Ezekiel's Temple
Revelation places Ezekiel’s vision of the ideal Temple in the middle of the city of New Jerusalem.
The book of Revelation places
Ezekiel’s vision of the ideal Temple in the city of New Jerusalem. What the ancient
prophet envisioned is at the center of the perfectly squared city. Language
from his prophecy is applied in Revelation to paint a portrait
of the glorious city that will encompass the entire New Creation.
In his vision, John was “carried away in
the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and shown the holy city
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” There, the angel gave him “a
golden reed to measure the city, its gates and wall” - (Revelation
21:10-15).
Likewise, Yahweh brought the prophet Ezekiel
to “a very high mountain” from which he could observe the
Temple in Jerusalem. An angelic being had “a measuring reed six cubits long”
with which to measure the Temple - (Ezekiel 40:1-3).
John observed that the city had “a great and
high wall with twelve gates, and names written on them, the twelve tribes
of Israel. On the east were three gates. And on the north three gates,
on the south three gates, and on the west three gates” - (Revelation
21:12).
Likewise, in Ezekiel’s vision, “the gates
of the city will be after the names of the tribes of Israel;
three gates northward…at the east side three gates…at the south side three
gates…at the west side three gates” - (Ezekiel 48:31-34).
And in “New Jerusalem,” John saw no sanctuary,
“For the Lord God and the
Lamb are its `sanctuary… And a river of water of
life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in
the middle of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was
the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds
of fruit yielding its fruit every
month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” - (Revelation
21:22, 22:1-2).
Likewise, in Ezekiel’s vision, the prophet saw:
- “Waters that issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward…the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar…upon the bank of the river were many trees on the one side and on the other. These waters issue forth toward the eastern region and shall go down into the Arabah, and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea shall the waters go which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed…by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing” - (Ezekiel 48:31-34).
In short, the book of Revelation places
the perfect Temple and city seen by Ezekiel in his vision smack in the center
of the New Creation. Together, God and the “Lamb” become the “sanctuary”
in the city of “New Jerusalem.” But unlike Ezekiel’s Temple, there will
be no animal sacrifices in that glorious and final “sanctuary,” for
Jesus, the slain “Lamb,” will be there.
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