Apocalipsis 11:19

John then saw the temple in heaven opened (cf. Hebrews 9:23). This chapter opens with the measuring of the temple and closes with the opening of the temple, though in the first case the temple is on earth and in the second it is in heaven. This event, as the others in this pericope, is proleptic (cf. Revelation 15:5). [Note: Düsterdieck, p. 331.] The opening of the temple probably pictures the immediate fellowship with God that believers will enjoy following these judgments. In the temple, John viewed the ark of God’s covenant, the emblem of His faithfulness, presence, and atonement to the Israelites. The last chronological reference to the ark in the Old Testament is in 2 Chronicles 35:3. What happened to it after that is not known. Many scholars believe it perished in Shishak’s invasion, during Manasseh’s apostasy, when Nebuchadnezzar burned the temple in 586 B.C., or during the Babylonian captivity (cf. 1 Kings 14:26; 2 Kings 25:9; 2 Chronicles 33:7; Jeremiah 3:16. Jewish tradition held that Jeremiah hid the ark in a cave on Mt. Sinai (2 Maccabees 2:4-8). There was no ark in the second temple. [Note: Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 5:219:5.] The "second temple" refers to the temple that Nehemiah built, which Herod the Great modernized, and which later perished in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. What John saw, however, was not the earthly ark but its heavenly counterpart (cf. Hebrews 9:24). Its appearance in the vision suggests that God would resume dealing with Israel and would soon fulfill His covenant promises to that nation.

As elsewhere, the storm theophany portrays the manifestation of God’s presence (cf. Revelation 4:5; Revelation 16:18; Exodus 19:16-19) and His wrathful judgment (cf. Revelation 8:5; Revelation 10:3; Revelation 16:18). J. Dwight Pentecost believed that the seventh trumpet is the second advent of Jesus Christ to this earth. [Note: Pentecost, Thy Kingdom . . ., p. 300.] The theophany concludes this part of John’s vision that proleptically anticipates the end of the Tribulation judgments and the inauguration of God’s kingdom.

This verse is transitional, concluding the present pericope and introducing what follows.

There is no revelation in this pericope (Revelation 11:15-19) of the judgment announced by the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The record of this judgment appears in chapter 16. There we have a prophecy of seven bowl judgments. It appears that as the seven trumpet judgments were a revelation of the seventh seal judgment, so the seven bowl judgments will be a revelation of the seventh trumpet judgment. [Note: Bullinger, pp. 368-69; Ladd, p. 160.] Consequently the revelation in chapters 12-15 seems to be another insertion of information about this time, the Great Tribulation, not advancing the chronological sequence of events on earth (cf. Revelation 7:1-17 and Revelation 10:1 to Revelation 11:14). The chronological progression resumes again in Revelation 16:1.