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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw
the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the
roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. The vision I
saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like
the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 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. This is where I will live
among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will never again defile My
holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the funeral
offerings for their kings at their death. When they placed their threshold next
to My threshold and their doorposts beside My doorposts, with only a wall
between Me and them, they defiled My holy name by their detestable practices.
So I destroyed them in My anger. Now let them put away from Me their
prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will live among
them forever.”
“Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel,
that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection, and
if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the
temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its
regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful
to its design and follow all its regulations.”
“This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on
top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.”
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the first two parts of this devotional series centered on
the matter of restoration, we have seen God first give His prophet Ezekiel
specific instructions on how to rebuild His temple, restoring the place where
His people could worship Him, followed by direction on reinstituting the
priests into their place of spiritual leadership and thus maintaining the
holiness God required within His house and people.
With these two things in place, we see that God restores the
most important thing to His chosen nation and people in today’s third part of
the series: Himself. Look at today’s scripture passage from the opening verses
of Ezekiel 43:
Then the man brought
me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming
from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was
radiant with his glory. The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He
came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River,
and I fell facedown. 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. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The people
of Israel will never again defile My holy name—neither they nor their kings—by
their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings at their death. When
they placed their threshold next to My threshold and their doorposts beside My
doorposts, with only a wall between Me and them, they defiled My holy name by
their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in My anger. Now let them put
away from Me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and
I will live among them forever.”
“Son of man, describe
the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let
them consider its perfection, and if they are ashamed of all they have done,
make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and
entrances—its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down
before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its
regulations.”
“This is the law of
the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy.
Such is the law of the temple.” Ezekiel 43:1-12
Perhaps the saddest moment in the fall of Jerusalem at the
hands of the Babylonians was the departure of God from His temple which was
then demolished and left in ruins. You’ll recall that the Israelites had turned
away from God and gave their devotion to false gods and idols, the chief
indictment God brought against them. So just as His people had abandoned Him,
God departed and left them to fend for themselves against King Nebuchadnezzar
and his forces, a battle the Israelites could never win.
Indeed, the Israelites were overrun by the Babylonians who
plundered the riches of Judah and Jerusalem before hauling its people away into
seventy years of captivity. The people of God had plenty of time to realize
that trying to live apart from Him was a very bad idea.
But we know that God’s judgment did not last forever. After
their imposed punishment, God made the way clear for His people to return to
their nation and rebuild their homes, their lives, and their relationships with
God. That rebuilding process included the temple and the reinstituting of
priests before the main event, the return of God and His glory. Upon arrival,
we see God making the following declaration:
“Son of man, this is
the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet. This is where I
will live among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will never again
defile My holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the
funeral offerings for their kings at their death.”
Indeed, God was back and back to stay, not just for the
short term but forever.
So how does this connect with us today?
Well, I think sometimes in life our hearts have sort of been
like the temple in Jerusalem before the Babylonians came and destroyed it. In
turning from God toward the will and way of the world, we have pushed God’s
Spirit aside, exchanging it for our own desires. And minus the Lord’s presence
within us, we resort to sinful and wicked behavior.
But note that our hearts don’t have to remain empty or even
in ruins. We can choose to rebuild our spiritual lives and seek God’s
restoration, first returning to an attitude of reverent worship toward Him
followed by a commitment to holiness in and through Him. When we do this, when
we allow our heart’s desire and devotion to be grounded in the Lord, then He
will once again abide with us and make our hearts His home.
Here are some final questions to ponder as we close:
Where does your heart stand today?
Is the glory of the Lord alive and well inside of you?
Or have you allowed your temple to become vacant, absent of
the Lord’s presence?
Only you know the answers and only you can invite the Lord
back in if you have turned Him away.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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