Ezekiel 43:21, commentary and pictures

The verse directs that the bullock of the sin offering be burned in the appointed place outside the sanctuary, as part of the seven days of purging, purifying and consecrating the altar, after which regular burnt offerings and daily service begin on the eighth day and continue onward.
It was offered as a conditional promise in the Babylonian captivity that if Israel would be ashamed of iniquities, put sins away and keep God's ordinances, God would establish the building and manifest His glory, but they did not repent and yield fully, so the sanctuary as described was never built and its glory was never fulfilled for them then.
The bull and goat sin offerings were ceremonial types and shadows pointing forward to Christ's offering, and they were fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross as the once-for-all sacrifice, so to renew them now would deny its finality and return from fulfillment to shadow.
The temple system with its animal sacrifices belongs to the time of literal Israel and the old covenant and is not to be literally built in the Christian dispensation, but its great general promises will be grandly realized for the true Israel of God through Christ at the second coming and in the new heaven and new earth, while those who held otherwise taught that the closing chapters predict the greater temple rebuilt by Herod as a monument of his repentance.
The eighth day is the eighth of the series of dedication days and not a day of the week, and the passage is ceremonial and gives no warrant for changing the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day.

Wording and Immediate Context

The bullock of the sin offering was to be taken and burned in the appointed or designated place outside the sanctuary. That burning belonged to the sanctuary offerings and Levitical sacrificial order of the first covenant, which were ceremonial types and shadows pointing forward to Christ's once-for-all offering, so that to revive or renew them after his atonement in fact would deny its finality, make it of none effect, and return from fulfillment to shadow. This temple sacrifice belonged to a prophecy whose fulfillment depended on ancient Israel's faith and obedience, and because Israel did not meet those conditions it will not be fulfilled as originally offered nor restored in any future age.

The direction stands within the ordinances of the altar for the day when it is made, to offer burnt offerings upon it and sprinkle blood upon it, for making, dedicating, purging, purifying, and consecrating it through seven days of sanctification. During those seven days of purging and dedication the priests consecrate themselves and purify the altar, and when those days are expired, upon the eighth day and so forward the priests make burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar and God accepts the people, with the usual daily offerings continuing every day thereafter. The eighth day is the eighth day of that series of purging days marking the start of regular service onward, like the days that follow, not a day of the week and not identified with a particular day of the week. The surrounding instructions concern the days of that ceremony and the restored Jewish temple service with its priests and Levites and offerings of bullocks and rams, not weekly worship or the gospel dispensation, and they give no warrant for changing the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day and have absolutely nothing to do with the Sabbath.

The word sanctuary names the pattern of another sanctuary shown to Ezekiel in captivity to show to the house of Israel, fourteen years after the sanctuary had been destroyed. Like the tabernacle and the temple of Solomon, that building consisted of two holy places, and its most holy place was the same size as that in Solomon's temple. That building belongs to the Mosaic dispensation and was offered to the house of Israel then in captivity on condition that they should be ashamed of their iniquities and put them away, with the promise that if they did this God would cause this building to be established and would cause the twelve tribes to return.

The verse sits in the detailed description in Ezekiel 40-48 of a sanctuary and land, a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem, with a new and larger city and temple than Israel had yet known, division of the land, and the wonderful glory and presence of God to be manifest in connection with it. That presence is declared by the name Jehovah is there, to heal all barren land, all salt marshes, and all impure waters and to give life to all, and the temple is described as grand and magnificent and ultimately the house of prayer for all nations. The promises and figures in those chapters would have been fulfilled literally if Israel had met His conditions and returned to God with all their hearts, restoring glory to Palestine and Israel with ordered worship, but the children of Israel refused to be ashamed of their iniquities and would not yield all to God so He could come in and dwell among them. Hence it is not a sanctuary yet to be built and not a sanctuary that ever was built as described, and what was built at the restoration from Babylon under Ezra and Zerubbabel was inferior and fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, because God would not build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor.

Conditional Offer to Israel

The sanctuary and city with restoration to the land, a temple rebuilt more glorious than before, defeat of northern enemies, cleansing and redivision of the land among the twelve tribes, and ordered worship were offered as a conditional promise during the past Mosaic dispensation and Babylonian captivity. If Israel would be ashamed of iniquities and confounded for their ways, be cleansed, put sins away, return wholeheartedly, and keep God's ordinances, God would establish the building, manifest His glory, and bring the tribes back. The vision was meant to make the people ashamed of their sins, but the sanctuary and its bullock sin offerings were offered conditionally and the conditions were not met. Because they were unwilling, the chapters also stand as prophecy of greater spiritual things God will do for His people through Christ.

The pattern of another sanctuary with two holy places, whose most holy place was the same size as Solomon's, was shown to Ezekiel in captivity fourteen years after the sanctuary had been destroyed. The conditional temple prophecy in Ezekiel 40-44 is dated to 574 B.C. In Ezekiel 43:10-11 the people are called to recognize their sins and attend to the temple pattern.

Israel was not ashamed and did not repent or yield fully to God, did not meet the requirement of being cleansed from sins and confounded for their ways, and did not respond to the calls to leave Babylon. So the sanctuary as described with all its blessed fullness was never built, and its full blessedness, glory, and promises were never fulfilled for them then, and the glory of God did not rest upon His children. The promised restoration would have been fulfilled then if Israel had yielded to God, but Israel's failure meant the promises concerning the true Israel would be fulfilled in a future way rather than in every detail described.

What was built at the restoration was only a feeble shadow falling far short of the pattern, dwindling to the smaller sanctuary erected by Zerubbabel and Ezra. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, and because the conditions were not met the promises were not realized in their fullness. That temple never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, and God would not build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor. Had God's people been faithful and been brought back upon the mountains of Israel, their northern enemies would have been destroyed by plagues, they would have built that marvelous sanctuary, Israel would have been the joy of the whole earth, and the overpowering presence of God would have dwelt among them in glory.

Prophetic Future Fulfillment

The bullock burned outside the sanctuary belongs to the Levitical sacrificial order of the temple shown in Ezekiel 40-46, which was a conditional promise for the time of literal, fleshly Israel under the old covenant and the Mosaic dispensation, and it is neither fulfilled in nor to be literally built in the Christian dispensation or in any future age. That order with its Levite priests cannot be revived after Christ's atonement has been made in fact and His heavenly ministry has closed, for when Christ was crucified and ascended the law of the priesthood was changed so that Levi is no longer priest and Christ became great High Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec with an unchangeable priesthood that does not pass from one to another. His priesthood lasts as long as probation lasts and is contemporary with the everlasting gospel, for Christ is the great High Priest and the gospel is His gospel, and though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed. Those beast sin-offerings were sacrifices of the first covenant pointing to Christ, and His once-for-all offering perfects the sanctified so that another sin offering is unnecessary, while to renew or offer sacrifices now would annul His offering, make it of none effect, and return from fulfillment to shadow. The very provision for animal sacrifices in the vision shows that God would not ordain that temple again, since Israel was not ashamed of iniquities but went on in apostasy, and what was built at the restoration was only a feeble shadow falling far short of the pattern in the sanctuary built by Zerubbabel and Ezra.

Where the vision failed for old earthly Jerusalem it remains faintly typical not in detail but in great general promises, and will be grandly realized for the true Israel of God through Christ at the second coming and in the new heaven and new earth and the New Jerusalem. The restoration to the land, the temple rebuilt more glorious than before, the slaying of Gog and Magog, the cleansing of the land and its redivision among the twelve tribes were conditioned on Israel being ashamed of iniquities, cleansed, confounded for their ways, putting sins away and yielding wholeheartedly to God, but they did not repent or meet the standard and forfeited its privileges, so the sanctuary with all its blessed fullness was never built and the glory of God did not rest upon His children. Had God's people been faithful and been brought back upon the mountains of Israel, their enemies from the north would have been destroyed by plagues, they would have built that marvelous sanctuary, and the overpowering presence of God would have dwelt among them in glory. The promises concerning the true Israel will therefore be fulfilled in a future way rather than in every local detail described by Ezekiel, without the conditions of the prophet's day such as human burning of weapons or cleansing of the land, for the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth, and when He shall punish forever those who would destroy His people the city not built because Israel did not leave Babylon will instead be prepared in heaven and descend to earth. The vision beginning in Ezekiel 40 covers the same period and represents the same purposes of God toward Jerusalem as Zechariah 2, and the two are counterparts to be studied together.

By a differing teaching held by fewer, the closing chapters including chapter 43 predict the building of a greater temple, which is the temple rebuilt by Herod. That temple was built as a monument of his repentance for murdering the high priest Aristobulus, members of his own family, his wife Mariamme, and almost the entire Sanhedrin. The prophecy does not reveal the process by which the work was to be done, and the circumstances attending the work are secondary to the facts of the building itself.

Sacrifice and Christ's Ministry

The bullock to be burned at the appointed place outside the sanctuary belongs with the bull and goat sacrifices and sin offerings of the Levitical system, which were symbols of faith and ceremonial types and shadows pointing forward to Christ's offering. Those instructions for purging the altar prophetically present evangelical truths, and the service described was not intended for a time after His death. The vision of a city and its offerings presents sacrifices of the first covenant pointing to Christ, not sacrifices to be resumed in a future age.

Those sacrifices were fulfilled when Jesus Christ died on the cross, for His once-for-all offering perfects the sanctified while animal blood cannot take away sins. To renew or offer sacrifices now would deny the finality of Christ's offering, make it of none effect and make void the sacrifice He offered, returning from its fulfillment to its symbolic shadow. That Levitical sacrificial order cannot be revived after Christ's atonement has been made in fact and His heavenly ministry has closed, and it is not a prediction of sacrifices to be restored in a future age. The temple was provisional and conditional upon Israel being ashamed of their iniquities, being cleansed from sins and confounded for their ways, but Israel was not ashamed and went on in apostasy, so the temple with all its blessed fullness was never built and its wonderful promises were only feebly met in the sanctuary built by Zerubbabel and Ezra as a shadow of it. Those sacrifices belong to the old covenant time of literal, fleshly Israel and cannot be set up literally before Christ comes. Had God's people been faithful and been brought back upon the mountains of Israel, their enemies from the north would have been destroyed by plagues, they would have built that marvelous sanctuary, and the presence of God would have dwelt among them in overpowering glory.

The beast sin-offerings cannot exist alongside this dispensation, in which Levi is no longer priest and Christ is great High Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec with an unchangeable priesthood that does not pass from one to another, pleading His own precious blood. That priesthood of Christ lasts as long as probation lasts and is contemporary with the everlasting gospel, for Christ is the great High Priest and the gospel is His gospel, and though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed. They would be against the gospel now, and God could not approve them alongside the glory that excelleth. If faithfully performed in its offered time, that conditional temple system would have brought God's blessing with His glory manifested as a sign of approval and His life-giving power present to heal. The offerings of bullocks and rams and the related instructions for the priests and Levites, with the seven-day purification and dedication of the altar followed on the eighth day by return to regular daily offerings, place these directions in the setting of the restored Jewish temple service, not the gospel dispensation, and that temple is never to be literally built in any period after the opening of the Christian dispensation.

The very provision for sacrifices in the vision shows that God would not ordain that temple again. The sanctuary described was never built and will never be built, though it would have been built if the Jews had been ashamed and repented.

Eighth Day and Sabbath

The bullock of the sin offering was to be burned in the appointed place outside the sanctuary as part of purging, purifying, dedicating and consecrating the altar before regular worship resumed. The ordinances were for the day when the altar is made, to offer burnt offerings upon it and to sprinkle blood upon it, and for seven days the altar is purged and purified while the priests consecrate themselves. When those days of sanctification are expired, upon the eighth day and so forward the priests make the regular burnt offerings and peace offerings described in the law and God accepts the people, continuing daily every day thereafter. That eighth day is the eighth day of that series of purging and dedication days, marking the start of the usual daily service and like the days that follow, not the eighth day of the week nor a particular weekday or Sabbath.

The instructions belong to the ceremony of dedication and to the restored Jewish temple service, not to weekly worship or to the gospel dispensation. They are ceremonial types and shadows prophetically presenting evangelical truths, and they give no warrant for changing the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day. The passage does not prophesy such a change and has absolutely nothing to do with the Sabbath.