Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. – Ezekiel 42:19

Today's Scripture Reading (August 27, 2023): Ezekiel 42

The New Century Global Center is a multi-use building in Chengdu, China. It houses a massive shopping mall, commercial offices, conference rooms, a university complex, two conference centers, hotels, an IMAX theater, a pirate ship, a Mediterranean village, as well as an Olympic size skating rink, and "Paradise Island Water Park," which includes an artificial beach. The New Century Global Center is the largest building in the world by floor space. The floor space of the Center is over 18 million square feet.

According to the dimensions given by Ezekiel, this Temple would have occupied more than 27.5 million square feet. It would be a fantastic engineering feat in our century, let alone five hundred years before the birth of Christ.

This floor space for Ezekiel's Temple would have only included one floor, but Ezekiel says that, at least in some places, this Temple would have as many as three floors, making the total floor space for the Temple almost inconceivable.

Ezekiel's Temple would be far too large to fit on Mount Moriah, the home of both Solomon's and Zerubbabel's Temple. If Mount Moriah is the intended construction site for this Temple, it would require a massive restructuring of the geography of Jerusalem. But it might be that Ezekiel believed that on the day of the construction of this Temple, there would be a supernatural reconfiguration of the topography of Israel. It is a restructuring that Zechariah hints at in his prophecy.

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place. It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure (Zechariah 14:9-11).

It will indeed be a new world where the desecration that happened in Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians will never happen again.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 43