The name of the city will be ‘the Lord is there’
It’s now 25 years since God’s people were taken into captivity to live in exile in Babylon. 14 years since Jerusalem and her temple had been destroyed.
Ezekiel has been receiving visions from God of the destruction of Jerusalem and the promise of restoration. The city will be restored. The people will be restored. And here, starting from Chapter 40, we hear how the temple will be restored.
He’s led by a bronze-like man with a linen cord and a measuring rod. He’s led on a tour around the site. He is to watch closely and tell the people everything he sees.
Everything is measured. Everything is given an exact measurement. Starting with the wall surrounding the temple area.
The faces of the projecting walls were decorated with palm trees. Ezekiel 40:16
It’s all in the detail. Even down to the decor! There’s a perfect symmetry. Even the number of steps leading up to the gates is specified. The space is being restored as it was to restore the relationship between God and His people – with a room for offerings and sacrifices and a room for the priests, the sons of Zadok. And the inner sanctuary is to be restored as the Most Holy Place with palm trees and cherubim carved on the walls. The whole thing is a feat of architecture.
The details are not just about architecture, but about practice too. The priests have assigned rooms for eating the most holy offerings and changing their clothes completely before going near the people.
Do you remember the visions Ezekiel had by the Kebar river back at the beginning of this book? The creatures and wheels and God on a throne. That vision was of the glory of God leaving the temple. This is now a vision where the glory of God returns.
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…by their detestable practices. Ezekiel 43:7-8
God wants Ezekiel to describe this temple in all its perfection and glory to the people and if this causes them to be ashamed of all they’ve done wrong, then share with them the precision and detail.
Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations. Ezekiel 43:11
The design and regulations are equally important. How the great altar is used is as important as the four horns projecting up from the hearth. It all matters. The entrances and exits matter because in the past, the people did not respect who was allowed in and out of the holy places. Because many of the Levite priests wandered away from God to follow idols, they can now serve in the temple area, but not approach God. Only the priest of Zadok can come near to minister before God. And there are rules for them to follow – about clothes and hair and marrying and possessions and staying clean and pure.
They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. Ezekiel 44:23
And when Israel is fully restored and the land is being divided, then God has to have a portion of the land as a sacred district. The ruler of Israel is to posses the land surrounding this sacred space and this ruler will rule fairly and justly.
You have gone far enough, princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. 10 You are to use accurate scales… Ezekiel 45:9-10
Traditions are to be restored too – special days, festivals, the Sabbath.
Everything in its right way and right time and right place.
In the vision, Ezekiel sees a river flowing out from the temple – a river teeming with abundant life and with lush trees on its banks. A symbol of the life and abundance that will flow out from God to all of His people.
And the boundaries of the land will be clear. The tribes of Israel will each receive what is right and fair. No room for misunderstanding and conflict. Everything is in its place. Everyone has a role to play. Everyone is treated fairly and provided for. And each gate of the city will be named after one of the tribes of Israel.
“And the name of the city from that time on will be:
the Lord is there.” Ezekiel 48:35
And that’s it. That’s where the Book of Ezekiel ends. With a load of dry rules and regulations. Except that’t not the end. The rules and regulations are there for a reason. Everything God says and does is for a reason. For the same reason – ‘that they may know that I am the Lord’. That catchphrase for the whole book. That underlying purpose for everything.
And so when the temple is restored and the people restored to the land and the rules and regulations restored, then the presence of God among His people will be restored.
The name of the city will be ‘the Lord is there’.
That is where the whole of this book has been heading. Everything has been restored. Ezekiel’s role is over. he has played his part.
And all of this makes me want to live a life that creates the right setting for God to be there. I want to establish routines and boundaries that make my life a place where God is dwelling. I want to be clear about what is holy and what is common – and be found in the sacred corners, to seek out the spiritual in everything. I want to be fair to other people and show respect to my God. I want to never forget that God is God and through my life, I want others to be reminded of that truth too.
I want to live the whole of my life under the banner ‘the Lord is there’.
