1. Ezekiel is shown a vision of the temple in Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 40–44. The Vision of a Future Temple

‘In one of the most remarkable visions of the Old Testament, Ezekiel had the privilege of being carried away by the Spirit to the holy city of Jerusalem to behold on the temple mount the magnificent temple to be built there in the latter days. In Ezekiel 40:3, Ezekiel was introduced to a “man” who subsequently showed him the temple and its measurements. This “man” was probably not the Lord but an authorized messenger.

Elder James E. Talmage described the main features of this temple:

“In the twenty-fifth year of the Babylonian captivity, while yet the people of Israel were in exile in a strange land, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Ezekiel; the power of God rested upon him; and he saw in vision a glorious Temple, the plan of which he minutely described. As to whether the prophet himself considered the design so shown as one to be subsequently realized, or as but a grand yet unattainable ideal, is not declared. Certain it is that the Temple of the vision has not yet been builded.

“In most of its essential features Ezekiel’s ideal followed closely the plan of Solomon’s Temple; so close, indeed, is the resemblance, that many of the details specified by Ezekiel have been accepted as those of the splendid edifice destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. A predominant characteristic of the Temple described by Ezekiel was the spaciousness of its premises and the symmetry of both the Holy House and its associated buildings. The area was to be a square of five hundred cubits, walled about and provided with a gateway and arches on each of three sides; on the west side the wall was to be unbroken by arch or portal. At each of the gateways were little chambers regarded as lodges, and provided with porches. In the outer court were other chambers. The entire area was to be elevated, and a flight of steps led to each gateway. In the inner court was seen the great altar, standing before the House, and occupying the center of a square of one hundred cubits. Ample provision was made for every variety of sacrifice and offering, and for the accommodation of the priests, the singers, and all engaged in the holy ritual. The main structure comprised a Porch, a Holy Place, and an inner sanctuary or Most Holy Place, the last named elevated above the rest and reached by steps. The plan provided for even greater exclusiveness than had characterized the sacred area of the Temple of Solomon; the double courts contributed to this end. The service of the Temple was prescribed in detail; the ordinances of the altar, the duties of the priests, the ministry of the Levites, the regulations governing oblations and feasts were all set forth.

“The immediate purpose of this revelation through the vision of the prophet appears to have been that of awakening the people of Israel to a realization of their fallen state and a conception of their departed glory.” (The House of the Lord,pp. 37–38.)’ (Institute Old Testament Manual)

2. Ezekiel sees a river flowing from the temple that gives life to the desert and heals the Dead Sea.

Ezekiel 47:1 Waters issued from under the threshold

One of the signs that must be accomplished before the Second Coming is that the Jews must rebuild the temple. In 1843 Joseph Smith said,’ Judah must return, Jerusalem must be rebuilt, and the temple, and water come out from under the temple, and the waters of the Dead Sea be healed [see Ezekiel 47:1–9]. It will take some time to rebuild the walls of the city and the temple, etc.; and all this must be done before the Son of Man will make His appearance. ‘ Presidents John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff also both taught that the Jews would rebuild the temple before the Second Coming. D&C 124:36 also implies that a temple were work for the dead is done will be built in Jerusalem “For it is ordained that in Zion and in her stakes and in Jerusalem those places which I have appointed shall be the places for your baptisms for the dead.’

Ezekiel 47:8-9 Healing waters

‘Two characteristics of the water are noteworthy. First, though the small stream had no tributaries, it grew into a mighty river, becoming wider and deeper the farther it flowed. Something similar happens with the blessings that flow from the temple as individuals are sealed as families. Meaningful growth occurs going backward and forward through the generations as sealing ordinances weld families together.

Second, the river renewed everything that it touched. The blessings of the temple likewise have a stunning capacity to heal. Temple blessings can heal hearts and lives and families.’ (Dale G Renlund, General Conference, April 2018).

Vast quantities of water would have been needed during the Temple’s hey day to wash away the blood from the thousands of animal sacrifices. The Temple Mount is made of limestone and contains numerous cisterns but drawing sufficient water from them to meet the Temple’s needs would have been a huge undertaking.

There is only one natural spring in Jerusalem – the Gihon Spring. This spring is located some 600 feet south of the Temple Mount in the ancient City of David, also known as Mount Zion. Some scholars believe that this was the real site of the Temple rather than the traditional site on the Temple Mount and that the Temple Mount was actually the site of a Roman fortress.

The Greek Historian Hecateus (4th Century BC) wrote that the Temple was located ‘nearly in the centre of the City of David’.

An Egyptian named  Aristeas is reported to have visited Jerusalem and its Temple in 285 BC. He wrote,  “The Temple faces the east and its back is toward the west. The whole of the floor is paved with stones and slopes down to the appointed places, that water may be conveyed to wash away the blood from the sacrifices, for many thousand beasts are sacrificed there on the feast days. And there is an inexhaustible supply of water, because an abundant natural spring gushes up from within the temple area. There are moreover wonderful and indescribable cisterns underground, as they pointed out to me, at a distance of five furlongs all round the site of the temple, and each of them has countless pipes so that the different streams converge together. And all these were fastened with lead at the bottom and at the side walls, and over them a great quantity of plaster had been spread, and every part of the work had been most carefully carried out. There are many openings for water at the base of the altar which are invisible to all except to those who are engaged in the ministration, so that all the blood of the sacrifices which is collected in great quantities is washed away in the twinkling of an eye.” (R.H. Charles-Editor, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1913).

The Roman historian Tacitus also reported that there was a spring inside the Temple at Jerusalem.

It may be relevant to note that many Biblical passages equate the temple with Mount Zion. Also of interest is D&C 84:32

And the sons of Moses and of Aaron shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, upon Mount Zion in the Lord’s house, whose sons are ye; and also many whom I have called and sent forth to build up my church.

Because Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews driven from the land, it is conceivable that the true location of the Temple could have been lost and the ruins of the Roman fort Antonia mistaken for the Temple ruins.

3. Ezekiel measures the river’s depth.

Ezekiel 47:2-5 Waters to swim in

‘The first time we enter a temple, we barely get our feet wet. We are barely introduced to the Lord’s light and love. What a tragedy it is when members of the Church judge the temple to be shallow or not deeply refreshing based on that first experience. Yet all of us know that on a hot summer day, wading even ankle deep in a cool stream brings instant refreshment and a hesitancy to leave the flowing water to return to our shoes. In light of this, it is not difficult to feel Moses’ sense of wonder when he was told to ‘put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.’ (Exodus 3:5.)

Elder Widtsoe cautioned that it is not fair ‘to pass opinion on temple worship after one day’s participation followed by an absence of many years. The work should be repeated several times in quick succession, so that the lessons of the temple may be fastened upon the mind.’ (“Temple Worship,” p. 64.)

Little do the casual waders know that down the river, if they will patiently persist, are life-giving, healing ‘waters to swim in.’ For the water rises each time we wade. Little do they realize the power of those waters to heal the disharmony of our lives, our families, and eventually the world.’ (S. Michael Wilcox, House of Glory: Finding Personal Meaning in the Temple [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 41 – 43)