EZEKIEL 41-48 THE MILLENNIAL TEMPLE2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezekiel 41-48 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 2013.

We are looking this evening at Ezekiel chapters 41 through 48. And these are the chapters that we read this week as we continue reading through the Bible in three years. We're finishing up the book of Ezekiel tonight and so we're going to be heading into the book of Daniel tomorrow morning as we continue to work our way through the major prophets. We've seen Isaiah, we've seen Jeremiah and Lamentations, now we've

Ezekiel and all that the Lord spoke through him. And now we get to finish off the major prophets with Daniel over the next two weeks. The book of Ezekiel though is written by Ezekiel and he ministered from about 593 to 571 AD.

And he had a threefold purpose. Number one, to declare the fall of Jerusalem. And we got to see that in chapters 1 through 24 as he was correcting the people because they were thinking Jerusalem was going to be delivered by God and everybody in Babylon would be released and allowed to go back to Judah. But

That was because that's what the false prophet said. And God was using Ezekiel to bring correction and say, no, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed because of the rebellion of the people.

Secondly, Ezekiel also was pronouncing judgment on some of the surrounding nations. And we saw that in chapters 25 through 32. And so those messages went out and those declarations about Egypt and the Philistines and all those surrounding nations were declared by Ezekiel. And then in chapters 33 through 48, his third purpose was to give hope of restoration. So there they are, you know,

depressed, conquered, captives in Babylon, and having been judged for their sin, and yet God wants to deliver a message to them through Ezekiel that says,

okay, yes, you're in a bad spot because of your rebellion, but there's still hope for you. There's still a plan for you. I'm not finished with you. You're not going to disappear from history, but I'm going to bring you back into the land and I'm going to do a glorious work. And so we've been looking at that last week as well as

This week, and we'll finish that up this evening in the restoration period, looking at the future millennium when Jesus Christ will rule and reign upon the earth. Now the timeline for when Ezekiel was prophesying these things, he was prophesying while Israel was already captive, Judah was in captivity as Babylon conquered Jerusalem for the third time.

He ministered alongside of Jeremiah as well as Daniel. Jeremiah was in Jerusalem up until, you know, that final time Jerusalem was conquered and then for a little bit afterwards. And then Daniel was in Babylon the whole time that Ezekiel was prophesying. And so all of these guys are ministering around the same time with slightly different missions from the Lord. And so Ezekiel was ministering specifically to the captives who were in Babylon.

So here's what it looks like on the map. There was Jerusalem. When Ezekiel began to prophesy, Jerusalem was still standing and Babylon was starting to come against it and to lay siege to it. By the end of his ministry, Jerusalem has fallen. And the things that we're looking at this evening, these are things that God showed him about 14 years or 12 years after Jerusalem has fallen.

Ezekiel was in Babylon along with the rest of the Jewish captives and so he was speaking primarily to those captives who were with him in Babylon. Here's what it looks like on the timeline. Ezekiel began to prophesy at about 593 BC. That's after he had been in Babylon for about five years.

During the first captivity, that is Babylon conquered Jerusalem the first time in 605, then Daniel, the prophet, is taken to Babylon. Then the next time Babylon came against Jerusalem was 597, conquers Jerusalem and Judah again, takes some more captives. Ezekiel is in that group, and so that's when he goes to Babylon, and then a few years later the Lord

Gives him a message and begins to use him to prophesy. Then in 586, Babylon conquers Judah for the third time, the final time. Destroys the temple, destroys the walls, and leaves nothing left but rubble in the land and no inhabitants either. Ezekiel's final prophecies are around 571 BC. And so that's, you know, the latest of his prophecies. The ones we're looking at are a couple years earlier than that, but right towards the end of his time of ministry.

And so that brings us now to chapter 41. Before we get into the chapters, we started in chapter 40 last week looking at the temple that Ezekiel is describing. Now,

Now, the remainder of this book, as we're looking at tonight, is all dealing with that millennial kingdom when Jesus Christ rules and reigns upon the earth for a thousand years. And so, just a quick reminder, you know, so we're looking forward to, as the church, the rapture of the church. We'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

At some point after that, the world is going to go through seven years of tribulation. Trouble like the world has never seen before. The Antichrist will be reigning. There will be all kinds of things going on. But that ends with the Battle of Armageddon.

And as they gather together to battle, Jesus then returns. It's the second coming of Jesus Christ. They turn their weapons against him. He defeats them. He sets foot on the Mount of Olives. It splits in two. And then he establishes his kingdom there upon the earth. And he rules and reigns here upon the earth for 1,000 years. Now during that time, Ezekiel is describing this temple that will exist forever.

as Jesus rules and reigns in this renewed earth for this thousand year period. And so we began looking at that temple in chapter 40. And here's a quick look at it. This is what we'll be looking at throughout the evening as well as we go through our chapters 40.

that we read this week. So this is what we began to look at. Now remember that as Ezekiel is prophesying these things, the people are feeling like it's hopeless, that they're lost, that they're not going to survive as a people. They feel like it's hopeless because it's been over 10 years that their city, their temple has been destroyed. And so it's just the outlook is bleak for them.

They don't believe that they have any kind of future. But God is telling them that he still has a plan to work and he has not given up on them. Warren Wiersbe says it this way, the assurance of a glorious future helps to sustain God's people during the trials of life. It should also be a stimulus to holy living.

And so God is delivering this message of hope for the future to help encourage and sustain the people in Babylon, but also to continue to call them to repentance that they would turn to the Lord. And as we ended with last week, I would again ask you and remind you

about your own situation. A lot of times we get into situations that we feel it's like hopeless. You know, this promise is never going to happen. This thing that I've been desiring, it's never going to take place. Or, you know, these things that the Lord said, it just seems hopeless. It's not going to happen. And the enemy will often try to use that hopelessness to cause us to give up.

And when we give up, we lose out on those things that God wants to do. And I heard a pastor say it that way one time that...

The enemy can't take it from you. So what he'll try to get you to do is to give it up on your own. He can't take it from you. But if you give it up on your own, you miss out. And so he wants to cause you to give up. And I want to encourage you that God can work. No matter how hopeless you think your situation is. Whether it be, you know, your finances or your marriage or some, you know, sin that you're struggling with. Maybe you think it's just hopeless. It's not going to work out. Listen, God can work.

God can renew, He can restore, He can revive, and that is the message of this millennial temple. God is telling His people, I know it looks bad, and you think this could never happen, but I'm telling you, this is the plan that I have for the people of Israel.

And so he's describing in great detail all the dimensions and details of this millennial temple. We saw in chapter 40 the wall that surrounds it, nine feet thick, nine feet high. We saw the east gateway by which you would enter in.

to the temple courtyard. We also saw the north and the south gateways. And this would actually be the entrance that the people would use to go in and out of the temple complex. We saw all of the chambers that were there in this outer courtyard. There were chambers all around.

And this would be where people would feast and celebrate. Remember, you know, whenever there were sacrifices going on, those were primarily feasts of celebration and the people would eat of the sacrifice that was offered. And it would be a fellowship between people and with the Lord. And so we saw all of these chambers that will be used for those purposes. And then also the outer courtyard, 150 feet wide, all around the temple area.

Then we also looked at the inner gateways. And so there was the outer courtyard and you would go in and fellowship in there. But then there would be the inner courtyard where you would go and actually offer the sacrifices and such. And so there was gateways to enter in to that inner courtyard. They were identical to the outer gateways in size and dimension.

We also saw that there was a chamber for the priests who was in charge of the altar and then also a chamber for the priests who were in charge of the temple. And that's where they would go and put on the holy garments and then go and serve the Lord and things like that. So they would have access to those rooms, those chambers there within the inner courtyard.

And then in chapter 40, we also talked about the inner court and the dimensions of that, as well as the entryway. I can never say this word without it sounding like vegetable, vestibule, which is the entryway into the actual temple. And those were described there in chapter 40 as well. So we're going to continue on this line of thought, describing and looking at the dimensions of the temple now as we head into chapter 41.

The key verse of chapter 41 is verse 4.

It says, So in verses 1 through 4, the sanctuary itself is measured. Now the dimensions for the sanctuary are identical to or pretty much exactly the same as Solomon's temple. And I'll show you that in just a bit.

But then he went on in verses 5 through 11 to measure the side chambers. And these are chambers alongside of the temple that were for the priests. And they would store things there. They would eat there. They're going to rest there, you know, change clothes, that kind of thing. So there was a bunch of chambers alongside of the temple. Then in verse 12, he measures the west building.

And he doesn't indicate what that building is for. So we don't know what it's for. Then in verses 13 through 17, he measures the temple and then describes the temple in verses 18 through 26. And so describes the carvings, the artwork, the decorations of cherubim, the palm trees, you know, the cherubim. Remember the four living creatures had four faces. And so two of the faces are seen in these carvings, the face of the man, the face of the lion.

And so these are all the inner artworkings of the temple that are being described there in chapter 41. So here's what this looks like looking at our diagram. So first of all, he's describing the sanctuary. The width is 30 feet and the length is 60 feet. Now, not exactly, but that's roughly the size of this building here. So it's about this size. And so this is the place where...

Back in the old days, remember in the tabernacle and then later in Solomon's temple, this is where the lampstand would be. This is where the table with the showbread would be. The altar of incense would be in this sanctuary, also referred to as the holy place sometimes.

And then the most holy place, also known as the Holy of Holies, was just beyond that. It was the last part of the building. And that was going to be 30 feet wide, 30 feet long. It's basically 30 feet cubed. And that is where the presence of God would dwell. Now, again, these are very similar in the same proportions and dimensions as we've looked at in the tabernacle and then Solomon's temple.

So when God gave the dimensions for the tabernacle, it was 15 feet wide and then 45 feet long. In the Holy of Holies, there would be the Ark of the Covenant. God's presence would dwell in there. There would be the veil that separated. And then you had the incense altar, the lampstand, and the table in the holy place. So you had the most holy place or the Holy of Holies, and then you had the holy place.

When Solomon built the temple, he increased the dimensions. And so the temple is 30 feet wide instead of 15 feet wide and 90 feet long instead of 45 feet long. And so the Holy of Holies was the same, had the Ark of the Covenant in there. Then it also, Solomon added, instead of just having one lampstand, he had 10 lampstands. And instead of having one table, he had 10 tables.

But it's the same basic concepts. So the dimensions here for Solomon's temple are the same as this millennial temple. The sanctuary and the most holy place are the same dimensions. Now what's being added to Solomon's temple is all the stuff on the outside that we've been describing. And so...

In verses 5 through 11, he talks about the side chambers. And so these are the chambers there in the green and the blue. There was the north and the south chambers. These were three stories high, and there was a total of 90 chambers within these three stories. And so, again, these were the places for the priests to eat, to rest, to change, to store things, that kind of thing. All the things that were necessary for the duty of the priests.

He also describes the west building in verse 12, which is 105 feet wide, 135 feet long. We have no idea what this building is for, but it's a good-sized building. It's about 14,000 square feet, and so it's going to be something interesting, I'm sure, but God doesn't tell us what it's for.

Then the inner court of the temple is measured. Again, it's 150 feet. And the separating courtyard is talked about again. 150 feet or 100 cubits. Now, by the way, I'm using 18 inches to convert cubits to feet.

more properly it should be probably 21 inches because of what we'll see later on in the chapters we're looking at this evening but it's just to give you an idea of you know some of the layout and proportions that we're talking about so the altar is also mentioned and that's the altar that goes inside the holy place where they would burn incense to the Lord all right chapter 42 now verse 20 is the key verse

It says he measured it on the four sides. It had a wall all around 500 cubits long and 500 wide to separate the holy areas from the common.

In verses 1 through 14, the holy chambers are addressed and they're talked about. And we've already talked about them a little bit, but they're measured a little bit more in detail. And then in verses 15 through 20, the wall is measured. Now there is some discussion that could take place around the wall. Because you notice in there, some versions say 500 cubits, others say 500 rods.

Now in chapter 40 when it talked about the rod, the rod was six cubits. So if it's 500 rods, that's a lot bigger than 500 cubits. So it's either 750 feet wide or 4,500 feet wide. And so there might be two walls actually that Ezekiel is talking about. One that goes immediately around the complex and then one that's farther out that kind of separates this whole area from the rest of the nation of Israel.

But here's what it looks like. The chamber is toward the outer court.

The width of those were 75 feet. So there's kind of two buildings here. There's a longer building here and then there's a shorter building here. And so the shorter building was chambers for the priests and then also the longer building was chambers for the priests. And then the same thing is duplicated on the north side as well. So all of those dimensions are described there and that's what Ezekiel is talking about in verses 1 through 14.

But then we also see the wall. Again, the thickness is 9 feet. The height is 9 feet. The length is 750 feet. So it's 750 feet square.

which is about 500,000 square feet altogether. To give you an idea of the size of this, this whole temple complex, I wanted to show you where we are on the map. So this is Lincoln and Railroad, the intersection that we're on, and this is the sanctuary building right here. Here's our children's ministry trailer, and here's the Spanish house.

Here's the pet chalet and then this other building that's various things. But so this is where we are. We're familiar with this, you know, property, this land, this size. And I'm going to overlay the temple complex size to give you an idea of how big this is. So here's, again, the church. There's a canal right over there just beyond the canal is about 750 feet.

Again, using 18 inches for a cubit, so it could be a little bit longer. And then basically goes up to the railroad tracks. So this size here from railroad to the tracks, from Lincoln to the canal, is about the dimensions of this temple complex that Ezekiel is describing for us. And so you'll have the gateways, you know, the inner courtyard, all of that within this area here.

So just to give you an idea of some of the, you know, proportions of what we're talking about as we go through this. Chapter 43, now verse 2 is the key verse. It says, And behold, the glory of God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. In verses 1 through 9, we see that the glory of the Lord came into the temple. Now this is very significant.

If you remember back to Ezekiel chapter 10, we saw there the vision that Ezekiel had with the four living creatures. You know, it had the wheels and all the eyes that were on the wheels. And then there was the platform and the throne. And it was describing the presence of God and the glory of God. And Ezekiel watched as the glory of God departed from the temple. It left the Holy of Holies, came out the front.

Went off to the mountain alongside of Jerusalem and then completely departed from Jerusalem. And so the glory of God was departing from the temple and from Jerusalem in Ezekiel chapter 10. And that was describing the events just as Babylon was coming to conquer Jerusalem for the third time and the temple was going to be destroyed.

Well now Ezekiel is recording the return of the glory of the Lord. And so this is significant. God's presence will be with his people once again. And so that's going to happen during this 1,000 year reign of Christ that the glory of God will be returned into the temple.

The temple right now, of course, has been destroyed. Herod rebuilt the temple or kind of built up the temple that was rebuilt by Zerubbabel and Joshua. And so they rebuilt the temple after they returned from Babylon. Herod built it up. And then in 70 AD, Rome destroyed the temple.

And there hasn't been a temple since. But we know during the tribulation period... There's going to be a temple because the Antichrist is going to defile the temple... And enter into the temple and declare that he is God and demand that the world worship him. So there's going to be a temple that's rebuilt. But when that temple is rebuilt...

We don't have any indication and I do not believe that the glory of God will return to that temple. So even though they'll build a temple, it's not approved of God. It's not God saying, I'm going to be with my people again. During the tribulation, at some point, it seems that that temple is going to be destroyed or perhaps at the end when Jesus returns, it will be destroyed. And then in the millennium, this temple will be built and then God's presence will dwell. And so it's

That great, great promise that God's presence will return once again and he will dwell with his people. And we've been seeing that all throughout Ezekiel. He says, I will be their God. They will be my people. There's going to be this close relationship with the nation of Israel and God once again. Well, God tells Ezekiel in verses 10 through 12 to describe the temple to Israel.

And this answers the question for us about why God gave Ezekiel this vision. I know probably as you read this, you know, each day reading another chapter and you're like, oh great, more dimensions, more cubits.

I don't have any idea what this is talking about. You know, it's so hard to visualize some of the things. And you wonder, why God did you put all these details in, you know, this temple and in the book of Ezekiel? Well, verse 10 gives us some insight. He says, Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquities and let them measure the pattern.

So God tells Ezekiel, I'm giving you all these details so that you can tell the house of Israel, tell your fellow Jewish captives, tell them about this temple that I will have built once again and I will return my glory there so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. It was a call to repentance for them. Remember that through the prophet Jeremiah and others, God was calling Judah to repentance, but they would not.

And so God then brought judgment through Babylon to destroy the nation of Judah as a further call to repentance. But even then they would not. So now God is giving them a glimpse into their future and the grace that he's extending to them, yet again calling them to repentance. All the while asking the question we've seen throughout the book of Ezekiel, when will they know that he is the Lord?

That he's calling them to know that he is God. And so they didn't respond through the prophets. They didn't respond through the judgments. And so now God's giving them insight into the future grace that he will be providing. And as another opportunity for them to be ashamed of their iniquities. To repent and get right with God. The grace of God is a call to repentance. For them, for us, it's a call to repentance. To turn away from iniquity.

Well then in verses 13 through 17, the altar is measured and we'll look at those dimensions in a moment. And then he also gives the ordinances for the altar in verses 18 through 27. Now this brings up a very, very common question.

So we're looking at the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ, and there's a temple, we're okay with that. But then there's an altar, and that goes along with the sacrifices that will be offered on this altar. And it causes many people to struggle, like why is there sacrifices during the millennium? Because Jesus Christ has already died.

So, that's a discussion that you could have. If you really want to know all the details about it, you can ask Harvey after the service. He has all the answers. But you know, in my mind, here's the way that I approach it. It's really no different than the Old Testament sacrifices. Because sacrifices never took away sin.

They never were effective in taking away sin. The author of Hebrews points this out in Hebrews 10.4. He says it's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. And so the sacrifices themselves weren't effective at taking away sins. But they were the prescribed method by which God said, okay, if you're going to believe in me, if you're going to have faith, then this is how to express that faith.

Follow these instructions, offer these sacrifices as I give them to you. And so it was a way to respond in faith to God and to be obedient to him and express, you know, your faith in God to offer sacrifices in the Old Testament.

In the millennium, I think it's going to be the same. It's a way that those who survive the tribulation period and enter into the millennium, those who are alive during that time, will express their faith in God, their trust in God, their belief in God, by fulfilling these instructions and offering these sacrifices. And so it was faith to offer sacrifices in the Old Testament, looking forward to the cross of Jesus Christ.

In the millennium, it will also be an act of faith, looking back and remembering the cross of Jesus Christ, perhaps similar to how we partake of communion today. Here's what Warren Wiersbe says about the sacrifices. He says,

They will teach the Jews the meaning of their ancient religion in the light of the cross. And so it seems that they're going to be, you know, looking back and reminding the people of what Jesus did upon the cross. So there is going to be an altar and there is going to be sacrifices during this 1,000 year reign of Christ. The altar is located right in the middle of the inner court of

It's about 220 feet wide all around. It's square. And then the height is about 16 and a half feet high. A little bit higher than this sanctuary building. So pretty decent sized altar that we're talking about.

He gives a lot of detail here. There's all these different layers to it. So here's one way to visualize it. Again, as I talked about before, there's a lot of ways that artists have interpreted the things that Ezekiel's writing. So all these things are not exact, but somewhat similar. So all together, again, the altar is about 22 and a half feet wide all around. And then the height is 16 and a half feet high. It starts at the base,

And then you have a lower ledge. And these are all, you know, decreasing by one cubit or 18 inches at each level. And then you have the ledge and then the hearth. And that's where the altar actually was. And so they had to build a stairway, which was forbidden in the Old Testament. But here it's provided because of the height. You can imagine, you know, trying to get to the top of the altar as high as the sanctuary. So they'll have this stairway where they'll go up and then they'll offer the sacrifice on top of that. And so...

It's going to be quite a big altar because everybody is going to be worshipping God and there's going to be lots of sacrifices that will be offered. Well, that brings us to chapter 44. Verse 15 is the key verse.

It says, In verses 1 through 3, he declares that the prince may eat in the east gate. Now this brings up another common question as you go through these chapters, and that is, who is the prince?

And a lot of times people think that Jesus is the prince, but that does not fit with the way the prince is described throughout these chapters. So Jesus is not the prince. The prince seems to be the ruler or the governor over the land of Israel. So Jesus will be ruling and reigning over

In Jerusalem, he'll be ruling and reigning, you know, the whole world. But he'll also have delegates or governors or princes over certain areas. And so this prince will be the governor or ruler of Israel.

And they're going to be following the things of righteousness. In chapter 45 verse 8, he says, And so there's been rulers in Israel, you know, in Ezekiel's day up to that time. But the rulers oppressed the people and were not completely righteous anymore.

in their dealings with the people. They would take land, they would do, you know, basically whatever they wanted to do. But God's saying, no, this is a new order. The ruler of my people now are going to be righteous, they're going to be fair. And so it also indicates that there's going to be more than one because he talks about the princes, plural, shall no more oppress my people. And so there's going to be rulers,

Or leaders or governors, however you want to describe it. And so this prince, whoever is, you know, the prince at the time, the governor at the time, he will have the privilege to eat in the east gate, which will be a privilege that's only for the prince of the land. Then in verses 4 through 9, he says, Mark well who may enter.

And so he's making a difference, a distinction between, you know, the temple as it was before it was destroyed and this temple. He says in verse 6, Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, O house of Israel, Let us have no more of all your abominations. And so there was all these abominations that were going on that the people of Israel and Judah were committing.

And that's why God brought this judgment through Babylon and this destruction upon the nation and upon the temple. But God says, no more. We're not going to have any more of your abominations. Instead, verse 9, he says, thus says the Lord God, no foreigner, uncircumcised or heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter my sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.

And so no foreigners, nobody who is not obedient to God, nobody who is unrighteous, who is uncircumcised. This is going to be for those who are faithful to God and only they are allowed to enter in to the sanctuary, God says. Well, then in verses 10 through 14, he talks about the Levites who went far from him and he says, they shall not come near it.

And so there were priests and Levites. As the nation turned away from God, the priests and Levites turned away from God as well. And so God says, okay, your descendants...

are going to serve me, but they're not going to have the privileged position. They're not going to be able to come near me. They're going to serve, you know, in external ways. And so their, you know, their actions, their behavior then is going to impact the future position. It brings up a principle that we could consider, you know, how you live now

how you will be able to serve the Lord in the future. And so that's something to keep in mind. That what you do now really does affect your capacity to be able to serve. You'll still be able to serve God, but you might not have the capacity that you could have had because of your behavior to date.

In contrast to those Levites, he describes in verses 15 through 31, the Levites who shall stand before me. And so there were those who were faithful to the Lord, even though the nation was turned away. And so God says they have a privileged position. They were faithful in little. Now they'll be in charge of much and they'll be able to enter in and serve the Lord in a very special way.

And so these are the Levites and the priests that are going to be serving at the temple. Now it tells us in verses 1 through 3 that the prince may eat in the east gate. And so there, the entryway into the inner courtyard, that's where the prince would be able to go and to eat. That is, you know, of the sacrifices. And so that's where he would feast and celebrate the Sabbaths, the feasts, and all of those things there in the east gateway.

Chapter 45 now, verse 18 is the key verse. It says,

In verses 1 through 5, he tells them to set apart a district for the Lord. And so again, looking at this 1,000 year time period, the millennium, there's going to be a district that's set apart in the nation that's dedicated to the Lord.

And in this district is going to be land for the temple, for the priests and Levites, for the city of Jerusalem itself, and then also land for the prince who is ruling at the time.

Primarily, we're going to be talking about, you know, it's a 25,000 cubits square that is this portion of land that is set apart for the Lord. He says in verses 6 through 8 that there's land for the city as well as for the prince. And so part of this is going to be dedicated to Jerusalem.

But then also the prince is going to have land on either side of this holy district, this 25,000 cubit square piece of land. In verses 9 through 17, he gives ordinances for the prince's

Verse 9 it says,

And so here in verse 9, God is giving some instruction for the princes that they're not going to behave like the leaders of Judah have behaved up to this time. Instead, they're going to behave in righteousness. They're going to do what's right. They're not going to, you know, be violent and plundering the people of Israel. They're not going to dispossess people of their land. They're going to reign in righteousness.

And so they're going to reign according to God's laws. And he's describing here this privileged position that the princes have. So they have this great position. They get to eat in the East Gateway. But they also have some responsibility to God and to the people.

The people will be bringing offerings, you know, and giving things to the prince. But then the prince will be responsible for providing many of the sacrifices that will take place during the Sabbaths and during the feasts. And so it's a privileged position with responsibility as well. Well, then in verses 18 through 25, he describes some feasts that will take place during the first and the seventh month.

In verse 18 he talks about the annual purification of the temple. And so annually there was going to be this purification process and sacrifices that they would offer.

Then in verse 21, he talks about the Feast of Passover. And that's going to be happening each year. And in the first month, they'll be celebrating Passover. And then in verse 25, they'll be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles as well. And so similar to the Old Testament, where three times a year, you know, there would be these major feasts. These are major feasts and sacrifices that are going to be offered during the Millennial Kingdom.

Well, he talks about here in verses 1 through 5, a district for the Lord. So here's the nation of Israel. Now, these are the borders of Israel as we know it today.

But I've kind of highlighted for you in the middle here, this segment that is the district for the Lord to kind of give you a sense of what we're talking about. And so the red box is the land for the priests. And so they were designated this 25,000 cubits long, 10,000 cubits wide. This stretch of land was for the priests and the Levites. Then you have the green bar, which is land for the temple.

And so the temple was located in here. It didn't take up all this space, but it is located in the middle of this strip of land. And then the purple land, the purple strip is the common land, or this is where the city of Jerusalem actually will be. And then the land surrounding it. And so this was 25,000 cubits long and 5,000 cubits wide. And so that was going to be the land reserved for Jerusalem and then common land for the people.

And then the blue sections were land for the prince. And so it's a good portion of land that the prince would get. And that would be his and he would give it to his children as an inheritance. Also he had the opportunity to give it to his servants.

So we're talking about this district of the Lord. Again, the red, green, and purple is 25,000 cubits square, which is about seven miles on each side. So seven miles in each direction is this district for the Lord divided between the priests, the temple, and then the city of Jerusalem. And then the prince had the land on either side of this district.

Chapter 46 now, verse 9 is the key verse. It says,

In verses 1 through 11, he talks about worship on the Sabbaths and the new moons. So every Sabbath, which is Saturday, there's going to be sacrifices, particular sacrifices and acts of worship that are taking place there at the temple. And so the east gate for the temple is to be shut, he says, every other day except for the Sabbath day. Then it's going to be opened.

And the people, it tells us in verse 3, are going to worship the Lord at this gateway. And there's going to be their specific offerings. And then also on the new moons, which would be, you know, kind of the beginning of the month for them, that's going to be a special sacrifice as well, a special feast. And then, of course, the feast of Passover and things that we just talked about.

In verses 12 through 15, he talks about the prince's voluntary offerings. So there were these scheduled offerings, every Sabbath, every new moon, the feast that would take place. But then the prince also could offer at any time voluntary offerings to the Lord. And so these were in addition to the required Sabbath and feast offerings. And so whenever he wanted to, he would throw a feast, offer sacrifices, and the people would be able to worship the Lord.

In verse 16 through 18, it describes the inheritance laws for the prince. So we just looked at the segment of the land that is given to the prince. And so he's able to give land to his sons. And the rule is that it will be theirs permanently. And so they'll be able to pass on that land to their descendants. But the prince can also give land to his servants, but it will not be theirs permanently. Instead, it will be theirs until the year of Jubilee.

Remember again this is looking back at the Old Testament. Every 50th year was the year of Jubilee. Land was to return to the original owner at that time. Slaves were to be set free and so on and so forth. And so the year of Jubilee is going to be celebrated. And so servants who receive land from the prince, that land will return to the prince at the year of Jubilee.

And then it also specifies in verse 18 that the prince cannot take land from any of the tribes. So the land that he's given, that's his land. He can't take land from anybody else.

Verses 19 through 24 describe the places to boil the offerings. And so this is describing really the kitchens for the priests located at the northwest end of the temple by the north chambers. And so they would go cook the meat there and then they would go to their chamber and have the feast there with the meat from the sacrifices. Chapter 47 now, verse 13 is the key verse.

It says,

Verses 1 through 12 describe something new we haven't seen yet. This is water flowing from the temple. And so there's this body of water, this stream of water that flows out of the temple, out of the south side of the temple. It flows past the altar and out through the east wall.

And then goes forward from there to restore and renew the Dead Sea and the Jordan River and such. And so here's just a quick look at what that might look like. So there's this stream of water that comes out from under the temple, goes out straight out to the east, right next to the east gateway. And then it widens out very broad and continues on to...

Again, to the Jordan River, to the Dead Sea. So he measures this. The angel takes him into the water, a thousand cubits, and he measures it, another thousand cubits, and measures it. He takes him a total of 4,000 cubits into this stream, into this river, and then it's too deep and they can't cross it. So the river is...

4,000 cubits and then 4,000 cubits you measure for the other side. So it's about 8,000 cubits which makes the river a little bit over two miles wide that is being measured here. So it comes out from the temple gate, you know, the outer court gate and then boom, it explodes into this huge river that extends out to the east from this point. So the

This is kind of crude, but you know what I mean, looking at it on the map. So there's kind of the temple area in the temple district. And then the river goes out. It goes to the Jordan River. It goes to the Dead Sea. And he describes it here. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. Now, the Dead Sea is that body of water there in the southern part of the nation of Israel.

And although it's called the Dead Sea, it's really beautiful. Like if you go, I remember not knowing really what to expect when I first went back in 2006. I was expecting, you know, the Dead Sea, it's going to be all green and like, you know, murky and ugly. And, you know, it's not something you'd want to look at. But the Dead Sea is actually really beautiful. The reason why it's the Dead Sea is

is not because, you know, there's all this moss and things like that. No, really nothing can grow in the Dead Sea because of the content of the salt and minerals that are in the water. The Dead Sea is the lowest spot on earth. And so the water from the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea, but because it's the lowest point, it has nowhere to go. So it sits there and evaporates. And

And as it evaporates, it leaves behind all the minerals. And so I think, if I remember right, I didn't look up the actual number, but it's about 25% salt content in the water, which is radically higher than like our ocean salt content.

And so there's nothing that can live in that because the environment is too harsh, but it does make for some beautiful water. It is beautiful. It looks real clear and blue. And then if you go into the Dead Sea, you float. You can't really sink in the Dead Sea because of the density of the water.

But when this water coming from the temple hits the Dead Sea, that's all going to change. It's going to be renewed and restored. And God is describing the coastline. And there you see En Gedi. He mentions En Gedi. People are going to fish. Right now you can't fish at En Gedi because, again, it's the Dead Sea. Nothing grows there. But there's going to be life once more as these waters are healed, as the waters from the temple reach it.

Well, then going on in chapter 47, he describes the borders of the land in verses 13 through 20. And I'll show you that on a map in just a moment. And then he tells them to divide the land among yourselves. And so we'll talk about those divisions as well in chapter 48. So here's what the borders that God describes look like. Now, I think it's probably prudent to consider and to point out that when Jesus returns...

He returns and he sets foot on the Mount of Olives. It splits in two. And that indicates to us that the landscape may change somewhat. So this maybe is not exactly the way it's going to look. But again, using the description that he gives, this is kind of a rough estimation of the borders of the land. So you have the Dead Sea towards the south. And then that district right there next to it, that's the Holy District with the temple in the middle, the land for the prince, and so on.

And then you have up at the far north, that's up like right in the area of Syria and that area. And so it's going to extend up to basically the Euphrates River up there. And then down to the south, beyond the Dead Sea, to one of the main rivers that are there in the desert there.

And then the river of Egypt to the west. And so this is going to be the borders of the land of Israel when Jesus rules and reigns. Now people will populate the whole earth, but this will be the specific borders for the people of God, the Hebrew people. Now this is going to be divided up in chapter 48. And so verse 29 of chapter 48 is the key verse.

It says, And so the northern tribes borders are described in verses 1 through 7. You might remember back in the book of Joshua when the people went into the promised land for the first time.

How they divided up the land by lot. And so each tribe got a specific spot within the promised land that God had given to them. Well, that same type of thing is happening again. Only it's not by lot and it's a different arrangement. But here are the borders of these northern tribes. So at the very north, Dan will have a segment there.

of the land. And so his land will extend from the Mediterranean Sea to the eastern borders.

And then below him, Asher, the tribe of Asher, will have an allotment. And then below Asher will be the tribe of Naphtali, and then the tribe of Manasseh, then Ephraim. And so Manasseh and Ephraim, those are Joseph's sons. And so that's how Joseph gets a double portion in this land. Then you have the tribe of Reuben, and then the tribe of Judah.

as well just above the holy district and so uh again these aren't meant to be exact you know but just to give you an idea of the divisions of the land and uh these are going to exist during the millennial kingdom he continues on in chapter 48 to describe the district for the lord in verses 8 through 14 which we've talked about but he gives more detail

Jerusalem's common land in verses 15 through 20, and then the land belonging to the prince, verses 21 and 22. So these are things that we've already talked about. Again, looking at this map, you see the nation there, and then the holy district is there in the middle, and there's land for the priests, land for the temple, the common land for the city of Jerusalem, and then the land on either side that's given to the prince. And so those are described there in detail here in chapter 48.

Then going on in verses 23 through 29, he describes the southern tribe borders. And we'll look at that in just a moment. And then the gates of the city in verses 30 through 35, there's gates for the city of Jerusalem. This isn't talking about the temple or the temple complex. But in the city of Jerusalem, there's going to be gates on each side assigned to or named according to different tribes of the nation of Israel.

So the southern tribes immediately below the temple district is the tribe of Benjamin. And they have their borders extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea. And then below the tribe of Benjamin is the tribe of Simeon and then Issachar and then Zebulun and then Gad. And so the land is going to be divided up this way so that every tribe gets a portion. Of course, there is a tribe that's missing. That's the tribe of Levi.

And that is because they are the Levites and the priests and their land is within the red portion that we saw earlier, the district for the Lord. And so that's their portion that they will live in. And then their biggest inheritance is that they will be able to minister at the temple and serve the Lord in that way.

So that is chapter 48 of Ezekiel and the end of Ezekiel. Now tomorrow we'll begin looking at the book of Daniel. And so I want to give you a quick look at what we're going to be talking about. The book of Daniel is written by, it's the prophecies of Daniel. And he ministered from about 605 BC to 536 BC. That's when he was captured, when Jerusalem was conquered the first time.

until just after the people were released to go back to Jerusalem. His purpose was twofold, to explain God's program for the Gentile nations. You see in chapter 2, verse 4 through 7, 28. And these chapters are very unique in the Old Testament in that they are written in Aramaic. The rest of the Old Testament pretty much is written in Hebrew, but this particular segment is written in Aramaic.

Then the second purpose is to explain the effect of the Gentiles on Israel. And so you see that in chapter 1 and then chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. And again, dealing with the nation of Israel, those chapters are written in Hebrew because they're specifically dealing with the nation of Israel.

His contemporaries were Ezekiel and Jeremiah, as we talked about. And so here on the timeline you see Babylon conquers Judah in 586, but they had conquered Jerusalem two times before that. And so the first time they conquer Jerusalem was 605. They take captives. Daniel is one of those captives. He's taken to Babylon.

Ezekiel was taken to Babylon during the second captivity. But remember Ezekiel was with the common people. He was with his people by the river he describes. Daniel is something different. He was set apart for the king of Babylon to serve in the courts of the king of Babylon.

And so he had an altogether different ministry. Although he was in Babylon like Ezekiel, he was ministering before the king. He was ministering in the political realm to the nation of Babylon and then beyond that. And so he basically ministers during the whole captivity. He's really old by the end of it. He lives a long time. But he ministers during that whole time.

And then soon after that, you know, the people are released to go back to Jerusalem after Cyrus conquers the nation of Babylon. Well, to finish up for this evening and to finish up the book of Ezekiel, I want to go back to where we started. As we talk about this millennial temple, the message of the temple was, your situation is not hopeless.

But the question we saw throughout the book of Ezekiel is when will you know that he is the Lord? What's it going to take?

For the nation of Judah, they wouldn't listen when God sent messengers. So then God brought judgments. And they wouldn't listen when God brought the judgments. So then, well, God gives the promises of the future after they receive the judgments with a final invitation for them to listen, for them to know that He is the Lord. And all throughout that, looking at our own hearts, we've been asking, when is it

going to be what's it going to take for us to know and to recognize that he is the lord and i want to close with a verse from ezekiel chapter 46 verse 9 which is a verse that always stands out for me as i read through uh this portion of the book of ezekiel in ezekiel chapter 46 verse 9

God says,

And so God is here giving specific instructions to the people for how to go in and how to go out when they go to worship the Lord. Now,

Most likely. You know. The main intention of this is practical. That you know. He's giving some order. And some direction. So that you know. If you imagine. There's a lot of people coming to worship. And if everybody is going. Whichever direction they want. It's going to be a little bit of chaos. And so he's.

You know, giving some instruction. So if you go in this way, then keep on going that way. Don't, you know, stop and stop the line and everybody behind you. You know, have you ever been on an airplane and, you know, there's somebody like blocking the aisle and it's like, come on, like move, you know, the rest of us want to get off.

off. In the same way, you know, there's, that's probably kind of the general idea here that, that keep the flow going, you know, go in this way, go out that way is just a practical order. But, but I believe there's some symbolism here as well that we can receive and, and benefit from. And that is two things. Number one, go all the way in.

Your situation is not hopeless. Whatever it is, whatever you face, your situation is not hopeless. But in order to have hope, we must turn to the Lord. We must know that He is the Lord. But that's not something we can do partially. It's not something we can just kind of test out or try out. You know what I mean? Like I'll give God a little bit and see what happens. God requires and He asks for a complete commitment.

You know, Jesus said, hey, if you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. If you love your family more than me, you're not worthy of me, Jesus says. If you love anything else more than me, you're not worthy of me. It requires this full commitment. And so this picture here of going all the way in, entering through the gateway is essential that if you want to have hope, there is hope for you in Jesus Christ. But you have to go all the way and you have to fully commit yourself

You have to be all in. But I think there's another picture here as well that is just as appropriate. And that is that God intends when we get together with Him and we go all in, that when we leave, we leave different. And when you go in with an all-in heart, an all-in attitude, God is going to work differently.

So that when you leave, you don't go out the same way you came in, but you go out completely different. You go out changed. You go out different. Now, taking this kind of symbolism and applying it to, like, let's say our church service this evening.

I don't know how you entered in. But I think a lot of times, like during the time of worship, people just kind of get to the gateway and they don't enter all in. They get to the gateway, they're here, they hear the music, they see the words, maybe they're even singing the words or saying the words, but there's not this engagement. The words aren't meaningful. The words aren't the expression of our heart. We're not crying out to God.

When we get into the word, you're here, but are you just at the gateway? You're hearing the words. It's okay. Nice information. Good to know. But is there a hunger for you to hear from God, to leave different, to have some instruction from the Lord, to be changed when you leave this place? We need to enter into these times with the Lord with an expectation. God, I'm going to hear from you. You want to speak to me. You want to give me instruction. And so that when we leave...

We leave with the heart, with the attitude, God, I'm going to put into practice what you've taught me, what you've told me. I'm going to leave different. And so the way that you came in should not be the way that you leave. Whether that's talking about a church service, whether that's talking about your devotional time with the Lord, whatever it might be, you know, a retreat, a conference, go in with the expectation, I'm going to be all in. I'm going to fully commit to what God has for me.

So that he can work, he can change me. And that when I leave, I don't leave the same, but I leave different. And I want to encourage you to get as much as you can out of time with the Lord. Think about it that way. Get as much as you can out of your time with the Lord. And so with that in mind, I want to invite the worship team to come back up. And they're going to close this in a couple songs. And I want to encourage you as they lead us in these last couple songs to not just stand at the entryway.

But to really enter in. Let these words be the cry of your heart. Mean these things that we sing. And really enter in. And respond as God is speaking to you. If He puts it on your heart to be on your knees before Him, then be on your knees before Him. You might be thinking, well, what about the people around me? I don't know, what are they going to think? Who cares? Be all in. Get the most out.

That you can get out of your time with the Lord. That's what it's all about. And so respond. If He calls you to stand up, to raise your hands, to bow down before Him, then respond as He speaks to your heart. But mean the words. Hear from the Lord. These things that God's been speaking to you as we've been going through these chapters, let them take root. Ask God to help you to put them into practice and to live out so that when you leave this place...

You're changed. You're different because you've connected with God. And so I want to encourage you as they lead us in these last songs to worship the Lord. Mean the words. Let them be the true cry of your heart. Let's worship Him together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.