Is your heart a heart of flesh?

Text Ezekiel 11:19, 20 Time 17/08/14 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

One thing we always need to remember about ourselves is – how do we best put it? - that there is more to us than meets the eye. Besides our bodies, which we can see, we all have an invisible side we can't see. Call it your soul, spirit, whatever; you must remember that that is part of who you are.

When we want to talk about our invisible part we often speak of our hearts. You say “my heart wasn't in it” or “my heart's desire is to do this or that”. The heart is literally, of course, the muscle that pumps blood round your body. We use it as a picture of the inner invisible me. We sometimes use other words. Think of - going with my gut feeling; being gutted at bad news, gut wrenching bad news. To speak with bile or spleen is to speak with deep hatred. In the Bible, kidneys and bowels are spoken of like that but we don't use the words like that any more so you won't find those words in modern translations. We speak rather of being “low in spirit”, having something on our minds, even feeling something in our souls.

Now this is what I want to speak to you about this morning – the invisible part of you; your heart, your soul, the inner you. This is the best day for thinking about your soul – it's big shop day for the soul! It's part of what we do in meetings like this where we worship God from our hearts. This message is intended to speak to you about your souls, your hearts.

Well, what do I want to say? I want to focus on some verses we read earlier from Ezekiel 11. In verses 19 and 20 God speaks of his people and he says

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Almost the same thing is repeated in Ezekiel 36:26-28 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, etc.

Ezekiel, some of you will remember, prophesied in the days of exile in Babylon, when the Jews were thrown out of the Promised Land. Even though they were in exile God came and met with Ezekiel in a wonderful way. A first vision comes at the beginning of the book and a second similar one begins in Chapter 8. At the end of Chapter 11 Ezekiel describes how after the vision the cherubim (these magnificent creatures from heaven who accompanied the visions with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.) Then The glory of the LORD went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. Ezekiel says The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia in the vision given by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen went up from me, and I told the exiles everything the LORD had shown me.

Among the things Ezekiel is to speak to them about is what is found in verses 16ff. It begins with the Sovereign LORD saying of the people Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet two things

1. Already For a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. The time of exile was not one of unmitigated suffering. God looked after his people in exile.

2. Further, Ezekiel is to say in the name of the Sovereign LORD - I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.

This is the promise then (18) They will return to the Promised Land and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. What wonderful promises these must have been for the people to hear. It goes on with God saying, as we have seen, I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Verse 21 adds a warning But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.

This really goes back to the promise right back in Deuteronomy 30:5, 6 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

Well, was this prophecy fulfilled? Certainly, God's people were brought back from exile and resettled in the Promised Land. And indeed it was the formal end of idolatry - all its vile images and detestable idols were removed. But what about this idea of God's people being given an undivided heart and having a new spirit put in them; having their heart of stone removed and their being given a heart of flesh so that they ... follow God's decrees and are careful to keep his laws and really become God's people? Is there something more?

In Ezekiel 18:30a, 31 God says to the people Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? It is clear from what we read there that this idea of having a new heart and a new spirit is something with a more general application. What God commands his people to get in Chapter 18, he promises to give them either side first in Chapter 11 then in Chapter 36. Again, when we come to the New Testament it speaks about the need of renewal – the need to be born again, to become a new creation in Christ, to live a resurrection life - something God does in the lives of Christians. And so we say this morning three things:

1. You must have an undivided, heart of flesh, a new spirit that God alone can give you

The promise from God to his people is that he will give them a new perhaps or an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; he'll remove … their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

This is what needs to happen then

Negatively 1. Your heart of stone needs to be removed

As many of you know I had a major heart operation back in April. They discovered that my heart was diseased and I couldn't go on as I was. Some major repairs were necessary. Various things can go wrong with the heart. This wasn't my problem but there is a heart condition called cardiac calcification or stone heart (caused by a build up of calcium). That is the picture here - a person with a heart of stone has a heart that is no good. It needs to be repaired or renewed. With the muscle in the body sometimes it can be repaired but, of course, in very severe cases there has to be a heart transplant.

When it comes to your heart, your soul, that is what needs to happen, your heart of stone (your diseased and malfunctioning heart of stone) needs to be removed. It needs to be changed. A stone heart will not take the impression of God's Word. The material is resistant to it. Zechariah describes (Zechariah 7:12) They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. This made God angry. The fact is that by nature the invisible part of us, like the visible part is sinful and wicked by nature, hardened against God and unyielding to him. That old heart has to go. There is no future, no life without that.

2. It needs to be replaced by a heart that is an undivided heart of flesh and a new spirit

What is needed is a new heart or a new Spirit, one that is characterised here as being not only new but (in many manuscripts) undivided and a heart of flesh. Undivided suggests a nation with no more divisions. Acts 4:32 speaks of the believers being of one mind and heart. More to the point - the people no longer turn to their own ways. The people have an undivided and single heart that has only one aim – to please God. It is described as a heart of flesh because it is yielding and flexible, ready to take an retain the impression of God's Word, a heart beating with a passion to be shaped by God in service to him. The hymn writer calls it “A heart resigned, submissive, meek, My dear Redeemer's throne; Where only Christ is heard to speak, Where Jesus reigns alone.”

Do you keep butter in the fridge? There are some advantages I suppose to that but one thing ordinary butter won't do is spread straight from the fridge. It needs to be softened. Our hearts, if you like, are hard like butter from the fridge or freezer. It is only as we are exposed to God and his Word that our hearts soften and melt and become the hearts they should be.

Has your heart of stone been removed? Has that hardness against God gone? Have you been born again? Has your heart been softened or melted and renewed or regenerated so that it is set on serving God? If it has, praise God! If it hasn't - pray that it will be. Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die …?

2. Grasp that this is the only way you can follow God's decrees and keep his laws as you ought

Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You see that little then here. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Without this change, it is not possible for a person to follow God's decrees or be careful to keep his laws. God has made his law clear.

1. He has revealed it in our consciences

In his book Shepherding a child's heart Tedd Tripp has a story about an incident where a young boy was found stealing money from the offering plate after the church service. The father was informed and shortly after he and his son appeared in the pastor's study where the boy produced $2 and confessed to having taken it. He was in tears, asking for forgiveness. The pastor told him he was glad that in God's mercy the boy had been caught. God had spared him the hardness of heart that comes when a person sins and gets away with it. He went on to remind him why Jesus came - because people like him and his father and the pastor have hard hearts that want to steal but God's love for wicked boys and men is so great that he sent his Son to change them from the inside out and make them givers not takers. It was only at this point that the boy broke down in sobs and took a further $20 from his pocket! Up until then he had merely been going through the motions. “What happened?” asks Tripp. Clearly the boy's conscience “was smitten by the gospel! … The gospel hit its mark in his conscience”. Conscience had done something a beating would never have done.

We all have some idea of right and wrong. We know we cannot live just as we please. There are things we must not do and things we ought to do. To live regardless of God is wrong. We must worship him and put him first. Stealing is wrong. To kill or to hurt another human being is wrong. Rather, we should help each other and show each other kindness.

2. He has revealed it in his Word

Most obviously there are the Ten Commandments that call on us to worship God and him alone and to do it as he says it should be done. His name is not to be misused or dishonoured. His day must be kept. We must also love our neighbour as ourselves – showing respect, not stealing from them or being unfaithful or harming them or lying to them or coveting what is theirs.

The trouble is we cannot live like that. We fail to do so again and again. Despite our resolves, despite our resolutions, despite our consciences, we do not follow God's decrees, we are not careful to keep his laws. Why? Because of these divided, stony, calloused, unfeeling hearts of ours. There is a deep seated resistance to God and to his law. We will not obey.

It is only when we receive that new spirit, that new heart of flesh that we really want to obey God and serve him. This is God's promise then that if our hearts are renewed by him we will have a new desire to serve the Lord and obey him.

I went to some lectures in July and the lecturer, an American from Texas, was saying how when he became a Christian at 19 he remembers his friend 'phoning and him telling him what had happened. The friend wanted to go out on the town that night but the new convert was just not interested. They were not going to do anything particularly bad but he knew there would be temptations and he just didn't want to sin any more. That's how it is when a person is converted – not that the feeling is constant but it is the underlying thing.

Again, is this you? Do you have a desire to please God, to obey him? Has that seed of holiness been planted in you so that you genuinely desire to serve the Lord? One of the characteristics of the converted person is that he no longer sins as he used to. There is a reluctance about it. His deepest desire is to obey the Lord. If you don't have that desire you need to be changed. It is a change that God alone can bring about. Call out to him to change you.

3 Enter into covenant with God so that he is your God and you belong to him

The final phrase I want us to look at is this one, They will be my people, and I will be their God. Again it is a promise and again it follows on. These people and these people alone – those whose hearts of stone have been removed and who have a new spirit, a heart of flesh that follows God's decrees and is careful to keep his laws, they alone are really God's people. It's no good thinking that just because you are a Jew that you are one of God's people or just because you come to church or call yourself a Christian that is enough. No, the they in They will be my people are those with renewed hearts, hearts that obey. And those of whom it can truly be said God will be their God are those whose heart of stone is gone and has been replaced by a heart of flesh that is careful to keep God's law.

Some Christians think that the key to understanding the Bible is understanding the different dispensations. You start, they say, with the dispensation of innocence, then comes conscience, government, patriarchal rule, law, grace and the millennial kingdom. There is something in that, perhaps, but it is much more important to see that all the way through God is a covenant God and he works in the same covenantal way all the way through. This phrase They will be my people, and I will be their God comes up at least another three times in Ezekiel and is in Hosea and Zechariah and especially in Jeremiah, where the new covenant is spoken of in these very terms – 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

This is why we are keen for the children to learn what a covenant is – an agreement between two or more persons. That is why Chapter 7 of the Baptist Confession of 1689 begins

“The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to Him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which He has been pleased to express by way of covenant.”

Do you belong to God? And does God belong to you? Are you in covenant with him? If he has taken away your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh, then that is the case.

1. Are you neglecting your immortal soul? $ Imagine a parent loving one child but completely neglecting the other. Such things do happen. Don't be like that – looking after your body but neglecting your soul. Remember Jesus' words Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. and What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Matthew 10:38, 16:26) Or what about Paul's words (1 Timothy 4:8) physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

2. Has your soul been made new? Are you born again? Cry out to God to do it.

3. This is absolutely vital. There is no entering the kingdom of God without it. There is no way of pleasing God without this.

4. Are you in covenant with God. Can you sing “in a love that cannot cease I am his and he is mine”?

5. Don't miss that warning in verse 21 But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.

The ultimate fulfilment of this prophecy is found in Revelation 21 where we read of the new heavens and the new earth and the New Jerusalem. John sees Jesus seated on the throne and saying I am making everything new! What a glorious prospect awaits God's people.

Welcome to the Promised Land

Text Ezekiel 46-48 Time 22/02/09 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

I want us to look this morning at the three final chapters of the prophecy of Ezekiel where Ezekiel's vision of a new Temple and of a new Promised Land comes to its climax. We have already acknowledged that these are difficult chapters to read and understand. We did make the point though that you don't need to understand them in order to be saved. Salvation itself is very easy to understand – turn from your sins to Christ - trust in him and all will be well. That's why even children can be saved. There is a depth and a wisdom in Christ, however, and here we have one of the deeper parts of Scripture. If we have been Christians any length of time we should be ready to consider its lessons. All Scripture is to be studied and learned from, however, and it is right that we give attention to Ezekiel's vision.
Another point we have already made is that one of our difficulties here is that Ezekiel writes very much in Old Testament terms, terms that we are often not familiar with. However, his vision is of the future, a now partly present future, one that we can know today.
I don't know if you're thinking about taking a holiday next summer. When planning such things people often look at tourist brochures and books describing the place they might go to. We can think of these chapters (40-48) as being something like that. Here is a description of a wonderful land, a land that you can come to and indeed live in. Some of you live in that land. Some of you don't. I want to say welcome to that land today – Welcome to the Promised Land!
So far we've considered Chapters 40-45. In those chapters Ezekiel has described the Temple area and the new Temple itself and the return of God's once departed glory to the Temple, never to leave again. We've also had the restoration of the altar and the priesthood and the offerings. In Chapter 44 he begins to describe the allotment of the new Promised Land but only gets as far as describing the central portion of the Land which is to be a sacred district. We then learn about the restoration of the offerings, which continues into Chapter 46. In Chapter 47 we learn about the river of life that flows from the Temple and the boundaries of the new land. Then in Chapter 48 he describes the distribution of the land among the tribes and the new city with its 12 gates.
The vision then is of a new land, a land for God's own people. It speaks ultimately of heaven but also of a wonderful land that is already here. The language is highly symbolic and it's clear that what is envisaged is not a place as such but God's spiritual kingdom. There are at least five things to say then
1. Welcome to a land where God is worshipped

As we've said Chapter 46 really carries on from where Chapter 45 leaves off. We made the point last week that the worship of God must be taken seriously. In kingdom terms we can speak of a land where God is worshipped. Again it is put in Old Testament terms. Chapter 45 speaks of various offerings including Passover and Tabernacles. Here we come on to Sabbaths, New Moons and other offerings. So we say welcome to a land
1. Where God is worshipped regularly

In verse 1 God says of the Temple The gate of the inner court facing east (not the outer gate that was permanently closed – Chapter 44 – but the inner one) is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened. We're told that The prince (2, 3) who we've identified with the Messiah or Christ is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings. He is to worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening. On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the presence of the LORD at the entrance to that gateway. In verses 4-7 the burnt offerings the prince is to bring to the LORD on the Sabbath day and the day of the New Moon are itemised - 6 male lambs and a ram, all without defect and grain offerings each Sabbath and a young bull, 6 lambs and a ram, all without defect with grain offerings once a month. We are presented then with a Temple where Prince and people are regularly worshipping God. This is how it should be with us. Every morning, every evening, weekly, monthly – giving praise to God led by Christ himself.
2. Where the Prince is with his people

Verse 10 is interesting The prince is to be among them, going in when they go in and going out when they go out. The prince is their leader and yet he worships with them. You remember how Jesus spoke to his disciples after his resurrection of ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. When we meet together in Jesus' name we worship Christ and yet he is also with us as we worship God. Indeed it is through him that we come to God.
There is a further note in verse 11 before we go on to more detail about offerings in verses 12 and on. We read that When the prince provides a freewill offering to the LORD of any sort the gate facing east is to be opened for him. He shall offer his burnt offering or his fellowship offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out, the gate will be shut. Verse 13 Every day you are to provide a year-old lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD; morning by morning you shall provide it. Grain offerings are again to accompany it. Again it evokes the coming of Jesus into our assemblies and leading the worship. That is how it should be when we meet like this.
3. Where the Prince does not oppress the people

There is also a note in verses 16-18 about the prince and inherited property rights. Again the phrase His inheritance belongs to his sons only; it is theirs is a pregnant one for believers who are God's sons. Verse 18 reads The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people, driving them off their property. He is to give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people will be separated from his property. How tender and loving and kind the Lord Jesus is to those who are in him.
4. Where practical matters are taken care of

In verses 8 and 9 we have some traffic directions! It says that When the prince enters, he is to go in through the portico of the gateway, and he is to come out the same way and adds that When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by the north gate to worship is to go out by the south gate; and whoever enters by the south gate is to go out by the north gate. No-one is to return through the gate by which he entered, but each is to go out by the opposite gate. With such vast numbers practical arrangements like this become important. Often in Mecca people die in the large crowds that are sometimes not very well organised.
Finally (again very practically) in verses 19-24 Ezekiel is shown the kitchens (20) the place where the priests will cook the guilt offering and the sin offering and bake the grain offering, to avoid bringing them into the outer court and consecrating the people. Ezekiel sees that there are four of these – one in each corner. It doesn't make interesting reading but is typical of the very thorough and exact way everything is dealt with here.
Obviously to worship God involves thinking through and acting on some very practical matters. We don't need kitchens today although a cup of tea or even a meal after the meeting can be a help. It does help to have hymn books and Bibles and comfortable chairs and light and heat. We need to get here on time too and concentrate while we are here.
2. Welcome to a land that God has abundantly blessed

As we come into Chapter 47 Ezekiel describes how The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and says Ezekiel I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.
Ezekiel is then led eastward by the man who makes measurements as they go (3-6). First they are ankle-deep in water, then knee-deep, then up to the waist and finally we read but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in - a river that no one could cross. He asked me, Son of man, do you see this? Then he led me back to the bank of the river.
There Ezekiel sees (7) a great number of trees on each side of the river. He's told that the water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds - like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.

It is a wonderful picture of great variety and abundance. This is the language that John picks up on when he describes heaven in the last book of the Bible. It is a theme throughout Scripture, beginning with well watered Eden and going on through the streams within Jerusalem of Psalm 46 and on to John 7:37-39 where we read how On the last and greatest day of the Feast, (of Tabernacles where there was a daily ceremony where water was poured out) Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. John explains By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. The Spirit was poured out though on the day of Pentecost and it is the Spirit now who is at work bringing more and more people to the Lord. In the early years the gospel was ankle deep, then knee deep and now it is a great river and there are all sorts of fruits being produced buy the Spirit and the nations are being healed. What glorious things are happening even in our own day! You are welcome to be part of it.
3. Welcome to a land that's large enough for all

Next we read about the boundaries of the land in verses 13-20. The boundaries of the land varied over the years. At this point, of course, Israel had none of it. The boundaries here are – on the west, the Mediterranean and on the east the Jordan and the Dead Sea. The northern and southern borders are harder to follow but are well to the north and to the south. There is nothing east of the Jordan. Again this is symbolic – a symmetrical land, a clearly defined one. In verses 21-23 God says You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and note this for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance, declares the Sovereign LORD. There is room enough then – not just for Israel but for any alien who wishes to join them. On the Statue of Liberty in New York (inside the pedestal) is a poem on a bronze plaque. It concludes with Liberty speaking and saying

Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp! cries she

With silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Whether it is so easy to get in to America today we certainly say welcome to all to this land, to the kingdom of God. Come to Jesus Christ. Come into his kingdom.
4. Welcome to a land that's ready for God's people

Then in Chapter 48 we come to the division of the land. Again it is highly symbolic. Whereas in the past some tribes had large areas, some smaller, here it is more regimented and equal. Each tribe gets an equally broad west to east strip. (1-7) First Dan, then Asher, then Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah. Then in verses 23-39 the remaining allotments are given – Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun. Verse 29 This is the land you are to allot as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these will be their portions, declares the Sovereign LORD.
Verses 8-22 recap on the sacred district spoken of before in Chapter 44. In the centre of it we read will be the sanctuary of the LORD. It is for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who were faithful in serving me and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray. There is also land for the Levites. We read (14) They must not sell or exchange any of it. This is the best of the land and must not pass into other hands, because it is holy to the LORD. There will also be land for the Prince. This where the holy city will be, which he speaks about at the very end.
There is the land then ready for the people – there is a place for every tribe and at the heart of it all the sacred portion for the worship of God. That is how it is in God's kingdom. Come take your place. It's ready. Come worship God. Know the blessings the Prince can give you.
5. Welcome to a land where the Lord dwells

Have you ever heard of the Rev Gary Davis? He was a blind blues singer. He sang a song that goes like this

Oh, what a beautiful city (3)
Twelve gates to the city, hallelujah
And it's oh, what a beautiful
Oh, Oh Lord, what a beautiful city
Twelve gates to the city, hallelujah

There's three gates in the East
There's three gates in the West
There's three gates in the North
There's three gates in the South
That makes twelve gates to the city, hallelujah
And it's oh, what a beautiful
Oh, Oh Lord, what a beautiful city
Twelve gates to the city, hallelujah

Oh Lord, what a beautiful city
Oh, Oh Lord, what a beautiful city
Twelve gates to the city, hallelujah
If you see my dear old mother
Won't you do this favour for me
Won't you please tell my mother
To meet me in Galilee. Etc.

It seems to make little sense. "What you talkin' 'bout?" he asks. Well, it's here in the final verses of Ezekiel (30-35)
These will be the exits of the city: Beginning on the north side, which is 4,500 cubits long, the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel. The 3 gates on the north side will be the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah and the gate of Levi. On the east side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be 3 gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin and the gate of Dan. On the south side, which measures 4,500 cubits, will be 3 gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar and the gate of Zebulun. On the west side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be 3 gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher and the gate of Naphtali. Again symbolic – no Ephraim and Manasseh. Point is there is access for all though. The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on will be: The LORD is There.

It is speaking about heaven, of course, as in Revelation. But even now God is with his people – in their hearts, in their midst as they worship. Not just a Tabernacle or Temple now but Immanuel, God with us. The Christian as the Holy Sprit within. When he meets with God's people God is in the midst. That is how it is for the believer. God is with him. What glory!

Further Principles of Holy Living

Text Ezekiel 45 Time 15/02/09 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking at the final chapters of Ezekiel. These are difficult chapters to read and to understand. As we have said, one of our difficulties with these chapters is that though they are speaking chiefly of the New Covenant or New Testament era in which we now live, they are written entirely in language and forms appropriate to the Old Covenant or Old Testament period. We suggested last time that it's a little like the difference between how a child might express himself and how an adult would or how you might write for a child and how you might write for an adult.
In Ezekiel 45, Ezekiel is writing about the dividing up of the Promised Land, about ephahs and baths and shekels and about sacrifices and offerings and Passover – but once again he is really talking about the holiness of God's people. So many things have changed since Ezekiel's day but, as we said before, both as individual Christians and corporately as God's people, we are to be a holy priesthood and temple.
Last time we spoke from Chapter 44 of four important principles in the matter of holiness – we spoke of a closed door principle, an exclusion principle, an idolatry principle and a priestly principle. This week we want to speak from Chapter 45 of three more important principles of holiness. I remind you that without holiness no-one will see God. We must get this right. These three principles will help us.
1. The centring principle - Keep central things at the centre

In the opening verses of Chapter 45 we begin on the allotting of the promised land. However, the bulk of this is not dealt with until Chapter 47. The first and chief concern is a strip of land that will occupy the Promised Land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan and that includes the city of Jerusalem where the Temple had always been. First, a general point is made and then three specific things are said about this strip of land. We can learn both from the fact that this is where the allotting of the Promised Land begins and from the particular sections that are to be included in this strip. In both cases there are some obvious applications for us today.
1. Consider the general point and the need to keep the Lord central.
The chapter begins with God saying (1) When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide; the entire area will be holy. At the heart of this new Promised Land then there is to be a large section of land (several miles long ad wide) that is the lord's and that is holy, a sacred district.
God's people are no longer expected to live in one part of the world but rather in every part. It is neither require nor something practicable to set apart holy districts. However, at the heart of every church and every individual life there must be, as it were, a part set off for God -
2. Consider the need to keep these important things central
1 Holy worship
2 Of this sacred district a section 500 cubits square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits around it for open land. A the heart of the heart of the Promised Land then was the Temple – the place where God was worshipped. @ Always at the the heart of our lives it must be God – at the centre of our thinking, of our living, of all we are and do. The same goes for church life and family life and community and national life. If only it were so.
2 Priestly service
3-5 In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary. An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.
@ We have said before that all believers under the new covenant are priests. We must live as priests then. We must so arrange our lives that we can carry on all our priestly duties – prayer, praise, the sacrifice of life and strength – keeping these things always central.
3 People
Are you the sort of person ho has time for people? Do you have time for God's people? In 6 we read You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to the whole house of Israel. We must find time for Christian fellowship – to encourage each other and help each other.
4 The Prince
7, 8a The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions. This land will be his possession in Israel.
Not all agree on this but we have suggested that the Prince here points us to the Messiah. Again, Christ must be central in our lives as individuals, as families, as a nation, as a church. It is so easy to let other things (good things) become central. $ I like the Navigators' wheel – the various spokes are prayer, Bible intake, witness and fellowship but at the centre, at the hub, is Christ. It has to be that way. In church communion helps us, at home we need to read the Word and pray – alone and with our families, etc.
2. The honesty principle - Turn from violence and oppression and do what is just and right

Having mentioned the Prince in 8a it goes on And my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allow the house of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes. That then leads into a section about doing what is just and right. This is also an obvious element in true holiness. All violence and oppression or anything like it must go and there must be honesty and integrity in its place. The pattern here is negative, positive, negative, positive.
9 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have gone far enough, O princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression
and do what is just and right.
Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign LORD.
10-12 You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah and an accurate bath. The ephah and the bath are to be the same size, the bath containing a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer is to be the standard measure for both. The shekel is to consist of 20 gerahs. Twenty shekels plus 25 shekels plus 15 shekels equal one mina.
It is the princes who are in the firing line here as they had a responsibility to make sure weights and measures were accurate. There is a responsibility on government in this area and we should be thankful to God that we live in a country where many of the more obvious abuses are not allowed to take place. Our weights and measures are carefully described and accurately kept. Further, weights have to be marked on certain goods, for example, and be accurate. There are still infringements, however, and dubious tricks. $ Manufacturers know that we realise sugar is not good for us and so when they list ingredients instead of putting sugar first they use different sugars (fructose, glucose, etc) and list them separately so that they come lower down the list! Such things must be guarded against.
@ Personally, we have to be very honest too and be determined not to take advantage of others. Honesty in every area of our lives is so important. Are we being fair and just and honest? Are we showing the integrity we ought to?
Cf Ephesians 4:22ff
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body. ... He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. ...Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
3. The worship principle - Take the worship of the Lord seriously and look to the Lord

The rest of the chapter talks about the various offerings in the Temple Ezekiel has described. The connection is again the Prince. He has a central role in it all. There is also a connection between weights and measures and the food that is to be used in sacrifice. We all need not only to be honest towards men but honest towards God and worship him. We must take worship seriously.
A number of points are made, firstly about a special gift for the Prince that all must make (13-17) and then about various feasts (18-25).
1. The special gift

This is specified as being (13) a sixth of an ephah from each homer both of wheat and ... barley. To this is added (14) The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (which consists of 10 baths or one homer, for 10 baths are equivalent to a homer). Verse 15 Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of 200 from the well-watered pastures of Israel.
These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the people, declares the Sovereign LORD. All the people of the land will participate in this special gift for the use of the prince in Israel.A note is then added (17, 18) saying that It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths - at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.There is something reciprocal here then – the people must make a gift to the Prince but he is the one who provides the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths - at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.
We must make our lives living sacrifices to Christ it is true. It is often not easy to take up the cross and to follow him, to serve him faithfully as we should. It's hard at times. However, let's never forget that he is the one who provided the sacrifice to make atonement for us. We give him gifts – he gave himself. Glory to his name.
Finally

2. Sacrifices for three particular times of the year

These are specified in connection with what the Prince had to supply.
1 New year atonement for the temple
18-20 In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.2 Passover
21-24 In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting 7 days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast. On that day the prince is to provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. Every day during the 7 days of the Feast he is to provide 7 bulls and 7 rams without defect as a burnt offering to the LORD, and a male goat for a sin offering. He is to provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.3 Tabernacles/Shavuot
25 During the 7 days of the Feast, which begins in the seventh month on the fifteenth day, he is to make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and oil.
All such sacrifices remind us of the importance of holy worship. We must live lives of worship. They remind us of the seriousness of this solemn task. Above everything they remind us of the centrality of Christ's atoning sacrifice. Without him and his death we are sunk. Look to him then and worship him.

Four Principles for Holy Living

Text Ezekiel 44 Time 08/02/09 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We've begun to look at the final chapters of Ezekiel. As we've said, these are difficult chapters simply to read and harder still to understand but this is God's Word and it is here to teach us, rebuke us, correct us and train us to be righteous. Romans 15:4 reminds us that everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. This includes Ezekiel 40-48 and Ezekiel's vision of a new and future ideal Temple, a new Jerusalem and a new Promised Land. In 44:5 Ezekiel says The LORD said to me, Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations regarding the temple of the LORD. Give attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary. This is what we must do too – as hard as it may seem.
One of our difficulties with these chapters is that though they are speaking chiefly of the New Covenant or Testament era in which we now live, they are written entirely in language and forms appropriate to the Old Covenant period. It's a little like the difference between how a child might express himself and how an adult would. When I was a child we were asked to write an essay about ourselves in school and I remember writing “My ambition is to visit every castle or historic monument in Britain”. I'd been around a few castles and stately homes as a boy and I liked that so I expressed myself in that way. Today I'd express myself differently. “I'm very interested in history”, “I find castles and other old buildings fascinating”. In a similar way here in Chapter 44 Ezekiel writes about a Temple – its gate, the Levites, the priests, etc – but what he's actually talking about is holiness, the holiness of God's people. The Temple in Jerusalem has now gone but both as individual Christians and corporately as God's people, we are to be, as it were, a temple and a priesthood – a holy priesthood and temple. These verses then, if we see them through the right lenses, as we may put it, teach us about holiness as individuals and as a company of God's people. There are four main principles to take note of.
1. The closed door and Prince principle

In Hue City, Vietnam, you can find the historic high-walled and dry-moated Royal Citadel. Access to the Imperial City within it is by means of four entrance gates. One of these, the Ngo Mon Gate, was used only for the King, it was exclusive to him. Such distinctions are made for kings. I think I've even heard of an entrance way being sealed up once a certain king had passed through it.
In the opening verse of Chapter 44, Ezekiel tell us that the angelic man leading him brought him back from the centre of the Temple to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. We have talked about the altar then – the heart of the faith is Christ's cross. That's how we are saved. But we are going to think now about holiness – sanctification.
Ezeiel goes on (2) The LORD said to me, This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it as described in the previous chapter. He also says (3) The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way.
There are two pictures then. First, a closed gate – shut because God has come through it. Second, a prince eating in the gateway. People argue about who the prince is. In Chapter 45 it speaks of him making a sacrifice for himself, which makes some doubt that this could be Messiah. If we go back to Ezekiel 34:24 and 37:25, however, we read I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. ... They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there for ever, and David my servant will be their prince for ever. Such verses suggest that this one is also pointing to Messiah. As for the closed door – the point is that God, who had once departed from his temple has now returned never to leave again. No-one can come in from the outside but the prince may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He comes and goes from within the Temple complex. In verse 4 we read how the man brought Ezekiel by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. Ezekiel says I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown.
If we are believers, we are those who have known God gloriously coming into our lives and filling them. How wonderful when God comes in. It's similar when we think of the church. We can read in Acts 2 how at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down with power on the people and they were all filled with the Spirit. Once we are believers the Lord Jesus, our Prince, rests with us and remains with us as he does in the church. It's because of these factors that we must have a closed door policy with regard to certain things. “God has come into my life” we say “Jesus Christ is here” so we have to be rather rigid and unco-operative at certain times - our doors are closed to other things. It's the same with churches. God has come in, we know his glory and his Christ is with us so our minds are closed to certain things. Do we have this attitude? Is there a closed door policy in your life?
2. The exclusion principle

Something similar comes out in verses 5-9. In verses 6-8 Ezekiel is told to remind the rebellious house of Israel of their wicked ways. Enough of your detestable practices, O house of Israel! God says. In particular he cites how, in addition to all their other detestable practices, they'd brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into God's sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant. Instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things, you put others in charge of my sanctuary. This was why they'd been thrust into exile in Babylon. In future this was not to happen. God says (9) No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.
To our ears that may sound like simple racism but we must remember that God's intention was to form a nation for himself who would worship him and to whom would be born Messiah. The involvement of foreigners in Temple worship was not to be tolerated. That was how it was after the return from exile. You remember how careful Ezra and Nehemiah were about this, making people get rid of their foreign wives and so on.
We read these days about “no go areas”. Well, there were no go areas in the Temple in Jesus' day. In 1871 and again in 1935 notices were discovered that were originally placed in the outer court of the temple, the court of the Gentiles, and forbade foreigners (non-Jews) to go any further in. The one found in 1871, in Greek, reads “No foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure round the temple. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his death.”
Similarly today for churches and individual Christians there must be 'no go areas'. Exclusion is an important principle to maintain. That means that church membership can only be for Christians and if a church member lives in a way inconsistent with what they profess, then there must be discipline. They may even be put out of the church. It also means that as individuals we must practice what Jesus spoke of as "cutting off the right hand and gouging out the right eye". There must be a willingness to look at our lives and see what should not be there and then (however painful) to cut it out. With a cancer, surgeons will endeavour to cut it out of the body to save the body. Similarly, we must cut out all that is foreign to a life of worshipping God. Are we doing that?
3. The idolatry principle

From verse 10 we read about the Levites and how they were no better than the people and went far from God. They (10) must bear the consequences of their sin. God will show mercy – (11) They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them. (14) They will be put in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it. But (12, 13) because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, says God. They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices.
When the leaders of God's people lead them into sin they must be punished. Mercy is important but there must be punishment.
In particular, the sin of idolatry is condemned here. Many Levites and priests had been willing to co-operate with the idolatrous practices of the kings and the people. Indeed, they sometimes led the way. It is a reminder of the evil of idolatry of any sort. As a church and as individuals we must be resolved to reject idolatry of all sorts. God must be first in our lives and nothing must replace that. We must never attempt to worship God except in just the way that he desires from us. How easy to make an idol of a person or of one's family or of one's church. We dare not. “The dearest idol I have known whate'er that idol be, help me to tear it from Thy throne and worship only Thee.”
4. The priesthood principle

A contrast is made with these and (15) the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok. These faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary says God when the Israelites went astray from me. Therefore, they are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, says God. (16) They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service. Zadok (the word means righteous) was appointed by Solomon over scheming Abiathar when he came to power. This was the godly line and was marked not just by descent from Zadok but by faithfulness to God in Babylon and before. No doubt Ezekiel himself was of the Zadokite line.
Under the new covenant all believers are priests to God, indeed they are to be (we may say) Zadokite priests – righteous and holy priests to God. The very Old Testament regulations here apply to us who are New Testament Christians - not literally as the Mormons and others have tried to do but in a more spiritual way. We can list eight things.

As New Testament Zadokite priests, we must seek these things
1. Purity

Verses 17-19. When the priests entered the inner court of the Temple they were to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woollen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire. On returning to the outer court they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and are to leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, so as not to consecrate the people with their garments.
So think of our priest – he wears linen garments. These pure linen garments speak of purity. They are priestly garments and remind us of the white garments of the saints in Revelation (4:4; 19:8) and the linen ones that speak of good deeds. They have the power, as it were, to consecrate others.
Are we keeping ourselves pure? Are we making sure that nothing gets in to corrupt us, to sully us? Pure thoughts, pure attitudes. What care we need to take. 1 John 3:3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
2. Balance

Verse 20 They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed.
The Devil will always seek to drive us to one extreme or another. We must avoid that danger.
3. Temperance

Verses 21 and 22 No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court. They must not marry widows or divorced women; they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests.
Such verses speak of temperance, taking care not to abuse good gifts. Is this our attitude?
4. Discernment

Verse 23 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. Under the Old Covenant there were all sorts of rules about ceremonial holiness – what to eat, what to wear, how to cut your beard. We are released from those laws but holiness is still necessary. It was the priests job to teach the people these things. We also must teach one another discernment and learn it ourselves. In Hebrews 5:14 the writer talks about those who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. We need to train ourselves in that way.
5. "Biblicity"

The priests were also judges. Verse 24a In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. God's Word was to decide. That's how it must be for us. We can't go on custom or tradition. We must keep going back to the Word for our ideas of holiness.
6. Observance

Verse 24b They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy. Again, we are no longer bound to keep the ancient feasts but we must keep the Lord's Day holy as best we can and be careful to observe all holiness.
7. Separation

Verses 25-27. Priests were not to go near a dead body except if it was a very close relative. Then he would have to be ritually cleansed but could not resume duties until a week after that. He would have to make an offering on his return. In verse 31 we read The priests must not eat anything, bird or animal, found dead or torn by wild animals. This life of separateness was spelled out in such ways then. We are not bound to follow such rules, even though we are priests, because Jesus has died and so fulfilled all such obligations. However, the duty to lead lives separate from the world remains. We are in the world but not of it. We are separated to God. We must not forget that.
8. Devotion

Finally, in verses 28-30 God says I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession. They will eat of the various offerings; and everything in Israel devoted to the LORD will belong to them. The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household. They were not to own land then like the other Israelites but God would provide for them. Sometimes, perhaps we become concerned that by taking up the cross and following Christ we are missing out but we are not. God is our portion, our possession, even. We have him and is we have him then all things are ours. He has devoted himself to us so let's devote ourselves to him.
Keep these words in mind as watchwords then - purity, balance, temperance, discernment, "biblicity", observance, separation, devotion. If we are believers we are priests and this is how we must conduct ourselves as servants to God through Christ. Remember the overarching principles too -a closed door, exclusion, idolatry and priesthood. Live holy lives for God's glory and be blessed.

Requirements for Worship

Text Ezekiel 43 Time 25/01/09 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We've begun to look at the final chapters of Ezekiel – Chapters 40-48. These 9 chapters contain one continuous vision – a vision of the future given in the form of a Temple, a new Jerusalem and a new Promised Land. Last week we looked at Chapters 40-42. They are not easy chapters to read or follow but they describe a magnificent temple – a spiritual temple certainly, not a literal one – a Temple greater than any before or after it. In that part of the vision Ezekiel is led all over the Temple by a man whose appearance was like bronze – probably an angel, possibly the Lord Jesus himself - who carries a tape measure and a special ruler and measures everything they see. Ezekiel is told to pay careful attention and Tell the house of Israel everything you see. The Temple points us to Jesus Christ and the living Temple that is the church of this New Testament era in which we now live. The main lessons last time centred on the exclusivity and holiness in the gospel, the fact of God's detailed plans for his people, the centrality of true worship, the beauty of true holy worship and the importance of sacrifice and forgiveness in true worship.

As we come into Chapter 43 the man continues to guide Ezekiel and brings him to the gate facing east - the main gate of the temple, the one that led most directly to its heart and where Ezekiel had been brought in originally. Ezekiel describes what he sees next in verses 2-9 – the return of the glory of God. The man then stresses the importance of passing on the message to the people. After that Ezekiel goes on to describe the altar in the Temple and its consecration. There are 3 main things here then about true and holy worship, which begins back in the Old Testament but that reaches its climax in this New Testament era. Ezekiel uses Old Testament terms but speaks of the then future now present New Testament era. So we say

1. Realise that true and holy New Testament worship requires the glorious presence of God

1. Consider the glory of God and how to respond to it

In verse 2 Ezekiel says I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice (better the noise he created) was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. 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. Ezekiel has been shown the Temple – An empty temple is like an empty body. There's no life in it. But this is going to change. Ezekiel takes us back to the start of the book where over 20 years before he'd first seen a vision of God like this. See 1:4ff. The glory of God is his powerful and glorious presence. It is beyond description. He has a majesty that is matchless and beyond the power of any man to fully describe. Ezekiel's reaction each time is to fall face down (on his face not on his back) before such amazing greatness and power. There is no other appropriate response.

We must always remember this when we come to think about God and about his worship. God's glory, of course, in one sense, like his presence, is everywhere. It is especially known in heaven. That's where his glory is most obviously seen and known. However, it can also be known very powerfully on earth – especially where God's people gather to worship, as here. What do you need this morning to worship God? This building? Well, it helps to have somewhere to meet but there is nothing in this building that will bring in the glory of God and even if we filled it with wonderful architecture and paintings, etc, it still couldn't do it. What do you need this morning to worship God? These people? Obviously we need people to worship God but again there is nothing in us by nature that can guarantee anything and even if we were the greatest singers in the world and I could preach you the best sermon ever preached, etc, that wouldn't do it either. No, if we are to worship God this morning we desperately need his own holy and glorious presence. We need, as it were, the sound of his presence, the radiance of his glory. Without that it's just a lifeless body. Without that we are just going through the motions. And isn't that true too when we worship God alone or in our families? Do pray for the glorious presence of God. We won't see anything or hear anything but we need to have him near and know he is near.

2. Consider the possibility of the glory of God departing but also being restored

Verse 2 also takes us back to Chapter 10 where we read of the departure of God's glory from the Temple. It was as a result of the wickedness and corruption there that this departure took place. Now at the end of the book Ezekiel sees not just a new and holy Temple but the restoration of God's glory. And that's what we see in the new covenant – the restoration of God's amazing glory in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How very sad in Chapter 10 to see the glory departing but how wonderful now in Chapter 43 to see the promise of restoration.

We can think, perhaps, of meetings that have been boring or unhelpful, of times when we ourselves have tried to pray or read the Bible and got nowhere. There can be times in the life of a believer or a church when it is as if the word Ichabod is written over it. You remember the name Ichabod? It comes in 1 Samuel. It's the name that Eli's daughter-in-law, who died in childbirth, gave to her son on hearing that her husband was dead and the ark of the covenant had been captured. The name Ichabod means “the glory has departed”. The glory can depart – never forget that. There is no guarantee of God's presence. But it can also return, as it clearly does here. If the glory is lost at all – let's pray that it will return, that it will be restored again. It can be so.

3. Consider where the glory of God is to be found

In verses 5-7a we read how the LORD's glory then entered the temple through the east gate. The Spirit then lifted Ezekiel up and brought him into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. Next Ezekiel hears a voice from inside the temple say 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. God doesn't set up his throne just anywhere. He doesn't come to stand in just any place. He lives among his people, in their midst - in the Holy Temple. So it is today. It is God's people who form his holy temple and it is among them that he manifests himself. Each individual Christian is a temple in that the Holy Spirit lives within them but especially together believers (in Peter's words) like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

4. Consider the condition for enjoying the glory of God

The voice Ezekiel heard goes on (7b-9) to say that Israel would never again defile God's holy name - neither they nor their kings - by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places. 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. They actually brought idolatry right up to the Temple gates and sometimes into it. God says So I destroyed them in my anger. Then comes a command with a promise Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever. Why had the glory departed? Because of the people's sins. The people had fallen into idolatry and greed and had turned to many sins and so had been judged. Back in 1899 droves of students were leaving Princeton College in America. They all had their excuses but the real problem was that there had been a case of smallpox and all the students wanted to be away from it. We speak of avoiding something "like the plague". Well, God avoids sin in the same way – not because it can do him harm as such but because it is irreconcilable with his glory. But look now the promise is here that if his people will turn from their sins God will live among them forever. We can know the joy of God's presence everyday if we will simply turn from sin. Holiness will guarantee his glorious presence in our meetings. Sin will certainly drive him away but holiness will lead to glory. We should be doing all we can to seek his glorious presence.

2. Realise that true and holy New Testament worship requires careful conformity to the Word

Next, in verses 9-11, God continues to speak. It is most interesting to see his concern. Some people listen to a message like the one I have just given about God's glorious presence and they think it is all about that and nothing else matters. In fact there is something else just as important. Jesus says in the New Testament that those who truly worship God worship in spirit (with the glorious presence of God) and in truth – according to God's Word. So we say

1. Remember the importance of the Word in showing us our sins

God says (10) Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan. Ezekiel has already been told this but God wants to stress to him the importance of describing the Temple to the people and of letting them consider the plan. The purpose of this is that they may be ashamed of their sins. When we come to the Word the first thing it usually does and should do is to make us ashamed of ourselves and of our sins. This is one reason why we are sometimes reluctant to turn to it. God's purpose was that as the people read of this glorious future Temple they would think of the Temple they had lost and be ashamed of their sins and would want to repent. Are you paying heed to God's Word? Do read the Bible. When we read it we should react in the same way as outlined here. Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Some of the things you have done? Some of the ways you have behaved? God has been so good and we have been so bad.

2. Remember the importance of every part of the Word in leading to holiness

It goes on (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. When the people hear of the Temple they'll not only be ashamed of their sins, they'll also see that there's hope for them. There's a way to be saved! It's like a drowning man reaching out and finding someone's thrown him a life saver. Again that's what the Word does – it shows us the way out of sin and to holiness. See how God wants Ezekiel to pass on all the details and for the people to receive it all. Every detail of Scripture will help us more and more to understand God's will. Are you paying heed to God's Word? Do read the Bible. Here is the way to be holy. Here is the pattern for forgiveness, the way out of sin and on to the highway to holiness. Only the Word can give us this.

3. Realise that true and holy New Testament worship requires holiness and a consecrated altar

So with the thought of holiness in mind we turn first to verse 12 and then to the remaining verses of the chapter.

1 Remember that true and holy New Testament worship requires holiness

Clearly then to worship God aright we need his glorious presence, we need to conform to his Word and we need holiness in our lives. In verse 12 Ezekiel is told 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. Previously it was only the very heart of the Temple that was most holy but now it is not just every part of it but All the surrounding area on top of the mountain too. Holiness is increasing then. In this New Testament era all believers are priests and every area of life is to be dedicated to the Lord. More and more holiness prevails – that is how it must be in our lives. Pray “More holiness give me, more strivings within.” We must be seeking to be increasingly holy – not just in Sundays, not just in church or at prayer – but in every single part of our lives.

2 Remember that true and holy New Testament worship requires an altar

Having said that the altar at the heart of the Temple is still very important. In verses 13-17 Ezekiel's attention is drawn to it and he is told These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits, that cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth: Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span around the edge. And this is the height of the altar: From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge it is 2 cubits high and a cubit wide, and from the smaller ledge up to the larger ledge it is 4 cubits high and a cubit wide. The altar hearth is 4 cubits high, and 4 horns project upward from the hearth. The altar hearth is square, 12 cubits long and 12 cubits wide. The upper ledge also is square, 14 cubits long and 14 cubits wide, with a rim of half a cubit and a gutter of a cubit all around. The steps of the altar face east.

The whole of the Temple area is holy but the altar at its heart continues to be important. This reminds us of the centrality of the cross. It is Christ's sacrifice there that makes holiness possible. This is the great theme of Scripture. This what makes it possible for the glory of God to come near. If we are to be holy we must keep coming back to this. We will do that best by regularly setting aside time to read the Bible and to pray as individuals and as families.

3 Remember that true and holy New Testament worship requires a consecrated altar

In 18-26 we read about the consecration of the altar. The LORD says These will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built. First, a young bull is to be given as a sin offering to the priests, who are Levites, of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me ... some of its blood is to be put ... on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge and all around the rim, to purify the altar and make atonement for it. The bull itself is to be burnt in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary. On the next day a male goat without defect is also to be offered to further purify the altar. When that is done another young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect, are to be offered not as a sin offering but as a burnt offering to the LORD this time. Every day for seven days a male goat is to be offered as a sin offering plus a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect. So (26) For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it. Dedication to God and consecration are not subjects we often talk about today. Perhaps there has been a reaction against the abuses of such talk. However, let us not be mistaken we need all of us to be consecrated to God, dedicated to him. We need to keep coming back to the cross – to the fact of Christ's death for sinners, in their place. We must never forget this. It is the heart of true religion and it is the heart of true worship.

4 Remember that true and holy New Testament worship requires a regularly used altar

Verse 27 At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign LORD. If we want to be acceptable to God then we must be regularly coming to him through Jesus Christ. That is how to worship. That is how to live.