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not irrelevant

Ezekiel 41:21-26 (JDV)

Ezekiel 41:21 The doorposts of the great hall were square, and the front of the sanctuary had the same appearance.
Ezekiel 41:22 The altar was made of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long. It had corners, and its length and sides were of wood. The man told me, “This is the table that stands before Yahveh.”
Ezekiel 41:23 The great hall and the sanctuary each had a double door,
Ezekiel 41:24 and each of the doors had two swinging panels. There were two panels for one door and two for the other.
Ezekiel 41:25 cherubs and palm trees were carved on the doors of the great hall like those carved on the walls. There was a wooden canopy outside, in front of the portico.
Ezekiel 41:26 There were beveled windows and palm trees on both sides, on the side walls of the portico, the side rooms of the house, and the canopies.

not irrelevant

McGee says that the temple being described is the earthly temple that will be here during the millennium, but that believers will not worship there. He says we will be in the New Jerusalem, which is in heaven. He says “the church is going to be in a place where there won’t be a temple; we won’t need one, but the earth will have one for the duration of the millennium at least. I rather like the fact that we won’t have a temple because, very candidly, I have never gone in much for ritual. I’m going to be delighted to be up there with the Lord God and the Lamb as the temple of the New Jerusalem. We will be with them, and I cannot even conceive how wonderful that is going to be” (McGee, 205).

Such a view makes Ezekiel’s vision practically irrelevant. It is not. We need to look at the description of the temple in Ezekiel from the viewpoint of his readers and listeners. They would never assume that this temple would be a decoration in a world rejected by God. Ezekiel was encouraging God’s people with his vision. He was not saying that in the future the earthly Jerusalem would be inconsequential.

God is God of heaven and earth. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth.

McGee, J. Vernon. Ezekiel. 1978.