The Temple, The Lord’s Dwelling Place

Topic: Holiness
Passage: Ezekiel 43:1–12

June 12, 2020

Commentary

This is a culmination of chapters 40-42 because God’s glory returns to the temple. God addresses Ezekiel from its holy place. The remainder of the vision (and the book) is concerned with the final message that Ezekiel is to convey to his people. This vision falls into three parts:

  1. God’s return to the temple (vv. 1-5). Israel’s past evil had created a world in which God could no longer be present. The people had created their own kind of hell, a world in which God’s presence could not be known. But now, in his vision, the prophet sees God’s glory and presence return to this world.
  2. The voice from the temple (vv. 6-9). The prophet hears God’s voice addressing him from within the temple. He declares that this is the place of His presence, His home, and His symbolic dwelling in the midst of His chosen people. Then there is a statement addressed to Israel: the people must no longer defile the place of God’s residence by their acts of idolatry and associated practices. If they will put aside their evil practices, God’s presence will remain with them for ever (v.9).
  3. The commission to the prophet (vv. 10-12). The prophet is given instructions to address his people and describe to them the restored temple and all its laws. For Ezekiel, with his priestly background, the whole substance of the vision was glorious and full of hope. Though we may not easily grasp the excitement of the account of the temple and its laws, we can at least sense the thrill that it would have imparted to the prophet and people alike.

Application

Just as God is holy, so we are to be holy (Lev. 19:2). I will only be holy when I am devoted to God and separated from sin. If I do not understand the basic concept of holiness, I will never progress very far in my Christian growth.

Ezekiel 43:1– 12 (NET)

1 Then he brought me to the gate that faced toward the east. 2 I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east; the sound was like that of rushing water, and the earth radiated his glory. 3 It was like the vision I saw when he came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down. 4 The glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate that faces east. 5 Then a wind lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; I watched the glory of the Lord filling the temple.

6 I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man was standing beside me. 7 He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die. 8 When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost by my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holy name by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger. 9 Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever.

10 “As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins and measure the pattern. 11 When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its pattern, its exits and entrances, and its whole design—all its statutes, its entire design, and all its laws; write it all down in their sight, so that they may observe its entire design and all its statutes and do them.

12 “This is the law of the temple: The entire area on top of the mountain all around will be most holy. Indeed, this is the law of the temple.