Thursday, May 31: Ezekiel 43 - The Glory of the Lord.

I was captured by the return of God’s glory to the temple. It was one of those moments for me. I was mesmerized. I tried to imagine what that would have meant to the Jews in captivity. God returned to the temple. God was back.  Their God was back.

Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple (1-5).

I soaked in the imagery… voice was like the roar of rushing waters. Memories of Niagara Falls connected me with the text. The pounding of the water when you are below is tremendous. I recall not only hearing the waters but feeling the rumble of its constant weight crashing into the rocks. I have also seen the Falls from the top. The river seems to pick up speed as it nears the edge. It roars a different roar from the top. Wow, God’s voice!

The land was radiant with his glory. My connection with this picture was not as strong. But I have sat in many places, high in the Rockies and at the ocean’s shore and watched the sunrise. The land (or sea) is dark filled with jumbled forms of varying shades of gray/black. Then as the sun begins to lighten the sky recognizable forms emerge from the gray/black. And as the sun reaches the horizon and then begins to live, rays of light dance adding color to the majestic painting before me. Eventually blades of grass shimmer, trees fill with color, even the ocean shines –different colors on different days and in different areas of the world. It is magnificent. I imagined God’s presence causing the land to do this but even more vibrantly…

God’s presence brings life… that’s what I was feeling and seeing in my mind's eye…

God was bringing life back to the temple, his throne, the place where God places the soles of his feet on earth (7).

Some mornings it is simply enough to bask in the glory of our God, The One and Only God. Today was one of those days. And the sum of my prayer was simply…

Alleluia! Our God reigns!

 

 

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