Ezekiel 44:27, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the pattern sanctuary shown for a restored temple, requiring a mortal priest subject to defilement and death when he enters the inner court to minister to present an animal sin offering for himself.

The sanctuary and its order were offered to Israel on condition of repentance and wholehearted obedience, but Israel continued in apostasy so the house was never built as described and its time for literal fulfillment has passed.

It cannot belong to the future glorified age or to the gospel dispensation, where men neither marry nor die, circumcision and distinctions of clean and unclean are abolished, and animal offerings are not acceptable.

Those sacrifices were shadows pointing forward to Christ and were fulfilled by His one body offered once for all, so to renew them would build again what was destroyed and make His offering of none effect.

Wherein the prophecy failed for earthly Jerusalem, it will be grandly and more gloriously realized for the true Israel in the New City and the earth made new at Christ's second coming.

Sanctuary Vision Setting

The verse belongs to the remarkable pattern sanctuary shown in Ezekiel 40-48, expressly called a sanctuary, a building with two holy places and an inner court appointed for ministry. It was offered to Israel to come into possession of on condition of compliance on their part, on condition of being ashamed of iniquities and putting them away, and it was never actually built. It was appointed for fulfillment in the past dispensation, not in the present dispensation nor in the future immortal state.

The verse prescribes one of the Levitical sin offerings of that temple vision, commanding that in the day a priest goes into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary he shall offer his sin offering. The offering is an animal sin offering of bulls and goats, offered by the priest for himself upon entering to minister. This includes purification after defilement by attending a burial, when exposure to death requires the priest to offer for himself on re-entering the inner court.

The priests of this order are all literal, mortal Levites under the Levitical priesthood, still subject to sin, defilement and death rather than immortal beings in the world to come. They marry, including widows of priests, and they can die, unlike those immortalized at the second advent who neither marry nor die. Their need for purification and their exposure to death show the setting is not the age to come, where people no longer die but are equal unto the angels and can die no more.

The same order has literal circumcision in force, divorce permitted, clean and unclean meats distinguished, offerings of beasts, the Jubilee, and the Levitical priesthood in force. It includes princes with sons and servants who must stop exacting and oppressing the people. The vision was given in B.C. 574, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in B.C. 588 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, while Ezekiel was among the captives of Israel and twenty-five years into the captivity. It was shown as a proposed order of worship for a restored temple and a picture of the city and sanctuary as they would have been built if Israel had responded.

Conditional Promise Unfulfilled

The sanctuary with its city and land and blessings set forth in Ezekiel 36-48 was offered to Israel only on condition of compliance on their part. The condition was that they be ashamed of their iniquities and put them away, repenting and reforming and obeying and returning wholeheartedly from captivity. Under the rule that a promised blessing depends on obedience, possession of that remarkable sanctuary described in Ezekiel 40-48 was made contingent on such shame and putting away of sin. That offer was given in B.C. 574, fourteen years after Jerusalem and the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in B.C. 588 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, while Ezekiel was among the captives of Israel twenty-five years into the captivity. Because they were unwilling, its temple service stands in its spiritual meaning as a prophecy of greater things God would do for His people through Christ.

Israel did not repent but continued in apostasy and did not meet the conditions of shame and putting away iniquity. Therefore the glorious temple described by Ezekiel was never built with all its blessed fullness, and the city pictured as it would have been built if all Israel had responded was never built, not because God changed His mind but because Israel failed to do their part. What was erected at the restoration from Babylon under Zerubbabel and Ezra was an inferior house with only a shadow of its greatness, weakly realizing the sanctuary and its promises and falling far short of Ezekiel's pattern. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity after the three calls to leave Babylon, for Israel loved Babylon more than the Jerusalem they professed to love. God would not build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor, and would not come in and dwell among them in overpowering glory unless they would yield all to Him and be cleansed and made great.

The time for its literal fulfillment has passed, for it was appointed for fulfillment in the past Mosaic dispensation, not in the present dispensation nor in the future immortal state. With its temple arrangement and sacrifices of thousands of sheep and oxen and its commanded sin offering in the inner court, it never has been built and never will be built or literally fulfilled as described in any standing city or sanctuary. To renew those animal sacrifices now would annul Christ's once-for-all offering, building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow and making of none effect the offering made once for all by Jesus Christ. Those animal offerings belonged to the time then present as shadows pointing to the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ, and the vision therefore belongs to the old covenant time of literal fleshly Israel.

Not Future Immortal Age

The command for a priest entering the inner court to minister to offer his own sin offering proves the order does not belong to the future glorified age, for its priests are mortal Levites still subject to sin, defilement and death, who marry, including widows of priests, permit divorce, and can die and need purification after attending a burial, whereas in the age to come people neither marry nor are given in marriage nor die but are equal to angels. That mortal order stands with circumcision in force, distinction of clean and unclean meats, offerings of beasts, the Jubilee, the Levitical priesthood, and princes with sons and servants who must cease exacting and oppressing the people, while in the immortal state Jesus alone is King, Shepherd and Prince over Israel and peace and righteousness are officers. The setting therefore refers wholly to the past Mosaic dispensation, not to the present dispensation nor to the age to come, and the time for its literal fulfillment has passed.

The vision is not the New Jerusalem of Revelation nor the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. It does not mean animal sin offerings will be carried on during the thousand-year reign of Christ in a rebuilt earthly Jerusalem on the sin-cursed earth, for to restore that sin offering would be a return to the ordinances of the first covenant in a state less glorious than the present dispensation. Those offerings of the first covenant pointed to Christ the great sin offering, who by one body offered once for all as Mediator of a better covenant obtained a more excellent ministry, and after one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God expecting till His enemies are made His footstool, when He leaves His Father's throne to take His own throne as King of kings and Lord of lords; to do that work again would require a second Messiah to expiate transgression, because the law having a shadow of good things to come can never with yearly sacrifices make the comers perfect. Nor does it predict a restored sacrificial system in the future age or an immortal priesthood from all nations.

The same mortal order cannot belong to the gospel dispensation, where circumcision is abolished, divorce is done away, clean and unclean distinctions are not recognized, animal offerings are not acceptable to God, and the Levitical priesthood is superseded by the priesthood of Melchizedek. Its minute details and local conditions will never be fulfilled literally in the future, since the sanctuary vision of the final chapters describes what God would have done in restoring Israel after the Babylonian exile and the promises of Ezekiel 36-48 for the restoration at the end of the seventy years, which depended on ancient Israel's faith, obedience, shame for iniquities and full repentance under the rule of Jeremiah 18:7-10, conditions Israel according to the flesh did not meet. The vision is a type of God's future work for His people to be fulfilled to the true Israel not according to those details but according to later revelation, with future glory and fullness of immortal inheritance coming to the faithful in fullest measure, under far greater conditions with much former detail eliminated, leaving for the new earth state absolute joy and peace and harmony among all creatures, lengthened life, and the manifest presence of God constantly seen among a true-hearted people where nothing hurts or destroys in all His holy mountain. Because Israel did not meet those conditions, this temple arrangement and its prescribed sacrifices will never be fulfilled as described.

One reading identifies the greater temple of the closing chapters with the temple Herod restored, without explaining how its construction would take place.

Sacrifices Ended in Christ

The thousands of sheep and oxen with their sin offerings in this vision were symbols and shadows pointing forward to Christ, fulfilled by His one body offered once for all as Mediator of a better covenant. Those animal offerings ceased as acceptable offerings after His death, and His real atonement in the heavenly sanctuary closes before His coming. The law having a shadow of good things to come could never with yearly sacrifices make the comers perfect, but Christ after one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God expecting till His enemies are made His footstool, when He leaves His Father's throne to take His own throne as King of kings and Lord of lords.

To renew those animal sacrifices now or in the future would make Christ's once-for-all offering of none effect, building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow. Offering sacrifices now would annul His offering and make void His sacrifice. Doing that work again would require a second Messiah at the end of the thousand years to expiate transgression. A type cannot follow its fulfillment, and repentance and confession precede remission, so its typical atonements cannot be revived after the real atonement.

The prince in the vision who offers a sin offering does not point to Christ.

Greater Spiritual Fulfillment

Had Israel yielded to God and been cleansed and made great, the sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 would have been built and its promises literally fulfilled. The presence of God would have dwelt among a true-hearted people in overpowering glory, with His manifest presence constantly seen among them. That presence at the center of a restored Jerusalem would have healed all barren land, all salt marshes, and all impure waters and given life to all. The restoration promised unsurpassable glory with lengthened life, character reaching even to the animals, and a house of prayer for all nations with the blessed service Israel would have rendered there.

Because Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly, repent fully, and be ashamed of iniquities, that temple service stands in its spiritual meaning as a prophecy of greater things God would do for His people through Christ. It is a type of God's future work for His people, but its minute details will never be fulfilled literally and are not carried over into the future antitype. The promise will be fulfilled to the true Israel, not according to those details but according to later revelation. Its promises faintly foreshadow what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and the new earth.

Wherein the prophecy failed for old earthly Jerusalem, it will be grandly and more gloriously realized at Christ's second coming and the events connected with it in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God. The vision points instead to that greater fulfillment, not to a literal restoration of the local conditions, with the future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance coming to the faithful in fullest measure. There will be absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures in the earth made new, with nothing hurting or destroying in all God's holy mountain. The Spirit of absolute peace will preside over all nature, taming wild beasts under righteousness so that no harm would come to the feeblest, even if serpents and children were present together.

The vision from Ezekiel 40 onward 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. The ancient calls to come out of Babylon were an object-lesson of the last call now sounding through the earth. Because Israel loved Babylon more than Jerusalem and failed to do its part, God prepared a holy city in heaven to descend upon the earth. Utter destruction awaits those who linger in Babylon today.