Riddlebarger: Why The Dispensational Theory About A Rebuilt Temple Is False

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that he could give her living water and that “whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst” (John 4:14). Jesus declared that he fulfilled the image Ezekiel foretold in chapter 47 of his prophecy when he spoke of water flowing from the sanctuary. If Jesus is the true temple of God, he alone gives us the “living water” that takes away the thirst of human sin and longing. Therefore, the dispensationalists’ insistence on a return in the millennial age to the types of the Old Testament sacrificial system amounts to a serious misunderstanding of the nature of redemptive history. By arguing for a new commemorative order based on Old Testament typology in the millennial age, dispensationalists see the future not as a consummation but as a return to the past. And this, of course, sadly obscures the person and work of Christ by seeing the ultimate reality not in him but in the types and shadows destined to perish when the reality entered the theater of redemption.

Kim Riddlebarger | A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times, Expanded Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2013), 94.


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    Post authored by:

  • Tony Phelps
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    Tony grew up in Rhode Island. He was educated at BA (University of Rhode Island) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He worked in the insurance industry for ten years. He planted a PCA church in Wakefield, RI where he served for eleven years. In 2015–18 he pastored Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA) in Colorado Springs. He is currently pastor of Living Hope (OPC). Tony is married to Donna and together they have three children.

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6 comments

  1. One interesting fact is the tendency for commentaries and Study Bibles (including the ESVSB) to fudge their diagrams of the visionary redistribution of the land. The text is explicit that each tribe gets the same portion (Ezek 47:34) but the diagrams make the strips far larger for the northern tribes than the southern tribes in order to put the temple in Jerusalem (even though the city and temple are explicitly separated in the vision). Ezekiel carefully avoids calling the city “Jerusalem” (not surprising given his negative evaluation of Jerusalem earlier in the book). The name of the city is now “The Lord is there” (48:35).

  2. Interestingly, KR is critiquing the Disp. expectation of a 3d temple as a fulfillment of prophecy. I’ve heard him say that there may in fact be an additional “temple” built at some point in Jerusalem, as most conservative Jews now hope and expect. (I don’t recall, but he may have also said this in A CASE FOR AMILENNIALISM). But that wouldn’t fulfill an authentic reading of Ezek. 40-48, or any other prophetic 3d “temple” text, which refer to Christ himself as the true temple.

  3. This is very helpful to me. Having recently transferring from SBC to PCA, and previously being a dispensationalist without really knowing it, I remember hearin J. Vernon McGee preach that and thinking how wrong it sounded to bring back the temple sacrifices. Thankful to God and faithful men for being reformed and amillennial now.

    • Jeff,

      In a world far away and long ago, I spent a lot of time listen to J. Vernon McGee. Of all the “Bible teachers” aired on Christian station for which I worked, he seemed among the more genuine. I still appreciate him.

      Amen!

      • I as well enjoyed listening to Dr. McGee on the radio when I was driving. But as soon as he started talking about the rapture and the Dispensational end times “theology”, I would turn the station. I’ve read A Case for Amillennialism twice. I’m thankful to Dr. Riddlebarger, The White Horse Inn (and Dr. Clark, WSC, et al) for bringing me to the Reformed side.

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