Read Ezekiel
43 & 2
Peter 2
To discover:
As you read note why God
says he has revealed all these details to Ezekiel.
To ponder:
Ezekiel is now
brought to the gate facing east, from where he sees God’s glory coming. We
should note east is the place of Eden ,
of the dawn and so of hope, but also where Babylon
is situated, suggesting he may be returning from being amongst the exiles. This
is a reversal of the direction in which he left (11v19, 23) and enables him to
go straight ahead into the temple. The awesomeness of his presence is stressed
in the roar of his voice – which is to be obeyed, and the brilliance of his
glory – so brilliant that lights the land as it goes, perhaps implying how it
will one day transform it. We’re reminded this is a vision, and the sight of
God’s glory is the same as that in chapter 1 (43v1-4). Having seen God enter
the east facing gate of the temple, the Spirit takes Ezekiel to the inner court
where he sees the temple filled with God’s glory – confirming he is now in
residence, as in the days of Solomon (43v5, 1 Kgs 8v10-11). It suggests the
potential of a new golden era.
We should note here the delight this
vision would have brought to the exiles. Solomon’s temple had been defiled and
then destroyed, and God had abandoned Jersusalem. Yet in this vision, the
people are reassured that God will return to the city and worship will begin
again in a temple there, patterned in some way on this vision.
Ezekiel then hears someone speaking
from within the temple. The note that the man is beside him suggests it is not
him and he is not divine. Rather, it is God himself, who declares the temple is
the place of his throne and feet – implying dominion. He states he will live
amongst the Israelites forever, and that they and their kings will never again
defile his name with their idolatry. 43v8 implies that the kings either lived
in some way within the previous temple complex or were buried there. Either
way, it showed no recognition of the need for the common to be separated from
the holy (as 42v20), and so displayed an irreverence and lack of concern for
the LORD that provoked him to destroy them in anger. At this point God declares
that Israel
should put away their idols, again, promises that he will then live with them
forever. He then tells Ezekiel to write down and describe what he has seem for
the people, detailing the temple, and especially its exits, entrances,
regulations and laws. He states he wants Ezekiel to do this for two reasons:
First, to make the people ashamed of their sins. Second, so that they will be
faithful to its design and regulations (43v9-11).
This is all particularly instructive
in how we understand the whole vision. 37v15-28 predicted Israel
as a cleansed nation united under a Davidic king, that would no longer commit
idolatry, and that would live forever in the land with God’s “dwelling-place”
with them (37v27). In the light of this, the original recipients of Ezekiel’s
temple vision must have understood it to be the “dwelling-place” that would be
central to this future kingdom. We should therefore view it as a portrayal,
using concepts that were understandable to them, of the ideal temple and worship
that would be central to that coming order, just as God’s presence and right
worship at the temple had always been necessary for Israel
to flourish as a nation. In particular, the vision is intended to remind the
people just how holy God is, and just how serious their idolatry was in previously
failing to respect that holiness through disregarding the set-apartedness of
the temple and the regulations that protected that (see chapter 8). This is
confirmed by God’s statement that the key law or instruction about the temple
is that the area around it is to be most holy (43v12). In other words, no-one
who is not qualified and fit to do so, is to come close.
To be “faithful” to the temple’s
design and regulations then, may have meant that the returning Israelites
should have rebuilt the Jerusalem
temple to Ezekiel’s blueprint as they prepared for God to establish his
everlasting kingdom. In which case, their failure to was yet another sign of
their sin, and so of the fact that that kingdom was some time off. However,
being “faithful” to what Ezekiel saw could equally mean that just as their (and
our) perception of God should be faithful to Ezekiel’s vision in chapter 1,
without viewing that vision literally, so their (and our) worship should be
faithful to this vision in a similar way. This enables it to apply at numerous
levels depending on one’s place in salvation history as God progressively
fulfils his promise of chapter 37. For the Israelites in Ezekiel’s day, it
speaks of how they cannot expect God’s presence to remain with them and fulfil
that promise, unless they conduct the worship of any future temple in purity,
just as had been outlined in the Mosaic law. For us, it speaks of how, when Israel
failed to do exactly that, God enabled his presence to be permanently present
and ensured true worship in and through Christ. We are therefore reminded that
we cannot serve God in the church or draw close to him in heaven, unless we are
fully cleansed and set-apart as a holy priesthood through Christ’s blood (Heb
9v11-10v25).
In 43v13-27 God describes the
temple’s altar to Ezekiel, together with the regulations for offerings. He even
commands him to give a bull as a sin offering for the priests and purify the
altar over seven days, getting the priests make offerings too. God’s
declaration “then I will accept you” (43v27) implies the worship of the temple
is then able to commence so that he can accept the people despite their sin.
This section supports the less literal view of the temple. 1v1-2 suggest
Ezekiel may have been born around 622BC (1v1-2), whereas the second temple in Jerusalem
was completed and dedicated in 516BC with no mention of Ezekiel (Ezra 6v13-22).
It seems that he is therefore being commanded to reinstitute Israel ’s
temple worship in his vision, as if he were there. This may be a sort of
symbolic act that is intended to foretell the coming reality rather like when
he was commanded to act out the siege of Jerusalem
(see chapter 4).
Praying
it home:
Praise God for
fully cleansing us through Christ so that we can draw near to him. Pray you
would offer yourself in service reverently, recognizing his holiness.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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