Tall double doors of carved wood standing open into a dim paneled hall, carved palm trees on the panels and a soft light deep within; a plain paneled wall above.

The LORD is there

Ezekiel 41

Is there a place in your life kept only for God?

26 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–3Visions of gloryBy the Kebar, about 593 BC: the throne, the scroll, the watchman
4–7Signs of the siegeA brick, a ration, a razor: the end has come
8–11The glory departsAbout 592 BC: the temple’s abominations, the mark, the glory goes east
12–15False hopesExile acted out, false prophets, a useless vine
16–19Parables and lamentsAn unfaithful bride, two eagles, the one who sins
20–24The sword drawnRebellion retold; the siege begins, about 588 BC
25–32The nations judgedAmmon to Egypt: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
33–36A new heartThe city falls; the Good Shepherd; cleansed and made new
37–39Dry bones liveOne people raised up, and Gog of Magog defeated
40–48The LORD is thereAbout 573 BC: the new temple, the river, the landChapter 41

Inside the Temple

Ezekiel

Then the man brought me into the outer sanctuary and measured the side pillars to be six cubits wide on each side. The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side. He also measured the length of the outer sanctuary to be forty cubits, and the width to be twenty cubits.

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Ezekiel

And he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the side pillars at the entrance to be two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the walls on each side were seven cubits wide.

Ezekiel

A square inner room paneled in carved wood, completely empty and still, a soft light falling on the bare stone floor through the doorway.

Then he measured the room adjacent to the inner sanctuary to be twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

The way in narrows

Whiteboard

Each doorway is narrower than the last, until the man goes in alone and Ezekiel stays outside.

Outside the Temple

Ezekiel

The long side of a plain stone temple house seen from the court: three stories of small side rooms resting on ledges, small doorways and flat roofs.

Next he measured the wall of the temple to be six cubits thick, and the width of each side room around the temple was four cubits. The side rooms were arranged one above another in three levels of thirty rooms each. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be fastened into the wall of the temple itself. The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so a stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest, through the middle one.

Ezekiel

I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the full length of a rod, six long cubits. The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick, and the open area between the side rooms of the temple and the outer chambers was twenty cubits wide all around the temple. The side rooms opened into this area, with one entrance on the north and another on the south. The open area was five cubits wide all around.

Ezekiel

Now the building that faced the temple courtyard on the west was seventy cubits wide, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, with a length of ninety cubits.

Ezekiel

Then he measured the temple to be a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long. The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.

Question

Quick question

Look again at the room at the far end of the house.

What did the man call the room at the far end of the temple?

The Interior Structures

Ezekiel

Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits. The outer sanctuary, the inner sanctuary, and the porticoes facing the court, as well as the thresholds and the beveled windows and the galleries all around with their three levels opposite the threshold, were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows, and the windows were covered.

Ezekiel

Close on a wall of wood paneling carved in low relief: a tall date palm, and on each side of it only the edge of a carved outstretched wing, the pattern repeating along the wall.

In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary on all the walls, spaced evenly around the inner and outer sanctuary, were alternating carved cherubim and palm trees. Each cherub had two faces: the face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion was toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all the way around the temple. Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary from the floor to the space above the entrance.

Ezekiel

The outer sanctuary had a rectangular doorframe, and the doorframe of the sanctuary was similar.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel

There was an altar of wood three cubits high and two cubits square. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. And the man told me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”

Ezekiel

Both the outer sanctuary and the inner sanctuary had double doors, and each door had two swinging panels. There were two panels for one door and two for the other. Cherubim and palm trees like those on the walls were carved on the doors of the outer sanctuary, and there was a wooden canopy outside, on the front of the portico. There were beveled windows and palm trees on the sidewalls of the portico. The side rooms of the temple also had canopies.

Pray

Holy LORD, the way into Your presence is narrow and holy. Thank You that in Christ the way is opened. Keep a place in me for You alone. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Ezekiel 41

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A verse to carry with you

Then he measured the room adjacent to the inner sanctuary to be twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

Ezekiel 41:4

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