WEEKLY SUNDAY
SCHOOL LESSON
An international
Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday November 2, 2014
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GOD’S
DIVINE GLORY RETURNS
(We
can see GOD’s glory when we follow HIM)
(Ezekiel
43)
In Ezekiel chapters 8-11 Ezekiel
described how GOD’s glory left the Temple that King Solomon had constructed. HIS
withdrawal symbolized HIS temporary removal of protection from the city of
Jerusalem, and, from the Israelite people in general. Here in Ezekiel 43, the “angelic
being” in Ezekiel’s vision brings him back around to the East Gateway of the Temple
area. It is there that the glory of the LORD suddenly appears before Ezekiel
just at it had before, at the Kebar River, and again, when GOD came to destroy
Jerusalem. The sounds of HIS coming were like the roar of rushing water, and
the whole landscape shone brightly when HE arrived, and came in through the
East Gateway of the temple (Vs.1-4). Then the HOLY SPIRIT took Ezekiel into the
inner courtyard as the glory of the LORD then filled the Temple itself. As the
angelic being, who was assigned by GOD to measure the temple area, stood beside
Ezekiel, a voice spoke to Ezekiel from inside the Temple saying;
“Son of man, this is the place of
my throne and the place where I will rest my feet. I will live here forever
among the people of Israel. They and their kings will not defile my holy name
any longer by their adulterous worship of other gods or by honoring the relics
of their kings who have died. They
put their idol altars right next to mine with only a wall between them and me.
They defiled my holy name by such detestable sin, so I consumed them in my
anger. Now let them stop worshiping
other gods and honoring the relics of their kings, and I will live among them
forever” (Vs.7-9)
(NLT).
And
so GOD would “conditionally” bring HIS divine glory back into the Temple in
Jerusalem after the exiles returned, and HE would reside there once again among
HIS people. However, in verses 10-12, GOD tells Ezekiel to describe the Temple
plans, that, HE had shown him, to the people of Israel, and, to do it in such a
way that, it would bring to remembrance, the shame of all of their past sins.
GOD wanted the people to feel the shame for all of the “profane things” that
they had done in HIS Holy Place, the old Temple, and let it serve as a
deterrent from re-visiting those same old trespasses again, after they begin to
assemble in the new Temple. And only if the people repent of their past
behavior, was Ezekiel to describe the specifications of the construction of the
new Temple.
GOD
wanted HIS people to be able to see HIS grace through HIS promise of restoration,
and be led to repent. Here HE stressed one basic primary law of the new Temple
that must be adhered to at all times, and that is; ABSOLUTE HOLINESS! In
fact, GOD says that the entire top of the hill where the Temple is built will
be holy! And the Temple itself must be adorned with holiness, not human ideals
and ingenuity.
Ezekiel
was allowed by GOD to see the same glory that had once adorned the Temple of
old in Jerusalem. Now GOD would be coming back to Jerusalem, and resting in a
rebuilt glorified physical edifice, where HE would also restore the Israelites
relationship of friendship with HIM, and fulfill the covenant that HE had made
with Abraham.
As
Ezekiel’s prophecies continue to waver back and forward between pre-exilic,
post exilic, and eschatological times, here in the passage of Ezekiel 43,
verses 13-27, we find perhaps one of the more stronger arguments that the
prophet’s foretelling of the coming post-exilic Temple, may not be descriptions
of a “yet to come” future, eschatological restoration of Israel.
Beginning
in verse 13 of this chapter, we see the detailed description of plans for a “sacrificial
alter” to be built in the new Temple. Here we can see that there is a
theologically based problem with this being an eschatological reference,
instead of a post-exilic one, since CHRIST JESUS is the once-and-for-all-time
sacrifice that won us our salvation. Therefore, this passage begs the question,
“Why will we need a sacrificial altar in the “Millennial Kingdom Temple?” And
the answer is that, we won’t. Here in this passage Ezekiel is clearly
prophesying of the Temple that was built by the exiles (led by Ezra, Zerrubabel,
& Nehemiah) who would return to Israel from Babylon.
In
the Millennial Kingdom Temple there will be no need for a sacrifice altar or
Levitical priests of the family of Zadok to minister before the LORD on behalf
of the people for their sin, simply because there will be no sinning in the
Millennial Kingdom here on earth, under the direct rule of CHRIST JESUS. GOD
will have already cleansed us of our “sin nature and filth” by then, and we
will only have the desire to live like CHRIST, going forward (Ezekiel 36:26-29).
There will be no sinful desires in the Millennial Kingdom, as satan, sin, and
death, will all be locked away for a thousand years (Revelations 20:1-6), and
we’ll be able to see GOD’s Glory, because we will earnestly be following HIM in
everything we do, and, in every thought that we have.
A
Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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