By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher
Text:
Ezekiel
40-48
Ezekiel
48:35
All
the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and
the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE.
(NKJV)
Chapters 40 through 48 of
Ezekiel provide details of the restoration of the temple, worship of God, the
feasts, and the division of the land for the returning exiles. The importance
of providing these at the end of the book is so that the returning exiles can
have assurance of their complete restoration, with them seeing the temple,
worshipping God, celebrating the feasts, and having an inheritance in the land.
Under the New Covenant, we no longer need a temple because the temple of God is
within us (1
Corinthians 3:16), but we still need reminders of this fact lest we drift
from the truth of the Gospel.
The remaining chapters in
Ezekiel provide details for what needs to be done once the exiles return to the
land so the people can return to obedience to God and its blessings (Deuteronomy
28:1-15). Instead of a verse-by-verse observation, I am going to provide a
chapter-by-chapter summary with a link to the details in the scripture.
·
Chapter
40 – A new city and temple, eastern gateway, outer court, northern gateway.
Southern gateway, gateways of the inner court, sacrifice preparation, chambers
for singers and priests, Inner court, and vestibule.
·
Chapter
41 – Sanctuary dimensions, side chambers on the wall, building at the
western end, the temple area.
·
Chapter
42 – Chambers for the priests, outer dimensions of the temple.
·
Chapter
43 – The temple, the Lord’s dwelling place, dimensions of the altar,
consecration of the altar.
·
Chapter
44 – The east gate and the prince, those admitted to the temple, laws
governing the priests.
·
Chapter
45 – The Holy district, properties of the city and the prince, laws
governing the prince, keeping the feasts.
·
Chapter
46 – The manner of worship, the prince and inheritance laws, how the
offerings were prepared.
·
Chapter
47 – The healing waters and trees, borders of the land.
·
Chapter
48 – Division of the land, the gates of the city and its name.
While returning to the
land of Israel was important to the exiles, God knew they would also need to
know that God’s presence with them was also restored with the rebuilding of the
Temple. Worship of God must also be restored with the resumption of the feasts.
These restorations will let Israel know they are forgiven by God of their
iniquities and sins and that God is with them. The sins of Israel and Judah
were atrocious and caused them to fall under the curses of Deuteronomy
28:15-68. This opens Israel up to experiencing the blessings of obedience (Deuteronomy
28:1-15), but this obedience would be short-lived because they would reject
Jesus, their Messiah, leading to a long exile from 70 AD to 1948 AD. This
disobedience led to the destruction of this restored temple in 70 AD, with a
third temple to be built in the last days, an unnecessary temple.
The temple of God is now
within us, with God dwelling in each believer in the person of the Holy Spirit,
making the rebuilding of a third temple unnecessary. However, we can experience
Gospel amnesia and forget this truth and experience anxiety when trials come,
believing we are alone. Jesus frequent command and promise to His followers was
not to fear because He is with us to the end of the age (Matthew
6:25-34; 28:20). Unfortunately, many churches today have fallen away from
the simple truth of the Gospel that God came to us in the person of Jesus to
provide salvation from sins even though He knew no sin (2
Corinthians 5:21). Instead a gospel of social justice, self-help, and
prosperity are taught which tickle itching ears (2
Timothy 4:3-4). The lukewarm Church in Laodicea received a scathing rebuke
from the Lord due to its dependence on wealth and prosperity, leaving Jesus
outside the door knocking to come in (Revelation
3:14-22). Lord, I repent of the lukewarmness of your Church and pray for
revival with the Church returning to its mission of bringing Jesus to people
and making disciples (Matthew
28:19-20).
If you are reading this
and have never prayed to make Jesus your savior or have grown lukewarm or cold
in your walk with the Lord, I invite you to either commit your life to the Lord
for the first time or rededicate your life to the Lord by praying with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23)
and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse
me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe
you died, spent three days in the grave, and resurrected from the dead and now
declare you Lord of my life.
I invite you to let
someone know of your decision or to comment on this post about your decision. I
also encourage you to become involved in a Church that teaches the Bible and
follow through with baptism as a public confession of your faith in Jesus (Romans
10:9-10). May God challenge and bless everyone reading this post.
Next Wednesday we will
begin a study of the Book of Psalms so please come back.
No comments:
Post a Comment