Ezekiel was given the task of preaching to a people who had been captured and taken into exile by the Babylonians because God was judging his people for their sins. But the people in exile were going to represent the future of Israel. Their children would be the future remnant to return to Jerusalem. The final chapters of the book of Ezekiel is to generate hope in the people regarding what God will do when the Christ comes and the Spirit is poured out. The final chapters of the book have described a glorious temple in great detail. The purpose of these details is for the people to see the glory of the Lord and be convicted and ashamed of their sins (Ezekiel 43:10). The point of the temple imagery is not so that we would expect a physical structure to be built in the end times. Rather, the temple imagery was to prepare the people to see Jesus as the fulfillment of this prophesied glorious temple (cf. John 2:19-22). Ezekiel has been in a vision taking a tour of this new temple. The book concludes with a wonderful picture of the temple giving life to the world. Open your copies of God’s word to Ezekiel 47-48 and let’s see how this vision ends…
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