Ezekiel's Temple

Ezekiel’s temple was never built.  These chapters were not given to Ezekiel as a pattern for a physical temple that was to be built in literal Jerusalem.  In Ezekiel 40-48 GOD is describing the spiritual blessings that were to come by using the figure of a grand temple. 

The temple was on a very high mountain (40:2) – MT Moriah would not qualify has a very high mountain (Isaiah 2:2; Daniel 2:35).  No temple was ever built like this one (Haggai 2:4-5).  There is no river in Jerusalem that remotely fits the description in 47:1-12.

No moment in history fits 47-48 – it is a figurative way of saying that GOD’S people will inherit exactly what GOD intended for them to have.  The temple is the spiritual temple, the church, of Ephesians 2:20-22.  The land represents the spiritual realm or relationship in which GOD’S blessings are given.  The priests and the Levites are the holy nation of priests that Christians are, serving the Lord and offering up spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5, 9).  The river represents the spiritual blessings that flow from His temple and benefit all who come into contact with them.