Mon.’s Devo - The Outer Court

Read: Ezekiel 39:1-40:27; James 2:18-3:18; Psalm 118:1-18: Proverbs 28:2
Ezekiel starts out by describing the event known as the Feast of Leviathan. It is the counter feast to the Feast of the Lamb. In it the food will be the one who die during the battle of Armageddon. The fallen will be eaten by the birds of prey and the beasts of the field. These birds and beasts are pictures of demons. God will set the land on fire just like he did to Sodom and Gomorrah.
After God deals with the wicked, he will restore his name on the earth and gather his people from all over the earth and pour his spirit on them.
In the 25th year of exile and 14 years after Jerusalem had fallen, God gave Ezekiel a vision of the temple. He took him on top of a very high mountain that had a city on the south side. A man in linen appeared with a measuring cord and a six cubit measuring reed that in his hand. He stood in the gate of the city and told Ezekiel to pay close attention to every thing he was about to show him so he could tell it to the house of Israel.
He measured the wall outside the house, the width of the building and the height. Then he went to the eastern gate and measured the threshold of the other gates. He measured every little chamber its width and length. Everything was six cubits or one rod. Between the chambers was five cubits. Six is the number of man and five is the number of ministry through grace. All along the inside of the gate were the chambers that each had arches, posts that were carved as palm trees and windows facing inward. There were seven steps going up to the chambers.
I don’t pretend to understand everything about the heavenly temple that Ezekiel was shown but I do understand that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we have chambers in our hearts where we hold treasures that we call memories. The palm tree is the tree that can weather storms - bend to the ground and spring back up. It holds the dates that are used for many different reasons from nourishment to healing.
James makes it clear that faith and works go together. By faith we do the works of God. James also has much to say about the power of the words of our mouths. We create with our mouths.
Lord, may we speak words of life and create your kingdom on earth