The Temple's Chambers

 

 

 

 

 

Ezekiel 42,1-20

 

February 12, 2023

 

The Temple's Chambers 

Then he led me out into the outer court, toward the north, and he brought me to the chambers that were opposite the separate yard and opposite the building on the north.  The length of the building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty cubits.  Facing the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court, and facing the pavement that belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in three stories.  And before the chambers was a passage inward, ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long, and their doors were on the north.  Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building.  For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the courts. Thus, the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones.  And there was a wall outside parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court, opposite the chambers, fifty cubits long.  For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite the nave were a hundred cubits long.  Below these chambers was an entrance on the east side, as one enters them from the outer court.

 In the thickness of the wall of the court, on the south also, opposite the yard and opposite the building, there were chambers with a passage in front of them. They were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with the same exits and arrangements and doors,  as were the entrances of the chambers on the south. There was an entrance at the beginning of the passage, the passage before the corresponding wall on the east as one enters them. 

Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the yard are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, 

and the guilt offering—for the place is holy.  When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”

Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faced east and measured the temple area all around.  He measured the east side with the measuring reed, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around.  He measured the north side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around.  He measured the south side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed.  Then he turned to the west side and measured, 500 cubits by the measuring reed.  He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, 500 cubits long and 500 cubits broad, to make a separation between the holy and the common.

How has Grace freed us from the bondage of the law?  The Jewish people were and are the chosen of God, and they were given laws to live by but they were also promised the Messiah.  They were looking for a king to fight their battles and allow them to live a carefree life, but the Messiah came in the form of a baby, not born in a king's palace but in a stall for animals.  It was well witnessed, by both angels and shepherds and sometime later by wise men from the east.  You can read the full account in the gospel of Luke 2:1-21.  

 

It is sad when we are not willing to accept God's perfect plan when it conflicts with our expectations.   The religious group had their minds set on a Messiah, that came as a king and they would not receive a baby born in a manager.   They had no room for anyone else, but God is showing us a temple that is like no other, its future, and in that temple, the Jewish people will worship the Messiah they rejected.  

 

Can you imagine taking care of that temple, and while we are on that my fellow brothers and sister in Christ, how are you taking care of your temple.  Are you keeping it clean?  That is a question I ask myself often, how much of this world has got into my temple.  The Scriptures are clear our bodies, our temples, that is all who have received Christ by faith and grace, 

 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body.”

 

As I reflected on this, I wanted to see what “Got Questions” had to say on the subject of our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit, this is the part that got my full attention: “If God meant simply to convey the idea that the Spirit lives within the believer, He could well have used words such as “home,” “house,” or “residence.” But by choosing the word “temple” to describe the Spirit’s dwelling, He conveys the idea that our bodies are the shrine, or the sacred place, in which the Spirit not only lives, but is worshiped, revered, and honored. Therefore, how we behave, think, and speak, and what we let into the temple through our eyes and ears becomes critically important as well, for every thought, word, and deed is in His view. Even though He will never leave us, it is entirely possible to grieve the Holy Spirit “

 

Dear Holy Spirit, please forgive me for allowing the foolishness of this world to clutter your temple, fear, and anger over the temporal and not the eternal.  

 

When we live as if this life is going to last and it is all about who we are and what we have acquired, we have our ladder on the wrong wall.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice