40-CHAPTER XXXIV "RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF TEMPLE SERVICE IS CONTRARY TO THE TEACHING OF HEBREW'S"

CHAPTER XXXIV "RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF TEMPLE SERVICE IS CONTRARY TO THE TEACHING OFHEBREW’S"

"The Old Testament prophecies of a future Temple service and sacrifices, especially by Ezekiel, cannot be taken literally because this would be in contradiction of the teaching in the Hebrews. This declares that by the one sacrifice of Christ the many Old Testament sacrifices were forever fulfilled and thereby abolished (Hebrews 10:1-8; Hebrews 10:14; Hebrews 10:18).

"This also arises from the relationship of ‘shadow’ and ‘sub­stance,’ as the New Testament characterizes the connection between the Old Testament sacrificial system and the redeeming work of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 10:1). For must not the shadow fade when the substance, the essential, has appeared? How can both shadow and substance be in force at the same time? What virtue shall a prophetic symbol, a type, have when it has been fulfilled? Why shall they who have the essential turn back to the shadow? What significance shall the blood of rams and bullocks (which in any case cannot take away sin: Hebrews 10:4) have after the sacrifice of Christ has been offered, which can take away sin? Would it not therefore be simply without sense or significance to reinstate the Old Testament sacrifices after Golgotha?

"Must one not always accept a figurative meaning in places where a literal meaning would lead to consequences which are in opposi­tion to truths elsewhere revealed in Scripture?" The last sentence above would be in order if we could be sure in advance that we understand fully the final end of all God’s revelations. But this is by no means the case. Things Divine often meet us in the form of paradoxes. With our mental capacity limited as to time and space we are not in a position fully to comprehend things super-spatial and super-temporal. Therefore in the Scripture there are at times parallel lines which do not meet in time but only in infinity. In such cases we have the duty to allow these passages simply to stand in accord with the evident meaning of their words, and to wait patiently till fuller light will be granted at the dawn of eternity (1 Corinthians 13:9-10). In any case caution is necessary. As regards the prophecies of a future temple service in time of Messiah, in numerous places they go into such detail that for every impartial reader a purely spiritual meaning is completely excluded. Isaiah speaks of an "altar" of God in the coming Messianic kingdom and of a "place of His sanctuary" which He will adorn (Isaiah 60:7; Isaiah 60:13). He speaks of the "oblation,"of "priests and Levites," of "new moons" and "sabbaths" on which all flesh will come to worship the Lord (Isaiah 66:20-21; Isaiah 66:23). Jeremiah also speaks of "priests and Levites," of burnt-offerings, meal-offerings, and " sacrifices " in the kingdom of the " shoot of David" then to reign in righteousness (Jeremiah 33:15; Jeremiah 33:18; Jeremiah 33:21-22). Above all, Ezekiel pictures a future temple with so very many particulars and measurements that it will be simply impossible to declare that all this is only figurative and must therefore be " spiritualized." At the Passover there shall be offered daily exactly seven bullocks and seven rams as a sin-offering, and likewise exactly seven bullocks and seven rams as a burnt-offering. In that coming temple service, as Ezekiel sees it, the meal offering will consist of one ephah of fine meal and one hin of oil. At the feast of Tabernacles, the date of which, exactly as formerly, is fixed for the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the same sacrifices will be offered (Ezekiel 45:21-25). But other numbers apply to the usual weekdays. Each morning only one lamb shall be offered, and its accompanying meal-offering shall not be of a whole ephah, but of only a sixth thereof, and of oil not a whole hin but of only one third (Ezekiel 46:13-14). On the sabbath the prince shall bring exactly six lambs and one ram, and for each ram again one ephah of fine flour and one hin of oil. On the new moon the numbers are again different. Then it shall be one bullock, six lambs, and one ram (Ezekiel 46:4-7).

He who enters through the north gate shall go out through the south gate, while he who enters through the south gate shall go out through the north gate (Ezekiel 46:9). In the forecourt there shall be four tables on the one side and four tables on the other side, together eight tables; and in addition four stone tables, each one and a half ells long and broad and one ell high. Even the fork-shaped double pegs are mentioned, each a handbreadth wide, on which are hanged the slaughtered beasts, evidently to draw off the skin (Ezekiel 40:39-43).

Blood shall be used; unleavened bread shall be eaten (Ezekiel 45:19; Ezekiel 45:21). Salt shall be sprinkled, and fire employed (Ezekiel 43:24; Ezekiel 43:21). The priesthood shall be in the hands of the sons of Zadok of the tribe of Levi (Ezekiel 43:19; Ezekiel 44:15; comp. II am. 15:24). And what shall we say of the individual measurements of the temple itself, as Ezekiel gives them? The whole area shall be a square of 500 rods (Ezekiel 42:15-20). The first threshold of the east door shall be exactly one rod wide. At the entrance of the door there shall be six guardrooms for the guards, three over against three, each one rod long and one broad, and between the individual guardrooms a space of five ells. The narrow windows of these guardrooms shall have gratings, and the pillars shall be ornamented with carved palms (Ezekiel 40:6-7; Ezekiel 40:10; Ezekiel 40:16). The great gate shall have a breadth of ten ells, and the length of the gate shall be thirteen ells. On the outer edge of the stone pavement of the forecourt there shall be thirty chambers (Ezekiel 40:11; Ezekiel 40:17). The altar of incense shall be three ells high and two long and wide (Ezekiel 41:22). The altar of burnt offering is described with special exactness. It shall rise in three tiers, above a pedestal one ell high. The first tier shall be one ell above the pedestal; the second and smaller, shall be two ells above the first; and the third, and smallest, shall be four ells above the second; and so the whole altar shall be seven ells high. The third and upper tier, the hearth for the fire, shall be a square of twelve ells, provided with four horns on the four corners. The pedestal and the upper tier have railings half an ell high (Ezekiel 43:13-17). Shall we continue? It would be very easy to extend this list of details and measurements, but the foregoing will suffice to show that a true reading of these prophetic statements puts beyond all doubt that a purely figurative spiritualizing is here wholly impossible, but that the prophet expected an actual future temple with precisely the given details, and a future system of sacrifices with the numerous particular appointments. That many are so easily satisfied with the explanation that these prophecies of Ezekiel of a coming temple service are to be understood purely figuratively, and refer exclusively to the spiritual priesthood of the New Testament church, has in many cases its ground in the fact that many readers of the Bible have simply never read these passages of Ezekiel with continuity and care. It is on this account that we have quoted above so many details and small items, in order to convey to the reader the impression that these prophetic passages unevadably impart.

We stand here really before an inescapable alternative:’Either the prophet himself was mistaken in his expectation of a coming temple service, and his prophecy in the sense in which he himself meant it will never be fulfilled; or God, in the time of Messiah, will fulfill literally these prophecies of the temple according to their intended literal meaning. There is no other choice possible.

(c) It is also impossible to attempt to maintain the literality of the temple as seen by Ezekiel while denying its application to the future in the End times, by applying it to the temple of Zerubbabel which was to be built shortly after the time of Ezekiel (536-516 B.C.) by those who returned from captivity in Babylon (so Prof. Hengstenberg). For the measurements of the temple of Zerubbabel in no way agree with those of Ezekiel. According to Ezra 6:3 the temple of Zerubbabel was sixty ells high and sixty ells broad, whereas Ezekiel 41:12-13 gives quite different figures (seventy, ninety, one hundred ells). Also the descriptions of Zerubbabel^ temple as given in the books of Maccabees draw a completely different picture (1Ma 4:47; 1Ma 4:60; comp. Sir 50:1-29 :if). Moreover the descriptions of Zerubbabel temple as given in the book of Ezra mention only its backward connection with the ground plan of the Tabernacle and Solomon’s temple, but never mention the temple of Ezekiel’s vision as its ground plan and pattern.

(d) It is clear that with all this, and particularly in view of Hebrews, there still remain unsolved questions. But unsolved questions should never be a hindrance to faith. They can never justify us in disrobing a passage of its evidently intended and real meaning by an inadmissible spiritualizing. Even when in certain cases it is not possible to reach a complete and satisfying explanation we ought still to hold fast the manifest sense of a prophetic statement. The attitude that becomes us is to wait patiently till the fulfillment brings full light.

Yet in spite of this literality the symbolic will be the chief matter in that coming temple. Its literalness does not oppose its spiritual significance. Precisely in its symbolic numbers it will be a wonderful setting forth of spiritual realities. Here both belong together, literality and symbolism. Neither the first excludes the second nor the second the first. Together they represent an organism as of body and spirit. In the Tabernacle of Moses symbolism and typology had likewise been its real, chief significance; nevertheless it had been a literal tent consisting of visible materials with literal measure­ments. So also here must they both be viewed together: the literality of the outward and material and yet its essential purpose being for spiritual ends: The clothing of eternal spiritual truths in material forms and yet the full reality of this literal material.

(e) But perhaps we can at least already perceive the general direction in which one day the resolution of these questions may be shown. Certainly the Hebrews* epistle says, " Where forgive­ness of sins is there is no more offering for sin" (Hebrews 10:18). But this in no way proves that there can be no more symbolic actions in Divine service after the redeeming work of Christ, such as Ezekiel 40:1-49; Ezekiel 41:1-26; Ezekiel 42:1-20; Ezekiel 43:1-27; Ezekiel 44:1-31 very plainly indicate.

Symbolic actions in Divine service are still possible even since Golgotha. It is true that they are no more, as in the Old Testa­ment typological sense, prophetic symbols looking forward to the expected Redeemer, but rather, in the New Testament sense, symbolic acts looking backward to the accomplished work of this Redeemer. For if after Golgotha no further symbolic acts of Divine service were possible, with which spiritual blessings are associated for believers, where then were the possibility for the church of New Testament baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Are not these last likewise outward, visible symbolic acts with which, even today, as a matter of fact, through the Holy Spirit God-given blessings are associated for the believer?

Certainly it is true that, according to Ezekiel, the future sac­rifices foretold by him are not merely symbolic acts which will simply serve to bring to mind and remembrance the work of Christ, but they are actually united with God’s grant of atone­ment and forgiveness of sin (Ezekiel 43:21-27; Ezekiel 45:17) But just so, according to the teaching of the New Testament, do the acts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper go beyond the merely symbolic and the fact of remembrance and are associated with the reception of Divine blessings (see esp. 1 Corinthians 10:16-21). So the reference to Hebrews offers no cogent, fundamental, irrefutable objection to a future literal temple service. It is only proved that these acts will then have an entirely new meaning and an entirely new outlook. In their Mosaic, pre-Christian, Old Testament sense sacrifices and priesthood will never return. The "old covenant" is for ever gone and will never again arise and be re-established. Much rather will everything take place in the spirit of the "new covenant." The old forms will be filled with a completely new spirit.

Within the circles of Bible-believing, scientific theology, Auberlen (formerly Professor of Lutheran theology in the University of Basel) was one of the chief pioneers of the expectation of a visible kingdom of God on the still untransformed earth. He described as follows the relationship of this new temple service in the Millennium to the preceding economies of law and grace:"That which in the times of the old covenant came to pass only in an external manner, in the ‘letter’; that which, in the reverse, in the time of the church was withdrawn into the internal hidden essence of the spirit; this in the time of the Millennial kingdom will exhibit and display itself both outwardly and at the same time in a spiritual manner. Under the old covenant the whole life of the people of Israel in its different appearances, in the house and the civil sphere, in a more external way and measure, in labour, art, literature and culture, was governed and characterized by religious laws. The church had above all to press for the renewing of the heart. But in the Millennial king­dom all these outward regions of life will be truly Christianized from within" (See Lange’s Bibelwerk on Ezekiel 46:1-24). Thus in high degree they will then be harmoniously united, the external and the internal, the visible appearance and the invisible spiritual life of the heart.

(f) Finally we must assert that, however the prophecies of Ezekiel are to be understood, they are by no means the decisive basis for the expectation of a visible earthly kingdom of God. Ezekiel’s prophecies do indeed belong to the most significant pictures of certain central details of this Millennium; but the Millennium itself has its chief roots in other prophecies. Some of the most important examples of these we shall briefly enumer­ate on pp. 192 ff. For a fuller account we refer the reader to TheTriumphoftheCrucified, 144-69, especially 144-53).