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Bible Question:
Why do the sacrifices return in Ezekiel's temple (Ezekiel 46-47)?
Bible Answer:
The passage you are asking about occurs near the end of Ezekiel
40-48 which describes the future Messianic kingdom that Jesus
promised to His disciples before He returned to heaven (Acts
1:6-7). This kingdom is commonly called the 1,000
year kingdom or Millennium
. Both Jews and most Christians agree that this passage is
about the coming Messiah, but there are some who do not. In
answering your question, we will first examine Ezekiel 40-48
and then answer your specific question.
What Is Ezekiel 40-48 About?
In order to understand Ezekiel 40-48, we need to know what
the book of Ezekiel is all about. From the first chapter Ezekiel
described a series of prophecies against the nation of Israel
and other foreign countries. From history we know that all
of the prophecies
in Ezekiel 1-35 have been literally fulfilled. But the prophecies
in Ezekiel 36-48 are future. Ezekiel 36-48 describes the
return of Israel to the land of Palestine, God's judgment
on the nations, and then the future 1,000 year kingdom or
Millennium.
Those Who Disagree.
There are some Christians who believe this passage is symbolic
of the Christian church, and others would say it predicts the
rebuilding of Solomon's temple after the Jewish captivity in
Babylon ended. Both views are wrong. The first view should
be rejected because Ezekiel never tells us that these descriptions
of the temple are symbols, and it is not obvious that these
are symbolic of the church. Why would the prophet be so indirect
when Ezekiel 1-35 has been so literal? This view is not consistent
with the preceeding part of the book.
The
last view should also be rejected because the prophet says
this kingdom will last forever.
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And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place
of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where
I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the
house of Israel will not again defile My holy name .
. ." (NASB) Ezekiel 43:7
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Israel was destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans. That nation
did not last forever. Only recently did they return to the
land of Palestine in 1948, and still there is no temple.
Ezekiel described a future temple - a literal temple that
is still to come.
We must remember that all of the prophecies in Ezekiel have
been literally fulfilled today except for Ezekiel 36-48.
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