Reflections on Ezekiel 41

Ezekiel 41 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Next we went into the main room of the temple. The man measured the doorway of this room: It was ten feet wide,
   
2. seventeen feet long, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was eight feet. The main room itself was sixty-eight feet by thirty-four feet.
   
3. Then the man walked to the far end of the temple's main room and said, "Beyond this doorway is the most holy place." He first measured the doorway: It was three feet wide, ten feet long, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was twelve feet. Then he measured the most holy place, and it was thirty-four feet square.
   
4. (SEE 41:3)
   
5. The man measured the wall of the temple, and it was ten feet thick. Storage rooms seven feet wide were built against the outside of the wall.
   
6. There were three levels of rooms, with thirty rooms on each level, and they rested on ledges that were attached to the temple walls, so that nothing was built into the walls.
   
7. The walls of the temple were thicker at the bottom than at the top, which meant that the storage rooms on the top level were wider than those on the bottom level. Steps led from the bottom level, through the middle level, and into the top level.
   
8. The temple rested on a stone base ten feet high, which also served as the foundation for the storage rooms.
   
9. The outside walls of the storage rooms were eight feet thick; there was nothing between these walls
   
10. and the nearest buildings thirty-four feet away.
    
11. One door led into the storage rooms on the north side of the temple, and another door led to those on the south side. The stone base extended eight feet beyond the outside wall of the storage rooms.
    
12. I noticed another building: It faced the west end of the temple and was one hundred seventeen feet wide, one hundred fifty feet long, and had walls over eight feet thick.
    
13. The man measured the length of the temple, and it was one hundred seventy feet. He then measured from the back wall of the temple, across the open space behind the temple, to the back wall of the west building; it was one hundred seventy feet.
    
14. The distance across the front of the temple, including the open space on either side, was also one hundred seventy feet.
    
15. Finally, the man measured the length of the west building, including the side rooms on each end, and it was also one hundred seventy feet. The inside walls of the temple's porch and main room
    
16. were paneled with wood all the way from the floor to the windows, while the doorways, the small windows, and the three side rooms were trimmed in wood.
    
17. The paneling stopped just above the doorway. These walls were decorated
    
18. with carvings of winged creatures and had a carving of a palm tree between the creatures. Each winged creature had two faces: A human face looking at the palm tree on one side, and a lion's face looking at the palm tree on the other side. These designs were carved into the paneling all the way around the two rooms.
    
19. (SEE 41:18)
    
20. (SEE 41:18)
    
21. The doorframe to the temple's main room was in the shape of a rectangle. In front of the doorway to the most holy place was something that looked like
    
22. a wooden altar. It was five feet high and four feet square, and its corners, its base, and its sides were made of wood. The man said, "This is a reminder that the LORD is constantly watching over his temple."
    
23. Both the doorway to the main room of the temple and the doorway to the most holy place had two doors,
    
24. and each door had two sections that could fold open.
    
25. The doors to the main room were decorated with carvings of winged creatures and palm trees just like those on the walls, and there was a wooden covering over the porch just outside these doors.
    
26. The walls on each side of this porch had small windows and were also decorated with carvings of palm trees.
    
    

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    Ezekiel continues his description of the new temple to be built in Jerusalem as a part of God's new covenant with His people. These events are yet to happen. He saw this new temple in a vision given him from God. In the vision Ezekiel was led throughout the temple by "a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand." (40:3) In this chapter, this man continues to lead Ezekiel through the temple giving measurements of various parts as they go about. The design of this new temple is much the same as Solomon's temple. For instance, the sanctuary is the same dimensions. There is also a Most Holy Place into which Ezekiel was not allowed to go. Only the bronze-like man entered and measured the room.
    
    As with Solomon's temple, the "Most Holy Place" represents God's presence. In Solomon's temple, under the old covenant, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, or holy of holies, once a year to offer a blood sacrifice for his own sins and that of the people. But as Hebrews 9:9 points out, "This is a symbol for the present time." But "Now the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), He entered the holy of holies once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:11-12) This the Messiah did one time for all people. But His sacrifice only provides forgiveness for those who accept it.
    
    The new temple will simply be an earthly representation of what has taken place in heaven. The Messiah will be the mediator of the new covenant and the High Priest of the new temple. Sacrifices offered in this new temple will point to His sacrifice on the cross. But only the Messiah's sacrifice will actually provide forgiveness of sin.