Ezekiel 43:10-12, Deuteronomy 28:53-57



We must enter Ezekiel’s temple in order to live
Ezekiel’s temple is known as “the temple which has no address on this earth.” The length of each wall measures 500 cubits (266m). And outside of the walls is surrounded by another walls each 500 rods(1596m) long (Ezek 42:15-20). The length of the outside walls is six times longer than the inner walls, and the area it surrounds is 36 times larger. We must pass through these walls in order to enter Ezekiel’s temple. Some people say, “We only need to believe in Jesus to go to heaven. Why do we need to learn about such complicated Ezekiel’s temple?” Many theologians neglect the book of Ezekiel, saying the words and actions of the prophet Ezekiel are hard to understand and the structure of the temple he received through revelations is complicated.

We need to know Jesus in order to enter Ezekiel’ temple
To find the Will of God hidden in the Words of the Bible, we need to know Jesus. That is because Jesus is the mystery of God (Col 2:2-3). God wrapped up His mysteries and sealed it so anyone could not open it. Apostle John wept greatly because no one was found to open the book. But then, a man who was worthy to open the book appeared, and that is Jesus (Rev 5:1-5). The entire 66 books of the Bible introduce Jesus Christ alone (John 5:39, Luke 24:44-45). Without Jesus, no one can enter heaven. This is why Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6, 10:7).” Jesus, “the mystery of God,” is in other words the Word itself. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).”
All of the creation, process, and result are of the Word (Rev 2:8, Rom 11:36). Therefore, only when we have Jesus, who is the cause and result of everything, in our hearts, we can be qualified to enter Ezekiel’s temple. When Adam and Eve sinned, God placed the cherubim and flaming sword around the Garden of Eden so that Adam and Eve cannot enter and eat from the tree of life to live eternally. However, the one who tore down the barrier by dying on the cross is Jesus. He is the tree of life. So the family that has Jesus is truly blessed. Even if you don’t have a savings account, as long as you have the Bible, the Holy Spirit takes care of your household. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States was born from a poor family and did not even finish elementary school. Yet, he was greatly blessed because he learned the Bible from his mother.



Knowing Jesus correctly separates the righteous from the wicked
The ways of God are right (Hos 14:9, Jer 9:11, 23:18, Ps 107:43, Dan 12:10). Therefore it precisely separates the righteous from the wicked. “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them” (Hos 14:9). Daniel 12:10 says, “Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.” Jesus said, ‘If you really believed in God, then you would have recognized Me as I have been sent by God. Yet, since you do not know Me or believe Me for the reason that I was born as a carpenter’s son in a poor town, you are not of God’ (John 8:47).

The profane cannot enter Ezekiel’s temple
Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48 describe Ezekiel temple and are the overview as well as the conclusion of both Old and New Testaments. As sons and daughters of God, we must enter Ezekiel’s temple. The Israelites believed in God only in their heads and their actions and lives were without God. In such state we cannot enter Ezekiel’s temple since it is the most holy place.
The Garden of Eden was guarded by the cherubim and flaming sword, but Ezekiel’s temple is guarded by walls. These walls filter out all deceitful men, thieves, and those who do not believe with all their hearts. They divide between the holy and the profane (Ezek 42-43). The thickness of the walls is about 3.2 meters (1 rod). These walls are alive. Some may be confused to hear that the walls are alive. The Bible says, “Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer from the framework” (Hab 2:11). Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!“ (Luke 19:40).
It is just like the fact that if we sin in the mountains or fields, the sky, ground, trees and grass watch us and report to God what they saw (Jer 2). There are flaming walls of fire revolving around Ezekiel’s temple. These walls discern those who can enter, saying, “You are qualified to enter,” and let them in.
Those who enter are protected eternally. “‘For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst’” (Zech 2:5). So saints do not need armed body guards, for they are protected by God, who neither slumbers nor sleeps to keep them 24 hours a day.

Conditions to enter Ezekiel’s temple
Although Ezekiel’s temple has never been built on this earth, it clearly exists. It is only invisible to our eyes filled with sin. God specified to Ezekiel every cardinal direction of the temple and informed him of every measurement of the temple in great detail. He also showed that there were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd story in the temple. This correlates with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd story of heaven where Apostle Paul went and saw himself (2 Cor 12:3). It is a world where there is no night and where no one sleeps or gets tired. AsJesus is the light that shines 30 times brighter than the sun, the sun and the moon are no longer needed and cannot harm us (Rev 7).
Only those who earnestly seek to know the Word can enter the temple. Those who are indifferent to the Word cannot enter it. The Israelites took the visible temple as their pride but did not live according to God’s Words. They claimed to know the Word, but their life was far from the Word. That is why the glory of God which hovered over the temple left them (Ezek 8:6, 10:18-19, 11:22-23). Eventually Israel fell and the temple was destroyed and the people were deported to Babylon.
However, God promised through the prophet Ezekiel that if they repent their rebellion and become ashamed, He would give them a vision of a temple again (Ezek 40- 43:1-5). In the new temple, worship is renewed to restore their relationship with God. If you read Ezekiel chapter 44 to 48 where this word is recorded, your heart will be filled with hope. Whenever I read these verses, I shed tears and become so joyous without even realizing it. The Israelites later returned from Babylon and rebuilt Zerubbabel temple, but it was incomparable to Ezekiel’s temple.



Ezekiel’s temple is where living water flows out. The water forms a river and wherever it reaches, every dead thing is brought back to life. Trees around the river bear different kinds of fruits every month from the first to the twelfth month because of the water. Anyone who drinks that living water will not age(Ezek 47:9).
The New Testament also testifies the same in Revelations 22:1-2, which is about the New Jerusalem. In Revelations 21:15, the city, the gate and the walls of New Jerusalem are measured by a gold measuring rod. Gold symbolizes something that does not change over time. “The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its walls. The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements” (Rev 21:15-17).
Just like the New Jerusalem, the four sides of Ezekiel’s temple are equal in length and therefore the temple is a perfect square. The measurements of the temple are very accurate. The units used in measuring Ezekiel’s temple are unique and have never been used in previous temples and tabernacle. From each word recorded in the Bible, we can see how strict the measurements are.
However, one must meet some conditions to see Ezekiel’s temple: “If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws. And write in their sight, so that they may observe its whole design and all its statutes and do them” (Ezek 43:11).

The consequences when people do not repent
Moses prophesied 800 years before the time of the prophet Ezekiel about the consequences of Israel’s disobedience to the Word of God (Deut 28:53-57, Lev 26:28-29).
“Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you. The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns. The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns” (Deut 28:53-57).
What a horrible record this is! How can men possibly eat their own children whom they used to nurse, put in arms, sit on laps, and raised with love? Nonetheless, this horrible tragedy really took place in the history of Israel. The first time it happened was during the reign of King Jehoram, the 9th king of the northern kingdom of Israel. As the troop of Aram besieged the city of Samaria which was the capital from 851 to 841 BC, there was a great famine in the city. And people started eating their own sons (2 Kings 6:29).
The second time it happened was when the southern kingdom of Judah was attacked and the city of Jerusalem was besieged by Babylonians for 30 months, from 588 BC to 586 BC. People who suffered from famine started eating their sons and daughters. Prophet Jeremiah and Ezekiel foresaw this and prophesied about it. Yet, the people of Israel did not heed the warning and the prophecy actually came true within few years (Ezek 5:10, Jer 19:9, Lam 2:20, 4:10).
The third time it happened was when Roman general Titus captured Jerusalem in 70 AD and took 1.1 million people’s lives. This was a fulfillment of what Jesus said as He wept, “They will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:44).
In the Wars of the Jews chapter 6, historian Josephus vividly described the atrocities of the parents eating their own children. This was the result of ignoring Jesus’ lamentation, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! (Luke 13:34)” and crucifying Him on the cross.

The reality of human beings who left the Word of God
Such tragedy resulted as a consequence of disobeying by not believing in the Bible, the Word of God.



Deuteronomy 28:57 states “. . . toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else.” Here, word “secretly” in Hebrew means “in secret, in private.” This means that after she boiled her child she ate him secretly to keep her neighbors from finding it out and stealing the boiled child away from her.
The Bible also says, “The refined and delicate woman among you . . . shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter” (Deut 28:56). In other words, a couple was eating their child together and as the husband started eating more, the wife looked angrily at him. Even though they raised the child with love and dedication, when they were famished, they saw the child as food. “The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children; They became food for them because of the destruction of the daughter of my people”(Lam 4:10).
What a terrifying record this is! As human beings lost their minds, the whole country committed a merciless brutality of boiling and eating their own children, friends, and neighbors (Isa 9:20). “Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all you remnant to every wind”(Ezek 5:10). Here, the Hebrew words for “Fathers” and “sons” are in plural forms, meaning such appalling deeds were rampant in Jerusalem. The word “to eat” in Hebrew means “a cruel and ferocious enemy is fiercely looking at the opponent.” It is similar to a situation where a tyrant suppresses people and plunders their property (Ps 27:2, Hab 3:14).

When people do not eat what they are supposed to eat
Although the Israelites should have eaten God’s Words of grace, they only knew the Word in their heads.
They didn’t even read the Bible as if the Bible were their enemy. In short, they did not eat “what they were supposed to eat.” As a result, the original form of men that God created slowly deteriorated. And when faced with an extreme situation, they were succumbed to their fleshly desires and ended up eating the flesh of their own children like beasts. Their lives and their world were full of idols, lewdness and lust, instead of the Word of God. Everyone was evil and there was no one who was good and righteous.
The void and hunger of men can only be filled with the grace of God. Yet men and women of all ages deserted God and sinned, being consumed with lewdness and greed.

Dear Saints!
A terrifying tribulation is predestined to come again in the last days (Matt 24, Mark 13, Luke 17, 21).
Only after then will the gate of Ezekiel’s temple be opened. This horrible incident that actually happened in Israelite history is a lesson for the saints in the end time. Even the priests and prophets, who had the highest spiritual authority in God’s temple and were supposed to give sacrifice to God wholeheartedly, did so only superficially. They were full of hatred even in the temple. Such sin finally resulted in the tragic crime, which went against humanity (Lam 2:20). Hatred is a murder.
A church has to be full of righteousness, peace and joy. We must be grateful for the Word of God with all our hearts. We must read the Bible. Wherever we go, we must carry at least one Bible and read it whenever we have time. Then the Word will protect us. When we love the Word and live according to the Word, the grace of God dwells over our heads (1 Pet 4:14). When we depend on Him and take His side, God surrounds us with fiery walls (Ps 125:1-4, Zech 2:5). He doesn’t surround us just once for protection but “surrounds and surrounds (Sabib Sabib in Hebrew)” us, like the walls of Ezekiel’s temple.



Dear saints! Please attend services on Lord’s Day, Wednesday, Thursday, and participate cell group meetings and home services without missing any of them. By doing so, fill your house with the Word.
If believers around you did not come, see what happened to them and pray for them.
I pray for our congregation members with my arms raised and calling out their names, without sleeping.
I pray in the name of the Lord that all congregation members of Pyungkang Cheil Church will live Godcentered and Word-centered life, so that their hearts will always cherish Jesus?the mystery and glory of God, the beginning, process, and the end of all things?until they finally enter the kingdom of God.

The sermon from the 2nd service on the Lord’s Day, February 24, 2013