An Introduction to Ezekiel 40-48

This evening in prayer meeting, I shared for a few minutes an overview of some of the things I learned working on my paper for a summer school class I took at DBTS in May (Old Testament Theology 2 with Dr. Rolland McCune). The class was excellent, but I had to write a 30-40 page paper. I chose to write a defense of a literal interpretation of Ezekiel 40-48. I must admit, the research and study did grow a bit tedious, but as one is able to begin to piece together the details, this passage comes alive.

It is quite a challenge to distill 60-80 hours of research, study, and writing into a 30-minute Bible study. Nonetheless, I presented the three main arguments of my paper:

• A Literal Kingdom: Ezekiel 40-48 describes the worship of the Lord during the future millennial reign of Jesus Christ on the earth.
• A Literal Temple: Ezekiel 40-48 describes a physical temple that will be the center for worship during the Millennium.
• Literal Animal Sacrifices: Ezekiel 40-48 describes animal sacrifices that will be reinstated during the Millennium as part of worship to God.

It is very exciting to me to think about Kingdom of God here on earth as Jesus Christ will reign during the Millennium. To think of viewing the animal sacrifices taking place on the altar in the temple and to ponder the significance of our Perfect Lamb sacrificed as our sin offering--- wow! It makes me all the more enthusiastic as I pray, "Thy kingdom come!"

• "An Introduction to Ezekiel 40-48" --- You can download the PDF file of my handout (in order to make it a decent size, I left off the two diagrams below which I reprinted from Ralph Alexander's excellent commentary on Ezekiel in the Expositor's Bible Commentary).
• "The Millennial Temple of Ezekiel 40-48" --- I would also recommend you read this excellent article by John Whitcomb.