and I will accept you

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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and I will accept you

Ezekiel 43:18-27 (JDV)

Ezekiel 43:18 Then he said to me: “Son of Adam, this is what the Lord Yahveh says: These are the prescriptions for the altar on the day it is constructed, so that burnt offerings may be sacrificed on it and blood may be splattered on it:
Ezekiel 43:19 You are to give a bull from the herd as a failure offering to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of Zadok, who approach me in order to serve me.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.
Ezekiel 43:20 “You are to take some of its blood and apply it to the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the ledge, and all around the rim. In this way, you will purify the altar and make atonement for it.
Ezekiel 43:21 Then you are to take away the bull for the failure offering, and it must be burned outside the sanctuary in the place appointed for the house.
Ezekiel 43:22 “On the second day you are to present an unblemished male goat as a failure offering. They will purify the altar just as they did with the bull.
Ezekiel 43:23 When you have finished the purification, you are to present a young, unblemished bull and an unblemished ram from the flock.
Ezekiel 43:24 You are to present them before Yahveh; the priests will throw salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to Yahveh.
Ezekiel 43:25 You will offer a goat for a failure offering each day for seven days. A young bull and a ram from the flock, both unblemished, are also to be offered.
Ezekiel 43:26 For seven days the priests are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it. In this way they will consecrate it
Ezekiel 43:27 and complete the days of purification. Then on the eighth day and afterward, the priests will offer your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar, and I will accept you.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.

and I will accept you

Elaborate procedures for purifying this altar had to be followed. It symbolized the means of access to God and to life itself. It dramatized the day that God himself would provide a young unblemished sacrifice who would give the believer access to permanent life.

On the eighth day, and afterward, the altar could be used — and God would accept us. What a joy it is to know that the barrier has been erased.

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the one given up

Posted on January 23, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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the one given up

Ezekiel 43:13-17 (JDV)

Ezekiel 43:13 “These are the measurements of the altar in units of length (each unit being a cubit and a hand-breadth): The gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of nine inches around its edge. This is the base of the altar.
Ezekiel 43:14 The distance from the gutter on the ground to the lower ledge is two cubits, and the width of the ledge is a cubit. There are four cubits from the small ledge to the large ledge, whose width is also a cubit.
Ezekiel 43:15 The altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upward from the hearth.
Ezekiel 43:16 The hearth is square, twelve cubits long by twelve cubits wide.
Ezekiel 43:17 The ledge is fourteen cubits long by fourteen cubits wide, with four equal sides. The rim all around it is half a cubit, and its gutter is a cubit all around it. The altar’s steps face east.”

This is the altar of burnt offerings, not that of incense. In the new temple, it must be present, because it symbolized access to God. But unlike the altar of incense, this is not access through prayer. This is access through sacrifice.

Something valuable to the worshipers had to be given up or else even our prayers would be ineffective. What could be more valuable to us than the one of us who needed no sacrifice?

LORD, thank you for the one who was given up for our sins.

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so that they may be ashamed

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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so that they may be ashamed

Ezekiel 43:10-12 (JDV)

Ezekiel 43:10 “As for you, son of Adam, describe the house to the house of Israel, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. Let them measure its pattern,
Ezekiel 43:11 and they will be ashamed of all that they have done. Reveal the design of the house to them – its layout with its exits and entrances – its complete design along with all its prescriptions, design specifications, and laws. Write it down in their sight so that they may observe its complete design and all its prescriptions and may carry them out.
Ezekiel 43:12 This is the law of the house: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be especially devoted. Notice, this is the law of the house.

so that they may be ashamed

Think of it like this: you have been tasked with building a house, and you build as you like. Then, you get ahold of a blueprint. Suddenly, you realize how far you have transgressed from the original plan.

That is why Ezekiel has just spent all the chapters explaining the architectural details of the new temple. The point is not that Israel had to rebuild its temple. the point is that the old temple had not measured up.

And there is a deeper point for all of us. We should be ashamed as well. Our bodies are God’s temple, and we have not built them to suit their designer.

LORD, we are ashamed of what we have done to ourselves. Rebuild us by you Holy Spirit.

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removing what’s ours

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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removing what’s ours

Ezekiel 43:6-9 (JDV)

Ezekiel 43:6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from the house.
Ezekiel 43:7 He said to me: “Son of Adam, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel and their kings will no longer defile my sacred name by their religious prostitution and by the corpses of their kings at their high places.
Ezekiel 43:8 Whenever they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they were defiling my sacred name by the repulsive acts they committed. So I destroyed them in my anger.
Ezekiel 43:9 Now let them remove their prostitution and the corpses of their kings far from me, and I will dwell among them forever.

removing what’s ours

What struck me as I read this passage is the contrast between the possessive pronouns. God is jealous because of what is his: “my throne,” “my feet,” “my sacred name,” “my threshold,” “my doorposts.”

It was replaced by what the Israelites considered theirs: their house, “their kings,” “their religious prostitution,” “the corpses of their kings,” “their high places,” “their threshold,” and “their doorposts.”

We will never have room for God in our lives unless we are willing to remove what’s ours.

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the real difference

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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the real difference

Ezekiel 43:1-5 (JDV)

Ezekiel 43:1 And he led me to the gate, the one that faces east,
Ezekiel 43:2 and I noticed the impressive appearance of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice sounded like the roar of a huge wave of water, and the land shone with his impressive appearance.
Ezekiel 43:3 The vision I saw was like the one I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like the ones I had seen by the Chebar Canal. I fell face-down.
Ezekiel 43:4 The impressive appearance of Yahveh entered the house by way of the gate that faced east.
Ezekiel 43:5 Then the Breath lifted me up and brought me to the inner court, and I noticed the impressive appearance of Yahveh filled the house.

After chapters of architectural data describing the buildings and layout and dimensions of the new temple, now Ezekiel concludes with the main event — an event so significant that nothing he had said would matter if it did not happen. The real difference between a past of loss and shame and a future of restoration and glory is this: the impressive appearance of the God of Israel coming.

Come, Lord Jesus.

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no blending in

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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no blending in

Ezekiel 42:15-20 (JDV)

Ezekiel 42:15 When he finished measuring inside the house complex, he led me out by way of the gate that faced east and measured all around the complex.
Ezekiel 42:16 He measured the east wind with a measuring branch; it was 500 cubits by the measuring branch.
Ezekiel 42:17 He measured the north wind; it was 500 cubits by the measuring branch.
Ezekiel 42:18 He measured the south wind; it was 500 cubits by the measuring branch.
Ezekiel 42:19 Then he turned to the west wind and measured 500 cubits by the measuring branch.
Ezekiel 42:20 He measured the house complex on all four winds. It had a wall all around it, 500 cubits long and 500 cubits wide, to separate the devoted from the common.

no blending in

Harlow writes “In chapter 40 we read about the gates leading from the outside into the inner court of the temple. Now we learn that the temple will be in the center of a much larger area. The angel brought Ezekiel to the east gate and measured this area with a reed” (189).

He suggests that the difference between God’s holy temple and the rest of the earth is the point of these chapters.

As believers read these words today, we should reflect on the fact that we are the Lord’s temple. We should seek to reflect his uniqueness, not try to blend in with the normal world around us.

Harlow, R. E. The Prophet Ezekiel. Scarborough, Ont: Everyday Publications, 1989.

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back into civvies

Posted on January 18, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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back into civvies

Ezekiel 42:13-14 (JDV)

Ezekiel 42:13 Then the man said to me, “The northern and southern chambers that face the courtyard are the devoted chambers where the priests who approach Yahveh will eat the most devoted offerings. There they will deposit the most devoted offerings – the grain offerings, failure offerings, and guilt offerings – for the place is devoted.
Ezekiel 42:14 Once the priests have entered, they are not to go out from the devoted area to the outer court until they have removed the clothes they minister in, for these are devoted. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the public area.”

The special uniform of the priests is a reminder of the sacredness of their task. If they were to stay fitted in that uniform while mingling among the crowds, they might forget how special their ministry is — and how sacred their obligation is.

Thus, they are told to change back into their “civvies” before leaving the temple courts.

How do you protect the sacredness of your time with God?

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get ready for a new existence

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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get ready for a new existence

Ezekiel 42:10-12 (JDV)

Ezekiel 42:10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the south, there were chambers facing the house yard and the western building,
Ezekiel 42:11 with a passageway in front of them, just like the chambers that faced north. Their length and width, as well as all their exits, measurements, and entrances, were identical.
Ezekiel 42:12 The entrance at the beginning of the passageway, the way in front of the corresponding wall as one enters on the east side, was similar to the entrances of the chambers that were on the south side.

All of these mundane elements of the second temple vision are preparing us for another vision — a vision within this vision, where the glory of the LORD is going to enter this new temple. And like all Israelite temples, the new temple has a most holy place which neither the people nor the king can enter. Only the high priest. Ezekiel’s people needed to know that no political influence would change that.

Get ready for a new existence empowered and indwelt by God himself.

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future perfect

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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future perfect

Ezekiel 42:1-9 (JDV)

Ezekiel 42:1 Then he led me out by way of the north gate into the outer court. He brought me to the group of chambers opposite the house yard and opposite the building to the north.
Ezekiel 42:2 Along the length of the chambers, which was 100 cubits, there was an entrance on the north; the width was 50 cubits.
Ezekiel 42:3 Opposite the twenty cubit space belonging to the inner court and opposite the paved surface belonging to the outer court, the structure rose gallery by gallery in three tiers.
Ezekiel 42:4 In front of the chambers was a walkway toward the inside, ten cubits wide and 100 cubits long, and their entrances were on the north.
Ezekiel 42:5 The upper chambers were narrower because the galleries took away more space from them than from the lower and middle stories of the building
Ezekiel 42:6 because they were arranged in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts; therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and middle stories.
Ezekiel 42:7 A wall on the outside ran in front of the chambers, parallel to them, toward the outer court; it was 50 cubits long.
Ezekiel 42:8 For the chambers on the outer court were 50 cubits long, and I noticed those facing the great hall were 100 cubits long.
Ezekiel 42:9 At the base of these chambers there was an entryway on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.

future perfect

Fisch says “The fundamental principle of Ezekiel’s vision of the restored Temple with all its implications is holiness, as indicated in xliv. 23, They shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the common. The correct understanding of the term ‘holiness’ sheds light on the regulations concerning the structure of the restored Temple and its ritual, which are aimed at separating that which is holy from that which is common” (Fisch, xv).

The temple is a sign of what God wants his people to be. A perfected temple is a prophecy of a perfected people. But, unlike the temples of the past, this is not something that we will build for God. It is something he is building in us.

Fisch, Solomon, and A. Cohen. Ezekiel: Hebrew text & English translation. 1950.

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not irrelevant

Posted on January 15, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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not irrelevant

Ezekiel 41:21-26 (JDV)

Ezekiel 41:21 The doorposts of the great hall were square, and the front of the sanctuary had the same appearance.
Ezekiel 41:22 The altar was made of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long. It had corners, and its length and sides were of wood. The man told me, “This is the table that stands before Yahveh.”
Ezekiel 41:23 The great hall and the sanctuary each had a double door,
Ezekiel 41:24 and each of the doors had two swinging panels. There were two panels for one door and two for the other.
Ezekiel 41:25 cherubs and palm trees were carved on the doors of the great hall like those carved on the walls. There was a wooden canopy outside, in front of the portico.
Ezekiel 41:26 There were beveled windows and palm trees on both sides, on the side walls of the portico, the side rooms of the house, and the canopies.

not irrelevant

McGee says that the temple being described is the earthly temple that will be here during the millennium, but that believers will not worship there. He says we will be in the New Jerusalem, which is in heaven. He says “the church is going to be in a place where there won’t be a temple; we won’t need one, but the earth will have one for the duration of the millennium at least. I rather like the fact that we won’t have a temple because, very candidly, I have never gone in much for ritual. I’m going to be delighted to be up there with the Lord God and the Lamb as the temple of the New Jerusalem. We will be with them, and I cannot even conceive how wonderful that is going to be” (McGee, 205).

Such a view makes Ezekiel’s vision practically irrelevant. It is not. We need to look at the description of the temple in Ezekiel from the viewpoint of his readers and listeners. They would never assume that this temple would be a decoration in a world rejected by God. Ezekiel was encouraging God’s people with his vision. He was not saying that in the future the earthly Jerusalem would be inconsequential.

God is God of heaven and earth. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth.

McGee, J. Vernon. Ezekiel. 1978.

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