a willing platform

Posted on January 11, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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Stratford (Regional) station, DLR platforms, 2009 by Ben Brooksbank is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0

a willing platform

Ezekiel 40:48-49 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:48 Then he brought me to the portico of the house and measured the jambs of the portico; they were five cubits thick on each side. The width of the gate was fourteen cubits, and the side walls of the gate were three cubits wide on each side.
Ezekiel 40:49 The portico was twenty cubits across and twelve cubits deep, and 10 steps led up to it. There were pillars by the jambs, one on each side.

Eichrodt suggests that one of the ways of interpreting this last section of Ezekiel is to see it as “a prophetic vision of a future which the divine Lord of the people will bring into effect in his own time in complete independence from man” (531).

I think that is partly a helpful approach, but I think it is also a challenge. It is a challenge to the Jews in Ezekiel’s time to work toward a society that matched the glory of the new temple envisioned. It is also a challenge for Gentile Christians — or Christians of all ethnic origins — to set our standards high because we are called to house the presence of God.

God is at work. May we provide him a willing platform to do his work — in us and through us.

Eichrodt, Walther. Ezekiel. London: SCM Press, 1970.

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sons of Zadok

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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Steps leading to a wooden temple by Philip Halling is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0

sons of Zadok

Ezekiel 40:44-47 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:44 Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, there were chambers for the singers: one beside the north gate, facing south, and another beside the south gate, facing north.
Ezekiel 40:45 Then the man said to me: “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the house.
Ezekiel 40:46 The chamber that faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, the ones from the sons of Levi who may approach Yahveh to serve him.”
Ezekiel 40:47 Next he measured the court. It was square, 100 cubits long and 100 cubits wide. The altar was in front of the house.

sons of Zadok

Zadok’s line became the line from whom the high priest would come, particularly because he remained loyal to David during the rebellion of Absalom.

I think it is also significant that in the temple Ezekiel sees, only sons of Zadok may approach Yahveh. In Hebrew, צָדוֹק means righteous.

Only the righteous may approach the LORD — only those to whom the righteousness of God is imputed through the finished work of Christ on the cross.

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all on the altar

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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all on the altar

Ezekiel 40:38-43 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:38 There was a chamber whose door opened into the gate’s portico. The burnt offering was to be washed there.
Ezekiel 40:39 Inside the gate’s portico there were two tables on each side, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, failure offering, and guilt offering.
Ezekiel 40:40 Outside, as one approaches the entrance of the north gate, there were two tables on one side and two more tables on the other side of the gate’s portico.
Ezekiel 40:41 So there were four tables inside the gate and four outside, eight tables in all on which the slaughtering was to be done.
Ezekiel 40:42 There were also four tables of cut stone for the burnt offering, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit high. The utensils used to slaughter the burnt offerings and other sacrifices were placed on them.
Ezekiel 40:43 There were three-inch hooks fastened all around the inside of the room, and the flesh of the offering was to be laid on the tables.

all on the altar

If I am correct in assuming that Ezekiel’s temple vision predicts a new person, a new temple for the presence of God within — then the appearance of this section providing for the burnt offering speaks of the total commitment of the new person in the coming new age.

Jesus challenged his disciples to take up their crosses and follow him — to death if necessary. Most of them did die for their faith. Only someone convinced of a new life to come will sacrifice his all on the altar.

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hope for a revived future

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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hope for a revived future

Ezekiel 40:35-37 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:35 Then he brought me to the north gate. When he measured it, it had the same measurements as the others,
Ezekiel 40:36 as did its recesses, jambs, and portico. It also had windows all around. It was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide.
Ezekiel 40:37 Its portico faced the outer court, and its jambs were decorated with palm trees on each side. Its stairway had eight steps.

No surprises here. I’m just reflecting again on the reality of the new temple. The fact that Ezekiel sees a new temple suggests hope for a revived future — one in which God is again present among his people, and worship resumes minus the corruption and shame that Ezekiel saw in his earlier visions of the present temple.

How about you? Do you sense that God is doing something in you, your family, your church? Are things going to improve? The Christian gospel calls on people in the worst conditions to rejoice, not because they have the power within them to change their circumstances, but because Christ chooses to bless them. The future is always brighter because God is going to intervene.

LORD, rebuild us — a fitting temple for your presence.

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victory and peace

Posted on January 7, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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victory and peace

Ezekiel 40:32-34 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:32 Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side. When he measured the gate, it had the same measurements as the others.
Ezekiel 40:33 Its recesses, jambs, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both it and its portico had windows all around. It was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide.
Ezekiel 40:34 Its portico faced the outer court, and its jambs were decorated with palm trees on each side. Its stairway had eight steps.

victory and peace

Palm trees adorned the temple of Solomon, and Ezekiel sees them in his temple vision as well. The palm was a recognized symbol of victory and peace. The palm “branches” (really leaves — not branches) that people waived as Jesus entered Jerusalem (John 12:13) were like flags declaring him the new king who would bring victory and peace to the city. The victory and peace that Jesus offers is eternal victory over sin and peace with God.

LORD, renew our hearts and lives. Prepare us for our permanent inheritance of victory and peace.

See Davis, John D. Illustrated Davis Dictionary of the Bible. [s. l.]: Old-time Gospel Hour Edition, 1973. p. 591-592.

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extra step

Posted on January 6, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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extra step

Ezekiel 40:28-31 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:28 Then he brought me to the inner court through the south gate. When he measured the south gate, it had the same measurements as the others.
Ezekiel 40:29 Its recesses, jambs, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both it and its portico had windows all around. It was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide.
Ezekiel 40:30 (There were porticoes all around, 25 cubits long and five cubits wide.)
Ezekiel 40:31 Its portico faced the outer court, and its jambs were decorated with palm trees. Its stairway had eight steps.

extra step

Did you catch the difference between the portico to the outer court (verses 17-27) and the portico to the inner court described here? They probably looked identical, but the portico to the outer court had seven steps. This one has eight. Why the extra step? I don’t know, but my guess is that there is always extra effort needed to renew the inner being — compared to the outer being.

If you have ever tried to diet, you know it takes discipline, commitment, and effort. If you have ever tried to rid your inner self of its horrible habits, you know that takes an extra step.

Our God is committed to changing us — inside and out. Our renewal will not be merely external.

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doing windows

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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doing windows

Ezekiel 40:24-27 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:24 He brought me to the south side, and I noticed there was also a gate on the south. He measured its jambs and portico; they had the same measurements as the others.
Ezekiel 40:25 Both the gate and its portico had windows all around, like the other windows. It was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide.
Ezekiel 40:26 Its stairway had seven steps, and its portico was ahead of them. It had palm trees on its jambs, one on each side.
Ezekiel 40:27 The inner court had a gate on the south. He measured from gate to gate on the south; it was 100 cubits.

doing windows

Redpath points out that windows “would be unnecessary if the light fell from above.” 1

The mention of windows in the new temple vision is an important clue to its meaning. The light comes into the temple and shines out from it by means of the windows.

Jesus calls on his followers to be the light of the world. If we are the temple, prepared for the presence of God within, then we must also be prepared to manifest that presence to others. We cannot “not do windows.”

LORD, build windows into our lives through which we can shine your presence.

Redpath, Henry A. The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel: With Introd. and Notes. London: Methuen, 1907. p. 367.

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removing the extraneous

Posted on January 4, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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removing the extraneous

Ezekiel 40:20-23 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:20 He measured the gate of the outer court facing north, both its length and width.
Ezekiel 40:21 Its three recesses on each side, its jambs, and its portico had the same measurements as the first gate: 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide.
Ezekiel 40:22 Its windows, portico, and palm trees had the same measurements as those of the gate that faced east. Seven steps led up to the gate, and its portico was ahead of them.
Ezekiel 40:23 The inner court had a gate facing the north gate, like the one on the east. He measured the distance from gate to gate; it was 100 cubits.

removing the extraneous

We have been looking at the new temple as a description of God’s new people — perfect in purity because all have been redeemed by the Lamb’s sacrifice.

As we begin this new year, it is appropriate that we stop and take inventory of our lives, to see if we are filling our present courts with something that does not belong. In Ezekiel’s temple, everything had a sanctified purpose. No hint of corruption or idolatry was allowed.

LORD, remove from us any extraneous item we will not carry with us into your new age.

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no varying standards of holiness

Posted on January 3, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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no varying standards of holiness

Ezekiel 40:17-19 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:17 Then he brought me into the outer court, and I noticed there were chambers and a paved surface laid out all around the court. Thirty chambers faced the pavement,
Ezekiel 40:18 which flanked the courtyard’s gates and corresponded to the length of the gates; this was the lower pavement.
Ezekiel 40:19 Then he measured the distance from the front of the lower gate to the exterior front of the inner court; it was 100 cubits. This was the east; next the north is described.

no varying standards of holiness

Fairbairn’s explanation of this section is helpful:

“The determinate things in the description are, that the compass of the outer court was exactly defined, an hundred cubits; that it was finely paved, as a place which should be trodden only by clean feet (emblem of internal purity); and that the erections belonging to it were to be a square of a hundred cubits, and consisting of thirty apartments. So that here also nothing was left to men’s caprice or corrupt fancies; as had been the case of old. While from the first there appears to have been an outer court connected with Solomon’s temple, it seems to have been left to a certain extent open to alterations, as well as the intrusion of idolatrous inventions; hence we read in 2 Chron. xx . 5, of “a new court, ” and in 2 Kings xxiii. 11, 12, of the profanation of the place, by some of the worst things of heathenish idolatry being set up there, for which, no doubt, the innovators would plead the absence of any express statutes determining what should or should not belong to it. Now, however, there should be no room for such displays of human arbitrariness and corruption; a more perfect state of things was to be brought in; and even all in the outer court was to be regulated by God’s
hand, and bear the impress of his holiness.”

God’s new people will not have varying standards of holiness. Each believer, washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, will stand pure and undefiled.

LORD, may our standards of holiness be yours.

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a restored temple

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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a restored temple

Ezekiel 40:5-16 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:5 I noticed there was a wall surrounding the outside of the house. The measuring reed in the man’s hand was six long cubits; each unit was a cubit and a hand-breadth.1 He measured the thickness of the wall structure; it was six cubits, and its height was the same.
Ezekiel 40:6 Then he came to the gate that faced east and climbed its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate; it was six long cubits deep – one threshold was six long cubits deep.
Ezekiel 40:7 Each recess was six long cubits long and six long cubits deep, and there was a space of five cubits between the recesses. The inner threshold of the gate on the house side next to the gate’s portico was six cubits.
Ezekiel 40:8 Next he measured the gate’s portico;
Ezekiel 40:9 it was eight cubits, and its jambs were two cubits. The gate’s portico was on the house side.
Ezekiel 40:10 There were three recesses on each side of the east gate, each with the same measurements, and the jambs on either side also had the same measurements.
Ezekiel 40:11 Then he measured the width of the gate’s entrance; it was ten cubits, while the width of the gate was thirteen cubits.
Ezekiel 40:12 There was a barrier of a cubit in front of the recesses on both sides, and the recesses on each side were six long cubits square.
Ezekiel 40:13 Then he measured the gate from the roof of one recess to the roof of the opposite one; the distance was 43 3/4 feet. The openings of the recesses faced each other.
Ezekiel 40:14 Next, he measured the porch – 105 feet.
Ezekiel 40:15 The distance from the front of the gate at the entrance to the front of the gate’s portico on the inside was 50 cubits.
Ezekiel 40:16 The recesses and their jambs had beveled windows all around the inside of the gate. The porticoes also had windows all around on the inside. Each jamb was decorated with palm trees.

a restored temple

In a previous vision, Ezekiel had seen the corruption of his people by touring the temple. Now, Ezekiel is given a tour of a new temple and only sees beauty, order, and magnificence. The restored temple represents a restored people. The presence of God can live there again. The worship of God can take place there again. Access to the LORD is restored.

LORD, restore the beauty, order, and magnificence of your temple in us.

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