Jerusalem is significant since 3:12 directly connects the “temple of My God” with “the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God.” How can this apparent discrepancy be reconciled?

Four suggested answers to this problem have been presented. First, some writers do not recognize the difficulty and thus offer no suggestion as to how the problem may be solved.[67] Ignoring the problem, however, will not make it go away. Aune correctly asserts, “John is unique in claiming that there will be no temple within it. It is important to ask why he emphasizes this fact when he has used apocalyptic traditions that connect the temple of God with the New Jerusalem (3:12; see 7:15), refers often to the temple in heaven (11:19; 14:15, 17; 15:5, 6, 8; 16:1, 17), and uses temple imagery, particularly in descriptions of the heavenly throne room.”[68]

Second, others suggest that heaven now has a temple, but that “even this heavenly temple, however, will not remain permanently. The eternal city has no temple.”[69] This may be possible, but its difficulty is that nothing in Revelation hints at the dissolution of God’s heavenly temple.

Third, another suggestion is that here “symbol has given way to reality. . . . It is unimportant that in 7:15 it was said that the tribulation martyrs serve God day and night ‘within the temple.’ The purpose of the statement is not to describe the architecture of heaven but to speak meaningfully to a people for whom the temple was supremely the place of God’s presence.”[70] The difficulty with this proposal is that much more is involved than the words in 7:15. The many references in Revelation to God’s temple consistently refer to that temple as an actual place, not a symbol.

Fourth, there is one viable answer to the difficulty, however, that solves the problem well. As noted earlier, the word John used for “temple” is νάος, which corresponds to the holy of holies in the tabernacle and the temple. When John referred to God’s temple, he considered it as the true holy of holies, the pattern for the Mosaic tabernacle and the Solomonic temple. The dimensions of the tabernacle are given in its description in Exodus 26-27. Merrill concisely summarizes its construction: “It was to be 45 x 15 x 15 feet and divided into two rooms, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The former was to contain the table of showbread, on the north side, and the candlestick, on the south side, while the latter housed the Ark of the Covenant [remember Rev. 11:19]. The dimensions of the Holy of Holies were 15 x 15 x 15, constituting a perfect cube, while the Holy Place was 15 x 15 x 30.”[71]

John specifically detailed the dimensions of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21:16: “The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal.”

The “fifteen hundred miles” translates σταδίων δώδεκα χιλιάδων (lit., “12,000 stadia”). In ancient culture a stadion varied from 600 feet to 638 feet. “Thus, the city is an enormous cube measuring ca. 1,416-1,566 miles in each direction.”[72] A dimension of 1,500 miles, therefore, is about the average between the two extremes. John describes the new Jerusalem as a perfect cube, the pattern for the cubic design of the Mosaic tabernacle. The entire city of the new Jerusalem therefore is itself the temple. “Since the Holy of Holies was the place where the Shekinah resided, this is especially appropriate for the celestial city.”[73] The presence of God in the Shekinah glory has its final and ultimate counterpart in the new Jerusalem, “for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (21:22).

Conclusion

Christians in the churches of Asia thoroughly understood the reality of pagan temple worship. Temple worship abounded in every city—whether it was the worship of Artemis in the majestic temple of Ephesus, the Sardis temple, Pergamum’s worship of Aesculapius and Zeus, the worship of Apollo in Thyatira, the Caesar-cult of Smyrna and Philadelphia, or the worship of Men Karou at Laodicea.

In contrast to pagan temple worship, however, the Book of Revelation emphasizes the temple of God, the holy of holies of His personal presence. John’s references demonstrate characteristics of God’s temple that served as a poignant reminder to his readers of their position before Him. They also remind believers today of their eternal destiny in His heavenly temple, the new Jerusalem itself. There all believers through the centuries will worship Him while enjoying His presence forever.

Notes

1. John McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 250; and Leonard L. Thompson, Revelation, Abingdon New Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 64.
2. Strabo, Geography 12.8.15 (Loeb Classical Library, trans. Horace L. Jones [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1928]).
3. Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 83.
4. “The Temple of Artemis,” http://www.kusadasi.biz/temple-of-artemis.asp (accessed May 5, 2009).
5. Charles Ludwig, Cities in New Testament Times (Denver: Accent, 1976), 70.
6. Ibid., 73.
7. See http://www.unmuseum.org/ephesus.htm; and http://www.kusadasi.biz/temple-of-artemis.asp.
8. Thompson, Revelation, 66.
9. Strabo, Geography, 14.1.37 (Loeb Classical Library, trans. Horace L. Jones [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1929]).
10. F. V. Filson, “Smyrna,” in Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (New York: Abingdon, 1962), 393.
11. Tacitus, The Annals 4.15.4, 55-56 (Loeb Classical Library, trans. John Jackson [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937]); and Steven J. Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins (Oxford: University Press, 2001), 37-38. “The provincial temple has not yet been located, but the structure is shown on the reverse of a bronze coin from Smyrna” (ibid., 38). The coin shows Tiberius (who was emperor from A.D. 17 to 37) as a priest engaged in sacrificial rituals (ibid.).
12. Filson, “Smyrna,” 393.
13. Todd Bolen, Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, CD-ROM (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2004), vol. 8.
14. McRay, Archaeology of the New Testament, 267.
15. Adela Yarbro Collins, “Satan’s Throne: Revelations from Revelation,” Biblical Archaeology Review 32 (May/June 2006): 29.
16. E. M. Blaiklock, “Pergamum,” in Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), 3:702; and Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John, 22-30. Photographs of the remains of the Temple of Trajan, the Altar of Zeus, and the Temple of Athena and its Sacred Square are available in Bolen, Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, vol. 8. Photographs of the recre-ated Altar of Zeus in the Berlin Museum can be seen at http://www.salisbury.edu/ modlang/romangermany/pergamon_altar_of_zeus.html; and at http://www.artchive. com/artchive/G/greek/greek_zeus.jpg.html.
17. http://holylandphotos.org/search.asp?searchText=thyatira (accessed May 5, 2009).
18. E. J. Banks, “Thyatira,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1939), 5:2977.
19. “Thyatira,” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14713c.htm (accessed October 31, 2006).
20. Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1969), 280.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid., 282.
23. McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament, 261.
24. Pliny the Elder, Natural History 2.86, trans. John Bostock (http://www.per-seus.tufts.edu (accessed November 1, 2006).
25. Tacitus, The Annals 2.47, trans. Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb (New York: Random, 1942).
26. A “dipteral temple” has a double row of columns on all four sides. In a “pseudodipteral temple” the inner colonnade of the dipteros has been suppressed. Instead a promenade gallery runs around the inner sanctuary of the temple. The outer colonnade comprises fewer columns. This type became the model temple and prevailed during the Hellenistic and Roman periods (“Greek and Roman Temple Architecture,” http://www.guide-martine.com/history5.asp [accessed November 1, 2006]).
27. McRay, Archaeology of the New Testament, 264.
28. Bolen, Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, vol. 8.
29. R. North, “Sardis,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 336-37.
30. M. J. Mellink, “Philadelphia,” in Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (New York: Abingdon, 1962), 3:782.
31. R. North, “Philadelphia,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 3 (1986), 830.
32. Mellink, “Philadelphia,” 782. See Bolen, Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, vol. 8, for photographs of the temple remains.
33. “Laodicea,” http://www.turizm.net/cities/laodicea/index.html (accessed May 5, 2009).
34. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament, 267.
35. Tacitus, The Annals 14.27.
36. “Laodicea,” in Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08794a. htm [accessed May 5, 2009]). See also Thompson, Revelation, 86; and Edwin M. Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities in Western Asia Minor (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 143-45.
37. Pliny, Natural History 5.29.
38. McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament, 246-47. For photographs of unexcavated ruins of Laodicea see http://arcimaging.org/GeisslerRex/GeisslerRex1. html#L.
39. Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, The Book of the Revelation: A Commentary, Pillar Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1990), 99.
40. Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., rev. Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 470.
41. R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (1913; reprint, Oxford: Clarendon, 1977), 2:197.
42. Craig S. Keener, Revelation, NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 151.
43. Stephen S. Smalley, The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2005), 93.
44. Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 120-21.
45. Grant Osborne, Revelation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 327.
46. David E. Aune, Revelation 6-16, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 476.
47. G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 557-60. Felise Tavo writes, “Considered by many to be the crux interpretum of the seer’s work, 11:1-2 has often been cited as among the most difficult pericopes of the Apocalypse. Whether the enigma it seems to present is surmountable will largely depend on one critical choice by the interpreter. Namely, should the various images of 11:1-2 be considered symbolic or literal?” (“The Outer Court and Holy City in Rev 11:1-2: Arguing for a Positive Appraisal,” Australian Biblical Review 54 [2006]: 56).
48. Stewart Custer, From Patmos to Paradise: A Commentary on Revelation (Greenville, SC: BJU, 2004), 122.
49. ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 2478. See also John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ: A Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1966), 175-77; and Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1995), 78-86.
50. Walter Scott, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (1914; reprint, Westwood, NJ: Revell, n.d.), 245-46 (italics his).
51. J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (1865; reprint, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 272. See also Mounce, Revelation, 233; Hughes, Revelation, 134; and Lehman Strauss, The Book of the Revelation (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bros., 1964), 224.
52. Osborne, Revelation, 448.
53. The Cambridge Annotated Study Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version, Notes and References by Howard Clark Kee (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 157-58.
54. Aune, Revelation 6-16, 842.
55. Henry Barclay Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John (London: Macmillan, 1917), 2:130; and R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1963), 328.
56. Thomas, Revelation 8-22, 241.
57. Beale, Revelation, 801.
58. Seiss, The Apocalypse, 369.
59. Osborne, Revelation, 569.
60. Swete, TheApocalypse of St. John, 199.
61. Osborne, Revelation, 572.
62. Keener, Revelation, 392.
63. Thomas, Revelation 8-22, 272.
64. Custer, From Patmos to Paradise, 181.
65. Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 544.
66. Keener, Revelation, 497.
67. Ibid., 247-48; and Ben Witherington III, Revelation, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 271.
68. David E. Aune, Revelation 17-22, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 1168 (italics his).
69. Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation: A Reasonable Guide to Understanding the Last Book in the Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 172. See also Thomas, Revelation 8-22, 500.
70. Mounce, Revelation, 383-84; see also Beale, Revelation, 1090-92.
71. Eugene H. Merrill, An Historical Survey of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974), 147.
72. Osborne, Revelation, 753.
73. Ibid. “The holy city, in its completeness, is the sanctuary of God” (Smalley, Revelation, 556). “There is no temple, or sanctuary in the holy city, for, in one respect, it is itself all sanctuary. Its structure, as seen in the vision, in the form of a cube recalls the fact that the dimensions of the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary of the presence of God in the Mosaic tabernacle of old, were those of a cube, and that that sanctuary was a ‘copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary’ (Heb. 8:5)” (Hughes, Revelation, 229 [bold type his]).