The Return of the Glory

Ezekiel 43 is the climax of the book's temple story. In chapters 10-11, Ezekiel had seen the glory of Yahweh leave the temple by the east gate and depart to the mountain east of the city. Now he says he stood at the east gate and saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. Ezekiel fell on his face, as he had at the river Chebar in chapter 1.

Yahweh's glory came into the house, and the Spirit brought Ezekiel into the inner court, where the glory filled the house. A voice declared that this was the place of God's throne and the place of the soles of his feet, where he would dwell among the children of Israel forever. The people must stop defiling his name with idolatry and with the tombs of kings placed beside the temple wall, a practice that had brought death close to God's holy dwelling.

Ezekiel was to show the house to Israel so that they would be ashamed of their iniquities. The law of the house was holiness: the whole mountaintop would be most holy. The chapter ends with the altar's measurements and a seven-day ceremony to cleanse and consecrate it. On the eighth day, God would accept his people. In the New Testament, Revelation 21:3 says: Behold, God's dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.