“He measured the gateposts, sixty cubits high…”
Ezekiel 40:14a
It is quite amazing how detailed God’s word is in describing the entrance of the temple compound. As we saw in our last few meetings, this gate is not an ordinary gate – who would have imagined that the gate is so special that we would still be having fellowship about it so many weeks later? God’s word is so deep, rich and unsearchable; we are thankful that God is showing us so many details of His building. These details help us to enter into the experience of His Son.
Previously, we discussed in detail the length of the gate, which shows that after we are born again, there is quite a long way to go, through many trials, until we obtain the complete salvation of our souls. In today’s meeting, we saw just how high the gate is. It is very tall, sixty cubits, about 30 meters high. As a comparison: the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is about 20.3 meters high.
Why is the gate so high?
This towering gate should cause those who enter through it to be in awe of God’s greatness. How small one would feel entering through a 30-meter-high gate! Since we are fallen human beings and have been living independently and far from God, we have no idea how great and awesome our Creator is.
For this reason, the first thing our God wants to impress upon us with the gate is how great He is. It is healthy and good for us to in awe of Him, which will preserve us from simply doing whatever we like in His house. God makes it unmistakably clear that in His temple we can only serve as is fitting for Him.
In this regard, King David knew God very well – he wrote in Psalm 131:
“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me.”
Psalm 131:1
If we have such a desire to serve God, we also must know God in His greatness. This knowledge will keep us from being proud and presumptuous. The Holy Scripture warns us by giving us several examples of people who had the desire to serve and worship God but did it in their own way (Genesis 4:1-16; Leviticus 10:1-7, 1 Samuel 15, 2 Samuel 6:1-7; 2 Chronicles 26:16-21).
May the vision of this powerful and awe-inspiring gate of God’s house cause us to humble ourselves before God, that we would not be presumptuous, but ask Him how He desires to be worshiped.
