Ezekiel 45:17, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 45:17 assigns to the prince the duty to furnish and prepare the burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, sin offering and peace offerings required at the feasts, new moons, Sabbaths and all appointed solemnities, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. It belongs to the pattern of a new sanctuary, city and divided land shown to Ezekiel in captivity fourteen years after the former sanctuary was destroyed, offered to encourage the captive Jews in connection with restoration under Cyrus. That sanctuary, city, offerings and glory were offered on condition that Israel be ashamed of iniquities, put away wickedness and return wholeheartedly in faith and obedience, and had they done so the verse would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail with God dwelling among them in greater glory. Because Israel was unwilling and did not repent, the promised glory was forfeited, the temple as Ezekiel described it was never built and never will be built literally, with only a feeble shadow realized in the temple erected by Zerubbabel. Those animal sacrifices were symbols and shadows pointing forward to the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ the great sin offering upon the cross, after which they ceased to be acceptable and are no longer in force, so to renew them literally would make void what Christ offered; wherein the promise failed for old earthly Jerusalem it will be grandly realized for the true Israel of God in the New City and earth made new.

Vision Setting and Contents

Ezekiel 45:17 belongs to the pattern of a new sanctuary shown to Ezekiel in Babylonian captivity fourteen years after the former sanctuary was destroyed. It belongs to the vision of the future kingdom of God recorded in Ezekiel 40-48, given to encourage the captive Jews. It was offered to the house of Israel where they then were in connection with the decree for their restoration under Cyrus, on conditions with a promise from God if they fulfilled the conditions. That offer, including the sanctuary and the return of the twelve tribes, called Israel to become ashamed of sins and iniquities and to put them away.

The vision in Ezekiel 40-48 describes a new sanctuary as a building with holy places including a most holy place called the sanctuary, together with its offerings and its glory and the division of the land. It describes a city and sanctuary, a glorious temple shown at the center of a restored Jerusalem where God's presence would bring healing and life. It sets forth in detail a grand temple at Jerusalem that was to become a house of prayer for all nations at the center of a restored land.

The offerings of the verse fit the sacrificial worship of a larger temple and city promised if Israel returned to God. That temple was never built because the people did not return wholeheartedly and would not yield wholly to God, and that city and sanctuary do not stand today. The temple built under Ezra and Zerubbabel was inferior, with only a shadow of its greatness faintly realized. The regular burnt and peace offerings were to continue after the altar's seven-day purification, but the prince's particular duties are left unexplained.

Prince Provides Offerings

It is the prince's part to furnish, prepare and provide the burnt offerings, grain or meat offerings, drink offerings, sin offering and peace offerings required of Israel. He is to supply them in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities and appointed observances of the house of Israel. By that preparation reconciliation or atonement is to be made for the house of Israel. These sacrificial and festival ordinances belong to the sanctuary system and sanctuary worship offered to Israel and described for the restored nation in Ezekiel's time, and they are not ordinances for the present or future dispensation. That restoration with its offerings would have followed if Israel had met God's conditions of faithfulness, but because Israel failed the sanctuary was never built and its service was never established as a continuing means of atonement, since to establish it would make of none effect Christ's once-for-all offering when the sacrificial types met their antitype. The verse is counted among references to ceremonial sabbaths, distinguishing these festival observances at feasts, new moons and solemnities from the weekly Sabbath of the Lord.

That continuance of literal sacrifices and offerings belongs to the earthly sanctuary, Levitical priesthood and blessings that would have been realized had Israel accepted the offered good. It belongs to the Mosaic dispensation when animal sacrifices, the Levitical priesthood and the other Mosaic institutions were in force and the sacrificial types met their antitype, with its intended application before Christ. It does not belong to the age to come or to the immortal state at the last trump. Now those sacrifices and offerings have ceased and are no longer in force.

Conditional Promise Unfulfilled

The sanctuary, city, land, offerings and glory set forth from Ezekiel 36 onward were offered on condition that Israel be ashamed of sins and iniquities as required in Ezekiel 43:9-11, put them away and put aside wickedness, return wholeheartedly from Babylonian captivity and leave Babylon, yield to God in faith and obedience and come up to the full measure of children of God. The temple with its ceremonies, rites, burnt offerings, meat offerings, drink offerings, sin offerings and peace offerings for reconciliation, with resurrection of the righteous dead, subjection of enemies, new division of the land, and life and healing poured upon Palestine and the earth, depended on that putting away of wickedness and shame for iniquity. That offer of restoration to their own land with a city and temple under circumstances of wonderful glory was made while the Hebrews were captive in Babylon, and its Sabbaths, festivals, solemnities and appointed observances belonged to what the Lord would do for His people if they yielded to Him.

Had Israel met those conditions the verse would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail in the restoration from Babylon, with the sanctuary rebuilt, Israel restored in its land, Jerusalem built as it might have been, and its attendant sacrifices together with Ezekiel 39:9-15. God would have brought back all His scattered people to the mountains of Israel, dwelt among them in greater glory, built a new and far greater sanctuary with its appointed offerings and solemnities, given victory over enemies, and manifested His glory before the nations. The arrangements for sanctuary, city and land in Ezekiel 40-48 would in that case have been literally fulfilled.

Because Israel was unwilling, did not repent, forsake sin or yield wholly to God, the promised glory was forfeited and never inherited then. The sanctuary was never rebuilt as Ezekiel described it and its service through the sons of Levi was never established, with only about forty thousand returning and only a feeble shadow faintly realized in the temple erected by Zerubbabel. The glorious temple shown at the center of a restored Jerusalem, where God's presence would bring healing and life, and the city as it might have been built if Israel had responded to the calls to leave Babylon, never took place because Israel failed to do its part and forfeited its privileges.

That temple of Ezekiel 45:17 was never built and never will or can be built literally, since the prophecy failed for old earthly Jerusalem then and its provision for sacrifices was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died upon the cross. The sanctuary of Ezekiel's closing chapters, conditional on Israel's acceptance or rejection, will never be built. Its prescribed sacrifices and offerings at festivals, new moons and Sabbaths show it was not to be built again, since God would not reordain animal sacrifices, for its typical sacrifices pointed forward to Christ, who suffered and fulfilled all types.

Christ Ends Sacrificial System

The burnt offerings and grain offerings and drink offerings and sin offering and peace offerings were symbols and types and shadows for the time then present, pointing forward to the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ. They shadowed forth Christ as the great sin offering and the great high priest, and were fulfilled when He suffered and died upon the cross in His once-for-all single sacrifice. After His death they ceased to be acceptable offerings, since His single sacrifice fulfilled what they represented.

These sacrificial and festival ordinances belonged to the sanctuary system and first covenant offered to Israel in Ezekiel's time, when the sacrificial types met their antitype. They were not ordinances for the present or future dispensation, but are now ceased and no longer in force, for God would not reordain animal sacrifices. Their intended application was before Christ, and Israel's failure to meet the conditions meant the prophecy was not fulfilled then.

That city and sanctuary have not been built and do not stand today, and those offerings in feasts and new moons and Sabbaths and all solemnities to make reconciliation for the house of Israel will never be renewed literally in the future. To restore literally the sacrifices of thousands of sheep and oxen would make the offering of Christ once for all of none effect, would build again the things destroyed, and would return from sunlight to shadow. Their future restoration would imply another sin offering and another Messiah, and to continue that old sacrificial service as a continuing means of atonement or to treat animal sacrifices as necessary or effective for cleansing sin would deny Christ as Savior and make void the sacrifice Christ offered.

The prince's duty to furnish and provide the appointed offerings for feasts and new moons and Sabbaths and other solemn occasions, including offerings for reconciliation, shows he is a mortal ruler and not Jesus reigning in an immortal state, since Christ's sacrifice ended the other sacrifices. This prince cannot be Christ, as shown by his sacrificial role and by the related statement that he must offer a sin offering for himself in Ezekiel 45:22.

Future Hope Beyond Failure

Since Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly and meet the condition of being ashamed of iniquities, the chapter stands in its spiritual aspect as a prophecy in type of greater things God would do for His people through Christ. What was offered as a restoration from Babylon with sanctuary rebuilt and Israel restored in its land was forfeited then, and will be fulfilled in general rather than in every detail, with more or less of the former detail eliminated. The promises of Ezekiel 36-48 could have been fulfilled in the restoration from captivity if Israel had yielded to God in true repentance, but because they did not the promised restoration was not fulfilled then, while the promises concerning true Israel will yet be fulfilled in future glory and fullness.

Wherein it failed for old earthly Jerusalem it will be grandly realized in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God. God will fulfill His promises to His people in Christ in the new heaven and new earth, and the faithful will receive the future glory and fullness of the immortal inheritance described in later revelations. That temple with its burnt offerings, meat offerings, drink offerings, sin offerings and peace offerings for reconciliation will never be built literally because its provision for sacrifices was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died upon the cross, and all those promises remain only faintly typical of what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth. Though the temple and sacrifices will never be fulfilled literally because Israel did not meet the conditions, God will still redeem true Israel and give a more glorious inheritance in the earth made new. In that new-earth state there will remain only absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures.

That greater fulfillment comes at Christ's second coming, without the local conditions or human cleansing described for the prophet's time. It was portrayed as the Messiah's kingdom as it would have been established gradually on this present earth if the Jews had yielded to God, with the sanctuary built and the marshes and deserts and salt lands healed by the water of life. In that glorious kingdom with a true-hearted people life would have been lengthened, wild beasts made mild so infants are safe, the character of the people taking hold upon the very animals, and under the constant manifest presence of God there would be no hurt or destroying in all His holy mountain. Because God's people did not meet the conditions it was not fulfilled then and was only faintly realized after the return from Babylon, but it will be fulfilled more gloriously in the earth made new under absolute peace.

The verse stands with Psalm 89, the last seven chapters of Isaiah, Jeremiah 30, 31 and 33, the closing chapters of Ezekiel, and the shorter prophets down to Malachi as prophecies urged as proof of the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ, and the inheritance of the saints. That argument is set against the teaching that the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated, which overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory. The Lord has no special work to do among the Jews in the Christian dispensation.

Sabbaths and Related Scriptures

Ezekiel 45:17 belongs to the offer made while the Hebrews were captive in Babylon to restore them to their own land and give them a city and a temple under circumstances of wonderful glory. That offer was conditional, and because the condition was disregarded the offered glory was never inherited by them. The verse is one of several allusions in that offer to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews. It lists the prince's responsibility to provide offerings for Israel's feasts, new moons, Sabbaths, and other appointed observances. It is counted among references to ceremonial sabbaths, distinguishing these festival observances from the weekly Sabbath of the Lord.

It shows the prince giving burnt offerings, meat offerings, drink offerings, sin offering and peace offerings to make reconciliation for the house of Israel in the feasts, new moons, sabbaths and all solemnities, the seventh-day Sabbath not excepted. The sacrifices offered on those Sabbaths were typical of the coming of the one great sacrifice Jesus Christ the great high priest. So all Sabbaths on which they were offered are shadows blessed and sanctified by God that reach to Christ the substance and then terminate, ceasing their binding force when He came. The verse belongs to the vision beginning in Ezekiel 40 that covers the same period and represents the same purposes of God toward Jerusalem as the measuring of Jerusalem in Zechariah 2. It was given concerning the future of Jerusalem on condition that God's people put aside their sins and come up to the full measure of children of God. The people of that time failed to meet that standard and forfeited its privileges, so the prophecy failed for old earthly Jerusalem then, but wherein it failed for old earthly Jerusalem it will be grandly realized in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God.