God Wants to Give Us Access to Himself

God is the God of order. He does not delight in chaos. He has fashioned the universe to run in symmetry and design that reflect His call to standards and procedures that reflect ingenuity, complexity, and creativity. 

In chapter 41, Ezekiel is led around the vision of the New Temple and experiences this theme throughout the revelation. 

Ezekiel 41:1–4 (ESV) Then he brought me to the nave and measured the jambs. On each side six cubits was the breadth of the jambs. 2 And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sidewalls of the entrance were five cubits on either side. And he measured the length of the nave, forty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits. 3 Then he went into the inner room and measured the jambs of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the sidewalls on either side of the entrance, seven cubits. 4 And he measured the length of the room, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, across the nave. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

This chapter emphasizes the order and symmetry of the Temple. The Temple is where His people would meet with Him. God wanted them to know who He was through the architecture. Chaos had destroyed them. Their past sins were a form of spiritual diversity that led to degradation, and they paid the price in the darkness of Babylon. 

There is another emphasis to this chapter. 

Ezekiel 41:5–6 (ESV) Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick, and the breadth of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the temple. 6 And the side chambers were in three stories, one over another, thirty in each story. There were offsets all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side chambers, so that they should not be supported by the wall of the temple.

This temple is flooded with side chambers. The emphasis on three and thirty points to God's triune being. But the surrounding facilities display a proximity to God's presence in the holy of holies so that each worshipper can approach from the same distance. 

Ezekiel 41:18–20 (ESV) It was carved of cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Every cherub had two faces: 19 a human face toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on the whole temple all around. 20 From the floor to above the door, cherubim and palm trees were carved; similarly the wall of the nave.

No architectural design is complete without some thematic element placed upon it. In this Temple, palm trees, human faces, and young lions are patterned around. The Palm is a picture of joy and sun. The human face a picture of proximity. You don't know a person fully until you see their face. The young lions show that this is a place where people grow in strength and courage. God's will for His people is to be strong and courageous. His house is where they can experience that. 

Finally, in chapter 41, we come to the entrance to the Holy Place.

Ezekiel 41:21–22 (ESV) The doorposts of the nave were squared, and in front of the Holy Place was something resembling 22 an altar of wood, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits broad. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”

Interestingly, the entrance has something that resembles "an altar of wood" but it is not actually called that. This new temple does not require sacrifice, for it is the Temple where God is worshipped in the heavenly city or Millennial kingdom, depending on your theology. The final sacrifice has been offered and accepted. Now we come to God from where we are through the blood of Christ. 

The temple layout in Ezekiel’s vision is incredibly intentional—both the inner and outer courts had three doors, and the sanctuary itself was divided into three distinct sections, each with its own doorway (see 40:5–42:20). This wasn’t just about architecture; it was about theology in structure. The temple was a house of worship, yes—but even more, it was a powerful statement that God desires to dwell among His people.

The divisions and separations built into the plan weren’t to push people away—they were there to protect God's holiness, to remind the people that He is set apart from sin and yet, by His mercy, still available to sinful humanity (see 40:17–19). There is a tension between transcendence and nearness—one that finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the Messiah, who is the Word made flesh, who came and tabernacled among us.