epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Friday, June 06, 2008

Ezekiel 40

Fourteen years after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, Ezekiel was brought in visions of God to behold a New Jerusalem. We have the privilege of contemplating this vision since it is recorded for our benefit in the Scriptures. It is fitting that after our consideration of the Lord’s judgment upon the world that we would be able to rejoice in His full plan of salvation for the church. Here is a new Israel seen from on high with the benefit of a heavenly guide. Here was something for the eyes, the ears, and the heart to truly behold, and then for the mouth of the gospel messenger to declare to all of the Lord’s people so that they would not lose heart in the midst of their grieving.

This is first a vision of a temple, as if everything is somehow a temple. Our attention is directed to the massive wall. There is a separation between the outside and the inside. We are also told about its gates and the rooms and vestibule associated with these gates. Everything seems big and wonderful. Everything is also very orderly and exact. There are many windows mentioned adorned with designs from nature, specifically palm trees.

One of the things that we notice is that there is movement from outward to inward, and we keep on ascending up steps the further into the interior that we travel. We first move up the steps near the wall through the gate into the first portico. We could continue along the pavement by the outer court along the exterior border of the rooms on three of the four sides of this amazing edifice, but everything within us wants to move further inside into the more expansive inner courtyard and then up the steps again into the inner gateways that lead to another court up to the temple portico.

We survey the gates on the east, north, and south sides. We measure everything, but not like inspectors who have to approve of the work that has been done. We are admirers who are overcome by the wonder of this place. We say, “Is this mine?” We want to stay there and enjoy the beauty, the symmetry, the perfections of the vision. Everything is right. Everything is in order, and we do not even know how it was built. When Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle, we were told what was to be done, and then the actual building of the components was described. When Solomon build the temple there was a period of preparation under David and his son, and then the building process is described and the completion of it is celebrated. The tabernacle and the temple under the Law were built through the works of man. Who will be the Builder and Maker of this house? Is it a house that can only be received by grace?

As we continue in this vision we have ascended the steps to the court that leads up to another set of steps for entrance into the temple portico. Now our focus is on the place for sacrifice. The burnt offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering are mentioned. This is a jarring realization. Though the gift of this great place is free to us, yet there was a cost to secure the peace with God that is represented here. The cost of grace has come through sacrifice. We are partakers of the benefit. The Messiah has paid the price with His own life. The hooks and the tables are reminders to us of the suffering by which we have received a glorious peace.

When we think of the altar there in the midst of this court, we are reminded of this one death. It is amazing to consider that through the sacrifice of the Son of God, we now have a place as priests in this amazing vision of the temple of grace. The enemies of the cross have been defeated. They have no share in this part of the vision. Yet Christ was treated as an enemy for us, so that we might be with Him in this glorious temple.

Why is all of this happening? Why is Ezekiel being brought here fourteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem in order to see this vision? God wants His people to know, especially at a time when it might seem that all hope is lost, that the day of a glory temple/city is coming. It can be shown through various visions and images, but the reality is always the same. There is a much better day coming, and you have a part in that day if you are in Christ.

This particular vision was perfect for the time of Ezekiel. The great city of God is shown in glorious imagery perfect for those who lived under the Law. They understood the temple built by Solomon. We look at diagrams, and make sure that we can distinguish the court around the perimeter of the structure from the expansive court beyond that and then the court by the temple portico. We try to understate what is meant by the description of the gates and the windows. We walk through this place in our imaginations, but they walked through Solomon’s temple with their feet. This was first for them as they mourned the destruction of the former temple. Something glorious was coming.

Of what use is it all to us now? As we benefit from a consideration of the tabernacle and of the planning and construction of Solomon’s temple, as we think about the symbolic meaning of these things under the Law, we know with even more certainty than our brothers of old were able to comprehend that a new day is coming, for we are already partakers of that day in the New Covenant church and in the ascended Christ. In Him we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We appreciate the Old Covenant imagery, and we rejoice in the coming day of the fullness of the eternal glory presence of the Lord. Like those who mourned something that was lost fourteen years before by God’s discipline, we too have setbacks, and we grieve the hardness of the hearts of men, including our own. Yet we know that the appointed sacrifice has come, and that He has accomplished our redemption. This temple is ours, and we will be there with our brothers and sisters of faith from the period of the Law. Even gentiles now have a share in every blessing that was first announced through this wonderful imagery to Old Covenant believers.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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