Ezekiel Chapter 43 Vs. 6-9

The return of the Lord’s glory

Ezekiel 43:6-9

God said the new temple is to be the place of His throne… the place… where He will live among the Israelites forever (Eze. 43:7; cf. 43:9). We read earlier of this voice that accompanied the glory of the Lord. It is loud, sounding like thunder. He is not speaking to the great masses, here. He is speaking specifically to Ezekiel. The temple will serve as God’s earthly dwelling place among His people. God assured Ezekiel that this home would be permanent. Never again would Israel defile His holy name (cf. Eze. 20:39; 39:7) by worshiping lifeless idols, bringing destruction on the nation (Eze. 43:7-8).

"The place of the soles of my feet", many times, was speaking of the place of the Arc of the Covenant. This is the throne that God has on the earth. It had always been the desire of the LORD to dwell with the children of Israel. He wanted to be their God, and for them to be His people.

“The place of my throne”: The king of Glory, Psalm 24:7-10, claims the millennial temple as His place to dwell. There will be no more human, un-resurrected people in the kingdom who entered when Christ returned and destroyed all the wicked. They will worship at this actual temple.

They had brought their idols into the temple in the past, but that would be no more. God loves to fellowship with His people. This is a new covenant of love.

Verses 8-9: The future temple will be most holy, protected from

Harlotry such as the Israelites had engaged in, 2 Kings 23:7

Defiling tombs of kings that Israel had allowed in the sacred temple area, Ezekiel 21:18 (this has to do with divination)

Even The huge, thick, wall could not keep the idols they had in their own quarters from coming to the notice of God. Of course the people, here, are the Israelites. They lived physically near where the very presence of God dwelled in the most holy place.

God wanted to be with them all the time. Their unfaithfulness to Him brought the separation.

We have seen, over and over, the indication that God thought of Israel as His wife. When they worshipped false gods, or had idols, they committed spiritual adultery. They were unfaithful to God. He wants them to be His wife, but He wants them to be faithful to Him. If they will be faithful to Him, He will dwell with them forever.

Kings, in the sense it is used in the verse above, is speaking of idols.

Verses 10-12: Here is the key to the entire vision of chapters 40-48. These glorious future plans show how much Israel forfeited by their sins. Every detail should produce repentance in Ezekiel’s hearers and readers.