Ezekiel 41:1 Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side… I. THE PLACE OF THIS TEMPLE. You find in the 43rd chapter that this temple was placed on a mountain. This is a figurative form of speech, to denote that Christ's holiness exalts us above all that we are as sinners; that Christ's righteousness — for "in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted" — exalts us above all condemnation. Here every sin, every spot, every law charge, is completely banished. We shall never live happy in our religion, and we shall never live happy with God, if we ever lose sight of that completeness we have in Christ. There is the exultation. And if you ask what it is that hath established the law of holiness, how it is that this law is established, the apostle will tell you, — that while Aaron was a priest after the law of a carnal commandment, Jesus Christ is a priest after the order of Melchisedec; He has put away sin, and established the law of holiness. And this law of holiness derives its strength from Christ's eternal priesthood; so that my holiness that I have in Him will fail when Christ's priesthood shall fail, but not before; our justification, our peace with God, and God's approbation of us and dwelling with us, will cease when Christ's righteousness shall fail, but not before; and when the Saviour can be conquered, but not before. II. THE FORMS AND FASHIONS OF THIS HOUSE. The Lord said to Ezekiel, "If they be ashamed of all that they have done," and brought to see and feel that their righteousness is as filthy rags, then "shew them the form of the house," etc. First, let us see if we can find out the form; and if it is a form that you approve, I shall be very glad of it, because it will prove that you are ashamed of all your own doings, renounce the whole, and that you fall in, by faith, and understanding, and love, with what the Lord has done. I go to the first chapter of the Hebrews, and there I get the form. Jesus Christ is the form of the house; He is the form to which everything must be conformed. What think you of this mediatorial form, this sacrificial form, this form of everlasting life, this form of mercy, this form of grace, this form of truth? Canst thou say that thy soul fails in with it? If so, then you are a part of this temple. "Growing into an holy temple" — where? in yourselves? No, "in the Lord; fitly framed together in Him for an habitation of God through the Spirit." There is the form. But then there is the fashion — "Shew them the fashion." Well, I will now notice the fashion. It is a good fashion that I am going to name — a fashion that is very much gone out now in the professing world, but it is a gospel fashion; it is s fashion that will never change while time shall last. What is the fashion? We must go to the 2nd of Mark to get at what the fashion of this house is, — that is, what God's manner of dealing with men is; that is the meaning of the fashion. I know it is a fashion that will make you very singular. People will say, Dear me, that man is very singular in his fashion. As John Bunyan somewhere says of his pilgrims, They wore a foreign robe, that this world knew nothing of; therefore the people stared and thought they were very singular in their fashion and in their taste. But so it is. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Such is the fashion. Solomon, in his prayer, speaketh of the stranger, the poor Gentile stranger, or whoever he might be, that might come unto God's holy temple and call unto Him: such was the fashion there, that there was a sacrifice for sin; there was a mercy seat, and there was a God that delighted in mercy. So, then, show them the form, and show them the fashion also. III. THE FULNESS OF THE HOUSE. Take first the 6th of Isaiah. The prophet says, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple." Jesus Christ died, and God highly exalted Him; and by Christ's death and by His exaltation there came in a train of promises and a train of blessings — blessing after blessing, until the whole temple is filled with blessing. Every Christian shall thus be filled with blessing. That is the train — the train of promises and the train of blessings that follow the Saviour's humiliation and exaltation. Who can despair that is blessed with saving faith in such a gospel as this, such a God as this, such a Christ as this? Then in the 43rd of Ezekiel you will find the same things repeated. Ezekiel saith, "The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east." Now the east was the place of the sunrising; we will read it so; "The glory of the Lord came from the way of the sunrising." And so the glory of the Lord comes into the house by the resurrection of Christ. "With great power bare they witness of the resurrection of Christ, and great grace was upon them all." "And His voice," in coming in, "was like a noise of many waters." Is not that a beautiful description? What can you have to equal it? Was not the voice of God by the apostles as the voice of many waters? Take the many waters to represent the mercies, the blessings, of the everlasting gospel. "Many waters"; so it is many mercies, many blessings. "And the earth shined with His glory." Was it not so? Did not the Lord command the light to shine into the souls of men? He gave them the hearing ear, to hear these many waters — the sound of abundance of rain, the sound of those mercies; and then light came to show them the way to these living waters; they drank, lived, and shall live forever. "And the house was filled with the glory of the Lord, the presence of the Lord." One more Scripture — the 15th of the Revelation. "The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power." What a happy place is every assembly when it is filled with the fragrance of His name, from the glory of the Lord, from the glory of our great High Priest! He offers much incense with the prayers of the saints. The house was filled with the fragrance of His blessed name, "from the glory of God, and from His power." Jesus exercised omnipotent power when He wrought salvation, casting the enemy out, and bringing His glory in. (James Wells.) Parallel Verses KJV: Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. |
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