Congregation Bible Study (30 min.): Rr ch. 13 paras. 7-14 and Box 13A.
Did Ezekiel see the great spiritual temple?
7, 8. a) What clarification has been made recently? b) How are the temple Ezekiel saw different from the spiritual temple Paul wrote about?
As mentioned before, for many years our publications have said that the temple that Ezekiel saw was the great spiritual temple of Jehovah, that is, the temple that Paul wrote about by inspiration in his letter to the Hebrews. But a deeper analysis of the subject leads us to think that it is not possible that Ezekiel saw the great spiritual temple. What reasons do we have for saying that?
First, that the temple Ezekiel saw does not match Paul's inspirational explanation. Take a look at this detail. The apostle Paul made it clear that the tabernacle of Moses' time was a shadow and a representation of something greater. As in the case of the temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel, which were built on basically the same model, the tabernacle had a compartment called "the Holy of Holies." Paul called this compartment "a holy place made by human hands" and said it was "a copy of reality", not reality itself. So what was reality? "Heaven itself," Paul clarified (Heb. 9: 3, 24). And was that what Ezekiel saw? Heaven? No, Ezekiel's vision does not imply that he was seeing heavenly things, as he does in other visions (compare Daniel 7: 9, 10, 13, 14).
INFORMATIVE BOX 13A: Different Temples, Different Meanings
Animals for sacrifices made in the temple of vision.
9, 10. What is the difference between the type of temple sacrifices Ezekiel saw and that of the great spiritual temple?
An even more glaring difference between Ezekiel's vision and Paul's explanation has to do with sacrifices. Ezekiel heard very detailed instructions on how to offer sacrifices. These instructions were for the people, the chiefs, and the priests. They were to offer sacrifices for their own sins. They were also to offer peace sacrifices, the kind likely to be eaten by everyone in the temple dining rooms (Ezek. 43:18, 19; 44:11, 15, 27; 45: 15-20, 22-25). Are these sacrifices offered time after time in the great spiritual temple?
The answer is simple and clear. In the great spiritual temple only one sacrifice is presented once: the sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself, the Great High Priest. Paul explained: “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that have already happened, he entered the most important and most perfect tent, which was not made by human hands, that is, it is not of this creation. He entered the holy place once and for all, not with the blood of goats and young bulls, but with his own blood, and he obtained eternal deliverance for us ”(Heb. 9:11, 12). It is clear that the temple of Ezekiel's vision — with all its sacrifices of goats and bulls — is not the great spiritual temple.
11. In Ezekiel's time, why was the time not yet ripe for God to reveal truths about the great spiritual temple?
This brings us to the second reason. We know that Ezekiel did not see the great spiritual temple because the time had not come for God to reveal truths about that temple. Remember that Ezekiel's vision was directed first to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. They had to obey the Mosaic Law. At the end of the exile, they would return to Jerusalem and put into practice what the Law said about pure worship. This required that they rebuild the temple and its altar, where they would continue to offer sacrifices. In fact, they did so for almost six hundred years. Now, how would you have felt if Ezekiel had shown you the spiritual temple? What would they have thought of the high priest sacrificing his own life, thus ending all other sacrifices? What message would the vision have conveyed to them? Would it have helped them to continue obeying the Law, or would it have had the opposite effect? As always, Jehovah reveals spiritual truths in a timely manner and when his people can understand them.
12-14. What is the relationship between the temple Ezekiel saw and Paul's explanation of the spiritual temple? (See the box “Different Temples, Different Meanings”).
So are the temple Ezekiel saw and what Paul said about the spiritual temple related? Remember that Paul does not base his explanation on the vision of Ezekiel, but on the tabernacle of the days of Moses. It is true that Paul did mention some elements that also existed in the temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel, as well as in the temple of Ezekiel's vision. But, in general, Ezekiel and Pablo focused on different aspects. * Your explanations are not simple repetitions; rather they complement each other. How?
We can say that these two biblical accounts are related like this: Paul teaches us what the system for worshiping God consists of, and Ezekiel tells us about Jehovah's standards for worshiping him. In order to teach us truths about the pure worship system, Paul explains the meaning of some elements of the spiritual temple, such as the high priest, the sacrifices, the altar, and the Blessed Sacrament. But, intended to highlight Jehovah's high standards for pure worship, Ezekiel's vision paints a detailed picture for us, engraving many lessons about those standards in our minds and hearts.
How does this clarification affect us? Of course, all of this is not to say that Ezekiel's vision has nothing to do with us today. To understand how this vision helps us, let's first look at what it brought to faithful Jews in the past.
INFORMATIVE BOX 13A: Different Temples, Different Meanings
Animals for sacrifices made in the temple of vision.
The temple of Ezekiel's vision
It was described by Ezekiel for the Jewish exiles in Babylon
It has an altar in which many sacrifices are offered
Highlight Jehovah's Righteous Standards for Worship
It focuses our attention on the spiritual restoration that began in 1919
The great spiritual temple
It was explained by Paul and addressed to the Hebrew Christians
It has an altar on which a single sacrifice is offered “once and for all” (Heb. 10:10)
Explains a spiritual reality that the tabernacle and literal temples long represented - the system that Jehovah has established for pure worship based on the sacrifice of Christ
It focuses our attention on the work that Christ did in his role as Great High Priest from AD 29 to 33.
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