And the Name of the City is "The LORD Is There"
Download MP3We're going to finish up Ezekiel this morning. So, if you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Ezekiel chapter 40. This morning, we are going to look at the the last vision that Ezekiel has which is a vision of the the new temple of the lord. And I'm gonna go ahead and tell you that this sermon is money. You can take it to the bank.
Joel Brooks:The reason I say so is I accidentally printed the sermon on our church's checks. My my printer wasn't working so it just went to another and and so this it's written out to Ezekiel. Yeah. I, yeah, I wasted a lot of checks this morning. This last vision of Ezekiel makes up nine entire chapters.
Joel Brooks:I was gonna break these up but since this was given to Ezekiel as one vision, I thought it would be best to treat it as one sermon. But also, I didn't want to spend multiple weeks on this because these are the hardest chapters by far in the book of Ezekiel. I would actually argue that these are the hardest chapters in all of the bible to understand. They're hard because there are parts of it that are prophetic and seem to be talking about a real literal future and then there's also parts that are apocalyptic and full of symbolic imagery that we should not take literal. It's a it's a mixture of both and you kind of don't know where one ends and the other begins.
Joel Brooks:This vision of the temple of god. I I don't know about you but I growing up, I heard about this temple we're about to read about about how there were plans to build it, you know, in Jerusalem now that there's hidden materials by some organization and at the right time, they're gonna bring out and they're gonna rebuild this temple. There's always something about a red heifer too. Not really sure about that. Maybe you've heard all of those things too.
Joel Brooks:It's it's a fascinating lore. But one thing I think we we can take is pretty clear about this vision. We have no instructions to build anything. A matter of fact, there's no height ever given to any of the measurements. There's also no materials prescribed.
Joel Brooks:So it's hard to build something if you don't know how high to build it or what materials to use. What we have being described here is not something we build. It's something the lord has prepared. Something he is giving to us. And so I want us to keep that in mind.
Joel Brooks:This is not something we are doing for him. It is something that the lord is doing for us. Let's keep that in mind as we read through this long passage. We obviously can't read all nine chapters but I want to read parts of that as we go through. So, we'll begin in Ezekiel chapter 40.
Joel Brooks:In the twenty fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, all of that just to say, Ezekiel is now fifty years old. 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 he set me down on a very high mountain on which was a structure like a city to the south. 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 me, son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and set your heart upon all that I will show you. For you were brought here in order that I might show it to you.
Joel Brooks:Declare all that you see to the house of Israel. Stop there for the for the next few chapters. It's nothing but measurements. Lots and lots of measurements. So chapter 43.
Joel Brooks:Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. Destroy the city and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chabar Canal and I fell on my face. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the spear lifted me up and brought me into the inner court and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Verse 10. As for you, of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities and and they shall measure the plan.
Joel Brooks:And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits, and its entrances. That is its whole design and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and its laws and write it down in their sight so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. Let's go to chapter 47. Then he brought me back to the door of the temple Behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east for the temple faced east. The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.
Joel Brooks:Then he brought me out by way of the North gate and led me around the outside of the outer gate that faces toward the east and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits and then led me through the water and it was ankle deep. Again, he measured a thousand and led me through the water and it was knee deep. Again, he measured a thousand and led me through the water and it was waist deep. Again, he measured a thousand and it was a river that I could not pass through for the water had risen.
Joel Brooks:It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, son of man, have you seen this? Then he led me back to the bank of the river and as I went back, I saw on the bank of the river, very many trees on the one side and on the other And he said to me, this water, it flows towards the eastern region and goes down into the Arraba and enters the sea. When the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live and there will be very many fish.
Joel Brooks:For the water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh so that everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea from the Engedi to the Inaglaim and will be a place for the spreading of nets. It's fish and will be of very many kinds like the fish of the great sea. But its swarms and marshes will not become fresh. They are left to be left for salt.
Joel Brooks:And on the banks on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. Chapter 48, last verse. The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits and the name of that city from that time on shall be the lord is there.
Joel Brooks:This is the word of the lord. Do pray with me. Father, we do pray for clarity as we look at this word. But also pray that along with that clarity, there would be power. Just like we saw last week that when your word is proclaimed and then your spirit comes, your power using those two things brings dead things to life.
Joel Brooks:So Lord, would you do that in our midst? I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Joel Brooks:So admit it. Probably for at least a few of you as as you were hearing me read this long passage and once again, I I spared you the chapters of the endless measurements. Some of you might have been thinking, why are we doing this? I mean, why why exactly are we studying this? What in the world would compel Joel to to preach on this?
Joel Brooks:Trust me, I've been asking the same thing all week. Especially knowing that this would be our last Sunday for many of our college students and our graduating seniors. I mean, aren't there better things to preach on and for an occasion like this? Maybe something easier to apply, something more appropriate. Maybe some final word that I should spend my time giving that could help launch our college seniors into the real world, the next stage of their lives.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I could have prepared a sermon on the five ways that you can honor Christ in your career. And that would have been good. It's been really a good thing to hear. Or perhaps I could have preached on how you could go on to honor Christ in your marriage or or maybe through your parenting. That would have been good.
Joel Brooks:I had seriously I thought about scrapping this text and instead preaching a sermon to our graduating seniors on how my hope is that when they leave this place, they wouldn't go on to create goals for themselves, instead they would go on to create habits. And we would just talk about those good Christ honoring habits they need to have. That would've been really good. But instead, here we are studying this long, very complicated vision that Ezekiel has of the temple and of the city. Even within Ezekiel, there would have been more appropriate passages, better passages for a time like this.
Joel Brooks:I could have preached on chapter one, which is about the glory of God. Or chapter two and three, about how we are to be hard headed or we are to never compromise concerning the word of God and truth. Or I could have gone to the many places in Ezekiel that warn us against idolatry and told you not to bow down to the idols of our culture. Or perhaps I could have gone to Ezekiel twenty four where we see Ezekiel's wife dying. Told his suffering will come, but the Lord will carry you through it.
Joel Brooks:But instead, we're not gonna do any of those things. We're gonna take time as a church to look through something that reads like an IKEA manual. I'm serious. I mean, I I'm reading through this. I'm studying this weekend and just like an IKEA manual, I'm like, what am I missing?
Joel Brooks:There's there's something wrong. I don't have the right tools. They didn't package the right materials. It's just really confusing. Do you know how many times the word cubits is used in this vision?
Joel Brooks:91 times. We we get to hear all about the cubits. So so once again, why are we looking at it? There needs to be a reason that your Bible has nine whole chapters dedicated to this and yet only a few scattered verses about how to be a good parent. Well, there are good reasons.
Joel Brooks:Besides this just being the word of god, let me give you a couple other good reasons. First, even though you might not fully grasp the meaning of this text, that's okay. Because the more I've studied it, the more I've realized the point is for this text to grasp you. I don't know if that makes any sense or not, but let me just talk from personal experience. There is a whole lot about this text I don't fully understand.
Joel Brooks:But I found that over the last few weeks as I have been digging into it, because God did not spoon feed me any truths here, what it caused me to do was to read and to reread and to reread and to pray and to meditate, and I had to just keep seeking him over and over continually about this passage. And what I found is as I did so, this passage began to take hold of me. The vision did. It began occupying more and more of my head space, pushing out more and more of the worldly clutter. No lie, at one point this week, I was actually late for one of my meetings because I lost track of time as I was meditating on the measurements of this temple.
Joel Brooks:They didn't buy it when I told them that was why I was late for the meeting. But you feel free. You can use that excuse. I'm sorry. I'm so late.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I was just so caught up just thinking about all the cubits and Ezekiel's vision. But it did. I I just I kept chewing on it and the more and more I chewed on it, the more it began to grip me and to change me. Once again, I do not understand everything in it but I can tell you that God became more glorious to me. And I can tell you that my life gained a little more clarity, and I believe as a result, I became a better parent.
Joel Brooks:I became a better husband. I became a better worker. So that's the first reason. Second is this, we are studying this because all of us in here need to know where we are going. Ezekiel needed to know where he was going.
Joel Brooks:We need to know what our future holds because if we don't know this, if if we don't see it, if we don't get a vision for our future and we don't get it deep in our hearts towards it's almost tangible to us, then we're not gonna have the strength to endure to the end. For for all of you college students that are leaving for the summer, I could get up here and I could give you the pep talk of all pep talks. I mean, could get up here and tell you how you're gonna leave, you should leave this place, stand firm in the gospel, stand against the currents of our culture, endure suffering, forgive those who wrong you, be bold in your faith, and you're gonna go out of this place like, you know, on fire for Jesus, yelling your hoorahs for him. And that's gonna last a few weeks, maybe a few months, but then you're gonna start to grind down. And this question's gonna surface.
Joel Brooks:Why am I doing this again? Of course, you'll deny you've had that question. At first, you're gonna push it deep down. You're gonna keep your nose down and keep doing this, but it's gonna resurface. What exactly is the point of this all?
Joel Brooks:Where is this heading? You gotta have an answer to that. You need to know where you're going. You need to know why all of this matters. That's what this vision is about.
Joel Brooks:Here the lord, he shows Ezekiel the future temple and the future city that will someday be his home. And he walks Ezekiel through every little detail of it from the size of every gate, every door, every wall, every courtyard, every room. Once again, cubits used 91 times. Now the Lord, he doesn't do this in order for Ezekiel, you know, to roll his eyes and go like, oh my gosh, I get it. Can't we just skip over this part of the bible reading plan, Lord?
Joel Brooks:That's not it. And he he doesn't go through all these details once again to give any kind of instructions as to what to build. No. What the lord is doing is he's walking Ezekiel and us through our future home. And he wants us to savor every detail.
Joel Brooks:There's a real delight here in these words. The lord's like, hey, Ezekiel. Come over here. I wanna show you something. Look at this door.
Joel Brooks:Have you ever seen anything as beautiful as this door? You got your tape measure? Just measure it. Have you ever seen anything as big? When you're done with that, I gotta show you the courtyard.
Joel Brooks:Come here, Ezekiel. Look at the courtyard. Have you ever seen anything as magnificent as that? Measure it. See, it's perfection.
Joel Brooks:And Lord's just going to room to room, courtyard to courtyard. There's a delight here as he is showing Ezekiel his future home. God, he's he's thought deeply about this place. He's worked hard for this place. And so he wants Ezekiel to slow down and to savor it all.
Joel Brooks:Savor the planning, the perfection, all designed for Ezekiel to enjoy. So I don't know what you think the lord is doing in your life. I have no idea where the Lord is taking you here while in this life, but I know ultimately what He's doing and where He's taking you. I know He has planned out every detail, every detail of your future and it is perfect. Do you remember last week during our Easter service how we read from the Heidelberg Catechism?
Joel Brooks:We read questions one and two. In case you didn't know the Heidelberg Catechism was written in Heidelberg, Germany, no surprise. It was written in 1563. Question number one is, what is I only comfort in life and death? Question number two, it was what must you do to live and die in this comfort?
Joel Brooks:And we said this confession last week, I find the answer to number two to be absolutely fascinating. Here's the answer. So in order to know what your comfort in life and death is, you must know three things. First, how great my sin and misery are. Second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery.
Joel Brooks:Third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance. So we need to know not only our sin, but our sin and misery. It's an interesting word that they added. Why not just know how great your sins are or how you need to be delivered from your sins, but you need to know your sins and misery. That word misery there.
Joel Brooks:It's the word German word, and it's a certain type of misery. It can mean being banished or living outside of one's homeland. That's why it was put there. It's the misery of living in exile. So in other words, for us to live and to die in the comfort of the gospel, we need to not only know our sins, we need to know that this isn't our home.
Joel Brooks:That this this world that we're living in, there there's a better place for us. We're living in this misery. We're living in exiles, but our true home awaits. Now these exiles that Ezekiel is preaching to, they knew that they weren't living in their home, but here was the problem. They've been in exile for so long and they will be for another fifty years.
Joel Brooks:That many of those who Ezekiel is now preaching to, well, they weren't even alive when the exile happened. They were born in Babylon. And also some of them there may they might have just been real little kids when they were ripped away from their homes, but they had no memory of that place. And so Ezekiel says, the Lord's gonna return you home. And they're like, that's great.
Joel Brooks:We have no idea what home looks like. We we don't know what we should expect. So Ezekiel has this vision in which God gives him like, this is home. This is the vision of your future home, the future temple. And can I tell you, I've worked hard for it?
Joel Brooks:It's magnificent. It's perfect. But more than all of its measurements, the reason that it is so perfect is because the glory of the lord comes back to dwell in this temple. You see, fifteen years earlier, back in chapter 20, the glory of the lord left the temple. You actually read this because of all of Israel's sins, god's like, I can no longer remain in this place and so that Shekinah glory of the lord lifts up out of the holy of holies and goes over to the hillside and literally stands there, waits as Jerusalem is destroyed.
Joel Brooks:Then the glory of the Lord disappears, never to be heard of again. But here we see the glory of the Lord returning to this temple. Now we know this, that these exiles, when they return back to Jerusalem, they will rebuild the temple, but there's no record of the glory of the Lord ever filling that temple. And we do know when Herod rebuilds the temple, that was the temple during Jesus' day, there is no record at all of the glory of the Lord coming and filling that place. So the people did not get to experience what King Solomon experienced or Moses experienced.
Joel Brooks:When King Solomon built the temple, the glory Lord, the Shekinah glory of the Lord came down in a spectacular fashion, filled the temple. When Moses built the tabernacle, the Shekinah glory of the Lord, it came down, filled that tabernacle. The people have never experienced that. Shekinah glory of the lord has just been gone. But here, you see the glory of the lord returning to the temple.
Joel Brooks:How? When? Well, the glory of the lord returned to the person of Jesus Christ. The one who replaced the temple. In John one, we we read and the word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we have seen his glory.
Joel Brooks:Glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. After a six hundred year absence, the glory of god came back into this world and once again, tabernacled among us to the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the new temple Which is why after clearing out the temple and people ask him, why? What's what authority do you have to do this? He said, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.
Joel Brooks:He's not talking about the brick and mortar. He's talking about his own body. He now is the temple. The place where god's glory dwells. Now, hear me.
Joel Brooks:This is just speculation what I'm about to say. Should I move to like a different side of the pole like I'm nice? You know, there's just there's a there's a time, you know, where Paul says, hey, this is for me, not from the lord but you should listen anyway. That's kinda where we are now. This is just kind of speculation.
Joel Brooks:This is me talking here but for whatever it's worth, I think this, that when Jesus was born and we read in Matthew that account about that bright new shining star guiding the Magi over to where Jesus was at. That that bright shining and apparently moving star was the Shekinah glory of God returning to this world after its six hundred year absence, coming to rest in the person of Jesus. That's just me. It's a speculation, but I like it. After we have this vision of the glory of the lord returning to this temple, one of the next things we see is a river in chapter 47 flowing from the temple.
Joel Brooks:God takes Ezekiel to to the back door of the temple and he shows shows him this small little mountain spring. It's it's running out of the temple and goes for about quarter mile before he he he stops. He says, walk along for this quarter mile stop. Now, now, get in it. Ezekiel says, okay, gets in and the the water's ankle deep.
Joel Brooks:He says, keep going. Keep walking down it. I love this. I mean, the lord is essentially telling Ezekiel, go creek walking. And if you do that as a child I mean, we had a when I grew up, when I was real little in Dunwoody, Georgia, Womack Road, and we had a a little creek behind our house.
Joel Brooks:And my brother and I would spend many of our afternoons just in the backyard just exploring that creek, creek walking. It's an adventure. And here, Ezekiel's like, hey, we're going on an adventure. We're gonna we're gonna walk this creek and he begins walking it and after another quarter of a mile, he finds that the creek is deepened and it's it's now, well, it's now knee deep and and then it another quarter of a mile and it becomes waist deep. It's it's it's a river at this point and then he goes another quarter of a mile and he can't pass through it.
Joel Brooks:It's it's now over his head. Now, wherever this river goes, it brings life When it finally reaches all the way down to the salty Dead Sea, which is the lowest place on Earth, when it finally goes down to that that depths, it even turns the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and brings life there. Fruit trees start springing up all around this river. But they're the type of fruit trees that don't just bear fruit once a season or even twice, but they never stop every month. They're just bearing new fruit.
Joel Brooks:We don't have time to go into this, but there's so much garden of Eden imagery that's right here. This water flowing from the temple is just turning dead things to life. It's creating a new paradise. So what does that mean? What does it mean for us?
Joel Brooks:I don't think that this is a literal picture of the of a temple, real physical temple here with the real physical water here because without going into all the details, I mean, you could get a map and things and you could try to figure out the boundaries and all this and the geography but it it it just you can't make it work. You just can't. So I think this river is a symbol. It's a picture of something. And once again, I think we're being pointed to Jesus.
Joel Brooks:It's hard to read this and to not think about John chapter seven, where Jesus, he went into the temple and he walked up the steps and we we read that he didn't just say these words, He cried out with a loud voice. If anyone here is thirsty, come to me and drink. Come to me and drink. And I will put in you, if you believe in me, I will put in you a fountain, a river that flows with eternal life. Do you get you hear what he's saying there?
Joel Brooks:He's saying, I'm the river of Ezekiel. I'm the one who Ezekiel was pointing to all this time. I'm that river in which I bring life, so come to me and drink. And not only that, but he says, and if you over there drink from me, and and if you drink from me, and if you drink from me, I'm gonna keep putting my river in you, and my river in you, and my river in you, and as a result, this river's gonna get deeper, and deeper, and deeper, and we're gonna bring life to this world. It's a beautiful image.
Joel Brooks:So Jesus is the temple. Jesus is the river. He's the spirit is a river flowing from the temple. And the good news for us is this, if you're thirsty, he promises to satisfy. You know, there are few things in this world that are worse than being really thirsty.
Joel Brooks:It's a reason that so many of you have your Oahuas here, your Stanley cups. It's this generation's modern pacifier. I mean, you you panic. If you don't have it, it's panic. My wife's nickname is the hydrator.
Joel Brooks:She said at all times, she has to make sure I'm hydrated no matter what problem, what ailment I have, whatever is going on in life, my problem is apparently I am dehydrated. And so she is always telling me, drink more. How are you hydrating your soul? What are you constantly going to and drinking from? What fountain is that?
Joel Brooks:And and when you go to that fountain or fountains, have you actually ever once quenched your thirst? Yet you keep going there and going there? I I I know your your Internet's algorithm has got you pegged. It knows every one of your preferences. It's got you locked in, and so you just go and you just keep drinking from it.
Joel Brooks:Yet you are a more anxious, more stressed, more depressed, more lonely person than before, yet you keep drinking. Jesus has you way more pegged than any algorithm. He knows you. And he could come and he will satisfy you. He is the water you've been searching for your whole life.
Joel Brooks:The water that goes to the lowest places of your heart, those dead places, and he brings it to life. For those of you here who have already sipped the cup of salvation, I think we read in here an invitation for you to go into deeper waters. For those of you who are leaving this place or graduating seniors, I hope you hear and hear hear a exhortation to keep reading the word, keep walking by faith, and to walk to the point where you can no longer stand on your own two feet. Walk to the point where you are over your head and all you could do is swim. And if you wanna fully experience the spirit of God in your life, I would say this, go to the lowest places.
Joel Brooks:Go to the lowest, the deadest places because that's where the spirit of God is moving. That's where you should swim. Finally, let's go to the end of Ezekiel's vision. Here, Ezekiel is shown all of the dimensions of the holy city that will someday be their home. Once again, lots and lots of cubits.
Joel Brooks:But what I want us to do is look at the very last verse because it's the climax of the entire book of Ezekiel. So, verse 35, chapter 48. The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits and the name of the city from that time on shall be the lord is there. The name of that city from that time on shall be the lord is there. Do you wanna know what your future home is like?
Joel Brooks:Well, over nine chapters now, god's been describing a place of absolute perfection. A place that god has spent so much time, so much thought, and preparing every wall, door, room, courtyard but most importantly is this, the lord is there. The heavenly city that comes down to Earth, it's not Jerusalem here. It's not named Jerusalem. It's given a new name named Yahweh Shammah.
Joel Brooks:The lord is there. And once again, I cannot help but think of the words of Jesus. We're actually the prayer of Jesus. The last prayer that he he's prays when he's in the upper room with his disciples before he's about to be crucified. He prays this prayer.
Joel Brooks:Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, they may be with me where I am to see my glory. Do you hear the heart of Jesus there? This is his final prayer. This is what he longs for more than anything. Father, what I want more than anything, is I want us all to be together forever.
Joel Brooks:And that they would just they will be able to see my glory. That's the picture of what we get here in Ezekiel. That's why Jesus suffered and died for us. We're about to take communion together, and I hope that as we do so, you will remember the words that Jesus cried out from the cross. You will remember that he cried out, I thirst.
Joel Brooks:Jesus went through that thirst so that you might have a fountain and never be thirsty again. I hope you remember Jesus's words. My god. My god. Why have you forsaken me?
Joel Brooks:So you can see that Jesus was separated from God, so that you may never be ever again. But that you might live with Jesus forever. That was Jesus' greatest desire and he went to the grave and back to bring it about. This is what we read about too when we come to the last page of your Bible. I'm gonna end the sermon just by reading parts of chapter twenty one and twenty two of the book of Revelation.
Joel Brooks:Hear these words, hear these familiar themes. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of god is with man. He will dwell with them.
Joel Brooks:They will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. We go on to read these words, and I saw no temple in the city. For its temple is the lord god, the almighty, and the lamb.
Joel Brooks:In chapter 22, then the angel showed me the river, the river of the water of life, bright as crystal flowing from the throne of god and of the lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with his 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Pray with me. Lord, when I I come to a vision like this, you think how long, how wide, how deep is your love for us?
Joel Brooks:This vision is is long. It's wide. It's deep. We can't fully grasp it, but I I pray in in some ways through your spirit, it would begin to grip us as we we get a glimpse of our home. Thank you, Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Thank you, Jesus, for bringing us life, for giving us life. Thank you for preparing for us a home in which you will be with us forever. And we pray this in your name. Amen.
