True Worship in a New Temple.
Ezekiel 43:1-12
1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east.
2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.
3 It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw--like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face.
4 And the glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east.
5 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
6 Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me.
7 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 children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places.
8 When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger.
9 Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.
10 "Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.
11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and perform them.
12 This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.
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There are a few interpretations of this passage of scripture, depending on your hermeneutic.
Some believe this vision relates to the temple that was somewhat restored after the return to Jerusalem from Babylon (The Second Temple). This was known as Zerubabul’s temple or Herod’s temple because it was reconstructed by Herod. This temple was again destroyed in 70AD by the Romans.
The futuristic view is that this temple spoken of in Ezekiel, is the temple that will be the Millennial temple, where Jesus will reign on the throne of David.
There are others who see this vision as symbolic of the church being the temple of the Holy Spirit in this present age.
Many believe that a third temple will be rebuilt in present day Israel and there are already moves to rebuild a third temple. The Temple Institute is engaged in preparing priests and garments and utensils for the third temple. This is believed to be the temple that the coming Antichrist will set himself up as God.
Matt 24:15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
2 Thess 2:3-5 3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.
4 He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
5 Do you not remember that I told you these things while I was still with you?…
Whether this is the temple that Christ comes back to is debatable.
There are those that see this third temple as, not the temple of God but the temple of the Antichrist and for Christ to enter this temple would mean some form of cleansing or a destruction.
This means that there will be a fourth temple which is the Millennial temple.
Personally, I take the view that this temple in Ezekiel is referring to the Millennial temple because God goes to great trouble to give the exact dimensions.
The temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, or Herod do not share the design and dimensions of the temple described in Ezekiel 40-42. The worship procedure set forth in chapters 43-46, though Mosaic in nature, has not been followed in history in exactly the manner described in these chapters. The river that flows forth from the temple in 47:1-12 has never flowed from any of the three historical temples mentioned above.
Therefore one would not look to historical (past or present) fulfillments of these chapters but to the future.
In the scriptures where dimensions are given by the Lord, for example, Noah’s Ark, the Ark of the Covenant and Solomon’s temple, they were all literally built.
There is no reason to believe that Ezekiel’s temple would not follow the same pattern and have a literal fulfilment.
It is not wrong to recognise the spiritual or allegorical meaning of a scripture but it should never rob it of its literal meaning.
bible.ucg.org › bible-commentary, says:
"The figurative or 'spiritualizing' interpretative approach does not seem to solve any of the problems of Ezekiel 40-48; it tends to create new ones. When the interpreter abandons a normal [literal interpretation] because the passage does not seem to make sense taken that way and opts for an interpretative procedure by which he can allegorize, symbolise, or 'spiritualize,' the interpretations become subjective.
Whilst there are differences in understanding, when this temple will be built. There is agreement that the people of God will worship Him with joy and gladness.
Whatever the interpretation, Ezekiel sees the vision of the glory of God entering the temple.
Ezekiel 43:1 "Afterwards he brought me to the gate, [even] the gate that looketh toward the east:"
God brought Ezekiel to the East gate to witness the entering in of God’s glory.
We remember the glory of God departed from the temple in Ezekiel Ch 8 – 11. God abandoned His people to destruction and dispersion. He scattered them amongst the nations.
Now we are seeing the future return of God’s glory in the Millennial temple.
Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Ezekiel 43:2 "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice [was] like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory."
Jesus entered Jerusalem by the East gate at His first coming and He will enter the city by the East gate at His second coming.
Matthew 24:27 "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
The glory departed to the East from the temple (Eze 11:23), when God judged them, so the glory returns from the East when He has regathered them, and is restoring that worship.
This gate, the East gate is known as the Gate of Mercies or the Golden gate.
At the moment this gate is sealed up. It was sealed by Suleiman the Magnificent and a cemetery was built in front of it, in the hope that it would stop the return of Israel’s Messiah.
The glory that Ezekiel saw is the same as he saw in Ezekiel chapter 1 and chapter 4.
It had a great effect on him.
Ezekiel 43:3 "And [it was] according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, [even] according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions [were] like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face."
Eze 43:2 his voice [was] like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory." and I fell upon my face."
The Apostle John experienced the same in Revelation.
Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.
This Light, spoken of here, is so bright, it would cause anyone not to see the source and the "noise of many waters" is the voice of God. It is, many times, spoken of as thunder.
This is the same light that went before the children of Israel in the wilderness.
The same light that filled Solomon’s temple.
This Light dispels all darkness.
John 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Ezekiel 43:4 "And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect [is] toward the east."
Ezekiel 43:5 "So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house."
The future kingdom glory of God will fill His temple.
Zec 2:5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
As also He filled the tabernacle.
Exo 40:34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Also, later Solomon’s temple.
1Ki 8:11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
Psa 29:9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
Ezekiel 43:6 "And I heard [him] speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me."
This voice that accompanies the glory of God, sounding like thunder, speaks directly to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 43:7 "And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, [neither] they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places."
This must have given great hope to the people, they would have felt hopeless, far from God and here was a promise that God had not forgotten them and desired to be back in a relationship with them.
The tabernacle in the wilderness had the Ark of the Covenant. In Solomon’s temple the Ark was in the Holy of Holies but the Ark did not stand in the second temple. Neither will the Glory of God be in any third temple built by men.
"The place of the soles of my feet", many times, was speaking of the place of the Ark of the Covenant.
This is the throne that God has on the earth. It had always been the desire of the LORD to dwell with the children of Israel. He wanted to be their God, and for them to be His people.
Verses 8-9: The future temple will be most holy, protected from Harlotry such as the Israelites had engaged in (2 Kings 23:7);
Defiling tombs of kings that Israel had allowed in the sacred temple area (Ezekiel 21:18-27;
Ezekiel 43:8 "In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger."
Ezekiel 43:9 "Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever."
God wanted to be with them all the time. Their unfaithfulness to Him brought the separation.
God desires a faithful wife, one that does not run after other god’s. If they would be faithful to Him He will dwell with them forever.
God was speaking through Ezekiel to draw Israel to Himself by repentance, He wanted them to see what they had lost through their harlotry.
Ezekiel 43:10 "Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern."
Ezekiel 43:11 "And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write [it] in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them."
True repentance through faith is accompanied by right actions.
We who are under the New Covenant know this.
Ye are My disciples if you do what I say.
John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments
If we recognise our sin and turn from them, God comes to dwell in us by the Holy Spirit and we become the temple of the Holy Spirit, individually and collectively.
This is what the verse above is saying. If they have repented, they will keep His ordinances. It is as if He is telling Ezekiel to show them the house, and see if they want to live up to its perfection.
Ezekiel 43:12 "This [is] the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about [shall be] most holy. Behold, this [is] the law of the house."
This is why we are being sanctified, being made holy, for God is holy and if we are to dwell with a holy God, we also must be holy.
