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The Millennial Temple.
Ezekiel 40-48 describes a temple that will exist in the Millennium.
Earlier in Ezekiel God promised that He would establish His
sanctuary, or temple forever. Since there is no temple today,
we know that this prophecy has not occurred yet.
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And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will
be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place
them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in
their midst forever. (NASB) Ezekiel 37:26
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This is a future prophecy. Ezekiel 40-48 describes this temple
in detail (Ezek. 43:7). The chart below provides a quick
outline of Ezekiel's description of this temple.
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Ezekiel
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Description of the Temple
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40
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Outer and inner courts, the gates, and some offerings
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41
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Outer sanctuary (Holy Place) and inner sanctuary (Holy
of Holies) and other parts of the temple
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42
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Chambers of the priests
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43
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Return of God’s glory and the altar
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44
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East gate and the Prince
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45
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The sacred land and more offerings
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46
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Worship and the Prince
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47
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The land and the healing waters
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48
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The land divided among the Tribes of Israel
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These chapters describe the temple, its priests, and the offerings
of worship which Ezekiel saw in his vision. The vision is
about a future temple.
The Prince.
The prophet also describes a person called “the prince” in
Ezekiel 40-48. The prince is not Jesus Christ for several reasons.
First, the prince offers sacrifices for himself (Ezek. 45:2,
4, 12; 45:22). Why would Jesus offer sacrifices for Himself
since He is holy? Second,
the prince will produce children (Ezek. 46:16-19). The prince
cannot be Jesus since He no longer has human flesh but a
transformed divine body. Jesus’ ministry and existence
in a human body has ended.
Third, “the prince” is not a priest. He will be
allowed to provide animals for sacrifice, but he will be not
be able to perform the ministries of a priest (Ezek. 45:11-19).
Since Jesus is our high priest, He would be able to perform
the ministries of a priest. This means the prince is not Jesus.
So who is the prince? The prince is apparently a leader during
the millennial kingdom.
He appears to be an administrator in the kingdom. Since Moses
never gave any instruction about a prince, we cannot be certain.
This is a key fact that helps us understand that this temple
is very different from anything in the past.
The Feasts.
When we look carefully at the words in Ezekiel 40-48, we find
that there are some significant differences between Ezekiel's
worship and the worship described by Moses. The Jews agree
that there are differences from the instructions given by Moses – differences
they cannot explain. Here are the key differences.
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Moses' Feasts (Lev. 23)
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Ezekiel's Feasts (40-48)
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Passover
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Passover
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Pentecost
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None
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Trumpets
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None
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Day of Atonement
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None
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Tabernacles
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Tabernacles
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All the offerings
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All the offerings
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There are differences in the feasts but not in the sacrifices.
Notice that there will be no Day of Atonement, because Jesus
has already died for our sins. There is no Pentecost, since
the Holy Spirit has already come in power.
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