Restoration of Worship

INTRO

Good morning and welcome. You can turn to Ezekiel 43 and we are continuing on in our temple tour. If you were not here last week, fear not, I’m going to do a short review so it doesn’t feel like you are walking in on a movie that is half way through. And just to get you even more excited about the most boring part of Ezekiel, we are getting into another level of boring today with looking at some of the laws of the temple.

So last week Ezekiel is given a vision (which sounds really cool) but how he has to communicate this vision is by telling the dimensions of a temple that he is seeing. So you and I get to read through cubit, after cubit, and hand breath after hand breath. But Ezekiel is shown not just a temple, but as I will explain more today, a city, the land and who will be taking care of this temple and city. So if you were not here last week, just to help you sort through the weeds when (because I know you are all very eager to read it) here is a summary of what chapters 40-48 are about

Ezekiel has a vision of a temple, city, land, and laws to keep it all Holy

That’s the big picture of what is happening. The reason why I had you underline holy is because we also talked about how this vision is incredibly hopeful for Ezekiel to see a new, beautiful, marvelous temple, land and city because back in Chapters 8-11 he had the nightmare vision of the polluting and defiling of the temple with the idol worship. Then in Ezekiel 33 we hear that the land of Israel, it’s city and the temple has been destroyed. All the hope that Ezekiel and the exiles ever had has been completely destroyed. Everything that marked them as the people of God, the land, the temple, and the laws, are now all gone. Are they still God’s people? Are they still part of His plan? And are they ever going to be able to worship this glorious God? Because last week we looked at the temple and the glory of God, but where are the people? Is this just a place for God to dwell and chill in His glory? Or are people, God’s people, going to be brought back into communion with him?

These are all questions that I’m hoping to answer today in our text, which, funny enough is not what I had planned. I was hoping to cover 44-46 and as I said last week that it is good to slow down and read this to see the glory of God, The Lord told me to take my own advice and we are going to cover a whopping 15 verses. My type A personality was crucified but I think this is better this way

So with all of that being said, we are going to continue where we left of last week in chapter 43 where it sounds like Ezekiel is about to get the law of the temple, or the rules of this new temple, but something happens that is incredibly important.

Pray

BODY

One more important thing that we talked about last week that will be helpful in understanding today’s text is why Ezekiel is shown this vision. It is revealed in Ezekiel 43:10-11 which I know we read last week but let’s read it one more time.

English Standard Version Chapter 43

10 “As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. 12 This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

So, in case you missed it, the vision of this perfect temple, perfect city, and perfect land, lead by perfect leadership, is to put to shame Israel to repentance. Because their land and temple was destroyed by terrible leadership. So the hope is they would see the consequences of their actions and repent and truly follow God. It’s to show them the beauty, grace, and mercy of God that despite all of their sinful actions, God wants to restore relationship with them. But there is still forgiveness and justice that needs to take place for the sins of the people. God’s grace is not what many make it today which is an all inclusive pass with no kind of laws or justice behind it. And that is why we need to read about the law of the temple, so let’s keep reading.

English Standard Version Chapter 43

13 “These are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): its base shall be one cubit high and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span around its edge. And this shall be the height of the altar: 14 from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; 15 and the altar hearth, four cubits; and from the altar hearth projecting upward, four horns. 16 The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve broad. 17 The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad, with a rim around it half a cubit broad, and its base one cubit all around. The steps of the altar shall face east.”

Hold up, these sound more like measurements than laws don’t they? So it is almost like Ezekiel get’s done with his tour and is about to hear the law and then the tour guide says, hold up! Let me show you the altar. Let’s look at the picture I gave you las week of the tour so we can walk with Ezekiel. So he walks up to it and he gives its dimensions which are impressive, but they are not as impressive as Solomon’s temple altar. This is key though, so i need you to write it down in your notes about the altar.

PICTURE OF TOUR

The Altar’s size is not impressive, but its location is.

Let me show you what I mean by some pictures. Remember, this vision is of a temple, city, land and laws. I was hoping to cover more of this but you just can’t do everything in Ezekiel can ya?

So in chapter 47 God divides the land just like Joshua did in the book of Joshua giving the people the land that God promised Abraham

PICTURE OF JOSHUA’S TERRITORY

PICTURE OF EZEKIEL TERRITORY (This is made even because the kings, those horrible kings, were switching land around. Giving some more, taking from others. And now God as king says, everyone has an even amount. So you see the reserved spot in the middle of the land? We are going to zoom in on that.

PICTURE OF SACRED SPACE (The prince (who I talk more about in the study guide) is far away from the temple. Why? Because this sad and sinful acts of the kinds who built their house right next to the temple. And would contaminate the temple by thinking that they were better than God, so they would bury bodies next to or sometimes in the temple. The interesting thing here is that the name is not king, but prince or chief.

Everything that has contaminated the previous temple, the city, king, people, are put far away from the temple so that it can stay Holy. Let’s zoom in on the temple.

PICTURE OF THE TEMPLE (ALTAR IS CENTER) Everyone still with me? So the center of the land is a reserved stop for the city and the temple. The center of that reserved spot is the temple, and the center of it all, is this altar. Which is interesting because, POP QUIZ, what was usually the focus of the temple an the people of Israel in the past? I’ll give you a hint, Indiana Jones. The ark of the covenant! Ya, where is that? It is no where to be found. The the center, the focus is the altar. Let’s put a pin in that for now but I promise I will come back to why that is so significant for us today.

Let’s read about some boring temple laws!

English Standard Version Chapter 43

18 And he said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and for throwing blood against it, 19 you shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord GOD, a bull from the herd for a sin offering.

Oh boy, did you just see what happened for Ezekiel? Who is the one that is going to be leading the levites (who we will talk about here shortly) which would make him the high priest overseeing the sacrifices? Ezekiel! Ya, this is crazy but we need to point this out and write it down here.

God redeems Ezekiel’s dreams and desires to be a priest after feeling like all was lost.

So from the womb, Ezekiel was training to be a priest, because he was of the levitical family. And he is training for years but is taken away to Babylon 5 years before he could enter into temple service. Now he is 50 and thinking his reality of being a priest is gone. Now he is just this crazy prophet that no one listens to. But God. He has a funny way of doing this doens’t he? Just when we get to our lowest he swoops in and makes it better than we could have imagined. Just when we feel like it is just dead, dry bones, he comes and makes a mighty army. This is the kind of God we have. A resurrecting God who is faithful and able to redeem anything. Josh don’t give us empty promises. Don’t get our hopes up and all excited just to let us down. I’m not, I’m just pointing you to the living God who is faithful and able to do the impossible. Doesn’t mean everything will go your way, but he is able to do immeasurably more than you can think or ask for. And I’m not here to force you to believe anything. I’m just presenting a glorious God for you to believe in or not. That’s up to you. But if you are asking me if it is worth it, I will wholeheartedly say yes.

So Ezekiel is made high priest over these priests of Zadok, who in the heck are these guys?

The priests of the family of Zadok are the only faithful priests left. Zadok means righteousness.

In Ezekiel 44:9-15 there is a section about how the levites, the ones who were supposed to lead the worship of God, went after other idols. Remember, Israel’s leadership (kings and priests) messed up big time and lead the people to do the same. But in a story we don’t see elsewhere in scripture, the sons of Zadok, who were a descendant of Aaron the first priest, stayed faithful to God. The sons of righteousness were the ones who will be ministering in the new temple with Ezekiel being the high priest. But what are they going to be doing? Well, let’s read on. And let me warn you, hold on tight because we are entering into priestly language and law boring stuff but fear not, I’ll explain it!

English Standard Version Chapter 43

20 And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim all around. Thus you shall purify the altar and make atonement for it. 21 You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area. 22 And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. 24 You shall present them before the LORD, and the priests shall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD. 25 For seven days you shall provide daily a male goat for a sin offering; also, a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided. 26 Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it. 27 And when they have completed these days, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, and I will accept you, declares the Lord GOD.”

So we are unfamiliar with what is happening, but this is an echo of what happened in Leviticus 9 and 1 Kings 8 when the tabernacle and the temple altar were being consecrated to be a place of worship. So let’s ask the question that is burning on everyones mind, what is with all the killing and the blood?! We don’t have enough time to cover everything behind this but do you remember the questions I asked when we started this message? Is this temple a place for God to just be and his people look at, or are they going to be able to come in and worship? If so, is that God’s grace to just let them come in after all the sin and unrighteousness that they have done? No, there needs to be justice. And contrary to the other gods that were in this time, our God comes to us and tells us how to sacrifice so that the evil that was done through us is taken care of through this animal. Other gods just made you guess and that’s why people would sacrifice their children. But is that fair? This perfect, blameless animal that has done nothing wrong is somehow just killed and that takes away my sins? Is that very fair? fair, no. Just and merciful? Yes.

We covered this last week, but God since the beginning has wanted to be in communion and fellowship with people. We keep messing things up. He keeps pursuing. He keeps redeeming. He keeps restoring. It’s crazy, like why don’t you just give up on us God?? But he doesn’t, he wants to be in fellowship with us. So these priests, for seven days, make atonement for the altar, cleans it, consecrate it and then we read these 8 beautiful words in verse 27.

I WILL ACCEPT YOU, DECLARES THE LORD GOD.

I’m picturing Ezekiel crying happy tears right now. You accept us again? You are taking us back? Oh my gosh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is a monumental moment in the story of Ezekiel and it is monumental for us today. We know this is amazing in a greater way because we don’t have to bring our sheep and rams in do we? We don’t have an altar here where we have blood poured out. Can any believer in here yell out to me why? Yes, Jesus. But I really want to unpack this a little more just in case we are not connecting with Jesus, righteousness and that altar that I promised we would talk about. So let’s talk about Jesus, righteousness, and the altar and how that applies to us today.

Jesus, righteousness, and the altar.

JESUS IS THE PERFECT, PURIFYING SACRIFICE

You don’t have to turn there but Hebrews 3 says this,

English Standard Version Chapter 3

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Jesus is the perfect high priest. Jesus is the perfect spotless lamb. He was the faithful son who went into the true holy of holies and but his blood on the altar. He took our punishment. His blood purified you and I. He is better than Moses, Ezekiel, or any other prophet. Because he didn’t just minister before the altar, he got on the altar. And when he got on the altar he then produced sons of righteousness. If you are trying to clean yourself up today because you messed up, stop. You can stop trying to do more to clean yourself up because it will never be enough. All you have to do is repent of that sin, and believe that what Jesus has done for you gives you full access. Cleanses you. Purifies you and makes you righteous.

JESUS MAKES YOU RIGHTEOUS.

The sons of Zadok were the sons of righteousness and that was because of their name, you and I are sons of righteousness because of nothing that we have done.

What can wash away my sins.

He has made you righteous, pure, holy, blameless. If you want to fight about it, your not fighting me, your fighting the good father who is trying to put his robe and ring on you. This is how God sees you thought Jesus. If you think it is prideful and presumptuous to think this way and we need to wallow in our sin then you are just showing biblical illiteracy. 1 John 1:9 says that he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. Does this mean you are perfect, no. But you have a no identity that you can live from by the spirit. This is a gift from our perfect, purifying savior Jesus. All you need to do is receive! If you are feeling shame, guilt, condemnation today from sin today, come and be set free through believing Him.

MAKE THE ALTAR THE CENTER OF YOUR LIFE.

So we have covered that you have to do nothing to contribute to being forgiven, yes? And you know that it is only Jesus who needs to be sacrificed, right? Yet this is how worship is restored in our lives, when we becoming living Sacrifices (Romans 12) where we deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus. Follow him where? To the altar and surrender. Why do we have no hunger and desire for God? Maybe because we are not willing to get on the altar and sacrifice everything that is not of him. Maybe we make worship more about us than Him and what he wants. This is the reason the Israelites were brought into exile, misplaced worship. They thought they could put God in a box and not actually surrender their lives to him. To get on the altar in a place of surrender and say I am yours, because you accept me. Have your way in me Jesus. That is worship.

This is what we need to return to in our lives. In our church. In what it means to follow Jesus. If we are more introspective and not in a place of walking like Jesus we are not worshipping.

Kneel with me?