Ezekiel’s Temple: not Millennial temple

“For many years there have been well-intentioned efforts by Christadelphians to interpret the last nine chapters of Ezekiel’s prophecy as a picture of a new temple to be built in the Land of Promise, a center of worship for all nations during the Millennial Reign of Christ. Such efforts have been confined to a comparatively small handful of students, the rest being somewhat daunted by the difficulties involved.

Because of this there has been a tendency to accept somewhat uncritically the results achieved by others — a startling exception to the normal Christadelphian way of things, that a Biblical exposition shall only be accepted when the detailed evidence has been examined bit by bit and thereafter approved or rejected.

Thus it has come about that the monumental work of Henry Sulley of Nottingham, published in 1892, has been allowed to set the pattern of Christadelphian thinking with regard to this temple. His scheme has been accepted in a remarkably uncritical spirit, largely — one imagines — because he was a well-qualified and successful architect who was deemed to be equipped well beyond the rank-and-file reader for the task of producing a definitive interpretation of the temple chapters.

The present writer is persuaded, however, that the work of that well-intentioned author was completely vitiated from the start by certain seriously mistaken presuppositions which dominated and distorted his synthesis in nearly all its main essentials.

Nor is it possible, because of technical difficulties over the production of a big set of diagrams, to go into the question as to what Ezekiel’s temple really was intended to look like. For the present it must suffice to say that the remarkable number of correspondences with Solomon’s temple in measurements and in the phrasing of the descriptions leads one to believe that essentially this temple was to be a second edition of the first temple, with certain modifications appropriate to the changed circumstances of its use.

But certainly the idea of a massive square of buildings with an inner ring (the “Holy Place”)         equally magnifical, surrounding the base of an unscalable conical mountain which itself is crowned with a gigantic altar for countless animal sacrifices — this idea, it is emphasized, must be abandoned as being far away from a correct interpretation of Ezekiel’s specification. Ezekiel’s temple certainly has an enclosure about a mile square, but there is nothing to suggest that the buildings are that size. Actually the sanctuary itself is of much more modest proportions” (FLET).

When the investigation is pushed further, there soon piles up a veritable mountain of evidence all of which insists that a temple like Ezekiel’s, with ritual such as is described there, was never intended for the abiding Kingdom of God with its divine King-Priest and immortal hierarchy.

The most casual reading reveals an intention to reinstitute sacrifice, ceremonial cleansing, the observance of Sabbaths and much else that was already made familiar through the Law of Moses.

But the New Testament is almost over-emphatic in its insistence that all these things, fulfilled (filled full)         in Christ, have been taken away once and for all, and that the purpose of God has no further room for anything of the kind:

a.	No more sacrifices: Heb 9:9,12,28; 10:4,11,12,14,18; Col 2:14; Rom 10:4.
b.	Are the millennial sacrifices only commemorative?
	1)	Not necessary, because Christ is there, bearing marks of crucifixion.
	2)	Bread and wine are a sufficient memorial: Luk 22:16,18.
	3)	Ezekiel says these sacrifices are in fact “for sin” (Eze 43:19-26; 45:17,22), ie, not just “looking back” to Christ.
	4)	If “commemorative” (ie, “look-back”)         sacrifices will be permissible in the Kingdom, then why were they not permissible in 30-70 AD?
	5)	Gal 3:19: “Law was added (only)         until Seed comes.”
c.	Heb 7:12: Law will be changed. Cp Heb 7:18,19.
d.	Heb 10:9: First law is “set aside”.
e.	Heb 8:8,9: A new covenant with Israel, not according to the previous covenant.
f.	Gal 4:9,10: Do you wish to be enslaved again to those “weak and miserable principles”?
g.	Act 7:48: Most High dwells not in temples made with man’s hands” (summarized from FLET).

1. Who is “Prince” of Eze 45; 46? A mortal prince/ruler of Israel: (a) offers sacrifice for his own sins (Eze 45:22; 46:10-12); (b) subject to death (Eze 46:17,18); (c) has wife and sons (Eze 46:16), who will succeed him (Eze 45:8).
2. The priests of this Temple are mortal: (a) they sweat (Eze 44:18); (b) should drink no wine (Eze 44:21; ct Mat 26:29; (c) they die (Eze 44:22); (d) they have no inheritance (Eze 44:28). By ct, see Mat 22:28-30.
3. This Temple has Levites who went/can go astray (Eze 44:10-14).
4. Interspersed with exhortations to a rebellious (?!) house of Israel: Eze 40:4; 44:6; 45:9.
5. No uncircumcised person (Eze 44:9). What about Gentiles saints?
6. “Strangers” in the Land (Eze 47:22,23)? Easy to relate to return from Babylon, but not so easy to Kingdom Age.
7. Eze 47:18: An eastern border of Jordan River. And Eze 47:19: the “river” on the south is wadi El Arish, not Nile. These borders are incompatible with extent of Kingdom (Gen 15:18).
8. Is Jerusalem an enormous Temple area only? Or is it a city without walls, inhabited by children, as in Zec 2:4; 8:4,5?
9. East gate shut 6 days out of 7 (Eze 46:1), or always open (Isa 60:11; Rev 21:25)?
10. What is not described here? No lavish use of gold and silver. No High Priest garments of glory and beauty. “Splendid and holy as their new Temple was to be, its limitations only emphasized in their minds the abiding need for a new and better order, with a Messiah who would be both Prince and Priest ministering a sacrifice which would be all-sufficient, and not merely temporary and typical” (FLET)
11. Ezekiel envisions a large Temple area, but no real city. Likewise, this is what Nehemiah sought to build (Neh 4:22; 7:4; 12:29). Did he understand Ezekiel’s vision to be for his day?

(Summarized from FLET)

“it is desirable to emphasize how much Israel were in need of a new religious code. With the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, they lost not only their temple but also everything associated with it. The ark of the covenant was gone. There was therefore no mercy seat, and therefore no Day of Atonement was possible. The holy fire, which had been unquenched since God signified His good pleasure by accepting Solomon’s sacrifices (2Ch 7:1), was now gone out. So the offering of true burnt offerings was likewise out of question. Neither had they a high-priest with Urim and Thummim who could give a divine judgment in time of perplexity. Indeed all the indications were that God had altogether abolished the system of worship which had been given hundreds of years earlier for the guidance and help of His people: ‘He hath violently taken away his tabernacle… he hath destroyed his place of assembly: the Lord hath caused the sabbaths and solemn feasts to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary… the king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more’ (Lam 2:6,7,9).

“So unless God gave His nation a new start, Israel returned from captivity would be a people spiritually adrift.

“Evidently, then, Ezekiel 40-48 was designed to show the Jews how they were to worship and serve God when their seventy years of exile were expired — what kind of temple they were to fashion; the character of their priesthood; their offerings and their feasts; the due status of priest and prince; the re-allocation of the Land to the tribes; and especially, they were to be inspired with the possibilities of Jerusalem as a center for worship, not only for Israel but also for the strangers in the Land, and — more than that — as a source of spiritual blessings radiating to all the nations of the world” (FLET).

---

“But the people of Israel were unable to carry the project through to its culmination. Their own efforts were halfhearted. They were hindered and discouraged by enemies without and the beginnings of a renewed apostasy within. Thus, bit by bit, they lost their early idealism, and though the temple was built — probably, so far as one can tell, on the pattern of that planned by Ezekiel — it never achieved that which was intended for it. The Glory of the God of Israel did not return unto it, and Ezekiel’s great ideal still goes unrealized until the day when the new Jerusalem descends from God out of heaven; and then it will find expression, not in reeds of wall and cubits of altar but in the spiritual realities which those solid facts were intended to teach” (FLET).

Author: Ezekiel

Time: 593 – 560 BC

Summary: This book records the activity of the prophet Ezekiel who lived in Babylon during the Jewish exile. His message was directed to fellow captives and to Jews still present in Palestine. Both groups refuse to listen and remain unwilling to accept the rule of Babylon. Ezekiel proclaimed good news to the exiles that Israel, after being chastened, would be restored and God’s kingdom would rise. This yet future kingdom will last forever and God’s people will never again be cast out.

Key verses: “O my people, I am going from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel… I will put my Spirit in you and you will live” (Eze 37:12,14).

Outline

1.	Prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem: Eze 1:1 – 24:27
	a)	Introduction: The call of Ezekiel: Eze 1:1 – 3:27
	b)	Symbolic acts showing the siege of Jerusalem: Eze 4:1-5:17
	c)	Oracles explaining divine judgement: Eze 6:1-7:27
	d)	Vision of the corrupted temple: Eze 8:1 -11:25
	e)	Symbolic acts showing Jerusalem’s exile: Eze 12:1 – 28
	f)	Oracles explaining divine judgement: Eze 13:1-24:27
2.	Oracles against foreign nations: Eze 25:1 – 32:32
	a)	Ammon: Eze 25:1-7
	b)	Moab: Eze 25:8-11
	c)	Edom: Eze 25:12-14
	d)	Philistia: Eze 25:15-17
	e)	Tyre: Eze 26:1 – 28:19
	f)	Sidon: Eze 28:20-26
	g)	Egypt: Eze 29:1 – 32:32
3.	Prophecies of the restoration of Israel: Eze 33:1 – 39:29
	a)	The watchman: Eze 33:1-33
	b)	The Lord as the good shepherd: Eze 34:1-31
	c)	Oracles against Edom: Eze 35:1-15
	d)	Israel to be restored and made fruitful: Eze 36:1- 37:28
	e)	The final battle: Eze 38:1-39:29
4.	Vision of the new temple: Eze 40-48
	a)	Description of the new temple: Eze 40:1 – 43:27
	b)	Duties and land allotment: Eze 44-48

The OT book of Ezekiel is a key interpretation source for the NT book of Rev. The experience and visions of Ezekiel the prophet find their counterpart in the experience and visions of John the apostle. Therefore, the symbols, principles and predictions found in the prophecies of Ezekiel can reasonably be used as guidelines and insights when interpreting the Apocalypse.

A review of the contents of each chapter or set of chapters in Ezekiel, noting the corresponding symbol or event or allusion in a specific chapter or chapters in Revelation, provides the basic evidence. It will become obvious that there are a large number of explicit correspondences between the two books. Conclusion: the pattern found in Ezekiel’s book is also to be found in the Apocalypse. Here’s the evidence:

Ezekiel 1 1 Ezekiel was in exile in Babylon. John was in exile on Patmos (Rev 1:9). 3 The hand of the LORD was upon Ezekiel (“in the Spirit”: cf. 3:14). John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Rev 1:9). 5 Four living creatures in association with the throne of God. Four living creatures in association with the throne of God (Rev 4:6). 24 The sound of their wings was like the sound of many waters, like the thunder of the Almighty, plus a voice (v. 25). Voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder (Rev 14:2). 26 The throne of the LORD’s glory, accompanied by firmament and rainbow (v. 28). The rainbowed throne of God in heaven (Rev 4:3,9). 27 The appearance of the One on the throne, a representation of the glory of the LORD (v 28). The appearance of the One standing in the midst of the lampstands (Rev 1:13-15). 28 When he saw it, Ezekiel fell on his face, and then he heard a voice speaking. John heard a voice speaking, and when he turned and saw who it was, he fell at his feet as if dead (Rev 1:12,17).

Ezekiel 2 1 Ezekiel was empowered to stand on his feet again. The right hand of the glorified One is laid upon John so that he can bear the message (Rev 1:17). 3 Ezekiel was sent to the people of Israel, a nation of rebels, to declare “Thus says the LORD” (v 4). John is given the revelation from God (via Jesus, via the angel)         and told to write what he saw in a book and send it to the seven churches (Rev 1:1,11,19). 9 By a stretched-out divine hand, a scroll was offered to Ezekiel to eat. By the hand of an angel, John is given a scroll to eat (Rev 10:8,9).

Ezekiel 3 3 Ezekiel ate the prophecy scroll, which was sweet as honey. John likewise ate the prophecy scroll, which was sweet as honey at first, but afterwards was bitter (Rev 10:9,10).

Ezekiel 4 17 Famine conditions in Jerusalem resulted from a siege. Implied lack of bread during third seal is prophesied (Rev 6:6).

Ezekiel 5 2 “A third part” was used to segment the people of Jerusalem and the impending punishments upon them, as interpreted in vv. 5-12. “A third of…” was used to describe the segments of punishments during the trumpets (Rev 8:7,9-12; 9:15). 17 Famine, wild beasts, pestilence and sword (cf. 6:11). Sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts of the earth (Rev 6:8; 18:8).

Ezekiel 6 4 A multiplicity of idols (cf. vv. 5,6,9,13). Idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood (Rev 9:20).

Ezekiel 7 2 The four corners of the land of Israel (implying the desolation to come upon the whole land). The four corners of the earth (or land: see sidebar)         the setting of the trumpet punishments (Rev 7:1; 8:7,8,10,13). 8 God’s wrath poured out. God’s wrath poured out in part (Rev 8; 9)         and in full (Rev 16:19). 14 The trumpet blown and all made ready for disaster upon the godless in Israel. The trumpets blown in Rev 8; 9; 11 herald destruction upon the godless. 20 The abominable images and detestable idols. The works of men’s hands associated with the worship of demons and idols (Rev 9:20).

Ezekiel 8 3 The Spirit lifted Ezekiel up between earth and heaven, and brought him in visions of God to Jerusalem; the same will happen again in 40:2, where he is taken to a very high mountain, to see a structure like a city opposite him. The Spirit carried John away to a great high mountain and showed him the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven (Rev 21:10).

Ezekiel 9 2 Six men with destroying power, and a seventh man with a writing case, were associated with the slaughter of the wicked in Jerusalem. Seven angels will blow trumpets and bring destruction upon the earth (Rev 8:6). 2 The seven men stood beside the bronze altar. The seven angels stand before God while another angel comes and stands at the golden altar (Rev 8:2,3). 4 Those who groan over the abominations in the land were marked upon their foreheads so as not to be slain by the six destroying men. Four angels with destroying power are restrained until the servants of God are sealed upon their foreheads (Rev 7:1-3).

Ezekiel 10 2 Burning coals were taken from among the cherubim and scattered over the city. A censer is filled with fire from the altar and thrown on the earth (Rev 8:5).

Ezekiel 11 16 God was a sanctuary for His people wherever they had been scattered. The “sealed” are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night within His temple (Rev 7:15). 20 In the context of a restored Israel: “They shall be my people, and I will be their God.” In the context of new Jerusalem being established: “He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them” (Rev 21:3).

Ezekiel 12 28 A voice said: “None of my words will be delayed any longer, but the word which I speak will be performed.” The angel “swore by him who lives for ever… that there should be no more delay, but… the mystery of God, as he announced by his servants the prophets, should be fulfilled” (Rev 10:6,7); also, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near” (Rev 22:10).

Ezekiel 13 2 False prophets who saw delusive visions and who spoke lying divinations (v. 9). The false prophet and the three unclean spirits (Rev 16:13). 13 The storm of God’s wrath, a deluge of rain in anger, and great hailstones of wrath. The fury of God’s wrath, including thunder, lightning, earthquake and great hailstones (of a hundred pounds)         (Rev 16:18-21). 18 Women hunted down souls belonging to God’s people, and kept other souls alive for profit. The harlot trades in human souls (Rev 18:13).

Ezekiel 14 4 Men took idols into their hearts and set the stumbling block of iniquity before their faces. Men would not give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and wood and stone, which cannot either see or hear or walk (Rev 9:20). 21 Four sore acts of judgment upon Jerusalem: sword, famine, evil beasts and pestilence, to cut off man and beast. The fourth seal aspects of judgment: sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts of the earth (Rev 6:8).

Ezekiel 15 7 Fire would consume the inhabitants of Jerusalem…and the land would be made desolate, because they had acted unfaithfully (v. 8). A third of the earth (land)         will be burnt up with fire (Rev 8:7).

Ezekiel 16 26-29 Israel played the harlot with Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. The harlot commits fornication with the kings of the nations (Rev 17:2). 30 The deeds of a brazen harlot. The description of a brazen harlot, drunk with the blood of saints and martyrs (Rev 17:4-6). 37-41 At God’s direction, former lovers gathered to uncover the nakedness of the harlot-city, strip her bare of clothes and jewels, burn her with fire, and slay her inhabitants. “The ten horns and beast will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, devour her flesh and burn her up, for God has put it into their hearts” (Rev 17:16,17).

Ezekiel 17 22 A high and lofty mountain, the place of God’s planting and fruitfulness. “New Jerusalem” comes down to a great high mountain, a place of great fruitfulness (Rev 21:10; 22:2).

Ezekiel 18 30 In a context of ‘this may be your last chance’, “Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.” In the same context, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come” (Rev 14:7).

Ezekiel 20 38 “I will let you go in by number: I will purge out the rebels from among you.” “But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood…” (Rev 21:27). 47 “Behold, I will kindle a fire, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree; the blazing fire shall not be quenched, and all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it.” “A third of the trees were burnt up” (Rev 8:7); “men were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over their plagues” (Rev 16:9).

Ezekiel 21 7 When they heard the tidings of God’s doom, “every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water.” When they see the certainty of God’s doom, they call the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of God…”for who can stand before it?” (Rev 6:15-17).

Ezekiel 22 2,3 “A city that sheds blood in the midst of her…and makes idols to defile herself.” In the great city “was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth” (Rev 18:24). 31 Regarding the bloody city and its inhabitants: “I have poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; their way I have requited upon their head, says the Lord GOD.” God pours out His wrath on Babylon (Rev 16:17,19), and “she shall be burned with fire, for mighty is the God who judges her… render to her as she herself has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds” (Rev 18:6,8).

Ezekiel 23 2 “Two women, the daughters of one mother…played the harlot.” “Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations” (Rev 17:5). 18 “She carried on her harlotry so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her…” “She glorified herself and played the wanton…” (Rev 18:7). 22-26 “I will rouse against you your lovers… and I will commit judgment to them… and I will direct my indignation against you… they shall seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors shall be destroyed by fire; they shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels.” “The woman was … bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls… a harlot with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication… the beast with seven heads and ten horns carried her…the ten horns and the beast will hate the harlot; they will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose” (Rev 17:2,4,7,16,17). 32 “You shall drink your sister’s cup… you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow…a cup of horror and desolation.” “Holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication” (Rev 17:4). 40 “For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments; you sat upon a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil.” Scarlet-clothed Babylon says is her heart, “A queen I sit…”, and the merchants will bewail her loss, for she no longer buys their cargo, which included gold, silver, jewels, silk and scarlet, incense, myrrh, wine and oil (Rev 18:11-13).

Ezekiel 24 7 “Woe to the bloody city… for the blood she had shed is still in the midst of her.” “Alas, alas for the great city; in one hour has her judgment come… for in her was found the blood of prophets…” (Rev 18:10,24).

Ezekiel 26 17 Lamentation by the princes of the sea over the fall of Tyre. Lamentation of the merchants and shipmasters over the fall of Babylon the great (Rev 18:11-19).

Ezekiel 27 28-36 Lamentation by the mariners over the fall of Tyre. Lamentation of the merchants and shipmasters over the fall of Babylon the great (Rev 18:11-19).

Ezekiel 32 7,8 Re Egypt: “When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give its light; all the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over you, and put darkness upon your land.” “A third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon and stars…so that a third of their light was kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night… the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was in darkness” (Rev 8:12; 16:10). “A city figuratively called Egypt” (Rev 11:8).

Ezekiel 33 27 Sword, famine, pestilence, wild beasts. Sword, famine, pestilence, wild beasts (Rev 6:8).

Ezekiel 34 25 God would banish the wild beasts from the land. Beast and false prophet destroyed (Rev 19:20). 28 Kingdom Age picture: Israel no longer a prey to the nations, no more consumed with hunger, and no longer to suffer reproach of the nations. Kingdom Age picture: no more mourning nor crying nor pain (Rev 21:4).

Ezekiel 35 13 Re Edom: “And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me” (with revilings against Israel, which it was allowed to devour). Re beast: “It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling” (and it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them)         (Rev 13:6,7).

Ezekiel 36 28 “You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be their God” (Rev 21:3). 35 The land restored like the garden of Eden. Nothing accursed; the tree of life (Rev 22:2,3).

Ezekiel 37 26-28 “I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore.” “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be their God” (Rev 21:3). This is the New Jerusalem, with God being its temple: “By its light shall the nations walk” (Rev 21:24).

Ezekiel 38,39 Gogian invasion and divine destruction. Destruction of the armies that come against the Lamb (Rev 19:17-21), and a similar fate to the nations which come from Gog and Magog to attack the saints and the beloved city (Rev 20:7-9).

Ezekiel 40 2 Ezekiel was brought in visions to a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city. John likewise sees a city on a very high mountain (Rev 21:10). 4 Ezekiel was instructed to look with eyes, hear with ears, set his mind on what he is to be shown, and then to declare all that he saw to the house of Israel. Similar instruction are given to John (Rev 1:19; 19:9; 22:8,18).

Ezekiel 43 7 The throne of God to be in the midst of the people of Israel forever; no more defilement forever. No more anything accursed or unclean, since God’s throne is in the midst of the city (Rev 21:27; 22:3).

Ezekiel 47 1-12 Water comes forth from temple, trees growing on either side, bearing fruit every month and leaves for the healing of the nations. A similar picture in Rev 22:1,2.

Ezekiel 48 35 The name of the city shall be “the LORD is there”. The new Jerusalem is said to be God’s dwelling place, and “the glory of God is its light” (Rev 21:3,23).

---

Except for a specific local application (eg, princes of Israel in Eze 19)         or a description of a temple building (eg Eze 41,42), virtually every chapter in Ezekiel finds a significant corresponding detail in the Apocalypse. For several of these chapters, the significance refers to whole events or situations, not merely the use of a similar symbol. Twelve of the most obvious correspondences are:

1. A message soon to be fulfilled.
2. Prophet/apostle caught up in a vision and directed by a divine messenger.
3. The four living creatures (cherubim) and throne of God’s glory in a heavenly sanctuary.
4. The four-fold punishment: sword, famine, pestilence, beasts.
5. Sealing on the foreheads of the faithful.
6. Use of one-third.
7. God’s wrath poured out.
8. The harlot, subsequently destroyed by her lovers.
9. Lamentation over fall of Tyre/Babylon.
10. Gogian invasion and destruction.
11. Kingdom Age established by the Messiah/Lamb.
12. Sanctuary of God in the midst of Israel, with river and healing trees.

When a scientist tries to determine a pattern in his data or to predict a trend from a number of points, he uses a method called “goodness of fit”. If he finds that a large number of the points align themselves with his proposed curve, it is a “good fit”. The fit with Ezekiel is “very good”. Many detailed correspondences, which cover the entirety of both books, demonstrate that Ezekiel IS a pattern for Revelation. Therefore, it is reasonable to generally interpret Revelation in light of the Ezekiel framework.

Interpreting the Apocalypse via Ezekiel

1. The prophetic message was given to a people who would see a fulfillment (not just a beginning) soon (immediately, not suddenly). Implication: the whole of Revelation was applicable to the first century.
2. The message pertained to Jerusalem and its fall, because of the wicked practices of its inhabitants. Implication: an early date of writing, prior to AD 70.
3. The hearers of the message were outside the land (cf. Ezekiel’s exiles), yet the subject of Jerusalem’s wickedness and God’s certain judgment was very relevant to their own spiritual welfare. Implication: this explains why the letters were sent to Asian ecclesias; Gentile history is not particularly relevant.
4. The setting of the visions is the same as Ezekiel’s: God’s throne, cherubim, angelic host to do God’s bidding. The big extra in Revelation: the Lamb! Implication: Rev 1 and 5 are not pictures of any “multitudinous Christ”, but of Jesus’ representative angel and the Lamb himself.
5. The pattern is: punishment upon Jerusalem by God via Gentiles; then the deeds done by the Gentiles will come back upon their own heads. A pattern is seen in the one-third punishment with trumpets and the 100% punishment with bowls or vials. Implication: there is a rationale to the book; it is not just a collection of arbitrary/unrelated political events.
6. The beast is a Gentile power, whose seven heads could refer to Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and a future Mideast power. (These seven may possibly be enumerated a little differently.) The first six have been the oppressors of Israel, when Israel was in the land. The beast’s ten horns refer to Mideast nations (cf Gen 15:18-21; Psa 83:1-8), or countries allied against Israel (Eze 38). Implication: the seven heads are not seven forms of Roman government; the seven hills do not refer to topology.
7. The harlot represents two aspects of the same city Jerusalem: initially (a) inhabited by Jews, punished by God (the jealous Husband) by means of the beast and ten horns; afterward (b) being occupied by the beast, Jerusalem becomes a Gentile city, which is destroyed by Christ at his Coming. There are two distinct destructions of the “great city”. Recall that this same “great city” is figuratively called “Sodom and Egypt” (Isa 1:10; Eze 16:48; Jer 44:15-17), and explicitly said to be the place where the “Lord was crucified” (Rev 11:8). Implication: this is not talking about papal Rome, but the physical location of Jerusalem.
8. The harlot is called “Babylon” because of what that ancient city represented: idolatry and materialism and pride. These features were the same in Tyre, and also in Jerusalem, which had allied itself so much with that city. This explains why Revelation 18 has language taken from Ezekiel and Jeremiah which refers to all three cities. Implication: all godless cities and systems will be included in God’s destructions.
9. The beast and armies attack the Lamb after he is back in Jerusalem in the midst of a restored Israel. The Lamb has the title “king of kings” and a robe dipped in blood because of his overthrow of the beast’s kingdom (darkened Jerusalem) and the Arabs (the ten horns). Nevertheless, another ten-nation confederacy comes to counterattack, only to be destroyed by divine wrath on the mountains of Israel. Implication: the Gogian invasion of Eze 38; 39 and Rev 20 is post-adventual, and Israel will continue to dwell safely under Christ’s protection.
10. The Kingdom is established by the Lamb, now joined by his immortal Bride, and a renewed Jerusalem will become the center of the earth, the throne of the Lord, the focus of God’s law, and the source of divine light and healing to the mortal nations. Implication: Revelation 21 describes the Kingdom Age, not a post-millennial age.

The entire book of the Apocalypse was sent to each ecclesia, and thus the entire book had some relevancy to the first-century believers. They were expected to see the message throughout the book as a direct encouragement to them. Each generation of believers, from the first to the twentieth century, is expected to do the same. Regardless of when they lived, believers would still be able to learn from the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the knowledge that the world oppressor (whichever was then current) would one day disappear. And they would fervently hope for Christ to return in their lifetime.

The mighty city of Babylon, situated along both banks of the great river Euphrates, controlled one of the greatest empires of ancient times in the middle of the sixth century BC. The great king Nebuchadnezzar had set the stage for empire by his far-flung conquests seventy years earlier. Among his exploits was the sacking of Jerusalem and the deportation of the Jews. Now his grandson Belshazzar sat as lord over Nebuchadnezzar’s legacy — the proud ruler of a proud city.

Daniel 5 tells of a great feast prepared by Belshazzar for one thousand of his lords and captains. In the midst of this drunken revelry he offered toasts to the Babylonian idols of wood and stone out of the same holy vessels taken from the Jewish temple by his grandfather (vv 1-4). Such a blasphemous insult to the God Of Israel, the only true God, could not go unnoticed by Heaven. In the same hour there appeared a disembodied hand writing on the wall of the banquet hall, and the haughty king was in a moment reduced to a quivering fear (vv 5,6).

What could the words possibly mean? A search was begun for someone, anyone, who could interpret this divine message. Finally the “queen” (probably the young king’s mother) remembered Daniel, the prophet of Israel and wise counselor of Nebuchadnezzar, now about 90 years old and in retirement. With great haste he was summoned to the banquet hall, now in excited disarray, to explain the curious vision (vv 11-16).

The old servant of God stood before the frightened young king, his eyes ablaze: “Your grandfather was lifted up in pride to challenge the one true God, the God of my people. And God cast him down, and drove him into madness for seven years, until he recognized that the most high God — and He alone — rules in the kingdom of men! But you, Belshazzar, have not learned this lesson. By relating his mistakes, you have doomed your kingdom.”

Daniel now turned to the mysterious words engraven on the wall, and quickly revealed their import (vv 25-28):

“Mene” (numbering): “Your number is up! God has counted out your years, and finished them,”

“Tekel” (weighed): “You are weighed in the balances of divine judgment and found wanting.”

“Peres” (divided): “Your kingdom is to be broken up and given to the Persians.”

At that very moment the Persians, the longtime rivals of Babylon, were entering the “impregnable” city. History records that Cyrus and his field commander Darius diverted the course of the Euphrates and, guided by two deserters, marched their army through the dry river-bed into the very heart of the vast city. Because of carelessness — or perhaps the festive atmosphere of the evening — the watchmen had left open and unattended the river gates opening into the city. Unimpeded, the Persians stormed the palace, where they slaughtered Belshazzar and his lords in their drunken and confused stupor — as Jeremiah had prophesied years before:

“In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they ray rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord” (Jer 51:39,57).

The warnings in this incident for our modern world are pointed. “Babel” (Gen 11), or “Babylon”, has always designated, in Scripture, idolatrous and tyrannical powers, powers odious to God. From the beginning it was a place where men gathered to rebel against God, building a tower to mark their great accomplishments, and as a means of worshipping themselves. The name itself means “confusion”, for there God confounded the languages of those first proud men; ever since, “Babylon” has stood for the confusion of this unenlightened world, which cares not to retain God in its knowledge (Rom 1:28).

In short, our modern world is “Babylon”, in all its forms: There is a religious “Babylon” (usually identified as a great false church in interpretations of Revelation) that, by its erroneous teachings and its near-deification of its leader, denies in reality the one true God, while figuratively drinking from the “vessels” of His house. There are political “Babylon”, that afflict and oppress God’s people Israel, and brutally stifle all free expression of the individual, religious and otherwise. And there are “Babylonian”‘ societies (like our own!) that ignore God and His claims while exalting man, building “towers” of human accomplishments, and degrading the higher aspirations of man’s spirit in debauchery and trivial pleasure-seeking.

The fall of Babylon is not just an obscure Sunday-school story. It is a parable of the impending fate of our modern world. Notice that in Rev 16, “Armageddon” and the second coming of Christ are accompanied by another drying up of the “Euphrates” (v 12), and the remembrance by God of great Babylon, “to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath” (v 19). The next two chapters of Revelation detail the fall of modern “Babylon” in all its religious, political, and commercial splendor, so that — finally — “the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (19:6)!

If in fact history is soon to be re-enacted on a grand scale, what are God’s servants to do in the meanwhile? Surely they should stand in spirit with Daniel, who boldly proclaimed to a wicked Babylon that “the most High ruleth in the kingdom men” (Daniel 4:17,25; 5:21), and that one day He would take affairs into His own hands. And they should attentively observe the “handwriting on the wall” in these days, what Jesus called “the signs of the times”, that foretell divine judgments on a wicked world. As they hear of “wars and rumors of wars”, economic distress, Middle East turmoil, and “third world” instability, they are not to despair, as do others, but to lift up their heads in anticipation of coming redemption (Luke 21:25-28).

Cyrus the Persian conqueror captured the gate and then the city of Babylon. It was said prophetically of Christ that, as Abraham’s seed, he would “possess the gate of his enemies” (Gen 22; 17). It cannot be said how that Christ has possessed the gate of his enemies, for wicked and ungodly men still rule the world.

But when the kingdom of God is about to be established, Christ will subdue all world kingdoms as surely as Cyrus subdued ancient Babylon:

“He shall break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psa 2:9).

“Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle” (Zec 14:3).

“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” (Psa 72:8).

Then shall this world proclamation be made for all peoples to know and accept:

“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord; and of His Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev 11:15).

Paul said that the gospel encompasses the blessing of all nations in Abraham’s seed (Gal 3:8), and that by “Abraham’s seed” he meant the

singular

seed Christ (v 16). First this blessing applies to individuals, and the true gospel has been preached in many nations for the repentance of faith. But the blessing of all nations has not yet been accomplished, for we see the nations still subjected to wicked and cruel rulers. In some countries there is an

appearance

of good government, but underneath we see sadly that it is rottenness and corruption, the will and lusts of the flesh in absolute control. There is no true fear of God with most world leaders, but mere lip service only.

All nations are not now blessed in Abraham and his seed Christ, but they will be:

“Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment… the eyes of them that see shall not be dim and the ears of them that hear shall hearken” (Isa 32:1-3).

“In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book: the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness” (Isa 29:13).

“Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing” (Isa 35:6).

“Many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord” (Zec 3:22).

“He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper… His name shall endure for ever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed” (Psa 72:12,17).

Modern political leaders, some no doubt with the best of intentions, proclaim “New Deals” and “Great Societies”. But the true and lasting blessing of mankind can never come by human efforts. It can only come when “Babylon” is overthrown finally and for all time, and when the nations “learn righteousness” under the righteous rule of Christ.

Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon was followed immediately by a decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its repopulation by the Jews (Ezra 1:1-4). In like manner, Jesus Christ’s coming conquest of latter-day “Babylon” will signal a massive rebuilding of Jerusalem and Israel. Jews who have been persecuted and scattered across the face of the earth will return to Israel to be incorporated into what Micah the prophet calls “the first dominion” of God’s kingdom (Mic 4:8), which will be the kingdom of Israel restored (Acts 1:6-11; 3:19-21), but on an immensely grander scale than before. This rill be facilitated by the righteous rule of Christ and the immortalized saints. The law of God will go forth from a revitalized Jerusalem, backed up God’s power in His glorified “children”. War and turmoil and famine and unrest will in short order be things of the past (Isa 2 :2-4).

And that lovely prophecy will be fulfilled at last:

“And there shall come forth a rod cut of the stern of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out or his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under-standing, the spirit of counsel and night, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the reek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:1-9).

Surely, in our own day, the “handwriting is on the wall”. The foundations of our world, weakened by a thousand minor tremors, will collapse utterly in the final great “earthquake”. But for those who believe and trust in God, there is no fear in such a prospect, but only abiding hope.

“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

And because we can read and understand those “secrets” in God’s Holy Book, we have no reason to fear, but every reason to rejoice, at the unfolding of His purpose with the nations.

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until” the day dawn” (2Pe 1:19).

That new “day” will soon dawn, and with it will come changes unimaginable for those who have denied God in this present evil age. Now, before it is too late, while the divine warning may still be read on the printed page of Holy Scripture, let us take steps to insure our admittance into God’s new world.

“Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes.” So states the title of an article published by a team of researchers in the Publications of the National Academy of Sciences, May 2000. (On the internet it may be found at: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.10115997.)

The article describes genetic research and analysis (at a level of sophistication and scientific exactitude impossible until recently) conducted upon cross sections of men in various Jewish communities (both in Israel and elsewhere) and other non-Jewish Middle Eastern communities. Bypassing all the mathematical data and statistical tables published in the article, we may simply note several of the conclusions:

• The level of genetic divergence among Jewish populations is very low despite their high degree of geographic dispersion. In fact the level of genetic divergence among different Jewish populations is considerably less than that found among other groups in the study. Put in simple terms, the average Jew in London, let us say, shares much more commonality of genetic likeness with the average Jew in North Africa or Israel than he does with his non-Jewish next-door neighbor. (This conclusion provides solid proof of the Biblical assumption that, although scattered among the nations of the earth, the Jews have by and large maintained their racial identity — see, eg, Jer 30:11 — while other ancient peoples have mingled and submerged themselves in one another, until their Bible-era ancestors are largely unidentified and unidentifiable.)
• The extremely close affinity of Jewish and non-Jewish Middle Eastern populations supports the hypothesis of a common Middle Eastern origin. In other words, the average Jew — wherever he lives — shares a greater degree of genetic commonality (and therefore has a higher proportion of common ancestry) with the average Palestinian or Jordanian or Syrian than with other non-Jewish groups outside of the Middle East.
• In summary, the combined results suggest that Jews and Arabs may trace a common ancestry to a Middle Eastern source population about 4,000 years ago!

So… despite their intense hatreds for one another, and their religious differences and rivalries, the Jews and the Arabs are demonstrated to be, genetically-speaking, “cousins”!

Just who are the progenitors of the modern-day Arabs? The answer of Genesis is obvious: Terah was the father of Abraham (Gen 11:26), and the grandfather of Lot (Gen 11:27) — who accompanied his uncle Abraham to the Land of Promise. From Abraham were descended Ishmael (Gen 16:15), and the sons of Keturah (Gen 25:1-4), and — through Isaac — Esau (Gen 25:25), the father of the Edomites (Gen 36:9). From Lot were descended Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:37,38). (Most of the nations of Psa 83, as a matter of fact, are of this lineage.)

But what of the other peoples of the Land of Palestine, the nations mentioned in Gen 15:18-21, who were there when Abraham and Lot first set foot upon the Land — the Amorites and Canaanites and Jebusites and so forth? And what about the Philistines, who arrived in the Land a bit later, but made such an impact upon Israel? Where have these peoples gone? Have they completely disappeared? The simple answer is: they are the Arabs also!

What evidently has happened is that, since the beginning, the (Arab) descendants of Abraham and Lot have intermarried with the Canaanitish peoples (something Isaac and Jacob and the nation of Israel were strictly forbidden to do: Gen 24:3; 28:6,7; Deu 7:1-3; etc) so as to create, over time, a mixed or mongrel people. There are in fact Bible examples of just this sort of mingling of “seed”:

“While he [Ishmael] was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt” (Gen 21:21).

“He [Esau] married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite [cp Exo 23:23; Jos 1:4], and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah” (Gen 26:34,35).

Other instances of the Hebrew word “ereb” — signifying “mixed” or “mingled” — related to peoples are:

1. 1Ki 10:15: “all the Arabian kings”.
2. Jer 25:20,24: “the foreign (or ‘mingled’: AV) peoples… the Philistines… all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the foreign (mingled) peoples… in the desert”.
3. Jer 50:37: “all the foreigners (or ‘mingled people’: AV) that are in the midst of her [Babylon]…”
4. Eze 30:5: “Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all Arabia (or ‘the mingled people’: AV)”.
5. Neh 13:1,3: “Ammonite and Moabite…all who were of foreign descent (or ‘the mixed multitude’: AV)”.

So the “mixed peoples” of the Middle East are the “Arabs” — with blood ties to the original Canaanitish peoples (the ten nations of Gen 15) as well as the corrupted descendants of Abraham (the majority of the nations enumerated in Psa 83).

It stands to reason, therefore, that — whereas the Jews are still a distinct ethnic group, as the genetic study suggests — the other Middle East natives are truly an altogether “mixed” bag, being at the same time the descendants of the Biblical Ishmaelites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, as well as the Biblical Canaanites, Philistines, Amorites, etc, etc!

It may be impossible today to find a single people who can be conclusively linked with the Edomites, for example [see Appendix], or with the Philistines, or with any other of the ancient Middle Eastern national enemies of Israel. But these ancient bloodlines did not just disappear, and these nations did not simple “evaporate”; instead, they were blended, and blended again, until there emerged a truly “mixed” (or “Arab”) peoples across the whole of the Land of Promise — the “melting pot” descendants of all the tribes and nations of Gen 15 and Psa 83.

So, when the Bible presents us with evidently “Last Days” prophecies that refer to the nations of Genesis (such as Ammon or Moab or Edom or Philistia), we may not be able to identify any single modern nation in the Middle East as the exclusive and pure descendants of that particular ancient nation. But nevertheless we may assume that either: (1) the prophecy refers particularly to the portion of the whole Arab “mixed” race that occupies the same territory as the ancient nation, or (2) the prophecy refers to the whole of the Arab “world”, because the blood of ancient Edomites or Moabites or whoever flows in all their veins, or (3) both!

Both these groups of peoples (the primarily “Hamite” peoples of Gen 15, and the primarily “Semitic” peoples of Psa 83) have demonstrated, historically, intense hatred for the Jews — fulfilling the Old Testament “types”: Ishmael versus Isaac, and Esau versus Jacob, and Canaanite and Philistine versus Israelite. Now, with the admixture of a unifying religion — Islam — these Arabs… whether they live in Jordan, or Lebanon, or Syria, or Saudi Arabia, or the West Bank, or Gaza… all view the Jews as great “infidels”, who have no real claim to the Land of Palestine.

And the stage is set for the final act in a 4,000-year-old drama: the climactic struggle between Jew and Arab, between the modern “Goliath” and the modern “David”, as it were, on the mountains of Israel.

Appendix: Edomites and Nabataeans

It has sometimes been suggested that Old Testament prophecies about Edom, for example, cannot be fulfilled by any modern nation or nations — because there are simply no surviving descendants of the ancient Edomites today. But a scholarly study suggests very much the opposite. J.R. Bartlett, writing in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly 111 (1979), (“From Edomites to Nabataeans: A Study in Continuity”), does not believe that the Edomites became extinct, as some assert. Rather, he offers considerable evidence — archaeological, cultural, and linguistic, as well as historical — to the effect that the ancient Edomites, being overrun and dominated by the Nabataeans (the descendants of the Biblical Nebaioth: Gen 25:13), simply survived by intermarrying with their conquerors to produce a new people: a mixture of Nabataean and Edomite which survives to this day in the Bedouin Arabs.