Last week, in Lessons from Ezekiel’s Temple, Part 8, we discovered that the temple guard of Ezekiel’s temple reminds us of the necessity to guard our hearts against the devil, to take up our weapons and our armour, and to pray continually! Today’s lesson takes a look at the meaning and importance of the temple steps:
“Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them.” (Ezek 40:22 NIV)
Steps are mentioned nine times in the description of Ezekiel’s Temple, and all of these references are just passing descriptions.
Steps are mentioned as leading up to each of the gates. Interestingly, leading up to the gates of the outer courts, there are always seven steps, while, the gates of the inner courts have eight: “Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side … Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it.” (Ezek 40:32-34 NIV)
Steps are also mentioned is in the description of the altar: “The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide, with a rim of half a cubit and a gutter of a cubit all around. The steps of the altar face east.” (Ezek 43:17 NIV).
Finally, there is one last reference to steps, and this one is in reference to the location of the tables used for slaughtering the sacrifices: “By the outside wall of the portico of the gateway, near the steps at the entrance to the north gateway were two tables, and on the other side of the steps were two tables.” (Ezek 40:40-41 NIV)
So why the references to steps? What can it mean for us today?
The book of revelation hints that when we go to worship God, we must “ascend”: “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.'” (Rev 4:1-2 NIV)
Many other Bible references also speak to the fact that God’s presence is “up”: “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” (Ps 24:3); and “What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!” (John 6:62 NIV)
The point is, the holy, sinless nature of the Lord makes Him so far above us, and the sinful nature of the world and mankind make us so far below Him, that the only way to come into His presence is to “ascend”, to go “up”, to climb the stairs in the temple.
But how do we do that? The answer is recorded for us in Ps. 24: “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” (Ps 24:3-4 NIV)
That just about excludes all of us, doesn’t it?
Thanks be to God, there is a way! Jesus is that way! “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” (John 14:6 NIV)
If you have accepted Jesus into your heart, then the stairs are in front of you. All you need to do is ascend into God’s presence through Jesus Christ our Lord!
If you haven’t accepted Jesus into your heart, then why not do so today? Then you, too, will have access to the presence of the God of this universe!
And this is the message of the stairs mentioned in Ezekiel’s temple. It is to remind us that God’s holiness is far above anything that we can image, and that the only way to come into His presence is to “ascend”, to “go up”, to climb the stairs of the temple through the blood of Jesus!
Enough to ponder, but do ponder this: The only way to come up to God’s sinless, holy level is through Jesus, our steps!
Join us next week for another important lesson from Ezekiel’s temple: Lessons from Ezekiel’s Temple, Part 10: The Chambers
God bless each of you as you seek to draw closer to Him!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org , with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org .
(To access the entire “Lessons From Ezekiel’s Temple” mini-series, please click here.)