1. What did Ezekiel see that fills us with awe?

WHAT if you could have an experience like that of the prophet Ezekiel some 25 centuries ago? Imagine this: You approach a vast, gleaming temple complex. A mighty angel is there to show you this awesome place! You climb the seven steps that lead up to one of the three gates. These entrances fill you with awe. They tower upward about 100 feet (30 m). Within the entryways, you see that there are guard chambers. The pillars feature an elegant palm-tree design.​—Ezek. 40:1-4, 10, 14, 16, 22; 41:20.

2. (a) What does the visionary temple represent? (See also the footnote.) (b) What may we learn from features of the temple’s entrances?

² This is the visionary spiritual temple. Ezekiel described it in such detail that his account fills chapters 40 through 48 of his prophetic book. This temple represents Jehovah’s arrangement for pure worship. Every feature has meaning for our own worship in these last days.a What do the lofty gates signify? They remind us that those who enter Jehovah’s arrangement for pure worship must live by God’s lofty and upright standards. Even the carvings of palm trees make a similar point, for palms are sometimes used in the Bible to stand for uprightness. (Ps. 92:12) And the guard chambers? Clearly, those who fail to respect divine standards are refused entrance into this beautiful, life-giving way of pure worship.​—Ezek. 44:9.

3. Why have Christ’s followers needed continual refinement?

³ How has Ezekiel’s vision been fulfilled? As we noted in Chapter 2 of this book, Jehovah used Christ to put his people through a special refining process from 1914 to early 1919. Did the refining stop then? Far from it! Throughout the past century, Christ has continued to uphold Jehovah’s holy standards of conduct. His followers have thus needed continual refinement. Why? Because Christ has been gathering his followers from this morally corrupt world and Satan never stops trying to draw them back into the mire of immorality. (Read 2 Peter 2:20-22.)