Ezekiel's Temple

I. Introduction

Ezekiel 40-48.

The dating reference in 40:1 indicates that this is the 25th year of their exile.

Jerusalem’s siege came (24:1) in the 9th year of their exile.

The city fell in the 12 year of their exile (33:21).

This section of scripture comes to Ezekiel 13 years after Ch 33-39 were revealed to him.

This portion of scripture is the “answering” of many “questions” posed in the first half of the book. .

God’s glory chariot (Ch 1-3; 43)

God leaves and destroys the temple (Ch 8-11).

God returns to the new temple (Ch 43).

The man of bronze serves as a guide for the destruction of the old temple (Ch 8) and the layout of the new (Ch 40).

The last portion of Ezekiel (36-48) also seems to be built to echo the Pentateuch.

36-37: Calling, redeeming a people (Genesis)

38-39: Saving, war with enemies (Exodus)

40-46: Plans for a house of worship, laws about sacrifices, priests, etc. (Leviticus)

47-48: Diving up the land (Numbers)

Completes a parallel between Ezekiel and the book of Revelation as well.

Battle of Armageddon/Satanic Rebellion (Ch 38-39).

Millennial Kingdom/New Jerusalem (Ch 40-48).

Interpretational options:

This is an idealized picture of God’s desire to dwell among his people that Ezekiel gave to point to the restoration under Ezra, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah.

It is only prophetic in pointed to a universal eschatological hope.

No details are intended to be historically referenced.

This is the temple and sacrificial system that was offered to the people upon their return from captivity (or under Christ’s triumphal entry, in some views) but was rejected.

Potential but unrealized.

Not any more in the future of Israel.

This is purely prophetic and allegorical (like 37), pointing to the new covenant realities in the church age.

No historical details intended.

Never supposed to really be built.

This is a future eschatological temple that will be built in the Messianic Kingdom.

Literal, physical.

Christ or David = “prince.”

Every option runs into obstacles.

The more the details matter, the more obstacles it encounters.

Nothing like this has been built (or attempted).

II. Body

Preamble

Ezekiel 40:1–4 “In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me to the city. In visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. When he brought me there, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand. And he was standing in the gateway. And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.””

As stated before, 13 years after last vision.

34 years until the edict of Cyrus, allowing Jews (and others) to return to their home and build their temple.

Typical vision headings:

Date: 2nd of April, 573 BC.

“The hand of the Lord was upon me” (Ezek 1:3, 3:23; 37:1).

Transported in the vision, not physically.

Very similar to John’s experience.

Revelation 21:9–11 “Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”

“Brought me to the city....” Set me on a very high mountain.… To the south was a city.

Jerusalem is one of those cities?

Or was the first reference meant generally, and the second more specifically?

Same imagery as the original vision of God’s glory. A molten-metal angelic guide.

Ezekiel 1:26–27 “And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.”

Ezekiel 8:1–2 “In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.”

Revelation 1:12–16 “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”

Measuring tools, as the vision of the New Jerusalem in Zechariah 2:1–2 “And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.””

He is commanded to measure and report his findings. vs 4

watchman duty.

mirrored in Ezekiel 43:10–12 ““As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.”

feels like an inculsio, but the temple vision goes on.

The Temple Plan (Ezek 40:5-43:9)

Mostly dimensions and orientations. Very hard to make sense of while you read it.

Animations help.

Comparisons to Solomon’s temple.

Much larger!

The actual building of the temple would just fit on the entire temple mount platform (35 acres).

900’ square.

A lot of furniture is missing:

Ark of the covenant: The glory of the Lord fills the whole temple.

Menorah: Christ is the light of the world

Table of showbread: Christ is the true bread

Altar of incense:

Bronze Sea for washing: River of life?

Veil: No separation.

Very many meeting (dining) rooms and kitchens. This place was meant to feed and host millions of people.

Complicated peripheral buildings that weren’t a part of any prior temple. Political and Religious purpose.

The Glory of the Lord enters the temple in Ezekiel’s vision at the end of the section of plans.

Ezekiel 43:1–9 “Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple, and he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places, by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them. They have defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. Now let them put away their whoring and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.”

This is a mirror, and answer to Ezek 8-11.

Echoes of the dedication of the tabernacle in Exodus 40:34–35 “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

Similar event to the dedication of Solomon’s temple: 1 Kings 8:6–11 “Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.”

The Prince (Ezek 44).

“The Prince” is a complicated figure.

Appears earlier in Ezekiel, and is specifically called “David.”

I’ve mentioned that I lead toward this being a resurrected David whose job it is to oversee Israel under the over-Lordship of Christ.

Ezekiel 34:23–24 “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

Seems to be distinct from Christ himself.

Christ enters through the eastern gate, but the prince cannot.

In Ch 43, The Glory of God entered through the Eastern gate.

Ezekiel 44:1–3 “Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.””

God has come through it. Nobody else can, not even the prince.

If they’re the same person, that doesn’t make sense.

Apportioning land (Ezek 45-48).

There is a square of land that is to be the central district of the Millennial Kingdom 25,000 cubits (~8 miles) square.

Ezekiel 45:1–6 ““When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent. Of this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. And from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, in which shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. Another section, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in. “Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. It shall belong to the whole house of Israel.”

Image.

This parallels the ending portions of Numbers and several of the central chapters of Joshua.

Where is this? The current topography does not support this plan.

Earthquake hypothesis:

Four earthquakes in Revelation:

Revelation 6:12 “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,”

Revelation 8:5 “Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.”

Revelation 11:13 “And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

Revelation 16:18 “And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.”

The Mount of Olives splits Zechariah 14:4–5 “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.”

Temple mount becomes much larger:

Isaiah 2:2–4 “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Parallel to Ezekiel 40:2 “In visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south.”

Others think that this will happen somewhere else entirely, based on the “looking south to the city” idea. Is the high mountain Hermon?

The River of life is here.

Ezekiel 47:1–12 “Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.””

We’ve seen this imagery before.

Isaiah 41:18 “I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.”

Isaiah 44:3 “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”

It is a feature of the new Jerusalem

Revelation 22:1–2 “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Is this the Millennium (Rev 20) or the Eternal State (Rev 22)? This raises some questions, which we’ll address in a moment.

The “city.”

Below the temple district is the “city.”

Ezekiel 48:30–35 ““These shall be the exits of the city: On the north side, which is to be 4,500 cubits by measure, three gates, the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi, the gates of the city being named after the tribes of Israel. On the east side, which is to be 4,500 cubits, three gates, the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan. On the south side, which is to be 4,500 cubits by measure, three gates, the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, and the gate of Zebulun. On the west side, which is to be 4,500 cubits, three gates, the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, and the gate of Naphtali. The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.””

This is not really Jerusalem. Today, it would be a southern suburb, including where the US Embassy is located.

It’s an area about 1.5 miles on a side, square.

It has twelve gates, three on each side, named after the prophets.

It looks a lot like a 2-dimensional “New Jerusalem” in Rev 22.

Much smaller, by a factor of 1,000x.

Not cubic.

No precious stones.

Again, is this meant to be the eternal state?

The name of the city, “The Lord is There.”

Final hope of Ezekiel, that God is with His people, stated six times in the book, that “They will be my people, and I will be their God.”

The city is named this, not “New Jerusalem.”

Jesus is the king of the world during this time.

He is the guide who who showed the visions.

He is seated on the throne.

His glory entered the temple.

And now for all the problems!

Temple sacrifices.

If this either points to the church metaphorically or to a future event, why are there sacrifices for sin?

Ezekiel 45:18–23 ““Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and purify the sanctuary. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple. “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. And on the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.”

Hebrews 10 is very clear that the sacrificial system is done away with.

Hebrews 10:4 “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Hebrews 10:9–13 “then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.”

The NT is very clear that there will be no temple in the New Jerusalem.

Revelation 21:22–23 “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

This is the Millennial temple, but we still need to think about why there are some overtones of the New Jerusalem in this vision if there is definitely not going to be a temple there.

If the Prince is either a resurrected David or Christ, why is he concerned about the inheritance of his children?

Ezekiel 46:16–18 ““Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance—it shall belong to his sons. The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be scattered from his property.””

Resurrected people don’t have children.

Neither would Jesus.

Several opinions on how to address this, most of which make light of the text:

It’s all “apocalyptic,” by which they mean that it is up for debate about what meaning, if any, the images have for the real world.

Form Critical: There is good reason, based on linguistic clues, to think that Ezekiel never wrote those pass. ages

The textual tradition doesn’t support that hypothesis.

What does that do to our view of the Holy Spirit’s role in inspiring and preserving the text?

D.A. Carson: The passage fades, without much indication, from prescriptive to ideal, from prophecy to allegory. It’s impossible to know what will be literally fulfilled and what was general imagery about the Messianic or Church age.

My answer is that this portion of scripture, like Ezek 38-39, prophetically foreshortens the story.

They will begin to rebuild the temple 34 years after this date.

There will be sacrifices in that temple.

There will be political leaders who participate in temple duties and give gifts of land to their children (Hasmonean dynasty).

There will be a Millennial temple that serves as the center of Christ’s Kingdom.

Likely, the footprint and design of that temple is the central point of this vision.

Messiah will be the glory in the temple.

A resurrected David will administrate the temple as “prince.”

The temple will not persist into the Eternal State, but its architecture is meant to foreshadow the New Jerusalem.

III. Conclusion/Application

Ultimately, Ezekiel ends his prophetic book declaring God’s desire to be among His people, which is how John’s Apocalypse ends as well.

God will remove all obstacles to fellowship. Are you participating in that project in your own life, or are you creating more obstacles to overcome?

There are numerous multiplied kitchens and dining rooms in the temple vision. God wants to fellowship with the whole world! Are you inviting others to feast with Him as they come in contact with you?