What is the law of the temple? Or is there a law specific to the temple? The Bible says, yes’. Jesus had this law in mind when he said; “My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers” [Lk 19:46].
Then what is the law governing the temple? The Scripture says that it is a mystery not revealed to all, but to a selected few! There are certain pre-qualifications required to know the law of the temple. Strange it may seem, but the Lord instructed Ezekiel to describe it to Israelites at a time, when they were in exile and when they had no temple to pray! Ezekiel, who was a priest and a prophet, was telling his people not about the old temple, but about a new temple they were going to construct once their appointed years of exile were completed.
‘As for you, mortal, describe the temple to the house of Israel, and let them measure the pattern; and let them be ashamed of their iniquities’ [Eze 43:10].The purpose of describing the details of the temple is to make them repent of their iniquities. God does not like an unrepentant person coming to know further details about the temple, leave alone entering it. In other words the qualification to enter the temple is to have a contrite heart, unless of course, you are righteous before God.
The Lord continues; ‘ When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the plan of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, and its whole form-all its ordinances and its entire plan and all its laws…’ [Eze 43:11]. This brings us to the more pertinent aspect of divine worship, that the grace to understand how great a place is the temple, and how sublime and meritorious is the offering done there is reserved to those who repent about their sins. To the unrepentant, it will ever remain a mystery.
Here God is letting us through a process of selection and elimination. It may look ironic that the Lord who said; ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’ is insisting on a condition for His own people to enter the temple. It is something serious. Let those who refuse to comply with the conditions set by God but insist on entering the church do an introspection.
Today, if we see many Christians conduct themselves in an irreverent manner in the church, its reason is that the mystery of the temple is not yet revealed to them. So they, even while unworthy, enter the Church, assuming that they are the owners of the church, and see the sacraments celebrated there as just another ritual. ‘They hold to the outward form of godliness but deny its power’ [2 Tim 3:5]
The precincts of the temple also are to be maintained holy, says the prophet. ‘This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. This is the law of the temple’ [Eze.43:12]. How could those who ignore the temple’s holiness, consider its precincts holy? So they conduct themselves in the church compound as if they were in the market. They bring abominable customs, practices, and celebrations into the church that are not compatible with the worship due to the God. They do not distinguish between the clean and the unclean, yet consider themselves holy!
Remember, all nations seeking God are flocking to the house of the true God, and they expect a temple upon which they too have a claim. It is not our mercy, but the fulfillment of the word of the merciful God. But what is there in our churches to welcome them? A temple desecrated by a people who boast of being ‘God’s own people’ yet failing to understand the law of the temple! And God laments; ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’ [Rom 2:24].
Let us pay heed to the lamentation of our Lord and approach the church with a clean heart and immaculate conscience. Then He will teach us His laws and will also engrave them in our hearts.
