Spiritual Dimensions
“Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance; each was two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were seven cubits wide. And he measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the main hall. He said to me, ‘This is the Most Holy Place.’”
Today’s Text: Ezekiel 41:1-26 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
For real, detailed descriptions of land and buildings have always been my least favorite things to read. And that is no less true even when I am reading the Bible. Somehow, my mind is better at processing abstract concepts than it is at visualizing descriptions of architecture. I was designed to be more of a philosopher rather than an architect. That’s just how God made me.
At the same time, I realize that this too is the word of God. And Jesus said,
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
- Matthew 5:17-18
All that to say, this long, drawn-out description of Jerusalem and the temple is significant. In fact, its significance and importance is evident in how long and drawn-out it is! Writing down anything on a scroll back then was not cheap. And whoever first wrote this down used up a lot of ink and animal hide.
And yet, my eyes start to glaze over and my head gets a little foggy whenever I read through this section of Ezekiel. And it dawns on me that maybe that’s just a part of the significance of this text. In other words, I have to conscientiously remind myself that it is significant and important, and so I have to be more focused in reading something that’s not easy for me to read.
It also dawns on me that if I really dug in deep, I might find a lot of interesting spiritual connections and a lot of interesting spiritual tidbits. Who knows, maybe God will have me preaching in this passage one day. I would like that.
Even now, as I am listening to the Lord through this text, I realize that God cared so much about Jerusalem and the temple, not so much because He cared about the city and the temple, but because He cared so much about His people. He wanted them to have a home and a place where they could commune with Him in the Spirit.
Every church is like that too. It’s not that God cares so much about our building and sanctuary. It’s that God loves us so much, He wants us to have a spiritual home where we can commune with Him in the Holy Spirit.
God gave us this spiritual home that we call GCC Canvas because of His great, great love for us. We must never take our church for granted, and we ought to treat her with the kind of love and care that God has for us.
Father, Your love is great, and Your love never fails. Out of Your love for us, You have established us as Your church through the blood of our Lord. I confess that we so easily take our church community for granted. But help us—help me—to see our church from Your perspective of love. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
