The Temple in Jerusalem viewed through history - excerpt from my book

[Maurice A. Williams]

This is an excerpt from the middle of my commentary on Revelation.  I paused in my commentary and tried to put some perspective on The Temple, showing a few major events in history occurring at or near The Temple.  I did this to provide a broader view of the importance of The Temple to balance what is said in Revelation.

In my excerpt, I ask you, the reader, to imagine that you are hovering above Jerusalem, high enough that you can see the whole city.  Imagine your head pointed north, your feet south, and you are looking straight down on the city.  The sun's first rays slowly creep from your right but have not yet swept across Jerusalem.  The rays will, in a few moments, illuminate the Temple's front wall.  Covered with gold leaf, this wall will shine almost as bright as the sun.  Imagine yourself closer now.  The Levite on morning watch just sighted the sun's first light illuminating the east behind the Mount of Olives.  "It's becoming light!" he shouts down to the others, "The East is bright!"

Then the priests and Levites who were waiting for this moment begin the morning sacrifice.  As the lamb is sacrificed, the front of the Temple begins to glow with the reflected light of the rising sun.  The Temple is the city's tallest structure.  Part of its outer surface is plated with gold.  This day, the day you are watching, the savior God promised to restore all things has finally arrived.  He was promised to our first parents.  He is the one predicted to the serpent, the one who will subdue the spirit behind the serpent.  He will accomplish the mandate given our first parents to subdue and dominate everything that moves upon the earth.

The priest and Levites who are conducting the sacrifice this morning are, of course, unaware of his birth.  If they were aware of it, they might have conducted the ceremony with more fervor and joy.  If they realized the prophetic implications of the sacrifice they just made, they might wonder why God would allow such things to happen.  And they would be apprehensive over the choices they must make as they and their fellow Judeans interact with the promised one now that he is here.

Now imagine yourself moving higher.  All of Jerusalem comes into view, then the surrounding area, as you go still higher.  To the southwest of Jerusalem, five miles from the Temple, under your right foot, is Bethlehem.  The shepherds talk to one another, awed by what they saw.  If you look to your upper right, you can see, not far away, the Magi's caravans heading toward Jerusalem.  They will soon call on Herod to ask him about the new king whose star they follow.  Continue moving upward and see Jerusalem in relation to Judea and Judea in relation to the neighboring countries, they in relation to the whole world.  Then come back again.

As you come down, you can see ground detail getting larger.  Everything blurs as you pass through the depths of time as well as space.  Then you can see clearly again.  You recognize that you are coming in to the same spot, but at a different age.  It is now one thousand years before Christ's birth.  David is king, and the Temple has not yet been built.  All that exists of Jerusalem at this time is the first part of the Lower City atop Mt. Ophel.  You can see it there under your knees.  It looks quite different than it did when Christ was born.

David is in his dwelling on Mt. Ophel to the south.  He recently offended God by ordering a census to count his subjects the way pagan kings do.  He had been told not to do it, but he did it anyway.  He was given a choice of punishments for his arrogance.  The people whose number he impiously learned will be reduced in size to a number unknown to him.  This can be done through an enemy attack or through a famine or through a contagious disease.  David had chosen a contagious disease.  A disease is under God's direct control, and David knew that God is merciful.

Today while you are looking down upon Jerusalem, David is looking up.  He sees a vision.  He sees the Lord's angel approaching Jerusalem with sword unsheathed to continue the punishment already started in the other cities.  When the angel of the Lord had stretched his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough.  Now hold thy hand.  And the angel was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

Now imagine yourself moving higher.  All Jerusalem comes in view again, then the surrounding area, just as it did last time as you moved away.  Continue upward till Jerusalem fades in the mists of time, and you can again see the whole hemisphere containing Judea and the neighbor