Ezekiel 40:4

‘And the man said to me, “Son of man, behold with your eyes and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I show you, for it was with the intention that I show them to you that you were brought here. Declare all you see to the house of Israel.” '

Ezekiel was to take careful note of all that he saw and heard. He was to carefully remember it, setting his mind and heart on it. For it was a message to the house of Israel.

The message was plain. A new temple, a heavenly temple, had been established in the land of Israel which made clear the awful holiness of God, and was now there. This had an important present message for Ezekiel's hearers in that it suggested to them that God was taking them up again as His people, and was dwelling in the land, and that they would one day return there and be able to re-establish temple worship, but that they must ever remember His holiness and be wary of their sins. However, there was a mysteriousness and remoteness about this temple which pointed to it having a deeper significance. In its full manifestation it would portray the invisible presence of God with His people, the outflowing of the Spirit in the Messianic age (chapter 47), and the presence of the everlasting kingdom (Ezekiel 48:35). It was both a near and a far ‘prophecy'. Thus it symbolised both present hopes and future expectations.