The Law of the House Text: Ezekiel 43:6-12
Introduction: No More Roommates
We live in an age of compromise, an age that prides itself on being reasonable. We like to negotiate, to find the middle ground, to build bridges. We apply this same spirit to our faith. We want Jesus, but we also want the approval of the world. We want to build God's house, but we want to make sure our own palace is conveniently located right next door, sharing a wall, so we can easily move between the two. We want God to dwell with us, but we want Him to be a quiet roommate, one who doesn't mind the noise from our parties or the questionable guests we bring home.
The modern evangelical church is filled with this kind of syncretism. We have our worship services, our Bible studies, and our prayer meetings, and right next door, separated by the thinnest of walls, we have our love of money, our devotion to political saviors, our addiction to entertainment, and our coddling of sexual sin. We have put our threshold next to God's threshold, our door post next to His door post, and we are baffled when we feel a distinct lack of His presence and power. We wonder why our lives feel defiled, why our churches are weak, and why God seems so distant.
Into this comfortable, compromised Christianity, the prophet Ezekiel speaks a terrifying and glorious word. God is returning to His people, but He is not returning to the old arrangement. He is not coming back to be a roommate with our idols. He is coming back as a king to His throne, and He is laying down the non-negotiable terms of His presence. The vision He gives to Ezekiel is not just an architectural blueprint; it is a spiritual ultimatum. It is the law of the house. And the law is this: absolute, uncompromising, total holiness. God will have the whole mountain, or He will have none of it.
The Text
Then I heard one speaking to me from the house, while a man was standing beside me. He said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, by putting their threshold by My threshold and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have done. So I have consumed them in My anger. Now let them put away their harlotry and the corpses of their kings far from Me; and I will dwell among them forever.
As for you, son of man, describe the house of Yahweh to the house of Israel, that they may feel dishonor for their iniquities; and let them measure the plan. If they feel dishonor for all that they have done, make known to them the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws. And write it in their sight so that they may keep its whole design and all its statutes and do them. This is the law of the house: within its entire boundary, on the top of the mountain all around, shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house."
(Ezekiel 43:6-12 LSB)
The Royal Residence (v. 6-7)
The scene opens with Ezekiel standing in the courtyard of the visionary temple. The glory of God has just filled the house, and now, the owner of the house speaks.
"Then I heard one speaking to me from the house, while a man was standing beside me. He said to me, 'Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.'" (Ezekiel 43:6-7a)
Notice the speakers. The "man" is the angelic guide who has been measuring the temple, the divine surveyor. But the voice comes "from the house." This is Yahweh Himself. God has taken possession, and He is speaking from His newly claimed residence. This is not a distant God speaking from heaven; this is an immanent God, a present King.
And what does He say? He defines the temple in starkly royal terms. "This is the place of My throne." This is not primarily a place of sacrifice or a meeting hall for men. It is the seat of cosmic government. It is God's Oval Office. And it is "the place of the soles of My feet." This is wonderfully earthy. It means this is where God walks. This is where He has planted His feet, claiming this ground as His own. He is not a ghost; He is a king who walks in His palace and rules from His throne.
The promise is staggering: "where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever." The first temple was a temporary arrangement. God's presence was conditional, and because of Israel's sin, He left. His glory departed. But this new dwelling is permanent. This is a promise that points beyond any physical building to the final reality of the New Jerusalem, where God will dwell with His people, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them (Rev. 21:3).
The Abomination of Proximity (v. 7-8)
But this permanent presence requires a permanent end to the old defilements. God immediately diagnoses the sin that led to the previous exile.
"And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, by putting their threshold by My threshold and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them." (Ezekiel 43:7b-8)
The root sin is defilement of God's holy name. How did they do it? First, through "harlotry," the Bible's standard metaphor for idolatry. They cheated on their covenant husband, Yahweh, with other gods. Second, and very specifically, with "the corpses of their kings." This refers to the arrogant practice of the Judean kings who were buried in the city of David, on the same holy mount as the temple. They treated the holy precinct like their personal cemetery, mingling their own dead prestige with the living presence of God. It was the height of man-centered arrogance.
Verse 8 gives us the architectural metaphor for this spiritual reality. The royal palace was built right up against the temple complex, with "only the wall between Me and them." This proximity was the problem. It represented a fatal lack of separation. The political machinations, the pagan idolatries, the moral filth of the king's house were seeping through the wall. God is saying, "I will not be neighbors with Baal. I will not share a property line with Molech. My house will not be a duplex where your idols live in the other unit." This is a radical call for separation. The holy must be kept holy, and the profane must be kept far away.
The Condition for Fellowship (v. 9)
The path to restoration is therefore one of radical purification.
"Now let them put away their harlotry and the corpses of their kings far from Me; and I will dwell among them forever." (Ezekiel 43:9)
This is the divine ultimatum. The condition for God's permanent presence is the removal of their idols. Notice the language: "put away... far from Me." This is not a call to manage your sin or to hide your idols in a back room. It is a call for extermination and distance. You cannot have intimate fellowship with a holy God while you are still holding hands with your idols. The choice is absolute: it is God or them. You cannot have both. If you want Him to dwell with you, you must make room. You must clean house.
Preaching for Shame (v. 10-11)
God now gives Ezekiel his preaching assignment. And the goal of his preaching is, to our modern ears, quite shocking.
"As for you, son of man, describe the house of Yahweh to the house of Israel, that they may feel dishonor for their iniquities; and let them measure the plan. If they feel dishonor for all that they have done, make known to them the design of the house..." (Ezekiel 43:10-11a)
The purpose of describing this glorious, holy, perfectly ordered temple is to make the people ashamed. The goal is to induce "dishonor for their iniquities." Why? Because when you show a man who is living in a filthy shack the blueprints for a pristine palace, the contrast reveals the true depth of his squalor. When God reveals His perfect standard of holiness, it exposes our cheap, dirty compromises for what they are. This is the first work of the law and the Spirit: conviction. True repentance does not begin until we see God's standard and are rightly ashamed of how far we have fallen short.
And notice the progression. First, they must "feel dishonor." Then, and only then, is Ezekiel to "make known to them the design." God does not reveal the intimate details of His house to the proud and unrepentant. He reveals Himself to the humble. Repentance is the key that unlocks the door to deeper knowledge of God. We cannot expect to understand the deep things of God if we are not first broken over our sin. Once that godly sorrow is present, then the details of righteous living, "the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances... all its statutes, and all its laws," can be taught for the purpose of obedience.
The Law of the House (v. 12)
Finally, God summarizes the entire principle in one, repeated, thunderous declaration.
"This is the law of the house: within its entire boundary, on the top of the mountain all around, shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house." (Ezekiel 43:12)
Here it is. The one law that governs God's dwelling place is total holiness. In the old tabernacle and temple, holiness was graded. There was an outer court, a holy place, and then a most holy place. But in this new temple, the zone of maximum holiness has expanded to cover everything. "Its entire boundary... on the top of the mountain all around, shall be most holy." There are no more buffer zones. There is no more mixed-use space. From one end to the other, it is all consecrated to God.
This is the trajectory of God's redemptive plan. He is not in the business of cleaning up a small corner of our lives. He is in the business of total reclamation. He is taking back the whole mountain.
Christ, Our Temple
This vision finds its ultimate fulfillment not in a building of stone, but in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the true temple, the place where God's glory dwells perfectly and permanently (John 2:21, Col. 2:9). In Him, God has truly planted the soles of His feet on the earth.
And through faith in Christ, we are now the house of God. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). This means that the law of the house applies directly to us. The boundary of what is "most holy" is now the boundary of our entire lives. Our bodies, our minds, our families, our work, our finances, our entertainment, our politics, it is all to be "most holy."
The call to Ezekiel's hearers is the call to us. We must look at the perfect holiness of Jesus Christ, the true Temple, and "feel dishonor" for our sins. We must feel that godly shame for every time we have built our threshold next to His, for every time we have kept a wall between our Sunday piety and our Monday compromises. That shame is a gift, because it drives us to repentance.
And the command to "put away" our idols is the daily call of sanctification. We must, by the power of the Spirit, drive out the harlotry of our hearts and remove the corpses of our dead kings, the monuments to our own pride and self-worship. We must put them far from us.
Why? So that God may dwell among us forever. He has promised His presence, but He will not share it. He is a jealous God, which is another way of saying He is a faithful husband who will not tolerate rivals. He has bought us with a price. He has claimed the whole mountain. And the law of His house is holiness. Behold, this is the law of the house.