[Note: I originally wrote this in the fall of 2017, the first time I listened to the entire Bible in a year.]<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been reading Ezekiel lately. And by \u201creading\u201d I of course mean \u201clistening to\u201d because Mama Ain\u2019t Got Time To Read<\/span><\/a>. Most of the time I\u2019m incredibly thankful for my audio Bible because it allows me to spend time in the Word of God during a stage of life when I otherwise wouldn\u2019t. But there are times when the audio Bible starts to get inconvenient, and those times are mainly the sections of the Bible where I would <\/p>\n Just such a section of scripture is Ezekiel 40-42. In this section, God shows Ezekiel a vision of the temple rebuilt in Jerusalem after the exile. Ezekiel tours the temple with an unnamed man who\u2019s carrying a measuring rod and painstakingly notes all of the measurements and descriptions of the temple. Here\u2019s a juicy excerpt: \u201cThen he measured the length and width of the north gate, leading into the outer court. Its alcoves\u2014three on each side\u2014its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as those of the first gateway. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.\u201d (Ezekiel 40:20-21)<\/p>\n Three. Chapters. Of that.<\/strong><\/p>\n Quick peek into Steph\u2019s mental rabbit hole when listening to this portion of scripture\u2026 What\u2019s a cubit? I should know that, right? I\u2019ve had 16 years of Christian education. Is it like a yard? Or a meter – whatever that is? Ugh I\u2019m such an American. The metric system is meaningless to me. What was the standard of measurement for this guy\u2019s measuring rod? Was it based on a person\u2019s body, like how a yard was based on the size of Caesar\u2019s arm, or something like that? Was it Caesar? <\/em>[sidenote: No. It was not.<\/a><\/span> Wow, Steph, you got that fabulously wrong.] Wait. Why am I thinking about Caesar building things?<\/em><\/p>\n So there I am applying makeup in my bathroom mirror and thinking about the Little Caesar\u2019s mascot in a hard hat at a construction site while God\u2019s holy scripture is being read in my presence. For two days in a row.<\/p>\n Totally winning at religion.<\/strong><\/p>\n As with all the other tedious portions of scripture I\u2019ve listened to this year, once I realized I\u2019d been completely tuning it out, I tried to refocus and contemplate what these monotonous lists of ancient measurements meant to the original audience and what they might teach me about God. And, as always, when invited, the Holy Spirit began to shift my thinking.<\/p>\n As I reached the end of chapter 42, I began to consider how detailed and precise all these descriptions were. This temple had to be perfect. I mean, PERFECT. I started to feel this anxiety in the pit of my stomach. I wondered if Ezekiel felt the same way. \u201cWhat if I mess up? What if I miss it by one cubit or describe this one palm tree wrong? What if I\u2019m using the word \u2018portico\u2019 incorrectly? Construction is not actually my specialty, God!\u201d<\/p>\n Then chapter 43 began, and [spoiler alert] God shows up<\/strong>. His awe-inspiring, holy presence blows into the temple to take residence. Ezekiel has to hide his face from the holiness. As God fills the temple, He says this to Ezekiel: \u201cDescribe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection<\/em>, and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple\u2014its arrangement, its exits and entrances\u2014its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.\u201d (verses 10-11, emphasis added)<\/p>\n Here\u2019s where I felt awesome<\/strong> and terrible<\/strong> and relieved<\/strong> all at the same time.<\/p>\n Awesome<\/strong> because my brain actually (eventually) went where it was supposed to go. All the intricate details and descriptions really made me feel my own ineptitude, and it turns out that\u2019s how God wanted those who heard this vision to feel.<\/p>\n Terrible<\/strong> because, well, I\u2019m imperfect. I would NEVER be able to follow that design and all its regulations. Like, even if I were really trying and not just blithely imagining fast food-based cartoon characters building ancient structures. I would fail so hard.<\/p>\n Relieved<\/strong> because\u2026 Jesus fixed this.<\/p>\n Thing is, I\u2019ve also been reading the book of Hebrews lately. The first half of the book deals largely with the idea that the old institutions of Hebrew religion, like the temple & the priesthood, have been surpassed by Jesus. Obviously that’s a big subject which the Hebrews author dives deeply into, but I think chapter 7:18-19 summarizes it nicely: \u201cThe former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope<\/em> is introduced, by which we draw near to God.\u201d (emphasis added)<\/p>\n That better hope? Jesus.<\/strong> I don’t have to strive for perfection or get every precise detail right (or know what a cubit is) in order to be worthy of a perfectly holy God – because Jesus made me worthy!<\/p>\n God\u2019s presence no longer resides only in the temple; it resides in His people. I am the temple of the holy God! (I Cor 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16) \u00a0And the best news is: Jesus built this new temple. He made me right through His sacrifice in a way I could never have made myself right through all the details and regulations Ezekiel lays out.<\/p>\n Ezekiel reminds me that God\u2019s presence isn\u2019t to be taken lightly. He is holy and demands a perfect temple. And according to Paul in the New Testament, I am now that temple. It\u2019s incredibly humbling and gratifying to be reminded of just how Amazing the grace of Jesus is. He built me into the perfect temple.<\/p>\n \u2026 And I didn\u2019t have to measure one cubit to get there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [Note: I originally wrote this in the fall of 2017, the first time I listened to the entire Bible in a year.] Just get to the point, God! I\u2019ve been reading Ezekiel lately. And by \u201creading\u201d I of course mean \u201clistening to\u201d because Mama Ain\u2019t Got Time To Read. Most of the time I\u2019m incredibly … Continue reading A Temple Made Perfect<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","with-featured-image"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa85Nh-2W","jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/project-1-1237479-1920x1440.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377,"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.faithfictionandfeminism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}totally\u00a0skip over<\/del>\u00a0skim if I were actually reading it on paper. (Don\u2019t act like you don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about! Show me someone who says they love it when they reach the third set of genealogies in Chronicles, and I’ll show you someone who’s breaking the 9th commandment.)<\/p>\nOh that WAS the point? My bad.<\/h2>\n
The Perfect Temple<\/h2>\n