I.　Everyone who serves the Lord must be a person who is governed and directed by a glorious vision—Prov. 29:18a; Acts 26:13-19:

A.　In the Bible vision denotes an extraordinary scene; it refers to a glorious, inward seeing and to the glorious spiritual scenery that we see from God—Ezek. 1:1, 4-28; Dan. 7:1, 9-10, 13-14.

B.　The heavenly vision governs us, restricts us, controls us, motivates us, preserves us, revolutionizes us, keeps us in the genuine oneness, gives us the boldness to go on, and directs us toward God's goal—Prov. 29:18a; Acts 26:19.

C.　The governing vision of the Bible is the Triune God working Himself in Christ into His chosen and redeemed people in order to saturate their entire being with the Divine Trinity for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem—Eph. 4:4-6, 16; Rev. 21:2, 9-10.

II.　Ezekiel 43:10-12 speaks of the effect of seeing the vision of the holy temple, the holy building of God:

A.　The book of Ezekiel begins with a vision of the appearance of the glory of the Lord and ends with a vision of the holy building of God; this indicates that God's goal is the building and that the glory of the Lord, the judgment of God, and the recovery of the Lord are all for the holy building of God—40:1—48:35.

B.　The temple is God's house for His rest, and the city is God's kingdom for His authority—v. 35b:

1.　The temple signifies the fellowship of God, and the city signifies the govern-ment of God.

2.　In the temple God has fellowship with His people, and in the city God reigns among His people.

C.　The vision of God's building in Ezekiel describes the place where God dwells— His holy temple; if we want to meet God, we need to know His particular place, His exact location—40:4; 48:35b.

D.　In Ezekiel the altar is the center of the whole compound of the building of God; when we come to the altar at the center of God's building, we experience the cross in a particular way—40:47; 43:13-27.

E.　On the wooden panels of the inner walls of the temple, cherubim and palm trees were carved—41:18-20:

1.　Cherubim signify the glory of the Lord manifested upon the creatures (10:18; Heb. 9:5), and palm trees signify the victory of Christ and the ever-lasting and ever-existing power of Christ (Ezek. 40:16; Rev. 7:9).

2.　The carving of the palm trees and the cherubim on the walls indicates that the victory of Christ and the glory of the Lord have been "carved" into our being through sufferings.

F.　Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord coming back to the house of the Lord; the glory could return only after the building of the temple was completed—44:4.

G.　"This is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever"—43:7a:

1.　The Lord's throne is for His administration, and the soles of the Lord's feet are for His move on earth.

2.　Apart from the temple as the place of His throne and the place of the soles of His feet, the Lord has no base for His administration and for His move on earth.

H.　The Lord instructed Ezekiel to describe God's house to God's people—40:4; 43:10-12:

1.　It was God's intention to check the living and conduct of the people of Israel by the house; in the book of Ezekiel God measured His people by the temple:

a.　Because the house of God was to be their regulation, God charged Ezekiel to show them the form of the house.

b.　The temple of God is a pattern, and if the people examine themselves in light of this pattern, they will know their shortcomings—vv. 10-12.

c.　The living of the people must match the temple of God—1 Cor. 3:16-17.

2.　We need to see from the book of Ezekiel that the requirements of the indwelling Christ are according to His house; everyone must be measured and checked according to the measurement of God's house—43:10:

a.　Our behavior and conduct should be examined not only according to moral regulations and spiritual principles but also according to the church, the house of God—1 Tim. 3:15-16; 1 Cor. 14:12.

b.　If what we are and what we do cannot match God's building, it amounts to nothing in the sight of God—Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 8:1b; 12:28—13:3; 16:14.

c.　The Body life is the greatest test of our spirituality; if we cannot pass the test of the Body life, our spirituality is not genuine—12:23-27.

d.　Spirituality is a Body matter; everything we have is in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body—Eph. 4:16.

e.　In the Body there can be no independence or individualism—1 Cor. 12:21-22, 27; Rom. 12:5; Eph. 5:30: 1) In the Body life, individualistic thought and action are ruled out. 2) Individualism is hateful in the sight of God; the enemy of the Body is the self—the independent "I"—Matt. 16:21-26.

f.　A basic requirement for the growth and development of the Body is that we recognize our measure and not go beyond it; like Paul, we should move and act according to how much God has measured to us, staying within the limits of God's measuring—Eph. 4:7, 16; 2 Cor. 10:13.