Ezekiel, Glory, and Advent

We’re in the midst of a survey of the books of the Bible in our Wednesday evening service. Last night we looked at Ezekiel. I was struck by a powerful theme that runs through Ezekiel which is very appropriate to the Advent season.

Ezekiel records the glory of the Lord departing from Solomon’s Temple, which had in that day become a haven for idolatry.

“Then the glory of the LORD went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them...say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My rules and obey them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads,” declares the Lord GOD.’ Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city” (10:18,19; 11:16-23).

Have you ever noticed in your reading of Ezra-Nehemiah that, in the rebuilding of the Temple following the Babylonian Exile, there was no theophany as there was at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple? We have no glory, no cloud, no divine voice, nothing.

The glory of the Lord left the Temple in Ezekiel’s day, the days of the destruction of that Temple. The prophets of the Restoration promise a return of glory (Haggai 2:1-9; Zechariah 2:1-5), but we don’t see it happen in their day. We read Haggai commanding them to build God’s house instead of their own (showing us where their hearts were), and we read Malachi already indicting them for neglecting the worship of God. The Babylonian Exile had taught them little, and certainly hadn’t changed their hearts. The seeds are planted in the Restoration that, over four centuries, become the false religion, the twisting of old covenant Scripture, that Jesus confronts in His ministry.

The Restoration sees the rebuilding of a much smaller Temple, devoid of the glory of God, filled soon with heartless worship. It does not see what Ezekiel promised, a God-given new heart to the people that enables them to obey and love Him from the core of their being.

What about Ezekiel’s Temple in chapters 40-48?

First, let me point out that this Temple is described “in visions of God” (40:2), just like Ezekiel’s eating of the scroll (3:1-3) and the angelic destruction of the idolaters in Jerusalem (9:1-11). We understand both the latter to be spiritual depictions of earthly realities (God’s speaking His Word through Ezekiel and the destruction of Jerusalem at the hand of the Babylonians). Why would the Ezekiel Temple, also given in vision, be any different? Why would we expect this to be a physical Temple, when Ezekiel didn’t physically eat a scroll and angels didn't physically slaughtered the ungodly in 586 B.C.? No, this is a picture of a spiritual reality. What is the earthly manifestation?

Second, notice that the entire Temple vision is conditional upon repentance: “As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out” (43:10,11).

“If.”

The command to “repent” is the first word of the Gospel in the dawning of the new covenant era (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15; 6:12; Luke 13:1-5; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 26:20). With God’s granting of the gift of repentance to both Jews (Acts 5:31) and Gentiles (Acts 11:18) in the Gospel age, we should expect the building of the true, eternal, spiritual Temple, from which the river of life flows to bring life to the world.

This is exactly what we see. The Church is the Spirit-built Temple of God, and is the only true Temple of God described in the New Testament (Ephesians 2:11-22; 2 Corinthians 6:16).

This is Advent. As we read of the departure of the glory of God from Solomon’s Temple in Ezekiel last night, I couldn’t help but think of the return of God’s glory.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

At the marriage in Cana, after He turned water to really good wine: “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him” (John 2:11).

At the resurrection of Lazarus: “Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’” (John 11:40).

“Though He had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in Him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.’ Isaiah said these things because He saw His glory and spoke of Him” (John 12:37-41).

In His high-priestly prayer: “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5).

This Advent season, celebrate the presence of the glory of God through Christ by the Holy Spirit in the Church.

Let’s end with the final phrase of Ezekiel, “the LORD is there” (48:35). The covenant presence of God is fully and finally realized in Christ alone, Who is “God with us” (Matthew 1:23; cf. 28:20; Revelation 21:3).

God bless us this Advent with a clearer knowledge and understanding of the presence of His glory through a deeper illumination of His Word in our gatherings.

The Greatest Threat Is Inside, Church

• “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16,17).
• “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).
• “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE [Leviticus 26:12]. Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,’ says the Lord. ‘AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN [Isaiah 52:11]; and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,’Says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
• “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in Whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).

These are all the verses in the letters of Paul that speak of the Temple of God. Why don’t we read the first set of verses (1 Corinthians 3:16,17; 6:19,20; 2 Corinthians 6:16-18; Ephesians 2:19-22) together with 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4? Taking the evidence in Paul’s writings to the Churches (the inspired distillation and representation of his in-person teaching to the Churches), shouldn’t a consistent hermeneutic conceive of the “Temple” theme together? Instead of looking to geopolitical threats outside the Church, maybe we should be on guard inside the Church – which, I believe, is Paul’s consistent work and warning to us (note the presence of “lawlessness” and the “Temple” together in 2 Corinthians 6:14,16!). See also Matthew 7:15-22; 13:36-43; 23:25-28 (all outwardly “religious” people who actually represent “lawlessness”).

* * * * * * *

• “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you” (1 John 2:18-26).
• “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:1-6).
• “Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds” (2 John 5-11).

Where/Who is “the antichrist” (a word not used anywhere outside of the above cited verses – IT IS NOT FOUND IN THE REVELATION)? Inside the Church or out? It is geopolitical or doctrinal?

I fear for you, beloved Church, that you may be looking outside the camp for an enemy you believe to be on the borders who – the Scriptures tell us – rises up inside. I love you with all my heart – don’t be deceived!
“For thus the LORD spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, ‘You are not to say, “It is a conspiracy!” In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, and you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the LORD of hosts Whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. Then He shall become a sanctuary’” (Isaiah 8:11-14).

Wait in - and as - the Temple

“We wait for thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy Temple” (Psalm 48:9, Geneva Bible).

• “...ye are the Temple of the living God: as God hath said, ‘I will dwell among them, and walk there: and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’” (2 Corinthians 6:16).
• “...through [Christ] we both have an entrance unto the Father by one Spirit. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and...foreigners: but citizens with the Saints, and of the household of God. And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in Whom all the building coupled together, groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. In Whom ye also are built together to be the habitation of God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

• “Ye also as lively stones, be made a spiritual house, an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I put in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect and precious, and he that believeth therein, shall not be ashamed’” (1 Peter 2:5,6).

You are that Temple, beloved Church. Wait on His covenant-love together.