Originally posted: 8/13/2021
He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall all around, the length five hundred and the width five hundred, to divide between the holy and the profane, (42:20).
The details of the exact measurements of the temple continue. And I realized I really shouldn’t be surprised. For while I simply cannot decipher it all, and while I confess it was a bit tedious reading of the cubits the man with his measuring rod quantified more than sixty times in these three chapters, something about it did make sense.
After all, everything about God is exact, extremely accurate and perfect, including His perfectly impeccable record-keeping. And for some reason, beyond my understanding, God chose to have the measurements of the temple visions painstakingly calculated and enumerated.
And so it seemed we would end our tour of the survey of His temple with a sum total of cubits. Until the last verse. And then, the aha moment came like a flood. His meticulous measurements Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane.
He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall all around, the length five hundred and the width five hundred, to divide between the holy and the profane, (42:20).
From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance:
Divide: 914. בָּדַל bāḏal: A verb meaning to separate, to divide, to detach…
Holy: 6944. קֹדֶשׁ qōḏeš: A masculine noun meaning a holy thing, holiness, and sacredness. The word indicates something consecrated and set aside for sacred use only; it was not to be put into common use, for if it was, it became profaned and common…
Profane: 2455. חֹל ḥōl: A masculine noun meaning profane or common. This word comes from the verb ḥālal (2490), meaning to pollute or to profane and is always used in opposition to qōḏeš (6944), meaning sacred or set apart…
In our English language, the word, profane, takes on a crude connotation. Consider some of the synonyms for this English word, profane: obscene, vulgar, indecent, lewd, dirty, smutty, gross, impure.
But it’s interesting to note that in the Hebrew, this word is also translated as common. And therein lies the cold hard truth. When we treat Him less than Holy, when we make His Word and His Ways common, it is truly an obscenity; a vulgar, indecent, lewd, dirty, smutty, gross, impure act on our part.
And while much of the temple measurements may be flying far above our head and ability to understand, we can understand this: He Is Holy; He is separate from everything else, for there is no one like Him; He alone is Holy. There is no one Holy like the Lord.
“Who is like You among the gods, O Lord?
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,” (Exodus 15:11).
“There is no one holy like the Lord,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God,” (1 Samuel 2:2)
“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations will come and worship before You,
For Your righteous acts have been revealed,” (Revelation 15:4).
He Is Holy and far from anything common; He is unparalleled and separated from all others, for He alone is God.
“Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me, (Isaiah 46:9).
And because He alone is God and there is no other, and because He alone is Holy, He alone Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane.
Consider Him Who Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane
- He Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane, separating His people to be His.
- “Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine,” (Leviticus 20:26).
- He Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane, separating evil from His Presence.
- For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
No evil dwells with You.
5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity, (Psalm 5:4-5).
- For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
- He Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane, separating the sheep from the goats.
- “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,” (Matthew 25:31-32).
- He Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane, separating darkness from His Light.
- This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all, (1 John 1:5).
How do we respond to Him Who Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane?
He Is Holy and so far from anything that is common. And to treat Him, His Word or His Ways as something ordinary or normal is to Profane His Holiness; and He Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane.
Let us pray that we would grow to understand the magnitude of His Dividing Work.
Let us answer His command to consecrate ourselves unto Him alone, that He would Divide Between the Holy and Profane in our life as we grow in our desire to be separate from anything that is unclean before Him.
“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. 45 For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy,” (Leviticus 11:44-45).
He is Holy and anything but common; but when we regard sin our heart, we put up a Dividing wall so that He will not hear our prayers; a Dividing wall that separates us from His face, for He Is Holy and He Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane.
If I regard wickedness in my heart,
The Lord will not hear, (Psalm 66:18).
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear, (Isaiah 59:2).
As we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to cleanse us that we might be restored to righteous fellowship with Him Who Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, (1 John 1:8-9).
God Will Divide; He Will Separate, Set Apart, and Sanctify those who belong to Him. And Jesus prayed for us in this when He asked the Father to Divide Between the Holy and the Profane through His Truth.
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth,” (John 17:17).
Let us remember that the exiles ended up in captivity because they had forsaken His Truth. God Will Divide Between the Holy and the Profane, and He has given us His Dividing Word of Truth to judge our thoughts and attitudes of our heart.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, (Hebrews 4:12 BSB).
Oh, that we would grow in our desire for His Holy Word, that we would seek Him with all our heart so as to never wander from His Truth or treat His Word as some common thing; for truly, that would be obscene before Holy God.
Lord, Most Holy God, please grow our desire to treasure Your Word with all our heart so as to Divide Between the Holy and Profane in us; that we would live separated and set apart in purity unto You, and You alone.
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
10 With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
11 Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You, (Psalm 119:9-11).