The Glory of the LORD Fills the Temple

431 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. 2 Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory. 3 It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 The glory of Yahweh came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. 5 The Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house.

The Ordinances of the Temple

6 I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by me.

7 He said to me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; 8 in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their doorpost beside my doorpost, and there was but the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: therefore I have consumed them in my anger. 9 Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. 10 You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. 11 If they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its exits, and its entrances, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, and all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them. 12 This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 43:1-12

Chapter Summary

After Ezekiel had surveyed the temple of God, he had a vision of the glory of God. When Christ crucified, and the things freely given to us of God, through Him, are shown to us by the Holy Ghost, they make us ashamed for our sins. This frame of mind prepares us for fuller discoveries of the mysteries of redeeming love; and the whole of the Scriptures should be opened and applied, that men may see their sins, and repent of them. We are not now to offer any atoning sacrifices, for by one offering Christ has perfected for ever those that are sanctified, Hebrews 10:14; but the sprinkling of his blood is needful in all our approaches to God the Father. Our best services can be accepted only as sprinkled with the blood which cleanses from all sin.