Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.
The verse shows the eastern gate of the outward sanctuary shut in the temple, city and sanctuary vision given fourteen years after the earlier sanctuary was destroyed. It was offered to captive Israel in Babylon with promise of return from captivity, restoration to the land, and a rebuilt temple and city with blessing to other nations, on condition that they would be ashamed of iniquities, repent, put away sins and follow the pattern shown. Israel persisted in apostasy and did not meet the conditions, so the promised city and sanctuary were never built as offered and what was realized at the return was only a weak and partial fulfillment in the temple built by Zerubbabel that fell far short of the pattern and glory. The vision will not be fulfilled literally in the future, in the thousand-year reign, or in a future earthly Jerusalem with Levitical priesthood and bulls and goats and thousands of sheep and oxen renewed, for that would build again what was destroyed and make Christ's offering once for all of none effect. Instead it stands as a spiritual prophecy and faint type of greater things God will do through Christ at the second coming and in the new heaven and new earth for His true Israel, with the earth made new, the New Jerusalem as capital, and absolute peace.
Gate and Vision Setting
Ezekiel 44:1 belongs to the sanctuary, city and temple vision recorded in Ezekiel 40-48, shown as the pattern of another city and sanctuary to be shown to the house of Israel. It was given fourteen years after the earlier sanctuary had been destroyed, in B.C. 574 after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588. Within that vision it shows the eastern gate of the outward sanctuary, and that gate was shut.
The shut east gate of the outward sanctuary is the certain gate of entrance belonging to the prince in the temple vision. The prince had his own entrance and certain services to go through, standing before Israel until the Prince, the Messiah, comes. This belongs to the time before Messiah came, when sacrifices and oblations and the priesthood were still to continue as of old.
The vision portrays a glorious temple as the center of a restored Jerusalem, teaching that Jehovah is there. The presence of God in that temple would heal all barren land, all salt marshes, deserts and all impure waters, and would give life to all. It describes the peaceful condition of the Messiah's kingdom, which would have been established gradually on this present earth, with the wild beasts made mild under righteousness and the smallest infant made safe at the hole of the adder. The vision includes allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews, with the division of the land, and describes in detail a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem after the exile, ultimately to become a house of prayer for all nations.
The passage itself does not explain the shut eastern gate. The closing chapters of the prophecy seem to predict the building of a greater temple, yet the prophecy does not reveal the process by which that work would be done.
Conditional Offer to Israel
The vision of Ezekiel 40-48 was shown to captive Israel in Babylon in B.C. 574, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588. It belonged to the promises of Ezekiel 36-48 for restoration from captivity at the end of the seventy years in Babylon, promising return to the land, a rebuilt temple and city, and blessing to other nations. It showed the city as it might have been built if Israel had answered the calls to leave Babylon, and its establishment with Israel's return was promised on that answering. These promises began to be fulfilled when the Jews returned from Babylon, but their full realization waited on the people.
The offer was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities, repenting, putting away sins, yielding fully to God, returning wholeheartedly from captivity, living up to their calling, and following the pattern shown. Thorough repentance and reform were required, and without meeting those conditions the promise was not owed. If they had met the conditions it would have been fulfilled literally in fullest detail, in the Mosaic and past dispensation, as a city and sanctuary and land God would have given Israel. The detailed vision of sanctuary, city, land, temple and ceremonies would then have been literally built and literally fulfilled.
Israel according to the flesh did not yield in shame and full repentance, but persisted in apostasy and departure from God's ordinances, was not ashamed, did not put away iniquities, and was unwilling. Therefore the promised city and sanctuary were never built, the offered glory was never inherited, the promises were forfeited in detail, and the literal details of these chapters will never be fulfilled. The sanctuary will never be built as offered, the glorious temple of the vision was not built and never will be built, and the prophecy was not accomplished under the first covenant. This did not mean that God had changed His purpose, for He will fulfill His promises to His people in Christ in the new heaven and new earth, whose capital is the New Jerusalem, to the true Israel, the faithful, not according to those old details but according to later revelations in the fullest measure of the immortal inheritance.
What was realized at the return was only a weak, partial and limited fulfillment, only a shadow of its greatness, a mere shadow of that temple. Because the people persisted in apostasy the sanctuary and its promises were only weakly realized in the temple built by Zerubbabel, and because Israel refused to heed the prophecy only that shadow was built. That temple built at the restoration fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and glory, was smaller and less glorious than the one described, and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom the temple-keepers rejected. Its provision for sacrifices was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died on the cross, and it would have been fulfilled more fully after the return if Israel had turned wholeheartedly from sin to God.
No Literal Future Fulfillment
Ezekiel 44:1 belongs to a vision that is not a description of the New Jerusalem of Revelation and not a promise of restoration of the Jewish people and the Levitical system, for points of similarity do not prove identity with John's vision, and points of dissimilarity forbid identity.
It cannot belong to the immortal state, because its prince is a poor frail mortal with sons and servants and sin offerings and other offerings to make for himself, while only Jesus shall be King over Israel then. It cannot belong there either because it includes marriages, divorces, disease and death with oppression and exaction, while Christ's reign has peace for officers and righteousness for exactors and no oppression. It cannot belong to the gospel dispensation, because it requires literal circumcision, permission of divorce, distinction between clean and unclean meats, burnt offerings and sin offerings of bulls and goats, and the Levitical priesthood, all abolished at the first advent and ceased or superseded at Christ's cross by the priesthood of Melchisedec.
It will not be literally fulfilled in the future, in the thousand-year reign, or in a future earthly Jerusalem with first-covenant ordinances restored. No such city or sanctuary stands today, and because Israel did not meet the conditions of faith, obedience and repentance on which the building of the temple with its attendant sacrifices was offered, it will never now be fulfilled literally in fullest detail, though God's purpose to redeem the true Israel and give the earth made new remains the same. Renewing its thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices would make Christ's offering once for all of none effect, building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow, since the past offerings were for the time then present shadowing forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ, and offering sacrifices now would annul Christ's sacrifice. Rebuilding that city and resuming its first-covenant ordinances that pointed to Christ as the great sin-offering would replace the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, put an earthly sin-cursed city in place of the city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God, and make the reign of Christ less glorious than the present dispensation. Its sacrificial system shows that this was not a temple God intended to ordain again, for restoring those sacrifices would demand a second Messiah after the thousand years to expiate sin, contrary to Christ obtaining a more excellent ministry as Mediator of a better covenant, taking away the first to establish the second, and by one offering of his body once for all perfecting forever them that are sanctified and then sitting at the right hand of God until all his enemies are made his footstool.
Instead the temple vision stands as a spiritual prophecy of greater things God will do for his people through Christ, a general and imperfect picture and a faint type of what God will do for his people at the second coming. Because literal Israel according to the flesh did not yield to God in shame and full repentance and put away sins, the promised sanctuary was never rebuilt and the prophecy was not fulfilled in detail, its fulfillment then being only partial and weak in the smaller and less glorious temple built by Zerubbabel; the promised glory will instead be fulfilled to the true Israel, the faithful, not according to those old details but according to later revelations, in the fullest measure of the immortal inheritance. God will fulfill his promises to his people in Christ in the new heaven and new earth, whose capital is the New Jerusalem, with the earth made new and absolute peace over all nature for the New City for God's true Israel. That greater fulfillment at Christ's second coming will not be under the local conditions of Ezekiel's time, with the earth's final cleansing not involving people burning weapons or cleansing the land by hand.
The verse shows the eastern gate of the outward sanctuary shut in the temple, city and sanctuary vision given fourteen years after the earlier sanctuary was destroyed. It was offered to captive Israel in Babylon with promise of return from captivity, restoration to the land, and a rebuilt temple and city with blessing to other nations, on condition that they would be ashamed of iniquities, repent, put away sins and follow the pattern shown. Israel persisted in apostasy and did not meet the conditions, so the promised city and sanctuary were never built as offered and what was realized at the return was only a weak and partial fulfillment in the temple built by Zerubbabel that fell far short of the pattern and glory. The vision will not be fulfilled literally in the future, in the thousand-year reign, or in a future earthly Jerusalem with Levitical priesthood and bulls and goats and thousands of sheep and oxen renewed, for that would build again what was destroyed and make Christ's offering once for all of none effect. Instead it stands as a spiritual prophecy and faint type of greater things God will do through Christ at the second coming and in the new heaven and new earth for His true Israel, with the earth made new, the New Jerusalem as capital, and absolute peace.
Gate and Vision Setting
Ezekiel 44:1 belongs to the sanctuary, city and temple vision recorded in Ezekiel 40-48, shown as the pattern of another city and sanctuary to be shown to the house of Israel. It was given fourteen years after the earlier sanctuary had been destroyed, in B.C. 574 after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588. Within that vision it shows the eastern gate of the outward sanctuary, and that gate was shut.
The shut east gate of the outward sanctuary is the certain gate of entrance belonging to the prince in the temple vision. The prince had his own entrance and certain services to go through, standing before Israel until the Prince, the Messiah, comes. This belongs to the time before Messiah came, when sacrifices and oblations and the priesthood were still to continue as of old.
The vision portrays a glorious temple as the center of a restored Jerusalem, teaching that Jehovah is there. The presence of God in that temple would heal all barren land, all salt marshes, deserts and all impure waters, and would give life to all. It describes the peaceful condition of the Messiah's kingdom, which would have been established gradually on this present earth, with the wild beasts made mild under righteousness and the smallest infant made safe at the hole of the adder. The vision includes allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews, with the division of the land, and describes in detail a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem after the exile, ultimately to become a house of prayer for all nations.
The passage itself does not explain the shut eastern gate. The closing chapters of the prophecy seem to predict the building of a greater temple, yet the prophecy does not reveal the process by which that work would be done.
Conditional Offer to Israel
The vision of Ezekiel 40-48 was shown to captive Israel in Babylon in B.C. 574, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588. It belonged to the promises of Ezekiel 36-48 for restoration from captivity at the end of the seventy years in Babylon, promising return to the land, a rebuilt temple and city, and blessing to other nations. It showed the city as it might have been built if Israel had answered the calls to leave Babylon, and its establishment with Israel's return was promised on that answering. These promises began to be fulfilled when the Jews returned from Babylon, but their full realization waited on the people.
The offer was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities, repenting, putting away sins, yielding fully to God, returning wholeheartedly from captivity, living up to their calling, and following the pattern shown. Thorough repentance and reform were required, and without meeting those conditions the promise was not owed. If they had met the conditions it would have been fulfilled literally in fullest detail, in the Mosaic and past dispensation, as a city and sanctuary and land God would have given Israel. The detailed vision of sanctuary, city, land, temple and ceremonies would then have been literally built and literally fulfilled.
Israel according to the flesh did not yield in shame and full repentance, but persisted in apostasy and departure from God's ordinances, was not ashamed, did not put away iniquities, and was unwilling. Therefore the promised city and sanctuary were never built, the offered glory was never inherited, the promises were forfeited in detail, and the literal details of these chapters will never be fulfilled. The sanctuary will never be built as offered, the glorious temple of the vision was not built and never will be built, and the prophecy was not accomplished under the first covenant. This did not mean that God had changed His purpose, for He will fulfill His promises to His people in Christ in the new heaven and new earth, whose capital is the New Jerusalem, to the true Israel, the faithful, not according to those old details but according to later revelations in the fullest measure of the immortal inheritance.
What was realized at the return was only a weak, partial and limited fulfillment, only a shadow of its greatness, a mere shadow of that temple. Because the people persisted in apostasy the sanctuary and its promises were only weakly realized in the temple built by Zerubbabel, and because Israel refused to heed the prophecy only that shadow was built. That temple built at the restoration fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and glory, was smaller and less glorious than the one described, and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom the temple-keepers rejected. Its provision for sacrifices was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died on the cross, and it would have been fulfilled more fully after the return if Israel had turned wholeheartedly from sin to God.
No Literal Future Fulfillment
Ezekiel 44:1 belongs to a vision that is not a description of the New Jerusalem of Revelation and not a promise of restoration of the Jewish people and the Levitical system, for points of similarity do not prove identity with John's vision, and points of dissimilarity forbid identity.
It cannot belong to the immortal state, because its prince is a poor frail mortal with sons and servants and sin offerings and other offerings to make for himself, while only Jesus shall be King over Israel then. It cannot belong there either because it includes marriages, divorces, disease and death with oppression and exaction, while Christ's reign has peace for officers and righteousness for exactors and no oppression. It cannot belong to the gospel dispensation, because it requires literal circumcision, permission of divorce, distinction between clean and unclean meats, burnt offerings and sin offerings of bulls and goats, and the Levitical priesthood, all abolished at the first advent and ceased or superseded at Christ's cross by the priesthood of Melchisedec.
It will not be literally fulfilled in the future, in the thousand-year reign, or in a future earthly Jerusalem with first-covenant ordinances restored. No such city or sanctuary stands today, and because Israel did not meet the conditions of faith, obedience and repentance on which the building of the temple with its attendant sacrifices was offered, it will never now be fulfilled literally in fullest detail, though God's purpose to redeem the true Israel and give the earth made new remains the same. Renewing its thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices would make Christ's offering once for all of none effect, building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow, since the past offerings were for the time then present shadowing forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ, and offering sacrifices now would annul Christ's sacrifice. Rebuilding that city and resuming its first-covenant ordinances that pointed to Christ as the great sin-offering would replace the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, put an earthly sin-cursed city in place of the city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God, and make the reign of Christ less glorious than the present dispensation. Its sacrificial system shows that this was not a temple God intended to ordain again, for restoring those sacrifices would demand a second Messiah after the thousand years to expiate sin, contrary to Christ obtaining a more excellent ministry as Mediator of a better covenant, taking away the first to establish the second, and by one offering of his body once for all perfecting forever them that are sanctified and then sitting at the right hand of God until all his enemies are made his footstool.
Instead the temple vision stands as a spiritual prophecy of greater things God will do for his people through Christ, a general and imperfect picture and a faint type of what God will do for his people at the second coming. Because literal Israel according to the flesh did not yield to God in shame and full repentance and put away sins, the promised sanctuary was never rebuilt and the prophecy was not fulfilled in detail, its fulfillment then being only partial and weak in the smaller and less glorious temple built by Zerubbabel; the promised glory will instead be fulfilled to the true Israel, the faithful, not according to those old details but according to later revelations, in the fullest measure of the immortal inheritance. God will fulfill his promises to his people in Christ in the new heaven and new earth, whose capital is the New Jerusalem, with the earth made new and absolute peace over all nature for the New City for God's true Israel. That greater fulfillment at Christ's second coming will not be under the local conditions of Ezekiel's time, with the earth's final cleansing not involving people burning weapons or cleansing the land by hand.