This post will conclude our three-part series on the Kingdom within. We began this series with Jesus’ statement that the Kingdom of God is within you. But how can this be? To help us understand this concept we are going to look at a very controversial Biblical subject: Ezekiel’s temple. For decades Biblical scholars have tried to explain what it is, where it will be located, and most importantly, when it will exist. I believe the problem for many people is trying to explain the Ezekiel temple as a literal temple. Ezekiel’s temple was never meant to be a literal, handmade structure. In fact, if you begin in Ezekiel 40, you can see that the dimensions of the temple as a whole are representative of a human body. The three gates facing north, east, and south are 60 cubits high. Each gate also leads to six chambers. The outer court wall is six cubits high and six cubits wide. Then entire length of the wall of the outer court, with the extra 50 cubits “round about” equals 600 cubits. We see a repeating pattern of 666. And 666 is the number of man. Therefore these portions of Ezekiel’s temple represent the temple of our flesh. We’ll also see the portions inside the temple that represent the temple of our mind.
Let’s go inside of Ezekiel’s temple by looking at Ezekiel 47, where it speaks of living water that flows from the altar. Imagine an endless river of living water flowing from a temple altar! No, don’t do that, because it’s not literal, remember? But the allegorical teaching is astounding. The living water represents the spiritual life given to us when we enter the Kingdom within, through meditation. When we meditate, it is the right side of the brain that is affected. This side of the brain also connects us with our spiritual selves and God. In Ezekiel 47, the living water flowing from the altar flows east, but it comes from the south side of the altar. Now imagine a temple—the human body, and more specifically, a human brain—facing east. The south side is representative of the right side of our brains! This is why the water flows east from the south side of the altar. During meditation, you are receiving living waters (i.e. spiritual energy and healing).
I want to also briefly look at another snippet from the Biblical book of Genesis. In Genesis 24:63, Isaac, Abraham’s son, is meditating in the field before meeting Rachel. Have you ever wondered what he was meditating on? The Bible had not been written yet. He wasn’t meditating on Bible verses. He was meditating the same way Jesus taught us. He was going within the Kingdom, beyond the mind, where the ego and human thoughts subside. Going within the Kingdom enough allows the ego and human thought to not just subside, but eventually disappear altogether. That’s when the face of God becomes more apparent. A scripture in Psalms explains this perfectly:
Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God.”
So what happens when we still the mind, or meditate? In short, we begin to crucify the ego. And then we can become a new creature in Christ! Our deeply flawed human egos are the reason so much suffering exists in this world. But like Jesus, we are meant to become one with God and shed our flawed egos.
In conclusion, I would like to say that meditating helps humanity strike the balance between the spiritual and physical self. And isn’t this a component of becoming whole?! So what, or where, is Heaven? As we said before: it’s in the realm of consciousness, and to enter heaven, we must enter consciousness itself.
These are new and fascinating alternate explanations about Ezekiel’s temple and Isaac’s meditation. Knowing to be still and trust in a divine power is one thing. Getting there and staying there is another. It seems sometimes that I would have to remind myself every 20 minutes to be still. I get a glimpse of a divine consciousness where there is nothing to fear and life is always overflowing with optimism. Be still and know that I am God. Then some jerk on a cell phone cuts me off in a traffic lane, sending my blood pressure through the roof. How do we get calmer and stay there? Traditionalists have a little joke “We need shalom, not om.” What do we really need?
Robert,
Getting into the right pattern of thinking takes time and training. I still work on it by often becoming conscious of how I react to certain situations. As a school teacher, I have had many moments where I wanted to “react” to discipline problems instead of using my head and “acting.” When I simply observe the kid acting out (without judgement) I find that I always find the right way to enact the right consequences. But when I simply “react” to the child without first observing myself, I usually lash out at the student and nothing is ever solved. Learning to observe a situation with a certain detachment has always benefited me. And when I say detachment, I am not talking about carelessness. I am talking about just letting the situation be as it is and not resisting it. I still enact the consequence, but when I choose not to resist the child’s behavior, the stress is not there and I don’t wear myself out. I also gain a great deal of respect from my students this way.
So in answer to your question, try taking your conscious attention off of the situation and put the attention on yourself. You’ll be amazed at what you begin to become conscious of.
By the way, maybe the “om” helps to bring “shalom.”
Josh
do you want to know what this temple in ezekiel is about
David,
I am always interested in hearing the viewpoint of others.
this is the kingdom of the our father in heavens son stated as the prince the reason for ezekiel to show his people that thought that they were the only chosen and their fallen away god would not forsake them this was wrong. before that they were show as the temple that was one altar or rather one star or sun and earth. the new temple has two stars or altars notice that the planet in the east have you thought why no body comes from the east to gather in the temple but the prince this is his foot stool earth rather god says show them this that earth is forsaken. god trys again to bring them back to him this temple is a finish product it is in heaven earth destroy and two new planets created the north and south that we will be with christ and the saints to rule with him he will never again allow his kingdom to be ruled by man again. christ speaks of his other fold in new test john they called my master a mad man. with this now you know what the wheels are in chapter one its are a star four planets and their moons as he called eyes the wings are magnetics that planets have as we see them. now also knowing this the water thing god showed ezekiel becomes reveal god say look at the planet in the east and look at the north poles our polar caps will be melt during christ rule and earth will be friutful during his rule. all this is writen in the bible now shall we go deeper into this and see what revelations says it also confirm these things. know this earth and christs other planet will both be destroy when hes finish with it. christ has made these things known to me and showed me these two new planets he will create north and south. now know that god is telling ezekiel about two peoples two planets that have fallen away from him. now read ezekiel again and again for the spirit of god will reveal these things to you.
Thanks for your comments, David. Ezekiel is a very complicated Biblical book and it takes multiple readings to see the deeper things hidden within. I will keep your comments in mind as I reread Ezekiel, but in the esoteric interpretation I have never seen where the earth is destroyed. I think the earth is going to remain quite a long time.
brother, note the following writings isaiah 66 v1-2 also 24 v 20-23 and revelations 21 v 1 , more are in the books of the prophets, but we must pray for family, friends and them around us for great evil and trouble soon will cover us before christ returns and the saints are commanded to take over, because these things must come. brother, if you seen all the planets in our solar system and their paths for a seven thousand years in just a matter of minutes and were told to seal it up how would you write it.
That is a very interesting point. I do wonder how you take all that to account. I wonder who we take account of the destruction of the temple and the rebirth of Israel which are all very literral. Also how the prophecy of Jesus Christ is coming to life in this world from Matthew 24.
Omar,
The prophecy of Christ is about an event which happens inside man, not outside. On a deeper level, the rebirth of Israel is the rebirth of man.
Just read this and it reminds me of Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung meditation – Standing like a Tree – which teaches you to be still and let chi (energy) flow through the body relaxing the nervous system, even when sleeping the nervous system is still active, this technique of meditating is one of the only know standing meditation positions that fully relaxes all the nervous system once practiced,
“Stand Still, Keep Your Spirit” – Professor Yu Yong Nian, from the book Chi Kung Way of Power..
Whatever meditating you do, the life force/Chi/ Holy Ghost/Spirit Guides/ Angels and so on are devoted to helping you, happy meditating all 1LOVE!
Sam
Sam,
I’m glad you noticed the correlation. I wish more people would begin to think like this. Thanks for pointing this out. Blessings.
Hi Joshua,
Do you have any recommendations on “how” to meditate? I know it’s all about being still, letting go of our human thoughts and worries, etc. But when I try it, I ultimately return. Usually, I fail to let go of my thoughts for even a few seconds.
Is it better to recite bible verses? Or to truly seek no thought at all? Or to just appreciate God and the environment and the moment?
The few times I’ve been able to let go of thought, I always return to my thoughts with a smile on my face, so I know it’s working, I just can’t seem to recreate it…
TJ,
The beginning of meditation is to learn concentration. I would recommend focusing on the breath, although there are many, many alternatives. No thought meditation is more advance and doesn’t really have anything to do with blanking out the mind. It is a higher state of consciousness that is hard to explain with words.
If you are a beginning, I recommend “8 Minute Meditation” by Victor Davich. It’s a simple read that opens up meditation to anyone who questions the beginning stages. Blessings.
I watched a video titled :God in the brain by supreme master TV. Is man’s brain God ‘s temple?
Absolutely, Tony!
Wow…. I wonder why lnstitutionalized church missed it all this while… We have been seeing God in 3D now is the time for a 5D view of all things….. Higher dimensions
Tony,
Yes, it is unfortunate that the masses still don’t know what lays in their Bible, but I believe times are changing and a lot of people are waking up to new knowledge.
love the Article!
question would the word awareness be a little better than consciousness?
The difference is: the conciseness is the threshold of awareness, when some one is conscious that means that the person is able to understand limited information,while when some one is aware that means the person has a full knowledge about something. Minor point.
thanks
Good point, Alvin.
Genesis 24:63 contains the Hebrew word suah which is a hapax logmenon. As such, you would do well not to jump so quickly to the conclusion that it bears the meaning that you apply to the word “meditate” in the 21st century. From there, you jump even further into stating what Isaac was actually doing in relation to what Jesus taught which is a conclusion based on no evidence whatsoever but rather your presupposition. I’m not saying you are wrong in your interpretation. Rather, I am saying that you have no evidence that you are right and should at the very least admit this.
I refer you to https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/86480?lang=bi for rabbinical ideas of this word’s meaning.