Lesson 7: Promise Of God’s Presence Restored

Getting started: read the dimensions of the temple from Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 42.15-20). What stands out to you?

We concluded our last lesson by noting how in a vision the prophet Ezekiel saw the Lord’s glory leaving the Jerusalem temple (Ezekiel 10.18-19). Furthermore, the Lord revealed that He was going to “profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes…” (Ezekiel 24.21). Sure enough, Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. (2Chronicles 36.17-19). The Lord’s presence was no longer with Israel. Would He return? Yes! “As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple.” (Ezekiel 43:4–5, ESV)

The Second Temple

Some 200 years before it happened, God promised that the Persian king Cyrus would rebuild Jerusalem and the temple (Isa. 44:28). The opening chapters of Ezra record how the first group of returning captives undertook the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple, it’s completion being noted in Ezra 6:15. “This temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar; it was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.” However, something was missing. Recall that the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40.34-35) and Solomon’s temple (1Kings 8.10-11) at their respective completions. No mention is made of the glory of the Lord filling this second temple.

The Lord fulfilled His word and brought Israel out of captivity and back to their promised land, but His presence did not dwell among them as He had before. In addressing those who built this second temple, God said through the prophet Haggai, “‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?” (Haggai 2:3, ESV) Yet, He promised that a day would come when “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former… and in this place I will give peace,” (Haggai 2.9). The Lord had something better and more glorious in mind for how His presence would dwell among men in the future.

We’ve already noted how in a vision Ezekiel saw the Lord’s Spirit returning to the temple (Ezekiel 43.1-5). However, that temple was described in Ezekiel 40-42 and its dimensions were far greater than the one built by Solomon; the area around this temple was 750 feet by 750 feet! (Ezekiel 42.15-20). The temple built by those who returned from captivity was even smaller than the one built by Solomon, thus those who had seen the former temple wept when the foundation of the new was laid (Ezra 3.12). God’s was going to inhabit a new temple… but it wasn’t the one built at the conclusion of the old testament record.

God Promises To Send His Spirit

Through Isaiah, God rebuked Israel for their rebellion and for the fact that they “grieved his Holy Spirit” (Isaiah 63.10), the very Spirit He put in their midsts (Isaiah 63.11). Interestingly, one of the charges God made against Israel was that they put their faith in foreign nations, rather than He who dwelt in their midsts: “‘Ah, stubborn children,’ declares the LORD, ‘who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit…’” (Isaiah 30:1, see also Isaiah 31.3). This people had utterly turned away from the Lord; their was no redeeming them. Thus, God declared that desolation was coming “until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high… My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places” (Isaiah 32.15-18; see also Ezekiel 39.29).

However, unlike when the Lord’s glory filled the tabernacle and the temple, this time His Spirit was going to fill His people!

• “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.” (Isaiah 44:3–4, ESV)
• “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,” (Ezekiel 11:19, ESV)
• “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:26–28, ESV)

Ezekiel 37 records the most vivid picture of what God was promising. There Ezekiel is taken to a valley full of bones and the question is posed, “can these bones live?” (vs. 3). Ezekiel is then told to prophesy to the bones that God would “cause breath (rûah) to enter you, and you shall live” (vs. 5). He was then commanded to “prophesy to the breath (rûah)… come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live” (vs. 9). God was going to bring His people back to life with the promise that “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live” (vs. 14)!

But how and when would this promise truly be kept? Only when “a shoot from the stump of Jesse” appeared “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” (Isaiah 11:2; see Isaiah 42.1). We will turn our attention to Him in our next study.