THE LORD SPOKE (November 24)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Ezekiel 40-41

The millennial temple. No, it’s the Millennial Temple. This was not just another building that Ezekiel was describing. It will be a magnificent structure that all the saints of the Old Testament will see and experience!

The Bible doesn’t tell us specifically when those saints will be resurrected. Some place it at the end of time, relating it to the destruction of the earth by fire and its restoration in the New Heavens and New Earth. They will populate eternity. That’s possible but their resurrection before the millennium makes better sense. Otherwise, they miss out on all the promises of the Old Testament - promises made to them. The promise of their return to the Land, of the restoration of that Land, of a kingdom, of David back on his throne in Jerusalem, of the Messiah present and governing that kingdom, of life the way it was meant to be under God’s sovereign rule.

So when Ezekiel describes that future Temple, he has stars in his eyes. Though it has many similarities with the Temple of Solomon from Ezekiel’s time, it is more magnificent by far in dimensions. In fact, it won’t fit topographically on Jerusalem’s historic hills and valleys. Mount Moriah, the “Temple Mount”, won’t contain it. But that’s not a problem because Isaiah has already told us that “every valley shall be exalted and the mountains made low” (Is. 40:4) so the necessary space will be there.

Does a Temple and sacrifices in Jerusalem during the millennium bother you? If we understand properly what they meant and what they accomplished we will better understand what they will mean and their purpose in the future Temple. The writer of Hebrews tells us that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). Though they were God’s solution for the sin problem at the time, those sacrifices looked forward to the Lamb of God that would “take away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29).

The sacrifices of the Old Testament looked forward to the efficient Sacrifice that would be the only sufficient solution to the sin problem. Just as our New Testament communion service looks back to that same Sacrifice as a symbolic memorial, so too will the sacrifices during the millennium point to the One and only solution for sin.

If the Old Testament saints are, in fact, resurrected before the millennium you may be sure that every one of them will make every effort to see that magnificent Temple that Ezekiel saw only in vision. Will we be there? If you know Christ as your personal savior today you will return with Him as the army dressed in white linen described in Revelation 19:14. That will be in time for the 1000-year reign (Rev. 20:1-6) so, yes, you may expect to see that Temple too.


Psalms 137-138

“You can take the boy out of the mountains, but you can’t take the mountains out of the boy.”

That’s about the closest parallel to what is found here in Psalm 137. Deep in the heart of every Jewish person is a longing for Jerusalem. The love of Zion was a dull ache for centuries. The seventy-year captivity in Babylon, which provides the context for this psalm, was protracted since the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD. For nearly 2000 years, Jews the world over “sang the songs of Zion” and hoped for her restoration and their restoration to her.

Things began to change in the late 1800's. Though there had always been a Jewish presence in Jerusalem (usually a majority!), there were times when it wasn’t much more than a sleepy village languishing in the backwaters. The arrival of many Europeans with thoughts of empire expansion brought swift change to Jerusalem, and culminated in the First World War. First the railroad and then a paved road linked her to the coast and the rest of the world. Early on, Bible-believers beat a pilgrim’s path to her gates. The “London Society for the Propagation of Christianity Amongst the Jews” held on to the belief that the Jews would one day return to the Land, even when such a belief wasn’t very popular. Major change came with the advent of modern Zionism.

David Ben-Gurion tenaciously held on to Jerusalem even when it wasn’t militarily the best decision. When the dust settled after Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, she held west Jerusalem but not the Old City. “Reunification” didn’t come until 19 years later. The Six-Day War in 1967 once again gave Jews access to all of Jerusalem, “never to leave again”.

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
Psalm 137:5-6

Nowhere in Scripture does it say, “If I forget thee, O New York... or O Paris... or O Tokyo.” But it does say, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem....” The city of God’s delight and choosing has held a place in the heart of every Bible-believer since he first read of David’s conquest of the city. Jerusalem is not only the object of our historical attention, it is the dream of our eschatological longing. It’s where Jesus died and rose again, leaving an empty tomb! But it’s also where all the nations of the earth will go up to honor Him. It’s where we will see Him, once again upon this earth.

There is no forgetting Jerusalem!