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Ezekiel 40

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1 In the twenty-fifth year after we had been taken away prisoners, in the first month of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the town was taken, on the very same day, the hand of the Lord was on me, and he took me there.

2 In the visions of God he took me into the land of Israel, and put me down on a very high mountain, on which there was, as it seemed, a building like a town opposite me.

3 He took me there, and I saw a man, looking like brass, with a linen cord in his hand and a measuring rod: and he was stationed in the doorway.

4 And the man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes and give hearing with your ears, and take to heart everything I am going to let you see; for in order that I might let you see them, you have come here: and give an account of all you see to the children of Israel.

5 And there was a wall on the outside of the house all round, and in the man's hand there was a measuring rod six cubits long by a cubit and a hand's measure: so he took the measure of the building from side to side, one rod; and from base to top, one rod.

6 Then he came to the doorway looking to the east, and went up by its steps; and he took the measure of the doorstep, one rod wide.

7 And the watchmen's rooms were one rod long and one rod wide; and the space between the rooms was five cubits; the doorstep of the doorway, by the covered way of the doorway inside, was one rod.

8 And he took the measure of the covered way of the doorway inside,

9 Eight cubits; and its uprights, two cubits; the covered way of the doorway was inside.

10 And the rooms of the doorway on the east were three on this side and three on that; all three were of the same size; and the uprights on this side and on that were of the same size.

11 And he took the measure of the opening of the doorway, ten cubits wide; and the way down the doorway was thirteen cubits;

12 And the space in front of the rooms, a cubit on this side and a cubit on that side; and the rooms six cubits on this side and six cubits on that.

13 And he took the measure of the doorway from the back of one room to the back of the other, twenty-five cubits across, from door to door.

14 And he took the measure of the covered way, twenty cubits; and opening from the covered way of the doorway was the open square round about.

15 And from before the opening of the doorway to before the inner covered way of the doorway was fifty cubits.

16 And the rooms and their uprights had sloping windows inside the doorway all round, and in the same way the covered way had windows all round on the inside: and on every upright there were palm-trees.

17 Then he took me into the outer square, and there were rooms and a stone floor made for the open square all round: there were thirty rooms on the stone floor.

18 And the stone floor was by the side of the doorways, and was as wide as the doorways were long, even the lower floor.

19 Then he took the measure of the square across, from before the lower doorway inside to before the inner doorway outside, one hundred cubits. And he took me in the direction of the north,

20 And there was a doorway to the outer square, looking to the north; and he took the measure of it to see how wide and how long it was.

21 And it had three rooms on this side of it and three on that; its uprights and its covered ways were the same size as those of the first doorway: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

22 And its windows, and the windows of its covered ways, and its palm-trees, were the same as those of the doorway looking to the east; and there were seven steps up to it; and the covered way went inside.

23 And there was a doorway to the inner square opposite the doorway on the north, like the doorway on the east; and he took the measure from doorway to doorway, a hundred cubits.

24 And he took me to the south, and I saw a doorway looking to the south: and he took the measure of its rooms and its uprights and its covered ways by these measures.

25 And there were windows in it and in the covered way all round, like the other windows: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

26 And there were seven steps up to it, and its covered way went inside: and it had palm-trees, one on this side and one on that, on its uprights.

27 And there was a doorway to the inner square looking to the south: he took the measure from doorway to doorway to the south, a hundred cubits.

28 Then he took me to the inner square by the south doorway: and he took the measure of the south doorway by these measures;

29 And the rooms in it and the uprights and the covered ways, by these measures:

30 And there were windows in it and in the covered way all round: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

31 The covered way was on the side nearest the outer square; and there were palm-trees on the uprights: and there were eight steps going up to it.

32 And he took me into the inner square facing the east: and he took the measure of the doorway by these measures;

33 And of the rooms in it and its uprights and its covered ways, by these measures: and there were windows in it and in the covered way round about: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

34 And the covered way was on the side nearest the outer square; there were palm-trees on the uprights, on this side and on that: and there were eight steps going up to it.

35 And he took me to the north doorway: and he took the measure of it by these measures;

36 Its rooms, its uprights, and its covered way had the same measures, and its covered way had windows all round: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

37 Its uprights were on the side nearest to the outer square; there were palm-trees on the uprights, on this side and on that: and there were eight steps going up to it.

38 And there was a room with a door in the covered way of the doorway, where the burned offering was washed.

39 And in the covered way of the doorway there were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which the burned offering and the sin-offering and the offering for error were put to death:

40 On the outer side, to the north, as one goes up to the opening of the doorway, were two tables.

41 There were four tables on one side and four tables on the other, by the side of the doorway; eight tables, on which they put to death the beasts for the offerings.

42 And there were four tables for the burned offering, made of cut stone, one and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide and a cubit high, where the instruments were placed which were used for putting to death the burned offering and the beasts for the offerings.

43 And they had edges all round as wide as a man's hand: and on the tables was the flesh of the offerings.

44 And he took me into the inner square, and there were two rooms in the inner square, one at the side of the north doorway, facing south; and one at the side of the south doorway, facing north.

45 And he said to me, This room, facing south, is for the priests who have the care of the house.

46 And the room facing north is for the priests who have the care of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who, from among the sons of Levi, come near to the Lord to do the work of his house.

47 And he took the measure of the open square, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide, being square; and the altar was in front of the house.

48 Then he took me to the covered way before the house, and took the measure of its uprights, five cubits on one side and five cubits on the other: and the doorway was fourteen cubits wide; and the side-walls of the doorway were three cubits on one side and three cubits on the other.

49 The covered way was twenty cubits long and twelve cubits wide, and they went up to it by ten steps; and there were pillars by the uprights, one on one side and one on the other.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 191

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191. "'I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God.'" This symbolically means that the truths they possess, springing from goodness derived from the Lord, sustain the Lord's church in heaven.

A temple symbolizes the church, and the temple of My God symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven. It is apparent from this that a pillar symbolizes what sustains and stabilizes the church, and that is the Divine truth in the Word.

In the highest sense, a temple symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, particularly in respect to Divine truth. In a representative sense, however, a temple symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven, and so also the Lord's church in the world.

That a temple in the highest sense symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and particularly in respect to Divine truth, is apparent from the following passages:

(Jesus said to the Jews,) "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." ...He was speaking of the temple of His body. (John 2:19, 21)

I saw no temple in (the New Jerusalem), for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22)

Behold..., the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire. (Malachi 3:1)

I will bow myself toward Your holy temple... (Psalms 138:2)

...I will look again toward Your holy temple... And my prayer went to You, to Your holy temple. (Jonah 2:4, 7)

Jehovah is in His holy temple. (Habakkuk 2:20)

The holy temple of Jehovah or of the Lord is His Divine humanity, for it is to this that people bow, look to, and pray, and not to the temple merely, as the temple is not, in itself, holy. It is called a holy temple, because holiness is predicated of Divine truth (no. 173).

"The temple that sanctifies the gold" in Matthew 23:16-17 means nothing else than the Lord's Divine humanity.

[2] That a temple in a representative sense symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven, is apparent from the following passages:

(The) voice (of Jehovah) from the temple...! (Isaiah 66:6)

...a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven... (Revelation 16:17)

The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. (Revelation 11:19)

...the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels... And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God... (Revelation 15:5-6, 8)

I called upon Jehovah, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple... (Psalms 18:6)

I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and His skirts filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)

[3] That a temple symbolizes the church in the world is apparent from these passages:

Our holy... temple... has become a conflagration... (Isaiah 64:11)

I will shake all nations..., that I may fill this house with glory... The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former... (Haggai 2:7, 9)

The new temple in Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48 describes a church to be established by the Lord. A church is also meant in Revelation 11:1 by the temple that the angel measured. So likewise elsewhere, as in Isaiah 44:28, Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11, Zechariah 8:9.

...the disciples (of Jesus) came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ."..Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left... upon another, that shall not be demolished." (Matthew 24:1-2)

The temple here symbolizes the church today; and its demolition means, symbolically, that not one stone would be left upon another. This symbolizes the end of that church, when not any truth would remain. For when the disciples spoke with the Lord about the temple, the Lord foretold the consecutive states of this church, even to its last one, or the end of the age; and the end of the age means the final period of the church, which is the one that exists today. This was represented by the destruction of that temple to its foundations.

[4] A temple has these three symbolic meanings, namely the Lord, the church in heaven, and the church in the world. Because these three are bound up together, they cannot be separated. Consequently one cannot be meant without the other. Therefore anyone who divorces the church in the world from the church in heaven, or the one or the other from the Lord, is without the truth.

The temple here means the church in heaven, because reference to the church in the world follows after this (no. 194).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.