CHAPTER 41

(574 B.C.)

THE MEASURING OF THE TEMPLE

¹Afterward He brought me to the Temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the Tabernacle. (The massiveness and loftiness of the posts or pillars proclaim the strength and magnificence of the Temple. Six is used for a reason, because it denotes the number of man, and corresponds with the Words of Christ [Rev. 3:12].)

²And the breadth of the Door was ten cubits; and the sides of the Door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and He measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits. (And the breadth of the Door was ten cubits, refers to the Door that led into the Holy Place, which was fifteen feet wide. This corresponds again to Jesus as the Door [Jn. 10:7]. The Holy Place was sixty feet long and thirty feet wide. This was the same dimensions as Solomons Temple.)

³Then went He inward, and measured the post of the Door, two cubits; and the Door, six cubits; and the breadth of the Door, seven cubits. (The phrase, Then went He inward, speaks of the Most Holy Place, which was situated immediately behind the Holy Place. No one but the High Priest could go into the Most Holy Place, and that was only once a year; therefore, Christ, it seems, went in Alone, leaving Ezekiel outside.

The height of the Door is six cubits; this refers to Christ as the Door to Salvation, i.e., mans approach to God, since six is mans number; the width of the Door is seven cubits, which portrays Gods Perfect Salvation in Christ, Gods Number being seven, which speaks of perfection.)

⁴So He measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the Temple: and He said unto me, This is the Most Holy Place. (The Most Holy Place was the place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept in the Tabernacle and in Solomons Temple. Actually, the dimensions were the same as Solomons Temple: thirty feet long and thirty feet wide.

At Solomons Temple, the Altar was thirty feet long and thirty feet wide, the same size as the Most Holy Place. However, in the Millennial Temple, the Altar will be smaller than the Most Holy Place, only eighteen feet square.

Solomons Altar was larger because it represented a price yet to be paid, while the Altar in the Millennial Temple is smaller, thereby representing a price already paid [II Chron. 4:1; Ezek. 43:16].)

⁵After He measured the wall of the House, six cubits; and the breadth of every side Chamber, four cubits, round about the House on every side. (The wall of this House will be six cubits, or nine feet, thick. The massive thickness of the wall will no doubt serve as a symbol of strength and indestructibility concerning Christ as the True Temple. In other words, this House is secure, whereas the house built by man fell!)

⁶And the side Chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the House for the side Chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the House.

⁷And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side Chambers: for the winding about of the House went still upward round about the House: therefore the breadth of the House was still upward, and so increased from the lowest Chamber to the highest by the midst. (The width of the wall for the first story was 7 feet, whereas this was diminished to 6 feet for the second story, and to 4 feet for the third story.)

⁸I saw also the height of the House round about: the foundations of the side Chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. (The foundations of these Chambers were 9 feet thick, constituting a firm foundation.)

⁹The thickness of the wall, which was for the side Chamber without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side Chambers that were within. (The symbolism is here intended to convey the Spiritual Message desired: in this case, the firm foundation of our Spiritual Experience in Christ, along with the firm walls denoting the structure of Salvation and the reign of Christ as being absolutely secure and eternal in its consequence.)

¹⁰And between the Chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the House on every side.

¹¹And the doors of the side Chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about.

¹²Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits. (This building was a separate place, or structure, which was built behind the Temple on the west, which was marked off from the rest of the ground on which the Temple, with its Courts and Chambers, stood; it was most likely devoted to less sacred purposes. Actually, behind Solomons Temple lay a similar space [II Ki. 23:11; I Chron. 26:18].)

¹³So He measured the House, an hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long;

¹⁴Also the breadth of the face of the House, and of the separate place toward the east, an hundred cubits. (That which is instituted, even though it would contain some of the trappings of the Mosaic Law, still, is carried forth mostly as a symbol or memorial that men never forget what Christ did at Calvary for the human family in order that men may be Saved.)

¹⁵And He measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the Inner Temple, and the Porches of the Court;

DETAILS ABOUT THE INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE

¹⁶The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories over against the door, cieled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered;

¹⁷To that above the door, even unto the inner House, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure. (These three-storied Houses, as the Palace itself, will be finished off with wooden wainscotting ornamented with Cherubims and Palm Trees. The wood, no doubt, typified the Incarnation of Christ, when God became Man in order to become the Last Adam, and to redeem humanity.)

¹⁸And it was made with Cherubims and Palm Trees, so that a Palm Tree was between a Cherub and a Cherub; and every Cherub had two faces (as in Solomons Temple [I Ki. 6:29], the wainscotting was adorned with artistic coverings of Cherubims and Palm Trees, a Palm Tree and a Cherub standing alternately. As the wood denoted Christs humanity, likewise, the Cherubims denote His Holiness. The Palm Trees denote the lifting of the curse from the Earth and from man, with harmony now prevailing, typifying rest);

¹⁹So that the face of a man was toward the Palm Tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the Palm Tree on the other side: it was made through all the House round about. (So that the face of a man was toward the Palm Tree on the one side, refers to God becoming Man, The Man Christ Jesus, in order to redeem man and lift the curse.

The phrase, And the face of a young lion toward the Palm Tree on the other side, refers to Christ coming as a Lion from the Tribe of Judah [Rev. 5:5].)

²⁰From the ground unto above the door were Cherubims and Palm Trees made, and on the wall of the Temple. (Throughout the Temple, even unto the Inner House [Vs. 17], the Holy of Holies will be the symbols.)

²¹The posts of the Temple were squared, and the face of the Sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other. (They were squared, which signified the fourfold Gospel of Jesus Christ: Salvation by the Blood, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, Divine Healing, and the Second Coming of Christ. All now, in the Kingdom Age, are reality, hence, the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other.)

²²The Altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and He said unto me, This is the Table that is before the LORD. (This is not the Altar of Sacrifice, which sat in the center of the 100-cubit square and in front of the Temple, but instead the Altar of Incense. It is in the Holy Place, immediately in front of the Holy of Holies, exactly where it sat in the Tabernacle and in Solomons Temple.)

²³And the Temple and the Sanctuary had two doors. (These doors led to the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.)

²⁴And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door.

²⁵And there were made on them, on the doors of the Temple, Cherubims and Palm Trees, like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the Porch without. (As Solomons Temple also represented the coming Kingdom Age, likewise, this Temple, which is the Kingdom Age, has the same symbols. They stand for Holiness and Harmony.)

²⁶And there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the Porch, and upon the side Chambers of the House, and thick planks. (Solomons Temple was heavily ornamented with gold, whereas such is not present in the Kingdom Temple, because Christ, which the gold represented, is now present; therefore, the gold is no longer necessary. The implication is this: the abundance of gold made Solomons Temple beautiful; however, Christ will so far eclipse the luster of mere gold that even if gold were present, it would not be noticed for the Glory of the Lord.)