The Furniture of Heaven: Text: Ezekiel 41:16-26
Introduction: God's Interior Design
We live in an age that prides itself on its pragmatism, which is really just a high-minded word for ugliness. Our modern church buildings often reflect this. They are functional boxes, multi-purpose auditoriums designed with all the architectural charm of a Costco warehouse. The driving assumption is that what we do in worship is primarily cerebral, and the container it happens in is largely irrelevant. But God, it appears, disagrees. God is an artist, a designer, and an architect. He cares deeply about form, not just function, because He understands that form shapes function. What a thing looks like tells you what it is for.
When God gives instructions for His dwelling place, whether the tabernacle in the wilderness or this glorious temple in Ezekiel's vision, He gives them with painstaking, meticulous detail. This is not the rambling of a fussy decorator. This is theology made visible. This is the gospel carved in wood. Ezekiel's temple was never meant to be built with literal bricks and mortar after the exile. The returning Jews didn't even attempt it; they built Zerubbabel's temple, which was a pale shadow of this. No, this is a prophetic vision of a spiritual reality. This is the blueprint for the New Covenant church, the dwelling place of God by His Spirit. And if this is the house we are, the house Christ is building, then we had better pay attention to the furniture.
The world around us is drowning in a self-inflicted chaos. Having rejected the Designer, they are frantically trying to redecorate His creation with their own insane graffiti, calling evil good, darkness light, and sterile concrete boxes beautiful. They have rejected the grammar of God's created order, and the result is a world that is both incoherent and hideous. Into this confusion, the Word of God speaks with serene and beautiful order. This passage is not just a list of carvings and cubits. It is a description of the world as it ought to be, the world as it will be when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. This is a vision of the restored Garden, the true sanctuary, which is the Church of Jesus Christ.
The Text
The thresholds, the latticed windows, and the galleries round about their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, and from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), over the entrance, and to the inner house, and on the outside, and on all the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement. It was carved with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces, a man’s face toward the palm tree on one side and a young lion’s face toward the palm tree on the other side; they were carved on all the house all around. From the ground to above the entrance cherubim and palm trees were carved, as well as on the wall of the nave.
The doorposts of the nave were square; as for the front of the sanctuary, the appearance of one doorpost was like that of the other. The altar was of wood, three cubits high and its length two cubits; its corners, its base, and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before Yahweh.” The nave and the sanctuary each had a double door. Each of the doors had two leaves, two swinging leaves; two leaves for one door and two leaves for the other. Also there were carved on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls; and there was a canopy of wood over the front of the porch outside. There were latticed windows and palm trees on one side and on the other, on the sides of the porch; thus were the side chambers of the house and the canopies.
(Ezekiel 41:16-26 LSB)
The Walls of Paradise (vv. 16-20)
The vision begins with the interior surfaces of the temple. God is building His house from the inside out.
"were paneled with wood all around... It was carved with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces, a man’s face toward the palm tree on one side and a young lion’s face toward the palm tree on the other side..." (Ezekiel 41:16-19)
The entire inner surface is paneled with wood. This is not cold, imposing stone. This is organic. This is life. This is Edenic imagery. God is bringing the garden inside. The place where He meets with man is a place of cultivated, ordered, and beautiful life. The world outside may be a wilderness of sin, but inside the house of God, the trees of righteousness flourish.
And what is carved on these walls? Cherubim and palm trees. This is not random wallpaper. This is a declaration. Where have we seen cherubim before? In Genesis 3, they were placed at the east of the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. They are the guardians of God's holy presence. Their presence here means that this temple is the way back into that which was lost. But they are no longer barring the way for the redeemed; they are now part of the very structure that welcomes us in. The way is open.
These cherubim have two faces: the face of a man and the face of a young lion. The man's face signifies redeemed humanity. We are made in God's image, and in Christ, that image is restored. We are destined to judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3). The lion's face represents royalty, strength, and majesty. It points us to the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ our King. So the walls are carved with pictures of Christ and His people, the guardians of the new creation.
Between each cherub is a palm tree. In Scripture, the palm tree is a symbol of righteousness, victory, and fruitfulness. "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree" (Psalm 92:12). When Christ rode into Jerusalem, the people waved palm branches, hailing Him as the victorious king. So the pattern on the walls is one of guardianship and victory, holiness and fruitfulness, Christ and His Church. This is the rhythm of the Christian life. We are guarded by His holy power, and we are called to a life of triumphant fruitfulness.
The Central Piece of Furniture (vv. 21-22)
After describing the walls, the vision moves to the center, to the most important object in the holy place.
"The altar was of wood, three cubits high... And he said to me, 'This is the table that is before Yahweh.'" (Ezekiel 41:22 LSB)
Notice first that the altar is made of wood. It is not overlaid with bronze or gold as in the tabernacle or Solomon's temple. It is a simple wooden structure. Why? Because this is a vision of a new covenant reality where the bloody sacrifices are finished. This is not an altar for killing; this is an altar that points to a sacrifice already made. The wood speaks of the cross. The work is done.
And then the angel gives the stunning identification. He calls the altar "the table that is before Yahweh." The place of sacrifice has become the place of fellowship. The altar has become a table. This is the gospel in a sentence. Because of the cross, we are no longer kept at a distance by the fire and blood of sacrifice. We are invited to draw near, to sit down, and to eat with God. The central piece of furniture in the New Covenant temple is not a place of death, but a table of life. It is the Lord's Table.
This is why we gather every Lord's Day. We don't come to re-sacrifice Christ. We come to feast with Him. We come to the table that is before Yahweh. This is the center of our worship because it is the center of our faith. God has made peace with us through the blood of the cross, and He now invites us to a covenant meal to celebrate and ratify that peace. To neglect the Lord's Supper is to misunderstand the very layout of the house God has built for us.
The Open Doors (vv. 23-26)
Finally, the vision describes the entryways into the nave and the sanctuary.
"The nave and the sanctuary each had a double door. Each of the doors had two leaves, two swinging leaves... Also there were carved on them... cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls..." (Ezekiel 41:23-25 LSB)
These are not small, restrictive doorways. They are double doors, with swinging leaves. This speaks of a broad and welcoming entrance. The way into God's presence is now wide open for all who come in Christ. Jesus said, "I am the door," and He is not a narrow slit in the wall. He is a grand gate, a royal entrance.
And what is carved on these doors? The same pattern as the walls: cherubim and palm trees. This is crucial. The way into the presence of God is marked by the very realities that define the presence of God. You don't pass through a blank door to get to the glorious interior. The door itself proclaims the gospel. The way in is guarded by holy angels and lined with the promise of victory. To come through this door is to accept the terms of the house. It is to embrace the guardianship of Christ and to enter into the triumphant life He provides.
The whole structure, inside and out, is a coherent theological statement. The windows, the canopies, the side chambers, all are integrated into this vision of divine order and Edenic beauty. God's house is not a chaotic mess. It is a cosmos, a perfectly ordered and beautiful world in miniature.
Conclusion: We Are the Temple
So what do we do with this detailed vision from an old prophet? We recognize it. We are living in it. The Apostle Peter tells us that we, as believers, are "living stones... being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). This temple Ezekiel saw is the Church.
The walls of our fellowship are to be marked by the guardianship of truth (cherubim) and the fruit of righteousness (palm trees). Our inner life, individually and corporately, should be paneled with the warmth and life of the new creation in Christ.
At the center of our life together is a table, not an altar. We are a feasting people, a celebrating people, because the sacrifice for our sin is finished, once for all. Our worship is not a desperate attempt to appease an angry God, but a joyful meal with our reconciled Father.
And our doors must be wide open, carved with the good news. We must be a people who invite the world to come in, not by compromising the holiness of the house, but by clearly marking the doorway with the truth of Christ the Guardian and Christ the Victor.
From this temple, as Ezekiel will see in a later chapter, a river of life flows out to heal the nations. This is the postmillennial task of the Church. We are God's house, the center of His operations on earth. As we worship faithfully at His table, within these gospel-carved walls, the influence of His grace and truth flows out from us in an ever-increasing flood. We are not just building a building; we are the building. And as Christ the master builder adds to our number, this glorious temple will fill the whole earth, and the knowledge of His glory will be as universal as the carvings on these walls.