Ezekiel 43:10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
Some people have graphic, vivid dreams, and they can remember every detail of their dreams. I am not one of those people. I dream in black and white. I sleep soundly, and I don’t remember what I have dreamt when I wake up. But, what if you do have vivid dreams or visions and you can see your town in 50, 100, or 1000 years? This is the kind of vision that God gave Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was living in a day when Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed, and the Jewish people had been greatly diminished as to their standing in the world. Yet, in Ezekiel 40 and following, God gives Ezekiel a tour of the Jerusalem and the temple that will be.
In Ezekiel 40:2 Ezekiel says, “In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.” What follows are three chapters of vivid detail that are so specific, measurements of every aspect of this temple, that you can almost get lost or even bored.
It is interesting how we can waver between boredom and uncertainty. On the one hand, we think about Heaven and how much we do not know about Heaven and the future. Some people wish they knew more or had an exact vision of what it will be. There is much we do know about Heaven, but there is so much we do not know. To add to that, when we try to imagine Heaven, we are left with artists’ renderings of what it will be. The moment you begin to put an artist’s rendering to something in the Bible, it can almost make that thing seem unreal if you are not careful. But, just because you have seen an artist’s conception of what Heaven may be does not mean that it is not real. In fact, it is very real. Yet, we can be uncertain.
On the other hand, we can become bored with an abundance of detail. What I mean by that is that you can become easily bored after reading three chapters in Ezekiel where God gives detailed descriptions of what the temple will be. You think, “Three chapters of nothing but measurements of something that I can’t quite conceive of?!”
Why does God do this? There are a couple of reasons, but let me skip towards the end to Ezekiel 43:10 which says, “Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel.” He wanted Ezekiel to show this temple to the people of Israel. Why? “That they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.” In other words, these people don’t know the future. We don’t know the future. But, we know God, and God knows everything.
As I drive to town here in Murfreesboro, literally one of the fastest growing cities in America, I often wonder if my grandfather would recognize any of it if he were here today. I don’t know. Imagine though if you could look 1,000 years into Murfreesboro’s future. That is not going to happen, but God has given us a picture of the future millennial temple.
Somewhere between the boredom of knowing all the details and the uncertainty of not knowing all the details is God Almighty Who knows everything. God knows the future in vivid detail. What does that mean for us? It means that we should live our lives in the present considering what we know about the future. I do not know what will happen in the next twenty-four hours, yet, ironically, I know everything I need to know about 1,000 years from now. If I had my choice, I’d rather know about 1,000 years from now than specifically what will happen tomorrow.
Most people think they know what will happen tomorrow and they do not know what will happen the moment after they die. They do not know any of the future, the short or long haul. We do not know many things, but we do know the eternal future about Heaven and the things that matter. You know everything you need to know to do what you need to do today.
So, away with rebellion, away with arrogance, and away with worry because while we do not know the future, we know the One Who knows and holds the future. That One is God.