Many who advocate the rebuilding of a third temple, reference the book of Ezekiel.

If there is ever a temple built in Jerusalem (and there very well may be one built,) it will not be the one Ezekiel saw.

Most people who throw out Ezekiel as a reference for a third temple, will not even look at the details in Ezekiel’s vision, and certainly will not examine the one the Temple Institute plans to build to see if it matches the one in Ezekiel’s vision.

If Ezekiel saw an end time temple, and the one built doesn’t match it, then guess what – that ain’t it!

Has the Temple Institute found the descendants of Zadok?

In Ezekiel’s temple, the Levite priests bear the shame of their sins for leading the people of Israel into iniquity. Is this the priesthood the Temple Institute is promoting? Are they planning to appoint priests who lead the children of Israel astray? I don’t think so!

In Ezekiel’s temple, only the descendants of Zadok (of the tribe of Levi) would be able to come near to the Lord. And would you like to know why? It is because only the sons of Zadok obeyed the Lord when the children of Israel went astray, which is a contextual reference to ancient Israel and could not possibly apply to modern day Israel.

This is one of the reasons why there are so many problems with “third temple” theology, especially when attempting use Ezekiel’s temple vision as a grounds of support. It is not!

The temple in Ezekiel’s vision is a temple that would have been but never was, because of the sins of Israel and their priests.

Ezekiel was a priest by blood linage and also a prophet. This temple vision was given to Ezekiel to make the people of Israel ashamed of their sins (Ezekiel 43:10, 11). In this temple, the Holy presence of God would have continued to be separated from the people, and particularly from the Levites because of their past sins.

According to the New Testament, Jesus has removed the separation between God and his people and we now have unhindered access to God through the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19-22; Ephesians 2:13, 18). Jesus alone is our High Priest, and in him, all who believe have been made a royal priesthood and are called to draw close to the Lord.

A temple that would separate God from his people would be one that would be contrary the the work of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again to cleanse us from our sins and bring us near to God.

Now this is only one reason why the Temple Institute will not build the temple Ezekiel saw. There are others, one which required Israel to share their land with foreigners and to treat them as native born Israelites – yes that is in the instructions regarding the temple that Ezekiel saw.

Again, there are more reasons than the ones mentioned above as to why the temple Ezekiel saw is not the one that would be built by the Temple Institute.
However, the thing you need to know is that there is not a single scripture that prophesies that there will be a rebuilt temple with animal sacrifices which will lead Israel back to God.

The gospel was sent to the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles. The only path to salvation of the Jew is to believe the gospel that has already been given to them.

According to the apostle Paul, the gospel is their sound and their words because the gospel was testified of by Moses and their prophets.