Ezekiel Chapter 40: 6-49Eze 40:6 Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad; and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad.
Eze 40:7 And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed.
Eze 40:8 He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed.
Eze 40:9 Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward.
Eze 40:10 And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.
Eze 40:11 And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.
In our previous study we saw that Ezekiel was taken by a lock of his hair to Israel (from Babylon where he was in captivity), and given a view of the new temple. The previous one having been destroyed, this one has a new design, new measurements. As he approached the Temple in his vision, he beholds this man standing before one of the gates. This man begins to take him on a guided tour. This is a progressive vision; we follow with Ezekiel this bronze man as he walks along throughout the precincts of the temple. As they pass the different rooms and passage ways in this vision we are given a verbal description of them.
It is our belief that this Temple will ultimately literally be built one day in Israel.
“Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east,” this would be the front gate so to speak. The gate in the east would correspond with the Golden Gate of the current city of Jerusalem, as it is on the east side. If you were sitting on the Mount of Olives and turned around to look at the temple, you would be facing this east gate.
It so happens today that the Dome of the Rock is on the platform on which the old Temple was built. We can see that the wall of the city and the wall of the Temple in this particular area are one and the same thing.
If we looked at the Temple structure, even in the time of its destruction in AD70 at the time of Herod, the temple wall and the city wall on the east were the same and on the south for a portion were the same. It is very helpful if you are studying about the temple to get this orientation.
So we see that he is on the east side at this point of the vision and then he starts to walk up the stairs. The first thing we notice of interest is that he did walk up stairs. We are told that there were seven steps (verse 26), what does that suggest? It represents perfection. It is interesting to note that these steps are on the outside, before you even really enter the gateway of the Temple.
All the gates are the alike. Whatever is described on this east gate is true of the next one—same height, same width, same number of rooms, arches and so forth. As we go along we will find that it is very repetitive.
This walking up the steps brings the party up to the level of the outer court. Before you enter the outer court you have to go through a gateway. The outer court represents the world of mankind and its position in the future. The inner court of the Temple represents the spiritual class. The level of the outer court pictures the world’s standing before God—that is as high as they go in the final picture when all things are brought to perfection. So the seven steps going up are a progression to this designed end or destiny before God on the earthly plain.
When he starts measuring we notice that there are no fractions, it conveniently works out that many of things correspond to the length of the reed. The depth of the threshold and the chamber rooms are square and each side corresponds to the length of the reed that he is carrying.
We can convert the reed into accurate measurements. The reed was six cubits. The cubits are twenty one inches. They are not the cubits of the Tabernacle or Solomon’s Temple which was an 18 inch cubit. So to change the cubits to the length of the reed, you multiply six cubits of twenty-one inches each, six times twenty-one is one hundred and twenty six inches. Then you divide by twelve, you then come out to the ten and one half feet as the length of the reed.
When he measures each room, while it is literal, it also has a spiritual symbolic significance just like the Tabernacle. In the broad sense it represents that everything must square with God’s Word pictured by the reed. We find in the Bible, the best representation of a person living up to God’s Word is personified by the man Christ Jesus himself, so we can say the reed represents the fullness of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus. Jesus, in his life shows the epitome of the Law in practice. Though the reed is the Word of God, the measurement of it is the light and teachings of Jesus Christ. In connection with this temple structure as he measures, everything conforms to this basic standard. In connection with other doctrines we use the “ransom’ as the hub and center of the Divine Plan and if something doesn’t square with the Ransom it is dangerous, so in this sense again, this reed is God’s Word exemplified by Christ.
When he goes through the gateway it is not like going through a little gate of a wooden picket fence which might be four inches thick. This gateway is almost like a building itself. As he goes through the gateway he has to walk a considerable distance (50 cubits or 87 ½ feet), so we see it is more like a corridor that leads to the outer court.
The lesson is very similar to what the curtains in the tabernacle represent; only here it is done with a great deal of detail. There is a lot more involved in connection with this wall which we are not able at present to picture what is in that gateway, though there is a tremendous amount of information. It would be premature to go into it now without having the drawing, but it is very astounding.
If you were to take a very complex building and give a word picture of it to condense it into the very few chapters of the Old Testament like God did and then even being repetitive (the descriptions in Ezekiel are given in a repetitive fashion), but if you take all the repetitions out you would scarcely have but a few chapters. Only God can condense such a vast amount of information into these few chapters and from the clues given in these pages you can build a complex and complete structure. If you had the building before you, and you actually knew the complete measurements of that structure and then you were told to write it down, you would be at your wits end as to how to go about it, to weed out all extraneous information and yet have enough repetition in there to tire other people and create a stumbling block for those who get weary, through too much detail and yet keep it down to a minimal amount of words.
It would be impossible to describe and yet that is what is done here.
This is a wide wide wall and as you walk through it there are columns on these walls and we are only given the measurement of one of them. When you go up the steps the threshold corresponds with the thickness of the outer wall. The top step is the measurement of the reed.
As you go in through the gate we find that there are three rooms on the right as well as the left and the measurements are given of boarder line and pillars and so forth. We also find out that when you go in there is a double gateway. That is there is a gate at each end of the hallway with double doors—one door being an entrance and the other an exit, like we have in malls and such. The description shows us that this is a very practical building, meaning it will be a literal physical building with symbolic meanings.
Those who might be opposed to the literality of the Temple should realize that even if it were not literal from their own standpoint they are still condemned as they have not given proper study to it. In order to understand the spiritual lesson, you would have to have a visual image of what the spiritual even looks like before you can interpret.
The same with the Tabernacle, how could one describe it not knowing the furniture and then give a spiritual lesson without telling about the physical aspect of it, you would have a very hazy understanding of the Tabernacle Shadows and its spiritual significance if you have no concept of the courts and the sizes of the rooms and placing of the furniture. How could you talk about when the priest came in and did such and such, it would be a hodgepodge in your mind. Consequentially you would lose a great deal of spiritual understanding just from a lack of understanding of the literal. Thankfully there is plenty of knowledge of the workings of the Tabernacle and diagrams of it that we don’t have to work too hard for the literal understanding and can easily picture it in our mind and from there have many rewarding studies.
Therefore even if Ezekiel’s temple were not literal, you would still have to consider it as though it were literal in your piecing it together in order to appreciate with any distinction of knowledge what it means. Otherwise we have a very hazy understanding of it and therefore dismiss it in our minds because it is too complex or some other reason. This structure has been in the Bible for two thousand years and it has not been understood. Once it is seen and then you read the words, then it means something.
The description is written here a little there a little as far as information on the temple, it is very complex. If you once have the mental picture of it in your head then later on when we see the activity that will be going on in the temple, and when it mentions certain things, then you will know where it is taking place and what the circumstances are.
For instance we are told that Zechariah was in the Holy of the temple when the angel Gabriel appeared to him at the right side of the golden incense altar, you know in your mind where he was. That may seem to be a trivial detail, but that detail makes it very realistic. You can actually visualize it. But those who don’t’ have the interest in structural detail; they don’t even remember that the angel stood on the right side of the altar when he talked with Zechariah. That is not God’s fault, but theirs as He put it in there. Why did God put it in there? Why did He put the adjectives and details in there when He could have come right to the point, because those details are significant, spiritually speaking. There is more depth below the narrative.
In verse 11 he measures down to the breadth of entrance of the gate—ten cubits. This is the breadth of the opening. Many are stumbled who are trying to understand this because they are measuring in the wrong direction. The same threshold which was a cubit deep was 10 cubits broad. You see in many diagrams and models a narrow gateway, but there isn’t a narrow gateway, there is a double gateway, but it is only describing one half of the double gateway.
When you are on one side and going up the stairs and going in, that particular door is only ten cubits wide as well as deep and the other one on the other side, which is side by side with it is also ten cubits wide. Then you have twenty cubits of the twenty-five. What is in-between has to do with what pillars and other things which support the gates and thickness of the wall. It is all significant and meaningful.
In connection with the future temple, when we read the book of Revelation there are certain principles that are very similar even though it is a completely different picture. At the end of the Book of Revelation, it tells who and who will not be permitted into the city.
Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
We are not trying to say that the temple and this city of Jerusalem in Revelation teach the exact same lessons, but this principle is the same. In the Kingdom under the Lord’s arraignment, the world of mankind will be ruled with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9; Rev. 2:27; 19:15). The people will have to be in the proper attitude in order to progress in the way of the Lord.
Eze 40:12 The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side: and the little chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.
Eze 40:13 He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another: the breadth was five and twenty cubits, door against door.
Eze 40:14 He made also posts of threescore cubits, even unto the post of the court round about the gate.
Eze 40:15 And from the face of the gate of the entrance unto the face of the porch of the inner gate werefifty cubits.
In these verses he is still in the same gate, he has not passed it yet. This is a key part of the structural plan of the outer part.
He repeats what he said before, just changing the wording of it. Instead of saying the rooms are a reed square, he is not saying it is six cubits square. He is refreshing our minds that the reed is six cubits as he told us earlier.
He has already explained the gate from an architectural standpoint now he goes into an artistic description. An architect needs to understand that the building is sound structurally especially since this structure is so tremendous upward as well as round about.
Having given the floor plan, he looks around and notices certain things, arches and windows round about and that the pillars of the gate are in columns and are not just simple supporting columns, but they are decorated to resemble palm trees. When you are walking through this corridor it would be very beautiful too. There is significance to the palm trees.
We have a hymn, “Palms of victory”. The conquerors or when an emperor came back from a campaign and was victorious they would have a triumphant arc. They would come back with their booty and prisoners and go through these arches and there would be a great celebration. Those were known as the arc of triumph.
This also is an arc of triumph, entering into the temple with great joy and celebration because the Messiah has come to redeem the race (not paying the ransom as at his first advent), and bringing about the fruits of victory. These gates are very joyful and picture this victory. Like the opening of the doors of life, which before were death. There was nothing to look forward to, except their short span of life and their pursuit of happiness. Now we come to the temple of life—this is eternal security pictured by this building to those that can abide by the conditions of that day.
Eze 40:16 And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches: and windows were round about inward: and upon each post were palm trees.
Eze 40:17 Then brought he me into the outward court, and, lo, there were chambers, and a pavement made for the court round about: thirty chambers were upon the pavement.
Eze 40:18 And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates was the lower pavement.
Eze 40:19 Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, an hundred cubits eastward and northward.
He is finishing going through the gate as he steps through, he looks around and gets a panoramic vision. He is now in the outer court and he notices that there are thirty chambers round about. He had just traveled through a fifty cubit corridor, these chambers are like thirty buildings, they are not separate, but all together. He notices that there are thirty of them. These chambers are large in contradistinction to the smaller ones that are inside these. This is a tremendous structure and we are not even to the temple proper. He is only talking in broad terms now, but will give a floor plan of these apartments later.
He steps in and gives the general impression that he gets the immensity of the outer court. He tells about the thirty chambers and measures one hundred cubits eastward and northward of the court yard. He notices that the court is quite extensive, much larger than Solomon’s Temple. You don’t get that information at this point, it is only when you compare certain information.
He sees there is a lower pavement and an upper. The spiritual significance is that there are two destinies. The upper being a spiritual destiny, the lower and the outer court pertain to restitution (Acts 3:21), the calling of the world to everlasting life here on earth.
We see the same thing in the Tabernacle. If we look at the floor plan of the Tabernacle, we see the static picture is a picture of destinies. But if we are taking a guided tour like Ezekiel is, we have a progressive picture. Both views are true in their place.
Eze 40:20 And the gate of the outward court that looked toward the north, he measured the length thereof, and the breadth thereof.
Eze 40:21 And the little chambers thereof were three on this side and three on that side; and the posts thereof and the arches thereof were after the measure of the first gate: the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
Eze 40:22 And their windows, and their arches, and their palm trees, were after the measure of the gate that looketh toward the east; and they went up unto it by seven steps; and the arches thereof were before them.
Eze 40:23 And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate toward the north, and toward the east; and he measured from gate to gate an hundred cubits.
Seventy-five percent of this is completely repetitive. This gate on the north is exactly the same as the east gate we were taken through. The only thing that has been observed is that it tells about the seven steps here. There is a reward for studying; meditating and plowing through all this detail which fatigues the mind and you will find the clues that are left out on the first description. The Lord puts “here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept”, so that when we combine the whole testimony, we get the understanding of what the image of the structure is.
Isa 28:13 a But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.
The hundred cubits is from the nearest gate of the outer court to the nearest gate of the inner court. It also tells us that the yard is a hundred cubits. Two or three witnesses of Scripture are necessary to know a point.
Deut 19:15 b or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
So, by saying “one reed this” and that it is exactly like the other, you are fulfilling the principle of telling it twice. Since it has been confirmed and then you can accept it as scriptural. There are a lot of things in scripture that look as though they are black and white. You can say, “it says this in the Bible.” But unless you can prove it from another point you cannot be that sure. It may seem to say something, but you may have the wrong understanding of what it is saying. Another scripture is necessary to prove that your reasoning is correct. If it does not harmonize with the other scripture than we should be truthful enough to admit that the first must be saying something we cannot yet grasp.
Unlike in the Tabernacle, here as you progress inward you go upward in level as well. This is true until you get to the Holy of the Temple, it is always going higher and higher. Thus it is going into much greater complexity of detail. Ezekiel’s Temple is about thirty times more complex than the Tabernacle, which is a very basic picture of the Divine Plan, with the emphasis on the Gospel Age. When you consider the early chapters of Leviticus there are also pictures of the Millennial Age as well, for instance the people’s offering and such. The Tabernacle is primarily designed for the Church only whereas Ezekiel is incorporating a much larger picture. Therefore you cannot explain Ezekiel’s temple from just one standpoint as you can with the Tabernacle, when you take the eighth, ninth and sixteenth chapter and think of them as units and draw separate lessons from each. With Ezekiel’s temple you have to incorporate the whole because you can’t get into the inner court without going through the outer first.
Eze 40:24 After that he brought me toward the south, and behold a gate toward the south: and he measured the posts thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures.
Eze 40:25 And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
Eze 40:26 And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches thereof were before them: and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon the posts thereof.
Eze 40:27 And there was a gate in the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south an hundred cubits.
This is the third gate we have considered so far. We first entered through the East which is the most important gate. The man is measuring and measuring, but with each gate we are given a little more detail to narrow down the unknown and begin to fill in all the dimensions of the whole structure. We started with the East then the North and now the South gate being described.
Eze 40:28 And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;
Eze 40:29 And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
Eze 40:30 And the arches round about were five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad.
Eze 40:31 And the arches thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had eight steps.
Imagine that you are in the vision yourself and you are walking right behind the bronze man while he is describing the previous outer gates. Now he is going to measure inner court gates. The east gate is the most important gate of the outer and inner courts. He doesn’t go back around and start all over, there is an economy of effort even in the vision. He just measures the outer South gate and walks across the courtyard to the inner court south gate.
This time when Ezekiel goes up the steps, he notices that there are eight steps. What do the eight steps represent?
A: The eighth day?
Reply: It could be the eighth day in certain circumstances.
The age represented by the inner and outer court are the same from a time period standpoint of the Temple structure in the Kingdom Age. So if that were the case, the steps to the outer court should also be eight, but there are only seven.
A: It is a spiritual plane
Reply: Yes. The seven steps are a perfect plane, but this is one step beyond, showing it is a spiritual plane. This inner court is not for the people, but for the Levites and the Priests of this structure.
He goes through all the measurements again and in effect we find that the inner court is very much the same as the outer court. While there are a few differences, there are a lot of similarities. There is one glaring omission. He describes the east, the north and the south, but there is no west gate. There is no gate on that side at all. Right away we see this is different than Solomon’s Temple, Zerubabel’s, and Herod’s in many respects. As beautiful as Solomon’s Temple was it was a much simpler structure.
Eze 40:32 And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures.
Eze 40:33 And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, were according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
Eze 40:34 And the arches thereof were toward the outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.
He is now at the South inner court gate. He steps into the inner court and walks over the inner East gate. He is walking into the gate from the back end of it by walking through the inner court.
Eze 40:35 And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according to these measures;
Eze 40:36 The little chambers thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, and the windows to it round about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
Eze 40:37 And the posts thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.
Eze 40:38 And the chambers and the entries thereof were by the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt offering.
This Temple is not like Solomon’s Temple nor the Tabernacle, yet it speaks of slaughtering. It tells about a sin offering, a burnt offering and so forth. It is our understanding that there will be offerings during the Millennial Age in this temple, though the disposition is slightly different. Not different from a spiritual explanation, but in the description of the structure. We do see that there are slaughter tables and instruments. There was similar things in the Tabernacle, we hear of the hooks, irons and basins and so forth.
You notice though that the animals were slaughtered in the outer court. You wouldn’t know it right away unless you had seen a picture of it. So they are slaughtered in the outer court and offered in the inner court on the altar.
It mentions the washing and so forth that we should have learned in our Tabernacle studies.
Eze 40:39 And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.
Eze 40:40 And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables.
Eze 40:41 Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew their sacrifices.
Eze 40:42 And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, of a cubit and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad, and one cubit high: whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
Eze 40:43 And within were hooks, an hand broad, fastened round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.
Ezekiel isn’t seeing these offerings, he is merely telling us the purpose of these instruments and tables is for the ceremonial service of this structure. Not only is there a building with various things, but in that building there are going to be animal sacrifices—just like there were in the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple. We see that there will be some services in this Temple just like there were in the past. But there is a great difference. The fact that the Lord goes into this minutia of all this detail, we are out of line to say that there will be no offerings and that there is no meaning to it, when this is very plain in telling about the literal offerings in this prophecy.
To make this all spiritual you would not only be vitiating the vision, but minimizing the care of the instruction that is being given to Ezekiel.
Question: Why are all these tables mentioned here as there were none in the Tabernacle?
Answer: This is a Temple structure and the conditions are quite different and this a much bigger circumstance involved. For example, in the Tabernacle you only had one candlestick, there were ten in Solomon’s Temple. That is because it was a much bigger structure and served the entire nation after it had been established. In the Tabernacle also you only had one laver. In Solomon’s Temple you not only had a tremendous laver, but there were a lot of subsidiary lavers that were on wheels for mobility. But the basic lesson is the big laver, but the practical aspect of utilizing that water because of the breadth of the area being served and the multitude of people, they would draw off the big laver and bring it to a convenient spot where the animal was being washed. It wouldn’t only be one animal, in some services you might have several hundred being washed at the same time.
So the many tables have a practical aspect as well as a spiritual.
It tells about the hooks and so forth like you were in a big kitchen. The Lord goes into all this detail to make it interesting to us as well as it being real, a literal occurrence.
Eze 40:44 And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.
Eze 40:45 And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house.
Eze 40:46 And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the LORD to minister unto him.
Eze 40:47 So he measured the court, an hundred cubits long, and an hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar that was before the house.
He is now in the inner court. He is finished with the gates and is coming right down to the inner part of the temple, which we would think of from the standpoint of the Tabernacle. The inner court is immediately before the structure of the Temple itself, Holy and Most Holy. He has been getting nearer and nearer that structure. He notices in the inner court there are two chambers for the singers, like a choir. Not only were there the chambers for the choir, but one is utilized by the priests, the sons of Zadok. They are Levites, but a particular Levite. Not only are they of the Aaronic Order, but narrowed down further through Zadok. So we see that there will be singing in the Temple. Probably a great deal of the songs will be like the Psalms.
I believe the Psalms have been written to be sung in the Temple and that is the primary reason for them, even though the Christian of this age gets help from the Psalms. There are many spiritual lessons in the Psalms. The part that is extracted from them is small compared to the whole of the number of them and their verses. The way they are set up to me, I feel, is quite obvious that just as God has provided that a literal capital city will be built in the future, and a literal temple in the future, even selecting those who will minister in that structure, He has also even selected the songs. Those songs have been written in advance, we are only missing the music. Perhaps some will be even sung by David and even played by him on his harp. It will be very emotional and stirring to see that the Lord has prepared these songs and that they will be instructional. Sometimes in the singing you don’t get the distinction of the grammar or what is being said, so I think that besides the words given to the audience, there will also be some sort of signification or background on the songs and what each represents. Perhaps even a visual display to aid in the understanding of what is being sung in the Temple.
We are just scratching the surface of this vision, yet are getting quite a bit of exciting information. The understanding of the Tabernacle is the key to help us draw on the lessons given here. But if one doesn’t progress from the Tabernacle they are losing out on a great deal of the application. In looking back from the Temple it helps us to understand what we thought we knew, i.e. we might have had a misunderstanding of some small detail. We need to understand both the past (Tabernacle) to understand the future (Temple) as the Tabernacle throws light on our understanding of what is going on in the Temple and vice versa.
Eze 40:48 And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.
Eze 40:49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.
He is right at the temple structure itself, though he is still in the inner court. He has described the gate to the inner court as similar to the outer. He looks across and sees the other gate, though he doesn’t go into the inner gate but he alludes to it so that you know that there is one. There are three inner gates as well as three outer gates of the Temple.
Having finished telling us that the court is an hundred cubits square in front of the temple, he goes up the steps to the House of the Lord itself, the Temple proper.
Before he does that he comes to a landing which is a porch. This is different than the Tabernacle where we only have the Holy and Most Holy, though the Temple is more complex it is still basically the same in many respects. This porch will be utilized later for other purposes which are not recorded at this particular moment.
Before entering into the Holy, Ezekiel describes this porch with its posts and larger posts supporting its roof and gives the dimensions. The two large ones, one on this side and one on the other would correspond to the two pillars at the entrance of Solomon’s Temple, Jachin and Boaz.
1Ki 7:21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
The understanding of the Tabernacle, the understanding of Solomon’s Temple and the understanding of Ezekiel’s Temple all complement each other, having differences and having similarities.
Question: Is the configuration of Ezekiel’s temple a rectangle?
Answer: It would basically be a rectangle configuration. You could not have a square Holy and a square Most Holy as that would destroy the symbolism of it.
Question: That would include the court too, the inner and the outer, it would be all in the rectangular shape?
Answer: The Temple complex is a square on the outside. Inside the square you keep going in, from the inner to the outer court. The inner court it says is square, but when you come to the building that is another matter. The relationship between the Holy and Most Holy has not changed, but the court can be changed from the fact that you are in another age.
The Tabernacle is related to this unfinished age. It is a picture of the church, this side of the vail primarily. All the external measurements are primarily motivated to emphasize that plan. Though there are many lessons of the future in the Tabernacle, it is primarily for the present.
The Temple is the other way around, the square condition is telling of the conditions of the new age, which are quite different, and not the past age. The Holy and Most Holy has not changed because it is a memory of the old. The Holy being rectangular is a reminder of the past of the class that had been selected and who made the grade (The Wise Virgin Class) with the Most Holy.
The outer construction is designed for the public. The inner is an everlasting memorial for the class who had been developed under the Tabernacle picture, therefore it retains that symbolism in the core of the building.
Audio file: http://tindeck.com/listen/aqlr
Eze 40:7 And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed.
Eze 40:8 He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed.
Eze 40:9 Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward.
Eze 40:10 And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.
Eze 40:11 And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.
In our previous study we saw that Ezekiel was taken by a lock of his hair to Israel (from Babylon where he was in captivity), and given a view of the new temple. The previous one having been destroyed, this one has a new design, new measurements. As he approached the Temple in his vision, he beholds this man standing before one of the gates. This man begins to take him on a guided tour. This is a progressive vision; we follow with Ezekiel this bronze man as he walks along throughout the precincts of the temple. As they pass the different rooms and passage ways in this vision we are given a verbal description of them.
It is our belief that this Temple will ultimately literally be built one day in Israel.
“Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east,” this would be the front gate so to speak. The gate in the east would correspond with the Golden Gate of the current city of Jerusalem, as it is on the east side. If you were sitting on the Mount of Olives and turned around to look at the temple, you would be facing this east gate.
It so happens today that the Dome of the Rock is on the platform on which the old Temple was built. We can see that the wall of the city and the wall of the Temple in this particular area are one and the same thing.
If we looked at the Temple structure, even in the time of its destruction in AD70 at the time of Herod, the temple wall and the city wall on the east were the same and on the south for a portion were the same. It is very helpful if you are studying about the temple to get this orientation.
So we see that he is on the east side at this point of the vision and then he starts to walk up the stairs. The first thing we notice of interest is that he did walk up stairs. We are told that there were seven steps (verse 26), what does that suggest? It represents perfection. It is interesting to note that these steps are on the outside, before you even really enter the gateway of the Temple.
All the gates are the alike. Whatever is described on this east gate is true of the next one—same height, same width, same number of rooms, arches and so forth. As we go along we will find that it is very repetitive.
This walking up the steps brings the party up to the level of the outer court. Before you enter the outer court you have to go through a gateway. The outer court represents the world of mankind and its position in the future. The inner court of the Temple represents the spiritual class. The level of the outer court pictures the world’s standing before God—that is as high as they go in the final picture when all things are brought to perfection. So the seven steps going up are a progression to this designed end or destiny before God on the earthly plain.
When he starts measuring we notice that there are no fractions, it conveniently works out that many of things correspond to the length of the reed. The depth of the threshold and the chamber rooms are square and each side corresponds to the length of the reed that he is carrying.
We can convert the reed into accurate measurements. The reed was six cubits. The cubits are twenty one inches. They are not the cubits of the Tabernacle or Solomon’s Temple which was an 18 inch cubit. So to change the cubits to the length of the reed, you multiply six cubits of twenty-one inches each, six times twenty-one is one hundred and twenty six inches. Then you divide by twelve, you then come out to the ten and one half feet as the length of the reed.
When he measures each room, while it is literal, it also has a spiritual symbolic significance just like the Tabernacle. In the broad sense it represents that everything must square with God’s Word pictured by the reed. We find in the Bible, the best representation of a person living up to God’s Word is personified by the man Christ Jesus himself, so we can say the reed represents the fullness of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus. Jesus, in his life shows the epitome of the Law in practice. Though the reed is the Word of God, the measurement of it is the light and teachings of Jesus Christ. In connection with this temple structure as he measures, everything conforms to this basic standard. In connection with other doctrines we use the “ransom’ as the hub and center of the Divine Plan and if something doesn’t square with the Ransom it is dangerous, so in this sense again, this reed is God’s Word exemplified by Christ.
When he goes through the gateway it is not like going through a little gate of a wooden picket fence which might be four inches thick. This gateway is almost like a building itself. As he goes through the gateway he has to walk a considerable distance (50 cubits or 87 ½ feet), so we see it is more like a corridor that leads to the outer court.
The lesson is very similar to what the curtains in the tabernacle represent; only here it is done with a great deal of detail. There is a lot more involved in connection with this wall which we are not able at present to picture what is in that gateway, though there is a tremendous amount of information. It would be premature to go into it now without having the drawing, but it is very astounding.
If you were to take a very complex building and give a word picture of it to condense it into the very few chapters of the Old Testament like God did and then even being repetitive (the descriptions in Ezekiel are given in a repetitive fashion), but if you take all the repetitions out you would scarcely have but a few chapters. Only God can condense such a vast amount of information into these few chapters and from the clues given in these pages you can build a complex and complete structure. If you had the building before you, and you actually knew the complete measurements of that structure and then you were told to write it down, you would be at your wits end as to how to go about it, to weed out all extraneous information and yet have enough repetition in there to tire other people and create a stumbling block for those who get weary, through too much detail and yet keep it down to a minimal amount of words.
It would be impossible to describe and yet that is what is done here.
This is a wide wide wall and as you walk through it there are columns on these walls and we are only given the measurement of one of them. When you go up the steps the threshold corresponds with the thickness of the outer wall. The top step is the measurement of the reed.
As you go in through the gate we find that there are three rooms on the right as well as the left and the measurements are given of boarder line and pillars and so forth. We also find out that when you go in there is a double gateway. That is there is a gate at each end of the hallway with double doors—one door being an entrance and the other an exit, like we have in malls and such. The description shows us that this is a very practical building, meaning it will be a literal physical building with symbolic meanings.
Those who might be opposed to the literality of the Temple should realize that even if it were not literal from their own standpoint they are still condemned as they have not given proper study to it. In order to understand the spiritual lesson, you would have to have a visual image of what the spiritual even looks like before you can interpret.
The same with the Tabernacle, how could one describe it not knowing the furniture and then give a spiritual lesson without telling about the physical aspect of it, you would have a very hazy understanding of the Tabernacle Shadows and its spiritual significance if you have no concept of the courts and the sizes of the rooms and placing of the furniture. How could you talk about when the priest came in and did such and such, it would be a hodgepodge in your mind. Consequentially you would lose a great deal of spiritual understanding just from a lack of understanding of the literal. Thankfully there is plenty of knowledge of the workings of the Tabernacle and diagrams of it that we don’t have to work too hard for the literal understanding and can easily picture it in our mind and from there have many rewarding studies.
Therefore even if Ezekiel’s temple were not literal, you would still have to consider it as though it were literal in your piecing it together in order to appreciate with any distinction of knowledge what it means. Otherwise we have a very hazy understanding of it and therefore dismiss it in our minds because it is too complex or some other reason. This structure has been in the Bible for two thousand years and it has not been understood. Once it is seen and then you read the words, then it means something.
The description is written here a little there a little as far as information on the temple, it is very complex. If you once have the mental picture of it in your head then later on when we see the activity that will be going on in the temple, and when it mentions certain things, then you will know where it is taking place and what the circumstances are.
For instance we are told that Zechariah was in the Holy of the temple when the angel Gabriel appeared to him at the right side of the golden incense altar, you know in your mind where he was. That may seem to be a trivial detail, but that detail makes it very realistic. You can actually visualize it. But those who don’t’ have the interest in structural detail; they don’t even remember that the angel stood on the right side of the altar when he talked with Zechariah. That is not God’s fault, but theirs as He put it in there. Why did God put it in there? Why did He put the adjectives and details in there when He could have come right to the point, because those details are significant, spiritually speaking. There is more depth below the narrative.
In verse 11 he measures down to the breadth of entrance of the gate—ten cubits. This is the breadth of the opening. Many are stumbled who are trying to understand this because they are measuring in the wrong direction. The same threshold which was a cubit deep was 10 cubits broad. You see in many diagrams and models a narrow gateway, but there isn’t a narrow gateway, there is a double gateway, but it is only describing one half of the double gateway.
When you are on one side and going up the stairs and going in, that particular door is only ten cubits wide as well as deep and the other one on the other side, which is side by side with it is also ten cubits wide. Then you have twenty cubits of the twenty-five. What is in-between has to do with what pillars and other things which support the gates and thickness of the wall. It is all significant and meaningful.
In connection with the future temple, when we read the book of Revelation there are certain principles that are very similar even though it is a completely different picture. At the end of the Book of Revelation, it tells who and who will not be permitted into the city.
Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
We are not trying to say that the temple and this city of Jerusalem in Revelation teach the exact same lessons, but this principle is the same. In the Kingdom under the Lord’s arraignment, the world of mankind will be ruled with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9; Rev. 2:27; 19:15). The people will have to be in the proper attitude in order to progress in the way of the Lord.
Eze 40:12 The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side: and the little chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.
Eze 40:13 He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another: the breadth was five and twenty cubits, door against door.
Eze 40:14 He made also posts of threescore cubits, even unto the post of the court round about the gate.
Eze 40:15 And from the face of the gate of the entrance unto the face of the porch of the inner gate werefifty cubits.
In these verses he is still in the same gate, he has not passed it yet. This is a key part of the structural plan of the outer part.
He repeats what he said before, just changing the wording of it. Instead of saying the rooms are a reed square, he is not saying it is six cubits square. He is refreshing our minds that the reed is six cubits as he told us earlier.
He has already explained the gate from an architectural standpoint now he goes into an artistic description. An architect needs to understand that the building is sound structurally especially since this structure is so tremendous upward as well as round about.
Having given the floor plan, he looks around and notices certain things, arches and windows round about and that the pillars of the gate are in columns and are not just simple supporting columns, but they are decorated to resemble palm trees. When you are walking through this corridor it would be very beautiful too. There is significance to the palm trees.
We have a hymn, “Palms of victory”. The conquerors or when an emperor came back from a campaign and was victorious they would have a triumphant arc. They would come back with their booty and prisoners and go through these arches and there would be a great celebration. Those were known as the arc of triumph.
This also is an arc of triumph, entering into the temple with great joy and celebration because the Messiah has come to redeem the race (not paying the ransom as at his first advent), and bringing about the fruits of victory. These gates are very joyful and picture this victory. Like the opening of the doors of life, which before were death. There was nothing to look forward to, except their short span of life and their pursuit of happiness. Now we come to the temple of life—this is eternal security pictured by this building to those that can abide by the conditions of that day.
Eze 40:16 And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches: and windows were round about inward: and upon each post were palm trees.
Eze 40:17 Then brought he me into the outward court, and, lo, there were chambers, and a pavement made for the court round about: thirty chambers were upon the pavement.
Eze 40:18 And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates was the lower pavement.
Eze 40:19 Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, an hundred cubits eastward and northward.
He is finishing going through the gate as he steps through, he looks around and gets a panoramic vision. He is now in the outer court and he notices that there are thirty chambers round about. He had just traveled through a fifty cubit corridor, these chambers are like thirty buildings, they are not separate, but all together. He notices that there are thirty of them. These chambers are large in contradistinction to the smaller ones that are inside these. This is a tremendous structure and we are not even to the temple proper. He is only talking in broad terms now, but will give a floor plan of these apartments later.
He steps in and gives the general impression that he gets the immensity of the outer court. He tells about the thirty chambers and measures one hundred cubits eastward and northward of the court yard. He notices that the court is quite extensive, much larger than Solomon’s Temple. You don’t get that information at this point, it is only when you compare certain information.
He sees there is a lower pavement and an upper. The spiritual significance is that there are two destinies. The upper being a spiritual destiny, the lower and the outer court pertain to restitution (Acts 3:21), the calling of the world to everlasting life here on earth.
We see the same thing in the Tabernacle. If we look at the floor plan of the Tabernacle, we see the static picture is a picture of destinies. But if we are taking a guided tour like Ezekiel is, we have a progressive picture. Both views are true in their place.
Eze 40:20 And the gate of the outward court that looked toward the north, he measured the length thereof, and the breadth thereof.
Eze 40:21 And the little chambers thereof were three on this side and three on that side; and the posts thereof and the arches thereof were after the measure of the first gate: the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
Eze 40:22 And their windows, and their arches, and their palm trees, were after the measure of the gate that looketh toward the east; and they went up unto it by seven steps; and the arches thereof were before them.
Eze 40:23 And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate toward the north, and toward the east; and he measured from gate to gate an hundred cubits.
Seventy-five percent of this is completely repetitive. This gate on the north is exactly the same as the east gate we were taken through. The only thing that has been observed is that it tells about the seven steps here. There is a reward for studying; meditating and plowing through all this detail which fatigues the mind and you will find the clues that are left out on the first description. The Lord puts “here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept”, so that when we combine the whole testimony, we get the understanding of what the image of the structure is.
Isa 28:13 a But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.
The hundred cubits is from the nearest gate of the outer court to the nearest gate of the inner court. It also tells us that the yard is a hundred cubits. Two or three witnesses of Scripture are necessary to know a point.
Deut 19:15 b or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
So, by saying “one reed this” and that it is exactly like the other, you are fulfilling the principle of telling it twice. Since it has been confirmed and then you can accept it as scriptural. There are a lot of things in scripture that look as though they are black and white. You can say, “it says this in the Bible.” But unless you can prove it from another point you cannot be that sure. It may seem to say something, but you may have the wrong understanding of what it is saying. Another scripture is necessary to prove that your reasoning is correct. If it does not harmonize with the other scripture than we should be truthful enough to admit that the first must be saying something we cannot yet grasp.
Unlike in the Tabernacle, here as you progress inward you go upward in level as well. This is true until you get to the Holy of the Temple, it is always going higher and higher. Thus it is going into much greater complexity of detail. Ezekiel’s Temple is about thirty times more complex than the Tabernacle, which is a very basic picture of the Divine Plan, with the emphasis on the Gospel Age. When you consider the early chapters of Leviticus there are also pictures of the Millennial Age as well, for instance the people’s offering and such. The Tabernacle is primarily designed for the Church only whereas Ezekiel is incorporating a much larger picture. Therefore you cannot explain Ezekiel’s temple from just one standpoint as you can with the Tabernacle, when you take the eighth, ninth and sixteenth chapter and think of them as units and draw separate lessons from each. With Ezekiel’s temple you have to incorporate the whole because you can’t get into the inner court without going through the outer first.
Eze 40:24 After that he brought me toward the south, and behold a gate toward the south: and he measured the posts thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures.
Eze 40:25 And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
Eze 40:26 And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches thereof were before them: and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon the posts thereof.
Eze 40:27 And there was a gate in the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south an hundred cubits.
This is the third gate we have considered so far. We first entered through the East which is the most important gate. The man is measuring and measuring, but with each gate we are given a little more detail to narrow down the unknown and begin to fill in all the dimensions of the whole structure. We started with the East then the North and now the South gate being described.
Eze 40:28 And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;
Eze 40:29 And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
Eze 40:30 And the arches round about were five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad.
Eze 40:31 And the arches thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had eight steps.
Imagine that you are in the vision yourself and you are walking right behind the bronze man while he is describing the previous outer gates. Now he is going to measure inner court gates. The east gate is the most important gate of the outer and inner courts. He doesn’t go back around and start all over, there is an economy of effort even in the vision. He just measures the outer South gate and walks across the courtyard to the inner court south gate.
This time when Ezekiel goes up the steps, he notices that there are eight steps. What do the eight steps represent?
A: The eighth day?
Reply: It could be the eighth day in certain circumstances.
The age represented by the inner and outer court are the same from a time period standpoint of the Temple structure in the Kingdom Age. So if that were the case, the steps to the outer court should also be eight, but there are only seven.
A: It is a spiritual plane
Reply: Yes. The seven steps are a perfect plane, but this is one step beyond, showing it is a spiritual plane. This inner court is not for the people, but for the Levites and the Priests of this structure.
He goes through all the measurements again and in effect we find that the inner court is very much the same as the outer court. While there are a few differences, there are a lot of similarities. There is one glaring omission. He describes the east, the north and the south, but there is no west gate. There is no gate on that side at all. Right away we see this is different than Solomon’s Temple, Zerubabel’s, and Herod’s in many respects. As beautiful as Solomon’s Temple was it was a much simpler structure.
Eze 40:32 And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures.
Eze 40:33 And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, were according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
Eze 40:34 And the arches thereof were toward the outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.
He is now at the South inner court gate. He steps into the inner court and walks over the inner East gate. He is walking into the gate from the back end of it by walking through the inner court.
Eze 40:35 And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according to these measures;
Eze 40:36 The little chambers thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, and the windows to it round about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
Eze 40:37 And the posts thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.
Eze 40:38 And the chambers and the entries thereof were by the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt offering.
This Temple is not like Solomon’s Temple nor the Tabernacle, yet it speaks of slaughtering. It tells about a sin offering, a burnt offering and so forth. It is our understanding that there will be offerings during the Millennial Age in this temple, though the disposition is slightly different. Not different from a spiritual explanation, but in the description of the structure. We do see that there are slaughter tables and instruments. There was similar things in the Tabernacle, we hear of the hooks, irons and basins and so forth.
You notice though that the animals were slaughtered in the outer court. You wouldn’t know it right away unless you had seen a picture of it. So they are slaughtered in the outer court and offered in the inner court on the altar.
It mentions the washing and so forth that we should have learned in our Tabernacle studies.
Eze 40:39 And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.
Eze 40:40 And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables.
Eze 40:41 Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew their sacrifices.
Eze 40:42 And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, of a cubit and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad, and one cubit high: whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
Eze 40:43 And within were hooks, an hand broad, fastened round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.
Ezekiel isn’t seeing these offerings, he is merely telling us the purpose of these instruments and tables is for the ceremonial service of this structure. Not only is there a building with various things, but in that building there are going to be animal sacrifices—just like there were in the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple. We see that there will be some services in this Temple just like there were in the past. But there is a great difference. The fact that the Lord goes into this minutia of all this detail, we are out of line to say that there will be no offerings and that there is no meaning to it, when this is very plain in telling about the literal offerings in this prophecy.
To make this all spiritual you would not only be vitiating the vision, but minimizing the care of the instruction that is being given to Ezekiel.
Question: Why are all these tables mentioned here as there were none in the Tabernacle?
Answer: This is a Temple structure and the conditions are quite different and this a much bigger circumstance involved. For example, in the Tabernacle you only had one candlestick, there were ten in Solomon’s Temple. That is because it was a much bigger structure and served the entire nation after it had been established. In the Tabernacle also you only had one laver. In Solomon’s Temple you not only had a tremendous laver, but there were a lot of subsidiary lavers that were on wheels for mobility. But the basic lesson is the big laver, but the practical aspect of utilizing that water because of the breadth of the area being served and the multitude of people, they would draw off the big laver and bring it to a convenient spot where the animal was being washed. It wouldn’t only be one animal, in some services you might have several hundred being washed at the same time.
So the many tables have a practical aspect as well as a spiritual.
It tells about the hooks and so forth like you were in a big kitchen. The Lord goes into all this detail to make it interesting to us as well as it being real, a literal occurrence.
Eze 40:44 And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.
Eze 40:45 And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house.
Eze 40:46 And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the LORD to minister unto him.
Eze 40:47 So he measured the court, an hundred cubits long, and an hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar that was before the house.
He is now in the inner court. He is finished with the gates and is coming right down to the inner part of the temple, which we would think of from the standpoint of the Tabernacle. The inner court is immediately before the structure of the Temple itself, Holy and Most Holy. He has been getting nearer and nearer that structure. He notices in the inner court there are two chambers for the singers, like a choir. Not only were there the chambers for the choir, but one is utilized by the priests, the sons of Zadok. They are Levites, but a particular Levite. Not only are they of the Aaronic Order, but narrowed down further through Zadok. So we see that there will be singing in the Temple. Probably a great deal of the songs will be like the Psalms.
I believe the Psalms have been written to be sung in the Temple and that is the primary reason for them, even though the Christian of this age gets help from the Psalms. There are many spiritual lessons in the Psalms. The part that is extracted from them is small compared to the whole of the number of them and their verses. The way they are set up to me, I feel, is quite obvious that just as God has provided that a literal capital city will be built in the future, and a literal temple in the future, even selecting those who will minister in that structure, He has also even selected the songs. Those songs have been written in advance, we are only missing the music. Perhaps some will be even sung by David and even played by him on his harp. It will be very emotional and stirring to see that the Lord has prepared these songs and that they will be instructional. Sometimes in the singing you don’t get the distinction of the grammar or what is being said, so I think that besides the words given to the audience, there will also be some sort of signification or background on the songs and what each represents. Perhaps even a visual display to aid in the understanding of what is being sung in the Temple.
We are just scratching the surface of this vision, yet are getting quite a bit of exciting information. The understanding of the Tabernacle is the key to help us draw on the lessons given here. But if one doesn’t progress from the Tabernacle they are losing out on a great deal of the application. In looking back from the Temple it helps us to understand what we thought we knew, i.e. we might have had a misunderstanding of some small detail. We need to understand both the past (Tabernacle) to understand the future (Temple) as the Tabernacle throws light on our understanding of what is going on in the Temple and vice versa.
Eze 40:48 And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.
Eze 40:49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.
He is right at the temple structure itself, though he is still in the inner court. He has described the gate to the inner court as similar to the outer. He looks across and sees the other gate, though he doesn’t go into the inner gate but he alludes to it so that you know that there is one. There are three inner gates as well as three outer gates of the Temple.
Having finished telling us that the court is an hundred cubits square in front of the temple, he goes up the steps to the House of the Lord itself, the Temple proper.
Before he does that he comes to a landing which is a porch. This is different than the Tabernacle where we only have the Holy and Most Holy, though the Temple is more complex it is still basically the same in many respects. This porch will be utilized later for other purposes which are not recorded at this particular moment.
Before entering into the Holy, Ezekiel describes this porch with its posts and larger posts supporting its roof and gives the dimensions. The two large ones, one on this side and one on the other would correspond to the two pillars at the entrance of Solomon’s Temple, Jachin and Boaz.
1Ki 7:21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
The understanding of the Tabernacle, the understanding of Solomon’s Temple and the understanding of Ezekiel’s Temple all complement each other, having differences and having similarities.
Question: Is the configuration of Ezekiel’s temple a rectangle?
Answer: It would basically be a rectangle configuration. You could not have a square Holy and a square Most Holy as that would destroy the symbolism of it.
Question: That would include the court too, the inner and the outer, it would be all in the rectangular shape?
Answer: The Temple complex is a square on the outside. Inside the square you keep going in, from the inner to the outer court. The inner court it says is square, but when you come to the building that is another matter. The relationship between the Holy and Most Holy has not changed, but the court can be changed from the fact that you are in another age.
The Tabernacle is related to this unfinished age. It is a picture of the church, this side of the vail primarily. All the external measurements are primarily motivated to emphasize that plan. Though there are many lessons of the future in the Tabernacle, it is primarily for the present.
The Temple is the other way around, the square condition is telling of the conditions of the new age, which are quite different, and not the past age. The Holy and Most Holy has not changed because it is a memory of the old. The Holy being rectangular is a reminder of the past of the class that had been selected and who made the grade (The Wise Virgin Class) with the Most Holy.
The outer construction is designed for the public. The inner is an everlasting memorial for the class who had been developed under the Tabernacle picture, therefore it retains that symbolism in the core of the building.
Audio file: http://tindeck.com/listen/aqlr
