DAY 335

NOT “WHEN” BUT “HOW”

Ezekiel 40 & 41 and 2 Peter 3

In these chapters from Ezekiel we get a picture of a new Temple. To understand what this is all about it might be helpful to circle back. In chapter 34-37 we really read the Gospel according to Ezekiel—it was God through Ezekiel giving the exiles Good News. I know at times it did not seem that way, but these chapters come to their climax in 37:24-28 announcing a dual promise:

“²⁴ My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes. ²⁵They shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your ancestors lived; they and their children and their children’s children shall live there forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. ²⁶I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them for evermore. ²⁷My dwelling-place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸Then the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them for evermore.”

First, the people will have a new king, God’s servant David, and he will be their shepherd…yup this is Jesus. Then, Yahweh will dwell in his sanctuary with His people forever in a state of unity, obedience, peace and security. Next nations would know that Yahweh is God and recognize His dwelling among His holy people. We have read how Yahweh’s glory was left the Temple due to the people’s sin. We know that Yahweh’s glory was shrouded from the nations by the way the exiles had continued to dishonor him. Ezekiel’s prophecies have been all along the way highlighting these situations while at the same time promising hope. This is what was taken up in the prior chapters. In chapters 38-39 we see God dealing with those implacable nations who resist. Now as we turn to chapters 40-48 we read Ezekiel with all his priestly insight prophesying how God will dwell in His sanctuary with His people…it starts with a new Temple.

We should not be surprised that Ezekiel envisions a new Temple and we should not be surprised that he sees people dwelling in the land…yet God in Christ reveals how this will be radically different.

In our New Testament selection we come across one of those verses that people often say to me, “I know it is written in the Bible that one day is like a thousand year, but where is it written?” The answer is today’s reading…just thinking you might want to memorize this location.

It is a timely verse because the question we might ask about God’s promise restoration in Ezekiel of a new Temple and dwelling in the land is, “So when, when will this happen?” I might suggest the better question is “How does this happen?” We need to remember that in Jesus the ideas of Temple and Promised Land have been redefined. We are God’s Temple and the Promise Land is where the followers of Jesus proclaim the Kingdom of God. In the last year we have been seeing this unfold in the Bible; it is important that we remember it lest we fall into some sort of Christian Zionism.

And so my brothers and sisters, it is not about “when” as much as it is “how”—and then “how” is you!