Scripture Daily

Context No. 3983 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 43:6-11: in context

6I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and a man stood by me. 7He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their prostitution and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; 8in their setting of their threshold by my threshold and their door post beside my door post. There was a wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in my anger. 9Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings far from me. Then I will dwell among them forever. 10“You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. 11If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, its fashion, its exits, its entrances, its structure, all its ordinances, all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them.

In Ezekiel's vision, the glory of God returns to the temple, and God declares his desire: this is the place of my throne, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. The great longing revealed here is that God wants to dwell among his people, to make his home in their midst.

But that dwelling has a condition: they must put away the things that had defiled his holy name, the idolatry and corruption that had driven his presence away. And there is a striking instruction: show the house to the people, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. God calls his people to be ashamed of their sin, not to crush them, but as the doorway back to fellowship with him. Two things stand out. God's deep desire is to dwell with his people; that is his heart, fulfilled in Christ, God with us, and finally in the new creation where he dwells with them forever. And a holy God cannot dwell amid unrepented sin; the way back to his presence runs through an honest shame over our iniquity and a putting away of what defiles.

Do I share God's own longing for him to dwell with me, and am I willing to be honestly ashamed of my sin and put away what defiles, so that the holy God can make his home in my midst?

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