Son of man, look carefully and listen closely and pay
attention to everything I am going to show you (Ezekiel 40:4).
Fourteen years after Jerusalem’s destruction, Ezekiel
receives a vision of a rebuilt temple. It is argued this cannot be the temple
to be built by the returning exiles because, for one thing, the dimensions
don’t match. Because of this many have either spiritualized the vision or
assigned these plans to an actual physical temple that will be constructed in
some millennial age to come.
Yes, yes; very nice. The question that must be addressed, though, is this: What would
an exiled people, sitting in a foreign land most need to hear? Would they be
more impacted by hearing about some spiritualized temple symbolizing the
Christian era, or maybe a temple from the millennial future? Not that
the millennium was big on
their minds. Wouldn’t a more meaningful revelation focus on a sooner release
and repatriation, and a new temple in the foreseeable future?
This is not to say prophecy cannot address issues far in the future, but most
of the time a prophetic message connects with the prophet’s audience.
That’s just common sense. To be sure, in this vision Christians have seen the
symbolism of Christ purifying his people (the church), but to Ezekiel it encourages
his audience that there will again be a temple in Jerusalem, and that they as a
people will, in time, be going home.
That’s what they needed to hear. That’s what they were
waiting for.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
And what are you waiting
for?
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