Ezekiel 45:15, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 45:15 belongs to the vision of a new sanctuary, city, and division of the land in Ezekiel 36-48, a pattern for a temple shown to Israel in Babylonian captivity with promise of restoration and return. It appoints one lamb out of every two hundred sheep from the rich pastures of Israel, for a grain offering and for a burnt offering and for peace offerings, to make atonement for the people. Those offerings belonged to the Mosaic and Levitical system of the former dispensation, types that pointed forward to the one effectual offering of Jesus Christ and did not themselves remit sin. The whole prophecy was a conditional offer governed by Jeremiah 18:7-10, which God would have fulfilled literally in fullest detail if Israel had repented wholeheartedly, but because Israel remained unwilling and only about forty thousand returned, the sanctuary described was never built. Its detailed sacrifices will never be fulfilled literally in any earthly sanctuary or future reign, for to renew them now would return from sunlight to shadow and make void Christ's once-for-all offering, while the prophecy stands in its spiritual aspect to be grandly realized in the New City in the new heavens and new earth where God dwells constantly with the true Israel.

Vision Setting and Offerings

Ezekiel 45:15 belongs to the vision of a new sanctuary, its offerings, its glory, and the division of the land in Ezekiel 36 to 48, especially chapters 40 to 48. It is part of the pattern of another sanctuary with its holy places and most holy place shown to Israel while in Babylonian captivity, with promise of restoration and return to their own land and of a city and temple again under wonderful glory. That pattern was offered on condition that they become ashamed for iniquities and put away sins, with its form and ordinances to be made known if they fulfilled the condition. The city described was never built because Israel did not respond, and God's plan for a holy city did not change but will instead descend from heaven.

The verse specifies one lamb taken from the flock, one out of every two hundred sheep from the fat or rich pastures of Israel. It is appointed for a meat or grain offering and for a burnt offering and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation or atonement for the people. These are literal offerings commanded under the Levitical system, including offerings required of the prince, belonging to the Mosaic and Levitical sacrificial system of the former dispensation and first covenant. They were types that pointed forward to and shadowed the one effectual offering of Jesus Christ and did not themselves remit sin, belonging to the time then present with fulfillment pointed to before Christ came.

In that temple service the Levites serve as priests, and the sons of Levi would have continued to make these offerings in the sanctuary that would have been built if Israel had repented. That priesthood is not for a period after the Christian dispensation began, because Christ became the everlasting priest whose priesthood does not pass to another. The offerings are part of the regular meat offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings described in the law to be offered every day on the altar to make reconciliation, beginning upon the eighth day and forward after the seven days of purging and purifying the altar were expired. That eighth day is the eighth day of that series of altar-dedication days, not the eighth day of the week, and has absolutely nothing to do with the Sabbath, while the verse stands among allusions to the festivals of the Hebrews set alongside allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord.

The vision beginning in Ezekiel 40 onward sets forth God's purpose for Jerusalem and is the counterpart to the vision of Zechariah 2 to be studied together with it. It shows a temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem where God's presence would bring healing and life, a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build after return from captivity and that would ultimately become a house of prayer for all nations. The temple built after the return from Babylon fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern, being inferior and only feebly realizing it. Beyond placing the lamb and its worship in the conditional restoration God would have given Israel if they had met His conditions, there is no further explanation of the lamb or the details of its offerings.

Conditional Promise and Fulfillment

The whole prophecy of Ezekiel 36-48, including the provision of one lamb out of two hundred from the rich pastures for grain and burnt and peace offerings to make reconciliation, was a conditional offer governed by the principle of Jeremiah 18:7-10. God would have fulfilled it literally in fullest detail, building the temple and restoring Israel from seventy years in Babylon to the mountains of Israel with greater glory, victory over enemies, and manifestation of His glory among His people in the sight of the nations. That fulfillment depended on Israel becoming ashamed of iniquities, putting away wickedness, yielding in full repentance, returning wholeheartedly, and coming up to the full measure of children of God. The description of sanctuary, city, land, ceremonies, rites, and offerings was what God was prepared to do for Israel after return from Babylon if they met those conditions.

Because Israel remained apostate and unwilling, disregarded the condition, refused to heed the prophet and to leave Babylon, with only about forty thousand returning, the offered glory was never inherited. The sanctuary described was never built and the promised restoration of temple, land, and Jerusalem did not take place. What was built by Zerubbabel under Ezra was inferior, only a feeble realization, faint counterpart, or lesser shadow of Ezekiel's pattern, falling far short of its greatness.

The detailed arrangements of sacrifice and restoration will never be fulfilled literally in detail, in any literal city or sanctuary standing today, in the present or immortal state, in Christ's future reign or the gospel dispensation, or as a special future work for the literal Jews. The sanctuary will never be built. This is confirmed because at the second coming the saints are taken to heaven and the earth is left desolate.

Renewing thousands of sheep and oxen and repeating these sacrifices now would build again what was destroyed and return from sunlight to shadow. It would imply another sacrifice for sin after Christ's once-for-all offering, make that offering of none effect, and make void and annul it. This is because the past offerings belonged to the time then present under the first covenant as types that pointed forward to Christ and shadowed His one effectual offering, and did not themselves remit sin, while Christ's death fulfilled all sacrifices and granted remission in fact.

Where the prophecy failed for old earthly Jerusalem then, it stands in its spiritual aspect as a prophecy of greater things God will do through Christ toward the true Israel. It will be fulfilled toward the true Israel not in its literal details but in full future glory and immortal inheritance to the faithful shown in later revelation, with a greater fulfillment at Christ's second coming without the local conditions of Ezekiel's time. God's plan for a holy city did not change, and the city will instead descend from heaven with true Israel redeemed and given the earth made new, while Gog and Magog, the northern nations, are punished in part in this world and fully at the end of the 1,000 years.

It will be grandly realized under far greater conditions in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God, in the new heavens and new earth and the earth made new where the Spirit of absolute peace presides. There the former detail is eliminated or made more glorious, leaving only absolute joy, peace, and harmony among all God's creatures as the reminder of the new earth state. There life is lengthened, the character of the people takes hold upon the animals, and the manifest presence of God dwells constantly in His holy mountain where there is no hurt nor destroying. There the marshes, deserts, and salt lands are healed by the water of life, and the wild beasts are made mild so even the smallest infant is safe from the adder.