1. The partial view of Ezekiel’s central altar reflects the four-fold symmetry of the entire Temple built around it as its center. It has two aspects that will be questioned by talmudic authorities—its east-to-west direction of ascent, and its steps rather than a ramp. (The apparent quartering of the altar’s hearth is simply to suggest its alignment with the crossing axes of the overall Temple complex.) All this is discussed in Parts 1 and 2 of the author’s “Christian midrash” articles on the Free Articles page.
2. The Temple plan with the white lines on green background illustrates one aspect of the North-South (“They shall be My people”) Axis in its New Testament perspective—namely the life of Jesus along this axis in “dwelling” in Israel and gathering His new covenant people of God. This diagram is explained in detail in Part 2 of the four “Christian midrash” articles on the Free Articles page. Another diagram in Part 2 shows how Jesus built His church of those following in His footsteps. All of this fulfills the original role of this axis in Ezekiel 46.9, as God has worked in man to make a worshiping and serving people for the glory of His name in the earth.
3. The Temple plan with a superimposed diagram of the four Gospels shows at first glance how a common biblical “3 plus 1” pattern is shared by the Temple plan (where three axes go out to gates, but the inner sanctuary takes the place of a “fourth” one) and the organization of the Gospels, where the three “synoptic” (seeing alike) Gospels are followed by John’s special emphasis on Christ’s Deity. The author’s article, “Ezekiel’s Temple and the Christian Gospels” discusses many correspondences between the Temple layout and the four Gospels, culminating in a demonstration how the four faces (man-lion-ox-eagle) of the famous “chariot” of Ezekiel chapter 1 provide the “dynamics” of the individual Gospels, as they lead the chariot in tracing out a complete picture of Christ’s saving work on the Temple axes.
4. The Temple plan with the white lines on red background portrays Ezekiel’s trip through the Temple with verse numbers for each section of his tour. It is discussed in Part 1 of the four “Christian midrash” articles on the Free Articles page, though without providing a verse-by-verse commentary on every Temple feature. This plan, however, may help someone struggling to form a “mental map” of the Temple from the biblical text, and may also suggest some of the author’s early sense of “lostness” in Ezekiel’s complicated description.
5. The square diagram with Bible verses around it is found and explained in Part 2 of the “Christian midrash” articles on the Free Articles page. To the author’s knowledge it is unique to this study. The fourfold form of the diagram echoes both the overall Temple and its altar. The verses across the top and bottom show how the conveyance of God’s Presence (by the “chariot” of Ezekiel’s chapter 1) to the Temple in chapter 43 corresponds to Jesus—the pre-Incarnate Word of God—taking on mortal flesh as the Living Temple of God (what Christians celebrate as Christmas.) The verses on the diagram’s left side identify the vision Ezekiel sees in chapter 1 with Jesus as the Word (Greek: Logos, Aramaic: Memra) of God. The verses on the right side identify Ezekiel’s Temple with Jesus the living Temple. In sum, Jesus is the Presence or Glory of YHWH. There is only one Temple, and only one Word of God coming to dwell with His people forever, expressed dimly in Ezekiel’s Old Covenant terms, then fully in those of the New Testament (see 1 Peter 1:10-12).