Ezekiel 40

The Kingdom Age

Pray

Intro

√ The Kingdom Age

Beginning in chapter 40 through the end of the book, Ezekiel describes in great detail the future Kingdom Age…

The Temple

The City

The Land

The main point of these chapters is to encourage the Jewish people in captivity by pointing them to the future restoration and renewal of Israel.

Remember, at the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy the people are scattered, the Temple lay in ruins, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the land from one end to the other was wasted.

Yet, God was not through with His people and this final prophecy is meant to remind them that God would still keep all His promises to the people and the nation of Israel.

The Temple in particular would be important to the Jews because it was the…

1) Visible symbol of God’s presence among His people.

Remember that earlier in chapter 10 God’s presence had departed from the Temple…

…so the highlight of Israel’s future restoration will be the return of God’s presence to the new Temple!

2. Secondly, the new Temple would be the visible reminder of God’s New Covenant with the Jewish people.

The new place of worship where people of every nation will come to worship God.

Ap. Encouragement in difficult times

God’s people, the Jews in our text, and Christians today, are no strangers to hard times.

Whether it’s the consequence of our own sin, or the result of persecution, God’s people are not guaranteed “good times” in this world.

This is not our home and despite the suggestion of some today this is not “your best life now”!

The best is yet to come!

So, when we find ourselves discouraged and beat down by the trials of life we can find joy and encouragement by looking forward to the Kingdom that God has promised us.

√ Approach

There’s a lot of details in the following chapters about the design of the Temple and often times it is redundant.

It’s important if you’re the one building the Temple, but for most people we’re only interested in the finished product.

Blue prints vs. concept drawings.

So, we’re going to skip a lot of the reading of the text and just focus on the main points.

The Vision (vs. 1-4)

Ez. 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day the hand of the LORD was upon me; and He took me there.

Ez. 40:2 In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city.

Ez. 40:3 He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway.

Ez. 40:4 And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see.”

√ Timing

Ezekiel tells us the day that he received the vision in vs. 1, but unlike earlier dates that he’s given us this one poses a little problem to decipher.

The problem is we don’t know which New Year’s he’s talking about!

Look at vs. 1…

“In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month…”

During the Exodus the religious calendar was established with the New Year falling in the month of Nissan (April/May).

However, later generations in Israel began celebrating the New Year during the month of Tishri (October/November) to correlate with the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

Which is still the day celebrated in Israel.

So, Ezekiel received this vision either on April 28, 573 B.C., or on October 22, 573 B.C.

Ap. God’s work

The interesting thing for us to note about the date of the prophecy is that it is about 12 years after the last prophecy the Ezekiel received!

That’s important to note because often times when we read the Bible we can wrongly conclude that God was speaking to the prophets, or doing miracles through His servants every day!

But the reality is that there were long gaps of time between God’s supernatural interventions in daily life.

Ex. Acts

Recognize that the story recorded in the book of Acts stretches over 30 years!

So the miracles that we read about are the exception rather than the rule of the Christian experience.

If we don’t know that then we can wrongly conclude that God isn’t working today because we don’t see someone raised from the dead every week.

Ex. Abraham

God spoke to him through seven different visions, but that was over the course of his entire life, 175 years!

Obviously then there were long periods of time when God wasn’t speaking audibly to Abraham!

The point is that Christians (including myself) are often disappointed when we don’t “feel” God’s presence in every church service.

When we don’t hear a word from the Lord every time we pray.

Or experience God’s mighty power through some miracle every week.

The reality of a walk with God is that there are long periods of routine…

…simply walking by faith and continuing to do the last thing that God gave you to do!

√ Place

Ezekiel tells us that he was taken in the vision from Babylon to Israel…

“In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city.” ~ vs. 2

Remember, this is all happening in the spirit realm so Ezekiel never actually leaves his home in Babylon.

God takes him back to Israel but it doesn’t look anything like it did the last time he was there…

…nor like it did at that time as it was just a heap of stones and burnt timber, rather this is a vision of the future.

He says he was deposited onto a “very high mountain” and that to the south of him he could see what looked like a city.

Most likely he was on what is today called Mt. Scopus, the northern most mountain in Jerusalem just next to the Mt. of Olives.

Once there he’s met by the “Coppertone” man, an angel, who is equipped with a line and a rod (not fishing!), which he is going to use to help Ezekiel get all the details of the new Temple and city.

√ Measurements

Good time to define the units of measure that the angel uses so that we can wrap our minds around it. Note vs. 5…

“In the man’s hand was a measuring rod six cubits long, each being a cubit and a handbreadth…”

Rod = 6 “royal” cubits

(cubit + hand breadth)

Cubit = 18 inches (elbow to finger tips)

Hand = 3 inches

Breadth

So one rod is about 10.5 feet!

√ The point

Ez. 40:3 He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway.

Ez. 40:4 And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see.”

God wanted Ezekiel to take careful notes so that he could accurately communicate to the Jewish captives the awesomeness of the new…

Temple

City

Land

…so that they would no longer mourn the loss of the old, but instead be excited about the new!

Ex. Your home

If you’re mobile home burnt down you would be sad, until you found out the your insurance was going to replace it with a new custom-built mansion!

The Temple Wall (vs. 5)

Ez. 40:5 Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple. In the man’s hand was a measuring rod six cubits long, each being a cubit and a handbreadth; and he measured the width of the wall structure, one rod; and the height, one rod.

√ The temple wall

This is where you’re going to want to begin referring to the diagram that we have handed out.

The first measurement that Ezekiel takes is of the wall surrounding the Temple compound.

We’re told that the height and width of the wall was one rod, or 10.5 feet.

So the wall is 10.5 feet thick and 10.5 feet high!

The purpose of the wall is to create a barrier between the holy and the common.

It was to be a visible reminder to everyone that on the other side of that wall was God’s House!

That once a person entered through the gates and into the Temple courts that it was time to put aside anything and everything that would distract you from worshipping God!

The Outer Gates (vs. 6-16)

Ez. 40:6 Then he went to the gateway which faced east; and he went up its stairs and measured the threshold of the gateway, which was one rod wide, and the other threshold was one rod wide.

Ez. 40:7 Each gate chamber was one rod long and one rod wide; between the gate chambers was a space of five cubits; and the threshold of the gateway by the vestibule of the inside gate was one rod.

Ez. 40:8 He also measured the vestibule of the inside gate, one rod.

Ez. 40:9 Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits; and the gateposts, two cubits. The vestibule of the gate was on the inside.

Ez. 40:10 In the eastern gateway were three gate chambers on one side and three on the other; the three were all the same size; also the gateposts were of the same size on this side and that side.

Ez. 40:11 He measured the width of the entrance to the gateway, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.

Ez. 40:12 There was a space in front of the gate chambers, one cubit on this side and one cubit on that side; the gate chambers were six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side.

Ez. 40:13 Then he measured the gateway from the roof of one gate chamber to the roof of the other; the width was twenty-five cubits, as door faces door.

Ez. 40:14 He measured the gateposts, sixty cubits high, and the court all around the gateway extended to the gatepost.

Ez. 40:15 From the front of the entrance gate to the front of the vestibule of the inner gate was fifty cubits.

Ez. 40:16 There were beveled window frames in the gate chambers and in their intervening archways on the inside of the gateway all around, and likewise in the vestibules. There were windows all around on the inside. And on each gatepost were palm trees.

√ The Outer Gates

There are three gates leading into the Temple compound (see Temple compound drawing G1), one on the…

East

North

South

The gate described here is the gate that faces East toward the sunrise and the Mount of Olives.

Each gate is entered by climbing seven steps, through a threshold, down a long corridor with guardrooms on both sides, into a portico and finally out into the inner court (H on Temple drawing).

Couple of interesting points about these gates.

No one except the prince may enter by the East gate (we’ll get to that in chapter 44).

Everyone else who enters the Temple compound must enter by either the North or South gate and exit through the opposite gate.

Not sure why, but it may have to do with the idea of ceremonial cleanliness (similar to the Mikvah).

Also, this is the first set of three stairs leading to the Temple.

Steps from the city into the outer gates

Steps from the inner court into the inner gates

Steps from the court into the Temple

The idea is that a person coming to worship God is always “going up”, being taken to a higher level.

Ex. Going “up to Jerusalem”

Look in the Bible and you’ll find that every time someone speaks of going to Jerusalem they will always say…

“Let’s go up to Jerusalem!”

You might go “down to Fort Smith” but you never say…

“Let’s go down to Jerusalem”

It doesn’t matter if you’re in the valley or on top of a mountain, if you’re going to Jerusalem to worship you’re it’s always “up”…

…ascending to the place where you will worship God.

Ap. God calls us up to Himself

The steps remind us that whenever a person sets themselves to worship God they are always ascending.

True worship will always lift us up!

You can’t truly worship God and not be changed.

As you worship you’ll move from the depths of depression or despair to hope and expectation.

On the other hand it’s interesting that the worship of false gods always brings you down! David writes…

Psa. 135:15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

The work of men’s hands.

Psa. 135:16 They have mouths, but they do not speak;

Eyes they have, but they do not see;

Psa. 135:17 They have ears, but they do not hear;

Nor is there any breath in their mouths.

The sad reality is that those who make gods for themselves always make their gods in their own image.

Little eyes like their own, but they can’t see.

Little ears like their own, but they can’t hear.

Thus when a person makes a god for themselves they are actually making it less than themselves and when they worship that god they are brought down to it’s level, as David’s concludes…

Psa. 135:18 Those who make them are like them;

So is everyone who trusts in them.

But, when we worship the true God we find that He brings us up…

…that’s the idea behind the steps in the Temple they remind us that God is calling us up that we might be transformed by our worship to be like Him.

The Outer Court (vs. 17-19)

Ez. 40:17 Then he brought me into the outer court; and there were chambers and a pavement made all around the court; thirty chambers faced the pavement.

Ez. 40:18 The pavement was by the side of the gateways, corresponding to the length of the gateways; this was the lower pavement.

Ez. 40:19 Then he measured the width from the front of the lower gateway to the front of the inner court exterior, one hundred cubits toward the east and the north.

√ The outer court

The main assembly area for worshippers in the Temple compound, it measures 175 feet from the exit of any of the three outer gates to the entrance corresponding inner gates.

You’ll notice 30 little rooms marked “R” surrounding the courtyard.

We’re not told what they’re used for, some have suggested that they may be for the people to eat the fellowship sacrifice.

Or, it may be the place where the sacrifices were roasted?

Regardless of what the rooms were used for the one thing that would grab your attention when you entered the outer courtyard would be the smell…

…beef and lamb cooking over an open fire!

A Holy barbeque!

I’m not just being silly, rather, when you read through the description of the different sacrifices of the Law you will see this phrase used over and over again…

“a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.”

Sounds like God likes BBQ as much as we do in the South!

Ap. The smell of BBQ

It doesn’t matter whether I’m hungry or not, or if I am hungry what I might be craving…

…when I smell a BBQ that’s what I want!

Perhaps that’s part of the reason that so many of the sacrifices in the Old Testament were cooked over an open flame.

The smell would stir up a hunger in you, for BBQ for sure…

…but also for fellowship with God.

That is, the smell of beef or lamb being roasted would remind us that our sin keeps us from fellowship with God.

That a sacrifice was needed to atone for our sin and thereby restore our fellowship with God.

So walking through the courtyard the smell of the roasted meat would be like an invitation to come and fellowship with God!

The Other Outer Gates (vs. 19-27)

We’re going to skip over these verses because they simply repeat the exact description of the Eastern Gate that we’ve already read.

The Inner Gates (vs. 28-37)

Ez. 40:28 Then he brought me to the inner court through the southern gateway; he measured the southern gateway according to these same measurements.

Ez. 40:29 Also its gate chambers, its gateposts, and its archways were according to these same measurements; there were windows in it and in its archways all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

Ez. 40:30 There were archways all around, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide.

Ez. 40:31 Its archways faced the outer court, palm trees were on its gateposts, and going up to it were eight steps.

Ez. 40:32 And he brought me into the inner court facing east; he measured the gateway according to these same measurements.

Ez. 40:33 Also its gate chambers, its gateposts, and its archways were according to these same measurements; and there were windows in it and in its archways all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

Ez. 40:34 Its archways faced the outer court, and palm trees were on its gateposts on this side and on that side; and going up to it were eight steps.

Ez. 40:35 Then he brought me to the north gateway and measured it according to these same measurements—

Ez. 40:36 also its gate chambers, its gateposts, and its archways. It had windows all around; its length was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.

Ez. 40:37 Its gateposts faced the outer court, palm trees were on its gateposts on this side and on that side, and going up to it were eight steps.

√ The inner gates

All three of the inner gates, North, East, and South are identical to one another and to the outer gates with the two exceptions…

First, that the portico (entrance) was the first thing you entered and faced back toward the outer court…

…while the portico on the outer gates was the last section you entered.

Second, there are 8 steps leading up to the inner gates verses 7 leading up to the outer gates.

It’s hard to know if there is any significance to the number of steps because it would seem that if there was some pattern that we are to discern that God would give us the number of steps leading up to the Temple itself…

…yet the Bible doesn’t give us that information.

Ex. If there were 9 steps

We might see a picture of spiritual growth and maturity in the life of a believer…

7 steps ~ Salvation, where we are granted the perfect righteousness of Christ and move from outside of fellowship with God into fellowship with God.

8 steps ~ a picture of the new beginning or new life we have in Christ in which He begins the process of sanctification.

9 steps ~ a picture of the mature believer who manifests the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit.

But alas Ezekiel doesn’t tell us how many steps lead up to the Temple from the inner courtyard. Probably to keep guys like me from getting carried away with typology!

The Preparation Rooms (vs. 38-43)

Ez. 40:38 There was a chamber and its entrance by the gateposts of the gateway, where they washed the burnt offering.

Ez. 40:39 In the vestibule of the gateway were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which to slay the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering.

Ez. 40:40 At the outer side of the vestibule, as one goes up to the entrance of the northern gateway, were two tables; and on the other side of the vestibule of the gateway were two tables.

Ez. 40:41 Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side, by the side of the gateway, eight tables on which they slaughtered the sacrifices.

Ez. 40:42 There were also four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, one cubit and a half long, one cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high; on these they laid the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt offering and the sacrifice.

Ez. 40:43 Inside were hooks, a handbreadth wide, fastened all around; and the flesh of the sacrifices was on the tables.

√ The preparation rooms

Or, you might think of these rooms as the “butcher shop”!

This is where the priests prepared the sacrifices for the altar in the inner court.

The animals would be washed, then slaughtered per the Law (carotid artery cut, then hung up to bleed out), and then finally cut up to into the portions specified by the Law before being placed on the altar.

Which brings us to a very important question…

“Why are they offering sacrifices in the Millennial Kingdom?”

We understand from the book of Hebrews (10:14) that Jesus offered a one-time sacrifice for sin that covered all sin!

So, why is Ezekiel describing a Temple with an altar where animals are being sacrifice!?

Great question!

√ Memorial sacrifices

First of all it’s important that we realize that the Old Testament sacrifices never took away sin.

Heb. 10:1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

Heb. 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

Heb. 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

Heb. 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

The reality is that Old Testament saints were saved just as we are, by grace through faith in God.

Abraham and David for example.

So, during the times of the Old Testament the sacrifices were designed to restore fellowship, not take away sin.

So, the thought is that during the Kingdom Age that the sacrifices made in the Temple will be done as memorials to remind people of Messiah’s suffering and death.

Ex. Communion

Some people suggest that there is a parallel to communion.

That is, with the death of Jesus on the Cross and the birth of the Church, Israel took a back seat in God’s program of Redemption.

The Church no longer offers animal sacrifices, rather, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper (Communion) during which we look back to the Lord’s sacrifice.

The thought is that during the Kingdom Age Israel is restored to the their central role in God’s plan and the sacrifices in the Temple are like Communion in that they look back to the Lord’s sacrifice.

The Green Room (vs. 44-46)

Ez. 40:44 Outside the inner gate were the chambers for the singers in the inner court, one facing south at the side of the northern gateway, and the other facing north at the side of the southern gateway.

Ez. 40:45 Then he said to me, “This chamber which faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple.

Ez. 40:46 The chamber which faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the sons of Zadok, from the sons of Levi, who come near the LORD to minister to Him.”

√ The green room

The rooms listed here are for the priests who minister in the Temple compound (RP on drawing).

A room for the singers

A room for those who minister in the Temple

(Bread, incense, lamps)

A room for those who minister at the Altar

(Fire and the sacrifices)

I call it the “Green room” because that’s what we call the room where the worship team and I gather before services to pray!

The Inner Court (vs. 47-49)

Ezek. 40:47 And he measured the court, one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, foursquare. The altar was in front of the temple.

Ezek. 40:48 Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the doorposts of the vestibule, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and the width of the gateway was three cubits on this side and three cubits on that side.

Ezek. 40:49 The length of the vestibule was twenty cubits, and the width eleven cubits; and by the steps which led up to it there were pillars by the doorposts, one on this side and another on that side.

√ The inner court

The significant information here is the placement of the altar, notice that…

“The altar was in front of the temple”

The significance is that you cannot approach the Temple where God dwells without first going to the altar!

It reminds us that Man is not able to approach God until his sin is taken care of.

In the Millennial Temple the altar will serve to remind people that it is only through Jesus that Man can approach God.

That His sacrifice on the Cross opened the way to fellowship with God by once and for all removing our sins.

One other point is that from God’s perspective seated in the Holy of Holies if He were to look out of the Temple He would see the altar.

The symbolic picture is that it reminds us that is how God now see us who have trusted in Christ…

…from His throne in Heaven He looks at us through the Cross.

So, the altar by it’s placement in the inner court speaks of the Cross which…

…opened the door for Man to fellowship with God, and provided the perfect sacrifice so that when the Father looks upon us He sees us “in Christ”.

Close

√ The Kingdom Temple

The new Temple reminds us that God has a great future planned for those who trust in Him.

Reminds us that He will restore all that has been destroyed by sin.

That our mourning will be turned to joy because what He will do in the future far surpasses all that we held dear in this life.

So, when we find ourselves discouraged and beat down by the trials of life we can find joy and encouragement by looking forward to the Kingdom that God has promised us.