Tag: temple

God’s Throne, and the Soles of God’s Feet

Ezekiel 43-44

Devotion by Daniel Smead (Minnesota)

Today we continue Ezekiel’s vision, begun in chapter 40. For three chapters suspense built as he observed a shining figure (presumably an angel) give the dimensions of a new Temple, room by room, wall by wall. We might say that measuring the building simulated its construction. Or perhaps these measurements symbolize preparation God’s people needed to accept and undergo so they could properly serve God.

Ezekiel previously relayed to the Babylonian exiles a vision in which God abandoned Solomon’s Temple and Jerusalem. He had seen the glory of God exit the Temple, going East (10:18-19). In today’s text Ezekiel is taken to the eastern gate and sees God’s glory arrive there: “like the vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city,” and falls to his face before it (43:3). Getting this vision confirmed God’s intentions for the covenant, that the people would be restored to the land and again have a Temple.

In that earlier vision we were told that “the temple was filled with the cloud and the [inner] court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord” before it exited (10:4). Similarly at its return “the glory of the Lord filled the house” (43:5). This ‘filling’ of the Temple mirrors events at the dedication of the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple, when in each case God’s glory filled the building and prevented people from ministering (Exodus 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:11). (Though in his visions Ezekiel saw each event from on scene, I would guess that is due to them being visions and not reality.)

I wanted to address a point from verse 7 next which called for background from Tabernacle and Temple history. The next several paragraphs (o.k., 19 paragraphs) give background, after which the devotion proper resumes. (Honestly, I didn’t want to spend the next few hours paring this to a more “normal” length – and then end up saving bits from what I trimmed to maybe use later. I’m sorry about the length, though.)

Background about the Temple and Tabernacle

The basic points involved with the Jerusalem Temple are shown in the Pentateuch. Moses told the people about “the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling” (Deuteronomy 12:5). The “place” is the location of the Temple, as Moses said there, and with similar language several more times (see v. 11, 18; 14:23-25; 15:20; 16:2, 7, 11, 15-16; 17:8; 26:2; 31:11). The Hebrews didn’t set up the Temple very soon, they couldn’t because they weren’t even informed of the location God chose for it until hundreds of years later. Instead at Mount Sinai the people constructed the Tabernacle, a “sanctuary” built for God to “dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). God gave instructions to Moses regarding that sanctuary, but first he prepared the Ten Commandments, and then the Ark of the Covenant which would hold them. One of the central issues about the Tabernacle, and it would be central for the Temple as well, was that it provided somewhere to place the Ark of the Covenant, along with the other “sacred articles belonging to God” (1 Chronicles 22:19). Those items, created at Mount Sinai, initially went into the Tabernacle’s walls of cloth. Later they went into the Temple’s walls of stone, (walls which were covered by wood, that was covered by gold, decorated with gems and art – it really was quite a fancy place).

The twelve tribes were in the wilderness of Sinai for 40 years, and during that time when they stayed in one spot the Tabernacle was set up in the center of the camp – which is to say the tribes put their tents around the Tabernacle. We are even told the pattern in which they arranged the camp, the tribes that were to the Tabernacle’s north, east, etc. When the tribes moved priests carried the Ark by hand, using poles put through metal rings attached to it. The various parts of the Tabernacle were transported by the Levites. Once the people arrived in the promised land the Tabernacle continued to go with the main camp of the nation while the first few years of fighting took place, and then it was set up in one place or another for long periods (for example at Shiloh, where High Priest Eli raised Samuel). God eventually revealed to King David where the Temple would be (1 Chronicles 22:1), but God did not allow David to build the Temple (v. 8). Solomon, who was not associated with violence, would direct the construction of a place for God’s name (1 Kings 5:5).

Just as I see the Temple as existing to house the Ark of the Covenant, I recognize the central portion of the Temple as the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The other areas of the Temple are defined at least in part by their relationship to the Holy of Holies. Outside the Holy of Holies was the Holy Place, beyond that was the Inner Court, then the Outer Court.

I find it clear that God’s connection with the Tabernacle and the Temple keyed on the Ark of the Covenant more than either building. The Ark which sat in the Holy of Holies is referred to a few times as the “footstool of God” (1 Chronicles 28:2; Psalm 99:5; 132:7). Psalm 99:1 includes the comment that God “is enthroned above the cherubim,” referring to the two statues on the Ark’s lid. That imagery is reflected in the lid’s name, “mercy seat” (Exodus 25:17-22; Leviticus 16:2, 13-15; Numbers 7:89; 1 Chronicles 28:11; Hebrews 9:5). In Exodus 25:22 God promised “I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony.”

In Exodus 40 Moses learned the final steps for setting up the Tabernacle. After he put everything in place “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (v. 34). It was an impressive moment for the people. Similar events took place when the Temple was ready in Solomon’s time. They brought the Tabernacle to the Temple, and transferred the Ark of the Covenant into the Holy of Holies of the Temple. While people stood outside praising “then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” (2 Chronicles 5:13b-14). (In my mind taking the Ark of the Covenant from the Tabernacle for the last time was rather like removing the power source from the Tabernacle; it couldn’t operate anymore. We aren’t told what happened to the Tabernacle after that, but my guess is that it was dismantled and put in a Temple storage area. Could you imagine it being thrown out, even though it was obsolete?)

In scripture the Ark being the “footstool” of God pairs with “heaven” / “the heavens” containing the “throne” of God. “The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Psalm 11:4). “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens” (103:19). Isaiah 66:1 is probably the most important Old Testament verse about this subject for us, because of its effect on the New Testament. The Isaiah text has a slight difference of focus from the Psalm texts, saying heaven ‘is’ God’s throne, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Heaven is my throne”. (The three texts do effectively agree about the location of God’s throne.)

The shift in Isaiah 66:1 from a “throne” in “heaven” to heaven itself may serve to set up the text’s similar change with the concept of God’s footstool, which is expanded from the Ark to “the earth.” The impact of that change feels different than with the “heaven” reference, it comes across as representing God as too great, too expansive, to be linked with one spot.

“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?”

Still, the rest of Isaiah 66 continues to grant significance as physical locations to both Jerusalem and the Temple. Jerusalem is mentioned several times and verse 20 says:

“Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.”

I think verse one either tries to daunt human pride, or it warns against humans being complacent. Those issues are related. It seems to suggest two problems that can occur for those who try to build God a Temple: 1) if anyone implies that having a Temple puts limits on God, and 2) forgetting that the materials used for the building project are only ever things God already brought into existence.

The language of Isaiah 66:1 carried into the New Testament, and its use there made that way of speaking about “throne” and “footstool” more familiar to us than the language used by the Psalm texts. But probably far fewer people remember what Isaiah 66:1 says than this line from Jesus: “make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.” (Matthew 5:34-35). (If we are considering the impact of Jesus’ words on beliefs about the Temple, another text many people pay attention to is John 4:20-24. Some draw the conclusion from that statement that there is no future for any physical Temple. But I won’t take more space on that sidetrack right now.)

Stephen directly quoted Isaiah 66:1-2, near the end of his speech in Acts 7, after false witnesses claimed that: “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” (Acts 6:13-14; see 7:47-50 for Stephen’s quote). Again, these were false witnesses, and Stephen would not have been disrespectful of the Temple or the Law. It is possible that some of Stephen’s opponents, while being uninterested in learning from him, still heard and skewed things Stephen said.

As a Christian Stephen was no longer called on to follow the Mosaic Law, though that Law still existed. And Stephen seems to have recognized the freedom he had in terms of that Law sooner than most in the Church. As Paul would later point out, the Law continued to apply to those who meant for it to be their way of relating to God; that was why Paul warned the Gentiles in Galatia that a man who chose to be circumcised “is under obligation to keep the whole Law”; Galatians 5:3. (Many people today are circumcised, but what Paul wrote here only applies when that fact is given a religious intent regarding the Mosaic Law.)

And Jesus, about whom Stephen taught, was not going to destroy the Temple, but Jesus did predict its destruction (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). Also, at least once Jesus spoke metaphorically of his own death as the destruction of a “temple,” a statement which people had misunderstood even when he made it (John 2:18-22). It is possible that Stephen referred to some of Jesus’ statements about these matters, and that this affected the accusations against him.

As I pointed to above, Isaiah 66 may relate to two issues 1) not being able to put limits on God, and 2) that people could only “create” a Temple in a limited sense because really God made all the materials they used. Herod the Great certainly seems to have been prideful about renovating the Temple. It seems like the ongoing renovations also pleased the priests of Stephen’s time, which may tie to his use of Isaiah 66 (Matthew 23:16). All we humans really do in ‘creating’ objects is rework the shape and function of material provided by God. Jesus said that “not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself” like a lily of the field (Matthew 6:29). What can be said of Solomon’s wardrobe can probably also be declared of his construction projects. When is a wooden board more impressive than the living tree it came from? Can a wall of stone outclass a mountain (or a canyon)? The book of Hebrews makes explicit the fact that the Tabernacle was intended to reflect heaven’s throne room (Hebrews 8:5 – note that both are “tents”; Isaiah 40:22). By implication the Temple achieved that same purpose. But even when Herod coated the outside of the Temple with gold to make it reflect the sun that didn’t let it outshine the sun. God’s originals are always superior to man’s replicas.

The reference in Isaiah 66:1 to the earth as God’s footstool points to God being much larger than one location can hold. But there is another way that human pride can try to put limits on God with the Temple – a limit on God’s actions. When I read Stephen’s sermon I am reminded of Jeremiah 7:4, when God had him stand in the gates of Solomon’s Temple and warn the people “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ ” The point of that statement is that the injustice being practiced in Jerusalem at that time was sufficient for God to choose to let that Temple, though it was God’s Temple, be destroyed. Just because it was offered to God didn’t mean it would be preserved. The fact that it existed in Jerusalem did not mean the people of Jerusalem would be safe from harm. Yet a complacent population could choose not to be revived and reformed, because they had the Temple in their midst.

God did not need a building to dwell in – the Temple existed for humans. God was willing to let the building go if that action helped humans recognize truth (remember, the punishments described in Deuteronomy were ultimately corrective, intended to reform and allow for restoration). The Temple gave a place to worship, with rituals God laid out. It was intended to help people understand and relate with God. It housed the Ark of the Covenant, from which God condescended to communicate. No building can be grand enough to gain significance for God. Yet God can choose to put divine glory into a human offering, granting it significance. God did so with the Temple in Jerusalem. In Isaiah 66:1 God asked about the building someone would offer, and that question comes as a challenge to human pride. As God points out in verse 2 “Has not my hand made all these things?” (NIV). But an assertion of God’s power and authority is not a denial that God in fact called for a building to be constructed in Jerusalem, which God accepted for divine use. Nor was there only one such building. When verse 20 says people will go: “to my holy mountain Jerusalem, . . . to the house of the Lord” the Temple it refers to is still in our future.

Devotion resumes

In Ezekiel 43:7 God says: “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.” This verse offers a shift from how the Temple is normally discussed in the Old Testament. God is not presented as dwelling in the heavens, feet propped on the Ark of the Covenant. Rather throne and soles are together on earth. 

It can be difficult to conceptualize God occupying a single location while having a presence everywhere. Even scripture can seem ambiguous on this topic, for example Psalm 139:7-10, which seems to include both concepts, implying that one or the other is metaphorical. In the past when discussing the “throne” and “footstool” texts I have suggested they involve where God’s focus is. While God is aware of all things, God gives special attention to the promised land.

But if language about the Tabernacle and the Temple normally meant to convey that God’s attention is focused on Jerusalem, while God still dwelt apart in heaven, it seems that in the time of this new Temple the opportunity had come to combine the two settings. God (in whatever sense) dwells “among the sons of Israel forever,” with both God’s throne and the “soles” of God’s feet situated at the new Temple (Ezekiel 43:7). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them” (Revelation 21:3). Take joy in this!

The change seems to involve more than the location of God’s throne. We are not told that this new Temple’s Holy of Holies has any furniture, such as an Ark of the Covenant for God’s feet to rest on. We are told: “This is the law of the house: its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy.” (v. 12). Does this expanded holiness suggest that in the new Temple there is no need for divided courts, and places of greater and lesser sanctity? It implies that only those who may enter God’s presence are allowed near, for the whole area is where God stands.

(This could be overstated. In 44:13-14 God speaks of priests who had not behaved as they should, but who would be allowed to serve. It says: “they shall not come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.” So, we again see ambiguity in the text. What is “most holy,” and what is not?)

Ezekiel was told: “As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the plan.” (v. 10). God expected that contemplating these exalted plans for worship would affect Ezekiel’s hearers. God’s prophet had already received the measurements of the building, and now begins to get those for the altar, followed by expectations for the priests.

Recall that for most of its history the Levitical priesthood did not function as it was meant to. Teaching had not gone out as it should, being a priest had not always seemed honorable, nor possessing God as inheritance been greatly valued. But God is saying this will be fixed, it will work. When God dwells with the people, the priests will do as they were meant to. And the name of the Lord will be glorified.

Reflection Questions

  1. How do you think it felt for Ezekiel, a priest so long separated from his worship roles, to see a vision of this pristine Temple, untouched by false worship, and then filled with God’s glory? What do you think Ezekiel made of God’s plans for the future of the Temple and the priesthood?
  2. What is something that helps you strive for the Lord (perhaps a Bible account, event, image, or the comfort of a friend, which you are able to hold to as an example of what you particularly aspire to or hope for)?
  3. What difficulties do you think Ezekiel may have faced in trying to relay his experience of this vision to his fellow exiles? How does that compare with your experiences of trying to express yourself to others?  
SGL.2025.AugustFullPageDownload

Has God Left the Building?

Ezekiel 9-12

Devotion by Pastor Jeff Fletcher – originally posted for SeekGrowLove on March 21, 2017, for Ezekiel 10-13.

“Elvis has left the building.”   That’s what they used to say to the throngs of screaming fans after one of Elvis Presley’s concerts back in the day.  They would rush Elvis out the back door into his waiting car or bus and whisk him off to safety.  Hopefully, the fans would calm down after they knew he was no longer there… there would be no more encores for this performance.

In Ezekiel ten- YHWH has left the building.  The building in question was the Temple of Jerusalem.  Since the time of Moses and Aaron in the wilderness when Israel worshipped in the Tabernacle, to the time of Solomon and beyond, when they worshipped YHWH in the Temple of Jerusalem, YHWH was present with His people.  They knew that there, in the holy of holies, the shekhinah glory of God was present with his people.  Yes, there was a veil which separated the holy of holies from the rest of the temple, and only the high priest was permitted to enter into the presence of YHWH once a year to atone for the sins of the people, yet they could always look up to the tabernacle or later Temple atop Mt. Zion and know that God was with them.  But no longer.  Ezekiel saw a vision of God’s glory leaving the Temple.  Because of their extreme disobedience and their worship of idols, God could no longer remain among his people.  It was a time for judgment, and God had to leave.  How sad that must have been for Ezekiel, to watch God leaving.

In Ezekiel eleven, judgment is proclaimed against Israel’s leaders.  “You haven’t obeyed my laws” YHWH complains.  “You’ve conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”

God is gracious, even in the midst of judgment, he promises to bring some of them back from exile and give them back the land which he had given to their forefathers.  God promises to bring about change in their hearts.  vs. 19 “I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”  God still loves His people and offers them hope in the midst of judgment.  Ezekiel shared this vision with the exiles so that they would understand the consequences of their sins.

In Ezekiel twelve,  God warns that even their ruler would be forced into exile.  They kept hoping that this would happen in the distant future, but God assures them that judgment is coming soon.

In chapter thirteen, God turns his judgment from the leaders to the false prophets.  These people told lies in the name of YHWH.  They said “thus saith the Lord” when God didn’t say it.  God condemns them for leading their people astray.  They “whitewashed” over the truth about God’s coming judgment against sin and substituted their lies about a false peace.  “you encouraged the wicked not to repent”.  He blames the false prophets for the sins of the people, therefore, they will come under God’s harsh judgment.

Israel had a wonderful building in which to worship, they had clear rules to follow, they had leaders to teach them, they had priests to offer sacrifices, they had prophets to bring them words from God- and yet that wasn’t enough.  They were not content to live as God’s holy and separate people and act as a witness to the rest of the nations around them.  Instead, they worshipped the false gods of their neighbors, they ignored God’s laws, their prophets failed to warn them for their sins and assured them of false peace when God was preparing to bring his judgment.  It seems not much has changed.  One would be tempted to see the same kinds of things going on today.  How many buildings today allow idolatry and false gods to be worshipped?  How many people falsely claim to be speaking God’s word when they are instead peddling the words of men?  Some days we might even wonder “has God left the building” when we follow the sinful standards of the world rather than remaining faithful to God’s holy word?  We’d like to think judgment is far away just as they thought then… but perhaps it’s much closer than you might think.

Reflection Questions

  1. Has there been a time when you have felt that God’s presence and glory has left?
  2. Have you ever conformed too much to the standards of people around you?
  3. According to Ezekiel 11, who qualifies to receive the heart transplant from stone to flesh, and who does not? What is the purpose and the result of this heart transplant?
SGL.2025.AugustFullPageDownload

YHWH Sammah

OLD TESTAMENT: Ezekiel 46-48

POETRY: Psalm 135

NEW TESTAMENT: John 6:25-71

Today’s reading finishes up our time in the prophetic book of Ezekiel. A book that I’ve enjoyed studying a bit more- even if some days I’ve found myself with more questions than answers. Ultimately, it is nice to close in hope, and Ezekiel’s last chapters end with hope and a climax with God’s glory being restored to the temple. His words of prophecy were full of hope to those in exile even before the promised Messiah had surfaced. For us who have received the gift of the Messiah, and a personal relationship with God, the hope for a future restoration in the kingdom of God is something we still cling to in our days of exile.

The book of Ezekiel starts with a little less good news, and some warnings of destruction which certainly came to Jerusalem, but it ends with this detailed, beautiful prophetic description of a new temple yet to come.  Historically, there has not yet been a temple meeting this description to fulfill this prophecy.  And while some argue that this prophecy was solely fulfilled figuratively (in Jesus, in the church, etc.), others assert it is a future literal temple yet to come in the Millennium where believers reign with Christ. While I am certainly motivated to study it more after stumbling across the various ideas out there, because I am confident from scripture that there will be a literal return of Christ to earth, it appears to me these prophecies work well alongside that in describing a literal temple.

 I appreciate the taste of restoration and return of God’s glory that Ezekiel gives us.  In the United States, we have just finished another tiresome election cycle, and it seems like in these times we hear it all….. over and over again…..the self-proclaimed prophets, empty promises, whining and blaming, “pride, patriotism, and prejudice”…..the whole shebang.  My hope and faith is not in America being great. Nor is it in world peace we know scripturally will not truly happen in this age- no matter who is president.  My true identification or affiliation is not found in my national citizenship or any other political, demographic, or who-knows-what-now-label. My only sustaining hope is based in the promises given to Abraham and shared with me thousands of years later. I look forward to the world being great again, and pray Jesus will return soon, so that the meek will inherit it.

Ezekiel closes his prophecy telling us the name of the city he had described in such detail. It is called “The LORD is there”. In Hebrew, “YHWH sammah”.  Two words that brought the most resonating image to my mind in all of the chapters in this book that I read. There will be a day when God and His son Jesus will dwell with us. Literally.

-Jennifer Hall

Questions:

  1. What are your thoughts on how the prophecies from these chapters are/will be fulfilled?
  2.  What gives you hope in today’s reading?
  3. How does the LORD “being there” impact a place? We know we’re invited!
sglcalendar2024Download

Our High Calling

Thursday – May 27, 2021

1 Kings 5-6, Acts 24

As Solomon’s reign continues, he begins to build the temple: the job promised to him by God through David. Solomon knows that this is his calling – and he wants to do it well. After David was told that he could not build the temple because of the blood shed on his hands, David amassed a treasure trove of building supplies for years. Even though temple building was not David’s calling, he still worked hard to make sure that he made Solomon’s task easier through his actions. 

One of the first actions that Solomon takes is to get the best lumber he could find. He goes to the king of Lebanon and asks for the cedars of Lebanon. Then, he began to build the temple – a process that lasted 7 years! 

Solomon knew that when God has called you to do something you make sure to do two things: (1) you give him the best of you first and (2) you complete the task assigned to you no matter how long it takes. Solomon didn’t let the difficulty of getting the cedars of Lebanon stop him from being sure to get the finest lumber. He also didn’t give up in the process of finishing the temple. He was committed to finishing the task he was assigned to well. 

In our lives, are you as committed as Solomon to completing the calling God has assigned to you well? We are God’s hands and feet in the world. Part of our testimony to the world is how well we complete our callings. “Let’s not grow weary of doing good” (Gal. 6:9). “Let’s finish the race we are running with endurance” (Heb. 12:1-2). 

~ Cayce Fletcher

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading at Biblegateway.com: Job 1-2 and 2 Corinthians 2 .

download the seekgrowlove 2021 Bible reading plan

The Lifting of the Zadokites: Ministerial Faithfulness

Ezekiel 44-45


“‘But the Levitical priests, who are descendants of Zadok and who guarded my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign Lord. They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and serve me as guards. Ezekiel 44:15-16 (NIV)


Yesterday we discussed God’s holiness and how it must be separated from the common. Today we will continue along those lines but in terms of ministering in the presence of such holiness. The temple was the place where God’s presence was located on earth and was considered the holiest place on the planet; it was a sacred space. Not just anyone could visit the temple; Israel was ripped by God for allowing uncircumcised (of heart and body) non-Jews to go into the temple (Ez. 44:7). After laying out the dimensions for a new holy temple in the last few chapters, God turns Ezekiel’s attention to who gets to minister there and in what capacity. 


Israel had not taken seriously the holiness of God, even in the temple, where the Holy of Holies was found. The Levitical priests, despite being chosen to act as ministers in the temple, couldn’t fulfill their duties without corruption. They allowed the unworthy to come into the temple and served as priests to idols. These priests may not have been, but Yahweh certainly was serious about keeping His temple holy and having the right people ministering there. So, in this new temple, those who hadn’t appreciated the importance of the job would miss out. Those who remained firm, those who did not go with the crowd, those who did appreciate the holiness of the temple, the Zadokites (descendants of Zadok), would be lifted up as an example and given the jobs the less than faithful had forfeited.


Today there isn’t a grand temple complex where we must minister before God. We don’t have to make animal sacrifices, wear special clothes, or worry about remaining ceremonially clean. But that doesn’t mean God isn’t just as serious today about those who represent Him as ministers. The sacrifices of today are spiritual in nature and offered by those who have chosen to follow Christ as their High Priest. We are to act as royal priests who, following the example of our High Priest, surrender ourselves completely to the will of God and do the ministry He calls us to. Just like the Zadokites, who were lauded for their faithfulness despite Israel’s disobedience, we need to make sure we stay true to who we are as disciples of Christ and God’s representatives on earth, regardless of how others act–Christian or not. Our God still cares about holiness and has put His spirit within us, let us guard the new temple with the same (or greater) fervor and faithfulness as (than) the Zadokites did. 

-Joel Fletcher

Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to at Biblegateway here –Ezekiel 44-45

Tomorrow we will finish the book of Ezekiel (chapters 46-48) as we continue on our

2020-chronological-bible-reading-planDownload

2 Kings 18:1-8, 2 Chron. 29-31, & Psalm 48

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Hey everyone!

We are currently living in a very crazy time – am I right?! COVID-19 has taken over our daily lives, the political climate is VERY sticky and people are turning against one another (even within Godly communities) to prove their point and/or push their ideas of what they believe to be true. We are continually becoming more and more divided with each passing day. It is scary. Exhausting. Overwhelming. Frustrating. And those are only a few of the many adjectives I could throw out there right now to describe what is going on around us.

Let’s be honest here… all of this is A LOT to balance…. And I know, personally, as a flawed human being who continually makes mistakes and cannot seem to ever fully pull it all together, I constantly fall short when attempting to manage all of these changing circumstances and emotions. In times like this, I always find it helpful (and encouraging) to look back on examples set before me of Godly men and/or women who have managed to handle things a whole lot better than I am.

Our readings for today bring Hezekiah into focus. In 2 Kings 18:1-8 Hezekiah (son of Ahaz) comes to reign as the king of Judah. Hezekiah was a king who had a very close relationship with God and he is an example of how the faith of one man can change the course of an entire nation. During his reign Hezekiah pursued God with his whole heart. Hezekiah remained faithful and diligent throughout the highs and the lows of his time – he repaired the Jewish temple that had been previously impacted by wickedness, removed false Gods from the land, destroyed places where pagan worship was still in practice and restored the Passover as a national holiday.

Because King Hezekiah put God first in everything he did, God prospered him. Hezekiah “held fast to the Lord and did not stop following Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses and therefore the Lord was with him and he was successful in whatever he undertook” (2 King 18:6-7). In his time of need, Hezekiah came forth and prayed for relief, guidance and support from the Lord and the Lord was quick and gracious to give of these things and reward Hezekiah for his faithfulness.

The example that Hezekiah sets forth during his reign reminds us of the importance of remaining faithful and obedient to God and His word regardless of what is happening around us. I encourage all of us to follow the example of Hezekiah in the time we currently find ourselves in today. Pray. Remain faithful. Stay diligent. Honor God by doing the right thing…..

While things around us are ever changing and continually confusing, we can rest assured that God will remain faithful and reward our diligence just as He has promised.

Love and miss you all – stay safe and healthy. I absolutely cannot wait for the day where we are all reunited again and can honor God together.

~ Kass Sipka

 

Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to on Bible Gateway – 2 Kings 18:1-8, 2 Chron. 29-31, & Psalm 48.

Tomorrow, we continue reading about the history of Judah and Israel in Hosea 1-7– as we continue the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan.

God’s Presence and What’s To Come

Text: Rev 21-22

Revelation 21-2,3

Over the last six days, I’ve been sharing with you some big moments in scripture where heaven and earth come together. It’s been a journey through and a celebration of the story of God’s presence among us, through the ups and downs. Yesterday I teased that where the story goes from here is going to be much bigger than what we expect.

 

If we zoom out from scripture and get a big picture of it all, we see that at the very beginning, God’s intent is to be with us, here on Earth. For a while, it was great. We screwed some things up and got ourselves kicked out of the garden, and so we lost access to God’s presence. The story since then has been a record of God’s attempts to dwell with us again, to bring us closer to him, and to bring more people in to be his children. Scripture leaves us with the hope, promise, and expectation that this trajectory continues in the future. God is faithful!

 

Allow me to admit that I don’t have a perfect understanding of what the future holds. It seems there are as many different takes on end-time prophecy as there are grains of sand on all the beaches. So I am going to conveniently sidestep most of that and stick to only a few things that I believe are clearly taught in scripture about our hope for the future.

 

Resurrection

 

The idea of resurrection has been around for a long time in the scriptures, well before Jesus. We see hints in Job 19:25-27, Dan 12:13, Isa 26:19, a strange zombie army passage in Ezekiel 37, and several other places. But it isn’t until the resurrection of Christ that the concept comes into the forefront. After all, his resurrection was the defining moment and hinge-pin of the Christian faith.

 

Paul tells us that Jesus is the “first fruits” of the resurrection (1Co 15:20,23), meaning he is the forerunner. He is the first to go forward into this resurrected state, and someday we will follow suit. Our bodies will be made new and different somehow, like how Christ’s body was made new, raised imperishable, in glory, in power, and “spiritual” (1Co 15:42-44), much more than simply being raised from the dead.

 

But it isn’t just our bodies that get resurrected. Heaven and earth get resurrected too. Scripture promises a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 65:17, 2Pet 3:13, Rev 21). Let this declaration from Rev 21:5 ring out in your heart: “Behold, I am making all things new.”

 

I’d encourage you today or in the near future to reflect on some classic resurrection passages/verses: 1Cor 15, 1Thess 4, 2Cor 4-5, Phil 3, Col 3:4, Rom 8:9-11, 1Jn 3:2, 1Cor 6:14. I know I have been heavy on versage this week, but if you find the time for these passages, it will be worth it.

 

The Return of Christ

 

A return or reappearing of Christ accompanies the resurrection. Many of the resurrection passages above mention his return as well, sometimes in the same breath. The events are apparently closely linked, if not the same instant. To me, it brings up the question whether his return is the catalyst for our resurrection, or if there is something about being in the resurrected state that allows us to see through the veil into the heavenly realm and see our king just as he is (1Jn 3:2). They both sound great to me. Someday we’ll find out together.

While we do have Christ with us in a way now, through the Holy Spirit in us, being together with our Lord in person (and as fellow “resurrectees”) will be much better. Everything, even death, will be subject to him, and then he will hand everything over to God, himself included, so that God will be “all in all” (1Co 15: 24-28). This is the true rule of God, his Kingdom!

 

God Dwells With Us

 

At some moment, any moment, everything is going to change in the twinkling of an eye (1Cor 15:52). We’ll have new resurrected bodies, live on a new resurrected earth, permeated by a new resurrected heaven, with no more sea (chaos) or death or crying or pain, together as a new Jerusalem, adorned as a bride for our resurrected Lord.

 

That’s not all… “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them…” (Rev 21:3). This should sound very familiar this week. This is an almost identical echo of what God has been saying to his people all over scripture. It’s been his goal all along.

 

With heaven and earth joined completely, the temple is now obsolete. There doesn’t need to be a special room where they come together. It’s everywhere! John observes the city in Rev 21:22: “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

 

Revelation 22 opens with visions of a river, and a tree of life…wait…is this the garden again? That imagery is very intentional, designed to connect your thoughts and heart back to Eden, reflecting on God dwelling with mankind with no barriers. Yes, God is restoring that kind of relationship with him.

 

Through scripture, we don’t often see God trying to get things back to exactly how they were. Usually, he is moving forward in ways that surprise us, both because we didn’t see it coming, and because what he did was actually quite a bit better than what we could have gone back to. Case in point: Having Jesus cover for us is way better than going back to the law and trying to fulfill it on our own.

 

In a similar fashion, I contend that John’s description of our future with God in Revelation 21-22 isn’t just a restoration of Eden, it is even better.

 

Well, certainly John can’t do it justice. And if he can’t, there is no way I can. However we envision these events unfolding, however powerful our imaginations are, we won’t be able to help being caught completely off guard, staggered, and surprised at the suddenly revealed beauty of God’s presence among us.

 

It could happen at any moment now. May it be soon.

 

-Jay Laurent

 

(Thank you, Jay for a great week looking at God’s presence throughout Scripture.  Tomorrow we jump back into our New Testament chapter-a-day reading – with the book of Acts to see what God was doing with the early church.  Until then . . . seek Him!)

God’s Presence and the Exile

 

Text: Ezekiel 11

Ezekiel 11 19

This week so far, we’ve talked about creation, the garden, and the tabernacle, exploring how they fit into the theme and story of God’s presence. Today I want to talk about exile, or that feeling you get when you know you aren’t home, and things aren’t right. It’s an ongoing theme for the Israelites. We see it when Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden, we see it when the Israelites are held captive in Egypt, and now we’re going to see it again as Israel and Judah are given into the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians.

 

Let’s do a quick fly-by to bring us to this point from where we left off in history. Moses and the Israelites wander around in the desert for a while and eventually reach their promised land in Canaan. The Israelites capture the land under the leadership of Joshua. After Joshua, Israel is led by a series of Judges, people who get Israel out of a bind after they have been stupid over and over (and over) again. After that, Israel is brought together under the kingships of Saul, David, and Solomon. David, like Moses, receives plans for a temple from God, and his son, Solomon completes them, the difference being that Solomon’s temple was much more grand and permanent than Moses’s tent. Moving on, after Solomon’s death, the people divide into northern (Israel) and southern (Judah) kingdoms.

 

God’s people at this point have an ongoing problem. They aren’t following their covenant with God. They prostitute themselves to other gods. Even under dire warnings (Dt 29 and Jer 25, among many others), they continue to make their own way. They aren’t even getting along with each other, hence the divided kingdom. They simply do not get the point, and as a result, God, even while being slow to anger (Exo 34:6), has reached a point where he has to serve justice. And by that, I mean allow Assyrians and Babylonians to come clean house on them.

 

And clean house they do. Israel is pummeled and scattered by the Assyrians. Judah is taken by the Babylonians. King Nebuchadnezzar sieges Jerusalem in about 598 BC and 587 BC, taking the people of Judah into captivity. The second time, the temple of Solomon is destroyed, too. You can find a particularly devastating account of this siege in Jeremiah 52. It’s great bedtime reading for all the kids.

 

What. In. The. World. At this point, it would sure seem like God’s people are done for. They had a pretty good run, but this must be the end.

 

But not all is lost. In Ezekiel 11:16-20, God shows Ezekiel a glimmer of hope, and has him relay the message to the others who are in exile. Even though they are scattered and captive, God is still their sanctuary (or their temple, if you will). He is going to give them back their land, and turn their hearts of stone soft. They’re going to be his people, and he’s going to be their God. Yet, in verses 22 and 23, God shows Ezekiel that his presence is leaving the temple, in the form of a strange cherubim-driven chariot. So God’s not even in his temple anymore, but he’s still with a few of his faithful people who are in exile, sustaining them.

 

Through Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, among others, we see God making some pretty big promises about coming out of exile, a new temple, a messianic king, and a renewed rule (kingdom) of God, for starters. But for the time being, exile is the reality for God’s people.

 

The Persians eventually conquer the Babylonians in 539 BC, and Cyrus the Great allows the Israelites in exile to go home if they want. Only a small portion go back. Maybe now things will get better, back to the good old days. We can get a new king, build the temple again, and God will be with us. We’ll have rest from our enemies.

 

And they do rebuild the temple (see Ezra and Nehemiah about all of this), but it isn’t anything near what it used to be (Hag 2:3), and there is no indication that God’s presence ever fills it like the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple. Something is still not right. God’s people are back to their land, but it doesn’t really feel like home. They are struggling to find their identity again. They’re still not following God’s covenant. Where’s God? What is going on? It’s like the exile never really ended. And perhaps it still hasn’t ended. It has, at best, been replaced by new exiles into new Babylons over the centuries, and that’ll likely be what we continue to see until everything is restored.

 

If this whole thing makes you feel a little bummed, that’s just a taste of the exile feeling. The exile was massively painful for God’s people, and so much of scripture is dedicated to wrestling with the questions and emotions brought up by it. According to many, the narrative of scripture is shaped around it. And exile isn’t just the experience of Israel, it is a reality we share in, as well. While we give Caesar his due, really we are citizens of God’s dimension, heaven (Phil 3:20). So we remain faithful to our God, and hold on to a hope that there is something better just around the corner.

 

“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.” -Malachi 4:2

 

I hope that verse made you smile as it made me smile. There’s hope and a new day. There is indeed a new temple for the Israelites, with the presence of God, even. But it’s not the kind they’re expecting. More on this tomorrow.

 

-Jay Laurent

A Lesson from Nicaragua: Community

 

Missions Spotlight: Nicaragua

alex davila

Alex Davila leads a small group Bible study in Nicaragua.  He also maintains a public YouTube channel and radio broadcast, sharing the Good News.  If you would like to check his website out (La Biblia y las religions: The Bible and religion), you can visit http://labibliaylasreligiones.com. He is also a perfect Spanish-English bilingual and would love to hear an encouraging message from you! 

 

Pictured above is Alex preaching at the Lima Church in Peru.  We love it when Alex accompanies us when we travel to Peru. 

 

Community is a compound word: common and unity.  This means that we are a group of people unified by what we have in common.  This is a perfect example of the Body of Christ: unity through common beliefs. Just like our human bodies are unified by the drive to survive, the body of believers are unified by Christ.

 

Sometimes, as Christians, we can get caught up in our differences.  Quarrels over wine vs. grape juice for communion, tattoos vs. no tattoos as a Christian, and Sunday school before or after the church service take place all over the nation.  Now, some of these quarrels seem silly, but you know as well as I do that feelings are hurt over simple differences in ideas.  In Galatians 5:6, Paul reminds us “for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love”.  It is our faith, exemplified by our love, that counts, not the small differences (or similarities) we may have.

 

Today, I want to remind you that we have more in common with one another than we have differences.  The Church should be the tightest-knit group of people in the universe.  We should have the highest sense of morale and comradery.  Watching the Olympics gets me hyped as I see hockey teams, and ice skating duos, curling teams (yes, even curling can be exciting) accomplish big things together.  Their sense of togetherness and years of hard work to achieve a common goal awakens my drive to seize the day.  Guess what, we have GOD and His son, JESUS CHRIST living in US!!! Imagine the radical acts of love we can achieve with divine power, strength and grace living in us.   Jesus says that the world should be able to know who we are by how we love one another.  What are you doing to show your neighbor your radial love?

 

You have probably heard this verse before, but I want to take it back to its original Greek.  1 Corinthians 6:19 – “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own..”. All of the times that you and your are mentioned in this verse they are actually plural which translates from the Greek into English as ‘you all’. Grammatically, this is known as the second person plural, and something our English Bibles hide from us sometimes because we do not have a direct translation for the second person plural that sounds nice in English. The closet thing we have in English is ‘you all’ or if you are in the south then ‘y’all’. Can you imagine your Bible saying “do you not know that y’all’s bodies are a temple of the Holy spirit”? Due to the mistranslation of this verse into English people usually take this verse on an individual level. The meaning of this text then becomes a verse used to support exercise to keep your “temple” nice however what the author originally intended was to mean the body of Christ is the temple. This means that how we treat each other as the body directly correlates to what the temple is like. That is a very important statement! When we are angry with or hate our fellow believers, we are desecrating the new temple that God has set up.

 

If you look at how the temple was treated in the Old Testament we see how holy and sacred it was. We need to translate the holy aspect of the Old Testament temple to the body of Christ today. So what exactly does it look like to be holy to each other? It is patience, kindness, forgiveness, and love. Next time you want to be angry at someone remember that how you treat them affects the holiness of the temple, the place that God dwells. Reading the passage for its original meaning is much more difficult than a simple command to exercise and eat well.  It is a command on how we should be as a community. Try reading the passage in this way, “Do you not know that your community is a temple of the Holy spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God”. This is Paul lifting the community of believers to a higher level. I encourage you to take up that call and to bring even more glory to God’s community of believers.

 

The latter half of Acts 2 describes a true community of Christ.  The Church devoted themselves to teaching, to fellowship, to breaking bread together, to giving to the needy, and all the while with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:42-47).  Let’s reach out to each other.  Let’s strive to love each other in a radical way that makes the world hunger for what we have.

 

Reaching out is exactly what Alex is doing in Nicaragua with his radio ministry.  Our love doesn’t stop within our culture, or backyard or our nation; we are an international community.  Although we can’t break bread with our brothers and sisters in Nicaragua, we can encourage them even from afar.  Alex would love to hear from you!  Just a simple message saying hi, the church you attend, and that you are thinking of him can go a long way.  You can find him on Facebook under the name ‘Alexander Davila’.  Remember, he is a perfect bilingual, so no need to use a translator.  Radical love awaits us ❤

 

Love,

Josiah & Amber Cain

 

 

A Den of Robbers

Mark 11 & 12 (Wednesday)

Mark 11 17

Once Jesus enters Jerusalem, the timeline for Mark slows down significantly.  While the first half of the book takes place over almost a year, the second half occurs in about a week.  Mark is letting us know that this is what his gospel and Jesus have been preparing for.  Mark 11 and 12 takes a closer look at the first 3 days Jesus is in Jerusalem.

While there’s a lot that we could cover here, I’d like to focus on Jesus’s experience in the Temple and how we can better understand a well known story that we may misinterpret.

On Jesus’s first day in Jerusalem, after the triumphal entry, he enters the Temple and “looks around at everything.” (11:11).  He leaves for Bethany outside of Jerusalem – using it as a kind of safe spot – instead of staying the nights in the city.  On the second day, he goes back to the city with his disciples and enters the Temple again.  However, instead of just observing, he begins to cause a scene.  Mark tells us that he starts “to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and over-turned tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves; and he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.”

Whoa.  That’s a pretty radical departure from the Jesus who didn’t want anyone to talk about the miracles he was performing.  It’s as if the shy kid from the back of the class suddenly started burning textbooks in the auditorium screaming “You won’t do any more homework while I’m around! Ha ha ha!”  It’s a little weird.  And, the principals would be rightly concerned about what was going on (like the chief priests and scribes).

So, what is going on?  First, let’s clear up some misconceptions about what the Temple looked like.  We may think that Jesus was clearing out the Temple area because the vendors were causing problems for the act of worship.  That doesn’t really fit with what we know about the Temple.  First, the area where Jesus is clearing house is HUGE.  I mean really big.  It’s approximately the size of 11 soccer fields.  That’s massive (about 704,000 square feet).  There weren’t enough vendors in all of Israel to fill that space.

Another idea is that Jesus was fed up with the temple system completely and was overturning the model that the temple existed on.  This tends to emerge when we think that Jesus is somehow trying to move beyond Judaism and create his own new thing.  Well, Jesus isn’t.  He was and is a Jew.  Mark’s gospel itself undermines this idea in chapter 12.  On the third day, Jesus returns to the Temple (where he wrecked it the day before) and sits across from the treasury.  A widow comes and puts in her 2 pennies.  Notice, Jesus doesn’t say that she is being scammed out of her pennies, that she should do something better with her money, that it isn’t right for her to give to the current system, or that she’s being robbed by the temple.  No – he says that what she’s done is more than everyone else AND it seems to be a great thing!  Even today, this widow is meant to be a role model for us.

So, what is Jesus trying to do?   Let’s look at the text.  After he drives out the merchants, he says that the temple had “become a robber’s den.” (11:17)  Was the temple robbing people?  No – a robber’s den isn’t where robbers actually rob people.  It’s a place where robbers can go and be safe.  It’s a hideout where they don’t have to worry about the law coming after them.  I don’t think that Jesus was calling out the merchants or the temple system, but rather the leadership in the Temple for their willful blindness to injustice and sheltering those who do injustice in their midst.  His criticism of the Temple isn’t for how it works or what it does, but rather for what it isn’t doing.  I think that Jesus is taking up the call of Isaiah, “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” (Isa. 1:17)

This is where I think we can find a message for our lives and churches today.  Would Jesus level the same criticism against us today?  Not that we have vendors in the church, but that we allow ourselves to become a den for those who rob others?  Jesus’s problem with the temple wasn’t directed at the merchants or vendors but at those who were complacent in the face of wrong-doing, injustice, and evil.  Standing against injustice – especially when we find it in our own house, community, and ideals can be scary and seem life-threatening.  But, I think, like the widow, we are called to give what we have – “all that [we] have to live on” – to offer hope and justice to those starving for it.

-Graysen Pack