COMING IN AND GOING OUT

“When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead.  When they enter, the prince shall enter with them, and when they go out, he shall go out." (Ezekiel 46:9,10 ESV).

 

For several weeks these verses have been brought to my attention by the Holy Spirit; and for several weeks I have pondered how they were relevant to my life in particular, and to the Church generally.  It wasn't until my wife and I took a trip to an IKEA store in our state that I began to get the picture.  Yes, God can use even the mundane and the common things in our lives to speak spiritual truth.  We just need to always be open and sensitive to the Spirit to hear that still, small voice inside.  We are not always as sensitive as we should be, but we can learn to sharpen our awareness as we walk in the Spirit and understand that the Lord is always "at hand" (Philippians 4:5).

 

Visiting an IKEA retail store is not just a shopping trip - it is an event.  Prepare to spend at least a few hours there.  As this was our first experience, we had no idea what to expect.  You see, IKEA has laid out their retail spaces in a completely different way than the typical retail store. 

 

When you enter a Walmart, a Meijer's, or a Kroger's you will find a similar layout in each store.  There will be a few main aisles with other narrower aisles coming off them in a cross-floorplan.  If you want a particular item, you can enter the store, go down a main aisle till you come to the aisle that contains your item, retrieve that item, and proceed to the checkout.  The layout of an IKEA store, on the other hand, is the work of a marketing genius.  When you first enter the store on the ground level you are directed up a flight of stairs (or you may take an elevator which is as large inside as some of the rooms in my house) which leads to the second story and the beginning of the one aisle (pathway would describe it better) which will ultimately lead you through the entire store and past all of the merchandise that they offer.  If you get tired, there are benches along the way.  If you are hungry or thirsty, there is a cafeteria with a wide range of meals that you can enjoy along with a comfortable place to eat them and relax.  Once you have completed the upper level, you descend to the ground level again and follow the pathway through that entire floor until you emerge at the cash registers and the exit.  Ingenious!  Of course, there are exit signs placed periodically so that if you want to leave without seeing everything you can, but they are by no means prominent.

 

The reason that IKEA has adopted this approach in store design is brilliant.  They want you to be exposed to all they have to offer in the hope that you will see things that you didn't come in for necessarily and purchase them on impulse.  They want you to experience all that IKEA has to offer.  Judging from the large bags of merchandise people were walking out of the store with, I would say their strategy is working.

 

So, what has all of this got to do with the scripture verses that the Holy Spirit laid on my heart?  Read them again and I will explain. 

 

The Prophet Ezekiel was shown a vision of the house of God.  You can find his vision recorded in chapters 40-47 in the book of the Bible named for him.  In the vision, Ezekiel was given very specific instructions on the design and building of this temple.  This temple that Ezekiel saw was not the tabernacle of Moses, Solomon's glorious temple, the temple of Ezra that was built after the Babylonian captivity, nor the temple of Herod.  The temple that Ezekiel saw was yet to be built.  This vision was of a temple that the Lord Himself would build, and not man.  This House would be built upon a Rock, and the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against it!     

 

Spiritually, there is a connection between Ezekiel's temple and New Testament teaching.  This temple corresponds to God's Church, the Body of Christ.  New Testament writers refer to the Church as being the temple of the Holy Spirit and Jesus as the chief cornerstone of that House of God.  "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.  In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19-22 NIV).  "As you come to Him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:4-5 NIV).    "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1Corinthians 3:16).  "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name." (Revelations 3:12). 

 

God told Ezekiel that those who come up to the feasts to worship God in His temple were to enter only by the north or the south gates, and whatever gate they choose to enter by, they must leave by the opposite gate.  If they come in by the north, they leave by the south.  If they enter by the south gate, they must leave by the north.  Much like IKEA, God wants His people to get the full experience when they come to worship Him.  He wants us to commit fully to the experience and receive all that He has for them.  As in Ezekiel's vision, when we enter the house of God to worship and seek His will for our lives, the Prince Himself (Jesus) always enters through the eastern gate, and when we leave, He leaves with us.  When we as Christians gather to worship, it should never be to see the pastor, hear the choir, visit with friends, or any other superficial reason at all.  It must always be because we want to see Jesus and hear what He will speak to our hearts.  Yes, He may use the pastor, choir, or a brother or sister in the Lord, but the key is to discern the voice and presence of the Lord in all those sources.  The most important thing is this: God doesn't want us leaving His presence the same way we came in!  He wants to transform us increasingly into His image and change our lives perpetually for the better.  When we assemble corporately as the Body of Christ, the Lord Himself is there among His people.  By His Spirit He can move through the individual members to edify - build up - each and every one of us.  If we walk away untouched and unchanged it is either because we have hardened our hearts and come seeking the wrong things, or that ritualism in our services has grieved the Holy Spirit away.  Oh, how we need to be focused continually on the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives and in our coming together.  When we do this, we will see the Lord do great things and we will always leave differently than we came!  We will be changed by the presence of the Prince of Peace and the King of kings!