Immanuel Lutheran Church Study Forum

Greetings Bible Adventurists,
Despite my earnest attempts, I cannot keep all the measurements of the temple in Ezekiel's vision straight in my head. Fortunately for me, some nice folks on the internet have sketched these out and even done some nifty computerized drawings. There are a lot of ideas that differ in architectural style, but most are similar. I am attaching a couple of the ones I find most interesting, but you may want to search for others.

I find the return from exile interesting and the effort to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem inspiring. I wonder if I have the courage and conviction these people demonstrated. They took great risks and made extraordinary efforts and through them I see God carrying out His plan and precisely fulfilling His promises. We will explore more of His plan and promises a we start the New Testament in about 3 weeks. Thanks for reading along with me.

temple_diagram-1537185073.png
herrods_temple-767x494-792399754.jpg

Oops, I'll try to add the pictures

The way God goes into details about what He wants His tribe at the time to build for His glory leaves me to believe He is showing all people and spiritual beings a bigger picture. I don’t look at the temple as a holy building for people and God only but as a blueprint to something on a more grand and eternal scale that communicates to all spiritual beings. We simply see it as a mystery and may connect a few dots here/there but I sense all spiritual beings recognized these structures and what they communicated. Scripture does mention that the Hebrew Israelites were copying something from above as these were built. ‘As above, so below’. O how the conspiracy theorists go abuzz at the mention of this saying; As if they they’ve got it all figured out in their pseudo esoteric wisdom from antisemitic YouTube vids. I suppose God laughs at our ideas of “wisdom”, including my own.

It seems to me that these buildings were a tangibly spiritual hub btwn the above and the below… and all of creation knew it. It speaks to our spiritual self, which is to say the everlasting REAL version of us. Our reality is spiritual as it is only our physicality that is temporary. The temporary testing of our soul, that carnal temple we call a body. Yet, something so carnal and full of constant hostile harassment against our true state of being can be mastered by and for God. The evil inclination being subdued by the righteous inclination. The more pagan-ish story would be that of all human beings being born w/ 2 wolves. Which wolf do we feed and nurture, the predator or guardian to our soul?

When I see these temples, my mind goes to Gan Eden, where a human freely walked w/ God. The temples seem to match both the human and spiritual blueprint of our own bodies and even our relationships w/ each other AND w/ God. Something above has been made manifest on earth by human works through divine instruction. Something far beyond the bldg itself is taking place and we all know it but just can’t seem to fully grasp .. which I find annoying these days.

Thanks Julie,
You bring up some interesting points. I'll post this on the webpage (www.immanuel365.net) for further discussion if anyone is interested. The temple in Ezekiel's vision is very similar to Moses' tabernacle, Solomon's temple, and even Herod's temple. Despite all the measuring, many of the dimensions of the structures within the temple are not recorded in Ezekiel. It is interesting that he was not told to build it, but only write down what he saw to pass on to the other Israelites, but didn't really give instructions to have them build it either. God did show how to redivide the promised land between the tribes, which would imply they will regain their inheritance after the exile. Several features of Ezekiel's temple point more forward towards John's vision in Revelation than backward towards Moses' Tabernacle. I agree that this vision somehow rings true to us spiritually. I think the vision most likely inspiration for those in exile who had that innate, instinctual understanding of God, His sovereignty, and His eternal kingdom. I think we all have that understanding, although it seems many today (and then) work hard to deny it.

Perhaps John’s version of the temple is the eternal temple come down from above, the New Jerusalem, and Ezekiel’s temple is the shadow of that eternal temple. The whole cyclical thing that happens throughout Hebrew culture in Messianic congregations will often take that approach. One can see it as Ezekiel’s temple being the last temple made by man (someday) before the eternal temple arrives. The Hebrew speaking ppl in Israel at some point in the future will say “Baruch haba b’Shem Adonai” from the mount. They are currently no where close to that point yet.

When humans do things on this earth that mirror what is in heaven above, it communicates things we don’t quite understand to the spiritual world and major happenings take place, I believe. Perhaps building Ezekiel’s temple will be a cry from below to our God above. I doubt I will see it in my lifetime but it would be nice since it seems my generation only sees the decline and persecution that is spoken about. I’m personally sick of it all, the deception is real. I’m just simply sick and tired of it all.