SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/17/2015
2:55 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Lord’s
Portion
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel 45:1-6;
48:8-9
Message of the
verses: “1 "And when you divide
by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an allotment to the LORD, a
holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of 25,000 cubits, and
the width shall be 20,000. It shall be holy within its entire boundary round
about. 2 "Out of this there shall
be for the holy place a square round about five hundred by five hundred cubits,
and fifty cubits for its open space round about. 3 “From this area you shall
measure a length of 25,000 cubits and a width of 10,000 cubits; and in it shall
be the sanctuary, the most holy place. 4
"It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the
priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the LORD,
and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5
“An area 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width shall be for the Levites,
the ministers of the house, and for their possession cities to dwell in. 6 “You
shall give the city possession of an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits
long, alongside the allotment of the holy portion; it shall be for the whole
house of Israel.”
8 "And beside
the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the
allotment which you shall set apart, 25,000 cubits in width, and in length like
one of the portions, from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary
shall be in the middle of it. 9 “The allotment that you shall set apart to the
LORD shall be 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width.”
We begin a new section from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline and
also a new chapter in the book of Ezekiel.
He entitles this section “The logistics of the new Temple” and it covers
chapters 45-48 which when we get done with it will conclude our study in this marvelous
and exciting, and sometimes not so understandable book. I have mentioned my difficulties in
understanding these last nine chapters of Ezekiel, but I still stick with what
I have always believed and that is that this section speaks of what will happen
in the Millennial Kingdom even though it is hard to understand, but faith comes
by hearing and hearing of the Word of God.
This last section explains how the land of Israel will be
divided during the Kingdom age and we will see that there is a section assigned
to the Lord, and then one to the priests and then one to each of the tribes of
Israel. This is not something new as
when we studied the book of Joshua a long time ago we saw that the land was
divided up between the twelve tribes, but they did not finish conquering it
which caused them to fall into sin and eventually having their land over taken
by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
There will be none of that this time for the Lord Jesus Christ will be
ruling from Jerusalem and will not allow anything like that to happen to
Israel.
Now a while ago we looked at a quote from Dr. Wiersbe
stating that he would interpret the numbers that are seen in these chapters
into numbers we are more familiar with and he does that in this section stating
that “Between the area assigned to Judah and Benjamin will be a section
reserved for the Lord and the prince.
The Lord’s section will be 8.3 miles square, which equals about 55
square miles. The area will be divided
horizontally into three sections, each section 8.3 miles long. The top section (3.3 miles wide) will be the
sacred area for the temple and the priests.
The priests will not be permitted to own land but will be allowed to
live there near the sanctuary. (44:28).”
Next we see a portion for the Levites which will be in the center
area. In the OT times the Levites owned
land, but they had portions in the different tribes so they could minister to
all of the people.
Dr. Wiersbe goes on by writing “The bottom area (1.75
miles wide) will be assigned to ‘the city’ and free land around it.” It is believed that this city will be called
Jerusalem. Ezekiel 40:2 mentions “In the
visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high
mountain, and on it to the south there was a structure like a city.” This is the first mention of the city, and
next we see in 48:35 “The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name
of the city from that day shall be, ’The LORD is there.’" This is the very last verse in Ezekiel and
the LORD is there is “Jehovah Shammah.” Dr. Wiersbe points that the “common
lands’ will be available to all the people of Israel “"The remainder,
5,000 cubits in width and 25,000 in length, shall be for common use for the
city, for dwellings and for open spaces; and the city shall be in its midst
(Ezek. 48:15). Dr. Wiersbe concludes his
commentary: “The suggestion seems to be
that a ‘staff’ of people from the tribes will work this land so that the ‘staff’
in the city can take care of civil affairs and host visitors who come to
worship at the temple.”
I suppose that everyone who believes that there will
indeed be a Millennial Kingdom with the Lord Jesus Christ reigning from the
city of Jerusalem has their own idea of how all of this will look and will
work. As we go through the minor prophets
and have been through all of the major prophets we see bits of information
telling us how things will run, but it is believed by many Bible scholars that
this section in Ezekiel gives us the most information. How much will the people see the glorified
Lord is a question that I have wondered?
What will the role of those of us in glorified bodies be doing is
another question I don’t really have an answer too. Believers who are a part of the church age
will all be there doing something meaningful for the Lord is something that I
truly believe. There will be no boredom
in the Kingdom age.
5/17/2015 3:25 PM
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