Gluten Free & God Seeking: Looking at the Spiritual Meanings in Ezekiel's Visions - What Do All the Measurements of God's House in Ezekiel 40 Symbolize?

Walking my daughter's dog

On the earth God's heart's desire is to have a dwelling place. In Ezekiel's vision in chapter 40 God takes him back to Jerusalem to see the temple. Outside the gate he sees a man of bronze measuring with a reed, which was one cubit (about 18 inches). As I was reading through chapters 19 to 23 that talk about this building, I learned that all the numbers and even the materials in the temple have profound spiritual meaning. This is what God said to Ezekiel:

And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you; for to the intent that I might show them unto you are your brought here: declare all that you see to the house of Israel. Ezekiel 40:4

In chapter 19 of the Life-Study of Ezekiel, I really liked Witness Lee's comment on page 213 where he talks about how God's building helps us to locate God:

"The holy temple is the place where God is, God's dwelling place. If we want to seek God, contact God, fellowship with God, and serve God, we need to realize that God has His dwelling place. On the one hand, God is omnipresent; on the other hand, God has His particular place. If we want to meet Him, we must know His exact location, His definite habitation. Thus, we need to consider the vision of God's building in Ezekiel, for this vision describes the place where God dwells--His holy temple" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Ezekiel. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1998, Print).

       Ezekiel sees that along the east, north, and south sides of the wall there were 3 gates, each with seven steps. I always thought that these gates were like my yard gate, but I found out from my reading that they actually were very complex structures full of spiritual meaning. The entire gate is quite large at 50 x 25 cubits (about 75 x 57 feet) which makes the length about the size of twelve 6 foot men.

    Once you’re on the top step, the gate’s entrance is 10 cubits wide, the same number as the 10 commandments. I read on this page that this showed that Christ is the only One who could fulfill them, and this gate shows us that He is our entrance into God's dwelling place!!  Isn't the Bible an amazing book that even in these measurements God is telling us something?"

   And the passageway was composed of six guardrooms split into two groups of three and this portrays the death of Christ. I learned that the guardroom measuring 6 x 6 cubit shows how Christ as the perfect man 6 was split on the cross for us. These guardrooms also signify that Christ is the One who guard’s God’s holiness and glory—not you or me. What a picture all these numbers show us!!!

     It’s amazing that each of these rather small chambers contained 3 windows each and there were also windows between each room, so the gate contained 30 total windows! These windows show us that Christ as a perfect and upright man is full of the Spirit’s light and air. I learned from my reading that what God wants us to see here is that in His building all the light and air comes from Christ-- not us.

     Inside the gate are also 30 posts, with 15 on each side. And I read that the spiritual meaning here is the Triune God--3 bears the responsibility--5 to support God’s building—not us! Each of us needs to be upheld by Christ in order to enjoy what He is in His building.

    On each side of all the posts is a palm tree. I really liked that the spiritual meaning of a palm tree is that Christ is the everlasting, victorious One who is standing, bearing, sustaining, and prevailing over everything in His house--not us!!   So I'm sure you get it by now that what caught my attention as I was reading this chapter was all the details in God's building point out that Christ is the only One who can meet the demands and requirements of God's building--not us!!

      Then when Ezekiel came out of the gate, he was on a porch that was 8 cubits wide, and this means that by then you're in a position of resurrection and are now ready to go up 8 more steps into a second gate which is very similar to the first one.

      I wouldn't have gotten this on my own, but I read that these two gates show us that God’s building is progressive.  I read that as we go on, we repeat many of the same spiritual experiences, but we experience more of the Lord. Ezekiel's journey through these two gates brought him to the inner court where in the center stood the burnt offering altar. This shows us that the only way to enter into the Holy Place let alone the Holy of Holies is through the cross. And that was going to be covered in the next chapter. So in order to find out what the rest of the temple means, you'll have to click on this link for the online chapters of the Life-Study of Ezekiel and read some of these chapters yourself!!

Other posts on the Major Prophets

Life-Study of Isaiah:

You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Study of Isaiah on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee. You can also read the online Life-Studies of Isaiah and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

How Can the Son in Isaiah 7:14 & 9:6 Be the Mighty God?
Seeing Christ as the Great Light in Isaiah 9:2
Why is Christ Called the Cornerstone in Isaiah 28:26?
Taking a Closer Look at Isaiah 53 - Christ's Crucifixion Foretold - Part 1

Taking a Closer Look at Isaiah 53 - Christ's Resurrection &Ascension Foretold - Part 2 of 2

Life-Study of Jeremiah & Lamentations: