Ezekiel 45+46

Introduction

Since chapter 40, Ezekiel has been writing about the vision he received from the Lord of a new temple. In chapters 40 to 42 he told us how he was taken on a tour of the temple complex and he described for us the walls and the entrances and the courts and the rooms and some of the other things he saw. And the high wall all around the temple meant that everyone who is unclean and unholy will be kept out of it. In chapter 43 he told us that he saw the glory of the Lord return to the temple. So, in a previous chapter, he saw the glory of the Lord depart; now he was seeing its return. And that meant that God himself was returning to the temple and he was coming to stay and he would never leave it again. Then in chapter 44, which we studied last week, Ezekiel wrote about the work of the Levites and the priests: the Levites are to guard the temple; and the priests are to stand before the Lord and to offer sacrifices to him.

And I’ve said before that this vision of a new temple is really a vision about what eternal life in the presence of God will be like. God wanted to explain to Ezekiel what it would be like. And in order to do so, he had to use images and ideas which Ezekiel was familiar with. So, when I want to tell my parents about a podcast, they don’t know what a podcast is. And so, I use an image familiar to them: I say it’s like the radio, but it’s on the internet. I use a familiar image to explain to them something that’s new to them. And the Lord used images and ideas familiar to Ezekiel to explain to him something that was new to him.

So, what is eternal life in the presence of God like? It’s like the temple, because just as God’s temple on earth was God’s dwelling place among his people, so God will dwell with his people in the life to come. His glory will fill the new heavens and earth and we’ll see him and we’ll be with him and we’ll be surrounded by his presence. And he will never leave us and we will never have to leave him.

And just as nothing unclean or unholy was allowed into God’s temple on earth, so we can’t come into the presence of God in the life to come unless we’ve been washed and cleansed by the blood of a sacrifice. Indeed, we can’t come into the presence of God in the life to come unless we’ve been washed and cleansed by the blood of the perfect sacrifice, which the Lord Jesus has provided for us when he died on the cross to pay for our sins and when he shed his blood to cleanse us. Whoever does not believe in him and his sacrifice on our behalf will be kept out of God’s presence in the life to come, but whoever believes in him as the only Saviour of the world will be brought into God’s presence, because whoever believes in him has been cleansed from all that is not right and made holy in God’s sight.

And Ezekiel was familiar with the idea that Levites and priests would serve the Lord in his temple on earth. But in the life to come, all of God’s people will serve him, because we’ll be made perfectly holy in his presence and we’ll serve him by worshipping him and by doing his will for ever and for ever.

And so, the Lord uses images and ideas familiar to Ezekiel to explain to him and to us what eternal life in his presence will be like. And today we come to chapters 45 and 46 where the Lord continues to use images and ideas familiar to Ezekiel to explain eternal life. In these chapters the Lord speaks to Ezekiel about the land and about princes and about offerings and about holy days of worship to reinforce the idea that God will dwell in the midst of his people as their king and his people will be holy.

45:1–8a

Let’s turn to verses 1 to 8 of chapter 45 which are about the allotment of land. The idea of allotting land was familiar to Ezekiel, because this is what the Israelites did whenever they entered the Promised Land in the days of Joshua. In those days, the land was allocated by lot and each tribe — apart form the tribe of Levi — received a portion of the whole land as their inheritance from the Lord, which they were to pass down to each new generation.

So, Ezekiel was familiar with the idea. But in this vision, the land is allotted differently than before. It’s allotted differently, because look what we read in verse 1: when the land is allotted, the Lord is to receive a portion of it as a sacred district. In the days of Joshua, none of the land was reserved for God. Now, in one sense, it all belonged to the Lord, because he made it. But in the days of Joshua, the Lord didn’t keep any of the land for himself and he gave all of it to his people. The only part of it that was for the Lord was where the tabernacle was pitched and the temple was built. But now, a portion of the land was to be set aside for the Lord as a sacred portion.

And the Lord gives the measurements of his portion: 25,000 by 10,000. The NIV has 20,000 for the second number, but it should probably be 10,000. And while the NIV refers to cubits, the unit of measurement isn’t in the Hebrew text. And so, we don’t really know how much land the Lord reserved for himself. Some commentators think it was about 8 miles wide, whereas others think it was more like 50 miles wide. Whatever its size, the whole area was holy: set apart for the Lord.

And the Lord’s sanctuary — that’s the temple complex which we read about in chapters 40 to 42 — was to be located in this sacred area. And around the sanctuary there was to be some open ground which was to act like a buffer around the sanctuary. And then the rest of the sacred area was for the priests. They were allowed to build their houses on it and to live there. And then, according to verse 5, the same amount of land was to be set apart for the Levites.

So, we’re to imagine a strip of land which is for the Lord and his priests; and alongside it there’s another strip of land which is for the Levites. And then, according to verse 6, there was to be a third strip of land for the city with land around it. So, in the past, when Solomon built a temple for the Lord, the temple was built within the city. But in this vision, the temple and city are separate.

And we’re to imagine that these three strips of land are parallel to one another and all three areas combined together form a square. So, all of them are 25,000 wide and all three combined are 25,000 long: the strip for the Lord is 10,000; the strip for the Levites is 10,000; and the strip for the city is 5,000. So, they form a square. And, according to verse 8, on either side of the square, land is to allocated for the prince.

One of the commentators makes the point that these instructions result in a temple-oriented geography. That is to say, the temple is at the centre of this arrangement and the priests and the Levites and the people in the city and the prince all live around the temple. And since the temple is the Lord’s dwelling place, then the Lord is saying once again that he will dwell in the midst of his people and everything else in the life to come will be orientated around him. He will be the focus of our attention in the life to come and all of us will live with the sense that God is with us. The knowledge of God will fill us and his glory will shine around us and we’ll live in the light of the Lord and we’ll behold him as he is and worship him. Eternal life is life lived in the presence of God.

45:8b+9

In verse 8, the Lord refers to the prince. And he goes on immediately to refer to princes in the plural. And he says about them that his princes will no longer oppress his people, but they will allow the house of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes. We’ll hear more about the allocation of land to the tribes of Israel in chapter 47, but when he refers here to princes, we’re to think of the kings who ruled over the kingdoms of Judah and Israel in the past. The Lord refers to them as princes, and not kings, because he’s the real King. He’s the King of his people and the earthly kings like David and Solomon and so on were under him and they ruled the people on his behalf. And those earthly kings often oppressed the people. In fact, when the people of Israel first asked for a king, Samuel the prophet warned them that a king will only take and take and take from them. And the classic case is Ahab and his wife Jezebel who took Naboth’s life and then they took his vineyard. That’s the kind of thing the kings of Israel did in the past. And it was wrong. And so, the Lord says in verse 9 that they have gone far enough and they must give up their violence and oppression and they must do what is right and just instead. And they’re not to dispossess the Lord’s people any longer.

So, the kings of Judah and Israel oppressed the people in the past. And they took their property. And it was wrong. But it will not happen in the life to come. In other words, our place in the Promised Land of eternal life is secure. No one will take it from us. No one will drive us away from the Lord and force us out of the Promised Land to come. We won’t be dispossessed, but we’ll be able to live in the presence of the Lord for ever.

45:9–25

And in verse 9 the Lord turns from talking about the land to talking about the offerings which the prince and the people are to bring to him. And he begins by telling the princes to use accurate weights and measurements so that they can bring before the Lord the right offerings. And having settled that in verses 9 to 12, he refers in verses 13 to 17 to what the prince is to provide so that the people can bring grain offerings and burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.

In verses 18 to 25 of chapter 45, he refers to what they’re to do at the annual festivals. So, he tells them in verse 18 what to do on the first day of the first month of the year. Then in verse 21 he tells them what to do on the fourteenth day of the first month. This is when they’re to observe the Passover. In verse 25 he refers to another festival on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

And what is significant about these verses is the emphasis there is on purification. So, the offerings in verse 15 are to make atonement for the people. And atonement offerings are about cleansing the people from the guilt of their sins. And the offerings in verse 17 are also for making atonement for the people. The offerings are to cleanse the people from the stain of their sin. And according to verse 20, they’re to bring offerings to the Lord on the first festival of the year in order to make atonement for the temple. So, the temple needs to be cleansed because of the sins of the people.

God is holy. He is without sin. And if he’s going to dwell among his people, then his people must be washed and cleansed; and the temple in which he dwells must also be washed and cleansed. Just as you and I don’t like to live in a dirty or untidy house, and we clean it regularly, so the Lord cannot live in a house that has been defiled by the sins of his people. Nor can he dwell among a people who have defiled themselves by their sins. And so, his house and his people need to be made clean. And they are made clean by the offering up of a sacrifice of atonement.

46:1–13

In verse 1 of chapter 46 he refers to the weekly Sabbath and the monthly New Moon festivals. On the six days leading up to the Sabbath, the gate of the inner court of the temple must remain shut. But then, on the Sabbath Day, and on the day of the New Moon each month, the gate should be opened. And the prince can enter the temple complex and go through the gateway — which was like a corridor through the wall — and stand at the gatepost at the entrance to the inner court. And the Holy Place — God’s throne room — is in the inner court.

So, the prince can’t go into the inner court. Only the priests are allowed to do that. But the prince can stand at the gatepost, where he can see what’s happening. Meanwhile the people can only stand at the other end of the gateway in the outer court. That’s as close as they can get. If they were coming to Immanuel for worship, the prince could come to the inner doors, whereas the people have to remain at the outer doors. And only the priests can come into the meeting house.

And then the Lord tells them what offerings to bring to him for every Sabbath and for every New Moon festival. That’s in verses 4 to 8. According to verses 9 and 10, when the people gather in the temple for worship, those who came in through the north gate must go out through the south gate; and those who came in through the south gate must go out through the north gate. No one is to return to the gate by which they entered. So, they’re not allowed to turn around, but they must keep going straight ahead and out the opposite way. Perhaps this is a form of crowd control.

And the prince is to be among them: going in when they go in and going out when they go out. The prince is in some ways just like the people: going up to the temple at the same time as the people. But then, on the other hand, he also enjoys some privileges. As we’ve seen, he’s allowed to stand at the gatepost next to the inner court so he can see the Holy Place, which is God’s throne room. And then, according to verse 12, when he wants to present a freewill offering to the Lord, the gate facing east can be opened for him. So, normally that gate is shut and it’s only opened on the Sabbath Day. But the prince has the privilege of being allowed to use that door on other occasions.

Up until this point, we’ve read about the annual festivals and the weekly Sabbath and the monthly New Moon festival. In verse 13 we hear about the daily offerings which the people are to bring. And the daily offerings are a burnt offering and a grain offering with oil.

46:14–18

And having giving instructions about worshipping the Lord in the temple, the Lord turns in verses 14 to 18 of chapter 46 to talk about the prince and his property. So, if the prince gives away some of his land to his sons, then it will belong to their descendants also. So, they can pass it on to their children. That’s because the land is being kept within the same family. But if the prince gives away some of his land to one of his servants, the servant can only keep it for a time. When the year of freedom comes, or the year of jubilee, then the land must revert to the prince. The year of freedom, or the year of jubilee, took place every fifty years and all debts were cancelled and slaves were freed and land was returned. And when the year of freedom takes place, any land the king has given away must be returned to him. This meant the prince could not lose the land which the Lord had given to him. It was his possession for ever.

Furthermore the prince must not dispossess the people. That’s in verse 18. He mustn’t drive them off their property, because God has given it to them as their possession. And so, the prince must not take it away from them the way King Ahab took Naboth’s land. And when the prince gives an inheritance to his own sons, he must give it to them out of his own property.

46:19–24

Finally, Ezekiel resumes the tour of the temple. We thought the tour was over and he’d seen everything that needed to be seen. But no, there’s still more for him to see. And so, his tour-guide takes him to the sacred rooms belonging to the priests. This is where they cook the offerings. So, when the people brought offerings to the Lord, the priests were allowed to keep part of it for themselves. And they ate it in the presence of the Lord. And then Ezekiel was shown some kitchens where those who minister at the temple — in order words, the Levites — will cook the sacrifices of the people. Some of the meat of a sacrifice was eaten by the priests and some of it was eaten by the people themselves. And so, they sat down in the presence of the Lord and enjoyed a meal together.

Application 1

This vision about a new temple is really a vision about eternal life in the presence of God. In that case, what do these two chapters tell us about eternal life in the presence of God? Let me make three brief points.

Firstly, let’s think again about the offerings and festivals. That’s how the people worshipped God in those days. From the book of Leviticus, we learn that they brought offerings to him in the temple every day and every Sabbath and for every new Moon festival each month and for the annual festivals like the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles and so on. And Ezekiel, being a priest as well as a prophet, would have been familiar with these things. And in the vision he received of the new temple, the people are to bring the same sacrifices to the Lord. Some of the details in these chapters are different from what we read Leviticus. But mostly they’re the same.

Does this mean we’ll bring animal sacrifices to the Lord in the new heavens and earth? Does this mean we’ll celebrate the Sabbath Day and the Passover and so on in eternity? The answer is a clear no, because all of the Old Testament sacrifices and festivals were to make do until the Son of God came into the world as one of us to offer himself on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sins. All of the Old Testament sacrifices and festivals were to make do and to fill in until he came into the world. And now that he has offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for sins, no further sacrifice is required from us. We don’t need to observe all the Old Testament rules about sacrifices and festivals now that Christ has come and reconciled us to God by the sacrifice of himself on the cross.

So, what’s the point of all these sacrifices in the vision? It’s to remind us once again that God is holy and that eternal life in his presence is only for those who are holy like him. Whatever is unholy and unclean must be kept out, because God is holy, holy, holy. He is set apart from all that is evil and we cannot hope to live with him in the new heavens and earth unless we too are holy like him.

But none of us is holy, because every day we sin against him in thought and word and deed. And the reason we sin against the Lord in thought and word and deed is because we are unholy by nature. We are sinners by birth. Our hearts are unclean and are filled with all kinds of unholy and unclean thoughts and desires and inclinations which affect what we do and say.

None of us by ourselves is holy. And therefore we don’t belong in the presence of a holy God. Instead of coming into his presence, we should be driven out of his presence to be condemned and punished for ever for all the unholy and sinful things we have done.

But God has provided a way for us into his presence. And the sacrifices he refers to here point to it: they point to the once-for-all sacrifice of our Saviour, who shed his blood to cleanse us. He took the blame for us when he died on the cross and he cleanses us from the stain of our sin so that we become holy and acceptable to God. And then Christ works in us by his Spirit to make us more and more holy in this life. He enables us to walk in the ways of God more and more and to do his will here on earth. And when we come into his presence in eternity, he will finish his work to renew us and he’ll make us perfectly holy so that for ever and for ever we’ll be devoted to doing God’s will with all of our being.

Ezekiel didn’t know about the Lord’s self-sacrifice on the cross, because it hadn’t happened when Ezekiel wrote these things. And so, the Lord showed him the next best thing: he showed him how God’s people in eternity will be cleansed by the offering up of animal sacrifices to God. But now that Christ has come, we know that we are cleansed, not by the blood of animal sacrifices, but by the blood of Christ our Saviour. And he’s the one we’re to rely on for eternal life in the presence of a holy God.

Application 2

Let’s now think about the prince. I’ve said before that when the Lord refers to the princes in this passage, he’s thinking of the Old Testament kings. And he calls them princes because they were subject to him. They were under his authority. He’s the real king and they were his princes.

But in the Old Testament, the kings were really, really important. You can tell they were really, really important because we read all about them in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. That’s how important they were: six books were written about them. And many of the psalms were written by King David. And King Solomon wrote many of the Proverbs and he may have written the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. And the prophets often wrote about and preached about what the kings were doing. They were really, really important.

But now in this vision, they’re not so important. Yes, the door of the temple will be opened for them. And they can stand in a special spot. And they’re to supply the people with offerings for the Lord. So, they’re important, but they’re not as important as they once were. And according to 46:10, they’re to be among the people. In a way, they’re just like everyone else.

So, why is the prince less important? It’s because in the new heavens and earth, there’s only one King and it’s God. His throne room is in the temple and the temple is at the centre of life in the new heavens and earth and everything else is arranged around him. Our Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is our King and he will rule over us and he will rule over the whole of the new creation in the life to come. He is God and there is no other. He is the King and there is no other. He is our King and we’ll be devoted to him and to him alone in the life to come. And we’re to devote ourselves to him in this life too. Yes, we’re to obey every earthly authority. But we’re to devote ourselves to doing the will of God, because he is the one who rules over us and everything else.

Application 3

But then the final point to make is that we will have fellowship with God in the new heavens and earth. That’s the point of the last part of the passage, where Ezekiel was shown the kitchens where the priests prepared their food and where the Levites prepared food for the people.

In Old Testament times, the people would eat in the presence of the Lord and celebrate his kindness to them. In the present, Christians gather around the Lord’s Table and we eat bread and we drink wine in the presence of the Lord and we give thanks to him for our salvation. And we look forward with hope to the time when we come into the presence of God to eat from the Tree of Life and to drink the water of life and where God will fill us with joy in his presence and eternal pleasures at his right hand and we’ll live with him for ever and for ever and we’ll behold his glory. And we’ll rejoice and we’ll be glad and we’ll never have to leave.

Conclusion

Ezekiel received this vision of a new temple to tell him about eternal life in the presence of God. Only those who have been cleansed by the blood of Christ can enter it. And God is at the centre of eternal life. And all of God’s people will enjoy fellowship with him. And while we go on living in this world, we should daily confess our sins to the Lord and seek his help to become more holy. And while we go on living in this world, we should put God at the centre of our lives. Put him, and not ourselves, at the centre. And while we go on living in this world, we should enjoy fellowship with him by joining with his people each Lord’s Day to worship and adore him.