EZEKIEL 40-41 THE MILLENNIAL TEMPLE2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezekiel 40-41 The Millennial Temple

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

Chapter 40 and Lord willing we'll be heading into chapter 41 as well and as we head into chapter 40 we're shifting gears once again in the book of Ezekiel. We've spent a great deal of time in the book of Ezekiel looking at the judgments that God was bringing upon the nation of Judah because of their rebellion against God and how God sent messengers, he sent reminders, he used

Jeremiah, he used Ezekiel, and he spoke to his people, he called them to repentance, but they refused to repent and get right with God, and they insisted on continually rebelling against God, and as a result, it came to the point where the Lord used the nation of Babylon to bring judgment against

against Judah and Judah was conquered and the city of Jerusalem was leveled and all of the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem were taken captive. There was a few that were left behind but they quickly fled to Egypt and the rest were taken captive back to Babylon and so the end result of their rebellion against God was that the land was uninhabited, it was desolate,

The walls and the villages, they were all knocked down. There was just nothing there. It was a desolate place that was uninhabited. Well, then we went from there in Ezekiel to looking at some of the surrounding nations and their rebellions against God and God's pronouncement of judgment upon them as well. And now as we...

Go into chapter 40 through the end of the book. We're looking now at something that is yet future, focusing once again on the nation of Israel and what God has in store for them during the millennial kingdom.

Now on Sundays we've been making reference to the Millennial Kingdom for a while. It's that thousand year reign of Christ. If you could follow along with me quickly in your minds the outline that we're following on Sunday mornings. What we are looking forward to as believers is the rapture of the church. We believe that Jesus Christ is coming back soon and we're going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

And as the church is out of this world, then the earth is going to go through seven years of tribulation. And that tribulation we've been studying on Sunday mornings in the book of Revelation is going to be intense and terrible. And you don't want to be here during that time. And so we're thankful for the rapture. We're thankful that we are counted worthy to escape as Jesus told us to pray in Luke 21, 36.

Well, the end of the seven-year tribulation is when Jesus comes back and he puts an end to the battle of Armageddon and he comes and he sets foot on earth and he establishes his kingdom on the earth and he rules and reigns here on the earth for 1,000 years.

That time of his reign is a time of peace, a time of righteousness. The earth is renewed and restored. The Christians who are raptured, the saints who are with the Lord come back with him to rule and to reign with him. And it's those who survive that tribulation period, not that many will, but there will be those who survive the tribulation. They will go into the millennium and they will pass.

continue to live their lives. They will have children. They will marry. They will be involved in worshiping God. They'll be involved in providing for themselves and those types of things. And so they will continue to live normal lives while Christ is reigning on the earth and the saints are ruling and reigning alongside of Him for that thousand years.

Well, during that thousand years, there's a lot of prophecies that are going to be fulfilled. A lot of things that Isaiah prophesied of, that Jeremiah prophesied of, that these different prophets that we've been studying have been talking about and promising that would take place. Those things are going to be fulfilled during that thousand year reign of Christ.

And that's what we're looking at in chapters 40 through 48 of the book of Ezekiel. We're looking at things that will take place during that time. And during that time, one of the major emphasis of the millennial kingdom is God's renewed work and focus on the nation of Israel. And

And the nation of Israel is going to be blessed. They are going to be really the center of the world because Jesus' throne will be there. And there's going to be a renewal of the worship system. The temple will be built.

There will be a millennial temple, and that's what we'll be talking about tonight. There will be sacrifices. There will be people coming around from all around the world to come and to worship God during that thousand-year reign of Christ upon the earth.

And so as we head into chapter 40, that's the context of what we're looking at. We're looking at something that's yet future, but it's God's promise of restoration and blessing and revival, even beyond what Israel has experienced in the past. They're going to be experiencing the blessing of God in an incredible way during this time.

Now as we consider the millennial temple and the things that are going on around the temple, it does bring up some questions. Why is there going to be a temple and why is there going to be sacrifices since Jesus Christ already died alive?

upon the cross. And it's a question that's often asked and we'll be dealing with that for the next couple weeks as we finish up the book of Ezekiel because it's, you know, it's a question that comes up because Jesus has already paid the price in full. What are the sacrifices for? Why does there need to be a temple? And those types of things.

And so the simple answer to that, not to simplify it too much, but the sacrifices, the temple, will be part of what we would call memorial, much like communion. You know, we partake of communion together to remember what Christ has done for us upon the cross. It was something that he instituted for us to practice.

Well, the sacrifices and the worship at the temple will be the same. They will be worshiping God during that time there at the temple, and they will be performing sacrifices, not to take away sin because Christ has already paid that price, but as a memorial of the sacrifice that Jesus made. Now, if you go back to the Old Testament, you do a study in the book of Hebrews, perhaps, it's very clear, we learn right away, that sacrifices, anointing,

animal sacrifices, really cannot take away the sin issue. They covered it temporarily until the real sacrifice, Jesus Christ, came, but they weren't the final answer. They weren't really taking care of or dealing with the sin issue. It was a temporary covering or an act of faith that they did in obedience to God, and it was pointing forward to looking ahead towards the cross.

Well, in a similar way, the sacrifices and the temple worship that goes on during the millennial kingdom will be acts of faith, acts of obedience, but instead of pointing forward to the cross, they'll be pointing back to the cross and reminding those who are worshiping God that the price has already been paid by Jesus Christ. And so that's kind of the simple answer that we'll deal with as we

get going here this evening, but I'm sure in the coming weeks we'll deal with that a little bit more in depth. All right, well, let's pick it up.

In verses 1 through 4, and then we'll get started on our journey through this temple explanation here. Chapter 40, verse 1 says, "...in the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and He took me there."

Verse 1.

And the man said to me, Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and fix your mind on everything I show you. For you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see. Well, as we start here in chapter 40, we're now entering into a new vision that Ezekiel is experiencing.

He's very specific about the time frame. It's the 25th year of his captivity. He's been captive in Babylon for 25 years. The city has been conquered for 14 years because the city was conquered several times before the final destruction. And so that final destruction happened 14 years ago.

Him and many others with him have been held captive for 25 years and God now gives him this vision of Jerusalem. And he's taken by this vision, in this vision, back to Jerusalem. He's standing on the mountain and he's overlooking something that looks like a city.

And then there's a man there who has a measuring rod and he says, Ezekiel, pay attention because you were brought here so that I could show you these things. And we'll deal with that and we'll be looking at those things in the chapters this evening. And so this structure, this thing that looks like a city that Ezekiel is describing is, we find out, the millennial temple, the temple and the surrounding buildings that will be built during that thousand year reign of Christ.

Now as you came in this evening, we handed out a page. It is kind of a diagram of the Millennial Temple. And what people have done is they've taken all of the dimensions that we're about to get into. There's a lot of dimensions, a lot of numbers. It's kind of like describing a blueprint in chapter 40 and 41. And so we've taken that, people have taken that and kind of drawn it out based on Ezekiel's description.

to get an idea and an understanding of what this might look like. I have some slides that I'll show you as well to kind of give you some insight into what this might look like. It's of course subject to the creativity and the understanding of the artist and the people who put these things together. But it gives us a good visual and it gives a little bit better understanding because some of these things can be quite tedious.

And so as we begin looking at this, first of all, we understand it's 14 years after Jerusalem has been conquered. And so picture for a moment the state and the condition of the Jewish people at that time. They've been in captivity for 25 years. Jerusalem has been conquered, desolate, uninhabited for 14 years. By now, even though they were in denial for so long, by now they must...

have a clear understanding that they experienced the judgment of God. Up until the very end, they were in complete denial. They were saying, no, we're going to still be victorious even though they're captive in Babylon. We're going to get out of here. We're going to go back to Jerusalem. We're going to continue to be blessed by the Lord there in the land of Israel. They were delusional. They were refusing to obey God but thinking that God would still bless them

But now, 14 years later, Jerusalem's been lying desolate for this long. It must have sunk in. The judgment was for real. God really was dealing with them according to their sin. And it's interesting to me that in that condition and at that time, God gives Ezekiel this vision. What it says to me and what it reminds me of is that God is not done with those who experience His discipline.

God brought discipline, strong discipline upon this nation because of their rebellion. But here He sends them this message of hope, this reminder. Hey guys, yes, you got what you deserve because you insisted on rebelling against me, but I'm not going to leave you here. This isn't the end of my plan for you. What I have in store for you is far better than what the nation has ever experienced before.

And so this study of the temple is a great reminder of God's mercy and His grace and the second chances and new beginnings that He gives to us. That even though we mess up and we blow it and we experience God's discipline and chastening, God doesn't just say, okay, you're chastened, you've been dealt with according to your sin, and now that's it. I'm going to move on to someone else and I'm through with you.

Now, even when we've rebelled against God to the point of receiving His discipline and judgment, we are still in a condition where God says, I still have a plan for you. Now, it means that we need to turn and to get right with Him for sure. We need to repent. But God's not done with the nation of Israel. And God is not done with those who have experienced or those who are experiencing His discipline. It's not over yet. I like verse 4 because here...

Ezekiel is instructed. He says, fix your mind on everything I show you for you were brought here so that I might show them to you and then declare them to the house of Israel everything you see. The man with the measuring rod tells Ezekiel, probably an angel, maybe Jesus. You can debate that later. He tells him, hey, pay attention. You were brought here for this reason.

I think this is a good verse to consider as we come to church. Listen, you are brought here for a reason. So fix your mind. Sometimes it's hard to fix your mind. Especially sometimes as we go through some of the dimensions and numbers and things that we're going to be talking about here in chapter 40. Fix your mind on these things because God wants to speak to you. He brought you here for a reason. There's things that He wants to show us. There's things He wants to speak to your heart. Fix your mind. Don't be distracted.

Come back from all the wanderings that your mind will do throughout the evening. Fix your mind on these things because God has brought you here to show you some very important things.

Well, as we go forward in chapter 40, now he begins to describe this millennial temple. Now, what I have here on the screen is kind of an overview look of what Ezekiel might have seen looking down upon the city, looking down upon the millennial temple. This is a sketch up of what it might have looked like. And there's some details that we'll get into here.

throughout the evening and looking at different components of this. But just real basic and looking on real briefly, around the outside, the perimeter, there would be what's called the outer wall.

Just inside the outer wall, all of those little buildings are chambers and those would be rooms that would be used in the service of the temple. The very big tall buildings around the perimeter, those are called the gates. You have a north and a south and an east gate. And then you have a courtyard that's in the middle. That's that gray area there. And then inside the courtyard, you have three more gates. Those are the inner gates. And

And then inside of that courtyard, you have the temple. That's the brown building right in the middle there. And we'll walk through that a little bit slower and piece by piece as we go through chapter 40 and 41 together. But that's a quick overview of what the temple area or the temple complex would look like. And that's

a picture of what the diagram that you have here on that handout would possibly look like. There's some other ways to draw this or some other ways to look at it, but this gives you a little simple picture about what it may have looked like. So we start out in verse 5, and considering this, it says, Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple, and the man's hand was a measuring rod six cubits long.

each being a cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the wall structure, one rod and the height, one rod. Here we have the beginning of the description of this temple, and he begins describing it with the wall. And so we'll remove everything else and just focus on the wall for a minute. Here's this man, he's got a measuring rod, it's six cubits long.

Now, there's some discussion about how long a cubit is, but generally we follow the idea that a cubit is about 18 inches long, and it's easier to do the math that way. So it's about a foot and a half long. There could be, you know, some other ideas and some other things. And when you are walking around the temple in the millennial kingdom, then you can find out for sure exactly how much a cubit is.

But until then, we'll go with 18 inches. And so his rod has six cubits, which is basically nine feet long.

Tallest this rod is nine feet long and he's going to be using it to measure the different components of the the temple in the temple area and so the wall is one rod high and One rod wide so that's nine feet tall by nine feet wide so as you look at that that wall around the temple picture those dimensions nine feet by nine feet would be the dimensions of that wall and

Good so far? Alright. Verse 6. Then he went to the gateway which faced east...

And he went up its stairs and measured the threshold of the gateway, which was one rod wide, and the other threshold was one rod wide. Verse 7. Each gate chamber was one rod long and one rod wide. Between the gate chambers was a space of five cubits, and the threshold of the gateway by the vestibule of the inside gate was one rod. Verse 8.

He also measured the vestibule of the inside gate, one rod. Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits, and the gate post, two cubits. The vestibule of the gate was on the inside. In the eastern gateway were three gate chambers on one side and three on the other. The three were all the same size. Also the gate posts were of the same size on this side and that side.

So here in verses 6 through 10, what we have described is the eastern gateway. So as you're looking at this on the screen, the one on the bottom is the eastern gateway. And that is the gateway where you would enter in and if it was all there, you would see, you would go from the eastern gateway, you could walk straight into the temple. It's a straight line through the eastern gateway into the temple. And so this gateway is now being described. It's

something that's very tall, which we'll see in the next few verses. And inside the gateway, inside this building, there's three rooms on the right side and three rooms on the left side.

And so the entrance into this gateway, if you were walking up into it, would look something like this. And so you have stairs leading up to it. There's a man there to kind of give you a picture. And then you could see next to him there's a rod that would be about nine feet tall. And so the entrance would be one rod wide and you would be able to enter in. So it'd be a nine foot wide entrance into the temple area and through the east gateway. Okay.

Now, there's a word that I'm going to be struggling with all night, and I apologize in advance. It's vestibule. Now, it's V-E-S-T-I-B-U-L-E, and it's very hard for me to say it without saying vegetable.

You know, like broccoli and carrots. And I apologize for that. It just comes out. That's how it sounds. But a vestibule, you know what I mean, it's a passageway or it's a hall that takes you from the outside to the inside. It's kind of like an entryway or a hallway that brings you inside. And so it's a word that's used a lot because you're going from the outside of the temple area into the temple complex and into where they would worship the Lord. And so,

This is going to be there, this eastern gateway, this is an entrance that will be used and we'll be talking about in the next couple chapters in the next couple weeks. Going on verse 11 through 16, he continues to talk about this eastern gateway. In verse 11 it says,

He measured the width of the entrance to the gateway, 10 cubits, and the length of the gate, 13 cubits. There was a space in front of the gate chambers, one cubit on this side and one cubit on that side. The gate chambers were six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side. Then he measured the gateway from the roof of one gate chamber to the roof of the other. The width was 25 cubits as door faces door.

He measured the gate post 60 cubits high and the court all around the gateway extended to the gate post. From the front of the entrance gate to the front of the vestibule of the inner gate was 50 cubits. There were beveled window frames in the gate chambers and in their intervening archways on the inside of the gateway all around and likewise in all the vestibules.

There were windows all around on the inside and on each gate post were palm trees.

So, it's pretty elaborate, this description of this gateway and the things that are taking place inside of it. Here's what would look like if you're kind of like looking top down on this gateway. Again, there's the three rooms on each side, and you would enter in from there, and then you would head down through the bottom into the temple area. Yes? Yes.

Yeah, it talks about that there's five cubits between the rooms that are in the gateway, but it may not look exactly like that. So...

I'm not going to get into that. Here's a sideways look at it so you can kind of see. It's a very tall building. Now, probably, I didn't use this version because it's harder to show on the screen, but probably the whole complex is 60 cubits high, not just the gateways. And so there's, you know, 60 cubits high all the way across and it's a massive wall that is around the Millennial Temple area. But,

It was difficult to show, and so this will kind of give you a good idea. But you can kind of see how high it is. And then you see there at the end, that's the inner gate. And so you could walk through the outer gate, then you could go through the inner gate, and we'll deal with those later on in chapter 40. And here it explains that there would be 50 cubits between them, or about 75 feet from the outer gateway to the inner gateway as you head into the temple area. Verse 17 says,

Then he brought me into the outer court and there were chambers and a pavement made all around the court. Thirty chambers faced the pavement. The pavement was by the side of the gateways corresponding to the length of the gateways. This was the lower pavement. Then he measured the width from the front of the lower gateway to the front of the inner court exterior, 100 cubits toward the east and

And so here now what we have is a description of the outer court. And so if you were to walk into this gateway and go from the outside through the east gate, immediately on the other side of the east gate where you would be is what's known as the outer court.

And this outer court area is something like this. All that gray area there in the middle, that's the outer court. When it's making reference to the pavement, that's the kind of brown area that's there on the surface of the gates where that surface is. And then there's actually steps that would lead down from the pavement where you would first walk in from the gateway. You'd be on the pavement, then you'd go down the steps.

into that outer court area. And there's going to be some things going on there that we'll see in the coming chapters as well. What is happening here in chapter 40 and 41 is God is laying out all the structure and the dimensions. And then he's going to be talking about the functions and the things that will be taking place in the next few chapters. And so we're kind of laying a framework or a foundation for the next few chapters and the things that we'll be talking about. Verse 20 says,

On the outer court was also a gateway facing north, and he measured its length and its width. Its gate chambers, three on this side and three on that side, its gate posts and its archways, had the same measurements as the first gate. Its length was 50 cubits and its width 25 cubits.

And so now as we go forward in the next quite a few verses, he's going to be looking at each of the gateways. Now we went into great detail talking about the east gateway, and that's what we just looked at. But then you have the north gateway, and you have the south gateway. And then you have the inner gateways as well, those three, east, north, and south on the inside.

They're all exactly the same. They're all the same dimensions. They all have the same layouts. They're all, you know, the same way. And so he's talking about them just kind of briefly. And so we'll kind of move through these pretty quickly. Verse 22, its windows and those of its archways and also its palm trees had the same measurement as the gateway facing east. It was ascended by seven steps and its archway was in front of it.

A gate of the inner court was opposite the northern gate, just as the eastern gateway, and he measured from gateway to gateway 100 cubits. And so basically saying the northern gateway was exactly the same as the east gateway. The only difference is there's a little bit more distance between the north outer gateway and inner gateway than there is between the east outer gateway and inner gateway. And you can look at that and play with those dimensions later on.

All right, verse 24. Now we're looking at the southern gateway. After that, he brought me toward the south, and there a gateway was facing south, and he measured its gateposts and archways according to these same measurements. There were windows in it, and in its archways all around like those windows, its length was 50 cubits, its width was 25 cubits.

Seven steps led up to it, and its archway was in front of them, and it had palm trees on its gateposts, one on this side and one on that side. There was also a gateway on the inner court facing south, and he measured from gateway to gateway toward the south one hundred cubits.

And so here, again, we have the south gateway is exactly like the north gateway, which is exactly like the eastern gateway. And so all of these gateways have the same dimensions and the same general layout. Well, as we go now into verse 28, we're going to be looking at the inner gateways, and we'll see all three of them have the same dimensions as well. Verse 28, Then he brought me to the inner court...

through the southern gateway. So, by the way, so the bottom is east, your right would be north, your left would be south, and so now God is bringing him through the south inner gateway, so not the one on the far left, but the one in the middle left. The Lord brings him through that into the inner courtyard area, which is that white area, which we haven't really talked about yet, and he brings him in through there, and now he's going to be talking about those inner gateways.

Verse 29, and it's, also its gate chambers, its gate posts, and its archways were according to the same measurements. There were windows in it and its archways all around. It was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide. There were archways all around, 25 cubits long and 5 cubits wide. Its archways faced the outer court. Palm trees were on its gate posts and going up to it were eight steps.

And he brought me into the inner court facing east. He measured the gateway according to these same measurements. Also its gate chambers, its gate posts, and its archways were according to these same measurements. And there were windows in it and its archways all around. It was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide. Its archways faced the outer court and palm trees were on its gate posts on this side and on that side and going up to it were eight steps.

Then he brought me to the north gateway and measured it according to these same measurements. Also its gate chambers, its gate posts, and its archways. It had windows all around. Its length was 50 cubits. Its width was 25 cubits. Its gate posts faced the outer court. Palm trees were on its gate posts on this side and on that side. And going up to it were eight steps.

So here you have all three of the inner gateways described, the north, the south, and the east. They're all the same as the outer gateways. The only difference is the inner gateways have an additional step. They have eight steps instead of seven as you head into the temple area. Good so far? All right. That wasn't very reassuring, but we'll go on anyways. First...

No, this is actually someone took all of this and put it into a program called Google SketchUp, which is like an architectural program. And so...

I copied it. Basically, it's pretty cool if you're kind of adventurous and you want to download it and try it out. It's pretty sweet because I just took basically some snapshots of what was there, but you can actually kind of like walk through it basically and kind of like look around and see from the different angles what things would look like. And it's pretty interesting. Yeah, correct. Good? All right.

Verse 38 says, Now as we head into verse 38 and the following verses, we're focusing on where he ended up, which was the north gateway.

So he started talking about the south gateway on the inside, and then he talked about the east gateway on the inside, then he talked about the north gateway on the inside, and now as he's talking about the chamber there in verse 38, he's talking about in relation to the north gateway, verse 39. In the vestibule of the gateway, there were two tables on this side and two tables on that side on which to slay the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering.

And the outer side of the vestibule, as one goes up to the entrance of the northern gateway, were two tables. And on the other side of the vestibule of the gateway were two tables. Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side. By the side of the gateway, eight tables on which they slaughtered the sacrifices.

Verse 42,

And so there is tables around the northern gateway that was used for the sacrifices or that will be used for the sacrifices. And so two tables here, two tables there, four tables here, four tables there. All of these would be used in order to perform the sacrifices and the worship that will be going on during that thousand year reign of Christ. Verse 44. Outside the inner gate were the chambers for the singers.

In the inner court.

So now what he's talking about is two buildings that are there for the priests. And so here we have this...

view of the inner courtyard. And so the gateways that you see here are the inner gates. And right there next to the northern gate is a building. And then right there next to the southern gate is a building. These would be the chambers for the priests, for those who would be involved in the worship and leading the worship and performing the sacrifices and those types of things. And

And so he says in verse 45, the chamber which faces south, that'd be on the right, that's the chamber for the priests who have charge of the temple. And so their responsibility is the temple area. And then the other chamber is for the priests who come near to the Lord and minister to him. And so they have a responsibility inside the temple while the other guys have responsibility outside of the temple. And their duties are, you know,

or their assignment, their chamber is appropriate to the duties that they have. Verse 47, And he measured the court one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, four square. The altar was in front of the temple.

Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the doorposts of the vestibule, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side. And the width of the gateway was three cubits on this side and three cubits on that side. The length of the vestibule was 20 cubits and the width 11 cubits. And by the steps which led up to it, there were pillars by the doorposts, one on this side and one on that side."

So finishing up chapter 40, now we're looking at the inner court. Now here's a top-down look at the inner court and what he's talking about. At the bottom there you have the east gateway, then those two buildings parallel to each other.

or right across from each other rather, are the north and south gateways. The thing at the top, the dark brown, that's the beginning of the temple, which we'll get into. But the thing just below that, that's the altar. And what he's talking about is that courtyard between those gateways and the temple is 100 cubits across and 100 cubits wide. It's square, 100 cubits on all sides. And of course, that would be about 150 feet wide.

on all sides. And that's what's known as the inner court. And so those gateways take you right into the inner court where the altar is and where the entrance to the temple is. And that's the vestibule of the temple. And so he measures the doorpost and the width of the entrance and the length of it. And we'll see that a little bit more in chapter 41.

So, so far what we have is really a description of the outer things. We saw the outer wall, the outer court, the gateways heading in, kind of making our way, you know, starting from the outside and making our way a little bit, a little bit, a little bit, a little bit. And that brings us to chapter 41, where now he begins to describe the actual temple building or the sanctuary building that is located there in the millennial kingdom. So as we head into chapter 41, verse 1, it says...

Then he brought me into the sanctuary and measured the doorposts, six cubits wide on one side and six cubits wide on the other side, the width of the tabernacle. The width of the entryway was ten cubits, and the side walls of the entrance were five cubits on this side and five cubits on the other side. And he measured its length forty cubits and its width twenty cubits.

And so what we have here is a description of the entrance and the inside of the sanctuary or the temple, the actual building that we would be thinking of when we talk about the temple.

And so as you head into, you know, the temple area, you would go through the outer gateway, you would get into the outer courtyard, then you would go through the inner gateway and get into the inner court. And then inside the inner court would be the entrance to the temple. Now the entrance to the temple would look something like this.

subject to, you know, artists' own perspective. But you would have the altar, which is pretty significantly large, and then just beyond the altar, you would have the entrance. And so the dark brown there, that's the actual temple building, and you would be able to go up the steps and then into the temple area. And so all of those dimensions that he's describing there is describing those dimensions specifically

of the doorposts and how wide it is to head into the temple area. Now, if you're familiar with the Old Testament, if you're familiar with the tabernacle that God told Moses to build and be built in the book of Exodus, if you're familiar with the temple that Solomon built in the book of Chronicles,

These things are pretty familiar to you because these things are almost identical. A little bit differences here and there. This is far more elaborate than either of those buildings, the tabernacle or Solomon's temple. But the dimensions are similar. The basic layout is the same.

And so as you head into the temple, what you have is two basic rooms. You have a bigger room, which is known as the holy place or the sanctuary. And then you have a smaller room, which is 20 cubits by 20 cubits. And that's what's known as the most holy place. Now in the Old Testament, that's where the Ark of the Covenant was.

That's where God's presence dwelt. And that's where the high priest could only go once a year. It was into that one section called the most holy place. And so here what you can see is kind of a perspective you would be able to look down if you're able to look down on the temple, the inside of it. This big room here in the front, that's the sanctuary or the holy place.

You see the brown object there, that's an altar, which we'll deal with later on. And then just beyond that, there's a division. And then there's the smaller room, which is the most holy place, which is where the presence of God would dwell. Verse 5.

Next he measured the wall of the temple. Six cubits, the width of each side chamber all around the temple is four cubits on every side. The side chambers were in three stories, one above the other, thirty chambers in each story. They rested on ledges, which were for the side chambers all around, that they might be supported, but not be fastened to the wall of the temple.

Verse 8.

I also saw an elevation all around the temple. It was the foundation of the side chambers, a full rod that is six cubits high. The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits, and so also the remaining terrace by the place of the side chambers of the temple. And between it and the wall chambers was a width of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side.

The doors of the side chambers opened on the terrace, one door toward the north and another toward the south, and the width of the terrace was five cubits all around.

And so here in verses 5 through 11, he's talking about the side chambers. And so just on the outside of this sanctuary building would be chambers on the right-hand side and on the left-hand side. There would be chambers for the priests and for the work that needs to be done. And so there's going to be all these rooms that are kind of attached to the wall that is the sanctuary, the temple wall.

And so what he's talking about is there's three levels of these chambers on either side. The bottom level is the skinniest level. And then as it goes up, the next level is a little bit wider.

And then the third level, the third story of these chambers is a little bit wider. And so it's kind of like steps in that they get a little bit bigger on each level. And so here's kind of at an angle what you might see. So you see how the second level kind of goes in a little bit more. The third level comes all the way together. That's the idea that it's kind of stepped and it's each room or each chamber, each level is wider than the one below it. Verse 12.

The building that faced the separating courtyard at its western end was 70 cubits wide. The wall of the building was 5 cubits thick all around and its length 90 cubits.

So here in verse 12, what we're talking about is a different building now. It's a building that's located at the west end of this temple complex. And you see that light brown building just kind of just beyond the temple. That's the building that he's talking about. And here you have a top down view. So you see this big building there. And so that's the building that he's referring to.

It's at the western end of the temple area, and it's 70 cubits wide. The wall is pretty thick. It's five cubits thick, or seven and a half feet thick, this wall that goes all around this building. And then its length is 90 cubits. And so altogether, it's 100 cubits wide with the width, you

you know, looking at it here wide, the width of 90 cubits plus five cubits on either end. It turns out, you know, it's 100 cubits wide altogether, which we'll see in the coming verses. Verse 13. So he measured the temple 100 cubits long and the separating courtyard with the building and its walls was 100 cubits long.

Also, the width of the eastern face of the temple, including the separating courtyard, was 100 cubits. And so what he's describing now, I'll move it to the next one here, is as you're looking top down upon the temple or the sanctuary, the building at the back, that's 100 cubits wide. And so it's 100 cubits wide, the whole length of the

The temple. Well, also the temple is 100 cubits long. And so it's another 100 cubits square area here that is immediately around the temple area. It's 100 cubits long and the area that it's in is 100 cubits wide. And that's what he's talking about in verses 13 and 14. So 150 feet long, 150 feet wide is the area that this temple is located in. Verse 15 says,

He measured the length of the building behind it, facing the separating courtyard and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, 100 cubits, as well as the inner court temple and the porches of the court, their doorposts and the beveled window frames and the galleries all around their three stories opposite the threshold were paneled with wood from the ground to the windows. The cover, the windows were covered.

Verse 18. Verse 18.

And it was made with cherubim and palm trees and palm tree between cherub and cherub. Each cherub had two faces so that the face of a man was toward a palm tree on one side and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. Thus it was made throughout the temple all around from the floor to the space above the door and on the wall of the sanctuary cherubim and palm trees were carved. The doorposts of the temple were square as was the front of the sanctuary their appearance similar.

So inside the sanctuary, I'll give you the screen here. So basically what he's talking about is there was these coverings all around and there would be these carvings of palm trees and cherubim. One would have the face of a young lion looking one way and the face of a man looking the other way, which if you remember the four living creatures and things that we dealt with back at the beginning of Ezekiel, there was those

living creatures that had four faces, right? A man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. And so what you see is kind of like one side. The other two faces are not visible, but you see the lion and the man facing in opposite directions. And then you see the palm trees. And so that would be kind of the decoration or what the carvings would be on this wood that paneled throughout the temple building. Verse 22.

The altar was of wood, three cubits high in its length, two cubits. Its corners, its length, and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, this is the table that is before the Lord. The temple and the sanctuary had two doors. The doors had two panels apiece, two folding panels, two panels for one door and two panels for the other door.

Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the doors of the temple just as they were carved on the walls. A wooden canopy was on the front of the vestibule outside. There were beveled window frames and palm trees on one side and on the other on the sides of the vestibule also on the side chambers of the temple and on the canopies.

So here as we finish off chapter 41, he's talking about the altar, which is that wood building, or not wood building, but the wood structure right there in the middle. That equates to the altar of incense that's talked about in the Old Testament that was there in the tabernacle as well as Solomon's temple. And so this altar was there.

And then he talks about the doors. The doors have two panels each. And so those doors aren't pictured here in this picture, but there would be doors that kind of block the way to go into the temple area. You'd have to go through the doors in order to get in there. And so this here in chapter 40 and 41 is a description of...

What this temple will look like. Now, like I said, the next couple of chapters as we go forward, we'll talk about, okay, so here's the structure. Now, what's happening, you know, in this area and what are these different places used for? Not every detail, but we'll look at some detail about those things in the weeks to come. But I want to jump, if you would, to chapter 43 of Ezekiel. Chapter 43 of Ezekiel. And I want to look at verse 10 along with you. It says...

Ezekiel chapter 43 verse 10 says, Here in verse 10 says,

of chapter 43, we have some insight about why God is going through, you know, all of these dimensions and all of these things. He has an intention. There's a reason for it. There's a purpose. Remember, back at the beginning, Ezekiel was told, hey, pay attention to these things. Pay attention to these things.

Fix your mind on them because for this reason you were brought here. You need to see these things. You need to know the measurements. You need to know how it's laid out so that you can tell the people. And when you tell the people, the objective is, the response will be that the people will be ashamed of their iniquities. God is seeking that the people would be ashamed of their iniquities.

Now, it's not that God is just mean and wants to make them feel bad,

But again, they are in the condition that they were in because of their insistence on rebelling against God and their refusal to listen to Him and obey Him. They refused to surrender even as God sent warnings and afflictions and called them over and over back to a right relationship with Him. Through it all, they refused. They insisted that their way was right.

Well, that kind of rebellion will bring judgment every time. God does not put up with rebellion. He doesn't put up with persistent and continual disobedience.

He requires us to surrender to Him and to submit to Him. That's what He required of His people in that day and that's what He requires of us today. But now as God is talking about the temple that is to be built, He says, Ezekiel, pay attention to these things, write them down, describe these things then to the people because what's going to happen is they're going to be ashamed of their iniquities.

that this description is going to be the final thing so that the people finally agree with God about their condition.

In 1 John 1, verse 9, a verse we probably all know, it tells us that if we confess our sin, that God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Well, the word confess in regard to sin really means to agree with God. And so what we're talking about when we talk about confession is us agreeing with God and saying, God, you know what? You are right. You are right.

And what I'm doing, or what I have done, is fully wrong. It's wicked. It's sinful. That is not the heart of the people of Judah, as Ezekiel has been ministering to them. They're not in agreement with God. They're in disagreement. God's saying, hey, you're living in sin, and you need to repent. You need to turn and get right.

And they're saying, no, we're not. We're fine. We don't need to turn. We don't need to repent. We're doing good the way that we are. Nothing needs to change. But as Ezekiel is describing this temple to them, finally, they will become ashamed. Finally, they'll begin to agree with God about their sin. That's the purpose. That's why God is going through these things. Now, why would all of these dimensions and describing these things have that effect on

upon the people. Well, again, remember their condition. They have experienced the judgment of God. The city of Jerusalem has laid desolate for 14 years. They have received the judgment that they deserve. But now what God is saying, He's telling the people, I'm not through with you. It's not over. I have some incredible things that are yet to take place in this temple that will be built.

God brings judgment upon His people that is deserved. But He doesn't then cast us off. Instead, He gives us promises of restoration that we don't deserve. And it's here that we can understand what Paul talks about in the New Testament when he says that it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. This is what's taking place here in Ezekiel chapter 40 and 41. God is demonstrating His kindness to the people.

Because their hopes were tied to the temple. The reason why they continued and insisted on rebelling against God, the reason why they thought, hey, we'll never be conquered, we don't need to repent, was because they had the temple. They thought, as long as we got the temple, God's not going to let them touch us. But at this time, the temple is destroyed. All hope is lost. It was devastating to them.

God says, I'm going to rebuild the temple. And it's going to be more glorious than the temple that was. I'm going to do a new work. He promises this great restoration that they don't deserve. Because the temple was destroyed and they were taken into captivity because of their rebellion. But here His kindness is going to lead them to repentance. And that's the beautiful story of Ezekiel chapter 40 through 48. This temple that is rebuilt again.

is God demonstrating His mercies are new every morning. It's God demonstrating He brings judgment. Yes, He deals with sin. He disciplines. He chastises. But He doesn't give up on us. He continues to promise us restoration. He has plans for a future and a hope. Not of evil. But He has plans to do good work. And I think that's something for us to consider this evening as we spend some time in worship together.

In fact, worship team, you can come on up and make ready to lead us in worship. And as they do, remember this. It's not too late. It's never too late. As long as you have breath, it's not too late. God still has a good work in store for those who turn to Him. There's a verse in 2 Samuel 14, verse 14, which speaks profoundly, I believe. It's talking about...

how God deals with His people and says that God does not take away a life, but He devises means so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him. The way that God relates to us is not that He says, Oh, you've had it. You can tell you've had it by the discipline that you're experiencing, the chastisement that you're going through, the judgment that you've experienced. You've had it. I'm done with you. Get out of here. I never want to see your face again. God does not do that.

Even though we might say that to people, or if we were God, that's what we would say to people. God is not that way. He devises means so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him. He works and devises means so that we have an opportunity to turn and to get right and be restored and experience the blessing of God. And so as we worship the Lord together this evening...

Let's worship about that. Let's worship God for His grace, for His goodness, for His mercy. And if there is something that's going on in your life, if you are experiencing some discipline, some chastening, if there is some rebellion that's going on, maybe you're in that part of the process, that you're still in rebellion. Listen, rebellion, continuing in sin, it will bring God's judgment. And it doesn't mean that necessarily it's the end of your life, although it may be,

But judgment is never pleasant. None of us want to experience the consequences of sin. The wages of sin is death. And if you continue in that, you'll bring judgment upon yourself and death upon yourself. And if you don't turn and get right, it could be eternal judgment that you're facing.

So if you're living in rebellion, if you're living in sin like Judah was, then you need to turn and get right. And now's a great opportunity to do that. But if you've gone through that aspect of it, and you're experiencing the chastening, it can be really discouraging. It can be really hard. Man, life can be really tough sometimes. And we get discouraged. The outlook is bleak. But here God reminds us, it's not too late. He's not done with us yet.

He still has good things in store for those who turn to Him. And He devises means. He doesn't reject us and cast us off and say, go away, I don't want to talk to you. You know, that's it. You messed up one too many times and so I'm never going to use your life again. You're never going to be a blessing to anybody else. You can't serve me. Okay, fine, I'll save you, but that's it. That's not how God works. He's doing a full restoration of the temple here in the millennium to demonstrate and model this idea of restoration.

And so as we worship the Lord together, if you're discouraged, if you're downtrodden, let's come to the Lord and thank Him and praise Him for His ways. That doesn't leave us banished. Sure, He brings what's necessary, the correction in our life that we need. But let's take courage that He's not done with us. And so let's turn to Him and worship Him and invite Him once again to work in our lives like He once did. In fact, to do even more glorious things

in our lives than he's done in the past. Let's worship the Lord together.