[SIZE=12pt]Many people believe that the temple described in Ez. 40-44 is a prophetic picture of a third temple to be built in Jerusalem at the beginning of the millennium. Let’s face it, God isn’t going to give them plans for a third temple before a second one was built. This is the design for their second temple. That is why it speaks of sacrifices. All they needed to do was to repent on a national level. They failed again. Thye 70 year captivity didn’t bring about the level of national repentance that God hoped it would. Of course, He knew this but these things occurred so that at some future date God can show Israel, “See, this is what could have been”. That is why the second temple wasn’t built to specs. God sent Cyrus and Darius as hindrances and Israel’s fear of them over their fear of God coupled with their unhappiness over the barren condition of the land where Jerusalem needed to be rebuilt, led them to build a “lesser” temple.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Consider this: That Temple was to be an everlasting edifice, as the verse there states, “and I shall dwell among them forever.” Instead, when it came time to rebuild the second Temple, God commanded through his prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi not to build it according to the specifications in Ezekiel[/SIZE].
When some Rabbis refer to the second Temple period, they say it was a partial redemption only. For not only were the Jews still under foreign rule, but the second Temple also lacked some key components—including the Holy Ark. However, even though the second Temple did not have the everlasting quality of the Temple of Ezekiel’s prophecy, the builders did incorporate certain parts of the prophecy into its construction. In commanding Ezekiel to describe the dimensions of the Temple to the Jewish people, God says, Ez. 43:10-11 – “Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. 11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.”
[SIZE=12pt]God told them not to build to those specs for a reason, their lack of national repentance. Could at some point a third millennial temple be built to these specs? Absolutely, but this does explain the animal sacrifices and sin offerings described there as being for the second temple as they will have no place in the millennium. Zerubbabel was the high priest who was given the task of building this second temple.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Zech. 4:9 – “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Haggai 1:2 – “Thus speaketh the [/SIZE]Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.”
[SIZE=12pt]Haggai 2:14 – “[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Lord[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean[/SIZE].”
[SIZE=12pt]Consider this: That Temple was to be an everlasting edifice, as the verse there states, “and I shall dwell among them forever.” Instead, when it came time to rebuild the second Temple, God commanded through his prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi not to build it according to the specifications in Ezekiel[/SIZE].
When some Rabbis refer to the second Temple period, they say it was a partial redemption only. For not only were the Jews still under foreign rule, but the second Temple also lacked some key components—including the Holy Ark. However, even though the second Temple did not have the everlasting quality of the Temple of Ezekiel’s prophecy, the builders did incorporate certain parts of the prophecy into its construction. In commanding Ezekiel to describe the dimensions of the Temple to the Jewish people, God says, Ez. 43:10-11 – “Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. 11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.”
[SIZE=12pt]God told them not to build to those specs for a reason, their lack of national repentance. Could at some point a third millennial temple be built to these specs? Absolutely, but this does explain the animal sacrifices and sin offerings described there as being for the second temple as they will have no place in the millennium. Zerubbabel was the high priest who was given the task of building this second temple.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Zech. 4:9 – “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Haggai 1:2 – “Thus speaketh the [/SIZE]Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.”
[SIZE=12pt]Haggai 2:14 – “[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Lord[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean[/SIZE].”