Question from a reader:

I have a question about the millennial kingdom. Ezekiel says there will be a new temple with animal sacrifices. What is your understanding of this, as it seems animal sacrifices would contradict Hebrews, which says Christ “sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself”?

Answer from Eternal Perspective Ministries:

The ESV Study Bible (which Randy recommends) says of Ezekiel 40-48: “Almost all interpreters agree that Ezekiel 40-48 is one of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible.”

Here’s their note on these chapters, which lays out the various possible interpretations, and mentions the question of the sacrifices:

With regard to the meaning of this passage as a whole: 1) Some interpreters understand this vision as a prophecy that will be fulfilled literally, with a rebuilt temple and Israel dwelling in the land according to its tribes–a future millennial kingdom on the earth. Many who hold this position believe that literal animal sacrifices will be offered, but that in the future millennial kingdom they will function as reminders of the complete and sufficient death of Christ, a function different from what they had in the OT. [Note from EPM: that’s the view taken in this article.]

2) Other interpreters see this vision of a new temple and a renewal of the land of Israel as an extended, detailed metaphor predicting the presence of God among his people in the new covenant age (that is, his presence in the church).

3) Another view is that the vision predicts God’s presence among his people in the new heavens and new earth (c.f. Isaiah 66:17, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1), not as physical details that will be literally fulfilled but as symbolic indications of the great blessings of that future age. In this interpretation, the details about worship and sacrifices are symbols of the centrality of worship of God: the temple represents the orderliness and beauty of God’s heavenly dwelling place; the priests and their sacrifices represent the service and worship of all God’s people; the division of the land presents the allocation of places to live for all God’s people; and the river represents the outward flow of God’s blessings to his people forever.

4) Finally, it is possible that there are both literal and symbolic elements in this vision, and that, as with the visions in Ezekiel 1, this vision describes future realities that cannot be fully expressed in terms of Ezekiel’s present realities.

In his study of Heaven, Randy does see that there are verses in Ezekiel pointing to the reality of a renewed earth, with Eden-like qualities. For example, he cites Ezekiel 47, which mirrors a New Earth passage:

The description of the tree of life in Revelation 22 mirrors precisely what’s prophesied in the Old Testament: “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12).

And:

That God will be glorified on Earth is central to innumerable passages, including these two:

Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. (Psalm 85:9)

I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east . . . and the land was radiant with his glory. (Ezekiel 43:2)

While we can humbly say that reading this passage leaves us with many questions, we do know for sure that the final destination for God’s people is the New Earth, where “God himself will be with them and be their God.” This reality is beautifully foretold in Ezekiel 37:27: “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

(A final note, re: the Millennium. There are different views on the Millennium, and we would encourage you to continue digging into Scripture and reliable sources and to hold any view you choose to embrace loosely. While Randy does personally believe there will be a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on the present Earth, he also recognizes that many other Bible-believing Christians hold other views, and thus he has chosen not to make it a focus of his writings on Heaven. You can read his further thoughts here.)