The Temple: One of my friends asked me about some thoughts regarding the “temple” mentioned in Ezekiel 40, &c., and I asked if I could have permission to post my reply, which is as following: “So I was talking with a buddy of mine not too long ago about the Bible and theology. Mainly about eschatology and end times stuff. Now he is very premillennial and dispensational. Even though he would not be able to explain the system of dispensationalism. He’s just been taught pre-millennial doctrine his whole life so that he just blindly believes it. Well I was explaining to him my views on these things, &c., and he was just shocked that I could believe some of these things. Like he was just blown away that I don’t believe that there is going to be a 3rd temple built in Jerusalem. And I explained that we or the church are the 3rd temple. A spiritual temple. And I quoted to him Ephesians 2:21. And he asked what did I make of Ezekiel 40-48? He explained to me that those chapters are showing the 3rd temple to Ezekiel, and it’s giving blueprints. And I said well it’s probably a symbolic representation of the gospel church. And he emphatically was like, “no! The dimensions are way too specific for it to be all symbolic.” So I read Ezekiel 40:48, and was just wondering. Are you familiar with that passage? Do you have any idea what to make of it?
Reply: No, I’m not familiar with that particular passage, though I am somewhat acquainted with dispensational theology and the shaky scaffolding that holds it together. Scripture was never meant to be trimmed to fit our systems, it was given to reveal the glory of Christ, and every faithful reading of it must lead us there. One does not need a doctorate in eschatology to discern the emptiness of this notion that God still intends to dwell in a house made with hands. The entire witness of Scripture leads us to Christ, and that strange obsession with another temple misses the whole point of the gospel. Christ is the temple, its foundation, its sacrifice, its glory. To look for another structure on earth is to look backward, not forward. The notion of another earthly temple overlooks the finished work of Christ, in whom every shadow has found its substance. The veil has been torn, the sacrifices fulfilled, and God now meets His people not in a structure, but in a Savior. When the Jews asked Christ for a sign, He said, “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19-21. John explains, “he spake of the temple of His body.” That’s the interpretive key. The temple was never an end in itself; it was a shadow pointing forward to the substance, which is fulfilled perfectly in Christ. A shadow takes its shape from something real, and that reality is Christ. When the substance appeared, the shadow’s purpose was fulfilled. Colossians 2:16-17.
So, whether Ezekiel is giving measurements, sacrifices, or priestly orders, all of it ultimately prefigures Christ and His finished work. Hebrews says plainly that the old temple, priesthood, and sacrifices were “a shadow of heavenly things.” Hebrews 8:5; 10:1. Those patterns were never meant to stand alone; they were the language of promise, pointing beyond the altar and the veil to the cross, where mercy triumphed without compromising justice, and grace fulfilled what law could only foreshadow. Romans 3:25-26. Additionally, as you brought out, the apostle Paul uses “temple” language for the church repeatedly. “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. Ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians. 2:21-22. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” I Corinthians 3:16. Peter also says believers are “living stones” built into a spiritual house. I Peter 2:5. That means Ezekiel’s vision finds its truest fulfillment not in bricks and mortar but in the living people of God united to Christ. The promise finds its truest expression in Christ Himself, and then in those that belong to Christ, who through grace are made one with Him. John 17:21-23.
Your friend’s objection, that “the dimensions are too specific to be symbolic” is probably common. But Scripture uses precise numbers symbolically all the time. In Revelation 21:16, John measures the New Jerusalem, its length, breadth, and height all equal, yet no one imagines he is providing blueprints for a literal cube descending from the heavens. The city’s perfect symmetry mirrors the harmony of redemption, where nothing is lacking and all is holy. The image is symbolic, portraying the beauty of divine perfection, the completeness of God’s people in Christ. It often speaks this way, using visible imagery to unveil invisible glory, the Lamb upon the throne, the Bride adorned for her Husband, the temple made not with hands, &c., it’s the language of revelation, designed to lift our thoughts from earth to heaven, from form to fulfillment, from temple to Christ.
Does your friend realize that this temple depiction from Ezekiel portrays a temple that is gargantuan in size? Look it up once: Ezekiel’s temple, if measured literally, would be twelve times the size of Solomon’s and far larger than all Jerusalem. It seriously would take a geographical miracle to build this thing literally, but that’s beside the point, as the difficulty lies not in the logistics but in the theology. For as we know, things impossible with men are possible with God, Luke 18:27; yet the issue here is deeper than mere feasibility. The problem isn’t with God’s ability but with man’s unbelief. To expect another temple of stone and blood is to deny the sufficiency of the one sacrifice already offered, and to forget that all temple imagery finds its meaning in Christ alone.
When it comes to the precision involved with the measurements, I think perhaps they are meant to emphasize holiness, order, and perfection in God’s dwelling place, not to serve as a construction manual. Every dimension speaks of divine exactness and purity, the completeness of God’s work, not the curiosity of man’s design. Ezekiel was being shown that in God’s house, nothing is random, nothing left to chance; all is proportioned according to the wisdom and purpose that finds its fulfillment in Christ. Ephesians 1:10.
So yeah, brother, let’s not make any plans to chart every inch of Ezekiel’s temple any time soon, for we already know what the gospel tells us about Christ as the true temple, and about us as living stones in Him. Whatever Ezekiel saw, it finds its “Yea and Amen” in Him. II Corinthians 1:20. I hope that’s a little helpful. Like I said, I’m certainly no prophecy major or scholar in “end-time” theories, but I do trust the Lord has granted enough light to see that all revelation, whether prophecy or promise, culminates in the glory of our Redeemer’s work. Revelation 19:10.
It’s striking that your friend was so taken aback simply because you didn’t share the assumptions he’s always lived under. I suppose it would be like trying to convince someone that the map they’ve trusted all their life leads to the wrong destination. And of course, you’ve gone and questioned his bible knowledge, now that’s not very nice! I could be wrong, but I think that kind of dispensational thinking still rules the day. It’s what most people have been taught from childhood, so it goes largely unquestioned. But when the Lord begins to unfold His truth, the traditions of men start to lose their hold, and we find ourselves increasingly out of step with the religion of the crowd. Isaiah 8:11-13.
Before I close this out, I should mention that any thoughts of a rebuilt temple are nothing to play around with. This is no minor difference of opinion, it’s a serious departure from the gospel, and a direct affront to the sufficiency of Christ. To suppose that God would once again dwell in a house made with hands is to deny the glory of what has already been accomplished in His Son. It implies that His atoning work was incomplete, that another sacrifice, another altar, another priesthood might still be needed. But the gospel proclaims the opposite, “by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14. Christ fulfilled every type and shadow, tore the veil, and sat down at the right hand of God, not because there was nothing left to offer, but because everything needed for our redemption had been accomplished. To look beyond that finished work is to abandon the ground of grace itself. Have a good night brother, and write anytime. MPJ