Will there be a rebuilt temple? Study Revelation 11 with context, apologetic analysis, and cross-references.
Dr. Lucas D. Shallua Commentary · REVELATION 11 — THE TWO WITNESSES AND THE SEVENTH TRUMPET
This commentary understands the passage, together with Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, and 2 Thessalonians 2:4, to teach that a temple will stand in Jerusalem in the tribulation. Others take the temple as a symbol of the church. This commentary does not take a position on how such a temple will come about, and it holds this view with humility.
Interpreters have proposed Moses and Elijah, Enoch and Elijah, two future prophets who minister in their spirit and power, or symbols of the witnessing church. The details of their power resemble Moses and Elijah, and the Jewish expectation of Elijah's return (Malachi 4:5) gives support. This commentary takes them as two literal prophets in the tribulation, without insisting on a particular identification.
Futurists generally take the 1,260 days, 42 months, and three and a half years as a literal period, half of the seven-year tribulation. Others take them as a symbolic length of time for the church's witness and suffering. The equivalence of the three expressions suggests a precise time, and the rooting in Daniel supports a literal period.
It most naturally signifies genuine acknowledgment of God and repentance, in line with the biblical use of the phrase. Others suggest only a response of fear. Either way, the witnesses' ministry has an effect, and some people turn to God in the midst of judgment.
It announces the arrival of Christ's kingdom, which is the climax of the history of redemption. The seven bowls and the second coming follow in the next chapters. The trumpet marks the moment when God asserts His rule openly.
Chapter 11 completes the interlude begun in chapter 10 and brings the sixth trumpet to its conclusion. It describes the ministry and fate of two witnesses during the middle period of the tribulation and ends with the seventh trumpet, which announces the arrival of God's kingdom. The chapter is one of the most debated in the book. The passage about the temple, the two witnesses, and the periods of 42 months and 1,260 days is tied to the prophecies of Daniel, who spoke of a time, times, and half a time (Daniel 7:25; 12:7) and of seventy weeks, in which the final week is divided into two halves (Daniel 9:24–27). The 42 months, 1,260 days, and "time, times, and half a time" are all equivalent, three and a half years, which is half of seven. This commentary understands these periods as the two halves of the seven-year tribulation, in which the witnesses prophesy during the first half or the second, and the nations trample Jerusalem in the second.
The prophecy of a rebuilt temple has been the subject of Jewish and Christian interest, because the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, as Jesus predicted (Luke 21:5–6), and since then the Temple Mount has been under Muslim control. The conditions described, a temple standing in Jerusalem in the last days, would require significant changes, and groups in modern Israel have prepared for it. The prediction by Jesus and Daniel that the Antichrist will desecrate a temple is one of the clearest signs that the New Testament authors expected a future temple. The period of 1,260 days has a long prophetic background in Daniel. The Jewish expectation of Elijah's return before the day of the Lord is attested in Malachi 4:5–6, and in the Gospels, where the disciples ask about it (Matthew 17:10–13), and it is still observed in the Passover ritual of the empty cup for Elijah. The resurrection of the witnesses in the sight of their enemies has parallels with the resurrection of Jesus, but it is a public event, in contrast to the quiet resurrection of Jesus.
This study preserves the hard questions, explanations, context, apologetic note, and references from Dr. Shallua's Commentary.