“The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The LORD is there.’ ” (Ezekiel 48:35)

The book of Ezekiel is well-known for its sci-fi-like visions of four-faced and four-winged angels, choreographed spinning wheels with rims populated of eyes (Ezekiel 1), and a clip of the noisy reconstruction of human bones (Ezekiel 37). Hollywood graphics hold nothing to this prophet. But the book has more depth than just entertainment for the fantasy seekers.

Ezekiel’s ministry overlapped the fall of Jerusalem and early days of the Babylonian exile. God’s people were under serious judgment for their continued disobedience and idolatry. One of the most tragic images in Scripture is that of the Spirit of God leaving the temple sanctuary. A little backstory: Moses had seen His glory on Mt. Sinai hundreds of years earlier, and after the people sinned he pleaded with the Lord, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here” (Ex 33:15). God’s presence took up residence, as it were, among them as depicted by a cloud in the tabernacle (Exodus 40) and later in the temple (1 Kings 8). Now in Ezekiel’s day, God’s presence was leaving the temple because of their unrelenting sinfulness!

Ezekiel wrote, “The hand of the LORD God fell on me,” and in a vision, he recognized that “the glory of the God of Israel was there” (Ezek 8:1-4). He saw that the elders of Israel were each secretly worshiping their idols, saying, “The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land” (Ezek 8:12); and the priests had arrayed themselves “with their backs to the temple of the LORD and … were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun (Ezek 8:16)!

Ezekiel saw in the vision, “Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple … rose up from the earth … and stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house … The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city …” (Eze 10:18-19, 11:23). On a personal level, this had been Kind David’s greatest fear: “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps 51:11). And now, in Ezekiel’s time, the LORD’s presence was being taken away from Israel!

But there is coming a day when “the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The LORD is there.’ ” (Eze 48:35). Until then, we have the presence of the glory of God in the person of Jesus: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

LORD Jesus, You are here, Immauel, God with us. Help me to see and sense and believe in Your very real presence with me, and with us as a church.