Temple of Ezekiel
The Temple of Ezekiel’s vision (Ezek. 40-47) is identified by Warnock as a type of the Church as the Temple not made with hands. The historical temple was never built — Warnock argues that even if it had been, it would only have been a type and shadow of the real Temple: the Body of Christ. The river of life in Ezek. 47 constitutes a sub-element as a type of the Holy Spirit flowing through the Church toward the healing of the nations.
Biblical Anchoring
| Reference | Context |
|---|---|
| Ezek. 40:1-4 | Ezekiel receives the vision of the new temple in the twenty-fifth year of the exile |
| Ezek. 43:10-11 | The revealing of the temple plan to Israel is conditional: “if they are ashamed of all they have done” |
| Ezek. 47:1 | Water flowing from the threshold of the house toward the east — the river of life |
| Ezek. 47:8-9 | The river heals the waters of the sea; everything lives where the river flows |
| John 2:19-21 | Christ speaks of the temple of his body — the hermeneutical key for temple typology |
| Eph. 2:21-22 | The Church as a temple in the Lord, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit |
| Rev. 21:22 | ”I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” |
| Rev. 22:1 | The river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb |
Typological Treatment per Author
Warnock
In From Tent to Temple (b5), Warnock takes a spiritual-typological position with regard to Ezekiel’s temple vision. The historical non-realisation of the temple is for him not an exegetical problem but typological evidence: the temple was always intended as a foreshadowing of a spiritual reality, not as a political-national goal.
The Temple as an unfulfilled type
Warnock first observes that the temple of the vision was never built:
“The Temple which Ezekiel saw in his vision, and the description of which occupies much of his prophecy, was never built according to the pattern which Ezekiel received.”1
The promise to Israel was conditional: the revelation of the building plan depends on shame over iniquities. Warnock cites Ezek. 43:10-11 as evidence that the Temple was never intended as a political-national project but as a spiritual reality: the conditionality rules out a straightforward literal restoration.
The type-and-shadow character
The core thesis of Warnock’s typological interpretation is explicit:
“Even if it had been built, it would only have been a type and shadow of the real Temple ‘not made with hands’… He would return again in the fulness of time, take up His abode in a new Temple not made with hands, and send forth a River of Life to bring healing to the nations.”2
The true Temple is the Church as the Body of Christ — “the only temple God ever wanted… a holy Temple of the redeemed of the earth, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21-22). Warnock thereby excludes a futurist literal restoration of the temple in Jerusalem: the typological movement “from tent to temple” reaches its goal in the Church, not in a building.
Connection to Jesus’ temple saying
Warnock’s typological reading connects directly with the christological key statement of John 2:19-21 — at the temple cleansing, Jesus spoke of the temple of his body. This hermeneutical principle (the Temple = Christ’s body, and by extension his Church) is the lens through which Ezekiel’s vision is read. The progression Warnock sketches — Tabernacle → Solomon’s Temple → Ezekiel’s Temple → Body of Christ — forms one continuous typological line.3
Eschatological endpoint: no temple in the New Jerusalem
The eschatological endpoint of the movement “from tent to temple” is for Warnock the absence of a temple in the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22):
“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”4
The phrase “no temple in the city” is not a loss but the surpassing fulfilment: God has found his eternal dwelling in the glorified Bride-Church. The circle closes: the entire temple movement throughout Scripture reaches its endpoint not in a building but in the unity of God, the Lamb, and redeemed creation.
Sub-elements
River of Life (Ezek. 47)
Water flowing from the threshold of the temple eastward (Ezek. 47:1), growing deeper until it cannot be crossed (Ezek. 47:3-5), ending in the healing of the waters of the sea (Ezek. 47:8). Warnock parallels this river with the river of the water of life of Rev. 22:1 (flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb) and with the fountain from the house of the Lord of Joel 3:18. Antitype: the Holy Spirit flowing through the glorified Church toward all nations for healing and restoration. The river is not geographical-literal but pneumatological: the Spirit streams through the Temple-Church toward universal healing.
Related Types
- Connected: Tabernacle — earlier stage in the typological progression “from tent to temple”
- Connected: New Jerusalem — eschatological endpoint: no temple, for God and the Lamb are themselves the Temple (Rev. 21:22)