Temple of Jesus Shows us
The NT Christian Church

²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (Eph. 2:21, 22, NIV)

¹I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshippers there. ²But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months” (Rev. 11:1, 2, NIV).

Temple of NT

John painted a word picture of the NT Church in chapter 11. Jesus sent John to … measure the temple of God and the altar. The Temple (naos) referred to the Sanctuary of the Temple used by the Israelites.[i] The Sanctuary included the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.

This vision may have reminded John of the Temple that Herod built in Jerusalem. John was an Israelite who had visited that Temple since his childhood. The Romans had destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in a.d. 70, twenty years before John saw this vision. This stopped the OT system of worship for the Israelite people. The Jewish nation never reinstated their Temple worship.

Temple of Jesus shown before NT covenant

Temple of OT from Solomon

God revealed a new and better covenant for his people that made the first covenant obsolete (Heb. 8:10–13). The moment Jesus died on the cross, the thick curtain to the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple was ripped in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51).

Heaven’s Open Door

The risen Christ entered the Sanctuary of Heaven itself and appeared for us before God (Heb. 9:24–28). He suffered and shed his blood once for our sin. We receive forgiveness of sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus takes our place before God, the Holy Creator sees us as holy and perfect (Heb. 10:9).

Jesus opened the way for us through the curtain of his body. His body replaced the ripped OT curtain to the Holy of Holies. He’s our living high priest today. Therefore, we can go into the Holy of Holies and draw near to God (Heb. 10:19–23). Each of us in the Christian Church forms a part of God’s Temple in the new covenant (2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:19–22).

¹⁶Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you (1 Cor. 3:16, NIV)?

[i] Temple, naos, G3485. The Temple at Jerusalem, but only the Sanctuary of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.

Text of, Temple of Jesus, from pages 155-156 of "Walking Through Revelation With a Common Man"