2695.-Ezekiel 40 to 48

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 13, 1909

2695.—Ezekiel 40 to 48.

Does Ezekiel 40 to 48 refer to the New Jerusalem and the services in the sanctuary, or does it refer to the service of the return of the Jews from captivity?

R. R. T.

Ezekiel 40 to 48 is conditional. If, when the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, they had yielded themselves wholly to God, there would have been rebuilt the sanctuary which Ezekiel laid before them. They failed to do this. According to Jer. 18:7-10, God's promises and blessings are conditional. Ezekiel was told to lay before the children of Israel this sanctuary, in order "that they may be ashamed" (chapter 43:10), "and if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known unto them the form of the house," etc.

There are other expressions in the same prophecy which imply the same conditions. God would have conquered for them all their enemies; Palestine and Jerusalem would have been at peace; the new sanctuary would have been builded, and God would have wrought wonderful things for His people. They would not allow Him to do this by their unbelief; and, therefore, they only obtained the much more inferior sanctuary described in Ezra.