NOTES for Eze 40:1-49

In the prophetic vision Jerusalem appears before Ezekiel, but it is not the city that remained in the exiles' memory; it is the city as it must become when God's righteousness triumphs. The detail with which it is described recalls the thorough descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant and Solomon's Temple on other biblical pages, and this testifies to the continuity between the different facets of Revelation and the episodes of sacred history. The verbal blueprint conveys not only the general outlines of the structures but also describes them in detail, down to the arrangement and dimensions of the rooms; in short, the plan is already sufficient for construction.

The opportunity to begin building will not come for a long time: many years of exile lie ahead. Yet the prophet does not reveal in vain to his hearers what will be capable of realization in the distant future, and not only because time proceeds differently for God than it does for human beings. The building of the city in which the Temple will be erected begins in the hearts of the faithful, however far they may be from both earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem that will be proclaimed in the Revelation of John the Theologian and that resembles the city described by Ezekiel.