Ezekiel 43:7-8

‘And he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. And the house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their whoredom and by the carcasses of their kings in their high places, in the setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door post beside my door post, and there was but the wall between me and them. And they defiled my holy name by their abominations which they committed, which is why I have consumed them in my anger.”

Here Yahweh speaks to Ezekiel and confirms that the heavenly sanctuary is His throne room and is where He treads and is present. There may also be the thought that it is there that He places His feet on His footstool (Psalms 99:5; Psalms 132:7). It is the everlasting sanctuary promised in Ezekiel 37:24. The earthly sanctuary that Israel will subsequently build, while very important to them, would be but a shadow of this, as Solomon himself previously recognised, ‘Will God in very deed dwell on earth? Behold, Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built' (1 Kings 8:27). Compare also the words of Isaiah 66:1, ‘The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, what manner of house will you build for me?' There was no temple that could hold Yahweh, only the heavenly temple.

He points out that they will not be able to defile this heavenly sanctuary, whatever they may do with their earthly copy, and indeed had done previously. Even Solomon, in all his supposed wisdom, had not had the wit to recognise the insult to God there was in his building his house next to God's house so that there was no clear distinction. (There was no walled in outer court in his temple). He had put himself just at ‘the other side of the wall' from God's sanctuary, and had built his house ‘threshold to threshold and door to door', as though he were somehow semi-divine, and his successors had done likewise. They had taken His adoption of them too literally. They had thus drawn to themselves some of the glory of God. But as mortal kings they had died, and death had thus contaminated His house, and then they had arranged for themselves to be buried in the vicinity of the temple. But there was to be no more of that. The ‘carcasses' of their kings (the term is derisive) should be put far from Him.

There is a message too here for us. We too can overplay the wonderful gifts that God has given us and make of ourselves more than we are. Sons we may be, and joint heirs with Christ, but this must humble us, not exalt us. We must not presume on God as Solomon had done.

Furthermore they had defiled His house by their abominations; actual idolatry in the temple, sexual misbehaviour and sinfulness. All proved that men had dealt lightly with God. They would not be able to do this in His heavenly temple. Only what was holy could enter there. So let them also beware lest they do it in the earthly. They must put away idolatry, rebellion and sin. This was the condition of His dwelling in the midst of them for ever. Otherwise His heavenly temple would leave their land, (and their earthly temple would be destroyed).

And yet there would always be a remnant. God would continue to dwell with His true people, for He would be in them by His Spirit (Ezekiel 39:29; Ezekiel 36:26) and they would be His temple, prepared for the temple that was in Heaven, and that even greater day when there would be no temple, because God Himself would be their temple (Revelation 21:22).