Reading chapters 40 to 48 from the book of Ezekiel is a tough challenge! Or so my past experience dictated. Would this time be different? I anticipating that the correct answer to my question was “no”, and this caused me to sputter: “Why Oh Lord is the prophet Ezekiel spending nine chapters on the temple? Is there any relevance in this for me?”
The unexpected answer came immediately: In Ezekiel’s day, the temple was the center of worship for the Israelites. This is where God could be perceived in all His glory. This is where God could be vividly experienced. The Babylonians, under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, had destroyed the temple, leaving the Israelites without hope. Their cry was: “When will we ever be able to experience God again and worship Him?”
The prophecies of the last nine chapters in Ezekiel brought hope and comfort to the people, more than any of his other prophecies. One day they will be able to worship in a new temple again! Imagine their excitement! They probably read these chapters over and over again, memorizing them verse by verse.
Because of the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave us when He returned to Heaven, we no longer need a physical building to worship God and experience Him. Because believer is a temple of God (1 Cor 3:16 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”) we can worship God wherever we are. Our excitement is that God lives IN us! Wow!
Then I was made aware that not all Christians experience God the same way:
Ezekiel 43: 4-7 “The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. He said: ‘Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet.’” NIV
“If the ‘glory of the Lord’ is in the temple, why is Ezekiel in the inner court?” I wondered. Then I realized that experiencing God’s glory close-at-hand would probably be too much to even Ezekiel. And then I realized that many believers are not experiencing God at all.
Why? Here’s a few reasons:
1. There are those standing outside of the temple court, facing away from the temple itself. They base their experience of knowing God on others’ personal experiences of Him. They refer to the many miracles that Jesus performed in His days, they even believe that God intervenes in history, but they do not actually believe that God cares enough for them personally for Him to reveal Himself to them. They know of God, but do not know God personally. Often these people will base their salvation on their own merits or on some church doctrine(s). They may think that if they do this or that, they may be able to get to Heaven. They are erring away from the temple and its source of light.
2. There are those who are actually at the outskirts of the temple. They point with one finger to the temple, but look away from it. They have experienced God at one time in their life and keep boasting about it. However they do not have an active personal relationship with their Heavenly Father any longer. They base their salvation on past experiences: “In my days…”
3. Finally there are those who are in the actual temple court itself, just like Ezekiel. They can’t help but look towards the temple, as it radiates the glory of God. They hunger to get closer to God and experience Him more vividly. Their passion is to be more and more like Jesus and to follow in His footsteps wherever they may lead them. John 3:30 is their motto: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” They are the ones who radiate Jesus more and more, as Jesus’ glory emanates through them. They are the ones who believe in the original gospel message: Jesus is the one who saved us! Jesus is the reason! Not us! Their passion for Christ ignites the curiosity of others around them and leads them to the possibility of sharing their excitement about their Savior with others.
The question I need to ask myself is where am I in relationship to the temple? Do I know God personally? Do I hunger passionately to experience Him more fully in my life? Does He make a real difference in my existence? Can God truly say of me: “He is my friend!”?
Rob Chaffart