Ezekiel 45:1, commentary and pictures

When the land was to be divided by lot for inheritance a holy portion was to be set apart for the Lord, twenty-five thousand reeds long and ten thousand broad, holy in all its borders round about. It belongs to the closing vision of Ezekiel 40 to 48 concerning the new sanctuary, its offerings and glory, the city and the division of the land, given to Israel while captive in Babylon fourteen years after Jerusalem's sanctuary was destroyed. The sanctuary, city, ceremonies and division of the land were offered on condition that Israel be ashamed of sin, repent, return wholeheartedly and obey faithfully, and if met would have been literally fulfilled on this present earth with God's manifest presence dwelling constantly among His people. Israel did not meet the conditions, so the sanctuary and city were never built and the prophecy was never fulfilled in detail, being only faintly and imperfectly realized in the lesser temple built by Zerubbabel. Its literal details, including the holy portion and division of the land, will never be fulfilled, for they belong to the Levitical priesthood and animal sacrifices that shadowed forth Christ and ended with His priesthood and once-for-all sacrifice, and their purposes will instead be realized more gloriously in the New City awaiting God's true Israel in the new heavens and new earth.

Words and Vision Setting

When the land was to be divided by lot for inheritance, a holy portion was to be offered to the Lord, twenty-five thousand reeds in length and ten thousand in breadth, holy in all its borders round about. It was a measured portion set apart for the Lord, belonging to the sanctuary and worship system envisioned in Ezekiel 40–48 that would have been established if Israel had met the conditions of the promises. That sanctuary and its land were offered to Israel during the captivity, but the sanctuary was never built and the city was never built because the people failed to do their part.

The verse belongs to the closing vision in Ezekiel 36 to 48, especially chapters 40 to 48, concerning the new sanctuary, its offerings, its glory, the city, and the division of the land. That latter part presents promises of what God would do for His people if they returned to Him, and presents the future kingdom of God. No such city or sanctuary stands today.

The sanctuary and land plan was given to Ezekiel fourteen years after Jerusalem's sanctuary was destroyed. It was offered to Israel while captives in Babylon where they then were, as an offer to restore them to their own land and give them a city and a temple in wonderful glory and to establish the sanctuary and bring back the twelve tribes. The pattern gave another sanctuary to offer to Israel, a building with a definite number of holy places and a definite size for the most holy, in which the word sanctuary is applied a definite number of times. Whether its conditions were met is tested by whether the house of Israel became ashamed for its iniquities as exhorted and by how many could have gone up if they had chosen when the decree of Cyrus for Israel's restoration went forth. The prediction of a greater temple does not reveal the process by which the building work would be done, whose circumstances are secondary to the prophecy.

The vision shares the purpose and period of Zechariah's vision of Jerusalem being measured, describing Jerusalem's future. It gives a detailed description of a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem after the return from captivity, that would ultimately become the house of prayer for all nations. The verse shows that God is a God of order. Its chapter contains allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews, and the temple arrangements in chapters 45 and 46 place this prophecy before Christ, when its types would meet their antitype.

Conditional Offer to Captive Israel

The holy portion of land with its sanctuary, city, ceremonies, rites, and division of the land was offered to Israel while in captivity as a conditional promise. The condition was that they be ashamed of their sins and put away their iniquities. They were to repent, return wholeheartedly from captivity, yield fully to God, obey faithfully, and turn from their sins. Because they were unwilling and did not meet these conditions, the promised land and temple restoration did not take place and the promises were forfeited.

If the conditions had been met, the detailed description of sanctuary, city, and land with its holy portion would have been literally fulfilled on this present earth. The larger restoration would have included the return of God's people to their land, the establishment of a greater sanctuary and worship among them, victory over their enemies, and God's glory among them. At its center would have stood a glorious temple in a restored Jerusalem where God's manifest presence would constantly dwell. There His presence would have made the land fruitful and brought life and healing, lengthened life, laid hold upon the very character of the people until it affected the animals, and brought unsurpassable glory with no hurting or destroying in all His holy mountain and absolute peace and harmony.

Never Fulfilled Literally

The holy portion with its sanctuary and city was offered to Israel while in captivity on condition of shame for sin, repentance and wholehearted return to God, but Israel did not turn from sin, did not repent and did not meet the conditions, and therefore forfeited the promises. Because of that failure the sanctuary described in Ezekiel 40 to 48 was never built, the city was never built, and the promised restoration with the land divided among the twelve tribes and the measured sacred allotment set apart for the Lord did not take place. The prophecy was therefore never fulfilled in detail under the former covenant, and what was to have been realized during the Mosaic dispensation while its offerings, Jubilee and Levitical priesthood were still in force was lost. Its promises only faintly point to what God will do for His people at Christ's second coming and related events, not under the local conditions described in Ezekiel's day.

What came after the Babylonian captivity was only a lesser restoration, with the sanctuary and its blessings realized feebly, faintly, imperfectly, in small part, or only as a faint counterpart in the inferior temple built by Zerubbabel under Ezra and in Israel's later prosperity. If Israel had heeded the prophet and forsaken sin and returned wholeheartedly to God, the glorious temple of the restoration would have been rebuilt as a new and larger city and temple, but because the people remained in apostasy that full plan was not accomplished.

No such city or sanctuary stands today, and the sanctuary cannot now be built to fulfill the purpose God intended for it, nor will the vision ever be fulfilled literally. The literal details, including the literal division of the land and the holy oblation with its temple and attendant sacrifices that would have been fulfilled in fullest detail if Israel had met the repeated conditions of blessing, will never be fulfilled. Renewing its thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices of the old sanctuary service, which belonged to the time then present to shadow forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ, would make Christ's once-for-all offering of none effect, void and annulled, rebuilding what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow. The promised future glory and fulness of the immortal inheritance will still come in fullest measure to the faithful, the true Israel, but according to later revelation and in the more glorious inheritance in the earth made new, not according to these details.

Why Not a Future Temple

The measured holy portion belongs inseparably to the temple system of Ezekiel 40–48, with its Levitical priests, its old sanctuary service, and its animal offerings and sacrifices of sheep and oxen connected with the temple. That sanctuary with its prescribed sacrifices was never built as described, and it will not be built, because its sacrifices show it is not a temple to be ordained again. Its literal division of the land with the temple and its attendant sacrifices would have been fulfilled in fullest detail only if Israel had met the repeated conditions of blessing, and because Israel did not meet them that literal division will never be fulfilled.

That priestly and sacrificial system belonged to the Mosaic dispensation, while the prescribed offerings, the Jubilee, and the Levitical priesthood were still in force. It belonged to the first covenant and to the time then present to shadow forth Christ, and it ended with Christ's priesthood and sacrifice. Its typical sacrifices pointed to Christ and were fulfilled by Him, and the arrangements of chapters 45 and 46 place this prophecy before Christ, when its types would meet their antitype.

To renew those thousands of sacrifices now would make Christ's once-for-all offering of none effect, void, annulled, and ineffective. It would rebuild what was destroyed and return from sunlight to shadow, since the former offerings belonged to the time then present to shadow forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ. The mortal prince of Ezekiel 45:1-8 was himself to make offerings for himself, including offerings that Christ brought to an end by His death, so the prince is not Christ and the prophecy is not about Christ's future reign over Israel.

The vision is not the New Jerusalem and is not a prophecy of a future restoration of the Jewish people and Levitical sacrifices. It does not describe a temple arrangement to be instituted after the Christian dispensation began, and it does not teach a special work for the literal Jews in the Christian dispensation. To assign it to Christ's future reign with its offerings and sacrifices practiced then, as the age-to-come theory does, would imply the need for another Messiah, because those offerings belonged to the first covenant and pointed to Christ's sacrifice offered once for all. An earthly Jewish return built on these chapters is overthrown because the saints are taken to heaven at Christ's second coming when the earth is desolated.

Greater and Final Fulfillment

In its spiritual aspect the chapter stands as a prophecy of greater things God will do for His people through Christ. The promised division of the land among the twelve tribes with a measured sacred allotment set apart for the Lord was never fulfilled in detail, and only faintly points to what God will do for His people at Christ's second coming. What would have been fulfilled for Israel after the return from Babylon had only a faint counterpart in the temple built by Zerubbabel and Israel's later prosperity, and will have a greater fulfillment in the glory of Christ's second coming and related events, though not under the local conditions described in Ezekiel's day.

Its purposes will instead be realized in the New City awaiting God's true Israel. The literal details of the holy portion of the land will never be fulfilled, yet the promised future glory and fulness of the immortal inheritance will still come in fullest measure to the faithful, the true Israel, but according to the descriptions in later revelation, not according to these details. The prophesied temple and land arrangement with the life and healing power of God nevertheless point faintly to what God will accomplish in the new heavens and new earth. The promise was not fulfilled then, but it will be fulfilled under far greater conditions with more or less of the former detail eliminated, leaving absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures in the new-earth state, where the manifest presence of God constantly dwells, life is lengthened, and there is no hurting or destroying in all God's holy mountain. God's purpose remains the same, to redeem true Israel and give a more glorious inheritance in the earth made new, while Gog and Magog representing the northern nations are punished in part in this world and finally at the end of the 1,000 years. What would have been built on this present earth if the Messiah's kingdom had been established gradually here will be fulfilled more gloriously in the earth made new.