Congregation Bible Study (30 min.): Rr ch. 14 paras. 8-14 and Box 13A.
8, 9. When Jehovah gave firm correction to men in positions of responsibility, what lesson could the people have learned?
Firm correction for those who led the people. Jehovah severely but kindly corrected the men who held positions of great responsibility among the people. He harshly rebuked the Levites, who wandered far from him when the people fell into idolatry. Instead, he congratulated the sons of Zadok and said of them: "They fulfilled the responsibilities of my sanctuary when the Israelites lost their way." He treated each group with justice and mercy, each according to their actions (Ezek. 44:10, 12-16). The leaders of Israel also received firm correction (Ezek. 45: 9).
Thus Jehovah made it clear that supervisors, men in authority, had to answer to Jehovah for the way in which they carried out their responsibilities. Advice, correction, and discipline were for them too. What's more, they had to be the first to obey Jehovah's laws!
10, 11. What indicates that some Jews had learned the lessons Ezekiel's vision conveyed?
Did the returning exiles put into practice what they learned from this vision? Well, we cannot know what the faithful men and women of the time thought of this extraordinary vision. But God's Word does tell us a great deal about what the exiles did when they returned and how they came to see the pure worship of Jehovah. Did they put the principles contained in the vision into practice? To some degree they did, especially when compared to their rebellious ancestors, those who lived before the Babylonian exile.
Some faithful men — such as the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the priest and copyist Ezra, or the governor Nehemiah — did their best to teach the people principles such as those contained in Ezekiel's vision of the temple. --Ez. 5: 1, 2 ). They were taught that pure worship must take precedence, it must take precedence over material issues and personal interests (Haggai 1: 3, 4). They also insisted that the standards for pure worship be upheld. For example, Ezra and Nehemiah firmly told the Jews to leave their foreign wives, because they were spiritually weakening them (read Ezra 10:10, 11; Neh. 13: 23-27, 30). And what about idolatry? It seems that, after the exile, the nation finally came to hate that sin into which they had fallen time after time. And what about priests and chiefs or princes? As Ezekiel's vision shows us, Jehovah also advised and corrected them (Neh. 13:22, 28). Many of them humbly accepted that discipline (Ezra 10: 7-9, 12-14; Neh. 9: 1-3, 38).
ILLUSTRATION
Nehemiah encouraging those who work with him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah instilled in the people pure worship as he worked with them. (See paragraph 11)
12. How did Jehovah bless the exiles when they returned?
For doing this, God blessed his people. They enjoyed a good relationship with Jehovah, health and peace like they had not had in a long time (Ezra 6: 19-22; Neh. 8: 9-12; 12: 27-30, 43). Why? Because eventually the people began to obey Jehovah's righteous standards for pure worship. The vision temple lessons really touched the hearts of many good people. To summarize, we could say that the vision helped the exiles in two ways: 1) it taught them practical lessons about the standards for pure worship and how to respect them, and 2) it prophetically offered them a guarantee for the future; He predicted that pure worship would be restored and that if the people respected that form of worship, Jehovah would bless them. But now we ask ourselves the following question: does this vision have a fulfillment today?
13, 14. a) How do we know that Ezekiel's temple vision has a fulfillment in our day? b) In what two ways does vision help us? (See also Box 13A, “Different Temples, Different Meanings”).
Are we sure that Ezekiel's vision has something to do with us today? Yes of course! Remember the similarity between Ezekiel's vision and Isaiah's prophecy. In Ezekiel's vision, the holy house of God is on "a very high mountain" and, in Isaiah's, "the mountain of the house of Jehovah" would be "firmly established above the top of the mountains." Isaiah specifies that his prophecy would be fulfilled during “the final part of the days,” that is, “the last days” (Ezek. 40: 2; Isa. 2: 2-4, note; see also Micah 4: 1-4) . So these prophecies have to do with the time that we know as "the last days," especially since 1919, the year that pure worship was elevated and restored, as if placed on a very high mountain. *
Therefore, Ezekiel's vision certainly has a lot to do with pure worship today. Just as it benefited exiled Jews of old, this vision also helps us in two ways: 1) it teaches practical lessons on how to obey Jehovah's standards for pure worship, and 2) prophetically guarantees restoration. of the pure worship and blessings of Jehovah.
INFORMATIVE BOX 13A: Different Temples, Different Meanings
Animals for sacrifices made in the temple of vision.
The temple of Ezekiel's vision
It was described by Ezekiel for the Jewish exiles in Babylon
It has an altar in which many sacrifices are offered
Highlight Jehovah's Righteous Standards for Worship
It focuses our attention on the spiritual restoration that began in 1919
The great spiritual temple
It was explained by Paul and addressed to the Hebrew Christians
It has an altar on which a single sacrifice is offered “once and for all” (Heb. 10:10)
Explains a spiritual reality that the tabernacle and literal temples long represented - the system that Jehovah has established for pure worship based on the sacrifice of Christ
It focuses our attention on the work that Christ did in his role as Great High Priest from AD 29 to 33.
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