Fri.’s Devo - God’s Heavenly Temple

Read: Ezekiel 40:28-41:26; James 4:1-17; Psalm 118:19-29; Proverbs 28: 3-5 Reading the measurements of this heavenly temple gets confusing but what I do get from it is that it is like an upside down ziggurat. It is the heavenly temple which is maybe why we are seeing it that way. God’s holy place was the top floor and it was the biggest. The angel led him out to a large building that stood on the west. It was facing the Temple courted. Inside there were palm trees with cherubim between the trees. The cherubim had one face of a man that looked at the palm tree on one side and the face of a young lion that looked at the palm tree on the other side. The palm trees and cherubim were to be a picture of the Garden of Eden which God wants to restore his relationship with man. This could be why there were the faces of the man and the lion. He showed him the altar that stands before God’s presence. The doors to the sanctuary and the Most Holy Place had double doorways with two swinging doors. On the doors were carved cherubim and palm trees. These were the gateways that God had to guard with cherubim when he threw Adam and Eve out of the garden, but now they are accessible. In James he warns us from being jealous of what others have and fighting to get it. He calls adulterer those who are in friendship with the world. We can’t like or love the world and be a friend of God. We can’t serve two masters. So we have to humble ourselves before God and resist the devil and his pleasures. We are not to judge the law and decide if it applies to us. God is the Judge and he has the power to save or to destroy. He will bake care of all that is going on in our nation. Lord, may you bring your righteous justice in our lives and our nation. We refuse to be a friend of the world but choose to love you above all.