Sharper Iron — The Faithful Watchman: Access to God’s Holiness in Jesus

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Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller, pastor at St. Paul and Jesus Deaf Lutheran Churches in Austin, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Ezekiel 41:1-26.

Ezekiel’s vision of the new temple continues into the temple itself, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Though some of the details can be difficult to ascertain, the main promise is certain. To exiles living in Babylon, the LORD gives His assurance that He can get to where His people are. The descriptions of cherubim and palm trees adorning this temple hearken back to the Garden of Eden; the LORD brings His people back to Himself and dwells with them as their God in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

“The Faithful Watchman” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that goes through the book of Ezekiel. Just when Ezekiel should have begun his service as priest in the temple in Jerusalem, the LORD called him to be a prophet in exile in Babylon. Through fantastic visions and attention-grabbing action prophecies, the prophet Ezekiel is a faithful watchman who proclaims the word of the LORD to bring people to repentance over their sins and to faith in the coming Savior, Jesus Christ, the glory of the LORD made flesh.

Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen.

Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.

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Ezekiel 41:1-26

The Inner Temple

41 Then he brought me to the nave and measured the jambs. On each side six cubits^[a] was the breadth of the jambs.^[b] 2 And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sidewalls of the entrance were five cubits on either side. And he measured the length of the nave,^[c] forty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits. ³ Then he went into the inner room and measured the jambs of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the sidewalls on either side^[d] of the entrance, seven cubits. ⁴ And he measured the length of the room, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, across the nave. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵ Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick, and the breadth of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the temple. ⁶ And the side chambers were in three stories, one over another, thirty in each story. There were offsets^[e] all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side chambers, so that they should not be supported by the wall of the temple. ⁷ And it became broader as it wound upward to the side chambers, because the temple was enclosed upward all around the temple. Thus the temple had a broad area upward, and so one went up from the lowest story to the top story through the middle story. ⁸ I saw also that the temple had a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers measured a full reed of six long cubits. ⁹ The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. The free space between the side chambers of the temple and the ¹⁰ other chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side. ¹¹ And the doors of the side chambers opened on the free space, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. And the breadth of the free space was five cubits all around.

¹² The building that was facing the separate yard on the west side was seventy cubits broad, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.

¹³ Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; and the yard and the building with its walls, a hundred cubits long; ¹⁴ also the breadth of the east front of the temple and the yard, a hundred cubits.

¹⁵ Then he measured the length of the building facing the yard that was at the back and its galleries^[f] on either side, a hundred cubits.

The inside of the nave and the vestibules of the court, ¹⁶ the thresholds and the narrow windows and the galleries all around the three of them, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, from the floor up to the windows (now the windows were covered), ¹⁷ to the space above the door, even to the inner room, and on the outside. And on all the walls all around, inside and outside, was a measured pattern.^[g] 18 It was carved of cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Every cherub had two faces: ¹⁹ a human face toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on the whole temple all around. ²⁰ From the floor to above the door, cherubim and palm trees were carved; similarly the wall of the nave.

²¹ The doorposts of the nave were squared, and in front of the Holy Place was something resembling ²² an altar of wood, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits broad.^[h] Its corners, its base,^[i] and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” ²³ The nave and the Holy Place had each a double door. ²⁴ The double doors had two leaves apiece, two swinging leaves for each door. ²⁵ And on the doors of the nave were carved cherubim and palm trees, such as were carved on the walls. And there was a canopy^[j] of wood in front of the vestibule outside. ²⁶ And there were narrow windows and palm trees on either side, on the sidewalls of the vestibule, the side chambers of the temple, and the canopies.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.