October 17, 2024 | Be God's Light
The Glory of God Returns to the Temple
Scripture: Ezekiel 43:1-12(NIV)
1 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, 2 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. 3 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. 4 The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. 5 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. 7 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. 8 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. 9 Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will live among them forever.
10 “Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection, 11 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.
12 “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.
Devotional
In Ezekiel 10-11, the glory of the Lord departed from the temple in Jerusalem. It was the low point in Judah’s spiritual history. Soon the city would be conquered by Babylon and many of the people exiled to live in foreign lands.
In the previous few readings, we saw how Ezekiel began to give messages of hope to the exiled people. In Ezekiel 34, God promised to be their Shepherd, even as their own leaders had failed them. And in Ezekiel 37, the Lord gave the prophet visions of resurrected bones and united sticks, symbolizing the reestablishment and reunification of Israel.
And in today’s reading, the glory of the Lord comes back from the eastern border of Israel (which is the direction of Babylon) and enters the temple again. The end of verse 5 is an expression of praise: “the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”
Then, God laid out His hope for the people, that they would honor His holy name and turn their backs on their sinful ways. His call was for His people to be spiritually perfect, for this is an expression of who God is.
1 Peter 1:15-16 says, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” Jesus put it like this: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
This call to spiritual holiness and perfection is a lofty one. The Bible is clear that all people have sinned. Only Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. That is why His death on the cross did for us what we could never accomplish. Yet He gave us His Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, His temple. The glory of the Lord fills us!
The Bible says, “In this world we are like Jesus” (1 John 4:17). His love overwhelms us. His glory fills us. We are to become more and more like him in holiness every day. To God be the glory.
How is the Holy Spirit speaking to you today?
Poem
Return To Me
Return to me, my True Love,
How desolate my temple
How aches my heart
No word from you
I stand by window
Lamp lit view
Longing for that first glimpse
Of you
Returning to me, my True Love
Fling wide my door, my True Love,
Fill every space with presence
Fill these wet eyes
With sight of you
I fall upon your
Warm embrace
Dwelling in that lasting glory
Of you
Flinging wide my door, my True Love
