What if the book of Revelations was written before AD 70 ?

[ProDeo]

It's generally assumed the book of Revelations was written between AD 90-95, but what would be the implications if Revelation was written before AD 70 and some parts are about AD 70 when the Romans destroyed the temple, ripping the heart out of the theocracy Israel.

The Two Witnesses
Rev 11:1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,
Rev 11:2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
Rev 11:3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

1. The book of Revelation is about the future only (Rev 1.1) and yet it speaks of the temple still in place, in AD 90-95 there was no temple any longer.

2. v2 speaks of 42 months, v3 about 1260 days, 42 x 30 days = 1260 days = 3½ years, the period Jerusalem was under siege as prophesied by Daniel (12:11) before it fell into the hands of the Romans. According the historian Josephus one million Jews were slaughtered.

3. History tell us the siege for Jerusalem by the Romans started somewhere in AD 66, adding the 3½ years of Daniel we end up somewhere in AD 70.

 

[rwb]

It's generally assumed the book of Revelations was written between AD 90-95, but what would be the implications if Revelation was written before AD 70 and some parts are about AD 70 when the Romans destroyed the temple, ripping the heart out of the theocracy Israel.

The Two Witnesses
Rev 11:1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,
Rev 11:2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
Rev 11:3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

1. The book of Revelation is about the future only (Rev 1.1) and yet it speaks of the temple still in place, in AD 90-95 there was no temple any longer.

2. v2 speaks of 42 months, v3 about 1260 days, 42 x 30 days = 1260 days = 3½ years, the period Jerusalem was under siege as prophesied by Daniel (12:11) before it fell into the hands of the Romans. According the historian Josephus one million Jews were slaughtered.

3. History tell us the siege for Jerusalem by the Romans started somewhere in AD 66, adding the 3½ years of Daniel we end up somewhere in AD 70.

Why would Christ tell John to measure the temple of old after Christ tells us that He and His saints are the Temple of God through the power of the Holy Spirit? This is the temple to be measured, and the holy city is not physical Jerusalem of Old, but heavenly Jerusalem above that those of faith enter when we have been born again through spirits made perfect by Christ's Spirit in us.

John 2:19-21 (KJV) Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (KJV) What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Hebrews 12:22-24 (KJV) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

 

[ProDeo]

Why would Christ tell John to measure the temple of old after Christ tells us that He and His saints are the Temple of God through the power of the Holy Spirit? This is the temple to be measured, and the holy city is not physical Jerusalem of Old, but heavenly Jerusalem above that those of faith enter when we have been born again through spirits made perfect by Christ's Spirit in us.

CONTEXT :
Rev 11:7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,
Rev 11:8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,
Rev 11:10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
Rev 11:11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

It's not about the heavenly Jerusalem, in the heavenly Jerusalem there is no death, no beast from the bottomless pit, no people on earth rejoicing about the death of the two witnesses. It's about AD 66-70.

 

[rwb]

CONTEXT :
Rev 11:7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,
Rev 11:8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,
Rev 11:10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
Rev 11:11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

It's not about the heavenly Jerusalem, in the heavenly Jerusalem there is no death, no beast from the bottomless pit, no people on earth rejoicing about the death of the two witnesses. It's about AD 66-70.

The Church on earth, of which Christians are is the representation of heavenly Jerusalem, where there is most certainly persecution, suffering and death. The two witnesses are two olive trees and two candlesticks, which are the Church of Old, proclaiming Christ through the Law and Prophets, and the Church of New, proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit. There will come a day when the Church as She exists on this earth shall be killed (both spiritually & physically) for a short time, after their testimony is finished, then the Church (two witnesses) shall return to life, hearing a great voice calling them to heaven.

Revelation 11:12-13 (KJV) And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.