Ezekiel 40-42 Safety: The Permanent Presence of God Architects are boring We come to a passage this morning that only an architect could enjoy. Three chapters describing a new temple filled with monotonous numbers and measuring and precise details that make most of us nauseous. I think we need to admit that it takes a certain kind of person to be interested in the exact number of stairs, the precise height of a gate house, the exact location of a seemingly irrelevant priest house or guard chamber. Architects are a strange breed. Can we admit that Peper family? In general they just seem a bit off An Engineer, a Contractor and a Developer were asked to measure the height of a flag pole. The Engineer suggested that they measure the shadow calculate the time of day to get the sun angle to determine the hypotenuse as solve the problem. The Contractor suggested they build a scaffold to the top and measure directly the height. The Developer proposed hiring a consultant so that if anything went wrong they could blame them. As this argument ensued an Architect happened by and was listening intently to the discussion. Once he had discerned the problem; he walked over to the pole, pulled it out of its mount, laid it down and measured it. After handing his results to the group, the Developer chimed in, isn t that just like an Architect you ask for height, and they give you length You see what I am saying. They totally don t get it. Further definitive factual proof of why architects don t have friends... An Architect, engineer, and doctor are going to the guillotine, the doctor goes first. Swish, down comes the blade and stops an inch from the doctor's neck. "A miracle," cries the crowd, "set him free." The engineer is next, and the exact same thing happens. He goes free. The architect ascends the scaffold, points upward and tells the executioner, "I see your problem, you have a kink in the rope right there." They just aren t all that intelligent Is this a super code or a literal description? Now it makes sense that Ezekiel might care about the intricate details in this chapter, after all he is a priest. And priests are concerned with the temple. But why would the rest of us need this recorded? I mean, first, why would people care about these details even then, but even more significantly for us, why do we care now? Isn t this book supposed to be for us as well?
And the answer is, of course, yes. But perhaps it isn t so readily applicable as we might want to believe. Perhaps its having exactly 8 stairs, having exactly 20 cubit vestibules, having a yard 70 cubits wide, and having walls six cubits does not mean that in 8 millenia, 20 centuries, 70 decades and 6 years heaven will come to earth. Perhaps the details do not unlock some secret code that only architects and super-theologians can comprehend. But perhaps it isn t as simple as giving us an exact diagram of what a future temple might look like either. Perhaps it s neither a super metaphorical super-code, nor an extremely literal blueprint. In fact, let me tell you ahead of time what this passage means. At least one thing it leads to. Despite White House Down, what is the main point of this text? Let me do this by sticking with the architect/builder theme. Let s say you wanted to construct a secure site. A site that was perfectly safe and could not be compromised. Lets say you had a top secret clearance for a DC building. Maybe a building that the president works in and lives in. The architect and the builder must work together to accomplish something amazing. A completely impenetrable facility. I remember asking Kelly Wallace about this. He had that top secret clearance to work on DC buildings, but with that comes an inability to tell me much of anything. I asked him why it is that someone couldn t pull up right in front of the white house with a rocket launcher. It couldn t take more than 3 seconds to make that happen. Who could possibly spot a shooter that quickly? He just smiled and assured me that it could not be done. Because he knows the plans. He knows the secrets that I have no idea about. Some architect made the surrounding area impervious to harm. Safe. The people inside are safe. If you believe Kelly anyway. I don t know what to believe. I have seen Olympus has fallen and plan to see White House Down. Anyway, the people are safe. That is the picture of chapters 40-42. Now I am assuming at this point you have a clue what I am talking about with the monotony and the endless descriptions of these chapters. I am assuming that you took the time during the week to get ready for this passage. But I also know that life sometimes gets the best of you and that you may not have had time this week to read three whole chapters of boring details. Unfortunately, we can t spend our whole time reading this morning, but I do want to draw your attention to some things in the text. The prestory: New Eden, New life, Gog destroyed Remember last week, we met Gog of Magog. He came on the heels of a promise to God s people that they would be a new Eden, that there would be a new heart, that this new people under a new covenant would follow God into an era of peace and joy. And Gog of Magog was the final
piece of the puzzle. The archetypal enemy would finally be vanquished and peace would reign. And when this happens, in the Ancient Near East, the culmination is obvious. When God defeats his enemies and ushers in an era of peace, a temple is built. The conquering god is now awarded a temple: he will dwell in peace and justice forever and ever. Just as Solomon created a temple for Yahweh after the king of war finished his work. The king of Peace (Shalom = Solomon) ushers in the temple. And Ezekiel 40-42 is just that story. It s the end of that story. Centuries of pain and war and struggle are now over and that which symbolizes peace is now to be created. A temple. Introducing the text But before we see the temple we are given the timing, we are given an angelic escort and we are told that this, like everything else, is a vision, not an actual reality. NIV Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city--on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me and he took me there. 2 In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. 3 He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. 4 The man said to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see." (Eze 40:1-4 NIV) There are a couple of significant things right here that you need to know: 1. Jubilee It s the 25 th year of exile. This is significant. Because at 50 years, all those who are without a home are returned. All those in slavery are set free. All those who have lost their land, regain it. Ezekiel is informing us that we are halfway home. Half way through the jubilee. In fact, everything that he is going to show us is pointing to that day when they arrive. When all is made right. Right now, what they are about to get is a glimpse of heaven from half way there. And while that may sound somewhat ethereal to you, the first readers couldn t be more excited about what they are about to read. A picture of a new age that is about to break in where all is made right. 2. Vision This is a vision. He is not actually on a high mountain, he is seeing the vision as if he were on a high mountain. He is seeing what looks like a city from God s vantage point. But then just as quickly, he is there. Right outside the city 3. Angel measuring There is an angel. That s the best way to describe this man whose appearance is like bronze (vs 3). And this angel has a measuring rod in his hand. This is very significant because the word measure is going to show up over and over and over again in this passage. It s the point of the passage. The temple is going to be measured. 4. Proclamation
He is to tell the people of God this news. Obviously this is very relevant to them. So relevant that someone records it for later generations, even thousands of years later. Tour of the temple The wall As Ezekiel is brought to the city, the first thing he sees is a wall. The wall is ten feet high and ten feet thick. There is no question that these walls separate something from something else. In this case, we know clearly what this is: it is separating the holy from the profane. The sacred from the common. I am going to speed through this journey of Ezekiel s and only call out a few things here and there. Basically Ezekiel is walking from the outside of the city to the inside and inside the temple and then back out through the same gate. Gatehouses He notices the three gatehouses and their tremendous size. Huge fortress style gatehouses almost 45 feet wide and 90 feet deep. Each gate house has at least 6 rooms for guards to further protect the holy from the common. Courtyard As he crosses the outer courtyard, it too is measured. About 175 feet from the outer gateway to the inner one. A very large buffer again. Inner court As he approaches the inner court, we find stairs that elevate the temple and we again notice gatehouses. The gatehouses are for the Levites, the only ones permitted to enter, who guard the holiness. No wall is mentioned, but the stairs may be enough of a boundary or perhaps a wall should be assumed or perhaps it is a symbolic barrier and purposefully kept transparent so that people can see what is happening inside. Either way it is elevated high; it is the highest place already set on a high mountain. Inside the inner court we see rooms where sacrifices are washed (40:38), two rooms for Levites who work there and we see the porticoes where the ritual of sacrifice is performed to cover over the sins of the people. All of these things to show the importance and separation of the holy from the profane. Even Ezekiel, a priest, cannot enter and so the angel must go forward and take the measurements for him. Rooms around altar The rooms around the altar were for consumption of offerings. The priests, who had not land of their own to farm, were sustained by this. But it was more than a privilege it was a responsibility. They must consume these as part of the disposal of contaminated material produced by the purification process. The animal was understood to absorb the impurities and was to be ingested by the priest. Their clothes were to be left in these rooms as well, so that nothing unholy could come in and nothing holy would contact the profane. Temple decoration
As he glances around he notices the temple is paneled with wood and decorated with images of palm trees and cherubim (41:17-18). This looks similar to original temple but less ornate, less carvings. But while less ornate, it is surely designed to bring them into the original presence of God. The garden. Or at least, almost into the presence of God. The cherubim on the walls recall the separation that still exists. Sin keeps them from the holy. On the way back out, he again notices the squareness and the walls as he exits the same east gate he entered. 15 When he had finished measuring what was inside the temple area, he led me out by the east gate and measured the area all around: 16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was five hundred cubits. 17 He measured the north side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 18 He measured the south side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 19 Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 20 So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common. (Eze 42:15-20 NIV) Comparing the old to the new temple A Wall ten feet tall and ten feet thick. Protecting a perfect square atop a high mountain. The profane will not intrude on the holy as it so often did in the past. Do you remember the past? It wasn t that long ago that Ezekiel took a tour of the temple. It was in chapter 8. Remember what he found there? A secret room filled with demonic symbols and practices only done in the dark because in their mind, they couldn t be seen. But this is to be no more. Not in the new temple. Holiness cannot be compromised. The Spirit of God will dwell with his people again. So, we have all the measurements, we even have some of the main contact points: separation, holiness, sacrifice, presence. But before we bring this home, let s deal with the controversy surrounding this passage. Be careful with this passage In my opinion this is a wildly abused passage. We seem to have gotten into our mind some very faulty views from Ezekiel that I wish to erase from you mind. 1. Can t be understood The first is that we can t understand this and we shouldn t try. That maybe they might have understood this, but we are too far removed to do so. This is not the case. 2. Literal instructions
The second is that these are instructions are for an actual literal temple. A literal temple we know of a. Some suggest it is for Solomons temple, but the details here are quite different b. Some suggest that it is for the second temple. The temple that they built when Cyrus let the exiles go home or the additions made by Herod later on. But again, the details here do not fit. A future literal temple c. From there people suggest that these are the plans for some future eschatological structure that is to be built on the dome of the rock in Jerusalem. The last and final temple. But even this has serious problems i. The topography is impossible. Even outlandish. ii. If we are to build this, there are many things we don t know. All kinds of gaps still need to be filled in iii. There is no command to build this. Its just a vision of a temple, not a prescription to make it such. When they are building the tabernacle the instructions seem clear to actually build it iv. But lets not forget the fact that something happened that is so huge that it pretty much demands that this not be a future temple. Jesus came. We absolutely can t build a temple for the purpose of sacrifice after the gospel. Because the gospel is, at least partly, that the sacrifice has come. The ultimate, once for all, sacrifice. Our sins are covered. What stands in the way of a future eschatological literal temple: The entire new Testament. Revelation 11, measuring the presence of God But how about we stick with the book of Revelation for a minute. Because a nearly identical scene happens in Revelation. John gets a tour of the presence of God just as Ezekiel does. Look at Revelation 11 just for a second I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. This same word measure (metreo) is used both here and in Ezekiel 40 verse 3, 5, 10, 21, 24, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35, and 42:11, 16, 17, 18, 19, and in chapter 43, 45, 46, 47 and 48. It s the same word used in Zechariah 1 and 5 and each time it is a metaphorical idea which relates to restoration. Measure the area means that the area has come to live again. That the dry bones have taken on flesh. That where the mountains block the way, they are flattened. That where there was destruction, there is now protection. And John is doing the same thing. Measure (metreo) the temple, the altar and the people. I know your NIV says measure the temple and the altar and count the worshippers, but there is only one verb here. Measure all of them. Of course the best way of understanding measuring people is to count them. Because the temple and the altar are taking on symbolic power here. People in the inner court are protected.
In John s vision people in the outer court are still protected but there will be a time of suffering. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. That is, we will undergo a period of tribulation. Some of you may see this as a future period of 7 years or some such idea and I can t go into that right now, but I think the tribulation is symbolic as well and pictures the time that the church is currently going through. A time where we are protected, but must still suffer. Revelation 21:15ff: measuring the presence of God I am getting into my application without jumping to the most important verse in Revelation. Chapter 21:15ff. 15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using. Notice again, the city is square. Not just the temple or the holy of holies, but the entire city. Because the entire city is the holy of holies. There is no temple. Jump to verse 22 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Rev 21:15-27 NIV) This passage is a more glorious version of the Ezekiel vision. Ezekiel was trying to get across the protection of the people by the thick walls and perfect measurements and central sacrifice in the temple. John is trying to get across the same message for a new people of God. But there can t be a temple, because Jesus was the temple.
What was Ezekiel looking forward too, whether he understood it or not? He was looking forward to a final temple who came and dwelt among men. The presence of God here on earth. That s what the temple is. So John opens his book by telling us that the word became flesh and templed among us. Made his home here. The presence of God in our midst. And it tells us that his people fought the presence of God in their lives and darkness won,... but not really. Because darkness could never extinguish the light. And so the temple, the person of Jesus, left us the presence of God in our hearts. The Spirit of God dwelling among us. And Paul is consistently clear that we are the temple of God. Exactly what John wants to get across. We are the temple to be counted. We dwell in his presence all day long. Completely protected, nothing impure can enter into it. What is Ezekiel seeing? He is not seeing an actual structure any more than John is. He is seeing a vision, a symbol of the presence of God on earth in ultimate perfection. And coming right after the Gog of Magog story in Ezekiel makes this abundantly clear. The enemy is upon us, but God will protect us. The holy will be protected. Friends, Ezekiel is for us. It s not only for architects and builders. It s a story about heaven from half way there. Half way to Jubilee. Half way to being set free forever. The walls around the temple are to keep the sins of the past from being rewritten. You are free of them. Yes, we are in the outer courts in a sense. We struggle and suffer, but ultimately we are counted. Ultimately we are protected. What we need to hear every day Here is my guess. My guess is your Christmas wasn t perfect. It was messy (as I said so many times). Maybe the whole last year is one you wouldn t mind forgetting. Cancer was a reality in you or someone you love. A car accident meant some pain and a huge hit on your wallet. You made a poor choice and people got hurt. You have a new kid in the house who isn t lending to home stability. Your own kids did more dumb things that cause you grief. These are mine and a bunch more that I wont bore you with. You have your own Kids do dumb things in your home too. Even once they grow up and the grief weighs you down Accidents at work, in the car, at home, remind you of how temporary this life is. Major illness threatens to take someone you love or you. That boy you liked doesn t like you. Mental illness, discontentment, depression weighs heavily Friends that you trusted abuse that trust. Your job or career are on the line.
You did poorly on a test that you fear will define you forever Your reputation is threatened. Struggle makes you doubt God. Precision points to practical application Ezekiel and all this precision is for you. 1. Look to the perfection of the temple. Its all square. A perfect building. And that perfection is you. I am not saying you are a square, I am saying that you are being made perfect. One day all will be made well. 2. Look to the prettiness of the temple: I know you don t think you are that beautiful, but God has chosen to dwell in you. Doesn t that convince you that you are pretty? And that he is working to make you even more beautiful. This isn t physical beauty, that is of little value, but true beauty is of the heart. And if God dwells in you, than you have value. 3. Look to the purpose of the temple: sacrifice. And with sacrifice, forgiveness. Those animals gave their life and Jesus became the ultimate once for all sacrifice. So that you might be forgiven. Now how you will sacrifice for those around you? 4. Look to the protection of the temple: Those walls and the constant refrain of measuring tell us that God is keeping the holy ones safe. No enemies can get in. will they cause you problems from outside right now? Of course. But we can stand strong knowing that our God will protect us and fight for us. This is the message of Ezekiel 40-43. Beautiful Perfect Forgiven Protected