Set Free and Born Again

Hope dawns in Ezekiel chapter 40. The prophet is back in Jerusalem, seeing a vision of what may have looked impossible. Here's the opening:

Ezekiel 40:1–2 (ESV) In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me to the city. 2 In visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south.

The structure he sees is the Temple reborn. That sacred space profaned by Israel would return to glory. An unimaginable resurrection of Israel's worship center was being revealed to the prophet 14 years after the city was destroyed. 

Ezekiel 40:3 (ESV) When he brought me there, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand. And he was standing in the gateway.

Ezekiel 40:4 (ESV) And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”

Ezekiel is met by a mediator. Bronze is the metal of judgment. Now that metal adorns the man, showing Ezekiel a new temple. The judgment for sins has been meted out. But why a man wearing that metal? It is a picture of Christ, who is the man who bears our sins, takes our judgment, and leads us to the heavenly temple, a place of rebirth after death in our sinful flesh. 

The tour of the Temple takes place in this way: The tour begins outside the temple (40:5–16), then to the outer court (40:17–27), and finally into the inner court and the focus of the tour (40:28–41:26). After that, Ezekiel and his guide return through the outer court (42:1–14) and exit the temple (42:15–20).

The people in exile have something to look forward to. God will bring them home and restore their worship. Emphasis on the number 25 flows through the passage such as repeated measurements involving 25 cubits, the width of the eastern gate’s entryway (v.13), and various courtyards or walls (vv.21, 25, 29, 33, etc.). This consistent use of the number 25 throughout the temple layout conveys a sense of perfect structure, order, and intentional design in God’s vision for the restored temple.

The first verse tells us the vision came to the prophet in the 25th year of their exile. 

Now 25 is half of 50 which is the number for two important things in the Bible. 

First in the 50th year called Jubillee in which all debts were canceled, everyone was restored to their land and every slave was set free. It was intended to rebalance the nation back to justice and fairness, showing a counternarrative to the greed and impulsiveness of the human condition. 

Further, some commentaries point out that the date mentioned as the tenth day of the month at the beginning of the year is odd and could refer to a Jubilee year for Israel, as that year signalled a special sort of new year according to the law.

Leviticus 25:9 (ESV) Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.

Second, the 50th day from the feast of firstfruits is Pentecost, a day that forever changed the course of history as God sent His Holy Spirit upon the 120 who waited for what Jesus promised. Peter preached, lives were changed, and the Church was born in an explosive evangelistic movement. Fast-forward and the calendar is divided, Western Civilization is born, and freedom spreads across the world. 

The big point? God wants to set us free. But so often we fall into the trap of sin, believing it's a form of freedom. Yet even in our slavery, a plan has been made to bring us home. God's bringing life from the dead and freedom for the captives. Look with your eyes and hear with your ear,s for God would show you His salvation.