Warwick

....thought seed 1



The man with a measuring stick
Ezekiel 40:1-4

v1 This is what happened at the beginning of the 25th year during our *exile. And it was in the 14th year after the defeat of the city. On the 10th day of the month, I felt the power of the *LORD upon me. He took me there. v2 In a *vision, God brought me to the country called *Israel. He put me on a very high mountain. On the south of the mountain, there were some buildings. They seemed to be a city. v3 God took me there. And I saw a man who was standing in the gate. He looked as if he were *bronze. In his hands, he had a string and a measuring stick. v4 The man spoke to me. ‘*Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears. Pay attention to all that I will show you. God brought you here for that purpose. Tell the *Israelites all that you see.’

Verse 1
Usually people say that a *vision is ‘like a dream’. But what happened to Ezekiel was much more powerful than a dream. Ezekiel emphasises this. He reports that the power of the *Lord came upon him. And then he seemed to be in the city. Or perhaps he was actually there. Certainly, it seemed to be reality to him.
Verse 2
At first sight, Ezekiel thought that he saw a city. But actually, this was just the *temple and the *holy buildings that surrounded it. The old *temple was in a city, that is, Jerusalem. But Ezekiel saw a *temple which was not in a city. All the area round the *temple was very *holy (43:12). And the capital city was separate from it (45:1-6). This was for a reason. It was necessary to separate this land from other land. Something that belongs especially to God deserves the greatest honour. One must never confuse *holy things with things that are not *holy. God protested about the wicked behaviour of the *Israelites when their doors were next to the door of his *temple (43:8). So in Ezekiel’s *vision, the *temple and the city were separate.
Verse 3
The man was like *bronze. Clearly, this was not an ordinary man. Ezekiel’s guide to this *temple would be an *angel. The *angel moved and walked like a man. But his skin seemed like metal. So the *angel was very impressive. And like metal, he was very strong and powerful. Too many people imagine that *angels are like the pictures on Christmas cards. Such people are wrong. The Bible describes *angels as strong soldiers, who fight battles against evil forces. They fight a war on God’s behalf, in order to rescue his people.
This *angel carried an architect’s tools. He would measure the *temple. In the Bible, ‘to measure’ is often a picture in words. It does not merely mean to work out the size of something. It also means to examine the quality of something. So Ezekiel does not merely report on the size of the *temple. Also, he records how well the people were *worshipping God.
Verse 4
This *vision was God’s message to the *Israelites. God did not merely show Ezekiel these things for Ezekiel’s own pleasure. God had an important message and the people needed to know that message.