Skip to content The Fourth Temple Vision: Literal or Figurative? Ezekiel 40 Apr 22 · 16 min ...more
The Fourth Temple Vision: Literal or Figurative? Ezekiel 40
April 22, 2025 · 16 min
Deciphering the prophecy and symbolism of the 4th temple in the context of historical and modern interpretations.
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Ezekiel's Vision of the Future Temple 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Alright. Today, we are moving into the final chapters of the book of Ezekiel. In fact, the next 8 chapters are gonna be some0:22 of the most difficult chapters in the Bible. Ezekiel 40 through 48. And our passage today is is Ezekiel 40. But 41 and 42 are all focused on0:34 the future temple. So we're gonna look at, all these, these 3 chapters together. So this, devotional will apply today and tomorrow. Now modern and ancient0:46 commentators have debated over the meaning of these chapters. And, you know, are they to be taken literal? Are they intended to be viewed as figurative? You know, when I mentioned modern,0:58 I'm I'm talking about not necessarily today, but I'm talking about the last hundred and 50 to 200 years as opposed to ancient being some of, the early church leaders like Augustine and Jerome.1:10 May have mentioned this before, but I primarily read and study those who are no longer alive. And I I do that for a reason because that gives me an idea of the totality of their public life and1:22 their writing and their teachings. And, I don't have to be concerned that, you know, I'm reading somebody and I'm studying based upon someone's viewpoint, and then they go off the deep end. We we know the sum1:34 total of their lives for the most part. So just keep that in mind as you join me on this journey. I'm just a tour guide. Okay? We need to look at the word of God as our1:46 final authority on everything. Not another person, no matter how much, we might trust him, we we certainly wanna take that input. But, ultimately, the Holy Spirit is our teacher. The word of God1:58 is the authority. So I include myself in that. I'm just your tour guide. Okay? Now, again, as we're getting into these prophecies, you know, feel free to disagree with me. I'm2:09 giving you my insight based upon my years of study of the word and of, the the insight of others. But I I again, I'm2:21 not gonna be dogmatic in interpreting these, very difficult passages of of prophecy. So if you disagree with me, that's fine. You don't need2:33 to email me and tell me you disagree. Just to pray that we would all grow in a better understanding of God's word and its application to our lives. Now in these 3 chapters, we have2:45 what is referred to as Ezekiel's temple or the fourth temple. First temple was built by Solomon. That was destroyed in 5 86 when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem. After the2:57 people returned from captivity, they built the second temple, which was then greatly enlarged by Herod the Great. That temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Since then,3:09 there has been no temple. There have been no blood sacrifices. In the, the seventh century AD, Suleiman the magnificent, built the current Muslim shrine that is3:21 on the Temple Mount. Now here is where the uncertainty begins. Now some see this temple as figurative of the church age as Ezekiel's temple3:33 dwarfs all the others, not not even close. The current temple mount is 36 acres in total. The temple described in this passage is3:45 calculated to be 694 acres. 36 acres versus 694. The temple itself is larger than3:57 the the entire old Jerusalem. The argument against it being figurative is why all the details, why all the precise measurements if it's just symbolic4:09 or it's a metaphorical presentation? And why did God tell Ezekiel, this in chapter 43 verse 11? And if they are ashamed of all that they4:21 have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangements, its exits, and its entrances,4:35 laws and write it down in their sight so that they may observe all its laws, all its statutes, and carry them out. And so observe all its laws, all its statutes, and carry them out. So why did God say write4:47 it all down? Pay attention to the details. Well, I lean toward a literal view of this passage. This fourth temple, I believe, will be4:59 built as Ezekiel describes, and I believe it'll be built in the millennial, time of the reign of Christ. Now just to note on the detail and the precise5:10 measurement, God did the same with the tabernacle, the ark, the temple that he gave the temple design to to David. So here we have a temple that will be used5:22 in the millennium, in the during the millennial reign of Christ and is prescribed in great detail. I think it's real. There is a principle that we can deduce from the detail5:34 provided from the worship of God, And, that is how we approach God actually matters. You know, we should we should be very careful about this freestyle5:45 worship, lest we end up like Nahab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. Now it it's not the external liturgy that is the focus, but it's the heart and the life5:57 condition. You know, Jesus said we're to worship God in spirit and in truth. Paul wrote to the Romans that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and6:09 acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship. And it it is to be done in an orderly way as god is not the author or of, disorder6:21 or confusion, but a piece as Paul wrote. Alright? So we know these things are important. They have application to us. God is a god of structure, god of design. Now back to the temple.6:33 When will the third temple be built? Right? This is the fourth, but we don't have the third. When will the third be built? Well, at some point, the Jewish people will be able to rebuild on Temple Mount. Then at the6:44 second coming Christ, there will be cataclysmic events that will greatly alter the area's topography as predicted in Isaiah 40, Ezekiel 38, which we recently read, Revelation6:56 16, and in Zechariah. Then after the tribulation period, a fourth temple, the 1 described by Ezekiel, is built for the millennial reign of Christ. This prophecy of7:07 Ezekiel regarding the temple came in April, 5 72 BC, 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. This was Ezekiel's second vision7:20 journey to Jerusalem where he's taken, to Jerusalem. Jerusalem. The first being in chapter 8 19 years previously as, he was given a vision of Jerusalem's7:32 destruction. Here Ezekiel is given a vision of Jerusalem's magnificent restoration. Alright. With that said, with that background, a lot of context, a lot of background, let's go to verse 17:45 of chapter 40. In the 20 fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day, the hand of the Lord was upon7:55 me, and he took me there, took him to Jerusalem. In the visions of God, he took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain. On it toward the south was something like the structure of a city. He took me8:07 there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway. Couple of, observations here. Okay?8:19 When the scripture talks of measuring something, it is either being evaluated for judgment or it's being built. And then we ask who is doing the measuring here. Again,8:31 there there are differing opinions, but some believe this is a Christophany. This was a preincarnate Jesus Christ. The appearance of bronze is like John's vision of him in Revelation8:43 1 15. Alright. Verse 4. And the man said to me, son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and fix your mind on everything I show you. For you were brought here so that I might show them to8:55 you, declare to the house of Israel everything you see. So we have to listen, and we have to pay pay attention to the details of the words of God if we're to share and declare them accurately.9:07 You know, again, God is a God of detail, and God is a God of order. Verse 5. Now there was a wall around all around the outside of the temple. In the man's hand was a measuring rod 69:19 cubits long, each being a cubit in a hand breadth, and he measured the width of the wall structure 1 rod and the height 1 rod. Now there are difference9:31 differences on these measurements. The human body was actually the measuring tape of that day. A cubit was the forearm, basically, elbow to wrist, roughly9:43 18 inches. A hand breadth was the palm. That's 3 and a half inches. Again, depends on the size of your hand. So we're talking about 21 to 22 inches. Therefore, the9:55 wall was 10 and a half feet wide at its base, and it is about, as wide as 1 lane of a city street. So it's pretty pretty wide. It was a wide10:07 wide wall. In verses 6 through 19, we have the details of the east gate. So, I mean, he walks through this whole thing giving detail, elaborate detail. And in fact, you can go online. I10:19 think in our if you have the study notes, you have a kind of a illustration, but you can go online and and look for, illustration search for Ezekiel's temple. I I find10:31 it helpful to actually be able to see a picture of it. That's why we include that in our notes. Verse, 16. He measured the east side with the measuring reed 50, I'm sorry,10:42 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. He measured the north side, 500 cubits, by the measuring reed all around. And drop down to verse 20. He measured it on the 4 sides. It had a wall10:54 around it 500 cubits long and 500 cubits broad to make a separation between the holy and the common. Alright. So what we're talking about here is an external wall around the complex11:07 that is roughly each wall is roughly a mile long. Alright? And so it's 4. So that's basically 411:19 miles around. It's a square mile. Alright. Verse, verses 20 through 23, refer to the Northgate, 24 through 31, discuss11:31 the Southgate 32 through 38. I'm not gonna read all these verses. You can read them. The inner court, the verses 39 through 43, tables for the offerings. We're gonna talk more about that11:42 aspect the next time because this is 1 of the major objections to this passage being taken literally. So we're gonna talk about that in our next session. 44 through 47, those11:54 verses describe the area where the singers and the priests are lodged, and then 48 and 49, the porch of the temple. Then in chapters 41 and 42, Ezekiel is taken inside the12:06 temple in the inner court. Verse 1, then he brought me into the sanctuary and measured the doorpost 6 cubits wide on 1 side, 6 cubits wide on the other, and the width of the tabernacle.12:18 The width of the entryway was 10 cubits. The sidewalls of the entrance were 5 cubits on this side, 5 cubits on the other side, and he measured its length 40 cubits and its width 20 cubits. He also went inside and12:30 measured the doorpost, 2 cubits, and the entrance, 6 cubits high, and the width of the entrance, 7 cubits. He measured the length 20 cubits and width 20 cubits beyond the sanctuary. He said to me, this12:42 is the most holy place. Now this is a massive structure compared to the previous temples. In terms of its size, it is more than 4 times the size of12:54 Herod's temple, which swallowed Solomon's temple. The present space on the Temple Mount could not accommodate13:06 a temple of this size. But as chapter 45 suggests, the temple will be built north of the rebuilt city of Jerusalem. Now here are a few things that are13:17 unique to Ezekiel's temple. There's no wall of separation of gentiles keeping them out from the other courts. That's why this is gonna be built in the millennial. No court of13:29 women to separate them. Again, there's no Jew or Greek. There is no bond nor free, male or female in the new covenant. No labor, no show13:41 table, no bread no table of the showbread, no lampstand, no golden altar of incense, no veil, no ark of the covenant. Right? Very interesting aspects because they communicate something very clearly. Next13:53 time, we're going to explore the return of god's glory to the temple and the altar. How can there be burnt offerings when Jesus was the final and the14:04 complete sacrifice? That's what causes some to say this can't be real. This it it's gotta be figurative. We're gonna look at that next time. Father, thank you for your word. And, lord, once again, we ask for14:16 the Holy Spirit to guide us in the understanding of your word and its application to our lives. We're not reading this, Lord, for history. We're not reading it for literature. We're reading it because14:28 we wanna be transformed by your truth. Lord, we wanna know your truth. We wanna walk in it. So, father, I pray that you would continue to show us these truths, that you are a god of detail, a god of design and order.14:40 That, lord, that we might worship you orderly and, lord, by your design. And so we thank you that you have provided a way for us to come into your presence. Lord, to come in your presence with thanksgiving14:52 and with praise. And, and and, lord, because of the work of Jesus Christ, which we just celebrated and the resurrection, lord, that we would come boldly before that throne15:04 of grace knowing what you have done for us. So we thank you for that, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning. And until next time, keep standing on the word.15:18 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you15:30 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Ezekiel's Vision of the Future Temple
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