God’s People are Comforted

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. (Isaiah 40:1-11, NRSV)

A voice says, “Cry Out!”

What am I to cry?

God is always with us. Everything around you will fade away, but the promises of God will stand forever. Everything will be made level and all will be at peace in His kingdom.

So cry out the love of the Lord!

This will comfort His people and all people. Even in the valleys, in the dark places, God’s love will be with us. And those of us who know this and see His peace around us need to share it with others.

So cry out the love of the Lord!

Word Accomplishes God’s Purpose

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:1-11, NRSV)

God’s word goes forth from Him and out into the world and even when it seems to not have any effect, it does!

God’s word does not return empty but accomplishes all that God purposed it to. Everything that God does succeeds.

So why do we spend our money on things that will not last?

Why do we buy things that God can provide for us?

Why do we not trust God?

We see His word go out and not have the effect we want in the time frame we set up. But they aren’t our words, or our time frame, or our purpose. God’s timing and purpose are higher and different from ours.

We need to stop and trust God.

Trust God’s timing.

Trust God’s purpose.

For His word will never fail.

The Vision of the New Temple

There was a chamber with its door in the vestibule of the gate, where the burnt offering was to be washed. And in the vestibule of the gate were two tables on either side, on which the burnt offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering were to be slaughtered. On the outside of the vestibule at the entrance of the north gate were two tables; and on the other side of the vestibule of the gate were two tables. Four tables were on the inside, and four tables on the outside of the side of the gate, eight tables, on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered. There were also four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, and one cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high, on which the instruments were to be laid with which the burnt offerings and the sacrifices were slaughtered. There were pegs, one handbreadth long, fastened all around the inside. And on the tables the flesh of the offering was to be laid. On the outside of the inner gateway there were chambers for the singers in the inner court, one at the side of the north gate facing south, the other at the side of the east gate facing north. He said to me, “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple, and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Zadok, who alone among the descendants of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to him.” He measured the court, one hundred cubits deep, and one hundred cubits wide, a square; and the altar was in front of the temple. (Ezekiel 40:38-47, NRSV)

The court for the offerings to God a perfect square. Because when God does something it is perfect.

Just as God gave the vision for this house for people to gather and worship Him in a perfect way to Ezekiel, so will God build your life in a perfect way.

He will mold you through the coming king, who will take what He and His Father created and continue that process if you will but allow Him access to your life.

Let the coming baby, be the architect that He is and construct the perfect life for you!

The Vision of the New Temple

Then he measured the gate of the outer court that faced north—its depth and width. Its recesses, three on either side, and its pilasters and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the first gate; its depth was fifty cubits, and its width twenty-five cubits. Its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate that faced toward the east. Seven steps led up to it; and its vestibule was on the inside. Opposite the gate on the north, as on the east, was a gate to the inner court; he measured from gate to gate, one hundred cubits. Then he led me toward the south, and there was a gate on the south; and he measured its pilasters and its vestibule; they had the same dimensions as the others. There were windows all around in it and in its vestibule, like the windows of the others; its depth was fifty cubits, and its width twenty-five cubits. There were seven steps leading up to it; its vestibule was on the inside. It had palm trees on its pilasters, one on either side. There was a gate on the south of the inner court; and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, one hundred cubits. Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it was of the same dimensions as the others. Its recesses, its pilasters, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others; and there were windows all around in it and in its vestibule; its depth was fifty cubits, and its width twenty-five cubits. There were vestibules all around, twenty-five cubits deep and five cubits wide. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and palm trees were on its pilasters, and its stairway had eight steps. Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gate; it was of the same size as the others. Its recesses, its pilasters, and its vestibule were of the same dimensions as the others; and there were windows all around in it and in its vestibule; its depth was fifty cubits, and its width twenty-five cubits. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its pilasters, on either side; and its stairway had eight steps. Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it; it had the same dimensions as the others. Its recesses, its pilasters, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others; and it had windows all around. Its depth was fifty cubits, and its width twenty-five cubits. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its pilasters, on either side; and its stairway had eight steps. (Ezekiel 40:20-37, NRSV)

The temple of God is very symmetrical. Things in God’s Kingdom line up and are equal. Unlike our world, where things get messy and are not always equal.

How is God calling you to help make things equal in our world?

How can God work through your life to bring equality to the world you live in?

Are you open to the coming baby in the manger to use your life to show His peace, mercy, and grace to the world in which you live?

The Vision of the New Temple

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, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me there. He brought me, in visions of God, to the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. When he brought me there, a man was there, whose appearance shone like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. The man said to me, “Mortal, look closely and listen attentively, and set your mind 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.” Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area. The length of the measuring reed in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth 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. There were recesses, and each recess was one reed wide and one reed deep; and the space between the recesses, five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate at the inner end was one reed deep. Then he measured the inner vestibule of the gateway, one cubit. Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits; and its pilasters, two cubits; and the vestibule of the gate was at the inner end. There were three recesses on either side of the east gate; the three were of the same size; and the pilasters on either side were of the same size. Then he measured the width of the opening of the gateway, ten cubits; and the width of the gateway, thirteen cubits. There was a barrier before the recesses, one cubit on either side; and the recesses were six cubits on either side. Then he measured the gate from the back of the one recess to the back of the other, a width of twenty-five cubits, from wall to wall. He measured also the vestibule, twenty cubits; and the gate next to the pilaster on every side of the court. From the front of the gate at the entrance to the end of the inner vestibule of the gate was fifty cubits. The recesses and their pilasters had windows, with shutters on the inside of the gateway all around, and the vestibules also had windows on the inside all around; and on the pilasters were palm trees. Then he brought me into the outer court; there were chambers there, and a pavement, all around the court; thirty chambers fronted on the pavement. 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, one hundred cubits. (Ezekiel 40:1-19, NRSV)

A cubit is the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger and a handbreadth is the width of the hand. So the reed was six cubits but each of those was a cubit and a handbreadth in length.

This was the standard for the temple, The walls were as thick as they were tall and recesses were as wide as deep.

This was the layout given to Ezexiel for the new temple.

God will help us and show us what His Kingdom needs if we are attentive and open to the vision.

Are you ready for the coming child and the vision He might give you?