The entrance to the Temple will be through a lofty porch, flanked by two great pillars. These pillars will be suggestively named, as in Solomon's Temple, the right one, Jachin (He shall establish) and the left one, Boaz (In it is strength). In these inspiring reminders are seen the mighty strength of The Christ, possessors of all power in Heaven and in earth, with which God through them will establish His Kingdom.—1 Kings 7:13-22.
The priests' chambers on the upper pavement of the Inner court will be entered by a separate gate and separate stairs from the outer court, suggesting that the [pg 586] entree to the love feasts of the Little Flock will be exclusively for them alone. (Ezek. 46:19). The gates of the city will be twelve in number, three on a side, and each named for one of the twelve tribes.—Ezek. 48:31-34.
The Altars.—As the entire Plan of salvation centers about the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so at the mathematical center of the Ezekiel Temple will be the great brazen altar, with its rites, and offerings, and the blood, typing the ransom and the antitypical sin offering. It will be at the center of both the outer court and of the inner court, and of the priests' land and of the land divided among the tribes, typical of the world. The court gates will all point toward it, and facing it will be the steps, porch, and outer and inner doors of the Temple. The construction and dimensions of the altar are given in Fig. 7. The brazen altar will be 4x12x12 cubits; it will be reached by stairsteps from the east, and will rest upon two borders or “settles,” respectively, 4x14x14 cubits and 2x16x16 cubits, the lower of which will rest upon a bottom or foundation 1x18x18 cubits. The Tabernacle altar was 3x5x5 cubits, the dimensions suggesting incompleteness, as compared with the numerical symbolism of the Ezekiel altar. This altar types the completed work of the Sin Offering and will be seen to be of far greater magnitude and importance than even the eye of faith can now perceive while the suffering work is in process. Its elevation by the bottom and two settles suggests the lofty exaltation of The Christ who participated in the Sin Offering far above the beneficiaries from the blood—the Great Company and the perfected world of humanity. It will be approached by stairs to the height of the base of the altar proper, typing that the evidence of the sacrifices by the offerers will be carried into Heaven itself.—Ezek. 40:44-47; 43:13-27; 45:18-20; 47:1.
The Offerings.—The various offerings typify the following:
A burnt offering will be a thankful prayer to God, acknowledging His mercy, wisdom and love as manifested in the broken Body of the offerer's great Ransomer.
A peace offering will be the fulfilment of a vow or a willing thank offering; the offerer eating the sacrifice will be his appropriation to himself of the consecration; with it he will eat certain things such as unleavened cakes, oil and anointed wafers, signifying his faith in Christ's character which he will copy.
A trespass offering signifies reconsecration in connection with restoration for wrong, with recognition of the offerer's imperfection and the value of the ransom.
A meat offering of fine flour, unleavened cakes, oil, etc., signifies the consecration of the offerer's all, the sample burned on the altar meaning the consecration's approval and acceptance by Jehovah.
The sin offering will be an acknowledgment of past sins and of the application of the merit of the Ransom, with repentance and reconsecration of the offerer.
Defilement and Cleansing.—There will be defilement of individuals and the past defilement of the whole world. The general defilements involving all—referring in part to the typical location of the palace of Solomon and the kings, close to the Temple—are Christendom's defilement of God's holy name by their erroneous teachings about Him and by the lives of those evil clergy and laity who presumed to bear His name; their “whoredoms,” or unhallowed union of church and state; their permitting of prominent persons—clergy and laity—who were dead in trespasses and sins, to assume elevated places in the worship of God; their conjoining the entrance into the Temple class (a church) with entrance into places of influence; their establishing the same wall of living members of the churches as the wall of business and the state; their encouraging unconsecrated persons, not spirit-begotten, to serve in the holy things in the church as teachers and clergy; their breaking their covenant, made solemnly with God in their consecrations; and their not keeping the charge of the Divine Word of truth but hiring paid clergymen to look after it for them. The great mass of the Spirit begotten (Levites) had gone astray from God after their man-made idols of earthly honor, power and wealth; and they had served the evil tendencies of church members in their idol worship. Between the people and the clergy every conceivable abomination in the sight of God had been practiced, and will require cleansing and a wholesome memory of it, to safeguard against future outbreaks and to manifest continual appreciation of the holiness of any service of God.—Ezek. 43:7-9; 44:6-14.