Thursday, December 29, 2022

John F. Walvoord on Ezekiel's Eschatological Temple

  

The Place of the Millennial Temple

 

According to Ezekiel 40:1-46:24, the millennial age will feature a magnificent temple that will serve as the center for the priestly rituals and offerings. Because of the opposition to the premillennial point of view, many attempts have been made to explain away this millennial temple. Amillenarians are obligated to find some other explanation than the literal interpretation, because they do not accept the concept of the Millennium itself. Accordingly, they have made a number of explanations, none of which is supported by the facts. Some have declared that this is a description of Solomon’s temple or of the temple that was built by those returning from the Captivity. However, the plans of the temple are totally different, as a comparison of the specifications of Ezekiel’s temple (Ezek. 40:5-44:9) and passages referring to the preceding temples (1 Kings 6:2-7:15; 2 Chron. 3:3-4:22; Ezra 6:3-4) show. Failing in their attempt to identify the temple of Ezekiel with previous temples, amillenarians have resorted to spiritualization: the temple is merely a symbol or an ideal with the passages are not intended to convey that an actual temple will be built. Such an interpretation, however, does not fit the revelation given in Ezekiel which goes into great detail about the architecture of the temple and its use, much of which would not have symbolic significance apart from the overall significance of the temple itself.

 

The most natural interpretation and one that is in keeping with the interpretation of the prophecy in general is to accept this prophecy of a future temple as literal—with the anticipation that in the millennial kingdom this temple will be built as specified in Ezekiel. If the premillennial interpretation of Scripture is accepted and the Millennium is recognized in the prophetic program, these remains no reason why such a temple should not be built.

 

The significance of the temple is that it will provide a suitable vehicle for the worship and service of God in the millennial kingdom, similar and yet different from that provided under the Mosaic Law. The presence of the temple will assure God’s dwelling in the midst, not only Jesus Christ on the throne in Jerusalem, but the father and the Holy Spirit as well. The glory that had left Solomon’s temple (Ezek. 8-11) will fill the millennial temple as recorded by Ezekiel 44:4: “Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown.” The temple along with the written Word of God and the visible presence of Christ will serve to provide an abundance of revelation to the millennial scene that has not been characteristic of any previous age.

 

The temple to be built in the Millennium will be much larger than any historic temple of Israel, being a square 875 feet (500 cubits) in width and length. Like previous temples, it will face east and will have an outer wall on the other three sides. The temple will have thirty rooms built on three levels. Except for the western wall, the other three sides will have a large outer court that will surround the temple itself with gates in each of the three walls. One of the outstanding features o the temple, as in the previous temples, will be provision for animal sacrifices.

 

The idea of sacrifices in the millennial kingdom seems to contradict the concept that Christ’s one sacrifice was sufficient. As stated in Hebrews:

 

Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation not those who are waiting for him. (9:26-28)

 

In attempting to explain the sacrifices of the millennial temple, the thought is not that the death of Christ is insufficient, but rather that the sacrifices are a memorial of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, much as the Old Testament sacrifices looked forward to fulfilment in Christ’s death. The provisions for sacrifice in Ezekiel differ somewhat from those provided under the Mosaic Law. Millennium sacrifices will be required by the ideal circumstances that characterize the millennial kingdom in which sin would lose some of its awful character. The sacriifcal system, accordingly , is a reminder of the necessity of blood sacrifice that points back to the death of Christ as the one ground for salvation from sin.

 

Though the sacrificial system is tied to Ezekiel’s temple here, there are other references to sacrifices in the Millennium that support the same conclusion (Isa. 56:7; 66:20-23; Jer. 33:18; Zech. 14:16-21; Mal. 3:3-4). At least five of the Old Testament prophets join in affirming a sacrificial system in the millennial kingdom. The temple and its system of sacrifices will be an important part of life in and around Jerusalem and will serve to emphasize the necessity of life in Christ in the Millennium as well as in other dispensations.

 

Concerning the worship and service of God in the temple, Ezekiel was informed that the eastern gate should be kept closed. The explanation is, “’it is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way’” (44:2-3). The reference to the prince seems to be a reference to David, who is considered a prince under Christ (34:23024; 37;24-25). The setting, of course, is the time of the millennial kingdom after the second coming of Christ and after the resurrection of David. The ruling that the eastern gate is to be reserved raises the interesting question concerning the eastern wall that is now in the wall of Jerusalem and has been closed for many centuries. The eastern gate of the present wall of Jerusalem is obviously not the same gate as the wall mentioned in Ezekiel 44, though probably both gates will be open when Jesus Christ comes to Jerusalem.

 

Various regulations were issued by Ezekiel concerning the functions of the priests and Levites in the temple worship. Special sacrifices were to be offered on the first month and the first day (46:18-19). The Passover feast is also mentioned as being observed on the first month of the fourteenth day, an event that followed the seven-day feast of the unleavened bread (45;21-25).

 

Taken as a whole, spiritual life in the Millennium will be on a different level from that of any preceding generation and will form a fitting climax to the experience of the human race throughout the various dispensations. (John F. Walvoord, Major Bible Prophecies: 37 Crucial Prophecies That Affect You Today [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1991], 395-98)