Ezekiel 40:1-41:26
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture means all scripture. Why do we discuss Scripture every Sunday morning? To equip all of us for every good work. As the passage says, Scripture teaches us, rebukes us, corrects us, and trains us. This week I was drawn back to the following passage from Ezekiel 11:
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.’ – Ezekiel 11:14-15
I have thought freshly about the historical context of this passage. While the people in Babylon were sad about their situation, wishing they could rejoin their people back in Jerusalem again, worshiping again at the Temple, where God had chosen to have a manifestation of His Spirit, His Glory reside, the people in Jerusalem were saying, in effect, that these guys being deported, sent away from Jerusalem, must have been the bad guys, the truly sinful ones. Otherwise, they would have been there with them, here in their land of God’s blessing. The assumption is “We are the people God truly loves; we are the good guys.” But look at how God corrects them:
“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’ – Ezekiel 11:16-17
That word, “sanctuary” is so powerful! In the Hebrew it is mikdash, the exact word used to describe the most holy place of the tabernacle and the most holy place of the Temple in Jerusalem. God tells them that He Himself, has been their most holy place. That is, you don’t need a Temple to have God’s presence among you. And furthermore, just because you do have a Temple, or a promised land, doesn’t mean that you have God among you.
As I thought about how encouraging this passage had to be for the exiles scattered throughout Babylon, my thoughts also turned to those believers scattered in countries where persecution is the most severe, countries like North Korea and, once again, Afghanistan. As I prayed, I prayed for them would be that they could in fact experience God as their sanctuary and that they could be encouraged by verses such as these. And then my prayers turned to our country, as I realized that there are some parallels between us and those Israelites that only pretended to worship God in their hearts. Going to church, whether online or in person, can be an act of profound devotional worship, or it can be done for reasons that really have nothing to do with God. I found myself praying that my faith, that our faith, would be more like that of the faith-filled persecuted exiles around the world. I prayed that we would indeed make God our sanctuary rather than our savings, our jobs, our possessions, our entertainment, or anything else that we might set up as a substitute for God. I encourage you to pray this same prayer, asking God to show you any idols you may worship and then forsaking them, turning only to God as our sanctuary. I encourage you to pray this not just once, but regularly, frequently.
Today’s passage is about a physical sanctuary that God shows Ezekiel in a vision. Apart from Revelation, I would say that this passage is one of the most challenging to understand prophetically, not just because it speaks of the future, but because it doesn’t provide context as to when in the sequence of future events it occurs, or even if it occurs literally at all.
John Taylor in a commentary lists four different interpretations of the events of the final chapters of Ezekiel. I think it is somewhat useful to discuss these briefly. My purpose in giving these interpretations is not to get you to choose one over another, but to just expose you to these possibilities. It is also very possible that the reality is that none of these interpretations is correct.
The first interpretation is called literal prophetic. This interpretation is that the passage describes a temple that would be built by the returning exiles. Some commentators believe that Ezekiel’s vision was not meant to be taken exactly accurately, but that it did truly prophesy about the fact that the exiles would indeed return to Israel and rebuild the Temple, which did in fact happen with Ezra, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah. One argument for this interpretation is the fact that the preceding prophecies in Ezekiel 33-39 also seem to contain non-literal elements, such as the prophecy about dry bones being restored into living human beings, and if all of these prophecies were about the coming restoration of Israel, many other aspects of these prophecies would need to be taken somewhat non-literally. Yes, it is ironic that an interpretation with non-literal elements is called literal prophetic.
The second interpretation is called symbolic Christian. This view is that the passage describes the Christian church age. This view emphasizes that God was ultimately providing for His people a system related to, but different from, the system which they had experienced prior to the fall of Israel. This new system would include both Jews and Gentiles. Note that the fact that God has provided a new way, a new priesthood, a new worship system through Christ’s death and resurrection is certainly true. That is not in question. What is in question is whether the Ezekiel passage primarily describes this or whether it is primarily describing something else.
The third interpretation is called Dispensationalist. Now, there are many flavors of Dispensationalism, and so if you have particular feelings, positive or negative, about Dispensationalism, understand that this interpretation of the Ezekiel passage does not require that you accept all of a particular version of Dispensationalism. (And if you have absolutely no idea what Dispensationalism is, that’s perfectly fine!) This view is that the passage describes a Temple of a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus over this earth. There is a later eternal age, but this Temple does not refer to that time, but rather this earlier Revelation time. The idea is that during the millennial reign of Christ, this Temple will remind people, especially Jewish people, of God’s saving work in Christ, looking back on Christ’s sacrifice rather than forward as the Old Testament Temple and practices did.
The fourth interpretation is called Apocalyptic. This view is that the passage is not so much prophetic in nature, but rather symbolic. The idea is that this passage uses the symbolism of a new Temple to expand upon the prophecies of chapters 33-37.
Now there are a few useful things to know. First, the Temple and surrounding structures rebuilt in the days of Ezra, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah do not match the detailed description given in Ezekiel. Neither does it match the heavy modifications that Herod made to the Temple. And certainly, they do not match any descriptions in the book of Revelation. Second, as we shall see, the “feel” of the passage seems much more real than metaphorical. Admittedly, this is possibly the result of our modern biases, but it is natural for us to question why such an extremely lengthy and detailed description would be used simply for symbolic purposes. Third, a potential issue of a working Temple (with sacrifices) in an age after Christ is that it at least seems to conflict with what Jesus Himself taught about how to remember Him through the bread and the cup. But those who hold to this view point out that certain things that were directly fulfilled by Christ do seem to be missing, implying that they are not a part of this new Temple system. Examples include the lack of mention of celebration of Pentecost, the lack of mention of the veil for the most holy place, the lack of mention of the ark of the covenant, and the lack of mention of a high priest. Critics would point out that this is an argument from silence, one of the weakest forms of argument.
I apologize if I have left you thoroughly confused. Rather than saying any more, let’s dive into the passage itself.
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 on 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 carefully and listen closely and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the people of Israel everything you see.” – Ezekiel 40:1-4
We are now in the twenty-fith year of exile for Ezekiel. This is Ezekiel’s final prophecy in the book. It is the next-to-last based on the dates given; the brief prophecy in Ezek. 29:17-20 concerning Tyre (one of multiple prophecies about Tyre) occurs later. This one seems to be in chapter 29 so that it can be included with similar prophecies.
The date is possibly interesting. In the Bible there are two calendar systems given, one referred to as the civil calendar and the other as the religious calendar. If Ezekiel was using the religious calendar, his date of this prophecy was the 10th of Nissan, the day when the Israelites were instructed to begin preparation for the Passover. We don’t know if the exiles celebrated Passover, not being in the vicinity of the Temple for the sacrifice of the lamb. They might have celebrated without the lamb, or they might have sacrificed an animal without the Temple (although I doubt this). But to me the significance of the Passover date is that this would be a painful day for the exiles. This prophecy then, about a restored Temple, would have greatly encouraged them on this difficult day.
It appears that Ezekiel is on a mountain from which he could see what might have been Jerusalem. We don’t know how visions work, whether the mountain was a real mountain or not. But it could have been real. It could have been Mount Moriah. Interestingly, the devil tempted Jesus also on a very high mountain. God did this for Ezekiel first. The devil often imitates the work of God. Note that John was also set on a high mountain to see the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven in Rev. 21.
Ezekiel is presented with a heavenly guide. We are not told anything about the identity of this guide. But the guide does speak to him, calling him Son of man much like God does. He is to pay detailed attention so that he can relay all the details after the vision is over. The man has a solid rod and what appears to be rope or cloth tape. Both the rod and the rope are used to measure distances.
I saw a wall completely surrounding the temple area. The length of the measuring rod in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each of which was a cubit and a handbreadth. He measured the wall; it was one measuring rod thick and one rod high. Then he went to the east gate. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate; it was one rod deep. The alcoves for the guards were one rod long and one rod wide, and the projecting walls between the alcoves were five cubits thick. And the threshold of the gate next to the portico facing the temple was one rod deep. Then he measured the portico of the gateway; it was eight cubits deep and its jambs were two cubits thick. The portico of the gateway faced the temple. Inside the east gate were three alcoves on each side; the three had the same measurements, and the faces of the projecting walls on each side had the same measurements. – Ezekiel 40:5-10
Note that the guide is the one who measures; Ezekiel simply watches and listens. Ezekiel gives us the dimensions of the measurements which used rods and “long cubits.” A rod was probably about 10-11 feet long, and a “long cubit” was one sixth of this, a little less than 2 feet.
The east gate gave you a straight line path of entrance towards the Holy of holies, which was in the west end of the structure. But as we will see there was also a north gate and a south gate. A gateway is a substantial structure that allows you to enter an estate or other large area (even an entire city) that is otherwise normally blocked by walls or other structures, even hedges. An alcove is a recess, an open area, in the wall of a room. A portico is a structure consisting of a roof supported by evenly spaced columns. Porticos are often attached to buildings as what we might call porches, although they can be much larger than what we think of as porches. Jambs are side-posts or linings of doorways or other apertures.
Now, I realize it is very difficult to visualize the descriptions of these chapters. I will play for you a video after going through this chapter and another video after the next chapter to help us visualize the layout.
Then he measured the width of the entrance of the gateway; it was ten cubits and its length was thirteen cubits. In front of each alcove was a wall one cubit high, and the alcoves were six cubits square. Then he measured the gateway from the top of the rear wall of one alcove to the top of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubits from one parapet opening to the opposite one. He measured along the faces of the projecting walls all around the inside of the gateway—sixty cubits. The measurement was up to the portico facing the courtyard. The distance from the entrance of the gateway to the far end of its portico was fifty cubits. The alcoves and the projecting walls inside the gateway were surmounted by narrow parapet openings all around, as was the portico; the openings all around faced inward. The faces of the projecting walls were decorated with palm trees. – Ezekiel 40:11-16
A parapet is a low protective wall along the edge of a roof, bridge, or balcony.
The palm tree art is interesting to me. I am reminded of the following passage: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. – Revelation 7:9
I am also reminded of the Hosannas shouted by the crowds to Christ and the palm branches waved as He entered Jerusalem.
Then he brought me into the outer court. There I saw some rooms and a pavement that had been constructed all around the court; there were thirty rooms along the pavement. It abutted the sides of the gateways and was as wide as they were long; this was the lower pavement. Then he measured the distance from the inside of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; it was a hundred cubits on the east side as well as on the north. – Ezekiel 40:17-19
Then he measured the length and width of the north gate, leading into the outer court. Its alcoves—three on each side—its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as those of the first gateway. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Its openings, its portico and its palm tree decorations had the same measurements as those of the gate facing east. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them. There was a gate to the inner court facing the north gate, just as there was on the east. He measured from one gate to the opposite one; it was a hundred cubits. – Ezekiel 40:20-23
Then he led me to the south side and I saw the south gate. He measured its jambs and its portico, and they had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had narrow openings all around, like the openings of the others. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them; it had palm tree decorations on the faces of the projecting walls on each side. The inner court also had a gate facing south, and he measured from this gate to the outer gate on the south side; it was a hundred cubits. – Ezekiel 40:24-27
Then he brought me into the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it had the same measurements as the others. Its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. (The porticoes of the gateways around the inner court were twenty-five cubits wide and five cubits deep.) Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated its jambs, and eight steps led up to it. – Ezekiel 40:28-31
Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gateway; it had the same measurements as the others. Its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it. – Ezekiel 40:32-34
Then he brought me to the north gate and measured it. It had the same measurements as the others, as did its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico, and it had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it. – Ezekiel 40:35-37
A room with a doorway was by the portico in each of the inner gateways, where the burnt offerings were washed. In the portico of the gateway were two tables on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings were slaughtered. By the outside wall of the portico of the gateway, near the steps at the entrance of the north gateway were two tables, and on the other side of the steps were two tables. So there were four tables on one side of the gateway and four on the other—eight tables in all—on which the sacrifices were slaughtered. There were also four tables of dressed stone for the burnt offerings, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide and a cubit high. On them were placed the utensils for slaughtering the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. And double-pronged hooks, each a handbreadth long, were attached to the wall all around. The tables were for the flesh of the offerings. – Ezekiel 40:38-43
And so here it becomes clear that a major purpose of this new Temple is again to sacrifice animals according to the regulations provided in the Law of Moses. This was apparently not a future temple in which no sacrifices would be made. This will be confirmed in later chapters discussed in future weeks.
Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, were two rooms, one at the side of the north gate and facing south, and another at the side of the south gate and facing north. He said to me, “The room facing south is for the priests who guard the temple, and the room facing north is for the priests who guard the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who are the only Levites who may draw near to the Lord to minister before him.” – Ezekiel 40:44-46
Then he measured the court: It was square—a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide. And the altar was in front of the temple. He brought me to the portico of the temple and measured the jambs of the portico; they were five cubits wide on either side. The width of the entrance was fourteen cubits and its projecting walls were three cubits wide on either side. The portico was twenty cubits wide, and twelve cubits from front to back. It was reached by a flight of stairs, and there were pillars on each side of the jambs. – Ezekiel 40:47-49
Note that in these descriptions, because the measurements are made by a being who apparently walks on the ground and does not fly, vertical measurements are lacking. This is interesting, because it implies that perhaps the description was never meant to be prescriptive, but only descriptive. That is, it was not intended that a future person use the descriptions to build a temple completely to these exact specifications. In contrast, Moses’ Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple both include height measurements. Ezra’s Temple is almost completely undescribed in the Bible, but it does mention a width and height measurement. Of course we know lots about the Temple from the ruins and from other sources.
As to Ezekiel’s temple, the description continues in Chapter 41, but at this point I want to show a video depicting what has been described. Note that the authors of this video have had to make decisions about certain things that are not absolutely clear from the passage, so you should not assume that the video is error-free; indeed, you should assume the opposite. Nevertheless, I do think seeing the Scripture visually is quite helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNmERZkT6JM
Then the man brought me to the main hall and measured the jambs; the width of the jambs was six cubits on each side. The entrance was ten cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were five cubits wide. He also measured the main hall; it was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance; each was two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were seven cubits wide. And he measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the main hall. He said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.” – Ezekiel 41:1-4
It is interesting to me that the Most Holy Place is square. The Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle was a perfect cube. The same is true of the Most Holy Place in Solomon’s Temple. Although the Ezekiel passage does not talk about the height of the Most Holy Place, I would be surprised if it wasn’t to be a cube. What strikes me and encourages me about these dimensions is that the New Jerusalem is also a perfect cube. Perhaps one interpretation is that in the New Jerusalem, everywhere is a most holy place. This is significant because the Most Holy Place was where the Spirit of God resided. Only the high priest was permitted to go into the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. We know that when Christ died on the cross, the veil blocking off the Most Holy Place was torn from top to bottom, representing how, thanks to the cross, we now all have access to Christ. And so maybe the perfect giant cube that is the New Jerusalem is a symbol of how, for eternity, all believers will have that amazing access to Jesus. Note that symbolism does not preclude a physical reality; that is, just because something is highly symbolic does not mean that it is not also physically real.
Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was six cubits thick, and each side room around the temple was four cubits wide. The side rooms were on three levels, one above another, thirty on each level. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports were not inserted into the wall of the temple. The side rooms all around the temple were wider at each successive level. The structure surrounding the temple was built in ascending stages, so that the rooms widened as one went upward. A stairway went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor. – Ezekiel 41:5-7
The many rooms are possibly sleeping places for the priests or possibly storage rooms. I am fascinated by the architectural details. The holiness of “God’s house”, the temple itself, is so extreme, so perfect, that you cannot even attach any other structure onto the temple walls. So the rooms are built around the temple coming right up to the walls but not attaching to them. A whole separate supporting structure is needed around the temple to support the rooms. I can imagine how a priest, at first, would be quite thrilled, even a little scared, to be in a room so close to God’s presence, with literally only a wall separating them. But I am getting ahead of myself, as, so far, we have not been told of any inhabitants, any priests, even whether God Himself is here. This will be discussed, but not today.
I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the length of the rod, six long cubits. The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple and the priests’ rooms was twenty cubits wide all around the temple. There were entrances to the side rooms from the open area, one on the north and another on the south; and the base adjoining the open area was five cubits wide all around. The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubits wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits. – Ezekiel 41:8-12
Then he measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long. The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits. Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits. – Ezekiel 41:13-15
What was it like for Ezekiel’s contemporaries to hear or read this description of this new temple with its temple grounds? Utter astonishment. The previous temple was already astonishing. This temple was huge compared with the old temple; larger by a much greater degree than Solomon’s grand temple was compared with the Tabernacle. A visual side-by-side comparison shows how large this new temple really was.
The main hall, 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 human being 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 main hall. – Ezekiel 41:16-20
Why two faces, a human and a lion? Recall that in Ezekiel’s first vision, cherubim were present with four faces, that of a human (presumably in the front), lion (given as on the right), ox (given as on the left), and eagle (presumably on the back). Imagine standing in front of this creature at a 45 degree angle, between the face of the human and the lion. You would only see these two faces from this angle. (Of course, if you actually saw these awesome creatures, I doubt you would remain standing.)
The main hall 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 main hall 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 main hall were carved cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls, and there was a wooden overhang on the front of the portico. On the sidewalls of the portico were narrow windows with palm trees carved on each side. The side rooms of the temple also had overhangs. – Ezekiel 41:21-26
Again, I think it is helpful to visualize this with a video, imperfect though it may be. Let’s watch a visual depiction of this chapter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm38zgyoy-k
We are out of time, but I hope you have been encouraged by this first part of Ezekiel’s great vision. I am sorry that I cannot tell you much more about how to interpret these verses. I cannot tell you when, or even if, this temple will be built physically. But I can tell you that, physical or not, this grand temple speaks of a greater reality than has ever existed, not only with regards to the physical temple, but as we shall see, with regards to people who serve and love the Lord wholeheartedly there. And this future, whether it will literally occur or not, is but a foreshadowing of the true and even greater future reality, that described in Revelations and elsewhere, in which we will be with the Lord in incorruptible bodies, with minds and hearts that sin no longer, and with joy that we can not even begin to imagine. For us, as with the exiles, the Lord is our real mikdash, our true Temple. Buildings, even grand Temples, even thousand-miles-on-a-side cubes as described in Revelations, do not compare to the Lord Himself, and we will be with Him forever!
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