The Millennial Temple of Ezekiel 40-48 (An Exercise in Literal Interpretation)

Ping to the Millennial Temple

I believe Dr John Whitcomb is the author of "The Genesis Flood" and one of the original creationists with Dr Henry Morris.

His influence, then, has been felt throughout evangelicalism.


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Dr John C. Whitcomb
Theology Professor, Old Testament Scholar
(AiG — USA)

Biography

John C. Whitcomb served as Professor of Theology and Old Testament at Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, IN, for 38 years.

He was graduated with honors from Princeton University in 1948 with a B.A. degree, majoring in ancient and European history. At the end of his freshman year at Princeton, he was led to Christ by Donald B. Fullerton, a former missionary to India.

In 1951, he was graduated from Grace Theological Seminary with the B.D. degree (high honors) and received the Th.M. degree in 1953 and Th.D. degree in 1957 from the same institution. From 1951 to 1990, he taught in the Department of Old Testament and also in the Department of Christian Theology, in which he served as chairman for many of these years. For twenty years he also served as Director of Doctoral Studies, and for ten years as Editor of Grace Theological Journal.

From 1962 to 1990, he was President of the Board of Spanish World Gospel Missions, Inc.; and served on the Board of Trustees of Grace Brethren Foreign Missions (Rev. John W. Zielasko, Executive Director) for twenty years, several of these years as Chairman of the Board.

Dr Whitcomb lived in China three years (1927–30), served his country in Europe (1944–46), visited mission stations in Peru (1950), helped in the establishment of a church in Puerto Rico under the auspices of Grace Brethren Foreign Missions (1958–59); and an extension program for Grace Seminary in France (1958–89); and has lectured in Canada, Latin America, Western Europe, Central African Republic, the Far East, and in most states of the United States. He has been on two study tours of the Holy Land (1952, 82).

Education

Princeton University, 1948 — B.A. degree, majoring in ancient and European history.

Grace Theological Seminary, 1951 — B.D. degree (high honors), 1953 — Th.M. degree, 1957 — Th.D. degree

Honors/Awards/Associations

Dr Whitcomb graduated with honors from Princeton University in 1948.
He graduated from Grace Theological Seminary in 1951 with high honors.

Publications

He authored a defence of the Book of Daniel entitled, Darius the Mede (1959); coauthored with Dr Henry M. Morris a defense of the universality of the Flood entitled, The Genesis Flood (36^th printing, 1992); contributed to the commentaries on Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther in the Wycliffe Bible Commentary (1962); published charts on Old Testament chronology (over 300,000 in print); coauthored with Dr Donald DeYoung a book entitled, The Moon: Its Creation, Form and Significance (1978); in 1979 authored Esther: The Triumph of God’s Sovereignty, in 1985 a commentary on Daniel (both by Moody Press); and The Early Earth: An Introduction to Biblical Creationism (1986), The World That Perished: An Introduction to Biblical Catastrophism (1988), coauthored with Dr John Davis a volume entitled, Israel: A Commentary on Joshua–2 Kings (combined paper edition, 1989), all three books by Baker Book House. He has also produced sixteen audio cassette albums and eighteen video tapes.

Interview

Half-born Christians? Ken Ham speaks with theologian John Whitcomb

Return to Biography List page

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen...so that they are without excuse

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One Person's Drawing of the Millennial Temple

There are those here who consider themselves to be very astute regarding God's word, but this will challenge them to such depths that they will be unable to even aknowledge the existance of the thread.

Amillenialism is a theology built upon unbelief, rather than belief. As such, things that cannot be answered by their doctrine must be viewed as spiritual 'traps' to be avoided.

Thanks, I like to read what you post.

What fascinates me is that the instructions were so specific that the modeler was able to use the Ezekiel verses to build that model of the Millennial Temple.

Literal verses combined to form details of a literal Temple such that even schematics could be drawn.

Symbolism? I seriously doubt it.

As Whitcomb says above, the Jews of Ezra's day knew these schematics and CHOSE not to follow them. They knew they were for a different era.

Thank you for your kind words. Pray for people to be influenced by God's truth.

Good post xzins...we all eagerly look forward to the return of the King and kingdom.

literalist read later

Best discussion on millennial animal sacrifice I've yet seen. Thanks for the post.

You're welcome. I have another post of the temple that I'll try to get on this thread later today.

It's amazing that 9 chapters of specifications could be viewed as a "symbolic" exercise so that we can rifle through it and pontificate.

Merry Christmas!

BTTT

Thanks for posting this article!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

"It is unthinkable that a system of animal sacrifices will be reinstituted after the one perfect sacrifice of Christ has been accomplished, especially in the light of Hebrews 7-10."

Dr. Whitcomb's answer doesn't mention a couple additional points that I think further bear on construing Ezekiel's temple (and the sacrifices) as millennial:

While the sacrificial 'infrastructure' is fully present, it is the 'prince' who provides all the Burnt, Grain, Peace, and Sin sacrifices for the House of Israel (Eze 45:17). This stands in sharp contrast to the Levitical system wherein each individual brought his own sacrifice.
The only sacrifices provided by an individual himself are his own Burnt and Grain offerings. These offerings are largely voluntary, as I understand them, in that they are offered in worship, thanksgiving, and devotion as well as to cover unintentional sin, but they are offered when and to the extent the individual is so inclined, somewhat like our tithe's, singing praise, prayer devotionals, etc. Note that the mandatory Sin and Guilt sacrifices are not offered by the individual, but by the prince, on behalf of the individual as members of the House of Israel.
There is no 'Guilt" offering which requires restitution made by anyone, as if to say restitution is nolonger required. Note there is some ambiguity in Eze 46:6,7 which could be construed as a 'guilt' offering (ram and lambs) but in the context are made with the grain offering, and there is no other mention of guilt offerings being made.

Ezekiel doesn't record or reveal (as it likely was kept hidden from him) who is the 'prince', other than by title. Suppose, then, that the 'prince' of millennial Israel is Jesus, and thus Jesus is providing the sacrifices. Not that Jesus is the animal sacrifice but Jesus merely provides it somehow, much like how God provided the ram in the bush to Abraham as a substitute for Isaac.

It would seem the sacrifices are animal, but if Jesus is providing them, they may no longer have the same significance of being mere "flesh of bulls or blood of goats" (Psalm 50:13) which the Lord declares inadequate. If Jesus provides the sacrifices on behalf of millennial Israel, perhaps they are largely instructive of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross and not intended to truly 'cover'?

Why would Jesus continue the temple sacrifical system, merely substituing sacrifices He provides, rather than eliminating it altogether? Well, it would appear that aside from the voluntary 'worship' type of sacrifices of Ezekiel 46:13-15 (and we saints similarly voluntarily 'tithe' and bring a 'sacrifice of prase' as worship), the sin and guilt covering sacrifices brought by individuals for themselves have been eliminated, and replaced by sacrifices brought by Jesus (if and only if He is the 'prince' of Ezekiel 45, 46, etc.).

Why would Jesus continue any temple sacrifices at all? I don't know. The fact we must accept is that scripture states they do continue. But we can better understand how.

Here then are two charts I made providing a visual comparison of the sacrifices of Ezekiel versus Levitiucs:

			Ezekiel Temple Offering Types and Purposes
			Voluntary Worship			Mandatory Atonement
Offering	Atonement		Burnt atone for unintentional sin, worship, comittment & surrender to God	Grain worship, recognize God's provision, devotion	Peace (Fellowship) worship, thanksgiving, fellowship with others usually at a meal	Sin unintentional sin, confession, forgiveness, cleansing	Guilt for sin requiring restitution , forgiveness, cleansing
Offering	Elements		Bull, male sheep or goat, male/female dove or pidgeon,	flour or grain	Bull, male/female sheep or goat	Bull, male/female goat	ram or lamb
Ezekiel Temple Offer Providers	Prince for House of Israel	Eze 45:17	"It shall be the prince's part to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the drink offerings, at the feasts, on the new moons and on the sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel."
		Eze 45:18-20^*				1/1, 7th each month
		Eze 45:21-24	1/14 7days	1/14 7days		1/14 1st -7th day
		Eze 45:25	7/15 7 days	7/15 7 days		7/15 7 days
		Eze 46:4-5	Sabbath	Sabbath
		Eze 46:6-7	new moon	new moon			???
		Eze 46:11		festivals & feasts
		Eze 46:12	Sabbath		Sabbath
	People for themselves	Eze 46:13, 15	continually
	People for themselves	Eze 46:14, 15		continually

* Priests perform the sacrificial cleansing of the temple, but the Prince provides the sacrifice.

			Levitical Offering Types and Purposes
			Voluntary Worship			Mandatory Atonement
Offering	Atonement		Burnt atone for unintentional sin, worship, comittment & surrender to God	Grain worship, recognize God's provision, devotion	Peace (Fellowship) worship, thanksgiving, fellowship with others usually at a meal	Sin unintentional sin, confession, forgiveness, cleansing	Guilt for sin requiring restitution , forgiveness, cleansing
Offering	Elements		Bull, male sheep or goat, male/female dove or pidgeon,	flour or grain	Bull, male/female sheep or goat	Bull, male/female goat	ram or lamb
Levitical Offering Providers	People for themselves		Lev 1:3 if his offering is a burnt offering ... he shall offer it	Lev 2:1,2 ...when anyone presents a grain offering...He shall then bring it	Lev 3:1 if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings ... he shall offer it	Lev 4:3 if the anointed priest sins ... let him offer Lev 4:14 ...then the assembly shall offer... Lev 4:23 ...[a leader] shall bring for his offering Lev 4:28 then [the common person] shall bring for his offering Lev 5:7 [the poor] shall bring ... for a sin offering Lev 5:11 [the very poor] shall bring ... for a sin offering	Lev 5:6 'He shall also bring his guilt offering to the LORD for his sin which he has committed,
	Priests cleanse the temple, & for themselves	Ex 29:39-42	daily, and feasts
	Priests cleanse the temple, & for themselves	Nu 28:9-10	double on Saabath

I thought I would point out a further consistency (and perhaps an inconsistency) of Ezekiel's land divisions with Revelation.

I assume we are all familiar with the fact that the tribes of Dan and Ephraim which received an alottment of the promised land by Joshua, do not appear in the list of twelve tribes in Revelation 6 - the 144,000 Israelites sealed for God.

Note further, that the alottments prophecied by Ezekiel do match the tribes sealed in Rev 6. Plus, it would appear that the tribes of Dan and Ephraim have been restored. Thus it is possible, that again, God not only preserved a remnant of Israel in Revelation 6, but his promise to Israel includes Dan and Ephraim as well, and collectively they are Ezekiel's tribes who then receive a new alottment in the millennial 'camp of the saints and the beloved city' (Rev 20:9):

Joshua's divison of promised land	Sealed tribes of Revelation 6	Ezekiel's division of holy land
Jos 15:1 Judah	Rev 6:5 ...tribe of Judah, 12,000,	Eze 48:7 ...Judah, one portion.
Num 32:29 Reuben	...tribe of Reuben 12,000,	Eze 48:6 ...Reuben, one portion.
Num 32:29 Gad	...tribe of Gad 12,000,	Eze 48:27 ...Gad, one portion.
Jos 19:24 Asher	Rev 6:6 ...tribe of Asher 12,000,	Eze 48:2 ... Asher, one portion.
Jos 19:32 Naphtali	...tribe of Naphtali 12,000,	Eze 48:3 ...Naphtali, one portion.
Jos 17:1 Manasseh	...tribe of Manasseh 12,000,	Eze 48:4 ... Manasseh, one portion.
Jos 19:1 Simeon	Rev 6:7 ...tribe of Simeon 12,000,	Eze 48:24 ...Simeon, one portion.
Jos 18:7 Levites none -priestly service	...tribe of Levi 12,000,	Eze 48:13 ...Levites have 25,000 [by] 10,000 cubits
Jos 19:17 Issachar	...tribe of Issachar 12,000,	Eze 48:25 ...Issachar, one portion.
Jos 19:10 Zebulun	Rev 6:8 ...tribe of Zebulun 12,000,	Eze 48:26 ...Zebulun, one portion.
Jos 16:1 Joseph	...tribe of Joseph 12,000,	Eze 47:13 ...Joseph shall have two portions.
Jos 18:11 Benjamin	...tribe of Benjamin, 12,000	Eze 48:23 ...Benjamin, one portion.
Jos 16:5 Ephraim		Eze 48:5 ...Ephraim, one portion
Jos 19:40 Dan		Eze 48:1 ...Dan, one portion

starwind - I have to say Ive enjoyed your posts and found them very informative polite and well stated -

Merry Christmas to you

starwind - I have to say Ive enjoyed your posts and found them very informative polite and well stated - Merry Christmas to you

I will second that!

I assume we are all familiar with the fact that the tribes of Dan and Ephraim which received an alottment of the promised land by Joshua, do not appear in the list of twelve tribes in Revelation 6 - the 144,000 Israelites sealed for God

Yes, that is because of their role in introducing idol worship into Israel (Judges 17-18)

Yes, those tribes are restored in the Millennial reign.

Thanks I will check it out. Anything in particular I should be looking for?