through every generation, your unending grace record. Amen. With that Psalm bringing us back into the lifetime of Ezekiel and the destruction of the temple and the dragging into slavery by the cruel Babylonians and the taunting of the nations and all these things, we now come to Ezekiel chapter 40. Some years later than the rest of the book, Ezekiel 40 begins the one large vision which goes to the very end of the book. And we'll read verses 1 through 27 of chapter 40. And then we'll also move forward and read the first five verses of chapter 43, which if you look at our outlines, that will essentially be our third point. The first five verses of chapter 43. But we begin our reading with the first 27 verses of chapter 40. Ezekiel 40, beginning at verse 1, page 922, and most of the Bibles under the seats, let us hear the word of God. In the 25th year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the 10th day of the month, in the 14th year after the city was struck down, On that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me to the city. In visions of God, he brought me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain on which was a structure like a city to the south. And when he brought me there, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand, and he was standing in the gateway. And the man said to him, Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you. For you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel. And behold, there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area, and the length of the measuring reed in the man's hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a hand breadth in length. So he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed, and the height, one reed. Then he went into the gateway facing east, going up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep, and the side rooms, one reed long and one reed broad, and the space between the side rooms, five cubits, and the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate at the inner end, one reed. Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway on the inside, one reed. Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits, and its jams, two cubits. And the vestibule of the gate was at the inner end. And there were three side rooms on either side of the east gate. The three were of the same size, and the jams on either side were of the same size. Then he measured the width of the opening of the gateway, 10 cubits, and the length of the gateway, 13 cubits. There was a barrier before the side rooms, one cubit on either side, and the side rooms were six cubits on either side. Then he measured the gate from the ceiling of the one side room to the ceiling of the other, a breadth of 25 cubits. The openings faced each other. He measured also the vestibule, 60 cubits, and around the vestibule of the gateway was the court. and from the front of the gate at the entrance of the front of the inner vestibule of the gate was fifty cubits, and the gateway had windows all around, narrowing inwards towards the side rooms and toward their jams, and likewise the vestibule had windows all around inside, and on the jams were palm trees. Then he brought me into the outer court, and behold there were chambers, and a pavement, all around the court, Thirty chambers faced the pavement, and the pavement ran along the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates. This was the lower pavement. Then he measured the distance from the inner front of the lower gate to the outer front of the inner court, a hundred cubits on the east side and on the north side. As for the gate that faced toward the north, belonging to the outer court, he measured its length and its breadth, its side rooms, three on either side, and its jams and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the first gate. Its length was 50 cubits and its breadth 25 cubits, and its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate that faced toward the east and by seven steps. People would go up to it, and find its vestibule before them. And opposite the gate on the north as on the east was the gate to the inner court, and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. And he led me toward the south, and behold, there was the gate on the south, and he measured its jams and its vestibule. They had the same size as the others. Both it and its vestibule had windows all around like the windows of the others. Its length was 50 cubits and its breadth 25 cubits. And there were seven steps leading up to it, and its vestibule was before them. And it had a palm tree on its jams, one on either side. and there was a gate on the south of the inner court and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cupids. Then brothers and sisters, the dimensions continue, but we will jump ahead for the focus of our third point, which is chapter 43 verses one to five. Chapter 43, beginning at verse 1. Then He led me to the gate, the gate facing east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east, and the sound of His coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory, and the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when He came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Kibar Canal, and I fell on my face as the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple." So far, the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, how much should we think about heaven? If we can't grab hold of something, if it is literally beyond our imagination, why should we try to think about it at all? It's much easier to think about and grab hold of things that we can grab hold of in the here and now. Well, the book of Ezekiel ends with a vision that takes up nine chapters. And it's a vision of heaven. It's a vision of a heavenly temple. And it's not exactly something which can be grabbed hold of either. Even when it describes something that, in theory, you could grab onto, it's probably too big to grab onto, such as the wall, which is 10 feet thick and 10 feet tall. But there are many things where, as it's not a literal vision of heaven, it's a vision relayed to the exiles. describing heaven in Old Testament language, but it's never meant to be something for them to build, to literally grab hold of. And so this vision is, in more ways than one, too big to grab hold of. But even so, it does give us pictures. It gives us anticipations of heaven in a tangible way. And throughout this vision, then, we're given these glimpses, again, in Old Testament language that the exiles would have been able to understand. The literal temple is destroyed, but their ultimate purpose is still this, that they are called to worship God. And what is a temple? Our children, if we ask our children, what is a temple? What is a temple like? The basic answer to that question is a church. It is a place to worship God. And so God is in this time when the Old Testament temple was destroyed and when the second temple, which they didn't try to follow these dimensions, as we'll talk about a little bit more in our first point, they couldn't have. before the second temple was rebuilt, God is giving this vision of temple, of place of worship, in heavenly vision terms, to bring the people to think about the purpose they still have while they're on earth, while they're in exile, and to help them anticipate the purpose that we are all called to for all eternity as we trust in God, to worship God forevermore. So both for them and for us now, this lengthy vision of God's temple, of a place of worship is helpful to have us contemplate heaven and specifically, this is our theme tonight, to contemplate the glories of heavenly worship. And this is a timely vision It's our first point, chapter 40, verses one to four. It is a vision where we have an ascending tour, and looking at chapter 40, verse five to 27, that'll be our second point. And then it's a vision where we see the dwelling glory of God. That'll take us to chapter 43, that's our third point. Well, we begin with this, brothers and sisters, this is a timely vision, 40, verse one, And the 25th year of our exile at the beginning of the year on the 10th day of the month in the 14th year after the city was struck down on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me. This is some years after almost all of the rest of the book was written and delivered. There's a few other visions that are, that are also in, these later years, some time after. But this is this lengthy vision that is later than the rest of the book, not in terms of days or months, but in terms of years. And here, in this time, years after the destruction of the temple, Ezekiel receives this magnificent, this detailed vision. It goes all the way from here to the end of the book. It's nine chapters. of these visions and there's a man whose appearance was like bronze, verse three, who will lead Ezekiel on this tour of the heavenly temple. Now in some ways there are almost enough details that we could try to build a replica of this temple, but let's note a couple of important things. Number one, verse two says, in visions of God, So this is visions. This is not a pattern brought down to earth. This is not a blueprint brought down to earth. This is a vision of heavenly things communicated in Old Testament language and Old Testament images where Ezekiel is grabbed hold of and brought up to heaven. So there's a difference. That's different than the building of the tabernacle where a pattern comes down to Moses. Then the building of the first temple, where a pattern came down to David, which David then gave to Solomon, who actually built that first temple. Now this is different. It's not like that. In fact, there's something strange in the dimensions that we're given. After chapter 40, verse 5, There is not a single time after that when the height of anything is given. So if you were to try to build this temple, it would be difficult because you're not told the height of anything. You're only told the height of one thing for the whole temple. So it's not a blueprint. And when God's prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, and God's people did rebuild the temple some decades later, they didn't try to follow this as a blueprint to build the second temple. It's a vision of heavenly temple. It's a vision of worshiping God there. And it's given at this very specific time, 14 years to the day from the destruction of the earthly temple. Now, we're saying from Psalm 79. At this point, let's think about why it was timely to receive a vision like this years after the destruction of the temple. When the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, the exiles did not just lose the covenant nation's capital city and religious center. They lost people that they knew. friends, neighbors, sons and daughters. Like the slavery of the South in our nation before the Civil War, the Babylonians did not care about ripping families apart as they dragged exiles to slavery in waves. The destruction of the temple was more than just the destruction of the temple. It was It was a time of deep cutting, pain and loss. Now, when something cuts as deeply as this, words of encouragement need to be careful and timely. It is true that for all those who trust in God and die in the Lord, they do not mourn as those without hope. But immediately after deep, cutting pain and loss, it would be unwise to go to the one who has suffered and to speak on and on and on about the hope of heaven. To give some detailed conversation like Ezekiel chapter 40 to 48 is a detailed conversation about heaven. That's not the day to do it. And in this specific case, the exiles have been told that Jerusalem was destroyed because of widespread rebellion against God. Some of those who died in Jerusalem did not have the hope of heaven at all. At such a time, the fewer Words the better. Mourning with those who mourn does not require words. There needs to be time for mourning and healing. We might think about the friends of Job. It says in Job chapter 2 that for seven days and seven nights they went there and they just sat by Job and they just listened to him. They didn't say anything. Say, oh, well, they just sat and they waited. But seven days and seven nights was not long enough when you had suffered as much loss as Job just had. Sometimes, the timely word is measured not in days or months, but it is measured in years. There are deep, cutting pains on this earth. Well, here it is. It's measured in years. 14 years. And it's timely, it's exact. 14 years to the day. I had a deep appreciation for a retired minister in the church where I grew up and then I had the privilege of when he was in his 90s, Reverend Knott, he was still living in his home and still had enough strength to do that. And so I just did some odd jobs for him, like raking up leaves or painting things or that in the summers. And then I would add this double blessing if I got paid to do some odd jobs, but then I could also just sit in his living room and listen to him speak afterwards. And Reverend Knott had lost one of his children as an infant. And it was just a total accident. And Reverend Knott's doctor was a believer. And the town was still small enough, we might say, that his doctor knew what he and his family had gone through. I think it was two or three years later, Reverend Nott and his wife had a son born to the day, on the day that they had the anniversary of when they had lost their other son. To the day. And then the Christian doctor comes and he says, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. It's to the day. Well, here is this vision. They have lost the temple and there was deep pain in the loss of the temple. It was not just the temple that was lost. Now, 14 years later, to the day, they receive a vision of the heavenly temple. It is also It's not just to the day, but this is at the beginning of the year. See that in the middle of verse one of chapter 40. What do you think about in the beginning of the year? You think about new beginnings. You think about a new year. You think about turning the calendar, to put it in modern terms. Immediately after deep cutting pain, you're not ready to think about new beginnings. You're not ready to think about turning a page. But here, after 14 years, in the time of year when people are ready to think about new beginnings, God gives this vision to his exiles. This is a timely vision for God's people. When there is deep pain, deep cutting pain, It never goes away, but someone who has suffered such might reach a day where they say something like this, my life will never be the same, but I'm ready to start a new beginning. And that's when this vision comes. It's God's vision to his exiled people. And it comes at just the right time. Now it is, and we move to our second point, it's a timely vision and it's a vision where the tour guide described in verse 3 who may be an angel takes Ezekiel on a tour and it's an ascending tour. And it begins with an overview of the structure in chapter 40 verse 5 and then it goes into A number of details from 40 verse 5 all the way through the end of chapter 42. Now we're reading and looking at just a portion of this. We could, you know, slow down and look at the central location of the altar in chapter 40 verse 7. We could look at the details of perfect symmetry in chapter 41 verses 13 to 15. There are many things that we can see in these dimensions. We're not just skipping over it because it's a lot of numbers and measurements and things. We are moving on to chapter 43 because that's what we've been doing through the whole book of Ezekiel. But just because it's all these details doesn't mean it doesn't have a number of things for us to see and to learn. And so just for this one point, we're going to, we're going to pick out a few things from these first verses and then, and then speak a little bit about that. So let's, let's pick out four things. First, let's start with the wall of the temple in verse six. And it's the only part of the whole structure where the measurement of the height is included. It is as high as it is wide. It is, all of it is the length of the one reed, which, the tour guide is holding, and that one reed is six long cubits, and that relates to, it translates to, in our measurements, it's a little more than 10 feet. So we have a wall that's 10 feet high and 10 feet wide that goes all the way around the temple complex. Second, let's note that the first gate mentioned is the east gate. There are only three gates, east and north and south, and then the Holy of Holies is essentially against the western facing wall. Okay, so the east gate is the central gate. The east gate is the one where you come in and where it directly faces the Holy of Holies, and the north and south are on the side. So the central gate is mentioned first, And then the mention of the other gates follows. And the third thing that we're going to pick out is that this is an ascending tour. Look at chapter 40, verse 22 and 26. So this is in verse 22 is part of the shorter description of the north gate. The eastern gate gets the longest description because it's the central gate. And after that, we get a lot of things like, you know, it was the same as the other gates. And we have a description of the steps that lead up to the northern gate in verse 22. And there are seven steps. And then for the south gate, that is repeated in verse 26. There were seven steps leading up to it. Now, if we look ahead in chapter 40, verse 31, there are eight steps to get up to the inner court. And then if we looked ahead to chapter 40, verse 49, we would see that there are 10 more steps And the end of chapter 40 should probably be a new chapter, because that's really the 10 more steps there in verse 49, that's all part of what is finally mentioned by name in chapter 41, verse 4, the most holy place, the holy of holies. So in other words, what do we have? We have an ascending tour. You're not just going up one or two steps. It's not just like one or two steps that maybe you have to get onto a porch or something. It's seven, eight, 10 steps. It's a real change in elevation. And that happens three times. And as you're getting closer and closer to the Holy of Holies, you keep going up and then up and then up. So one commentator summarized it this way, quote, each successive elevation represents an increasing degree of holiness. All right. Let's note that the tour guide takes Ezekiel after they go through the eastern gate, then they go through the court in verses 17 and 19, and then they look at the gates on either side. In other words, the description of this heavenly temple through these visions while it's, right, we don't have all the dimensions of everything, you can't literally build it or grab hold of it, that's not what you're meant to do, but it is a big enough description that it's almost as though we can walk around in it with Ezekiel. That's the kind of picture we get. So you get the eastern gate, you go through the eastern gate, you're in the outer courts, and now you look at the side gates, and that's how it continues. It's not something you're literally supposed to build, but it's a vision that's given in so much detail that you can walk around in it with the prophet. Now, these exiles have been in Babylon for 25 years. By this time, many of the living exiles have been born in exile. They have no living memory of the temple, but this vision serves as a reminder. So let's say you're 23 years old, you were born in exile. And you say, I've never even seen the temple. Am I supposed to worship God? God gives his prophet to the exiles this vision. and God says, I still have a temple. And it's a vision of the heavenly temple reminding you all that your final purpose is that you're to come to heaven and worship Me, but it's also a reminder that even though the earthly temple is destroyed, there's still a temple, there's still a place of worship, and you are called to worship Me now. And I'm going to give you such a big vision with so many details that even if you're one of the 23-year-old exiles and you've never seen my temple upon earth, you're going to have so many details that it's like you're going to be able to walk around in this because I want you to know that I always have a place of worship. And you are always called to worship me. God must be, and God will be, for all of eternity in the heavenly places, worshipped. God is worthy of our worship, and God calls us to worship. And the very fact that the exiles are given the details in such a way that you can walk around in this heavenly vision is helpful to God's people, to remind them of that truth. Now there are other things that we can take. We're just going to take one more application of all these details before we move on to our third point. The details of this temple remind us that God is not approached haphazardly. God's temple is not without walls that are perfectly defined. The walls have doors and gates, and the word jams, that's just a word for the side posts, and we see that kind of strange word, that's all it means. And those jams, those side posts for the doors and the gates, they get narrower and narrower as you get closer and closer to the Holy of Holies throughout chapters 40 to 42. Let's just think about the wall which goes all the way around, that 10 feet wall, 10 feet high, the only thing where we're told how high it is, that wall that goes all the way around the whole temple complex, and it's perfectly symmetrical, and it's 100 by 100 by 100. God created this world. God is the God of order, even as the sin of man has brought much disorder into the world. And God has real demands for holiness. And those demands are neatly defined. Now it's true that there are some ethical questions that are difficult for us to answer in this fallen world. But even here on this fallen world, there are many times when we know exactly what the line of God's holiness calls us to. God is not the God of chaos or disorder. We do not approach God haphazardly. God is the God of holiness. God is the God of order. And there is a clearly defined wall which separates the holy from the unholy. God's law is plain enough. and the heavenly vision given through the Apostle John in the New Testament, in New Testament terms, we are told it this way in Revelation chapter 21 verse 27. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now, We are living in a chaotic time. The lines of morality, according to the world, are constantly changing and bending and breaking. They are not some solid wall. They're more like a bouncy ball going down a brick road or something. It's a mess. But God is not the God of confusion, but of peace, as the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 40. And we do not serve the God of chaos, and we are not made for chaos. So let's not fall into the chaos of the supposedly changing lines of morality in our world. Let us see God's perfectly defined walls of holiness. And then, Let us repent of our unholiness, knowing that God does forgive. Even for the hypocrite who would be storing up wrath for himself, when there is repentance, God takes that wrath too. God forgives all those who turn to him in repentance and say, I am unholy. standing before your perfectly defined holiness. Save me. And then God takes us and changes us and brings us into his eternal holy gathering. And indeed, God is there and that takes us to our third point, the dwelling glory. And that takes us over to chapter 43. And this is the third vision that we have had of the glory of God in the book of Ezekiel. And Ezekiel reminds us of that in chapter 43, verse 3. He mentions, and the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city. What is that vision? That's the vision of Ezekiel 7 to 11. And the destroying part is seen especially in chapter 9, which we skipped over. Again, we haven't gone every chapter, but we did chapter 7 and 11. And we saw the destruction also in chapter 11. And that vision is summarized as the time when God came to destroy the city. And then the other time when we saw a vision of God's glory was by Just like the vision, this is now the end of 43 verse 3, that I had seen by the Kiber Canal. What's that? That takes us all the way back to chapter 1. And the vision of God's throne chariot by the Kiber Canal, a six-month journey by foot from Jerusalem, reminding Ezekiel, I am here, I am Lord over all places, and you're going to serve me here. So those were the first two times that Ezekiel had a vision of the heavenly glory. Now this is the third time. What happened in that second vision in chapter 7 to 11? Now remember that the eastern gate is the central gate. What happened in chapter 11 verse 23? Ezekiel saw in a vision the glory of God departing from the temple in Jerusalem through the east gate. The glory of God is not in the temple anymore. It is no longer God's special dwelling place upon earth, and God will allow the Babylonians to march in and destroy it. That's what was going on in chapter 11, verse 23, given more than 14 years earlier. It was given before the destruction of the temple. Now, what does Ezekiel see? Through the Eastgate. The glory of God does not depart. The glory of God enters. God will dwell with his people. God dwells in his place of worship and God calls us to worship him. He is there. He is, he is here. Let's just bring this immediately to our church in this place tonight. We cannot see God. But this is God's house. This is God's place of worship. God calls us to worship Him. God is the God of all glory. And though His glory does depart when there is rebellion against Him, God never forsakes His people. His glory enters the temple in the vision of the heavenly temple, reminding Ezekiel and all of his fellow exiles that God has not departed from them entirely. No, not at all. God calls them to worship Him now, today, and God calls us to worship Him in glory and perfect harmony forever. The final dwelling place is a place of worship where we will praise and worship God without all of our stumblings and wanderings and sermons by those who are just jars of clay, as the Apostle called himself and as any minister is, without all of our imperfect fellowship of faith as God's family, all of that. It is what we are called to now. It is an anticipation of heavenly glory. God will finally dwell with us perfectly and bring us into his perfectly holy temple. This is what we were made to do, to worship God. And God is there. God is here. And God calls us to worship him. And as we think of the dwelling of God, we have had the dwelling of God on earth. Jesus Christ has come. And that's how worship is possible because Christ died on the cross for our sins so that as we repent our sins and acknowledge our unholiness before the perfectly defined holiness of God, there is forgiveness because God did come in the flesh at one time to live on this earth to die on the cross for our sins. So finally we are called to worship God where his dwelling presence is and that's possible because at the one time he did come in the flesh to dwell on this earth through his eternal son Jesus Christ. And so as we'll continue, we'll see Old Testament language of sacrifice, but really the main purpose of this vision is the same for the Old Testament people as it is for us now. God is in his temple. Let us worship God. God is forever in his heavenly temple. That is our purpose and where we are called to be with God forevermore. more. And so let us think not just a little bit about heaven. Let us, and this is even the language that the man whose appearance was like bronze gave to Ezekiel back in chapter 40 verse 4. Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and set your heart upon all that I shall show you. Why? For you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel. Ezekiel, set your heart upon this. Speak it to all of my people so that they might all set their heart upon this. Think about heaven, not just a little bit. Contemplate heavenly glory and worshiping God now as a foretaste and forevermore in his heavenly temple. Set your heart upon these things. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, we praise You.