Ezekiel 40:4 says, “And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee; for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.” While God was showing the vision of His building to Ezekiel, the prophet needed to have keen sight and to listen intently. Also, in order to absorb the things that would be shown to him, he had to set his heart upon them. Then he would be able to declare to God’s people all that he had seen and heard.
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.
Let us first consider a general sketch, or plot plan, of the building of God. Please consult figure 1, which is the plot plan showing the temple and the inner and outer courts.
The building is square, with each of the four sides being five hundred cubits long. Three of the four sides have an entrance. There are gates on the east, the south, and the north, all leading to the outer court around the walls. In the outer court are six pavements made of stone. On each pavement are five chambers built as places for the people to eat and enjoy the sacrifices and offerings. This means that the thirty chambers are places for us to enjoy Christ.
Within the outer court there is an inner court, which also has gates on three sides, on the east, south, and north. This makes a total of six gates—three to the outer court and three to the inner court. Regarding this, we need to realize that the building which Ezekiel saw has two walls, the wall outside the outer court and the wall outside the inner court. With each wall there are three gates. The measurement and design of the walls and the gates are exactly the same.
Within the inner court is the altar. This altar is the center of the whole compound of the building of God. The altar is a type of the cross. Thus, the altar at the center of the compound indicates that the cross of Christ is at the very center of God’s economy and of God’s interests.
In Ezekiel 40—48, a section on God’s building, three main things are covered: the holy temple, the holy city, and the holy land. The temple, the city, and the land are all holy. It is significant that Ezekiel begins not from the outside but from the inside. This is the way of God’s economy. In His economy God always begins from the inside, not from the outside. We see an indication of this in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which speaks of our “spirit and soul and body,” not of body, soul, and spirit. This reveals that God begins from within, from our spirit, not from the outside. God’s economy always begins from within, whereas human movements are always outward. In light of this, we need to learn in the church life not to have anything that begins in an outward way but always to have something that begins from within. This is to apply what is revealed here concerning God’s building—first the temple, then the city, and then the land.
The first item we need to see concerning the temple is the wall. The temple has a wall on all four sides. The wall is for separation, separating what belongs to God from what cannot belong to Him. It separates what should belong to God and what should never belong to God. The wall is thus a separating line.
The measurement of the wall indicates that it signifies Christ Himself as a separating line. Whatever is within Christ belongs to God’s interests and to God’s building, but whatever is outside of Christ is excluded from God’s interests and God’s building. In a city of millions of people, we can know who is of God and who is not of God by Christ as the separating line. Whoever is in Christ belongs to God, and whoever is outside of Christ is separated from God. In other words, whoever belongs to Christ is within the wall, and whoever is outside of Christ is outside of the wall.
The measurement of the wall is quite unusual. I do not think that through all the centuries of human history, there has ever been such a wall. This wall is six cubits high and six cubits thick. If we could look at a cross section of the wall, we would be looking at a square six cubits by six cubits. The number six refers to man, who was created on the sixth day. Since the wall is six cubits high and six cubits thick and since six is the number of man, we may say that the wall signifies the Lord Jesus as a square, upright, perfect, and complete man. As a square, upright, perfect, complete, and even resurrected man, Christ is the separating line. Because He is square and upright, He is fully qualified. In Him there is no imperfection; with Him there is nothing lacking and nothing crooked. Rather, with Him everything is straight, upright, perfect, and complete. Again I say, such a man is the separating line.
If only the Lord Jesus were such a man, we would be excluded. We are not square, straight, or upright. We surely are not perfect or complete. Although we are so short, we should not try to imitate Christ. It is impossible for any fallen human beings to imitate Christ, the One who is square, upright, perfect, and complete.
When we come to the Lord Jesus and compare ourselves with Him, we are exposed and condemned. For example, in Luke 2 we see that when the Lord Jesus was a child of twelve, no matter how much He was for His Father, He still obeyed His parents. Young people, you are not obedient to your parents while you are seeking after your Father’s interests, but the Lord Jesus was obedient. From this one example we can realize that the life history of the Lord Jesus is a condemning factor to us.