There is a very strange command found in Ezekiel 46:9. God forbid the people to leave the temple the same way they they came in. Those who entered through the north gate were to exit through the south gate and those who entered through the south gate were to exit through the north gate. Why? No explanation is given. Maybe it was to prevent confusion and congestion. Or, as Matthew Henry wrote, “We may suppose that they came in at the gate that was next their own houses, but, when they went away, God would have them to go out at the gate which would lead them the furthest way about, that they might have time for meditation; being thereby obliged to go a great way round the sanctuary, they might have an opportunity to consider the palaces of it.”
Whatever the reasons might be, they were not to leave the same way as they came in. I believe that can serve as a lesson for us.The church has replaced the temple as God’s house of witness and we Christians are warned about “Forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”(Heb. 10:25). We should be faithful in church attendance. We should attend for the purpose of worshipping God and to “provoke” one another “unto love and good works”(Heb. 10:24). And, since none of us are perfect, we should leave God’s house different than when we came. Attendance there should change us for the better.
I’ve often said, when you leave church you always leave in a better or worse condition than when you came. If you hear the Word of God and refuse to obey it you will leave worse than you came. But, if you submit to God’s Word you will be the better for it. Worship should be a transforming experience. So, when you attend church next Sunday, ask God to change your life. Don’t leave the same way you came!
