"Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. 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 Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 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." (Ezekiel 43:1-5)
The clarity and richness of Ezekiel's vision brings further hope of the coming restoration of Israel. As the commentator notes, this temple will be different than Solomon's temple in several ways, most notably in its massive dimensions that suggest a "new earth" in some other dimension of time. While it will not have the physical beauty of the temple it would replace, this temple will perhaps incorporate a more diverse people of God, given its greater dimensions and the notable absence of the Ark of the Covenant, the veil, and the Feast of Weeks and the Day of Atonement. The absence of a High Priest, coupled with a succession of "princes," reflects a coming change in the Levitical priesthood.
We may see some of these changes manifest through the life and death of Jesus on the cross. His death coincided with a shredding of the veil that separated the people from the Most Holy Place, suggesting the believers' freedom in approaching Holy God through Jesus Christ. In addition, because Jesus died once for all, His followers would not need to celebrate a Day of Atonement, whose very purpose was to point the people forward to their need for atonement through a perfect Lamb.
QUESTIONS
1. What parts of the Temple's descriptions were most dear to you?
2. How may you set your soul to "yearn... for the courts of the LORD" (Psalm 84) this week?
BY STEVE EDWARDS
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