Oct 2 2019 - Ezekiel 40:1-5; 40:48-41:4; 43:1-9 – The new temple

A week ago we were looking at Ezekiel chapters 3 and 4 where Ezekiel had been commanded to make a model of the city of Jerusalem and lay siege to it. Ezekiel was warning God's people of the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. In today's reading, Ezekiel receives a vision of the day when God will visit his people with salvation and restore to them all that they lost when Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed. Indeed, the blessings that God promises to his people in days to come will far exceed anything they have known in the past.

In his vision, Ezekiel sees a "man" who appeared "like bronze". This man was equipped with a measuring rod about 3 metres, or 10 feet, long. He uses this rod first to measure the wall that surrounded the temple area – it was ten feet thick and ten feet high. The narrative then continues with details of measurements of the gates in the wall and of the outer and inner courtyards of the temple. In 40:48, Ezekiel is brought to the portico of the temple itself which is again measured. The inner sanctuary was about 60 feet long and 30 feet wide (40 by 20 cubits). The Most Holy Place was 30 feet by 30 feet. The narrative of the vision goes on to describe the details of the chambers around the temple with their various floors along with their measurements – many Bibles include a plan of Ezekiel's temple to help with your visualisation of it. Our reading skips over much of this detail to pick up the vision again at the beginning of chapter 43.

In Ezekiel chapter 1, the prophet had been granted a memorable vision of the glory of the Lord while he had been by the River Kebar. Now he sees a similar though quite different vision:

The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar, and I fell face down. The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. (43:3-5)

At the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel, the glory of the Lord had left the temple and Ezekiel had seen the God of glory coming in judgment to destroy Jerusalem and its temple. But now the God of glory is returning to his temple: Ezekiel describes the glory of the Lord filling the temple as had been seen by Isaiah in Isaiah 6. God declares that he will now dwell with his people in this new temple; his presence and glory will never again leave them and they will never again defile his holy name.

This prophecy again finds its fulfilment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one in whom God has come to dwell among us and is the one in whom we see God's glory (John 1:14). He is the one who said of himself, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days" (John 2:19). Through his death and resurrection, Jesus not only displays the glory of God in all his saving mercy and grace, he also saves for himself a people who can never again be separated from him. By his Spirit he makes us to feel and know his love for us (Romans 5:5) and gives us a heart to love him in return. We whom he has purchased with his own blood dare not defile his holy name – we love him and want only to live to please him.

After the destruction of Solomon's temple and the exile in Babylon, the Israelites longed for the day when God would come and dwell with them again; they longed for the time when the glory of the living God would return to his temple. That day came and has come with the arrival of Jesus Christ and will be fully realised in the new creation at Christ's return (see Revelation 21 and the man with a golden measuring rod who measures the New Jerusalem).

Father God, we praise you for the Lord Jesus in whom all your promises receive your resounding "Yes" and our answering "Amen". Help us to see your glory in the face of Christ and to rejoice in his atoning work through which we have been made your people. Enable us to tell others of your glory seen in the Lord Jesus and displayed in the message of the gospel.

Peter Misselbrook