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Ezekiel 44 (ESV)
1 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”
4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary.
REFLECTION:
Why should the East Gate be closed? There are several reasons: (1) this is the gate through which God enters the temple. The people can only enter the outer court through the north and south gates, with the purpose of consecration; (2) this closed door means that God will never leave the Holy Temple; (3) when the sun rises from the east, this door will block it and prevent the people in the temple from “facing the east to worship the sun”, as recorded in 8:16. “The prince” (v3) is also translated in the original bible texts as “patriarch”, “king”, “ruler”, and “chief”. It can represent the leader of the Israelites in the kingdom established by God, and it can also symbolize the victorious believers who shares in the first resurrection who will “reign with Christ for a thousand years.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the king of the kingdom of God, but the king here does not refer to the Messiah. Therefore, at Passover and Sukkot, he has to prepare sin offerings for himself, representing the house of Israel, and enjoying the sacrifice of peace offerings before God. Don’t forget that every one of us who is a disciple of the Lord Jesus is a “king”: we are all people who have been freed from the power of the devil by the grace of the Lord, and have the victory and dignity of the king. In the future, we will also reign with Christ and share the glory of the king.
PRAYER:
Ask God to enlighten you so that you can see that on the throne of your soul, only the Lord Jesus is sitting as the king, and there is no other “king”. Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you every day to make you understand that you will reign with the Lord Jesus in the future. You should act with the dignity and glory of a king, refrain from doing things that are detrimental to your identity as a Christian, and put an end to filthy thoughts, in all things you are more than conqueror through the power of Jesus.
