And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their prostitution and by the corpses of their kings when they die, by putting their threshold by My threshold, and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger. Now let them remove their prostitution and the corpses of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell among them forever. (Ezekiel 43:7-9)

From chapter 40, we read about the new temple, the new city, and the new kingdom.
The new temple is a strange one because it resembles the Tabernacle and the Solomon’s temple that were built previously and yet, it is the everlasting temple. Christ has fulfilled and fulfills all the laws and prophecies. And there is no need for keeping the ceremonial laws as explained in the Book of Hebrews. The ceremonial Law and the judicial Law of Israel are no longer necessary in the church era. However, God says this one is the everlasting temple, where He dwells forever. This does not indicate the revival of the old system. However, the new system is also the old system. They are not completely different. They are the same in essence. The essence is love.

Ezekiel was living in Babylon. But his prophecies do not include the demise of Babylon like other prophetic books. Instead, he was given the task to write about the new kingdom. God is the greatest architect and had planned the kingdom before He created everything. The garden of Eden was not the kingdom. We are not returning to the garden of Eden.

It is known that Nebuchadnezzar was a great architect and built buildings like Etemenanki and the Hanging gardens. The city Babylon was built by the river the Euphrates. And the temple, the new Jerusalem, and the new kingdom in Ezekiel 40 to 48 are contrast to Etemenanki and Babylon. What is distinctive about this new temple is that Ezekiel and John were given the exact measurements of the structures of the new temple. And the temple shows the Law of the Lord. The Law is not only about the Ten Commandments. It is the entire words of God. And the Word is God.

¹⁰ “As for you, son of man, inform the house of Israel of the temple, so that they will be ashamed of their wrongdoings; and have them measure the plan. ¹¹ And if they are ashamed of everything that they have done, make known to them the plan of the house, its layout, its exits, its entrances, all its plans, all its statutes, and all its laws. And write it in their sight, so that they may observe its entire plan and all its statutes and execute them. ¹² This is the law of the house: its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. (Ezekiel 43:10-12)

Interestingly, Nebuchadnezzar built Etemenanki, which means ‘temple of the foundation of heaven and earth’. But it does not exist anymore. God uses different measurements for His temple. God’s temple is beyond human imaginations. And God is the temple as John says in Revelation.

I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22)

Men, the devil, and his angels compete with God. But God does not compete with them. Men and the devil build something resembling God’s kingdom. What they build is abominable to God. They are like the fruitless vines that will be cut off.