A LITTLE SANCTUARY

Physically, Ezekiel was located among the exiles in Babylon. But he was transported by the Spirit to the gate of the temple in Jeru­salem. There the leaders of the people comforted themselves with the belief that their city was impregnable. ‘This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh’, they said. As they saw it, although rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar would undoubtedly ‘land them in hot water’, the fortifications of Jerusalem would protect them from the Babylonian fire of destruction.

The inhabitants of Jerusalem regarded those in captivity, by reason of their exile in a foreign and defiled land, as having for­feited their claim to any inheritance in God’s land. That land, and the assured presence of the Lord represented by the temple, now belonged to them, the occupants of Jerusalem, alone.

But these complacent and presumptuous men were wrong on both scores. First, because they themselves would soon either be taken into captivity or perish at the hands of the Babylonians. And, second, as far as the existing exiles were concerned, God promised that He would Himself be ‘a sanctuary’ to them ‘in the countries where they are come’.

At that very moment the Lord was leaving His temple/sanctuary at Jerusalem, Ezek. 10. 18, 19; 11. 22, 23. But He made it clear that His presence was by no means confined to that temple, nor even to the land of Israel. For, it is His presence which makes the sanctuary, and not some sanctuary, such as the temple at Jerusa­lem, which secures His presence.

Solomon acknowledged at its dedication that the temple had never been an adequate habitation for Him whose dwelling- place is in heaven. But here the Lord promises to stoop still lower and to manifest His presence to His dispersed people. Yes, He may have ‘cast them afar off among the heathen’, but He had not - and never will - ‘cast them away’, Rom. 11. 1!

Jewish writings apply the title ‘little sanctuary’ to the syna­gogue, the origin of which many trace to the Babylonian exile. But, unlike the devout centurion of Capernaum, Luke 7. 5, God did not build a synagogue for His people; He promised that He Himself would be the sanctuary.