The Prince, The People, & Propitiation

Introduction

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{Prayer}

[Illus] Ms. Jeanette Dobbs used to say to the young wives of young ministers, “When your husband is in the pulpit, he’s talking about the ideal.”

She said that because young ministers that she and her husband, W.C., were discipling would stand in the pulpit and talk about the ideal Christian, ideal husband, or ideal father.

They did that by simply saying, “Here’s what the Bible says we should be as Christians, husbands, and fathers.”

Their wives, however, knew that their husbands were less than ideal at home.

Although these young ministers knew what an ideal Christian, husband, or father should look like, they often fell short of that idea.

Those wives would say to Ms. Jeanette, “I wish he would live like that at home,” and she would say again, “When he’s in the pulpit, he’s talking about the ideal.”

The ideal is a standard that we all strive for but most often fail to reach.

I think what is described in is the idealized version of worship and sacrifice under the law.

The people of God had not realized this idealized vision before Ezekiel and they would not realize it at any point after Ezekiel.

But this is not a vision that the people of God just kept striving for but never realized, it is an idealized vision that is ultimately realized in Jesus.

The vision begins with an idealized picture of the temple measured accurately, expanded greatly, indwelt by the Spirit of God, the meeting placed between God and man at the very center of the Promised Land.

The idealized vision of the temple is realized in Jesus who became flesh and dwelt (or tabernacled) among us ().

Jesus referred to himself as the temple when he said of his own body, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” ().

And in we are told that there won’t be a temple in the heavenly city, “for its temple is the Lord the Almighty and the Lamb.”

The meeting place between God and man is the person of Jesus Christ.

And through faith in Jesus, the church—and those individual Christians that make it up—are also the idealized temple realized here and now on earth.

The Spirit asks us in ...

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Likewise, the Spirit asks us in ...

2 Corinthians 6:16 ESV

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

When Jesus met with the woman at the well in , he said to her in vv. 21-24...

John 4:21–24 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Given what Jesus says here, I don’t think we should be looking for a future temple to be built in Jerusalem or anywhere else.

The temple has come in Jesus!

The temple is Jesus!

And because he has filled us with the Holy Spirit, we too are the temple of God worshipping God in spirit and truth.

That being the case, what we see in the idealized vision of has been realized in Jesus and is being realized in the church.

The particular section of this vision we’ve been looking at (45:13-46:24) breaks down into seven sets of regulation regarding worship in this idealized temple.

In we see God call the prince to repent of unjust standards and execute the just standards God has set.

In the people are called by God to give to the prince so that he might lead them in the feasts, sabbath days, and new moon festivals.

In God gives general instructions for worship.

As the people go in and come out, the prince is to be among them.

In we see regulations for the prince regarding his property and the inheritance that he leaves to his children.

In we see instructions for the boiling places used in preparing offerings.

Although the priests are mentioned, through it all the prince is the central figure.

He repents of his sins.

He provides offerings for the sins of his people.

He participates in worship as one of the people.

In short, he leads the way.

And although the prince in Ezekiel’s vision is not Jesus, his idealized leadership is fully realized in Jesus.

Jesus had no sin to repent of but repented in our place at his baptism.

Jesus provided himself as the offering for our sins upon the cross.

Jesus participates in the worship of God through his perfect obedience to God’s word during his incarnation.

In short, Jesus leads the way!

[TS] We talked about that IDEALIZED LEADERSHIP a few weeks ago, and tonight we want to talk about another IDEALIZED ASPECT of Ezekiel’s vision in these verses—IDEALIZED COOPERATION.

Major Ideas

Idealized Aspect #2: Idealized Cooperation (45:16-17).

Ezekiel 45:16–17 ESV

All the people of the land shall be obliged to give this offering to the prince in Israel. It shall be the prince’s duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

[Exp] These two verses encapsulate the cooperation idealized between the prince and the people concerning the worship of God in this vision.

The people were to bring the offerings detailed in vv. 13-15 and the prince was to be faithful in providing his part of the offerings as v. 17 says.

In Ezekiel’s idealized vision, it takes people working with one another to worship God as he demands.

[Illus] A famous pianist was once scheduled to play at a high-society extravaganza. In the audience was a mother and her fidgety nine-year-old son.

As so often happens, the boy slipped away from his mother, and before she or anyone else had a chance to stop him, the boy began to play ‘Chopsticks” at the Steinway piano.

The high-society people began to call out for someone to get the child away from the piano.

But when the famous pianist heard the commotion, he grabbed his jacket, joined the boy at the piano, and began to improvise a ‘countermelody’ to “Chopsticks.”

began to improvise a melody

As he did so, he kept whispering to the boy, “Keep going. Don’t quit, son… don’t stop… don’t stop.”

[App] In the church, we don’t all have the same gifts. Some of us are accomplished pianists, others can only play “Chopsticks,” and others of us just sweep up after the party!

The Apostle Paul used a different metaphor. He said in ...

1 Corinthians 12:14–19 ESV

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?

As members of the church through faith in Christ, we all have a part to play in the cooperate or congregational worship of God.

Rather than envy the part others have to play, we should embrace the part that God has assigned to us.

And never should we ever discount the part that others play in the worship of God.

As Paul continued in ...

1 Corinthians 12:21–22 ESV

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

In Ezekiel’s vision, the prince could not say, “I have no need of the people in the worship of God.” Neither could the people say of the prince, “We have no need of him.”

No, they both needed one another in order to worship God in the way commanded.

Neither could the people say of the prince, “We have no need of him.”

Just the same, we need one another in the church if we are going to worship God in the way he demands and deserves.

[Illus] Charles Osgood of CBS Sunday Morning told the story of two accomplished pianists who lived in a nursing home.

Margaret’s stroke left her left side restricted, while Ruth’s stroke damaged her right side.

Both had given up playing ever again.

The director of the nursing home, however, had other ideas.

She encouraged Margaret and Ruth to play solo pieces together.

Margaret would play the right side of the keys.

Ruth would play the left.

The two became fast friends and were soon entertaining others in the nursing home with their tandem piano skills.

What they couldn’t do separately, they could do together.

[App] There are lots of so-called “lone ranger” Christians in the world.

Neil and I once talked to a lady who said, “Oh, I’m a Christian. I’m just not the church going kind.”

But the worship of God is not primarily an individual activity.

There are some aspects of the worship of God that we simply cannot do alone.

In order to worship God as he demands, we must be gathered with one another in the church—your strengths covering for my weakness—and my strengths covering for your weaknesses.

What we cannot do separately, we can do together as we cooperate with one another in the worship of God.

[TS] {on to the next idealized aspect}

Conclusion

Let’s think about a few questions as we think about this idea of cooperation in the worship of God...

This atonement is cleansing

First, do you know what your gifts are? Do you know what God-given role or roles you are to play in the church?

This atonement is covering

There is no magic in finding out what your gifts are. You simply pray, try something out, and listen to other brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are often not the best in seeing what our gifts truly are and, therefore, should listen to others who may see our gifts more clearly.

Second, do you appreciate the gifts of others? Do you appreciate the discipline and ability of your Sunday School teachers? How about the organization and creativity of our social committee members?

When we don’t appreciate the gifts of others, we are most likely thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.

Third—and this really goes along with the second question—do you thank God for those whose gifts including flipping light switches, setting air conditioning thermostats, taking out trash, and cleaning toilets?

All those things are unseen and sometimes unseemly gifts God uses in the church to bring worship to himself.

This is the idealize picture of cooperation that Ezekiel sees in these chapters.

And it’s what must be realized in the church of Jesus Christ today.

Let pray and work to make it a reality.