Fulfillment of the Prophecies and Promises of a New Temple in Ezekiel 40-48 - Research Paper Example

?FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECIES AND OPROMISES OF A NEW TEMPLE IN EZEKIEL 40-48 Introduction: Human history is a saga of evolution through various phases, and religion, spirituality and culture play crucial roles in this transformation. Saints and prophets of olden times have defined their versions of God and interpreted religious scripts so that coming generations can learn from them and discipline their lives accordingly. Ezekiel, a Hebrew prophet, has authored the Book of Ezekiel, which contains his prophecies, especially those related to the destruction of Jerusalem and the building of the Millennia Temple. The prophecies relating to the temple are mainly endorsed in chapters 40-48 of the said book. To understand whether the prophecies are fulfilled, one has to relate these prophecies to the language in which the text is rendered, the relationship between the New Temple and the Restoration of Israel, the literal animal sacrifices in the Kingdom Age, the promise of a New Temple and the Coming of Christ, and the development and portrayal of the idea of the New Temple in the New Testament. Scholars view the fulfillment of the prophecies and promises from different angles. While many are of the opinion that these prophecies are merely symbolic, others believe that these prophecies have a literal context, and these will be fulfilled in the future. While the former group considers the prophecies as a symbolic representation of idealistic views, the latter argues that Ezekiel meant the temple to be literally constructed and consecrated for worship. The debates notwithstanding, the fact remains that Ezekiel’s proposition of the temple is founded on literal premises, rather than figurative allusions, by way of its reliance on earthly language, understanding of historical events, rituals to be performed in the temple, the expected Second Coming of Christ and the development and portrayal of the ideas of the New Temple in the New Testament. Understanding the Language of Ezekiel: Ezekiel’s prophetic visions also include language that conveys idealistic or symbolic messages, which give his text an allegorical orientation. However, this needs to be seen only as a tradition, where Biblical texts are rendered in such a fashion. This, in any case, does not preempt the prophecies from being literal because Ezekiel also speaks of a temple where ritual sacrifices take place. Besides, he refers to priests donning linen robes and performing rituals in the New Temple. Scholars such as Feinberg, Gray, Kelly, Pentacost and Scofield maintain that all these allusions tend to validate that Ezekiel meant the temple to be literal rather than symbolic or figurative. Ezekiel 40-48 is based on the hermeneutical assumptions and manifests the same exegetical techniques. Most of the terms used are Christian and the “allusions to Ezekiel in the book of revelation are based on the Hebrew text”1 On another level, the contents of the book promote ritual codes of behavior that protect the community from the threat of impurity and set the whole ritual system inside the impregnable fortress of the new community. It is not only in the content that the prophet’s background becomes evident but also in his constant and striking use of cultic language. Many scholars believe that Ezekiel’s text “uses for preference the priestly/cultic language of defilement”2 Even when the sins illustrated in the work are not in themselves ritual, Ezekiel frequently applies cultic language to explain them. Ezekiel’s inventive reaction to the crisis was to refresh the old institution of the temple by expanding its symbolic language further than the strictly priestly sphere and taking it into a level where the literal meaning would become evident through his allusions about the ordinary materials such as common wood or stones (Ezekiel 40:16, 22, 26, 34, 37, 42, 41:16-22, 25-26). This is in utter contrast with John’s version, which speaks of a heavenly city made of “gold, pearls and rare gemstones” (Revelation 21: 16- 21). Thus, by the deployment of literal elements in describing the temple’s structure and using earthly references relating to the food and clothing of the priests who do the service, it transpires that Ezekiel means his temple to be literal rather than symbolic or figurative. Relationship between the New Temple and the Restoration of Israel: The New Temple and Restoration of Israel are symbols of a renewal program for national reorganization. Ezekiel is the first of the main prophets that promises Israel a new heart and a new spirit when they return to the land from exile. Ezekiel receives a word from the Lord that assures restoration to the scattered tribes. In answer to the prayers of those Jews who live in the land and witness the expulsion of their people as punishment, the Lord assures to bring back those in exile and reconstruct their Promised Land. Ezekiel speaks about the Presence of Good and contemplates that it will unite the people of Israel. His prophecies are also segmented into three distinctive phases: the destruction of the First Temple, the return of the exiles and restoration of Israel and building of the New Temple. In his view, the First Temple was destroyed because of improper conduct of the people, which attracted punishment. This relates to the eschatological day when Israel will have been reestablished, the New Temple will have been set up and the glory of the God will return to the land. The newly established eschatological temple is, therefore, the place where Yahweh, the God of Israel, will once again dwell. “The goal of the restoration was conformity to the divine ideal as expressed by both the pre-exilic and post-exilic prophets.”3 The First Temple has served as the center of Israel’s religious life for so many years until it was destroyed. For over 70 years the Temple remained abandoned, with no soul to take care of it. The pilgrims returning under Zerubbabel began the restoration of Israel and soon after their arrival they set the foundation for a New Temple. This effort to build the temple was stopped and the construction withheld until Darius gave the consent for resuming construction. Finally, in 516 BC, the Temple of Zerubbabel was completed. From the unfolding of the events in history, it can be perceived that the “establishment of a new temple was prophesied to be part of Israel’s restoration”4 Thus, it can be construed that the building of the temple, as in Ezekiel’s prophecy, is not a symbolic reference to the Presence of God, but a literal assertion for consecrating an abode for God, where the people of Israel can worship him, performing proper rituals and the priests can administer appropriate services. Thus, in the context of the Restoration of Israel and the Presence of the God in the reconstructed land, the prophecy of Ezekiel can be understood as having been fulfilled. Literal Animal Sacrifices in the Kingdom Age: Most people believe that ritual sacrifice of animal is a barbaric way to solve problems or appease gods. On the other hand, many uphold the view that “these sacrifices provide ritual cleansing of the priests, sanctuary, and utensils”5 Animal sacrifice, or the concept of barbarianism that some people allege it of, is in fact a matter of how one perceives it. Thus, conversely, if human beings can kill animals for their consumption, what wrong one can find in sacrificing an animal in satiating one’s religious beliefs, which intend a common benefit to a land or nation? Ezekiel 40-48 records animal sacrifice in the New Temple, which will be consecrated for the Presence of God. He further states that priests will perform rituals including sacrifices in this venue. Many people argue that animal sacrifice in the Millennium Temple is not a novel idea and they object to it. However, God has, from the beginning, been known to have accepted such sacrifices and it needs to be seen merely as a symbolic tribute a man offers to God for the blessings he receives. While the Bible does not ascribe the ritual of animal sacrifice to true Christianity, the Holy Book envisages such provisions for Israel as can be evidenced from Matt: 24, 2 Thesis: 2.4 and Rev 11: 1,2. Thus, once the Israelites return to their land after the reconstruction and build the New Temple, it rather becomes incumbent on them to perform rituals of sacrifice in the New Temple. This allusion in the prophecy can only be seen in literal terms as it clearly defines a sequence of action for believers to follow and not a symbolic reference to some allegorical elements. Relationship between the Promise of a New Temple and the Coming of Christ One of the most crucial texts for the futurist interpretation of the prophecies concerning Israel is the vision of prophet Ezekiel as rendered chapters 40-48. In this text, the prophet presents God’s instructions for the construction of a new temple to be built as part of the promise of Israel’s divine restoration. The Coming of Christ fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah. For in Christ, the Lord’s temple was undeniably established; it was built up and every part of the country flow towards it. The New Testament states that “there is a deep and significant relationship between Christ and the Temple”6 The entire Temple belonged to Israel; Christ became and belonged for every nation. The temple was so unique that there could be no further temple; it was the only place that God had selected. Christ was unique, and he is the personification of God. He is the only one God had chosen. The temple enclosed no representation or image of God. Christ, to all, represents the Presence of God in His true image. The temple, the sacred abode of God, can be accessible only to priests. Christ is sacred, and is himself the high priest. Each and every one who is summoned to his service becomes a priest. He is the one who is bestowed with the right for proximity to God and who possesses the liberty to sancture into the sacred place to meet with God. There is a close association between Christ and Temple in other respects also. It is the place for giving up as Christ has done the complete and ultimate sacrifice by giving himself unto Him, the Almighty. The temple is the place where sinners find clemency and salvation. Christ calls all sinners to him and proposes them God’s full clemency where upon they become entitled to the honor of attaining complete salvation. The Temple is open not just for Israel, but to everyone who seeks God. Christ is the rescuer of every country. He is one who receives everyone who goes to him. When Jesus is occupied in argument with the Jews, he challenges them to obliterate the Temple, and offers that he will reconstruct it within three days. Jews prepared to reconstruct the sacred Temple in Jerusalem and recuperated misplaced artifacts from the earliest temple and recreated the holy site. “The reestablishment of Jewish worship in the rebuilt temple will set the stage for Christ’s return”7 Thus, the Coming of Jesus inevitably relates to the construction of the temple. Thus, for the believers, the New Temple is the place which the Israelites have built to be consecrated as the abode of God. Thus, it is not merely a figurative one but a literal one where they can physically go and worship him by performing the rituals and administering the services. Is there a present (even if partial) fulfillment of the prophecy at the present time? The instructions of God for the construction of the new temple, built as the part of a promise of divine restoration of Israel, can be seen as materialized. The God’s promises do not come to full realization after the captivity of Babylonia because of the Jews’ sins and not because of the reason that God has failed. Jesus then continues to prophesy the absolute destruction of Jerusalem city and of the temple. Ezekiel’s proposition of the reconstruction of temple has been completed in 560 BC, as Ezekiel prophesied and “his prophecy was fulfilled.”8 Jesus himself orders the obliteration of the temple that Ezekiel had prophesied, and it was destroyed in AD 70. There is no cause whatever and no reasonable premise to the analysis of Scripture by any means, which could lead one to search for further fulfilment of Ezekiel 40-48. Ezekiel’s prophecy in fact remains fulfilled by the manner in which the reconstruction of the land and installation of an abode for God have taken place. The Jews’ misdemeanors, again, brought complete destruction upon the temple. There is no prediction of a third temple and no cause that anybody ever should anticipate at any time in future that a third Jewish temple should be constructed. Ezekiel prophesied of one reconstructed temple and not two. The return of the leftover from Babylon and reconstruction of the temple by them was the materialization of prophecy of Ezekiel. When the believers of a faith already remain content with a belief that their God exists in the New Temple and receive His blessings that he so profusely delivers to them from his dwelling, the anticipation of another abode to install him on a future day will, at the most, be an exercise in vain. The materialization of Ezekiel’s prophecy, therefore, remains fulfilled with the construction of the New Temple, which he has so eloquently envisioned in his prophecy 40-48. The Development and Portrayal of the Idea of “Temple” and “New Temple” in the New Testament: The New Testament unequivocally teaches that the temple where God resides in the Old Testament period is replaced in the New Testament by a complete and undeviating enjoyment of the God’s presence due to the Coming of Christ. Ezekiel’s prophecy of the New Temple is rouse above first and foremost by the personification of Jesus Christ, who bought heaven to the earth in a far better way. “Jesus has spoken of the formation of his church as the erection of a building.”9 Jesus is residing within humans and, thus, he is greater than the temple. The thought of Jesus as the surrogate of the temple runs all the way through the New Testament and is particularly marked in the Gospels of John and Mark. In Mark, the image of Jesus’ surrogate of temple offers a sarcastic twist to the as a result of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus is denounced to death in part due to the false claim that he had threatened to obliterate the temple. Although the claim was false, the statement to build a new temple within “three days”10 reveals that Jesus’ resurrection would actually bring about the symbolic obliteration of the temple. When Jesus was crucified, passersby ridiculed him for his forewarning about the destruction of the temple soon in the present and thus he is fulfilling this prophecy. In the New Testament, Christ was the new Temple. Christ would substitute the physical temple located in Jerusalem as the place where the God’s presence would eternally be more centered. Likewise, the vision that Ezekiel’s Temple envisages the Church on earth or the Church in heaven is on the basis of New Testament which speaks of about the Christians or Church as a holy temple. All the promises relating to Jerusalem and the temple in Old Testament is satisfied in Christ in New Testament. When a prophet visualizes an element of religion for future generations, it does not merely come out of his mind as a metaphor for a complicated figurative application. Faith does not come solely from intangible concepts and figurative representations that a prophet symbolizes in the name of God. A believer will definitely look for some aspects of literal value to truly root his faith into something. Most of all, this mere fact binds the prophet to the common man and his faith in the Almighty. Thus, Ezekiel has meant a material temple when he made the prophecies, realizing that a simple human will be led by the tangible and thus this literal context prevails in his prophecies and it has transcended the time, still enriching the human faith. Bibliography Beale .K, Gregory. 2005. Eden, The Temple, and the Churches Mission in the new Creation. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/48/48-1/48-1-pp005-031_JETS.pdf (accessed July 16, 2012). Gousmett, Chris. The True Temple of God. http://www.freewebs.com/gousmett/The_True_Temple_of_God.pdf (accessed July 16, 2012). Ice, Thomas. Why Literal Sacrifice in the Millennium. http://www.pre-trib.org/data/pdf/Ice-WhySacrificesinTheMi.pdf (accessed July 16, 2012). Jeffrey, R. Grant. The New Temple And The Second Coming. http://www.grantjeffrey.com/pdf/temple_book_back.pdf (accessed July 16, 2012). Kearley F. Furman. 1980. The Middle East Crisis in Biblical Perspective. Apologetics Press. http://www.apologeticspress.org/rr/reprints/Middle-East-Crisis-in-Biblical.pdf (accessed July 16, 2012). Ladd, George, Eldon. 1993. A Theology Of The New Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=eIdkM00EdlAC&pg=PA585&dq=new+testament+and+new+temple&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kOIDUIOECoqsrAfDpbGgBg&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBA#v=snippet&q=erection%20of%20a%20building%20&f=falses (accessed July 16, 2012). Mein, Andrew and Joyce, M. Paul. 2010. After Ezekiel: Essays on the Reception of a Difficult Prophet. Continuum International Publishing Group. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=vCyx0o9iBj8C&pg=PA219&dq=language+used+in+Ezekiel+40-48&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZN8DUJ61DcLOrQfvy4WcBg&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Hebrew&f=false (accessed July 16, 2012). Mein, Andrew. 2006. Ezekiel And the Ethics of Exile. Oxford University Press. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=8A6E79uXA3IC&pg=PA143&dq=language+used+in+Ezekiel+4048&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wOEDULqPFIbKrAfsn9WDBg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=language%20used%20in%20Ezekiel%2040-48&f=false (accessed July 16, 2012). Price, Randall. 2010. Rose Guide to The Temple. Rose Publishing Inc. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=MtBDcXiJYzAC&pg=PT46&dq=new+testament+and+new+temple&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kOIDUIOECoqsrAfDpbGgBg&ved=0CG4Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=three%20days%20&f=false (accessed July 16, 2012). Read More