Ezekiel 43:7,27

Ezekiel 43 carries on the vision of the temple, but in this chapter God talks to Ezekiel and explains some things (rather than measuring the temple). Ezekiel describes God’s glory as ‘…like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face.’ (Ezekiel 43:3b) If you remember the vision by the River Chebar, right back at the start of the book, you will remember that it was quite glorious and very strange (with wheels and eyes everywhere). The Spirit of the Lord lifts Ezekiel up and takes him to the inner court, and I love what God says:

‘And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.’ (Ezekiel 43:7)

It is interesting that He uses the expression ‘soles of My feet’. I get the impression that this place is where He will stand, and nothing will move Him. He is like a tower, immovable and strong. It shows what great love He has for His children Israel. I get the picture of a father saying to his son: ‘I will be here for you, no matter what, nothing can move me, this is where I stand.’ And yet God is saying this in the midst of Judah’s captivity with which He is punishing them for sinful and rebellious acts.

We are reminded of Jesus our saviour, who said ‘Come to me’. He is our tower, and He dwells inside of us in this life. He never leaves us or forsakes us, no matter what we do, no matter where we go, He stands immovable in our hearts, the place of the soles of His feet. What strength that will give us if we can fully realize it!

For those who are interested, you may recall that a few chapters ago I was a little confused as to some specifics especially concerning sacrifices. Since these chapters seem to be concerned with times to come (for us), there seemed to be no need for the sacrifices that God says they will perform, since Jesus has once and for all taken away sin. I have a new argument for and against this. MaCarthur makes the solid point that even in Old Testament times the sacrifices were not ‘efficacious’, but were merely symbols of sin – and in fact merely looked forward to Christ, who truly paid for the sin. And so, he says, these sacrifices are also symbols, but look back to what Christ has done. This is fair, but I can think of two arguments against it. The first is – why do we not offer sacrifices today then? If they are merely symbols then shouldn’t it be fine to make sacrifices today to remind ourselves of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice? Why should it then start again some time in the future? The second argument is: If they are not ‘efficacious’, then why this from God:

‘ “When these days are over it shall be, on the eighth day and thereafter, that the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar; and I will accept you,” says the Lord GOD.’ (Ezekiel 43:27)

So the offerings aren’t actually doing anything, and yet if they don’t do them God won’t accept the Israelites? This verse definitely seems to say the offerings have some function.

I’m sure some of you have already figured all of this out, so I would love to hear what you have to say.