Day 237, or August 25. We are the Church of Christ.
Our thoughts today come from Ezekiel 41 verse 5. Then he measured the wall of the temple.
It was six cubits, that's nine feet, thick, and each side room around the temple was four
cubits, that's six feet, wide.
Now the big picture surrounding this verse. With the destruction of the temple, Ezekiel
details what the new temple will look like. His vision is truly mind-blowing in its detail,
as it is accurately measured and proves to be many times bigger than Solomon's temple.
You certainly get the impression that the size and details were vital. It was Solomon's
temple which Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and which would be rebuilt by Zerubbabel, but
Ezekiel's was so much grander. Ironically, the temple where Jesus taught would be the
biggest of all, but when Jesus died and rose again, it became clear to believers that we
are the temple of God, so no further temples are necessary. Jesus is our sacrifice, once
and for all time.
And now today's action step. When the Jews are in exile, they have no temple for sacrifices,
so they concentrate on the Word of God in groups that become known as synagogues. When
they return to the promised land, they bring this new idea with them, but when the temple
is rebuilt, it proves to still be the centre of their faith. I remember reviewing names
from our membership role at elders' meetings many years ago, and before we knew where we
were, we began assuming that if folk attended regularly, then they were okay, but if they
didn't, then we wondered if they were backsliding. We had to remind ourselves that the church
is made up of individual people who live seven days a week. I smile whenever I recall a church
notice board I saw years ago. It read, This is the building where the local church meets
every Sunday. Whatever you do this coming week, you are just as much a member of the
Church of Christ as you are on Sunday, so behave like it.