The Palace Temple
Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither.
Ezek. 40:4
Miniature model in Jerusalem presages future activity.
You approach it with awe. You followed the reports of its construction -- and now it is finished. Back in the old world, you were in churches where the Holy Spirit was present; but now you're on your way to the long-prophesied palace temple where Jesus himself will be seen face-to-face, plainly, by everyone. These are people from all over the world -- all coming to see what you came to see.
You leave the north part of the city that sits high up on the north side of the new valley. The eleven and one-half mile1 trip seems to take forever, but actually it takes less than twenty minutes. The highway from the city to the palace temple, (also called sanctuary) is lined with palm trees. The land boasts a cover crop of flowers. There are fountains along the way.
Then you catch sight of it. 'It's huge,' you think to yourself. With six sets of pillars soaring 120 feet into the sky. A mile long and a mile wide. (Later you'll see that it's a series of buildings, not just one.)
It's all made of white, polished, carved stone. Gold ornamentation catches and multiplies the dazzling effect of the sun. Palm trees, gardens, pools and fountains surround the complex. Brilliant flowers -- scarlet, purple, blue, orange, red, yellow -- all neatly landscaped, compete for your attention.
Back in the old world, you had a book about Versailles, home of French kings, on your coffee table, but it was not half of this. You had seen pictures of the Taj Mahal -- but this is more exquisite.
You go to the south gate . . . that's where you'll enter. There are three gates -- north, east and south. Since Jesus entered at the east gate during the dedication of the Temple, it has been closed off to the public. No one will ever enter there again, except the prince, resurrected David, King of Israel. He may sit inside the passageway to celebrate feasts there before the Lord.
Inside the south gate now, you walk up seven steps, seven, the number of completion. (The seventh of the seven thousand-year periods ends the age of man. Sabbath means seventh day, the day of rest; and a day is with the Lord as 1,000 years.)
Then you're in the passageway. You notice palm tree decorations along the wall. You notice three guardrooms on each side of the passageway. Each one is about twelve and one-half feet square. Each one has a window. There is about ten feet between each guardroom, you estimate.
The first passageway
First you notice the outer wall of the sanctuary, about twelve and one-half feet high and twelve and one-half feet wide.
Beyond the guardrooms is a twelve and one-half foot doorway opening into a seventeen-foot exit hall with four-foot columns. Beyond this hall, at the inner end of the passageway is a vestibule about 27 feet by 20 feet. The pillars on each side are very high, about 120 feet high. These pillars are decorated with palm tree decorations. This whole first passageway is about 105 feet long.
And so we pass through this first passageway into this "outer court." It is about 208 feet from here to the next wall, a courtyard inside. A stone pavement runs around the inside of the walls, and thirty rooms are built on it. These rooms open onto the pavement, called the "lower pavement." It extends out from the outer wall into the outer court the same distance as the passageway does -- about 105 feet.
The second passageway
The north gate is just like the south gate.
We pass through the outer court, and into the next passageway. It has eight steps leading up to it, eight, the number of new beginnings. (The beginning of God's rest; and we are about to see a new beginning, a new way of worshipping.)
It is exactly like the outer passageway: the guardrooms, the palm tree decorations, the entrance and exit halls . . . even the 120-foot pillars with palm tree decorations on them, too.
The east and north inner gates were made just the same way.
But off the north inner gate, a door leads into a side room where the flesh of the sacrifices is washed before being taken to the altar. On each side of the entry hall of the passageway there are two tables where the animals for sacrifice are slaughtered for the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings to be presented in the Temple. Outside the entry hall, on each side of the stairs going up to the north entrance, there are two more tables. So, in all, there are eight tables, four inside and four outside, where the sacrifices are cut up and prepared. There are also four stone tables where the butchering knives and other implements are laid. There are hooks, three or four inches long, fastened along the walls of the entry hall, and on the tables the flesh of the offering is laid.
Also by the north gate are some rooms for singers.
Buildings for the priests
In the inner court, there are also two one-room buildings. These are for the priests. One is by the north inner gate and faces south; the other is by the south inner gate and faces north.
The building beside the inner north gate is for the priests who supervise the maintenance (the Levites).
The building beside the inner south entrance is for the priests in charge of the altar (the descendants of Zadok). They're the only ones of all the Levites who may come near to the Lord to minister to him because they remained faithful to the Lord when Israel abandoned God for idols.
The altar
The inner court is approximately 600 feet square.
Precisely in the middle stands the altar. It is quite large. On the east side, steps lead up to it. It has four sections. The base is about 29 feet square and has a two-foot curb around it. The next section is a little narrower, about four feet high. Same with the next section, but about eight feet high, and then the next section, too, again eight feet high. So altogether: about 22 feet high. Four horns project about another two feet higher.
This altar is for the burning of offerings and the sprinkling of blood upon it -- all as a memorial to the sacrifice the Lord made at the cross.
Behind it stands the porch to the Temple.
The river
There is a stream flowing eastward from beneath the Temple, and passing to the right of the altar. For the first 1,500 feet or so it is ankle deep. After another 1,500 feet or so, it is knee deep. Another 1,500 feet, waist-high. And then, another 1,500 feet and it is over one's head.
This is the river that flows east through the desert and the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea, healing the salty waters and making them fresh and pure. All kinds of fruit trees thrive along its banks: apples, pears, plums, oranges, peaches, and figs. And they produce a crop each and every month.
The Temple itself
And behind that is the entrance hall of the Temple. Ten steps lead up to it from the inner court. Its walls extend up on either side to form two pillars, each of them about ten and one-half feet thick, and quite high. The entrance is about 41 feet wide and 23 feet long.
The large main room of the Temple itself is called the nave. Two 12-foot square pillars stood at its doorway. The nave itself is about 83 feet long by 41 feet wide.
At the end of the nave is an inner room called "the most holy place." There are columns also at its entrance, about four feet thick. Its doorway is about 12 feet wide. There is a hallway about 14 and one-half feet behind it. This "most holy place" is about 41 feet square.
The nave of the Temple and the Holy of Holies are paneled, and all three have recessed windows. There are recessed windows and carved trees also on both sides of the entry hall, the hallways beside the Temple, and on the canopy on the entrance. The space above the door leading into the Holy of Holies is paneled, too. The walls are decorated with carvings of cherubim, each with two faces, and of palm trees alternating with the cherubim. One face -- that of a man -- looks toward the palm tree on one side, and the other face -- that of a young lion -- looks toward the palm tree on the other side.
There are square doorposts at the doors of the nave, and in front of the Holy of Holies is what appears to be an altar, but it isn't because it is made of wood. This is the table which is before the Lord, the table of the Lord.
Both the nave and the Holy of Holies have double doors, each with two swinging sections. The doors leading into the nave are decorated with cherubim and palm trees, just as on the walls. There is a wooden canopy over the entry hall.
The Temple is the place of the throne of Jesus. This is where he shall remain, his home, living among the people of Israel forever.
Heading back outside, you notice a row of rooms along the outside of the Temple wall. The wall is about 12 feet thick. Each room is about eight feet wide. These rooms are in three tiers, one above the other, 30 rooms to a tier. They have beautiful little balconies, too. The whole structure is supported by girders and not attached to the Temple wall itself for support. Each tier is wider than the one below it, corresponding to the narrowing of the Temple wall as it rises higher. There is a stairway at the side of the Temple that leads up from floor to floor.
There are other rooms as well, out on the inner wall of the court, instead of alongside the Temple itself. These are also in three tiers. This group of rooms is about 208 feet long by 104 feet wide. These rooms are for the priests. This is where the priests that offer up the sacrifices to the Lord eat of the most holy offerings and store them, too: cereal offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings.
There is yet another block of sacred chambers that faces north. There, at the extreme west end of these rooms, is a place where the priests boil the meat of the trespass offering and sin offering and bake the flour of the flour offerings into bread.
There is a similar place in each of the four areas of the outer court. These rooms are about 60 feet by 80 feet, enclosed by walls. Around the inside of these walls there runs a line of brick boiling vats, with ovens underneath. These rooms are for the Temple assistants -- the Levites -- to boil the sacrifices offered by the people.
Temple worship
The millennial age will be a time of reward for the resurrected saints who will share the rule with Christ. We know a good deal about that. But it will also be a time of reward for certain humans, such as the sons of Zadok of the tribe of Levi. Because they continued as faithful priests when all of Israel turned to following idols, they will be the ministers of Jesus. They will stand before him to offer the fat and the blood of the sacrifices. Apparelled in linen turbans, robes and trousers, they will enter his sanctuary and come to his Table to minister to him.
They will also serve as judges to resolve any disagreements among any parties in Israel. They will be responsible for seeing to it that the Sabbath is kept a sacred day.
They will not own property per se, because their very close and personal relationship with Jesus will be their "property," their wealth. And just as wealth itself produces profit year after year, they will eat the gifts and sacrifices brought to the Temple by the people year after year: cereal, sin and guilt offerings, as well as first-ripe fruits, and first harvests of grains.
Other branches of the tribe of Levi will be Temple guards and gatemen. They'll slay the animals brought for burnt offerings. They'll do maintenance work around the Temple. They'll be present to help the people. But unfortunately, because their fathers encouraged the people to worship other gods, they will not have the same privileges of the Zadok line to come near to the Lord to minister.
New holy days
The new holy days that will be observed are actually the ancient holy days given to ancient Israel. It makes sense. After all, God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
These include:
The feast days. Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, and the feast of tabernacles are mentioned specifically.2 The other days, while not mentioned specifically, are implied as well: firstfruits, pentecost, trumpets, atonement.
The new moons.3
The Sabbaths.4 Memorial sacrifices will also play a major role in the new scheme of worship. For example:
New year's day. On each new year's day, a young bull will be sacrificed to purify the Temple. The priest will take some of the blood of this sin offering and put in on the door posts of the Temple and upon the four corners of the base of the altar and upon the walls at the entry of the inner court.
Passover. So, too, on the passover.
On the passover, the prince shall provide a young bull for a sin offering for himself and all the people of Israel. On each of the seven days of the feast of passover, he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord. This daily offering will consist of seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish. A young goat will also be given each day for a sin offering. And the prince shall provide fourteen bushels of grain for the meal offering: one bushel for each bullock and ram; and 21 gallons of olive oil, one and one-half gallons to go with each bushel.
The prince, the resurrected David, King of Israel again, in fact, is required to make offerings for the people of the the nation on all occasions of importance: the feast days, the sabbaths, as well as new moon.
On the sabbath, the prince will offer six lambs and a ram, all perfect, just as Jesus was and is, a meal offering of one bushel of flour to go with the ram, and more meal to go with the six lambs. Also, one and one-half gallons of olive oil for each bushel of flour.
At the new moon celebration, he shall bring one young bull, in perfect condition; six lambs and one ram, all perfect. With the young bull, he must bring a bushel of flour for a meal offering. With the ram, he is to bring one bushel of flour. With the lamb, he is to bring whatever he is willing to give. With each bushel, he is to bring one and one-half gallons of olive oil.
The daily sacrifice
And each morning of the year, a yearling lamb will be sacrificed as a burnt offering to the Lord, along with a meal offering each morning of one-sixth bushel of flour and half a gallon of oil with which to mix it.
The people of Israel will be taxed to provide the means for these national offerings as follows:
One bushel of wheat or barley for every sixty reaped.
One percent of the olive oil.
One sheep for every 200 in the flock.
These will go to meal, burnt and thank offerings from the nation to Jesus -- supplied by the prince, David.
These foodstuffs will be for the attending priests.
Coming in and going out
When the common people come in through the north passageway to sacrifice during the religious feasts, they must go out through the south passageway. Those coming in from the south must go out by the north. They must never go out the same way they come in.
That's the physical law, a metaphor for the spiritual. The spiritual translation is encouraging. After approaching near to God, we are not the same, nor do we walk in the same paths, but rather we walk a new way. And so we have these laws of egress and exit in the Temple.
One true, vital, meaningful religion
And so all the denominations of this age will flow into one unified worship of the Lord at Jerusalem in the sanctuary, and all around the world.
Instead of Christmas and Easter, we will have passover, unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles.
Instead of Sunday worship, we will return to the weekly sabbath.
Instead of walking by faith, all will see Jesus face to face.
And the focal point for all religious activity will be this one-square-mile complex of passageways, courts, priests' rooms, sacrificial rooms, the altar, the temple, and holy of holies called the sanctuary, where God himself will reside right on the earth.
FOOTNOTES
Chapter 14
THE PALACE TEMPLE
1. Bible scholars differ on the dimensions of the sanctuary. Ez. 48:20 says, "All the oblation is five and twenty thousand by five and five and twenty thousand." But what unit of measurement is this? Some scholars think cubits, which are approximately two feet; others think reeds, which are about twelve feet, six inches. The difference is significant -- a factor of six! If cubits, the city is about two miles square. If reeds, it is about twelve miles square. Similarly, if cubits, the sanctuary is about 875 feet square. If reeds, more like one mile square. If cubits, the whole oblation would be less than ten miles square. If reeds, more like sixty miles square. Some say the oblation can't be measured in reeds, because a 60 square mile block wouldn't fit into the land today. It may not now, others retort, but with the many earthquakes and topographical changes predicted, it could in the millennial age.
This author is inclined to expect the larger dimensions. There are several reasons: The first measurement the angel uses when speaking to Ezekiel is the reed, and so it becomes the standard of measurement. Second, this will be the world capital. As such, it would be built on a grand scale. It will play host to many visitors from all over the world, especially at holy day seasons, another reason it needs to be big. And it will be the capital, also, of the regathered Israel's entire Promised Land, which itself will extend from the Nile to the Euphrates on out to the Persian Gulf -- the entire Saudi Arabian peninsula. The description of the temple may be found in Ez. 40-48.
2. Ez. 45 and Zech. 14
3. Ez. 45, 46
4. Ez. 45, 46
