Made it to Ezekiel 43 in my daily Bible reading today. Three chapters earlier, a lengthy visionary narrative regarding a new temple began with the hand of the Lord transporting the prophet to Jerusalem. He’s taken on a tour by “a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen
cord & a measuring rod in his hand.” The bronze-like man measures every inch of the structure—gates, walls, stairs, porches, rooms—& supplies the figures to the prophet to report to the exiles. Shows him every detail from the decorations on the jambs to the hooks for sacrifices.
It’s quite tedious reading but the significance is impossible to miss. Perhaps what I love most of all about the study of Scripture—besides the life & work of the Spirit within it—is the cohesion. The major themes continue throughout. Here Ezekiel is depicted as a Moses of sorts.
He, too, is shown a pattern of a future dwelling place for God among the people. What is tremendously significant in Ezekiel is that, in chapters 8-11, the prophet is devastatingly shown the glory of the Lord departing the previous temple that God’s people had utterly profaned.
He watches the cloudy glory leave the holy place, proceed through the sanctuary, cross over the threshold, hover over the eastern gate, and he last sees it move to the mount of olives where the glory hovers then departs. But now here—here in Ezekiel 43, the prophet writes,
I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east...The glory of the Lord entered the temple by way of the gate that faced east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court and the glory of the Lord filled the temple... I heard someone speaking to me...
from the temple. He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne & the place for the soles of my feet...” The 30+ chapters in between—30 tedious, hard, at times violent chapters—heighten the drama, the nearly palpable relief of the return of God’s glory in the vision.
I don’t have a proper way to wrap this up. Just awe. Just observance. Just the reminder of the meticulous plan of a Maker hidden from our eyes who measures every detail. A Maker who loves blueprints & floor plans. An architect, a builder, a carpenter who has 1 Son, an apprentice.
He’s building a church. His name is on it. His glory fills it. The last His followers saw Him, He was ascending from the mount of olives where we’re told he’ll return. It’s all very curious, isn’t it? His unseen presence remains but He promised a return of such manifest presence,
Every eye shall see, every knee shall bow & every tongue confess He is Lord.
“By faith [Abraham] stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise...for he was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose architect & builder is God.” Heb 11
And so we live, looking forward.
“By faith [Abraham] stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise...for he was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose architect & builder is God.” Heb 11
And so we live, looking forward.
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