#7 - Part 1 Ezekiel's Temple: The Most Important Future Temple Text

    Ezekiel was an Israelite prophet that had gone into exile during the second of three attacks that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had waged against the holy city Jerusalem. He was brought to this captivity around 597 BC according to the most common dating. Shortly afterward, in Babylon's third and final attack, the city of Jerusalem and her temple were completely destroyed around 586 BC. This led to intense anguish and hopelessness for God's people at that time because they saw themselves as having no identity or land without their temple in which God dwelt. The people were scattered and the land was to enjoy its sabbaths (70 years) as another prophet of the time, Jeremiah, had announced (2 Chron. 36:21) and as Moses had foretold would be the condition of Israel if they disobeyed God (Lev. 26:43). Still, God in His loving kindness and mercy spoke to the people regarding all that they had lost and continued to guide His people by the prophecies of Ezekiel while they were in Babylonian captivity. Most central to these losses was the absence of a temple, which Ezekiel prophesies regarding the future and does so in nine chapters at the end of his prophetic book (Ezek. 40-48). 

    In all the Bible, there is not a longer nor more explicitly detailed prophecy dealing with a future temple. Ezekiel is composed of many details that help the Bible scholars narrow and define exactly what time and identity Ezekiel saw in his vision. Yet, the question for our enterprise is whether it was in the near future to Ezekiel's day or is it still an end time event beyond our current time. Remember, context of the written Word of God is the key to unlocking the door, not speculation on our current circumstances. Due to the fact that Ezekiel 40 through 48 is one continuous vision, we must find that all the events and circumstances of Ezekiel match at the same era in time in order to verify the validity of its prophecy as being fulfilled. In other words, we cannot say that one part is so-called fulfilled if the whole thing is not also. So then, some of the events that must come together at the same time include these:

1. A Temple built to the specified measurements in Ezekiel (Ezek. 40-43)
2. The Presence of God in the Temple (43:1-5)
3. Ezekiel must have a role in the construction and ordinances of the priests (43:10-11, 18-19, 46:13-15)
4. The Temple must stand "forever" (43:7,9) according to the definition of this Hebrew word.
5. Animal sacrifices must be accounted for in light of the finished work of Jesus on the cross (43:18-27, 44:11-15, 45:15-25)
6. The identity and presence of one known as "the prince" and his descendants
7. The identity and presence of the sons of Zadok and the tribe of Levi
8. Gentile circumcision being mandatory for entrance into the community (44:9)
9. The existence of a miraculous stream that flows from this temple
10. The return of all the tribes of Israel
11. Division of the land inheritance
12. The city in which the temple is built is called "The Lord is there."

It cannot be overlooked that when compared with all other so-called future temple passages, this one requires the most attention and biggest impact on how we may or may not come to the conclusion of a future temple. In fact, Ezekiel 40-48 is the only supposed blueprint of a temple that is considered by some to be future. Additionally, in one unit, it ties together more prophetic events than any other passage in the Bible outside of the Olivet discourse given by Jesus (i.e. Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). It should therefore stand as the most crucial Old Testament text for this entire study on any anticipated future event. 

    Alternately, I do not see these events nor Ezekiel's temple vision to be a future event and that all of the list above can be accounted for in the past. I also do not find any reason that we should believe this to be a metaphoric or spiritual temple as some have supposed. This is shown in the fact that the men had to be circumcised in the flesh (physical) and in the heart (spiritual; Ezek. 44:7-9) and this temple of Ezekiel's vision is specifically referred to as a "stone-design" (Ezek. 43:11, Heb צורת הבית). Our path on this journey is to come to grips with the text and its surrounding history that will help narrow our options to one solitary time period in which the fulfillment of Ezekiel's temple vision and the events listed did come to pass. As a result, we should see that there is no future temple blueprint, and without a blueprint there can be no temple, and without a temple we will see that a major chunk of the Law of Moses, as it is written, has been removed and replaced by a greater temple, priesthood, kingdom, and sacrifice through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

    I will begin this study in the next blog centered on an absolute indicator of the timing of Ezekiel's temple by pointing out the role that Ezekiel, himself, had to fill at the time when this temple was standing. We will examine three critical texts that clearly indicate this timing; Ezek. 43:18-19, 43:10-11, 46:13-15. I believe these three texts demonstrate enough context in the timing to conclude the fulfillment of Ezekiel but I am not naive to the purpose of a thorough examination of Ezekiel and the need to see the fulfillment of all other events I have listed above.