Ezekiel 42:20 He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad… The walls described by the prophet served another purpose than the most obvious one of enclosing a space and supporting a roof. They had a symbolical meaning. They were walls of separation. The several portions of the temple were invested with varying degrees of holiness, and in this arrangement there was no doubt a Divine significance and intention. There were parts reserved for Israelites, parts reserved for the priests, and one part into which the high priest alone was permitted to enter. In this way separation was effected between the more and the less holy, and between the holy and the common. I. SUCH SEPARATION WAS APPOINTED BY DIVINE WISDOM. It Was not, as similar arrangements in heathen temples may have been, a device of human ingenuity and a provision of human and sacerdotal policy. It was part of the Divine intention of which the whole was the outworking and expression. II. SUCH SEPARATION WAS INTENDED FOR HUMAN INSTRUCTION. The Israelites needed to be taught the elements of religious knowledge, and to be trained in rudimentary religious life. The means adopted to this end were in harmony with their condition, and with the stage of intellectual and spiritual development which they had, reached. A wall of separation was certainly something very visible, tangible, and unmistakable; they who looked upon it, and who by it were prevented from approaching some sacred spot, were thereby taught most precious truths as to the character of the God to whose honor the temple was reared, as to the nature of his laws and his worship, as to the conditions of acceptance with him. Discrimination between the good and the wicked, the exclusion of the latter and the admission of the former into Divine favor, - such were moral lessons which the provisions connected with the temple precincts were admirably fitted to impress upon the minds of a rude and rebellious people. III. THE LESSONS OF SUCH SEPARATION WERE OFTEN CORRUPTED BY HUMAN PREJUDICE AND UNSPIRITUALITY. The tendency of human nature is to rest in the symbol instead of passing on to that which is symbolized, to mistake the shadow for the substance. The material was designed to lead to the spiritual; but the importance which properly belonged only to the spiritual was sometimes attributed to the material. This was so not only with reference to the case before us, but with reference to all the provisions of a similar and symbolical nature which existed in connection with the temple and its worship. And Christians must not imagine themselves free from a similar liability to error. Even in our spiritual dispensation the same mistake is committed, and church buildings and sacraments are sometimes substituted for the great spiritual realities which they represent. IV. THERE IS A SENSE IN WHICH SUCH SEPARATION WAS TEMPORARY, AND HAS BEEN ABOLISHED BY CHRISTIANITY. One great work of our Divine Savior was to break down the middle wall of partition that fenced off Jews from Gentiles, and to make of two "one new humanity." It was a first lesson of Christianity that men should give up calling any man or any thing "common or unclean." The change was brought about, not by leveling things sacred, but by raising things secular, and by steeping everything in a Divine light, pure and lustrous. All Christians are admitted into the true Israel; all are enrolled in the sacred priesthood; all are welcomed to fellowship with Heaven. V. THERE IS A SENSE IN WHICH SUCH SEPARATION ENDURES, INASMUCH AS GOD EVER ENCOMPASSES AND ENCLOSES HIS PEOPLE WITHIN WALLS OF LIVING HOLINESS. He delights to include, but takes no pleasure in exclusion. Into the heavenly city, which is a temple, there enters not anything unclean or common. From such contamination the blessed and glorified are forever preserved. There is around the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, the worshippers of the heavenly temple, a wall which preserves them forever from all molestation and from every incursion of evil. But within there is no distinction; there is one heart, one service, and one song. - T. Parallel Verses KJV: He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place. |
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