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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday July 26, 2015
THE LORD’S GLORY RETURNS
(The Temple ministries)
Ezekiel 43-44
In Ezekiel chapters 8-11 Ezekiel
described how GOD’s glory left the Temple that King Solomon had constructed.
HIS withdrawal symbolized HIS temporary removal of protection from the city of
Jerusalem, and, from the Israelite people in general. Here in Ezekiel 43, the
angelic being in Ezekiel’s vision brings him back around to the East Gateway of
the Temple area. It is there that the glory of the LORD suddenly appears before
Ezekiel just at it had before at the Kebar River, and also when GOD came to
destroy Jerusalem. The sounds of HIS coming were like the roar of rushing
water, and the whole landscape shone brightly when HE arrived, coming in
through the east gateway of the temple (Vs.1-4).
Then the HOLY SPIRIT
took Ezekiel into the inner courtyard as the glory of the LORD then filled the
Temple itself. As the angelic being who was assigned to measure the temple area
stood beside Ezekiel, a voice spoke to Ezekiel from inside the Temple saying;
“Son of man, this is the place of
my throne and the place where I will rest my feet. I will live here forever
among the people of Israel. They and their kings will not defile my holy name
any longer by their adulterous worship of other gods or by honoring the relics
of their kings who have died. They
put their idol altars right next to mine with only a wall between them and me.
They defiled my holy name by such detestable sin, so I consumed them in my
anger. Now let them stop worshiping
other gods and honoring the relics of their kings, and I will live among them
forever” (Vs.7-9)
(NLT).
And
so GOD would conditionally bring HIS divine glory back into the Temple in
Jerusalem after the exiles returned, and reside there once again among HIS
people. However, in verses 10-12, GOD tells Ezekiel to describe the Temple plans,
that, HE had shown him, to the people of Israel, and, to do it in such a way
that, it would bring to remembrance, the shame of all of their past sins. GOD
wanted the people to feel the shame for all of the profane things that they had
done in the old Temple, and let it be a deterrent from re-visiting those same
old trespasses again, after they begin to assemble again in the new Temple. And
only if the people repent of their past behavior, was he to describe the
specifications of the construction of the new Temple.
GOD
wanted HIS people to be able to see HIS grace through HIS promise of
restoration, and be led to repent. Here HE stressed one basic primary law of
the new Temple that must be adhered to at all times, and that is; ABSOLUTE
HOLINESS! In fact, GOD says that the entire top of the hill where the Temple is
built will be holy! And the Temple itself must be adorned with holiness, not
human ideals and ingenuity.
Ezekiel
was allowed by GOD to see the same glory that had once adorned the Temple of
old in Jerusalem. Now GOD, would be coming back to Jerusalem, and resting in a
rebuilt glorified physical edifice, where HE would also restore the Israelites
relationship of friendship with HIM, and fulfill the covenant that HE had made
with Abraham.
As
Ezekiel’s prophecies continue to waver back and forward between pre-exilic,
post exilic, and eschatological times, here in the passage of Ezekiel 43,
verses 13-27, we find perhaps one of the more stronger arguments that the
prophet’s foretelling of the coming post-exilic Temple may not be descriptions
of a yet to come future eschatological restoration of Israel. Beginning in
verse 13 of this chapter, we see the detailed description of plans for a
sacrificial altar to be built in the new Temple.
Here
we can see that there is a theologically based problem with this being an
eschatological reference, instead of a post-exilic one, since CHRIST JESUS is
the once-and-for-all-time sacrifice that won us our salvation. Therefore, this
passage begs the question, Why will we need a sacrificial altar in the
“Millennial Kingdom Temple? And the answer is that, we won’t. Here in this
passage Ezekiel is clearly prophesying of the Temple that was built by the
exiles who would return to Israel from Babylon.
In
the Millennial Kingdom Temple there will be no need for a sacrifice altar or
Levitical priests of the family of Zadok to minister before the LORD on behalf
of the people for their sin because there will be no sinning in the Millennial
times here on earth under the direct rule of CHRIST. GOD will have already
cleansed us of our sin nature and filth and we will only have the desire to
live like CHRIST (Ezekiel 36:26-29). There will be no sinful desires in the
Millennial Kingdom as satan, sin, and death will be locked away for a thousand
years.
In
Ezekiel 44, when the angelic being brought Ezekiel back to the East Gateway in
the outer wall, the prophet saw that it was closed. Then the LORD said to him,
“This gate must remain closed; it will never
again be opened. No man will ever pass through it, for the LORD, the GOD of
Israel, entered here. Thus, it must always remain shut. Only the prince himself
may sit inside this gateway to feast in the LORD’s presence, but HE may come
and go only through the gateway’s foyer” (Vs.2-3) (NLT).
The
east gate of the outer courtyard opened toward the Kidron valley, (where
Ahithophel betrayed David, and, where Judas Iscariot betrayed JESUS) and the
Mount of Olives. Ezekiel had seen the glory of the LORD enter into the Temple
through that gate earlier, and HIS entry had now hallowed that gate and left it
restricted from human usage. Only the prince (including JESUS, the prince of
man and GOD) of the linage of King David will ever be able to enter in through
the east gate, otherwise, it will never be opened again.
After
hearing this, the angelic being led Ezekiel in through the north gate (the side
that the priest’s rooms faced) to the front of the Temple where he then saw the
glory of the LORD as it filled the Temple, and he fell to his knees with his
face to the ground, in reverence to GOD’s presence (v.4).
In
verses 5-9, the LORD says to Ezekiel;
“Son of man, take careful notice. Use your eyes and ears, and listen to
everything I tell you about the regulations concerning the Lord’s Temple. Take careful note of the procedures for using the Temple’s
entrances and exits. And give
these rebels, the people of Israel, this message from the Sovereign Lord: O people of Israel, enough of your detestable sins! You have brought uncircumcised foreigners into my
sanctuary—people who have no heart for God. In this way, you defiled my Temple
even as you offered me my food, the fat and blood of sacrifices. In addition to
all your other detestable sins, you have broken my covenant. Instead of safeguarding my sacred rituals, you have
hired foreigners to take charge of my sanctuary.
“So this is what the Sovereign Lord
says: No foreigners, including those who live among the people of Israel, will
enter my sanctuary if they have not been circumcised and have not surrendered
themselves to the Lord”.
Here GOD is demanding “absolute
holiness” from his people, the people who call themselves by HIS name, and in
today’s society, that means “Christians”. The only way that man can be holy is
by closely adhering to the Word, wisdom, and directives of GOD at all times.
Man has already proven that he will not adhere to GOD’s holy standards when
given a chance to administer his own human ingenuity into GOD’s program in the
Church.
We must turn from the
practice of allowing people to minister in the Temple, who do not exhibit
through their behavior, that they really have a heart for GOD (v.7). There is
to be no hiring of people to work on staff who are not firmly rooted in the
word of GOD, and who have not first proven themselves by testing, to be free of
worldly ideas that can be used to profane the Temple.
Only those who have
experienced a “spiritual circumcision” of the heart, and exhibits such through
their behavior at all times, may be able to minister in the Temple. This is
something that Ezra, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and the returning exiles heavily
stressed when they began to put GOD’s plan that was given to Ezekiel, into
practice (Ezra 4:1-3, Nehemiah 13:1-9).
In verses 10-16 GOD
identifies the Levites who were eligible to minister before HIM in the new
Temple at Jerusalem. The men of the tribe of Levi, who abandoned GOD and caused
Israel to stray away to foreign gods and idol worship, would not be able to
minister as priests (in a spiritual capacity) in the new Temple (v.10).
However, they could be used (in a physical capacity) as Temple guards and
gatemen, and, they may also be allowed to slaughter the animals that are
brought to the Temple for sacrifices, and assist the people in minor areas
(v.11). They were not allowed to touch any of the holy things, or holy
offerings so that they might bear the shame of their sins against GOD. They
were to serve only as Temple caretakers relegated to doing maintenance work,
and helping people in a general way (Vs.12-14).
The Levitical priests of the
family of Zadok, on the other hand, who had continued to minister faithfully in
the pre-exilic Temple while all the other priests fell into sin, would be the
only men who could serve as GOD’s ministers in the post-exilic Temple. They
alone, would be able to stand in GOD’s presence and offer sacrifices and fulfill
all of HIS requirements (Vs.15-16).
For those priests of the
family of Zadok, who were to minister in GOD’s presence, there were special
clothing and dressing requirements that needed to be adhered to. For instance,
when they entered into the gateway to the inner courtyard, they had to wear
only linen clothing. They could wear no wool garments while on duty in the
inner courtyard, or the Temple itself. They also had to wear linen
undergarments and turbans, and could wear nothing that would make them perspire
(Vs.17-18).
Those clothes that were worn
while ministering to GOD could not be worn outside the inner courtyard where
the general public might gather. Those garments must be left in the sacred
rooms that were provided for the priests. This would help the people to
understand the importance of distinguishing between that which is holy, and
that which is common, and to not confuse the two (v.19).
In verses 20, we see the
regulations GOD set for the way priests can wear their hair, it can neither be
too long, nor could it be shaved off completely, but it must be trimmed on a
regular basis. The priests must never drink wine before entering the courtyard
to serve the LORD (v.21), GOD wants HIS ministers to operate only under the
influence of the HOLY SPIRIT while in HIS service.
In verses 22-23 we see the
restrictions GOD places on priests who desire to be married. First of all they
must choose their wives only from the virgins of Israel, or from the widows of
the priests. They cannot marry widows of non-priests, or divorced women period.
Included among the duties of
the priests, are that they must act as judge to resolve disagreements between
the followers of GOD, using GOD’s regulations and directives as their guide
(v.24a). The priests themselves must also be careful to obey all of GOD’s
instructions and laws concerning all of the sacred GOD-appointed festivals, and
to see to it that the Sabbath Days are set apart, and kept apart as holy for
all time (v.24b).
Regarding priests being in
the presence of the dead, they are restricted to only close family members such
as their father, mother, child, brother, or unmarried sister (v.25), however, even
after these occurrences, he must be ritually cleansed and satisfy a seven-day
waiting period before he can come to the Temple to minister again, and at that
time, he must offer up a sin offering for himself (Vs.26-27).
Finally we see that priest
can own no property, as GOD is his only inheritance (v.28). All of their food
will come from the tithes and offerings of the people (v.29). The first of all
the offerings that are set apart for GOD will belong to the priests. And
finally in verse 31 we see the meat restrictions that are applied by GOD to
those who minister before HIM in the Temple. The priest must never eat the meat
of strangled birds and animals, birds and animals that die of natural causes,
or birds and animals that die after being attacked by other animals.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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