Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, special ones.

Can you believe it? Last day of September? Already?

Lots of wind and rain in the night. Our power was out for a couple hours. It’s blowing right now, but not raining. Who knows how long it will be till another squall rolls in? While it’s not raining, I may have Joe go with me to a job where I need to remove a fir tree. I’ll do so by climbing, limbing, topping, then taking it apart on the way down in chunks due to the confines of where it is. There is no direction we can just fall it.

May your day go well. Blessings.

Love, Dad/Ray.

An outline for the Book of Ezekiel is presented in the introductory notes in my study Bible. It marks this section as “The Vision of Restoration (40:1-48:35). So these three chapters are the first in a series of nine chapters that encompass a single vision. I’m choosing to refrain from doing added research and consulting commentaries, just to see how much I can figure out on my own and maybe glean any principles and precepts that would apply to us today. Quite honestly, as I puzzle and ponder the significance of these chapters, that’s about all I come up with—puzzling and pondering. And I would have to admit that if Ezekiel came to town with ministry entitled, “My Vision of the Jerusalem Temple,” and I went to hear Part One as presented in these three chapters, I think I would have been tempted to fall asleep, and not likely return for Part Two. In this vision, Ezekiel is taken to the temple where he meets “a man whose appearance was like bronze” and who shows him every part while he measures it all using a 9-foot-long (6 cubit) measuring rod. Some of the distances are up to 500 cubits—so I have to wonder if even Ezekiel was a little bored while he waited for the bronze person to measure that expanse with his relatively short measuring rod.

My puzzling and pondering turns up these ideas as starters:

1. Maybe puzzling and pondering is a lesson in itself. After all, there are lots of Biblical details that still remain unclear. Paul says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV). We are all aware of the huge amount of controversy and debate that goes on in regards to Biblical interpretation and resulting doctrine. Much of it can be subjected to the principle of Deuteronomy 29:29.
2. The detailed description of the layout, details, and dimensions of the temple area certainly support the idea that the Sovereign God of the Bible is the author of order, design, and beauty—as opposed to accident, chaos, and distorted ugliness. This structure was definitely not the result of a “big bang.” Be reminded that this vision of the Jerusalem temple was given at a point in time when Jerusalem and the temple were in a state of devastation and rubble. The point is that God’s plans aren’t finished yet. (It’s not over till it’s over.”) If He can cause order and life to come out of a “valley of dry bones,” He can certainly bring about the reconstruction of a magnificent temple in the “new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:2). (3) Let me launch this third idea with a question: What are the chances that the temple Ezekiel views in his vision will serve as a kind of heavenly museum that memorializes where we’ve come from, why we’re here, celebrating God’s amazing grace, and honoring Christ Who is the perfect fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrificial system?

Think about it—you and I have the incredible opportunity to participate in this incredible unfolding wonder and adventure by simply nurturing a HEART AFTER GOD.