Message in the Mystery (CaD Ezk 43) – Wayfarer

The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Ezekiel 43 (NIV)

I love a good mystery. It’s always been one of my favorite genres of novels. Wendy and I love a good British mystery drama more than just about any other thing on television. Life is full of mystery, and from Genesis to Revelation the Great Story has plenty of its own mysteries and we’ve been reading about one of them the past few days as Ezekiel is given a vision and very detailed blueprints and instructions for its construction. But it’s never been made.

In today’s chapter, the vision and tour of the Temple is complete and Ezekiel sees the glory of the Lord arrive from the east through the East gate. This is significant because back in chapter 10, Ezekiel was shown a vision of God’s glory departing from Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. So it would appear that Zeke is seeing a vision of the Temple that will replace Solomon’s Temple which had been reduced to rubble by the Babylonians.

But when the Hebrews returned to Jerusalem after the fall of the Babylonian Empire at the hands of the Persians, they faced the monumental task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem as well as rebuilding a Temple. Resources were few and the Second Temple began as a fairly modest structure. It would later be expanded and refurbished by Herod, but it was never built as Ezekiel described.

So why would God give Zeke this vision and instructions for a Temple that has never been built? It’s a mystery, and there are many theories across both the Jewish and Christian spectrums of thought.

Many Jews believe that Ezekiel’s Temple is the Third Temple that will be built in Jerusalem one day. The pesky problem there is that right now the Muslims control the Temple Mount where it should be constructed and the Al Aqsa mosque that stands there is a holy site for Muslims. If you’ve been watching the news lately you’ll be reminded that there’s not a lot of goodwill between the Muslims and the Jews, so I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon. Nevertheless, a lot of work has been done (and money raised) to prepare for the Third Temple’s construction one day. You can find architectural design images online showing what it’s projected to look like.

For Christians, many believe that Zeke’s Temple will be built during the end times. Others believe that Zeke’s Temple was the plan but the Jewish people forfeited the opportunity for its construction by their disobedience and it will never be built. Still, others see it as a precursor vision to the same vision John sees of a New Jerusalem in the final two chapters of Revelation when there is a new heaven and a new earth.

So which is it? It’s a mystery. I can choose one of the theories that makes the most sense with my understanding of the prophecies of the end times and John’s Revelation but even that mystery is interpreted in a host of different ways.

Richard Rohr in his book The Divine Dance says that mystery isn’t something we can’t understand but something we can endlessly understand. There are messages for us in the mystery itself. As I’ve peeled back some of the layers of this envisioned Temple over the past few days I think that it’s fascinating how there is a thread that weaves itself through the entire story.

For me, one of the biggest spiritual lessons for me in Ezekiel’s vision is the hope. Ezekiel and his contemporary, Jeremiah, witnessed and experienced one of the darkest periods of history for the Hebrew people. They literally lost everything, and were taken into exile, their nation and their Temple (one of the fabled seven wonders of the ancient world). And what does one need most when you’re down and out and without hope? You need a vision that gives you hope for what could be. In this darkest of times, God is giving Zeke and his fellow Hebrews that vision.

It was in a letter to Zeke and his fellow Hebrews, suffering in the darkness of their despair in Babylon that God through Jeremiah said:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Those words weren’t given to bright, affluent high school graduates looking forward to their Freshman year in college. You’d think so given the number of cards and trinkets that have those words printed on them every May. And, while the promise is true for those bright high school graduates, it’s helpful to understand that those words were originally given to a people who had lost everything, had experienced terrible suffering we can’t even imagine, and were living in a foreign land in a hopeless situation. In the pit of their hopeless despair, God gives them a vision and hope.

As another person who suffered terribly, Corrie Ten Boom loved to say, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love and grace aren’t deeper still.”

I don’t know for certain if or when Ezekiel’s envisioned Temple will ever be constructed, but that is the message I find in the mystery.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.