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The Prince, Foreigners and The Priests, Rules

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Today’s Passage comes from Ezekiel 44:1-14.   Yesterday we saw how we could look forward to Christ and his redemptive work.

This passage starts off with God making it clear that the eastern gate is only for him.   He was the one that entered through it, and he was the only one, therefore who could use it.

But a Prince is coming who can use it.   That would make the prince equal to God eh?
 
Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”

Sometimes it is hard to really understand what God is doing you know?
I read these words and I’m left with why?
I can understand why those who don’t follow after God aren’t allowed in his sanctuary.. I get that. One doesn’t tend to let enemies into the heart of your home after all.     But God has people kill the animals for the sacrifice who had served him poorly in the past.  They weren’t allowed to serve him as priest, to enter into that special place to serve HIM.  They were punished by only being allowed to serve the people.
4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. 6 And say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, enough of all your abominations, 7 in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. 8 And you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.
9 “Thus says the Lord God: No
foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who
are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10 But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment. 11 They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at
the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall
slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. 13 They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

I think my struggle comes from… why did God allow them to serve at all?   Ministering to the people gave them room to minister poorly to the people.   Why didn’t God just cut them off from ministering at all?  

It requires thoughtfulness I suppose.  God tells them they will need to bear the punishment for their actions.   So serving the people is one step down from ministering to the Lord.  They must serve in this capacity knowing they will never have a chance to serve the Lord himself.   Only serve the people. 

I want to get into all the wondering you know…the useless wonderings of “I wonder if it made them resentful or if they bore their punishment well”,  “I wonder if they took their resentment out on the people”. Wonderings that don’t really further learning from God but just fill my mind with speculation.

I just hope that the priests bore up their punishment and accepted their shame well. 

Which of course brings me to this: When you do something wrong and the Holy Spirit calls you on it, do you correct yourself?  Do you bear up well under your guilt or do you make excuses?   I know what I am prone to do….I grumble and complain and say but … but…(excuse excuse) but eventually I admit my guilt and say “Sorry…whether it’s just to the Lord or to the person that I wronged.”   It just sometimes takes me a while.

Going back a bit to Verse 5:  And the Lord
said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with
your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the
temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary.

This verse has me thinking that God will be laying down some rules for his people that Ezekiel had best pay attention to.   More than just the rules about the uncircumcised foreigners and the priests who serve only the people.
 
 You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

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We see the Altar, we Look Forward to Christ

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As we come to this next section on Ezekiel 43:13-27, Ezekiel is coming before the altar. 

Like everything else, it is measured. As you can see, it is not small…the hearth being 12 cubits square.  

13 “These are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): its base shall be one cubit high and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span around its edge. And this shall be the height of the altar: 14 from
the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a breadth
of one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four
cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; 15 and the altar hearth, four cubits; and from the altar hearth projecting upward, four horns. 16 The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve broad. 17 The
ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad,
with a rim around it half a cubit broad, and its base one cubit all
around. The steps of the altar shall face east.”

The Priests who minister at the altar will be the family of Zadok.   They need to, for seven days, make sacrifices on the altar to make atonement for needing the altar, as well as to cleanse and consecrate it.   When those seven days are over, it can be used for the sacrifices of the people. 
18 And he said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and for throwing blood against it, 19 you shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God, a bull from the herd for a sin offering. 20 And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim all around. Thus you shall purify the altar and make atonement for it. …….26 Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it. 27 And when they have completed these days, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, and I will accept you, declares the Lord God.”

I have to admit, I would find this difficult.   I know I am not alone in this, I have read reports of how people found it difficult to need to sacrifice the best of their herd.   How tempting it was to hold that animal back and send the next best.   

But it’s what God demanded eh?   That giving up of our best to atone for the sin that we do.  It’s points us forward to God giving up his best for us. 

That’s what all the sacrifices do…they point forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus.   Just like the lamb did, or the bull, or the doves, or the grain did.   Through no fault of their own, they died for the sin of their people.   Jesus died for the sin of EVERYONE.  Not just one family or group of people ….for every single person ever born.

As the Son of God he was the only one in the position to do so.

  
Just as people needed to trust that the lamb, goat, bull etc… would take away their sin, we need to the same with Christ.   We need to trust that Jesus will take away our sin.  It’s starts with us seeing how wrong our sin is and our need for something beyond ourselves to deal with it.

Gods work on our behalf… always.

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God will dwell in their midst forever

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Today our reading is from Ezekiel 43:1-12.

I read these first few words ” Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. 2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east.”

And I got to thinking… Ezekiel has just been showed through this marvellous building. Being led through, seeing these massive columns, all the measurements being taken… and then he is led to the east gate and the GLORY of the God of Israel was coming. What an culmination of the experience eh?   I imagine him coming to that gateway and seeing God’s glory rising up like one of those gorgeous sunrises that you get. I can just imagine who Ezekiel might have felt.   (let’s read on eh?) 

 And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. 3 And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face. 4 As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, 5 the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

Wow oh wow…I’d be shaking in my boots.   The glory of the Lord sounding like (what I would imagine) Niagara Falls… All the watery noise rushing and pushing and swirling around.    BUT.. with that sound comes the vision of God when he came to destroy the city like when he was by the Chebar canal… oh… I would fall on my face as well.   Knowing God’s glory and his ability to do justice and reign down destruction on his people’s enemies.

God came into the temple and his glory completely filled it.  Remember how big the temple was?   God’s glory filled it.
  

God’s message comes to Ezekiel:   
6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple, 7 and he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places, 8 by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them. They have defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. 9 Now let them put away their whoring and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.
10 “As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its
exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to
them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and
write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. 12 This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

God is done with it.   He has corrected the poor behaviour of his people.   His desire is for Israel to put aside their worship of false gods and all their abominations.  His plan is to dwell in their midst forever (presumably in the temple).

To that end, Ezekiel is to describe the temple to the Israelites.  God doesn’t just simply say they are to build it, he says “if they are ashamed”… then Ezekiel is to let them know the design of the temple, along with all the statutes and laws.   They need to know the law of the temple, to know that this is a most holy building on the top of the mountain.

I can’t say I understand it all.
This is not the temple found in Jerusalem.  
This a huge place, and it’s all predicated on the shame of the Israelites for the abominations they committed and false worship they engaged in. 
God’s intention is clear.  He will live in the midst of his people.

Just like now eh?  
Jesus comes to live in our hearts when we are aware of our need for him, when we are ashamed of the wrongs we have done, the abominations we have committed against God.
When we confess our sins to him, God comes to dwell within us.

IT IS THE MOST AWESOME THING.    To think that God dwells within us.  Calling us to remember him, calling us to know him, letting us know right from wrong.

God himself.
Lord of all.
Comes and dwells within us when we see the shame of our sin.

Doesn’t that just amaze you?

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The Temple’s Chambers

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  Today our reading is from Ezekiel 42.  Ezekiel sees The Temple’s Chambers.

When I read the description of the Temple’s Chambers… I had this thought of a building that was much narrower and more closely built together.  I picture a walk-up like when I went to Philadelphia to visit a friend, and she took me through this tall narrow building…that felt long (though I’m sure it wasn’t really) but was narrow and pressing in.  All the walkups looked the same, just like the temple chambers here are the same as each other.

 5 Now
the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from
them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. 6 For
they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of
the courts. Thus the upper chambers were set back from the ground more
than the lower and the middle ones……..They were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with the same exits and arrangements and doors, 12 as were the entrances of the chambers on the south. There was an entrance at the beginning of the passage, the passage before the corresponding wall on the east as one enters them.

The purpose of the chambers.   The north and south chambers are holy.  They are where the priests eat the most holy offerings…the grain, the sin and the guilt offerings.   It is a holy place.

13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the yard are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy.

In fact, in this holy place, you can wear walk about clothes, you have to wear garments fit just for the holy place. This causes me to think about how I have “rabbit clothes” and then I have all my other clothes.  I don’t wear rabbit clothes other than when I am at home. So the part of them having to change their clothes doesn’t surprise me.  You only want the best things for the holy place. 

14 When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”

Then Ezekiel saw the man measuring the exterior of the temple area.   Can you imagine it was 500 cubits square?   It was a large square building. and around the building was a wall, this made a separation between God’s holy place and the place for everyone else, the common area. 
 
15 Now when he h that faced east, and measured the temple area all around. 16 He measured thead finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate east side with the measuring reed, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. 17 He measured the north side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. 18 He measured the south side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. 19 Then he turned to the west side and measured, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. 20 He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, 500 cubits long and 500 cubits broad, to make a separation between the holy and the common.

I’m thinking about all this and honestly…I have a hard time figuring what to learn from this, other than God is holy, we need to treat him as such.  That there is to be a separation between that which is holy and that which is not.

oh…

Think about that.

A separation between the holy and the not holy.

Do you see it in your life?  That awareness that God is different from EVERYTHING else in your life?   Do you?

Do I?

Admittedly I don’t always see it.   I see everything around me so much more clearly than I see God sometimes.  I don’t always react to God with the reverence that he is due…sometimes just leaving my “rabbit clothes” on when I approach him.

And yes, God wants us to be intimately familiar with him.
But he also wants us to know that HE IS GOD.   That’s been taught over and over in Ezekiel that he wants us to know that HE IS THE LORD GOD.

Remember it.
Consider it in the day to day.
Let it make a difference.   This I should do better.  Oh that the Good Lord would help me to do so.

You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

The Inner Temple

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Todays’ bible passage comes from Ezekiel 41. Learning about the Inner Temple.

Can you imagine for a moment… being shown into yet another room in this HUGE temple city and watching all the measuring being done and you then hear these words:   “This is the Most Holy Place.”

Just think about that… having a vision of the place that will be God’s holy spot.  His area, where only a select group of people can go.   And you get the first glimpse of it, a vision that you have to carry to the rest of the people.

Think on that.


Then I went on to read about the temple and quite frankly.. I got lost in the details.  I figured out that it was HUGE, with stairs and levels, with broad expanses and what not, but beyond that details ran together on me. 

    
5 Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick, and the breadth of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the temple. 6 And the side chambers were in three stories, one over another, thirty in each story. There were offsets all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side chambers, so that they should not be supported by the wall of the temple. 7 And
it became broader as it wound upward to the side chambers, because the
temple was enclosed upward all around the temple. Thus the temple had a
broad area upward, and so one went up from the lowest story to the top story through the middle story. 8 I saw also that the temple had a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers measured a full reed of six long cubits. 9 The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. The free space between the side chambers of the temple and the 10 other chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side.  ….

I had this thought that all of this was done in stone, perhaps with some trim here and there, but then I read that there was wood paneling around the thresholds, that was carved with palm trees and cherubim. The cherubs each had two face … one of lion, one of a human.

The inside of the nave and the vestibules of the court, 16 the thresholds and the
narrow windows and the galleries all around the three of them, opposite
the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, from the floor up to
the windows (now the windows were covered), 17 to
the space above the door, even to the inner room, and on the outside.
And on all the walls all around, inside and outside, was a measured
pattern. 18 It was carved of cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Every cherub had two faces: 19 a
human face toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a
young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on
the whole temple all around. 20 From the floor to above the door, cherubim and palm trees were carved; similarly the wall of the nave.

There was also a wood table “This is the table that is before the Lord.”  This table was three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits broad.   It stood before the Holy Place.  Again wood paneling surrounded where it stood. 

I have to admit, I have a hard time knowing what to take away from this.  I know that if I were Ezekiel I’d be standing there is awe at the sheer size of everything.  Trying to somehow take it all in.   I wonder of the significance of the lion faces on the cherubs. Overall though, I’m just amazed at the size and the details offered to Ezekiel and wonder what tomorrow will bring.

 You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

The Chambers and the Vestibule

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Todays’ bible passage comes from Ezekiel 40:44-49.

Before today I didn’t know that the priests split their duties.   Some priests would be in charge of the temple and other priests in charge of the altar. 

I also wasn’t aware that ONLY the sons of Zadok were allowed to “come near to the Lord to minister to him”.   Only them.  I knew vaguely there were some divisions in the priesthood, but it was just a vague thing .. you know?

I just figured it was divided up by seniority and whatever each family within the priesthood liked to do.  But here I realized that God had it all sorted out.

 44 On the outside of the inner gateway there were two chambers in the inner court, one at the side of the north gate facing south, the other at the side of the south gate facing north. 45 And he said to me, “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple, 46 and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who alone among the sons of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to him.” 47 And he measured the court, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits broad, a square. And the altar was in front of the temple.
48 Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the jambs
of the vestibule, five cubits on either side. And the breadth of the
gate was fourteen cubits, and the sidewalls of the gate were three cubits on either side. 49 The length of the vestibule was twenty cubits, and the breadth twelve cubits, and people would go up to it by ten steps. And there were pillars beside the jambs, one on either side.

A cubit is 45.72 centimetres OR 18 inches. 

So the inner court is 150 feet square.  The door jams are 7.5 feet.

Can you imagine door jambs that large?  It gives you an idea of the overall size.

But more importantly… God had all the details worked out.  ALL of them.   From where the priests served, to what family could approach him in ministry, to the size of the building they served in.  God took all the guess work and politics out of the picture.

Rather cool that.

You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Inner Court, Room of Sacrifice

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Today’s passage comes from Ezekiel 40:28-43.   Ezekiel is now through the south gate and in the inner court.

Can you imagine the sheer size of everything?

I was asking hubby tonight (since all scripture can somehow tie into Christ) about how this whole scene ties into Christ and he mentioned “have you considered the size of what he is seeing?   Now think on that and remember how much bigger the city of God in Revelations is”.   One ties into the other.

 28 Then he brought me to the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate. It was of the same size as the others. 29 Its side rooms, its jambs, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and both it and its vestibule had windows all around. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. 30 And there were vestibules all around, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits broad. 31 Its vestibule faced the outer court, and palm trees were on its jambs, and its stairway had eight steps.
32 Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gate. It was of the same size as the others. 33 Its
side rooms, its jambs, and its vestibule were of the same size as the
others, and both it and its vestibule had windows all around. Its length
was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. 34 Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its jambs, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.
35 Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it. It had the same size as the others. 36 Its side rooms, its jambs, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and it had windows all around. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. 37 Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its jambs, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.

With Hubby’s words in my mind… it’s just ringing with the size of this building and how carefully it was all measured out so it was just so.

Imagine the place that God is preparing for us now?  Cool eh?  Majestic, full of his glory, it’ll be amazing!

But you know what won’t need to be in the city of God?   An area of sacrifice.  Our sins have been covered already, but here in Ezekiel’s day they haven’t been.   Sin offerings, burnt offerings, guilt offerings… they all have to be made, and here there is a room just for them.
   
38 There was a chamber with its door in the vestibule of the gate, where the burnt offering was to be washed. 39 And in the vestibule of the gate were two tables on either side, on which the burnt offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering were to be slaughtered. 40 And
off to the side, on the outside as one goes up to the entrance of the
north gate, were two tables; and off to the other side of the vestibule
of the gate were two tables. 41 Four tables were on either side of the gate, eight tables, on which to slaughter. 42 And there were four tables of
hewn stone for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit
and a half broad, and one cubit high, on which the instruments were to
be laid with which the burnt offerings and the sacrifices were slaughtered. 43 And hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened all around within. And on the tables the flesh of the offering was to be laid.

Can you see it?  Imagine the size of this room with the needed implements.  The animals that would need to be sacrificed.  This part is all done and over with now.   Do we remember that?  I fear that too often I forget, that God’s people forget, the grace that he has bestowed upon our lives.  Our sins are covered!  No more need for a room for sacrifices!  Isn’t that just the best?

 
You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/