Ezekiel 40-42

Ezekiel

40:1-49  -  God was revealing Himself to Ezekiel. ‘The hand of the Lord was upon’ him. He received ‘visions of God’ (1-2). Ezekiel was not to keep this revelation to himself: ‘Tell the house of Israel everything you see’ (4). We are to learn from ‘the prophets who spoke in the Name of the Lord’. Like them, we are to seek to bring ‘sinners’ back to the Lord, showing them ‘the error of their ways’ and pointing them to God’s way of salvation. This work is to be done prayerfully, never forgetting that ‘the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective’ (James 5:10,16,19-20). God promises great blessing to those who are faithful in this work of winning others for Him: ‘Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars for ever and ever’ (Daniel 12:3).

41:1-42:20  -  ‘This is the Most Holy Place’ (41:4). Here, God is speaking about the Temple. The Temple was the place where God’s people were to gather together to worship Him. There is another ‘holy place’, another place where God is to be glorified: ‘Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit... Glorify God in your body’ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We worship God when we are in the place of worship. That is only a part of our worship. Our heart is to be a ‘holy place’ where God alone is worshipped. We are to worship Him in everything we do: ‘Be holy in all you do’. At the heart of our worship, there is thanksgiving for God’s love. At the heart of the holy life, there is love. We ‘obey the truth’ when we ‘love one another deeply from the heart’ (1 Peter 1:15-16,22).