But I would always ask the question;
why do we need a literal temple to have a literal kingdom?
Because we do have a literal Kingdom at the end of the book of Revelation,
and we don't have a temple. So I don't really see why we need one now.
Second thing I want to hit on is the New Jerusalem and the eschatological temple.
And we've talked about the temple before with New Testament temple imagery;
how it's used of Jesus body,
and individual believers and corporate believers, and so on and so forth.
But we're going to revisit that a little bit to comment on the New Jerusalem.
Scholars have long noted that Ezekiel 40-48, which is the famous temple vision of Ezekiel,
contains elements that can be read as an architectural plan that makes literal sense.
So it has that in it, but it also has elements that make no literal sense.
Okay, things like; there's no roof.
You know, you're not going to build a real temple with no roof because it will be defiled
when birds poop on it. And when they're flying over, and other dirt comes in.
You don't do that, that's not the way you do, you know, a literal temple enclosure.
Even the tabernacle was covered with with tarps, and so on and so forth.
And the Jerusalem temple in Solomon's day had a roof. That's gone in Ezekiel 40-48.
Also, you have certain tabernacle-temple pieces of furniture,
like the Ark of the Covenant, that are not in Ezekiel 40-48.
That are just things that sort of defy thinking of it as a literal building,
there's some things that make you think that, other things that make you think the opposite.
So scholars are divided on the meaning of the passage and how would be fulfilled.
But my take, which again, is not going to be a surprise is, I believe that the future temple
is and was and was intended to be by his Ezekiel, was Jesus, and the body of Christ,
the body of Jesus, which is us, because this is how the New Testament describes temple,
this is New Testament temple talk.
It explains a number of things, you know, when you get into the earthly New Jerusalem,
at the end of the book of Revelation, there is no temple.
So as I've asked before, if Ezekiel 40, through 48, is supposed to be a Third Temple,
if that's the point of it, what happened to it?
Because when you get to the end of days, there is no temple.
So what happened to it?
You can't say it was destroyed, because in Revelation 20, when the forces of evil
and the armies surround Jerusalem, they're defeated,
never says that they invade Jerusalem. So what happened to it?
And again, my position is that, that isn't the point.
The point is that the presence of God in the body of Christ, which is us,
and then that gets magnified, glorified into the New Jerusalem
where God is there with his family, and there is no need for a temple
because he is the source of light, and the intercessor the Messiah.
So I would ask the question, just if you're interested in prophecy, I mean, I believe
that that there will be an earthly kingdom.
I believe the nations were surrendered in real time at Babel, they were judged,
and they're going to be reclaimed in real time on the earth too.
I don't like the word "millennialism" to describe that, for a number of reasons.
It's too short for one. But I would always ask the question;
why do we need a literal temple to have a literal kingdom?
Because we do have a literal Kingdom at the end of the book of Revelation,
and we don't have a temple. So I don't really see why we need one.
Now, you know, the way history plays out in our own lifetimes, Jerusalem may get a temple,
I don't know. If they do, I don't think it's the fulfillment of any prophecy.
But you know, I'd be in favor of it because it's their land, and they ought to be able
to worship in the temple if they want to.
I just don't see Old Testament prophecy being fulfilled that way,
because of what the New Testament does with it.
So again, my reasons: New Testament temple talk, there are other things in Ezekiel
that sort of really argue for this.
For instance, if you go to Ezekiel, the glory departs in three stages.
Ezekiel 9, Ezekiel 10, Ezekiel 11.
By the time you are in Ezekiel 11, the glory is out of the temple, it's still in the land,
but it's out of the temple.
And so the fact that it's still in the land, gives you this presumption
that the Lord wants to be there.
The Lord wants to return, to dwell with his people in a temple.
But of course, in Ezekiel you're going to have the temple destroyed
and so on and so forth. When does the glory return? Let's go to Ezekiel 43.
Again, this is right in the middle of this temple passage that everyone loves to talk about.
Ezekiel 43. I think I had verse 5 there, let me check; verses 5 through 9. Yeah,
«the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory
of the Lord filled the temple.»
So there you have the glory returning in Ezekiel's temple.
«While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple,
and he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place
of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever.
And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings,
by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places,
by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts,
with only a wall between me and them.
They have defiled my holy name by their abominations» so on and so forth.
So the Lord says, when the glory comes back, it'll be... keyword here, forever.
I would suggest to you that if a temple gets rebuilt today,
and there is no temple at the end of the book of Revelation,
that like something happens to that temple, that's in defiance of this passage.
But if you take the temple as the New Jerusalem, the body of Christ and the New Jerusalem,
it is forever, it will have no end.
So again, I'm just trying to relay my thinking on why I take the position that I do.
The glory is tied to the new temple, new sanctuary.
And that means when the glory returns, you need to be consistent,
with the way you think about the future temple idea or the fulfillment of Ezekiel 40-48,
with the glory terminology.
Again, that's typically excluded from discussion,
but it needs to be included because the text includes it.