Ezekiel 41:1 - Meaning and Application

We are still following a prophet who is guided by an angel, so we should pay close attention, even when we do not fully understand what we are seeing or what it means for us.

First, after Ezekiel had looked at the outer courts, he was finally brought into the temple itself (Ezekiel 41:1). If we carefully follow the clearer parts of religion and benefit from them, we will be led further into the deeper truths of God’s kingdom. Those who are willing to live in God’s courts will at last be brought into his temple. Ezekiel was a priest by birth, but the sins and suffering of the times kept him from serving in the temple. God made up for that loss by bringing him into this prophetic, gospel-shaped, heavenly temple and using him to describe it for the church. In that way, Ezekiel was honored above the rest of his order.

Second, when the Lord Jesus spoke of the destruction of this temple, which his hearers understood as the second temple in Jerusalem, he was also speaking of the temple of his body (John 2:19, John 2:21). He could speak in this way because Ezekiel’s vision looked ahead to both, and also to Christ’s mystical body, the church, which is called the house of God (1 Timothy 3:15). It includes all the members of that body, who are living temples where the Spirit dwells.

Third, even the doorposts of this temple were set as far apart as the full width of Moses’ tabernacle, so the doorway was twelve cubits wide (Ezekiel 41:1; Exodus 26:16, 26:22, 26:25). Compared with what had been under the law, we may say that the gate into the church is wide, since the ceremonial law, that wall of separation, has been taken down.

Fourth, the most holy place was a perfect square, twenty cubits on each side (Ezekiel 41:4). The new Jerusalem is also perfectly square (Revelation 21:16), which points to its stability. We look for a city that cannot be moved.

Fifth, the upper stories were larger than the lower ones (Ezekiel 41:7). The walls of the temple were six cubits thick at the bottom, five in the middle story, and four at the top, which allowed the chambers to widen as they rose. Yet care was taken so the timber would have firm support, because God builds high, but he also builds solidly. Still, one part was not weakened for the sake of another, for the chambers were held up without being built into the wall of the house. As the side chambers widened by a cubit at each level, so we should also grow wider in heart as we build ourselves up in our most holy faith. Our hearts, as living temples, should become more spacious.