Old Sandals

Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six, their mules two hundred and forty-five.   Ezra 2:66

The hairs of our head are all numbered.  So also the mules carrying supplies back to Jerusalem.

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.   Ezra 1:1-3

The Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus.  The Lord then stirred up the spirits of  His people, that they might return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.  The Lord’s sovereignty and our freedom are inextricably bound up together in the foreknowledge of God.  How can it be any other way?

All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE.   Ezekiel 48:35

This is the whole of the eternal purpose of the LORD God.

 “In whatever tribe a foreigner resides, there you are to give them their inheritance”, declares the Sovereign Lord.   Ezekiel 47:23

We Gentiles are foreigners, stangers to the covenant, but brought in by the wonderful grace of the Sovereign Lord.

Bride of Christ, whose glorious warfare
Here on earth hath never rest;
Lift thy voice, and tell the triumphs
Of the holy and the blest;
Joyous be the day we hallow,
Feast of all the saints on high,
Earth and Heav’n together blending
In one solemn harmony.

First the blessèd virgin mother,
Reunited to her Son,
Leads the host of ransomed people,
Who unfading crowns have won;
John, the herald, Christ’s forerunner,
More than prophet, leads his throng,
Seer and patriarch responsive
Unto psalmist in their song.

Lo, the twelve, majestic princes,
In the court of Jesus sit,
Calmly watching, while the conflict
Rages far beneath their feet;
Lo, the martyrs, robed in crimson,
Sign of life blood freely spent,
Finding life, because they lost it,
Dwell in undisturbed content.

All the saintly host who witnessed
Good confessions for His sake—
Priest and deacon, world renouncing,
Of their Master’s joy partake;
Virgins to the Lamb devoted,
Following with steadfast love,
Bring their lilies and their roses
To the marriage feast above.

All, their happy lot fulfilling,
God omnipotent proclaim;
Holy, holy, holy, crying,
Glory to His holy name!
So may God in mercy grant us
Here to serve in holiness,
Till He call us to the portion
Which His saints in light possess.

Words: Jean Baptiste de Contes (1601-1679)
Music: Christian F. Witt (1660-1716)
Tune: Stuttgart (87 87)

Every day you are to provide a year-old lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord; morning by morning you shall provide it. You are also to provide with it morning by morning a grain offering, consisting of a sixth of an ephah with a third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour. The presenting of this grain offering to the Lord is a lasting ordinance.So the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided morning by morning for a regular burnt offering.   Ezekiel 46:13-15

What is the gospel?  What is the faith once delivered to the saints?  One of the earliest confessions from a Greek liturgical manuscript, called the Dêr Balyzeh Papyrus, was discovered in Egypt about a hundred years ago, and was probably written in the early second century:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
And in his only-begotten Son
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
And in the Holy Spirit
And in the resurrection of the flesh,
And in the holy catholic church.

Thus says the Lord God: “Enough, O princes of Israel! Remove violence and plundering, execute justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing My people, says the Lord God.” Ezekiel 45:9

What is the gospel of Jesus Christ?  It is the solution to the puzzle that is life.  It is the end of the search for ultimate meaning and ultimate purpose.  It is the only way out of futility.  It ties up the loose ends.  It makes the most sense of the most facts. It is the end of striving.  It is the beginning of striving.  It shines a bright light on evil.  It gives suffering its only real value.  It is the only thing more powerful than death.  It is life—eternal.

Thus says the Lord God: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.”   Ezekiel 44:9

It was not enough to be circumcised in the flesh, if the heart was uncircumcised.  It is today—it always has been—a matter of the heart.  The ears may hear the gospel of Jesus Christ presented, but the heart must respond.

What is the gospel of Jesus Christ?  The gospel is the message, the good news, that God loves us, and has rescued us from the clutches of sin and death by Himself becoming a man in Jesus Christ.  This God-man died for the sins of the world on a Roman cross under Pontius Pilate.  On the third day He rose from the grave, declaring victory over sin, death and the devil.  It is now incumbent upon us to repent—to turn away from—our sinful, self-absorbed lives, and to gratefully receive the gift of eternal life, freely offered to all who believe.

And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.   Ezekiel 43:2

To see Him as He is—this ought to be the goal of every child of God. It is cerainly what we have to look forward to, according to the prophets, apostles and martyrs who have gone before us.

He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall all around, five hundred cubits long and five hundred wide, to separate the holy areas from the common.   Ezekiel 42:20

This separating of the holy areas from the common in the temple vision is instructional and symbolic.  As Christians, we are called to be saints, i.e., to be holy as God is holy, in everything—by His grace.

So he measured the temple, one hundred cubits long, and the separating courtyard with the building and its walls was one hundred cubits long.   Ezekiel 41:13

Even the measurements of the temple reveal a design, an order, a purpose.  Nothing random.  Nothing chaotic.