Sacrifices, Singers, and Steps

Ezekiel 40:38-49

Where Sacrifices Were Prepared
38 There was a chamber and its entrance by the gateposts of the gateway, where they washed the burnt offering. 39 In the vestibule of the gateway were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which to slay the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. 40 At the outer side of the vestibule, as one goes up to the entrance of the northern gateway, were two tables; and on the other side of the vestibule of the gateway were two tables. 41 Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side, by the side of the gateway, eight tables on which they slaughtered the sacrifices. 42 There were also four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, one cubit and a half long, one cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high; on these they laid the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt offering and the sacrifice. 43 Inside were hooks, a handbreadth wide, fastened all around; and the flesh of the sacrifices was on the tables.

Chambers for Singers and Priests
44 Outside the inner gate were the chambers for the singers in the inner court, one facing south at the side of the northern gateway, and the other facing north at the side of the southern gateway. 45 Then he said to me, "This chamber which faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple. 46 The chamber which faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the sons of Zadok, from the sons of Levi, who come near the LORD to minister to Him."

Dimensions of the Inner Court and Vestibule
47 And he measured the court, one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, foursquare. The altar was in front of the temple. 48 Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the doorposts of the vestibule, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and the width of the gateway was three cubits on this side and three cubits on that side. 49 The length of the vestibule was twenty cubits, and the width eleven cubits; and by the steps which led up to it there were pillars by the doorposts, one on this side and another on that side.

Here the temple is further shown to Ezekiel who described it to us in great detail as it was shown to him.  The places for preparing the sacrifices and rooms for the singers who praised the LORD around the inner court which had steps from the altar up to the entranceway surrounded by pillars.  Such details of form and function are given to us!  For the Jew it was a reminder of the lost temple and place of atoning sacrifices and of worship with songs of praise; for we who are now grafted in with His people, it is a testimony to the God of details and of symbolism for approaching God in holiness to worship and sing praises.  The altar and atoning sacrifices are no longer necessary because Christ was the perfect sacrificial Lamb who permanently covers our sins and their iniquity.  Our bodies have become the place where we meet Him to worship because He now dwells in us, and we are living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) who die daily (Luke 9:23).  Instead of continually offering the blood of bulls and scapegoats (Hebrews 10:3, 10), we have the blood of Christ shed as a perfect one-time sacrifice to cover all sin, and we now worship Him from the altar of our hearts as those who have been permanently reconciled and are found to be righteous in Christ.  The description of these new temples where Christ lives by faith and where the Holy Spirit of God resides is as of a heavenly pattern better than that for the earthly temple’s reconstruction.  We are being constructed by God in the inner man as our sanctification makes us fit the plan of His image forming in these temples by His working.  This pattern is the description of Christ Himself and the instructions for our living as set forth in the scriptures to build a spiritual house of all God’s people as it is written in 1 Peter 2:5 as we are transformed (Romans 12:2) in mind and actions to be the glorious place of worship until He returns and is our permanent temple (Revelation 21:22) for all of us to corporately worship and enjoy our Almighty God forever!  His sacrifice makes us singers of praise as we ascend the steps to that eternal home.  Amen.