“Son of man, describe to the people of Israel the Temple I have shown you, so they will be ashamed of all their sins. Let them study its plan, and they will be ashamed of what they have done. Describe to them all the specifications of the Temple—including its entrances and exits—and everything else about it. … And this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness! The entire top of the mountain where the Temple is built is holy. Yes, this is the basic law of the Temple.” Ezekiel 43:7-8, 10-12 NLT

Ezekiel devotes two whole chapters to describe the temple in painstaking detail: Cubits and yards, doorways and stairways, walls and halls, lower rooms and upper rooms, inner courts and outer courts, sanctuary and gallery, courtyards and terrace yards. 

I slogged through those chapters – they were so tedious. 

Why couldn’t Ezekiel just skip to the good parts?  

Soon, the point of the repetitions and precision jumped out at me: Holiness. 

The perfection of God

There are 13 mentions of holy and holiness in Ezekiel 41 through 43; 12 in the first two chapters alone.

The name of God is holy.

The Temple in which He dwells is holy.

The rooms are holy.

The offerings are holy. 

The garments of the priests are holy.

The mountain on which the temple was built is holy.

The temple was designed and built in perfect symmetry to reflect the perfection of God.

It was not just a building. It was a shadow of God, a display of His flawless nature, that the nations may know His holiness.

The Israelites were to study its plan and its specifications so they would be ashamed with their sin in light of God’s perfection (Ezekiel 43:10-12).

Just as the great I AM is perfect, they were to be perfect (Matthew 5:48).

That was the goal and law of the temple: Absolute holiness.

We are the temple of God.

Sanctification takes sacrifice

Worthy of a perfect God are holy offerings on a holy altar.

“Do this each day for seven days to cleanse and make atonement for the altar, thus setting it apart for holy use. On the eighth day, and on each day afterward, the priests will sacrifice on the altar the burnt offerings and peace offerings of the people. Then I will accept you. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!” Ezekiel 43:26-27 NLT

It would take seven days of repeated and bloody sacrifices to cleanse and make atonement for the altar before it becomes fit for holy use.

Just as I wanted to hurry through those chapters of the temple description, I looked for a way to fast-track the often painful process of sanctification. 

But the God of order does things in the proper sequence and at the proper time. Seven being the number of completion, I believe seven days indicates how long as it takes to complete the cycle, how long as it takes to make me fit for holy use.

Today, we are made righteous by the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. But sanctification still takes time and the continual sacrifice of self. 

The good news is when we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, God Himself works in us to will and to act for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12).

The even better news is that one day, we will all be like Him (1 John 2:3).

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