Treasure Hunting with Adonai
The answers are in the details
Ezekiel 40-42
If you love mysteries, you will love this story. Once you start to see the clues, you won’t be able to contain your excitement to find out more. It’s addictive. The whole Bible is written this way.
Ezekiel is one of Adonai’s greatest prophets in the First Testament. Chapters 40-42 are about a vision that Adonai gives Ezekiel where He takes him to the top of a mountain in Israel and shows him a new city being built.
This chapter could easily be one of those chapters that people might dread to read because of all the details. The story is much like Leviticus and the details given about the building of the Tabernacle; also like 1 Kings when King Solomon is building the first Temple. These are the stories that can easily make your eyes glaze over from the vast details, but consider this.
God breathed the Bible for our use for learning and teaching, so every word has a unique purpose and message for us. So, ask yourself; why did He put these type details in His Word. Why do we need to know these things?
All God-breathed Words in the Bible have meaning. Scripture says that His Words do not fall to the ground. (1Samuel 3:19) His Words have purpose and do not return void. (Isaiah 55:11) So with this knowledge in hand, we must ask ourselves, what is Adonai trying to show me here in these details? Do your research. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you. He says to call out to Him and He will answer and show you things you don’t know. (Jeremiah 33:3)
It’s always been about us.
Does God really love you? Does He really care? If He loved you bad things wouldn’t happen. Right? Wrong!!! We live in a broken fallen world where bad things happen. Just reading the book of John in the Bible, Jesus shows and tells you that bad things will happen but to take heart that He has overcome the world; He has a plan. We just have to trust Him and His timing. Let His light into your heart to give you His peace. His love will sustain you through every step of this life.
Just a tiny ray of Jesus’ light in a narrow window of your soul is enough to consume you with His light, love, joy, peace, and hope for you. (Ezekiel 40:16)
So what is the plan? Why are we are? What is our purpose? Is God too busy for us to answer our prayers? Have you prayed and prayed and don’t get the answers you want? What is God doing and why?
It has ALWAYS been about US! God’s entire plan from the beginning of time has been about creating us to spend eternity with Him. Everything He does is by design and with specific purpose; it’s all been about us and for us to be with Him forever. He is a God of detail and a God of order. That same detailed God who breathed the details into the Bible is the same God that cares about the details of you. Regardless of what the world says, God created every little detail to make you. He isn’t confused, He doesn’t change His mind, He is a God of order and is very specific about the way He does things. His Word says that He said it, and He will do it. (Ezekiel 36:36) You can count on Him to do what He says He will do; it just won’t be in your time frame; it will be at the perfect time instead.
The world tries to distort His truth and confuse us about who we are. Think about it, if our God that gave us every single detail of how He told Moses to build the Tabernacle, Solomon to build the Temple, and the details He gives Ezekiel in this story about the New Jerusalem, that same God would naturally use that same approach to detail in creating us. Scripture says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) He doesn’t make mistakes.
Many think He doesn’t love them, couldn’t forgive them, is mean and doesn’t care. All NOT true!
He loves us, He created us, He breathed life into us. He built an entire plan around spending eternity with us. It’s always been about us!!! He made all these plans for us, but, it’s up to us choose if we will let Him love us. He wants you to choose Him but He won’t force you too. Choose Him, be blessed. Choose the world, be cursed. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
Where is the hidden treasure?
This story is about a vision given to Ezekiel. It appears it’s about the size and setup of a church and courtyard in a new city being built. Research shows that God is giving him a vision of the New Jerusalem, after Jesus’ return. While it looks like the story is all about the details of the building and courtyard, it’s really about so much more. God is wanting His Believers to search for the hidden messages in the story. A couple of things you will see, when you look with a hungry heart, is your (God’s people) relationship with Adonai; the level of relationship, and being under His coverage of protection.
As you study Ezekiel 40-42, God wants you to dig deeper for what is hidden in these details in the three chapters. It’s not about the measurements, it’s about what is hidden in the details. Remember in the Gospels Jesus talks in parables? The disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables instead of speaking plainly and He told them it is for Believers to search out the truth. He is not going to share straight truth with the unbelievers to find fault in Him. Then there were times He did speak straight or He would speak in a parable then explain it. Point being, He wants us to search out the hidden things He has for those who are hungry for more.
Not only is this story about a vision of the New Jerusalem, He is describing details about His love for you. The details and the measurements all have meaning. When you look in the Blue Letter Bible app, as an example, you can learn the original Hebrew meaning of each word. In doing this depth of research you learn there is more meaning behind each of these words than the English language provides us. It’s really fascinating to learn; it’s like learning a secret code.
Here’s an example of Jesus’ love for us that is hidden in the passage. Read it with an open heart. Then do research on your own. Pray for Him to show you; He will be happy too. He loves feeding the hungry.
“There were narrow windows to the guardrooms and to their supports facing inward all along the gate; also the vestibules had windows all around facing inward. On each side support were [carvings of] palm trees.” Ezekiel 40:16 CJB
This passage is packed with love for us. It’s so tender and special to see and know that Jesus creates a narrow window in our hearts to let His light in. That’s all we need to be consumed with His love; is the tiniest bit of His light. These narrow windows not only let in His light, the intentional narrowness prevents us from being distracted by the wide view, the wide path, the world view. All we need is a sliver of Jesus’ light to feed and fill us. A tiny narrow window is all we need. Through the narrow window into our heart and soul, Jesus can give us instruction, direction and comfort as He teaches, prunes, and refines us. That narrow sliver of His light is all the light we need to follow Him and to carry out our purpose that He created us for. But wait! There’s more!
Under God’s protection
There is great detail given on the inner and outer court creation. These courts symbolize God’s protection of His children. When we choose to live within His courts, we are under His covering of protection. We have the ability at any time to choose to walk out from under His covering of protection but with that comes consequences. Hopefully you reach a crisis of belief at some point and realize in His courts of protection you are covered in His peace in every situation that comes your way. Some Believers will draw nearer to God than others and have a deeper relationship with Him. That’s ok. We will all have a different level of relationship with Him and live on a different level of His courts because He has a different purpose for each of us. Those who choose Him believe that as a child of God, a day in any of his courts is better than a thousand outside His courts.
“Adonai will create over the whole site of Mount Tziyon and over those who assemble there a smoking cloud by day and a shining, flaming fire by night; for the Glory will be over everything like a hupah. A sukkah will give shade by day from the heat; it will also provide refuge and cover from storm and rain.” Isaiah 4:5-6 CJB
So what is a “Hupah” and “sukkah?” Good question. Look it up. He wants you to now, He will show you.
What’s up with the palm trees?
In the verse above, Ezekiel 40:16, he mentions palm trees carved in the support beams. You will also notice in the finer details there are palm trees engraved in many places. Take notice, these are important.
“There were narrow windows to the guardrooms and to their supports facing inward all along the gate; also the vestibules had windows all around facing inward. On each side support were [carvings of] palm trees.” Ezekiel 40:16 CJB
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar in the L’vanon.” Psalms 92:12 CJB
In the Gospels, it was significant that they used the branches of palm trees to honor Jesus when He came into town before His crucifixion. All of this ties together.
“They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Deliver us!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai, the King of Isra’el!” John 12:13 CJB
Did you know that palm trees symbolize life in the desert? What is key here is that these trees thrive in places where survival is difficult. Why is that important? They symbolize God’s people here. That’s why they are engraved in many places in this vision. They thrive in extreme environments, as does His wholehearted followers. The righteous flourish like a palm tree in the desert. The more the trees are weighted with the burden of affliction the more strongly they grow.
In Revelation 9, we see the palm branches again when Believers are waving them in victory towards the Lamb on the throne.
God even told the Israelites in Leviticus to take the branches and worship Him for seven days. (Leviticus 23:40) This and the number seven also coincides with how many days we are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread the day after Passover. It is all tied together. It all has meaning. He wants us to connect the dots. Once you see that everything has hidden meaning and it’s all connected, you enter into a whole new world of revelation. He will begin to show you more if you are hungry for His Truth. It’s in these moments you can feel the depth of His love for you. He did all this for YOU!
So palm trees represent the righteous thriving in difficult environments. Something else to consider, we are in the palm of His hands, His nail scarred palms. Everything He has done, He has done for us out of His great love for His creation to spend eternity with Him. Humble yourself, repent, and let His light in to consume you with His love.
As God makes His Believers as posts in His Temple as signs of honor, He engraves in a sense the palms on our hearts so that we won’t forget we are His victorious ones who love Him wholeheartedly and are no longer interested in what the world has to offer. Thereby engraving His name on us as His.
“I will make him who wins the victory a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will never leave it. Also I will write on him the name of my God and the name of my God’s city, the new Yerushalayim coming down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.” Revelation 3:12 CJB
You are HIS!!! He did all of this for YOU! It was always about YOU!!!
Turn away from the world and the wicked ways they offer you, and choose Him, your Heavenly Father who breathed life into you and has done all of this for YOU!
All God does, He does for you.
Throughout this story in Ezekiel chapters 40-42, are hidden messages of love from God to you. He shares His plans with you from beginning to end (Genesis to Revelation) so that you will be prepared and can look forward to what is to come.
To wrap this lesson up with a bow, God in His grace and mercy tells us in the next chapter, Ezekiel 43, why He gave Ezekiel all the details in chapters 40-42. The details are to be a reminder for us of what is to come should we start to go astray. He loves us so much that He puts reminders everywhere so that we won’t forget and to stay focused on the plan. It has always been about us! Everything He does, He does for us out of His deep love for His creation.
“So now, they should put their prostitution at a distance and the corpses of their kings far away from me; then I will live among them forever. “You, human being, describe this house to the house of Isra’el, so that they will be ashamed of their crimes. And let them measure accurately. If they become ashamed of all they have done, show them the elevation and plan of the house, its exits and entrances, all its details and decorations, and all its specifications, its design and its Torah. Sketch it for them to see, so that they can observe the entire design with its specifications, and carry them out. This is Torah for the house: the whole surrounding area on the mountaintop will be especially holy. This is Torah for the house.” Ezekiel 43:9-12 CJB
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus worked tirelessly sharing and preparing, repeating what Adonai has taught in the First Testament. Only those who are His could and would understand. I encourage you to carve out time to get all the “meat off the bones” in these chapters to see what He has to show you. There is so much more to this vision that I can share today. God wants you to join Him for the more He has for you.
Remember, your Heavenly Father is a God of detail and order. Learn to appreciate that about Him and you will be able to learn so much from Him through His Holy Spirit. Now you can go back and study Leviticus and other detailed chapters and the Holy Spirit will show you things you didn’t know that were hidden in plain sight the whole time. Enjoy the treasure hunt with Him.