“So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.”
Ezekiel 42:20
At the writing of this passage, Israel had been in Babylonian captivity for 25 years. In a vision, God showed the prophet Ezekiel the dimensions of the new temple that would one day be rebuilt in Jerusalem. He showed Ezekiel the outer courts and its gates, the inner courts and its gates, the rooms to prepare sacrifices, rooms for the priests and the Temple. After describing what was inside the Temple area an angel of the Lord led Ezekiel out through the east gate and showed him the wall that surrounded it. The angel told Ezekiel that this wall is to separate the holy from the common.
Immediately after this, the glory of God came and filled the Temple. Before God filled the Temple, He made certain that the wall between the holy and the common was in place! This is a Word from the Lord to you! You are God’s Temple according to 1 Corinthians 3:16:
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
God desires to fill us with His Glory, but the wall between the holy and the common must be in place. God would not allow that which was unclean into the “inner place”. Before the Israelites were taken into captivity, the priests of Israel had forsaken this wall:
“Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”
Ezekiel 22:26
If we are going to live holy and righteous before the Lord we must maintain a wall of holiness that distinguishes between clean and unclean; the common and the holy. God would have me tell you that many of you are profaning what is holy inside of you by what you are allowing in!
Israel’s priests had forsaken the wall, they had profaned the inner courts by allowing that which was unclean and unholy inside. This grieved the heart of God and He looked for someone who would bear a burden for holiness:
“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”
Ezekiel 22:30
Our God is still looking! He is looking for a people who will once again become concerned about what is holy, build up the wall, and guard the gates. We are God’s Temple and must distinguish between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the common, if we are going to maintain our inner holiness.
Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment