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BibleProject | One Story That Leads to JesusSample

BibleProject | One Story That Leads to Jesus

DAY 154 OF 358

The book of Ezekiel is many things—complex, confounding, even crazy. Boring is not one of them. This wild ride of a book started with a bejeweled God-mobile flying through a lightning storm and only became stranger from there. We’ve seen dung bread, grotesque allegories, water dragons, reanimated skeletons, and mountains dripping with blood. As the book concludes, the prophet cuts away from flashy visions and graphic metaphors to … four chapters of building dimensions?

In today’s reading, Ezekiel illustrates an elaborate vision of a new temple. Don’t let the details bore you. These chapters contain more than architectural minutiae. Like the tabernacle blueprints in Exodus, Ezekiel’s vision of God’s sacred dwelling space includes imagery that connects the temple to Eden. It’s a new Heaven-on-Earth place, bigger and more beautiful than the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem.

Ezekiel’s temple tour concludes with another vision of Yahweh’s glory. The last time Ezekiel saw the God-mobile, it flew away from the Jerusalem temple, which Israel’s idolatry and injustice had hopelessly defiled. Now, Yahweh’s glory returns to fill the new, purified temple.

This hopeful sign points to the day when God’s presence will return to his people—though perhaps not in the form one might expect. Watch the video to learn more about the temple and its surprising fulfillment in Jesus.

Reflection Questions

  • What hyperlinks to the garden of Eden do you see in today’s reading? What do these patterns and images reveal about the significance of God’s temple?
  • The number 25 is significant in Ezekiel’s temple vision. The “25th year” would be halfway through the 50-year Jubilee cycle (see Lev. 25:8-55). In the 25th year of their exile (Ezek. 40:1), Ezekiel’s fellow Israelites would be feeling farther than ever from freedom and their homeland. How many appearances and multiples of the number 25 do you notice in Ezekiel’s temple vision?

About this Plan

BibleProject | One Story That Leads to Jesus

Read through the Bible in one year with BibleProject! One Story That Leads to Jesus includes daily devotional content, reflection questions, and more than 150 animated videos to bring biblical books and themes to life. Join the growing community around the globe who are learning to see the Bible as one unified story that leads to Jesus.

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We would like to thank BibleProject for creating this plan. For more information, please visit: www.bibleproject.com