From our last installment, we can see that Ezekiel’s Temple will be much different from either previous one in both appearance and function.  The Holy Place will have no Menorah, no incense altar, and no table of show bread.  A wooden altar will be its only piece of furniture.  A thick veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in previous Temples and no one was allowed through the veil except the High Priest and then only on one day each year, Yom Kippur.  In Ezekiel’s Temple the veil has been replaced by folding doors, and there will be no ark, and no mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.

At the close of our last study we saw the Shekinah Glory return after a 2600 year absence and proclaim that this Temple is where He will live among the Israelites forever.  Now we’ll hear His first words to them upon doing so.

The Lord’s Accusation

The LORD said to me, “Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations regarding the temple of the LORD. Give attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.  Say to the rebellious house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Enough of your detestable practices, O house of Israel! In addition to all your other detestable practices, you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into my sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant.  Instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things, you put others in charge of my sanctuary.  This is what the Sovereign LORD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites. (Ezek. 44:5-9)

This accusation could only refer to the anti-Christ and False Prophet, one of whom will apparently serve as a kind of High Priest after the Temple is made desolate during the Great Tribulation.  Uncircumcised in heart means the foreigner will not be a Christian, for as Paul wrote to the church, circumcision is of the heart. (Romans 2:29)  Uncircumcised in the flesh means he won’t be a religious Jew either.  Some have wondered how Israel could accept a non-Jew as their High Priest, but remember,  they like everyone else will be totally persuaded by his miracles that he is the one they’ve been waiting for. (2 Thes. 2:9)   Daniel 11:37 says he’ll have no regard for the God of his fathers nor for the one desired by women, a reference to the Messiah. This confirms that he’ll be neither a practicing Jew nor a Christian.

The Prince

The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way.”(Ezek. 44:3)

” ‘The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions.

(Ezek. 45:7)

It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths—at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel. (Ezek. 45:17)

In Ezek. 34:23-24 the Lord had promised, I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.  I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.

This tells us that a descendant of David’s will be the Prince in Israel.  He’ll be a human in natural form because he’ll be a sinner (Ezek. 45:22) and he’ll have children. (Ezek 46:16)  He will not be the original David, nor will he be the Messiah, but he will be the ruling authority in Israel, subject only to the Messiah.

Although he provides the animals for offerings, he can not enter the inner court since he won’t be of the priestly family.  He will stand at the gate while the priests prepare and sacrifice the animals. (Ezek. 46:2)

The Levites And The Priests

” ‘The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin.  They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them.  But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, declares the Sovereign LORD.  They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices.  Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it.

“ ‘But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD.  They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service. (Ezek. 44:10-16)

” In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.

I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession.” (Ezek. 44:24,28)

Zadok the Priest remained faithful to King David even when many others around him were doubting that he could effectively reign due to his advancing years and the strife within his own family.  As a reward David made him the High Priest just before yielding the throne to Solomon.  Now Zadok’s descendants are given the favored place in all of Israel, that of being closest to God in His Temple.

As in days of old the priests will be the keepers of the law and will settle disputes among the people according to God’s law. And as before the tribe of Levi will receive no land grant.  The Lord is their inheritance. They will eat the offerings as always, in rooms dedicated for that purpose (Ezek. 44:29-30)  and derive their incomes from the tithes of the people.

There will be no High Priest, that office being permanently filled by the Lord. There’s no indication that He’ll preside at any ceremony, however.  One of the priests will accept that duty and act under the supervision of the Prince, who although from the tribe of Judah, will be responsible to supervise the presentation of offerings from the thresh hold of the gateway to the inner court.

The Altar

There will be an altar for sacrificing the various burnt offerings in the courtyard just outside the Temple and there the priests will perform the ongoing and precise work of preparing and presenting the endless sacrifices to God. But unlike before there will be no bronze laver or washing station.  Also different from before is that this altar will be made of dressed stones and can be approached by ascending steps, in place of the unhewn stones and ramp that were required previously. A seven day long purification ceremony will be necessary to make atonement for the priests and the altar before it will be acceptable for use.  Beginning on the eighth day their sacrifices and offerings will make the people acceptable to the Lord.(Ezek 43:13-27)

The Sacred District

” ‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide; the entire area will be holy.  Of this, a section 500 cubits square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits around it for open land.  In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits  long and 10,000 cubits  wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.  It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary.  An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.

” ‘You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to the whole house of Israel.

” ‘The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions. This land will be his possession in Israel. (Ezek. 45:1-8)

In the center of the nation a tract of land will be set aside for the priests and the Temple.  We’ll discuss its exact location when we look at the distribution of the land.  This area will measure about 7 miles by 6 miles.  The priests will have their homes there on about half of this land with the rest being set aside for the Temple.  Just south of this district will be a portion for the Holy City, and east of it another one for the Prince and his family.

Offerings and Holy Days

As we discussed in our last installment animal sacrifice will be practiced on Earth during the Millennium.  In addition to the daily sin offering, there will be many other offerings as in Old Testament times, for Sabbaths, New Moons and other festivals, and for the atonement of the people. (Ezek. 45:17)  The Levitical feasts observed in the Old Testament will be modified with First Fruits, Pentecost, Rosh Hashannah, and Yom Kippur eliminated.  Only Passover, followed by the seven days of Unleavened Bread (Ezek. 45:21-24) and the seven day Feast of Tabernacles (Ezek. 45:25) will be observed.  Passover will no longer include the sacrifice of a lamb, the Passover Lamb having already been sacrificed once for all time.

Everyone on Earth will be required to come to the Holy City each year for the Feast of Tabernacles.  If any nation adopts an official policy exempting its people from attending this annual pilgrimage, they’ll experience drought and plague, (Zechariah 14:16-19) for this is the great celebration of the restoration of Israel and the in-gathering of the nations to their Creator.

Next time we’ll conclude this study with a review of the Temple’s location and the distribution of the land.  See you then.

At the end of Ezekiel 39 we saw that the Lord will use the great battle He’s just had Ezekiel describe to reveal Himself to Israel and complete the return of His people to their land.  He promised not to leave any behind.  Some Christians have a hard time accepting the fact that when the Jews return to God as a nation, they’ll build a Temple and practice animal sacrifice again.  But by saying that in the middle of  the 70th week the anti-Christ will put an end to sacrifice and offering, Daniel confirmed just that.  For 2000 years there’s been no Temple and for 2000 years there’s been no sacrifice, but Daniel 9:27 tells us that both will be part of the first half of the 70th week.

From Zechariah 12:10-14 we learn that just prior to the 2nd Coming the eyes of the nation will be opened as God pours out a spirit of grace and supplication and they finally come to understand that the Lord Jesus is their Messiah after all, The entire nation will go into a period of mourning at this realization, and at that time they’ll be cleansed from their sin and impurity, (Zech 13:1) finally holy again.

You remember that God’s major complaint against Israel was that through their idolatry they had defiled not only themselves as God’s Holy people, but also the Holy Temple, the Holy City, and the Holy Land.  Only in retrospect can we even begin to see what a serious affront to God that was.

The Lord had to go back to His place in Heaven, the people had to go into captivity, the Temple and City had to be destroyed by fire, and the land itself had to lie fallow for 70 years. And although it’s often overlooked, even though the Lord made good on His promise to restore the people, the City, the Temple, and the Land, He Himself never returned.  Even when Jesus came to visit, He stood and taught on the Temple Mount, but He never entered it.  In 70 AD the Temple was destroyed and since then there hasn’t been another, so the Lord has been absent for 2600 years, since before the Babylonian captivity.

But just as the over riding promise to the Church is that we’ll live in Heaven with the Lord, (John 14:2) so the Promise to Israel is that God will one day return to dwell among His people, and in the Book of Ezekiel that promise comes true.  Skipping right over the Rapture of the Church, Daniel’s 70th Week, the Great Tribulation and the 2nd Coming, Ezekiel now takes a journey through time to view the land of Israel as no man has even seen it.  The people having been made holy again, his last 8 chapters will focus on the  other three things, the Temple, the City and the Land.  Let’s join him.

Ezekiel 40 – 43:7

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me and he took me there.  In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city.  He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand.  The man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see.” (Ezekiel 40:1-4)

The date was April 28, 573 BC, early in the 25th  year since Ezekiel had been carried off to Babylon in Nebuchadnezzar’s 2nd   siege of Jerusalem. In Ezekiel’s first view of the restored land, we can see hints of the topographical changes that will accompany the 2nd Coming.  Again we’ll turn to Zechariah  because although Ezekiel didn’t mention this  happening, Zechariah did.

In Zechariah 14:4 we read, On that day (the Lord’s) feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

Zechariah 14: 10-11 adds, The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.  It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

Jerusalem will be split in half east to west by an earthquake that obliterates the current Temple mount,  opening  a great valley through the middle of the city. Everything south of Jerusalem will be lowered  to the level of the Dead Sea valley while Jerusalem itself will be raised up to occupy the southern slopes of a tall mountain.   Psalm 48:2 adds, Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,  is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

His guide takes Ezekiel directly to the Temple where they begin a detailed tour of the building, its courts, walls, and gates.  Ezekiel’s descriptions and measurements are so specific that two things become readily apparent.  One, no Temple like this has ever been built, and two, from his description alone one could be.  This Temple will be like previous ones in some respects and different in others.  Rather than labor through all the intricate measurements, we’ll just high light the similarities and differences.

Animal Sacrifice

In the portico of the gateway were two tables on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings were slaughtered. (Ezek. 40:39)

” Every day you are to provide a year-old lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD; morning by morning you shall provide it.”  (Ezekiel 46:13)

The first thing we’re told about Jewish life in the Millennial Kingdom it that animal sacrifices will  again mark each and every day.  As much trouble as some have knowing that the Jews will return to animal sacrifice during the 70th week, seeing them continue in the Kingdom Age after Israel acknowledges the Messiah is even more distressing to them.  We’ll explore the other Holy Days and offerings next time, but before he describes anything else about the Temple, Ezekiel highlights this fact, so it deserves more of our attention.

The distaste with which many people view this subject helps to show the extent to which our acceptance of the so-called theory of evolution has contaminated our thinking.  The ASPCA, PETA and other groups who advocate animal rights are all of the opinion that man is just another animal who shouldn’t use his elevated position in the animal kingdom to mistreat his less fortunate “relatives”.   But these same groups have no problem with the  millions of human lives that have been sacrificed, often for no higher motive than the convenience of their parents, on the altar of materialism.  The old bumper sticker sums up our upside down thinking.  “Be a hero, save a whale.  Save a baby, go to jail.”  God, who created man and animal alike, ordained the practice of animal sacrifice for man’s benefit and His Word contains no teaching on animal rights.  Don’t get me wrong. I love my dog, and I don’t eat meat or animal products.  But I don’t confuse those things with my religious beliefs.

As for why the Bible says that the sacrifice of animals was only intended to look forward to the Lord’s ultimate sacrifice, and once He had died there was neither need nor justification for animals to die, I can only say that these things were written to and for the Church.  Life on Earth in the Kingdom Age will be different from life in the New Jerusalem, and Earth’s one-world religion will be a lot more like Old Testament Judaism than New Testament Christianity.  Where the cross is concerned, the suggestion that animal sacrifice will be a necessary reminder of what happened there in the future just as it was a necessary prophecy of what would happen there in the past is good enough for me.  And as Isaiah said, us questioning the Lord is a lot like the pot questioning the potter.

Temple Measurements

He also measured the outer sanctuary (Holy Place); it was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. (Ezek. 41:2)

And he measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the outer sanctuary (Holy of Holies) (Ezek 41:4)

The dimensions of the temple proper are the same as in previous ones.  But that’s where the similarity ends.

Inner Appearance.

The outer sanctuary, the inner sanctuary and the portico facing the court,  as well as the thresholds and the narrow windows and galleries around the three of them—everything beyond and including the threshold was covered with wood. The floor, the wall up to the windows, and the windows were covered.  In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary and on the walls at regular intervals all around the inner and outer sanctuary  were carved cherubim and palm trees. Palm trees alternated with cherubim. Each cherub had two faces:  the face of a man toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the other. They were carved all around the whole temple.  From the floor to the area above the entrance, cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary.

The outer sanctuary had a rectangular doorframe, and the one at the front of the Most Holy Place was similar.  There was a wooden altar three cubits high and two cubits square; its corners, its base  and its sides were of wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”  Both the outer sanctuary and the Most Holy Place had double doors.  Each door had two leaves—two hinged leaves for each door.  And on the doors of the outer sanctuary were carved cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls, and there was a wooden overhang on the front of the portico. (Ezek 41:15-25)

Whereas in Solomons’ temple the interior was overlaid with gold, and in Herod’s the walls were polished limestone supporting a ceiling of wood wrapped in gold, the interior of this temple will be finished in wood alone.  The representations of cherubim carved into the wood will have only the faces of a man and a lion. The four faces described in views of the cherubim (Ezek 1: 10 and Rev. 4:7) symbolize four characteristics of the Messiah.  The face of a man stand for His humanity, the lion speaks of His kingship, the ox, being a beast of burden, describes His Servitude, and the eagle proclaims His deity.  Only His humanity and kingship will be emphasized in the Kingdom Age.  He is the Son of Man and King of the Whole Earth.  Together with the cherubim, the palm trees carved into the wooden walls are meant to bring the Garden of Eden to mind.

The ark of the covenant with its atonement cover, the golden altar of incense, the table of show bread and the menorah, all of which were either made totally of gold or of wood covered by thin sheets of gold, will not be found in this temple. The only piece  of furniture is a wooden altar called the Lord’s table. And rather than the thick tapestry veil that separated the two rooms of former Temples and kept everyone out of the Holy of Holies except on Yom Kippur , this Temple has double doors, each one hinged in the middle so they fold back against the walls. By this we know that the way into the Holy of Holies is open.  Having been reconciled to His Creation by the cross, (Col. 1:19-20) God has made Himself accessible to all His children.

The Shekinah  Glory Returns

Then the man brought me to the gate facing east,  and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.  The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he  came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.  The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.  Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple.  He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places. (Ezek. 43:1-7)

And so after a 2600 year absence, the Shekinah Glory returns to the Temple. This signifies that the People, the Land, the City, and the Temple have finally been made Holy once again.  This is the fulfillment of Hosea 6:2, “After two days he will revive us and on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His Presence.”

Next time we’ll hear the Lord’s first words after returning to live among His people and get a glimpse of the officials who will govern the nation and how they’ll do it.  Like most other things, it’s different from before.  We’ll also see significant differences in the offerings they’ll present and the Holy Days they’ll celebrate. Stay tuned, we’re just getting started.