Vision of the New Temple

 

Ezekiel 40:1-16

 

November 20, 2024

 

Vision of the New Temple

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.”

Ezekiel was born into the priestly line (Ezekiel 1:3), but he served God as a prophet. the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there. (Taken from Got Question)

The East Gate to the Outer Court

And behold, there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area, and the length of the measuring reed in the man's hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length. So, he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed; and the height, one reed.  Then he went into the gateway facing east, going up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep.  And the side rooms, one reed long and one reed broad; and the space between the side rooms, five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate at the inner end, one reed.  Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, on the inside, one reed.  Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits; and its jambs, two cubits; and the vestibule of the gate was at the inner end.  And there were three side rooms on either side of the east gate. The three were of the same size, and the jambs on either side were of the same size.  Then he measured the width of the opening of the gateway, ten cubits; and the length of the gateway, thirteen cubits.  There was a barrier before the side rooms, one cubit on either side. And the side rooms were six cubits on either side.  Then he measured the gate from the ceiling of the one side room to the ceiling of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits; the openings faced each other.  He measured also the vestibule, sixty cubits. And around the vestibule of the gateway was the court.  From the front of the gate at the entrance to the front of the inner vestibule of the gate was fifty cubits.  And the gateway had windows all around, narrowing inwards toward the side rooms and toward their jambs, and likewise the vestibule had windows all around inside, and on the jambs were palm trees.

I believe it is helpful to understand what a reed was used in measuring is in feet, about 10 feet.  A Cubit was about 1.5 feet, so you do the math, it you want to find the answer to how big this new Temple was going to be.

 

But the real question is has this Temple already happen, and I would agree with the majority that it is still future.  So once again I looked at Got Question to see how they handle the subject.

 

Most who expect a literal fulfillment of Ezekiel’s temple expect it to be erected in the millennial kingdom, a 1,000-year reign of Christ upon the earth. During the millennium, glorified saints from the present age will live in contact with natural human beings who will still need to make a decision for Christ in order to be saved—and many will choose not to trust Him. The sacrificial system described in Ezekiel cannot be for the forgiveness of sins, for Christ has accomplished that once and for all (Hebrews 10:1–4, 11–14). In this interpretive approach, the sacrifices are seen as memorials of Christ’s death or as rites for the ceremonial cleansing of the temple, but not as a means to forgive sins.

In the figurative view of Ezekiel’s temple, the prophet’s vision simply reiterates that God will once again dwell with His people in a perfect relationship. This relationship is described in the language that the people of the day (and especially for Ezekiel as a priest) would have understood—a Jewish temple of magnificent proportions, with regular, perfect sacrifices, with the Messiah presiding, and with the glory of God visibly evident. In later visions to other prophets, God revealed more about how He would accomplish this with the Messiah Himself replacing the temple, the sacrifices, and the land. The presence of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit would be more immediately evident than ever before. The fulfillment of Ezekiel’s temple could thus be realized in the church age to some degree and, in the age to come, to perfection.

Regardless of which approach is taken, the vision of Ezekiel’s temple says that God has not forsaken His people and that His relationship with them will be restored and elevated to a new, never-before-conceived glory and intimacy. Present circumstances should never cause one to doubt the promises of God.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice