The Temple Was Opened and the Ark of the Testimony was Visible!
Short Shot– The Ark of the Covenant in Revelation and Its Significance for the Dating of Revelation
It is funny how you can hear or read just a few thoughts from someone and those very few words suddenly trigger a flood of thoughts in your own mind. What is even more interesting is how those few words are about a subject that you have given a LOT of time and study investigating. Yet, those few words initiate a flood of new, additional thoughts. This happened to me just in the last few days (I am writing this on 9-24-25– You know, the Day of the Rapture, or we are told!!).
Side bar: All of a sudden I am seeing one video after another giving excuses for why the rapture has not happened today! These excuses coming from people who assured us that the Holy Spirit had spoken to them repeatedly, giving them divine confirmation that the Rapture was to be today!)
Anyway, I was reading the book War on the Saints, the Book of Revelation Vol. 2 (Self Published, 2025) by my friend Brad Robertson. It is a helpful, easy to read book. Robertson commented on Revelation 15:8:
The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
It is to be noted that in Revelation there is an earlier reference to John seeing the interior of the naos, the Most Holy Place of the temple:
Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail (Revelation 11:15).
It is more than suggestive that we have the imagery of thunder, lightnings, earthquake and the Ark of the Covenant. All of these are somewhat reminiscent of Sinai. And yes, I know that the Ark was not constructed yet, but the giving of the Law was attended by all of the other events. That is my point.
Now, many if not most commentators see the references to John seeing the Naos, the Most Holy Place, being opened as an indication that the way into the Presence of God was now opened. Man can now enter the Presence of God! (Since this is such a “Short Shot” I will not document this with citations). I am not doubting nor denying that this would be a valid concept.
However, as Robertson says, there may well be more to it than that! He offers us this:
The significance of the covenant of the law being seen was to confirm the outpouring of wrath was directly connected to the judgments for Israel’s violation of the old covenant law. Lightning rumblings, and thunder were associated with the giving of the law at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:16 and 20;18.” (Robertson, War, 2025), 91).
In other words, the vision of the MHP being opened, and the Ark of the Covenant being visible, indicated that in the outpouring of the seven vials of God’s wrath, God was being faithful to His Old Covenant with Israel to bring covenant wrath on them for violating Torah! Read the wider context of Revelation 15
After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. 6 And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. 8 The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
So, the opening of the MHP and the vision of the Ark of the Covenant is directly tied to the sending out of the seven angels to pour out God’s wrath in fulfillment of the Old Covenant!
God’s wrath was contained in the seven vials / bowls. The final outpouring of God’s wrath would be in the judgment of Babylon in Revelation 16:
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great (Revelation 16:17-21).
So, God’s wrath – the covenantal provisions of God’s wrath – (think the Law of Blessings and Cursings of Deuteronomy 28-30) – for violating Torah would remain valid and applicable until the outpouring of the seventh bowl in judgment of Babylon.
To put this simply, the fact that God’s covenantal wrath flowed out of the open MHP and from the Ark of the Testimony, proves definitively that the Old Testament, Torah, did not pass away at the cross! You cannot have God’s covenant wrath still applicable in the outpouring of Covenant Wrath if the Covenant was removed at the cross!
This is confirmed by noting v. 19– “And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” Note the word “remembered.” In the Tanakh, this word signified the bringing of a covenant or provisions of a covenant to mind. While the word can sometimes denote a simple act of remembering, the covenantal overtones are by far the strongest meaning. This means that in the outpouring of the seventh bowl of wrath, God was remembering His covenant with that city Babylon and repaying her transgressions by the outpouring of His wrath, as threatened continually in His covenant with Babylon.
Now, God was NEVER in a covenant with any city other than Jerusalem. He was married to her by covenant (Isaiah 51 & 54). The very word “covenant” in the Hebrew culture carried strong connections to marriage.
So, while there is a LOT more that could be said here, there are a few things that jump off the page at us when we can “Catch the power” of the covenantal language of Revelation.
God was in a covenant relationship with this city Babylon. In the outpouring of His wrath on Babylon He was “remembering” His covenant promises to punish her, in her last days especially (Think the Song of Moses) for her sin. Babylon was Old Covenant Jerusalem, the city that killed the OT prophets (Revelation 16:6). It is where the Lord was crucified (11:8). It is the city that killed Jesus’ apostles and prophets (18:20-24). All of this excludes “any city and every city” from being Babylon, the focus of God’s wrath in Revelation.
The vision of the outpouring of God’s wrath emanating from the Ark of the Covenant confirms that it was God’s Old Covenant – His Old Covenant with Israel – that was being fulfilled in the judgment of Babylon. This judgment had (has) nothing to do with a yet future judgment of the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, America, or any other entity.
Keep in mind that according to Hebrews 9:6-10 no man could enter the MHP until the Law of Moses was removed through fulfillment at the time of reformation. Jesus posited the consummative fulfillment of the Old Law at AD 70- Luke 21:22. We thus have a beautiful harmony between Hebrews 9 and Revelation.
Since you cannot have the application of a law or covenant after that law or covenant has been terminated / abrogated , this means that since God’s covenant wrath was poured out against Babylon, then the Old Law which contained that covenant wrath, did not pass away at the cross!
Needless to say, if Revelation is about the impending, imminent judgment on Old Covenant Jerusalem, that proves that the book was not written in AD 95-98 AD under Domitian. Revelation was written before the fall of Jerusalem which happened in AD 70.
If you want proof that Babylon in Revelation was Old Covenant Jerusalem, be sure to get a copy of my book, Who Is This Babylon? It is full of powerful historical and Biblical proof.
The Temple Was Opened and the Ark of the Testimony was Visible!