EZEKIEL SERMON: MAKE THE TEMPLE GREAT AGAIN... Today we're dealing with Ezekiel's third temple. He will show us what is called by Jews the Beit hamikdash hashlishi lit. (The) House, the Holy, the Third). In other words, he'll show us how to make the temple great again. But I want to say something else first. I should start with a comment on the staggering events of the US election. What's the real shock in the election? I want to say that despite the fact Trump won, there was no political revolution yesterday. The same people are still in power. A mistake it would be to think that the issues here relate to homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, etc. I think the "identity politics" stuff is all window dressing really. Not that there aren't real inequalities to be overcome. Go back to what I said in earlier sermons. We had two baby boomers running in US election. HRC is a classic, entitled BB. She didn't even visit Wisconsin. The so-called blue wall. Her loss is in large part to do with the fact Millennials (20-30 yo Sanders voters) didn't turn out for her. But Trump was elected by a landslide of older White voters - baby boomers and Gen-X. In some households in Detroit, the Democrat ground game people say - these are union households -half these households were voting for Trump? 1
Make no mistake about Trump's election. Repudiation of identity politics is not the story here. What we are sitting on is not a race or gender or sexuality civil war so much as war between generations fought over scarce and diminishing resources. The BB's grew up in an affluent time. The '60s. The God is dead movement required affluence. The BB's feel entitled. The social welfare bubble has followed them. But the BB's, even by voting for Trump, are just clinging to power. The same people who rejected the "Western" God in the 1960s, and elected Bill Clinton in the 1980s, just elected Trump over Clinton's wife. Bill Clinton pushed through NAFTA. His "rust belt" supporters just voted for Trump to do away with or completely renegotiate NAFTA. But there's another massive generational group out there. There are more Millennials than BBs. These are the Sander's Left people. They are the largest voting block now. They did not turn out for Trump (he does not represent them) and they did not believe in Clinton. But the next political revolution is on the way as the BB's die off and the Millennials decide to vote. Watch this space! The political revolution is far from over. Add in the Gen-Zs... our kids - you have a massive revolution coming. In many ways Trump's election is not a revolution at all. The BB's are clinging to power and hoarding resources as they can. They have elected him. You shouldn't be shocked his rallies were hosted to the sound of what band and song? You can't always get what you want by the Stones. I'm told Jagger's thinking of playing the inauguration! Because of the Millennials, the true revolution in the West lies not far ahead of us. 2
My interest, though, is the implications of all this for us and for our kids in this strange age in which we live. What must the church know and do today? "May it be your will, O my God and God of my fathers, that the Temple be rebuilt speedily in our days, and give us our portion in your Torah, and there we will worship you with reverence as in ancient days and former years. And may the Mincha offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasing to God, as in ancient days and former years." (Part of the Jewish Amidah/daily prayer) The church can learn from the temple. But what do we learn from the temple? Fortunately we have Ezekiel to help us. The significant chapters come at the end of his book, as the ultimate comfort (chs 40-48). Let's go back to Ezekiel 1 and follow the story of God's glory through the book. What do we learn from the movement of God's glory? July 593 BC Kebar River/Babylon, Ezekiel the captive sees a strange vision... "This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown,and I heard the voice of one speaking." (1.28) September 592: the temple/jerusalem... 4 "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there [in the temple] according to the vision that I saw in the plain". (8.4) 4 "Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house [temple]; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court [of the temple] was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory." (10.4) 23 "And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city". (11.23)... October 573: Year of Jubilee: 14 years later (see 40.1), 20 years after Ezekiel's inaugural vision (chapter 1), and 25 years after he was taken into captivity - at 50 years old, when priests retire: "Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, 2 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. 3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he[a] came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 4 The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. 5 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple." (43.1-5) 3
"Then the man brought me by way of the north gateto the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the Lord filling the temple of the Lord, and I fell facedown." (44.4) And the name of the city from that time on will be: the Lord is there." (48.36) The picture we get is of God's glory moving; moving into Babylon. Moving from the temple in Jerusalem. Moving to the mountains east of the city of Jerusalem. Then finally moving back and settling in a future temple in Jerusalem in a vision twenty years after the beginning of the book. The end result is as it was in the beginning - "The Lord is there." "In the beginning God..." Movement ceases. God is at rest. What do we learn from Ezekiel? 8 precious things. 1 Buildings are Temporary God is Forever "The Lord is there." We're not going to be in this church building forever. Here's our dream, picking up from my talk at the AGM in July. 2 Exile can be an uplifting experience The people will one day be renewed. THE TEMPLE IS A HUGE MOUNTAIN LIKE A WALLED GARDEN A NEW EDEN. 4
3 God moves... never stays still in history Change is not too be feared "Ezekiel's vision of the future temple and his priestly laws, which appear to contradict the pentateuchal rules and very nearly led to the exclusion of the Book of Ezekiel from the canon (Shab. 13b, and parallels)." "The Talmud (Sabbath 13b) relates that Hananiah ben Hezekiah (one of the teachers of the Mishnah, who lived about the year 70) used up three hundred measures of oil (to study by) in order to harmonize the laws in Ezekiel with those given in the Torah. If not for this effort, some believed, the book would have been kept out of the Bible. The phrase used was: The Book of Ezekiel would have been hidden away (nignaz Sefer Yehezkel). This is religious traditionalism at its worst. 4 God's death is the appearance, only to blind eyes, of a God who moves That God doesn't bind himself to our ways of speaking and doing can sometimes be mistaken for God's death. 5 After exile the church's structure is changed This is critical. 5
The boundaries of the future Land of Israel are essentially those of Numbers 34:1 12 BUT MUCH LARGER, and consequently exclude Transjordan, historically Israelite. Another rectification is the right extended to permanently resident aliens to share in tribal holdings. Yet another is the equalization of the tribal holdings: all receive equal latitudinal strips of land with some coastal plain, some highlands, and some bit of the Jordan-Dead Sea depression. Jerusalem will bear the new name "YHWH is there" (cf. 37:26 28). (A) the temple is sketched in fine detail: there are exact measurements: you need a clear vision! Why? "so that they may be faithful to its design" (43:10-11). (B) its architecturally different: every church in every age is different: we need a future church (C) the landscape is different: it doesn't look anything like the holy land today. We have to accept changed geography with thought thinking - God is dead! The mistake of the '60s. (D) the practice of worship is different: to accomodate different worshippers: we have tonne open to new expressions of worship (E) the temple is full of God's glory: people know how to practise the presence 6 After exile the people's heart is changed Ezekiel 36! 6
7 After exile worship is changed Said above. 8 Only when a people's heart is changed do they get the new church/temple Change. 7