Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars
Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected
| PentecostalTheology.comI recently noticed that Rev. 21 clearly says there will be no temple in the New Jerusalem, yet Rev. describes a temple existing there. Am I reading/understanding wrong, or does this indicate a different perspective in the channeled letters from Jesus in Rev. 1-2 compared to John’s visions in the rest of the book?
A Temple
The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my
God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of
my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is
coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them
my new name. (Rev. 3:12)
No Temple
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to
shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its
lamp. (Rev. 21:22-23)
In the first passage, the temple of the New Jerusalem exists; and the victorious Christian will never leave it. In the second, the is no temple in the New Jerusalem because God and the Lamb are its temple. God’s temple is also referred to several other places in Revelation, such as Revelation 11:19, 14:15, Revelation 15:5.
Is there a Temple in the New Jerusalem? If not, how should we understand the existence of the Temple in chapter 3, where the New Jerusalem is specifically mentioned, as well as in various other parts of the book?