“And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.” (Ezekiel 40:4 KJV)
“…brought hither..” Ezekiel was brought here, now, and to specifically see something. Something that he was also to relay to the house of Israel. As you read the chapter, you see it contains a whole bunch of measurements. The outer court, the inner court, the north gate, the south gate, the chambers for the priests, and the vestibule. Mostly very symmetric measurements. No additional instructions for what these rooms should be used for. That was already covered in earlier scriptures. No history mingled in as to how they failed to be used correctly or characters that had restored them at some point in time for their appointed uses. The people who used to know what all this was for have been in captivity and scattered among the nations for quite some time. In fact, exactly 25 years and 10 days into captivity and decades of captivity yet to go. There is no construction crew waiting for this blueprint like Moses was able to relay to much earlier. We read scriptures about appointed times of judgement, appointed times of when judgement will end, history of kings and battles, and instructions for dividing the land among the tribes. We read more scripture about the law, sacrifices, the importance of putting God first, the importance of your neighbor, what love is, what peace looks like, what patience, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and endurance all look like. Why these measurements?
Have you ever wondered how real something was? We understand the need for certain disciplines, practices, goals, and even retrospective reviews of what could have been done better and to reconcile that. History is helpful to know. Finding meaning in the present is a great thing to discover. How real are all these things though? Real enough that though you may be held captive somewhere far away doing very different work that you could be brought directly to an earthly location and see something measured with a physical measuring rod? With enough detail to be able to write it down and relay all of it back to whoever wants to know! The Lord has been rubber stamping a phrase in nearly every chapter in this book “know that I am the LORD”. 63 times just in Ezekiel. To both Israel and other nations in and around the area. As the balance of the book of Ezekiel continues, many of these other items are brought in: the necessity of holiness in God’s presence, the healing waters that come from this temple, the division of land among the tribes, and more. It all starts with knowing that there is a specific measurable place for all this. A place that he calls Ezekial out and lets him walk through the measuring process. A place in Ezekiel 43 that he does fill with his holiness. A place that by filling with his holiness, he prepares for you and me and the whole community of those who trust Jesus. It is very real! Real enough that from time to time we need to be taken out of what holds us captive, though far away, and let us measure it so that we can know that what he has planned both here and in other scriptures is for real, and each subsequent plan gets even better!
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2 KJV)