As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
Ezekiel 43:4-5
This moment is the high point of Ezekiel's temple tour. He witnesses the awe-inspiring entrance of the glory of God to fill His temple. And Ezekiel is as moved as he was in previous visions. God is as magnificent in His glory in worship as He is terrible in aspect at His judgment. He is utterly and completely full of glory! And His purposes will proceed. He will be worshiped.
Ezekiel is witness to all these events so that worship might inform the lives of the Jews in exile in Babylon. The specifics of the huge future temple complex were meant to capture the imaginations of exiled people. The design was meant to instill repentance, trust, and a new sense of purpose. Revealing it to the exiles instilled a real hope, a dangerous faith, and a stirring to again follow hard after The Lord. Worship was what God was looking for in His people. And His purpose was to recapture them with His magnificence (Ezekiel 43:8-9).
Ezekiel's call was to faithfully record and describe to the captives this massive temple complex so that they might return to God (Ezekiel 43:10). When repentance came, the prophet was to continue to make known to them the details of this temple blueprint. So by that very call, it is clear that his preaching must have brought repentance. We have this passage to read now because the exiles were brought back to The Lord by this vision of His glory in His temple (Ezekiel 43:11).
No comments:
Post a Comment