Ezekiel 40

“And the man said to me, ‘Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see.’” (Ezekiel 40:4, NKJV)

For the next nine chapters of Ezekiel we will look at the temple that will be built during the future millennial reign of Christ. The LORD went to great lengths to describe it in detail. His purpose was so that the people could study it and be ashamed of what they had done. The law of this new temple would be absolute holiness. They would feel sorry because they had defiled their temple in Jerusalem with corruption and hypocrisy. God gave them a vision of a glorious future so that they would amend their ways now.

Ezekiel’s angelic guide told him to look with his eyes, hear with his ears, and fix his eyes on everything he would be shown. This is the reason God reveals truth to us. He wants us to open our eyes to see what He wants to show us. He wants us to open our ears to hear what He has to tell us. He wants us to fix our minds on Him and on all that He reveals to us. He wants us to fully assimilate His revelation so that it changes who we are. Even something as simple as visualizing the future temple can shift our priorities. We realize that we are not citizens of this world but citizens of heaven. We love righteousness rather than sin because we are destined to be holy as God is holy.

But transformation does not end there, for we are also to declare to others what we have received. This is the value of group Bible study where we each share what we are seeing in Scripture and how it applies to our lives. It is also the reason we witness to others who don’t know Christ. God has opened our eyes and led us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. He wants us to bring this to others. He wants us to open their eyes so they can see, open their ears, so they can hear, and to help them fix their minds on Jesus so that He can change them from the inside out.

“Heavenly Father, thank you for revealing Jesus to us and for opening our eyes to see our glorious future. Since we have been raised with Christ to newness of life, help us fix our minds on heavenly things and not on earthly things. Grant us opportunities this weekend to boldly and joyfully share your revelation with others. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.”