October 31, 2025 • 38 mins
A demolished temple, a displaced people, and a prophet who receives blueprints on Passover—Ezekiel’s final vision is both a balm and a jolt. We step into chapters 40–48 and trace why the eight-chapter deluge of measurements and procedures is not filler but a signal that God intends a real place, a defined priesthood, and a rebuilt rhythm of worship marked by His presence. The dimensions don’t fit the Second Temple mount, and the Shekinah glory’s return through the East Gate never occurred in the Second Temple era, which pushes us toward a future fulfillment where holiness and order shape the life of the nation.
We wrestle with the hardest question head-on: do renewed sacrifices undermine Christ’s once-for-all work? Drawing from Hebrews and the broader story of Scripture, we explore how Old Testament saints were saved by faith and how sacrifices functioned as shadows pointing to Christ. From that vantage, Ezekiel’s offerings can be understood as memorial, not rival atonements—akin to how the Lord’s Supper looks back in gratitude and proclamation. Along the way, we note striking differences from Moses’ system—the absence of the ark and incense altar, the prominence of the sons of Zadok, and a defined role for “the prince”—all of which suggest a new phase of worship under the Messiah’s reign.
Then the river flows. Starting at the temple threshold, deepening step by step, it heals the Dead Sea and transforms the land with fruit-bearing trees whose leaves bring healing. With named locations and clear bearings, the vision resists abstraction and harmonizes with Zechariah and Revelation’s river of life. Finally, God redraws Israel’s tribal inheritances, fulfilling sworn promises to the patriarchs. The through-line is hope: a holy God returning to dwell with His people, orderly worship that honors His character, and creation renewed from the sanctuary outward.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:20):
Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible.
My name's Glenn.
I'm here with Steve.
Today we are in the last part ofthe book of Ezekiel.
We're going to be talking aboutthe temple section in chapters
40 through 48.
Now, in this section, we reallyneed to take a big picture view
before we just dive in.
The first 24 chapters of thebook of Ezekiel talk about
(00:43):
judgment against Jerusalem.
Then from chapters 25 to 32,they include judgment of nations
that surrounded Israel.
Then in chapters 33 to 39include the restoration of
Israel.
Here, chapter 40 through 48describes a temple and the
(01:04):
sacrifices that happen in it.
In this, there are some, ofcourse, interpretive questions
that we need to wrestle with,and we'll do that.
As we look through this chapter,chapter 40, verse 1 gives the
date that Ezekiel receives therevelation from God.
As we've pointed out every timewe've seen that throughout the
book of Ezekiel, he was alwaysvery careful to document what
(01:29):
message came on that date.
Our Bibles have documentedeyewitness accounts down to the
very day that God revealedhimself to these prophets.
And as we've seen, there weresections of it that were
predicted and fulfilled withinEzekiel's lifetime so that the
people around him knew that hewas a true prophet.
(01:52):
Chapter 40, verse 1 is 573 BC,the 25th year of the exile, and
14 years after the fall ofJerusalem.
With this, they had been inexile for a while, and Jerusalem
had been destroyed for a while.
The Jews have been scattered,and they realize that their
(02:15):
situation is not going to begetting any better anytime soon.
It seems that God reaches downwith a sense of encouragement at
just the time when we need itthe most.
Now, the tenth of the firstmonth is Passover.
This is also interesting in thatGod gives this revelation on
(02:38):
Passover at a time when there'dbe a holiday, everybody would be
focused on spiritual things.
Now they're given a brand newmessage.
The message, of course, is thetemple.
In the temple here that we see,he's going to give several
chapters of very tediousdescriptions of the temple.
(02:58):
And we need to kind of have anidea of which temple this might
be.
The first temple, which wasdesigned by David and built by
Solomon, was destroyed byBabylon.
And that's recorded in 2 Kings25:9.
It's also recorded here in thebook of Ezekiel in chapter 33,
(03:19):
verse 21.
Babylon came in and destroyedSolomon's temple.
When the temple was destroyed,then the people were scattered.
Therefore, the temple ritualsstopped and the sacrificial
system stopped.
When that happened, then thenation really was in danger of
(03:40):
losing its identity simplybecause the nation Israel, the
worship and the government andtheir identity centered around
this temple worship ceremony.
When that stopped and the templewas destroyed and scattered, the
Jews would have been devastated.
They would have been a verydemoralized, depressed people.
(04:03):
Here, we're now at the pointwhere Israel is demoralized and
depressed.
God gives the dimensions and thebuilding plans for a new temple.
The timing there is verycritical, I think, because
again, Israel was in the depthsof depression.
Steve, what general things canwe say about these several
(04:26):
chapters of this templedescription?
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
I think a key thing that we can say is that the
dimensions that are mentionedhere don't really match the
second temple rebuild.
That second temple was rebuiltby Zerubbabel.
That's noted in Ezra and alsotalked about a little bit in
Nehemiah during that time periodof coming back from the
(04:51):
Babylonian captivity.
And then the glorification ofthe temple takes place right
around the first century BC andthen the first century A.D.,
around the time of Jesus'coming, Herod is fixing the
temple up, and the pictures thatwe see today are really of
called Herod's temple, but it'sstill the second temple.
(05:12):
But we know the dimensions ofthe Temple Mount.
We have the remnant of that.
The second temple was destroyedin AD 70 by the Romans, but the
Temple Mount is roughly about 40acres.
The things that are describedhere in these final chapters of
Ezekiel talking about the templedimensions itself really don't
(05:36):
match, would fit within that40-acre site that we know is
there today.
So I think we're pretty safe insaying that this is a future
temple.
It's not only about the templedimensions, but it's also
talking about in all of thesechapters about the different
sacrifices and things like that.
(05:56):
It's almost like it's a secondLevitical description of how to
worship God in this templethat's given here in Ezekiel.
Well, obviously, that'spost-Jesus Christ.
The reasons that are given herejust don't match the things that
were going on during the secondtemple time period.
(06:18):
I think we can say clearly thatthis is still sometime that's in
the future.
SPEAKER_00 (06:23):
From chapter 40 through 48 is mostly very
detailed descriptions of thistemple.
The final verse of the book atthe end of chapter 48 says the
Lord is there in this temple.
And so that suggests apermanency of God fellowshipping
with ethnic Israel.
(06:44):
That I think gives us anotherclue as to the permanency of it,
simply because God has not beenblessing the nation of Israel
because of their disbelief anddisobedience, as we've seen
throughout this book.
This brings up the questionthen.
There's so much detail hereabout a temple.
It's not just in passing.
Again, there's like eightchapters here.
(07:05):
The question then, of course,arises: where does this temple
fit in the timing of the entirehistory and biblical history?
There was the first temple thatwas there from David and
Solomon's day up until it wasdestroyed by Babylon.
Israel goes off in captivity.
When they came back, as we sawin Zechariah and Nehemiah, they
(07:28):
rebuild the temple.
That lasts until the Romansdestroyed it in 70 AD, and
there's not been a temple since.
Where does this temple fit?
Different Bible teachers havevery different interpretations
of when Ezekiel's temple fitsinto history and the
significance of it.
In the passage, God doesn't tellEzekiel when this is going to be
(07:52):
built.
The vision just has Ezekielbeing taken to Jerusalem, and
Ezekiel just starts describingthe details of the building.
The passages about the templedon't say when.
Now it does say some veryspecifics about the building,
and it also has some specificsabout the sacrifices that'll go
(08:13):
on.
Chapter 43, verse 21 speaks ofthe bull for the sin offering.
Now, this is significant becauseit brings into question whether
this temple is Herod's templeand the Zerubbabel, Herod's
temple, second temple, orwhether the sin offerings are
going to be reinstituted in thefuture.
(08:33):
Some Bible teachers take offenseat the idea of a future temple,
future to us, where sacrificeswould start again.
These teachers take the ideathat if there was a restart of
animal sacrifices, that thiswould be no less than
blasphemous against theChristian faith simply because
(08:54):
there's several verses in theNew Testament that speak of
Jesus being the final sacrifice.
Hebrews 10:9 says God takes awayanimal sacrifices so that Jesus
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could come and do the Father'swill.
Jesus paid for our sins once forall by his own blood, thus
securing eternal redemption inHebrews 9:11.
When Jesus died, the veil of thetemple tore.
Those were all symbols that theold system was gone.
The again, book of Hebrews, veryclear that Jesus was the
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fulfillment of the Old Testamentsacrifices, and we don't need
those again.
Some Bible teachers say that ifwe take Ezekiel's animal
sacrifices, if these were afuture sacrifice, then
especially a sin sacrifice, as Ijust said, this would be no less
than blaspheming the finishedwork of Jesus Christ.
(10:02):
Steve, I have a response tothat.
Any comments from you?
SPEAKER_01 (10:06):
Well, there's nothing that says that these
sacrifices can't be memorialsacrifices, ones that look back
on what Jesus did.
We as Gentiles have a period,usually in our church, it's once
a month or once a quarter ofwhat we call the Lord's Supper.
It's a time of communion.
(10:28):
Whenever we take some grapejuice and a little bit of a
cracker, and symbolically wedrink of it and eat of it in
order to remember Jesus.
Jesus said during that lastsupper, do this in remembrance
of me.
We do things that arecommemorative.
Now, obviously, we don't do anactual sacrifice, but that was
the Passover dinner, the satyrthat they were having whenever
(10:52):
Jesus said that.
I think there could be a made acase that Jewish believers have
a Passover Seder every year.
In that Seder, they do andremember Jesus at that time
whenever they have thatparticular satyr.
It's not one that look forwardto Jesus coming, the Messiah
coming as the Passover lamb, butit would be one in which they
(11:15):
look back on what Jesus did ashe has told us to do.
The other thing is that you havepeople prior to the giving of
the Mosaic law and the templesystem itself, sacrificial
system, that sacrificed andworshiped God.
Abraham did it, Abram before hisname was changed to Abraham,
(11:37):
Noah did it, Job did it.
We have different examples thateven prior to the giving of the
law and the laying down of thesacrificial system, that people
sacrificed to God in a way ofworship.
There's nothing to say thatthese sacrifices that are are
described here in Ezekiel can'tbe ones of just that.
(12:00):
Memorial services that arelooked upon as a remembrance of
what Jesus Christ has done forus, looking back to what he did
versus prior to that lookingforward to it.
So I think there's maybe alittle bit too much that has
been made out of it.
People get a little bitemotional over it, a little bit
maybe too dramatic, saying it'sa slap in the face of God,
(12:22):
things like that.
I think if you just look at itand understand what's going on
here, there's a case to be madethat this is really in the
future what's going to happen.
And it describes the glory ofGod that's going to be there
during all of these sacrificesthat are taking place.
Bottom line is I think it'ssacrifices for worship of God.
SPEAKER_00 (12:42):
The reason we bring this up is you mentioned, Steve,
people get emotional sometimes.
People get very emotional overthis idea of a future restarting
of animal sacrifices and hold itto be blaspheming the name of
God.
That's why we're dealing with ithere.
They get quite emotional.
In response, answering thisquestion of would a future
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animal sacrifice be blasphemousor detrimental to the Christian
faith.
Just a couple of questions thatI think could clarify this.
One is how were people saved inthe Old Testament?
It was not by the law of Moses,simply because a couple of
reasons.
One, there was no law of Mosesin between Adam and Moses, which
(13:26):
is at least as long of a periodof time as between Moses and
Jesus.
So there were huge sections oftimeline in the Old Testament
that was prior to the MosaicLaw.
People couldn't have been savedin the Old Testament through the
Mosaic Law because it wasn'talways there.
Secondly, people were not savedin the Old Testament by the
(13:47):
keeping the law simply becausethe New Testament tells us it's
not.
The New Testament tells us,quote, it is impossible for the
blood of bulls and goats to takeaway sins in Hebrews 10.4.
And these Old Testament systemswere, quote, a shadow of things
to come, but the substance isChrist in Colossians 2.17.
(14:09):
The law was a shadow of thingsto come and not the reality,
Hebrews 10.1.
The law didn't save people.
It wasn't by keeping the OldTestament sacrifices that people
were saved in the Old Testament.
If it was the animal sacrificesthat was effectual for taking
away sins, then all God wouldhave had to have done is kept
(14:32):
that sacrificial system goingforever.
I mean, he kept the Passoverceremony going forever.
Why couldn't he have kept theanimal sacrifices going forever?
And if the animal sacrificeswere effective in taking away
sin, then Jesus wouldn't havehad to have died.
He would have had to have justkept the animal sacrifices going
forever, and that would havebeen it.
(14:54):
Wouldn't have had to have died.
But the Old Testament animalsacrifices were not effective.
People were saved by faith.
Genesis 15, 6.
Abraham believed God and it wascounted as righteousness.
Therefore, the Old Testamentsacrifices were looking forward
to Jesus, and there's no reasonwhy a future one can't look
(15:15):
back.
Another question, if we noticein the Old Testament, we're told
that Moses on top of Mount Sinaiwas shown an example of a temple
in heaven.
We're told over in the book ofHebrews that there's a temple in
heaven where Jesus presented hisblood.
The next question is (15:37):
is the heavenly temple blasphemous when
it has ongoing ceremonies?
Well, obviously not.
Was the Old Testament Mosaicsystem blasphemous when it
wasn't effective for taking awaysins?
Well, obviously not.
I just think that a lot of theemotion that gets around this is
(15:58):
centered around people's endtimes views that might get
challenged with whether or notthere's really a future for the
nation Israel.
And that's possibly why they getso emotional.
But if the Old Testament systemwasn't blasphemous, if the
heavenly temple ceremoniesaren't blasphemous, then a
future one that looks back as amemorial service is not
(16:19):
blasphemous.
Now, in this section, again, wesaid chapter 40 to 48, it really
does get quite tedious.
We're going to spare you thereading of it simply because
there's so much detail here thatit really gets more than a
little tedious.
Let me just pick out a couple ofverses just to give you a taste.
I'm reading in chapter 40, verse9.
(16:41):
He measured the porch of thegate, eight cubits, and its side
pillars, two cubits, and theporch of the gate was faced
inward, and the guard rooms ofthe gate faced toward the east,
numbered three on each side.
The three of them had the samemeasurement.
The side pillars also had thesame measurement on each side,
and it goes like that on and onand on for several chapters.
(17:03):
In these sections, it gives thesize of the side rooms in the
temple, the size of the porchand the posts that were next to
the porch, how wide the gateswere, how many gates there are,
and where they were on thetemple grounds, how far apart
the doors and the gates were,where the windows were, and what
(17:23):
kind of ornaments were on them,how many steps were on the
stairs, how many tables therewere for butchering the animals,
how thick the foundation was,the size of the walls, and it
just goes on and on.
Why does God take his preciousword and spend so much time
giving these tedious details?
SPEAKER_01 (17:45):
Because he's describing an actual place.
He's describing the building anddimensions of an actual temple
that he wants to be built inhonor of him.
It's no different than what thedescription he gave in the Old
Testament and regarding thetabernacle.
He was very specific on how thetabernacle was supposed to be
(18:07):
put together in Moses' time.
In fact, he even got so specificin that that he said these
tribes are to be placed on theeast, north, south, and west.
Whenever you break camp to moveto another location, these are
the tribes that go first, theseare the tribes that go last.
(18:29):
God is very specific in many ofthe details that he gives for
people to honor him and obey himand worship him.
I think he's just beingconsistent here in Ezekiel, just
as he has been consistent in theearlier books of the what we
call the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00 (18:49):
I think you're exactly right.
The reason for the detail isbecause this is a real place.
It's not figurative of thechurch, it's not a figurative
explanation of a spiritualreality in the New Testament
church.
He's talking about an actualbuilding.
And there's no reason to haveeight chapters of tedious detail
(19:12):
if it was going to be anallegory for a spiritual
condition of salvation.
If we look at some of thethings, we can get a clue as to
some of the meanings, but Godprobably has many more.
If we look at chapter 42, verse20, he tells us that there's
walls in this new temple inbetween the place where the holy
(19:34):
areas are and the place wherethe common areas are.
And so God never minglesholiness and non-holiness.
God is always pure and holy andmust therefore be separate from
anything that is sinful orcommon.
The outer areas were where thesin offerings were, and the
(19:56):
inner areas are where the holyGod is.
So thus there's a separationbetween the holy and the
profane.
God does that everywhere.
Some of the symbolism and whyall these things are there, we
can tell.
Other things God hasn't revealedto us yet.
We have here also a descriptionof a sacrificial system.
(20:19):
Ezekiel describes the glory ofGod returning to this temple and
a series of purificationceremonies before sacrifices
start again.
The temple has to be purified,the grounds have to be purified.
He specifies the purificationrituals.
These purification ceremoniessuggest that God is giving
(20:40):
instructions for the restartingof temple ceremonies.
Several passages speak aboutsacrifices in the temple,
specifically burnt offerings,4038, 4039, 4041, 4042, all
speak of slaughtering animalsand burnt offerings.
So there's going to be a returnof the burnt offerings and
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sacrificial system.
Also note that chapter 40, verse46 speaks of the priests in
charge of the altar and tells usthat they were going to be a
specific group that wasdescended from the people that
were faithful.
The sons of Zadok, who in 4811,God says these priests were the
(21:28):
ones who stayed faithful anddidn't go astray.
The thing that we can learn fromthat is that God knows who it is
that are following his ways andwho are not.
And those that are faithful tohim and following his ways will
get rewarded and will be blessedby God.
Now, if we go through here, Inotice there's some differences
(21:51):
in between Ezekiel's temple andthe old tabernacle and temple
ceremonies that were describedin Exodus and Leviticus and
Deuteronomy.
One is that the size of thetemple and the courtyard
specifically are different.
In 4214 era of Ezekiel, thepriests were to leave their
garments inside the templebuilding proper before going out
(22:15):
into the courtyard.
That was different than in theold ceremony.
There's no mention here of theark or the laver or the
lampstand or the altar ofincense.
There's some distinctions.
The priest here in Ezekiel takeoff their garments and lead them
in the temple.
That was not a command.
(22:35):
It also gives no mention here ofa high priest.
There's some distinctions thatare not mentioned here.
We have to, again, doesn't tellus everything.
It just tells us that this isnot the exact same temple or nor
the exact same templeceremonies.
Again, new purificationceremonies that didn't exist in
(22:57):
the old system.
God also gives Ezekiel severalcommands about the activities of
what it calls the prince.
Now the Mosaic law had no rolefor a prince or any other kings.
In fact, they were commanded tobe separate.
But here in this ceremony,there's several specific
(23:18):
commands for what it calls theprince.
As we saw earlier in the book,the prince is most probably
David.
David being the prince andhaving a role in the temple
ceremony would align with thistemple being a millennial
temple.
Steve, any other comments aboutthat?
SPEAKER_01 (23:35):
I think a key thing, and we'll discuss it here in
just a little bit, is that theglory of God is going to be
there, the Shekinah glory, andis going to reside in this
temple.
That didn't happen during thesecond temple.
The glory of God wasn't there.
We've talked about that whenwe've gone through the gospels.
(23:56):
Yeah, there was a likeness ofJesus whenever he came to the
temple, and then whenever heascended back to heaven.
We made a comparison to theglory of God there, but Jesus
didn't reside in the temple.
He went and taught, and then heleft to go back to spend the
night somewhere else, and hecame back into the temple.
So he visited, but he didn'treside there.
(24:17):
The glory of God, the Shekinahglory, wasn't residing in the
temple during the second templeperiod.
It is going to reside duringthis temple.
So once again, I think we canmake the case, along with what
you've pointed out, certainelements not present in this
temple, such as the Ark of theCovenant versus the Second
(24:38):
Temple and the First Temple, notbeing present, not supposed to
be there, as that this is adifferent temple that's going to
happen.
It's going to be a temple that'sgoing to be in the future that
we would most likely say it'sgoing to be during the period of
the Messianic kingdom.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
And that section that you were just talking about
is in Ezekiel chapter 43.
I want to read part of that justto reinforce what Steve was just
saying.
Ezekiel 43:4 says this.
And the glory of the Lord cameinto the house by the way of the
gate facing towards the east,and the Spirit lifted me up and
brought me into the inner court.
(25:16):
And behold, the glory of theLord filled the house.
Then I heard one speaking to mefrom the house while a man was
standing beside me.
He said to me, Son of man, thisis the place of my throne, and
the place of the soles of myfeet, where I will dwell among
the sons of Israel forever, andthe house of Israel will not
again defile my holy name,neither they nor their kings, by
(25:41):
their harlotry and by thecorpses of their kings when they
die.
Steve, it says in there that theglory is going to return from
the east.
That's significant for a reason.
Then it also says in there thatmy soles of my feet will dwell
with Israel forever.
How long is forever?
SPEAKER_01 (25:58):
Forever means forever.
Every time that we ask thatquestion, it's going to be the
same answer.
It's always forever.
This glory is described in versethree.
Ezekiel says, and it was likethe appearance of the vision
which I saw, like the visionwhich I saw when he came to
destroy the city.
And the visions were like thevision which I saw by the river
(26:21):
Kebar, and I fell on my face.
If you remember, back the veryfirst chapter of Ezekiel talks
about this vision that Ezekielhad of the glory of God
arriving.
Here we have a bookend of thebook of Ezekiel.
The glory of God arrives in avision in the first couple of
chapters.
Here at the ending chapters,Ezekiel is seeing this glory of
(26:45):
God once again.
So we can say that it is theexact same glory that he saw at
the beginning of the book, isthe exact same glory of God that
he's seeing that's going toreside in this temple.
SPEAKER_00 (26:57):
If we remember from back in Ezekiel chapters 9
through 11, the glory of God wasthere.
It left through the east gateout to the Mount of Olives.
Here it's coming back in throughthe east gate to the temple
again.
As we said at different bookswe've taught, Jesus started at
the Mount of Olives in thetriumphal entry, went back in
(27:19):
through the east gate, found itwanting, and then left again
back out to the Mount of Oliveswhere he ascended in Acts
chapter 1.
The symbolism of this East Gateis very profound, which is why
this prophecy right here of theglory of God returning back
through this East Gate.
(27:40):
The Muslims in history walled upthe East Gate and put a cemetery
in front of it to try to keepGod out, but somehow I don't
think it's going to be effectivein keeping him out.
We have here a restarting of thetemple ceremonies.
We have the ceremonies that thepriests are supposed to do.
(28:01):
Too many times, I think, Steve,we have church leaders that just
don't study these things anddraw these wonderful lessons out
of here.
The distinctions are betweenthings that are have been
profane that need to becleansed.
There's a lot of instructionshere on how to cleanse the
temple.
(28:22):
And we need to be separate fromthe world.
We need to be cleansed from oursins.
We need to have our churches asholy places rather than profane
places.
Chapter 46 has instructions onhow the people are going to
enter the gates to the templefor worship.
It's very specific on where thepeople were supposed to come in,
(28:43):
where the people were supposedto go out.
What this tells me is that Godis a God of order.
He is not a God of chaos.
Paul told the Corinthian churchto do everything, the phrasing
he used was decently and inorder in 1 Corinthians 14, 40.
We have here a God that is a Godof order, a God of cleanliness
(29:05):
and purification.
We have a God that is separatefrom that which is profane.
I think whatever our view is ofthe end times, we can take some
great lessons on that out ofthis section.
Next, we have a very interestingend times section that I want to
bring out.
Steve, can you look at chapter47 and read the first 12 verses?
SPEAKER_01 (29:24):
Then he brought me back to the door of the house,
and behold, water was flowingfrom under the threshold of the
house toward the east, for thehouse faced east, and the water
was flowing down from under,from the right side of the
house, from south of the altar.
He brought me out by the way ofthe north gate and led me around
(29:46):
on the south side of the outergate by the way of the gate that
faces east.
And behold, water was tricklingfrom the south side.
When the man went out toward theeast with a line in his hand, he
measured a thousand.
And he led me through the water,water reaching the ankles.
Again he measured a thousand andled me through the water, water
(30:09):
reaching the knees.
Again he measured a thousand andled me through the water,
reaching the loins.
Again he measured a thousand,and it was a river that I could
not ford, for the water hadrisen, enough water to swim in,
a river that could not beforded.
He said to me, Son of man, haveyou seen this?
(30:30):
Then he brought me back to thebank of the river.
Now when I had returned, behold,on the bank of the river there
were very many trees on the oneside and on the other.
Then he said to me, These watersgo out toward the eastern region
and go down into the Araba.
Then they go toward the sea,being made to flow into the sea,
(30:51):
and the waters of the sea becomefresh.
It will come about that everyliving creature that swarms in
every place where the river goeswill live, and there will be
very many fish, for these watersgo there, and the others become
fresh.
So everything will live wherethe river goes, and it will come
(31:12):
about that fishermen will standbeside it from Engedi to
Enaglaum.
There will be a place for thespreading of nets.
Their fish will be according totheir kinds like the fish of the
great sea, very many.
But its swamps and marshes willnot become fresh, they will be
left for salt.
By the river on its bank, on oneside and on the other will grow
(31:37):
all kinds of trees for food,their leaves will not wither,
and their fruit will not fail.
They will bear every monthbecause their water flows from
the sanctuary, and their fruitwill be for food, and their
leaves for healing.
SPEAKER_00 (31:52):
Now the story of the river is quite interesting, and
it has some profoundimplications in other parts of
Scripture.
The first thing we notice inthis section is that the river
flows from the temple.
It flows from the very temple ofGod.
It flows from where God is inthe temple out to nourish a
(32:14):
land.
A river of fresh water in thatregion will transform the
landscape.
God will change the land.
If we remember back in 3819, Godis going to cause an earthquake
and change the landscape.
If you also, if you were with uswhen we studied Zechariah,
Zechariah 14.8 says the riverflowing from Jerusalem is going
(32:36):
to divide.
And one branch is going to goeast to the Dead Sea, and the
other branch goes to theMediterranean.
In the millennium, the landscapeis going to be drastically
changed.
A river of fresh water flowingthrough that region, and we saw
it's going to be a very largeriver, it would transform the
(32:56):
geography tremendously.
4710 lists specific towns thatare going to be replenished by
this river.
The reason I bring that up isbecause if this was just a
figurative allegory for aspiritual concept, I mean, we
could do that, right?
We could go over to John 7,where uh Jesus talks about
(33:18):
rivers of living water flowingfrom our heart, or John 4 when
he talks about springs of waterbubbling up to eternal life.
We could read that back into theOld Testament and try to make
these allegorical, but thelanguage doesn't allow for that.
Secondly, there's too muchspecifics here about what's
(33:39):
going to happen with specifictowns.
Allegories don't mentionspecific towns and specific
directions of the river.
Also, the river here providesabundant life both on the shore
and in the sea.
The river flows into the DeadSea and heals the water.
The Dead Sea now is just that.
(34:00):
It's dead because of the saltcontent.
Nothing lives there.
This water is going to replenisheven the dead.
It was not the case that in theintertestamental period there
was some source of life thatproceeded from the temple to
bring life to dead people in andaround Israel and the nations
(34:20):
around there.
By the time Jesus came, heaccused the Jewish leaders of
being whitewashed tombs full ofdead men's bones.
I would hold here, Steve, thisis a literal river that gives
literal life to a very dry andthirsty land.
SPEAKER_01 (34:35):
I don't think that you could take it any other way.
And as we mentioned many timesin going through studying the
word of God, is that yes, therecan be certain doctrines and
theologies spoken about, butwhen you go verse by verse
through the text, then you haveto deal with what the text says.
This is very plain and clear tome, and I think to you as well,
(35:00):
that this river is real and theplaces are real that are spoken
there.
Then the next two verses, if Icould read those real quick,
verse 13, chapter 47 says, Thussays the Lord God, this shall be
the boundary by which you shalldivide the land for an
inheritance among the twelvetribes of Israel.
(35:20):
Joseph shall have two portions.
You shall divide it for aninheritance, each one equally
with the other.
For I swore to give it to yourforefathers, and this land shall
fall to you as an inheritance.
In other books of the OldTestament of the prophets, God
has promised a restoration ofthe nation of Israel, a restored
(35:44):
kingdom.
Over in Acts chapter 1, verse 6,the disciples standing before
the resurrected Jesus ask him,Lord, is now the time whenever
you're going to restore thekingdom.
Here we have in Ezekiel chapter47, verses 13 and 14, God giving
(36:05):
and laying out the boundaries tothe nation of Israel.
He says it's going to be dividedequally, for he says, I swore to
give it to your forefathers, andthis land shall fall to you as
an inheritance.
As we've talked about this timeof being sometime in the future,
I think we can see here that Godstill has something planned for
(36:28):
the nation of Israel.
And we can see through theseverses that he's very specific
about it.
If you follow through on theverses in chapter 47, he gives
very descriptive places of eachtribe and where the inheritance
is going to be.
So this obviously isn't alisting of inheritance from the
book of Joshua, not that timeframe, obviously.
(36:52):
This is another time frame,still yet in the future, that
God is going to list out in thenation of Israel, the 12 tribes
are going to have theirinheritance in the land once
again.
SPEAKER_00 (37:05):
One of the reasons why we go through this in so
much detail is because there'sother places in the Bible that
these ideas tie together.
Zechariah talks about a riverflowing out.
The book of Revelation, chapter22, picks up this imagery from
Ezekiel and describes a riverwith abundant life on the shores
(37:26):
that heal the nations.
If we understand what the bookof Revelation is doing by
pulling out these images fromthe Old Testament, then it just
makes a lot more sense.
That brings us to the end of thebook of Ezekiel, and it's been a
great study.
Steve, we always like to remindour listeners that our website
(37:47):
has a lot of resources.
We have lesson plans that wegive away.
We have all of the audio andvideo lessons.
People can use this to teach intheir church and their Bible
studies.
So we just encourage you to lookat our website.
We also would encourage yourfeedback if you can send us an
(38:09):
email at info, that's INFO atreasoningthible.com.
Then we'd love to get yourfeedback on any of our books.
And Steve, it's been a greatstudy.
SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
It's been a wonderful study and a
fascinating study, and I'mlooking forward to going through
our next book.
SPEAKER_00 (38:27):
And we'll trust that you'll be back here doing that
with us as we continue to reasonthrough the Bible.
SPEAKER_01 (38:33):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible.
My name's Glenn.
I'm here with Steve.
Today we are in the last part ofthe book of Ezekiel.
We're going to be talking aboutthe temple section in chapters
40 through 48.
Now, in this section, we reallyneed to take a big picture view
before we just dive in.
The first 24 chapters of thebook of Ezekiel talk about
(00:43):
judgment against Jerusalem.
Then from chapters 25 to 32,they include judgment of nations
that surrounded Israel.
Then in chapters 33 to 39include the restoration of
Israel.
Here, chapter 40 through 48describes a temple and the
(01:04):
sacrifices that happen in it.
In this, there are some, ofcourse, interpretive questions
that we need to wrestle with,and we'll do that.
As we look through this chapter,chapter 40, verse 1 gives the
date that Ezekiel receives therevelation from God.
As we've pointed out every timewe've seen that throughout the
book of Ezekiel, he was alwaysvery careful to document what
(01:29):
message came on that date.
Our Bibles have documentedeyewitness accounts down to the
very day that God revealedhimself to these prophets.
And as we've seen, there weresections of it that were
predicted and fulfilled withinEzekiel's lifetime so that the
people around him knew that hewas a true prophet.
(01:52):
Chapter 40, verse 1 is 573 BC,the 25th year of the exile, and
14 years after the fall ofJerusalem.
With this, they had been inexile for a while, and Jerusalem
had been destroyed for a while.
The Jews have been scattered,and they realize that their
(02:15):
situation is not going to begetting any better anytime soon.
It seems that God reaches downwith a sense of encouragement at
just the time when we need itthe most.
Now, the tenth of the firstmonth is Passover.
This is also interesting in thatGod gives this revelation on
(02:38):
Passover at a time when there'dbe a holiday, everybody would be
focused on spiritual things.
Now they're given a brand newmessage.
The message, of course, is thetemple.
In the temple here that we see,he's going to give several
chapters of very tediousdescriptions of the temple.
(02:58):
And we need to kind of have anidea of which temple this might
be.
The first temple, which wasdesigned by David and built by
Solomon, was destroyed byBabylon.
And that's recorded in 2 Kings25:9.
It's also recorded here in thebook of Ezekiel in chapter 33,
(03:19):
verse 21.
Babylon came in and destroyedSolomon's temple.
When the temple was destroyed,then the people were scattered.
Therefore, the temple ritualsstopped and the sacrificial
system stopped.
When that happened, then thenation really was in danger of
(03:40):
losing its identity simplybecause the nation Israel, the
worship and the government andtheir identity centered around
this temple worship ceremony.
When that stopped and the templewas destroyed and scattered, the
Jews would have been devastated.
They would have been a verydemoralized, depressed people.
(04:03):
Here, we're now at the pointwhere Israel is demoralized and
depressed.
God gives the dimensions and thebuilding plans for a new temple.
The timing there is verycritical, I think, because
again, Israel was in the depthsof depression.
Steve, what general things canwe say about these several
(04:26):
chapters of this templedescription?
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
I think a key thing that we can say is that the
dimensions that are mentionedhere don't really match the
second temple rebuild.
That second temple was rebuiltby Zerubbabel.
That's noted in Ezra and alsotalked about a little bit in
Nehemiah during that time periodof coming back from the
(04:51):
Babylonian captivity.
And then the glorification ofthe temple takes place right
around the first century BC andthen the first century A.D.,
around the time of Jesus'coming, Herod is fixing the
temple up, and the pictures thatwe see today are really of
called Herod's temple, but it'sstill the second temple.
(05:12):
But we know the dimensions ofthe Temple Mount.
We have the remnant of that.
The second temple was destroyedin AD 70 by the Romans, but the
Temple Mount is roughly about 40acres.
The things that are describedhere in these final chapters of
Ezekiel talking about the templedimensions itself really don't
(05:36):
match, would fit within that40-acre site that we know is
there today.
So I think we're pretty safe insaying that this is a future
temple.
It's not only about the templedimensions, but it's also
talking about in all of thesechapters about the different
sacrifices and things like that.
(05:56):
It's almost like it's a secondLevitical description of how to
worship God in this templethat's given here in Ezekiel.
Well, obviously, that'spost-Jesus Christ.
The reasons that are given herejust don't match the things that
were going on during the secondtemple time period.
(06:18):
I think we can say clearly thatthis is still sometime that's in
the future.
SPEAKER_00 (06:23):
From chapter 40 through 48 is mostly very
detailed descriptions of thistemple.
The final verse of the book atthe end of chapter 48 says the
Lord is there in this temple.
And so that suggests apermanency of God fellowshipping
with ethnic Israel.
(06:44):
That I think gives us anotherclue as to the permanency of it,
simply because God has not beenblessing the nation of Israel
because of their disbelief anddisobedience, as we've seen
throughout this book.
This brings up the questionthen.
There's so much detail hereabout a temple.
It's not just in passing.
Again, there's like eightchapters here.
(07:05):
The question then, of course,arises: where does this temple
fit in the timing of the entirehistory and biblical history?
There was the first temple thatwas there from David and
Solomon's day up until it wasdestroyed by Babylon.
Israel goes off in captivity.
When they came back, as we sawin Zechariah and Nehemiah, they
(07:28):
rebuild the temple.
That lasts until the Romansdestroyed it in 70 AD, and
there's not been a temple since.
Where does this temple fit?
Different Bible teachers havevery different interpretations
of when Ezekiel's temple fitsinto history and the
significance of it.
In the passage, God doesn't tellEzekiel when this is going to be
(07:52):
built.
The vision just has Ezekielbeing taken to Jerusalem, and
Ezekiel just starts describingthe details of the building.
The passages about the templedon't say when.
Now it does say some veryspecifics about the building,
and it also has some specificsabout the sacrifices that'll go
(08:13):
on.
Chapter 43, verse 21 speaks ofthe bull for the sin offering.
Now, this is significant becauseit brings into question whether
this temple is Herod's templeand the Zerubbabel, Herod's
temple, second temple, orwhether the sin offerings are
going to be reinstituted in thefuture.
(08:33):
Some Bible teachers take offenseat the idea of a future temple,
future to us, where sacrificeswould start again.
These teachers take the ideathat if there was a restart of
animal sacrifices, that thiswould be no less than
blasphemous against theChristian faith simply because
(08:54):
there's several verses in theNew Testament that speak of
Jesus being the final sacrifice.
Hebrews 10:9 says God takes awayanimal sacrifices so that Jesus
(09:17):
could come and do the Father'swill.
Jesus paid for our sins once forall by his own blood, thus
securing eternal redemption inHebrews 9:11.
When Jesus died, the veil of thetemple tore.
Those were all symbols that theold system was gone.
The again, book of Hebrews, veryclear that Jesus was the
(09:41):
fulfillment of the Old Testamentsacrifices, and we don't need
those again.
Some Bible teachers say that ifwe take Ezekiel's animal
sacrifices, if these were afuture sacrifice, then
especially a sin sacrifice, as Ijust said, this would be no less
than blaspheming the finishedwork of Jesus Christ.
(10:02):
Steve, I have a response tothat.
Any comments from you?
SPEAKER_01 (10:06):
Well, there's nothing that says that these
sacrifices can't be memorialsacrifices, ones that look back
on what Jesus did.
We as Gentiles have a period,usually in our church, it's once
a month or once a quarter ofwhat we call the Lord's Supper.
It's a time of communion.
(10:28):
Whenever we take some grapejuice and a little bit of a
cracker, and symbolically wedrink of it and eat of it in
order to remember Jesus.
Jesus said during that lastsupper, do this in remembrance
of me.
We do things that arecommemorative.
Now, obviously, we don't do anactual sacrifice, but that was
the Passover dinner, the satyrthat they were having whenever
(10:52):
Jesus said that.
I think there could be a made acase that Jewish believers have
a Passover Seder every year.
In that Seder, they do andremember Jesus at that time
whenever they have thatparticular satyr.
It's not one that look forwardto Jesus coming, the Messiah
coming as the Passover lamb, butit would be one in which they
(11:15):
look back on what Jesus did ashe has told us to do.
The other thing is that you havepeople prior to the giving of
the Mosaic law and the templesystem itself, sacrificial
system, that sacrificed andworshiped God.
Abraham did it, Abram before hisname was changed to Abraham,
(11:37):
Noah did it, Job did it.
We have different examples thateven prior to the giving of the
law and the laying down of thesacrificial system, that people
sacrificed to God in a way ofworship.
There's nothing to say thatthese sacrifices that are are
described here in Ezekiel can'tbe ones of just that.
(12:00):
Memorial services that arelooked upon as a remembrance of
what Jesus Christ has done forus, looking back to what he did
versus prior to that lookingforward to it.
So I think there's maybe alittle bit too much that has
been made out of it.
People get a little bitemotional over it, a little bit
maybe too dramatic, saying it'sa slap in the face of God,
(12:22):
things like that.
I think if you just look at itand understand what's going on
here, there's a case to be madethat this is really in the
future what's going to happen.
And it describes the glory ofGod that's going to be there
during all of these sacrificesthat are taking place.
Bottom line is I think it'ssacrifices for worship of God.
SPEAKER_00 (12:42):
The reason we bring this up is you mentioned, Steve,
people get emotional sometimes.
People get very emotional overthis idea of a future restarting
of animal sacrifices and hold itto be blaspheming the name of
God.
That's why we're dealing with ithere.
They get quite emotional.
In response, answering thisquestion of would a future
(13:04):
animal sacrifice be blasphemousor detrimental to the Christian
faith.
Just a couple of questions thatI think could clarify this.
One is how were people saved inthe Old Testament?
It was not by the law of Moses,simply because a couple of
reasons.
One, there was no law of Mosesin between Adam and Moses, which
(13:26):
is at least as long of a periodof time as between Moses and
Jesus.
So there were huge sections oftimeline in the Old Testament
that was prior to the MosaicLaw.
People couldn't have been savedin the Old Testament through the
Mosaic Law because it wasn'talways there.
Secondly, people were not savedin the Old Testament by the
(13:47):
keeping the law simply becausethe New Testament tells us it's
not.
The New Testament tells us,quote, it is impossible for the
blood of bulls and goats to takeaway sins in Hebrews 10.4.
And these Old Testament systemswere, quote, a shadow of things
to come, but the substance isChrist in Colossians 2.17.
(14:09):
The law was a shadow of thingsto come and not the reality,
Hebrews 10.1.
The law didn't save people.
It wasn't by keeping the OldTestament sacrifices that people
were saved in the Old Testament.
If it was the animal sacrificesthat was effectual for taking
away sins, then all God wouldhave had to have done is kept
(14:32):
that sacrificial system goingforever.
I mean, he kept the Passoverceremony going forever.
Why couldn't he have kept theanimal sacrifices going forever?
And if the animal sacrificeswere effective in taking away
sin, then Jesus wouldn't havehad to have died.
He would have had to have justkept the animal sacrifices going
forever, and that would havebeen it.
(14:54):
Wouldn't have had to have died.
But the Old Testament animalsacrifices were not effective.
People were saved by faith.
Genesis 15, 6.
Abraham believed God and it wascounted as righteousness.
Therefore, the Old Testamentsacrifices were looking forward
to Jesus, and there's no reasonwhy a future one can't look
(15:15):
back.
Another question, if we noticein the Old Testament, we're told
that Moses on top of Mount Sinaiwas shown an example of a temple
in heaven.
We're told over in the book ofHebrews that there's a temple in
heaven where Jesus presented hisblood.
The next question is (15:37):
is the heavenly temple blasphemous when
it has ongoing ceremonies?
Well, obviously not.
Was the Old Testament Mosaicsystem blasphemous when it
wasn't effective for taking awaysins?
Well, obviously not.
I just think that a lot of theemotion that gets around this is
(15:58):
centered around people's endtimes views that might get
challenged with whether or notthere's really a future for the
nation Israel.
And that's possibly why they getso emotional.
But if the Old Testament systemwasn't blasphemous, if the
heavenly temple ceremoniesaren't blasphemous, then a
future one that looks back as amemorial service is not
(16:19):
blasphemous.
Now, in this section, again, wesaid chapter 40 to 48, it really
does get quite tedious.
We're going to spare you thereading of it simply because
there's so much detail here thatit really gets more than a
little tedious.
Let me just pick out a couple ofverses just to give you a taste.
I'm reading in chapter 40, verse9.
(16:41):
He measured the porch of thegate, eight cubits, and its side
pillars, two cubits, and theporch of the gate was faced
inward, and the guard rooms ofthe gate faced toward the east,
numbered three on each side.
The three of them had the samemeasurement.
The side pillars also had thesame measurement on each side,
and it goes like that on and onand on for several chapters.
(17:03):
In these sections, it gives thesize of the side rooms in the
temple, the size of the porchand the posts that were next to
the porch, how wide the gateswere, how many gates there are,
and where they were on thetemple grounds, how far apart
the doors and the gates were,where the windows were, and what
(17:23):
kind of ornaments were on them,how many steps were on the
stairs, how many tables therewere for butchering the animals,
how thick the foundation was,the size of the walls, and it
just goes on and on.
Why does God take his preciousword and spend so much time
giving these tedious details?
SPEAKER_01 (17:45):
Because he's describing an actual place.
He's describing the building anddimensions of an actual temple
that he wants to be built inhonor of him.
It's no different than what thedescription he gave in the Old
Testament and regarding thetabernacle.
He was very specific on how thetabernacle was supposed to be
(18:07):
put together in Moses' time.
In fact, he even got so specificin that that he said these
tribes are to be placed on theeast, north, south, and west.
Whenever you break camp to moveto another location, these are
the tribes that go first, theseare the tribes that go last.
(18:29):
God is very specific in many ofthe details that he gives for
people to honor him and obey himand worship him.
I think he's just beingconsistent here in Ezekiel, just
as he has been consistent in theearlier books of the what we
call the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00 (18:49):
I think you're exactly right.
The reason for the detail isbecause this is a real place.
It's not figurative of thechurch, it's not a figurative
explanation of a spiritualreality in the New Testament
church.
He's talking about an actualbuilding.
And there's no reason to haveeight chapters of tedious detail
(19:12):
if it was going to be anallegory for a spiritual
condition of salvation.
If we look at some of thethings, we can get a clue as to
some of the meanings, but Godprobably has many more.
If we look at chapter 42, verse20, he tells us that there's
walls in this new temple inbetween the place where the holy
(19:34):
areas are and the place wherethe common areas are.
And so God never minglesholiness and non-holiness.
God is always pure and holy andmust therefore be separate from
anything that is sinful orcommon.
The outer areas were where thesin offerings were, and the
(19:56):
inner areas are where the holyGod is.
So thus there's a separationbetween the holy and the
profane.
God does that everywhere.
Some of the symbolism and whyall these things are there, we
can tell.
Other things God hasn't revealedto us yet.
We have here also a descriptionof a sacrificial system.
(20:19):
Ezekiel describes the glory ofGod returning to this temple and
a series of purificationceremonies before sacrifices
start again.
The temple has to be purified,the grounds have to be purified.
He specifies the purificationrituals.
These purification ceremoniessuggest that God is giving
(20:40):
instructions for the restartingof temple ceremonies.
Several passages speak aboutsacrifices in the temple,
specifically burnt offerings,4038, 4039, 4041, 4042, all
speak of slaughtering animalsand burnt offerings.
So there's going to be a returnof the burnt offerings and
(21:04):
sacrificial system.
Also note that chapter 40, verse46 speaks of the priests in
charge of the altar and tells usthat they were going to be a
specific group that wasdescended from the people that
were faithful.
The sons of Zadok, who in 4811,God says these priests were the
(21:28):
ones who stayed faithful anddidn't go astray.
The thing that we can learn fromthat is that God knows who it is
that are following his ways andwho are not.
And those that are faithful tohim and following his ways will
get rewarded and will be blessedby God.
Now, if we go through here, Inotice there's some differences
(21:51):
in between Ezekiel's temple andthe old tabernacle and temple
ceremonies that were describedin Exodus and Leviticus and
Deuteronomy.
One is that the size of thetemple and the courtyard
specifically are different.
In 4214 era of Ezekiel, thepriests were to leave their
garments inside the templebuilding proper before going out
(22:15):
into the courtyard.
That was different than in theold ceremony.
There's no mention here of theark or the laver or the
lampstand or the altar ofincense.
There's some distinctions.
The priest here in Ezekiel takeoff their garments and lead them
in the temple.
That was not a command.
(22:35):
It also gives no mention here ofa high priest.
There's some distinctions thatare not mentioned here.
We have to, again, doesn't tellus everything.
It just tells us that this isnot the exact same temple or nor
the exact same templeceremonies.
Again, new purificationceremonies that didn't exist in
(22:57):
the old system.
God also gives Ezekiel severalcommands about the activities of
what it calls the prince.
Now the Mosaic law had no rolefor a prince or any other kings.
In fact, they were commanded tobe separate.
But here in this ceremony,there's several specific
(23:18):
commands for what it calls theprince.
As we saw earlier in the book,the prince is most probably
David.
David being the prince andhaving a role in the temple
ceremony would align with thistemple being a millennial
temple.
Steve, any other comments aboutthat?
SPEAKER_01 (23:35):
I think a key thing, and we'll discuss it here in
just a little bit, is that theglory of God is going to be
there, the Shekinah glory, andis going to reside in this
temple.
That didn't happen during thesecond temple.
The glory of God wasn't there.
We've talked about that whenwe've gone through the gospels.
(23:56):
Yeah, there was a likeness ofJesus whenever he came to the
temple, and then whenever heascended back to heaven.
We made a comparison to theglory of God there, but Jesus
didn't reside in the temple.
He went and taught, and then heleft to go back to spend the
night somewhere else, and hecame back into the temple.
So he visited, but he didn'treside there.
(24:17):
The glory of God, the Shekinahglory, wasn't residing in the
temple during the second templeperiod.
It is going to reside duringthis temple.
So once again, I think we canmake the case, along with what
you've pointed out, certainelements not present in this
temple, such as the Ark of theCovenant versus the Second
(24:38):
Temple and the First Temple, notbeing present, not supposed to
be there, as that this is adifferent temple that's going to
happen.
It's going to be a temple that'sgoing to be in the future that
we would most likely say it'sgoing to be during the period of
the Messianic kingdom.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
And that section that you were just talking about
is in Ezekiel chapter 43.
I want to read part of that justto reinforce what Steve was just
saying.
Ezekiel 43:4 says this.
And the glory of the Lord cameinto the house by the way of the
gate facing towards the east,and the Spirit lifted me up and
brought me into the inner court.
(25:16):
And behold, the glory of theLord filled the house.
Then I heard one speaking to mefrom the house while a man was
standing beside me.
He said to me, Son of man, thisis the place of my throne, and
the place of the soles of myfeet, where I will dwell among
the sons of Israel forever, andthe house of Israel will not
again defile my holy name,neither they nor their kings, by
(25:41):
their harlotry and by thecorpses of their kings when they
die.
Steve, it says in there that theglory is going to return from
the east.
That's significant for a reason.
Then it also says in there thatmy soles of my feet will dwell
with Israel forever.
How long is forever?
SPEAKER_01 (25:58):
Forever means forever.
Every time that we ask thatquestion, it's going to be the
same answer.
It's always forever.
This glory is described in versethree.
Ezekiel says, and it was likethe appearance of the vision
which I saw, like the visionwhich I saw when he came to
destroy the city.
And the visions were like thevision which I saw by the river
(26:21):
Kebar, and I fell on my face.
If you remember, back the veryfirst chapter of Ezekiel talks
about this vision that Ezekielhad of the glory of God
arriving.
Here we have a bookend of thebook of Ezekiel.
The glory of God arrives in avision in the first couple of
chapters.
Here at the ending chapters,Ezekiel is seeing this glory of
(26:45):
God once again.
So we can say that it is theexact same glory that he saw at
the beginning of the book, isthe exact same glory of God that
he's seeing that's going toreside in this temple.
SPEAKER_00 (26:57):
If we remember from back in Ezekiel chapters 9
through 11, the glory of God wasthere.
It left through the east gateout to the Mount of Olives.
Here it's coming back in throughthe east gate to the temple
again.
As we said at different bookswe've taught, Jesus started at
the Mount of Olives in thetriumphal entry, went back in
(27:19):
through the east gate, found itwanting, and then left again
back out to the Mount of Oliveswhere he ascended in Acts
chapter 1.
The symbolism of this East Gateis very profound, which is why
this prophecy right here of theglory of God returning back
through this East Gate.
(27:40):
The Muslims in history walled upthe East Gate and put a cemetery
in front of it to try to keepGod out, but somehow I don't
think it's going to be effectivein keeping him out.
We have here a restarting of thetemple ceremonies.
We have the ceremonies that thepriests are supposed to do.
(28:01):
Too many times, I think, Steve,we have church leaders that just
don't study these things anddraw these wonderful lessons out
of here.
The distinctions are betweenthings that are have been
profane that need to becleansed.
There's a lot of instructionshere on how to cleanse the
temple.
(28:22):
And we need to be separate fromthe world.
We need to be cleansed from oursins.
We need to have our churches asholy places rather than profane
places.
Chapter 46 has instructions onhow the people are going to
enter the gates to the templefor worship.
It's very specific on where thepeople were supposed to come in,
(28:43):
where the people were supposedto go out.
What this tells me is that Godis a God of order.
He is not a God of chaos.
Paul told the Corinthian churchto do everything, the phrasing
he used was decently and inorder in 1 Corinthians 14, 40.
We have here a God that is a Godof order, a God of cleanliness
(29:05):
and purification.
We have a God that is separatefrom that which is profane.
I think whatever our view is ofthe end times, we can take some
great lessons on that out ofthis section.
Next, we have a very interestingend times section that I want to
bring out.
Steve, can you look at chapter47 and read the first 12 verses?
SPEAKER_01 (29:24):
Then he brought me back to the door of the house,
and behold, water was flowingfrom under the threshold of the
house toward the east, for thehouse faced east, and the water
was flowing down from under,from the right side of the
house, from south of the altar.
He brought me out by the way ofthe north gate and led me around
(29:46):
on the south side of the outergate by the way of the gate that
faces east.
And behold, water was tricklingfrom the south side.
When the man went out toward theeast with a line in his hand, he
measured a thousand.
And he led me through the water,water reaching the ankles.
Again he measured a thousand andled me through the water, water
(30:09):
reaching the knees.
Again he measured a thousand andled me through the water,
reaching the loins.
Again he measured a thousand,and it was a river that I could
not ford, for the water hadrisen, enough water to swim in,
a river that could not beforded.
He said to me, Son of man, haveyou seen this?
(30:30):
Then he brought me back to thebank of the river.
Now when I had returned, behold,on the bank of the river there
were very many trees on the oneside and on the other.
Then he said to me, These watersgo out toward the eastern region
and go down into the Araba.
Then they go toward the sea,being made to flow into the sea,
(30:51):
and the waters of the sea becomefresh.
It will come about that everyliving creature that swarms in
every place where the river goeswill live, and there will be
very many fish, for these watersgo there, and the others become
fresh.
So everything will live wherethe river goes, and it will come
(31:12):
about that fishermen will standbeside it from Engedi to
Enaglaum.
There will be a place for thespreading of nets.
Their fish will be according totheir kinds like the fish of the
great sea, very many.
But its swamps and marshes willnot become fresh, they will be
left for salt.
By the river on its bank, on oneside and on the other will grow
(31:37):
all kinds of trees for food,their leaves will not wither,
and their fruit will not fail.
They will bear every monthbecause their water flows from
the sanctuary, and their fruitwill be for food, and their
leaves for healing.
SPEAKER_00 (31:52):
Now the story of the river is quite interesting, and
it has some profoundimplications in other parts of
Scripture.
The first thing we notice inthis section is that the river
flows from the temple.
It flows from the very temple ofGod.
It flows from where God is inthe temple out to nourish a
(32:14):
land.
A river of fresh water in thatregion will transform the
landscape.
God will change the land.
If we remember back in 3819, Godis going to cause an earthquake
and change the landscape.
If you also, if you were with uswhen we studied Zechariah,
Zechariah 14.8 says the riverflowing from Jerusalem is going
(32:36):
to divide.
And one branch is going to goeast to the Dead Sea, and the
other branch goes to theMediterranean.
In the millennium, the landscapeis going to be drastically
changed.
A river of fresh water flowingthrough that region, and we saw
it's going to be a very largeriver, it would transform the
(32:56):
geography tremendously.
4710 lists specific towns thatare going to be replenished by
this river.
The reason I bring that up isbecause if this was just a
figurative allegory for aspiritual concept, I mean, we
could do that, right?
We could go over to John 7,where uh Jesus talks about
(33:18):
rivers of living water flowingfrom our heart, or John 4 when
he talks about springs of waterbubbling up to eternal life.
We could read that back into theOld Testament and try to make
these allegorical, but thelanguage doesn't allow for that.
Secondly, there's too muchspecifics here about what's
(33:39):
going to happen with specifictowns.
Allegories don't mentionspecific towns and specific
directions of the river.
Also, the river here providesabundant life both on the shore
and in the sea.
The river flows into the DeadSea and heals the water.
The Dead Sea now is just that.
(34:00):
It's dead because of the saltcontent.
Nothing lives there.
This water is going to replenisheven the dead.
It was not the case that in theintertestamental period there
was some source of life thatproceeded from the temple to
bring life to dead people in andaround Israel and the nations
(34:20):
around there.
By the time Jesus came, heaccused the Jewish leaders of
being whitewashed tombs full ofdead men's bones.
I would hold here, Steve, thisis a literal river that gives
literal life to a very dry andthirsty land.
SPEAKER_01 (34:35):
I don't think that you could take it any other way.
And as we mentioned many timesin going through studying the
word of God, is that yes, therecan be certain doctrines and
theologies spoken about, butwhen you go verse by verse
through the text, then you haveto deal with what the text says.
This is very plain and clear tome, and I think to you as well,
(35:00):
that this river is real and theplaces are real that are spoken
there.
Then the next two verses, if Icould read those real quick,
verse 13, chapter 47 says, Thussays the Lord God, this shall be
the boundary by which you shalldivide the land for an
inheritance among the twelvetribes of Israel.
(35:20):
Joseph shall have two portions.
You shall divide it for aninheritance, each one equally
with the other.
For I swore to give it to yourforefathers, and this land shall
fall to you as an inheritance.
In other books of the OldTestament of the prophets, God
has promised a restoration ofthe nation of Israel, a restored
(35:44):
kingdom.
Over in Acts chapter 1, verse 6,the disciples standing before
the resurrected Jesus ask him,Lord, is now the time whenever
you're going to restore thekingdom.
Here we have in Ezekiel chapter47, verses 13 and 14, God giving
(36:05):
and laying out the boundaries tothe nation of Israel.
He says it's going to be dividedequally, for he says, I swore to
give it to your forefathers, andthis land shall fall to you as
an inheritance.
As we've talked about this timeof being sometime in the future,
I think we can see here that Godstill has something planned for
(36:28):
the nation of Israel.
And we can see through theseverses that he's very specific
about it.
If you follow through on theverses in chapter 47, he gives
very descriptive places of eachtribe and where the inheritance
is going to be.
So this obviously isn't alisting of inheritance from the
book of Joshua, not that timeframe, obviously.
(36:52):
This is another time frame,still yet in the future, that
God is going to list out in thenation of Israel, the 12 tribes
are going to have theirinheritance in the land once
again.
SPEAKER_00 (37:05):
One of the reasons why we go through this in so
much detail is because there'sother places in the Bible that
these ideas tie together.
Zechariah talks about a riverflowing out.
The book of Revelation, chapter22, picks up this imagery from
Ezekiel and describes a riverwith abundant life on the shores
(37:26):
that heal the nations.
If we understand what the bookof Revelation is doing by
pulling out these images fromthe Old Testament, then it just
makes a lot more sense.
That brings us to the end of thebook of Ezekiel, and it's been a
great study.
Steve, we always like to remindour listeners that our website
(37:47):
has a lot of resources.
We have lesson plans that wegive away.
We have all of the audio andvideo lessons.
People can use this to teach intheir church and their Bible
studies.
So we just encourage you to lookat our website.
We also would encourage yourfeedback if you can send us an
(38:09):
email at info, that's INFO atreasoningthible.com.
Then we'd love to get yourfeedback on any of our books.
And Steve, it's been a greatstudy.
SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
It's been a wonderful study and a
fascinating study, and I'mlooking forward to going through
our next book.
SPEAKER_00 (38:27):
And we'll trust that you'll be back here doing that
with us as we continue to reasonthrough the Bible.
SPEAKER_01 (38:33):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
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