Ezekiel 45:18, commentary and pictures

On the first day of the first month a young bullock without blemish was to be taken to cleanse the sanctuary, as part of the offerings and rites prescribed in the vision. The sanctuary and its glory were offered on condition that Israel be ashamed of iniquities, repent and return to God wholeheartedly, but Israel did not meet the conditions and so it was never built in its fullness. It belonged to the past Mosaic dispensation with its Levitical priesthood and ordinances, and it never will be built literally. The bullocks and other animal offerings were of the symbolic typical system pointing forward to Christ's atonement, fulfilled when He died on the cross, so that to renew them after His once-for-all offering would annul and make void His sacrifice. What failed for earthly Jerusalem will be grandly realized for the true Israel of God in Christ in the new heaven and new earth and the New Jerusalem.

Wording and Historical Setting

On the first day of the first month a young bullock without blemish was to be taken to cleanse the sanctuary, as part of the prescribed sanctuary rites and offerings set forth in the vision. That first-month, first-day bull offering belongs to Ezekiel's description of a larger temple and city with its sanctuary and sacrificial service.

The sanctuary offered in the vision is a building with two holy places including a most holy place, and it is called the sanctuary. Its form and measurements can be laid out in a diagram. It was another sanctuary pattern given to offer to the house of Israel while they were away from their land.

The vision was given in Babylonian captivity, fourteen years after the earlier sanctuary had been destroyed. It was given to Israel in captivity for fulfillment at the restoration after the seventy years, offering to restore them to their own land and give them again a city and a temple under circumstances of wonderful glory. At that restoration all who chose could have gone up under the decree of Cyrus.

Reconciling the house means cleansing the sanctuary, for the word translated reconcile in Ezekiel 45:20 is the same word translated reconciling in Leviticus 16:20. Sins confessed over the victim were transferred to the victim and then by its blood sprinkled within the sanctuary, so the sanctuary accumulated those sins and had to be freed from them once a year, and that yearly freeing is called its cleansing. This cleansing was performed with blood, and Ezekiel 45:18-20 thus connects the cleansing of the sanctuary and altar with the day of atonement ceremony through prescribed offerings. The cleansing of the earthly sanctuary with blood in its service is distinct from the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary associated with the end of the 2300 days, since the earthly sanctuary had been destroyed before that period ended.

Conditional Offer Never Realized

The sanctuary, city, land and glory shown in Ezekiel 40-48 were offered to Israel in captivity as a conditional promise, to be given only if the people were ashamed of their iniquities, repented, put away wickedness and sins, yielded fully to God and returned to Him wholeheartedly. That condition stands under the principle stated in Jeremiah 18:7-10 and in the charge of Ezekiel 43:7-11 to be ashamed and to keep the whole pattern. The cleansing of the sanctuary with a young bullock without blemish on the first day of the first month belonged to that same conditional offer of temple ceremonies and restoration after the seventy years.

Israel did not meet the conditions, did not repent, yield, or return wholeheartedly, and rejected the offer. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, failing to answer the calls to leave Babylon, so the promised sanctuary, city, restoration and glory were never built or inherited in their fullness. What was erected after the exile by Zerubbabel was only a feeble, limited, shadow-like realization, a smaller temple and lesser restoration falling far short of Ezekiel's pattern and glory. It never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom the temple-keepers rejected.

The proposed sanctuary belonged to the past Mosaic dispensation when the Levitical priesthood, its ordinances and its mortal prince were in force, not to the immortal state or the gospel dispensation. It never will be built literally. Had Israel met the conditions in shame and obedience, in faith and full repentance, the details would have been literally fulfilled in detail, including taking the young bullock without blemish to cleanse the sanctuary on the first day of the first month, with the temple, its attendant sacrifices, the city and the land.

What God would then have done was bring back all the scattered people to the mountains of Israel, dwell among them in glory, and build a new and far greater sanctuary where His glory would rest. He would have restored the land, rebuilt the temple, reestablished Israel, given victory over enemies, and manifested His glory before the nations. The land would have been healed by the water of life with nature made peaceful under righteousness, as the Messiah's kingdom was established gradually on this earth in its present condition.

Typical Sacrifices Fulfilled in Christ

The young bullock without blemish and the other animal offerings ordered for cleansing the sanctuary belong to the symbolic typical system that pointed forward to Christ's atonement and effectual offering. They belonged to the first covenant and to the time then present, shadowing forth His once-for-all sacrifice. For that reason the instruction had its proper application before Christ came, when type was to meet antitype.

To renew those bullocks and animal sacrifices after Christ's offering would make His offering of none effect. It would build again what was destroyed and return from sunlight to shadow. It would annul His offering and make void His sacrifice.

After Christ offered Himself the animal service ceased. It is not to be restored after the Christian dispensation nor resumed in Christ's kingdom, since animal sacrifices can no longer serve even as a type. Its provision for animal sacrifices was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died upon the cross. After His heavenly ministry closes, a typical atonement for sins already atoned for in fact would be impossible.

The prescribed sacrifices themselves therefore show that the plan was not for a future temple to be ordained again. It is not a sanctuary to be built now, nor yet to be built. That sanctuary was never built because Israel did not yield to God's plan, and it will never be built, since its typical sacrifices pointed forward to Christ, who suffered and fulfilled the types.

Future Hope for True Israel

What failed for old earthly Jerusalem will be grandly realized in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God, for God's promises will be fulfilled for His people in Christ in the new heaven and new earth and the New Jerusalem. The sanctuary and city of the vision would have been built if Israel had been faithful, and the vision was meant to lead the people to recognize sin and turn back to God, but because they did not the promised restoration and rebuilding were not fulfilled for them. The ordinance was offered on condition that God's people put aside sins and come up to the full measure of children of God, and the people of that time failed to meet that standard and forfeited the privileges it offered.

Though not fulfilled in its literal details, the prophecy in its general promises and spiritual aspect faintly and typically points to greater things God would do for His people through Christ. Its promises faintly point to what God will do for His people at the second coming, and will be fulfilled to the true Israel with future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance given to the faithful in fullest measure according to later revelations. What God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth is faintly typified by the temple promises, and the promised restoration will instead be fulfilled more gloriously in Christ's kingdom. Only a temple with a shadow of its greatness was erected by Zerubbabel, and the temple never will be built because its provision for animal sacrifices was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died upon the cross, so the bull offerings will not be resumed since animal sacrifices can no longer serve even as a type.

The vision from Ezekiel 40 onward covers the same period and represents the same purposes as the vision of Zechariah 2 and should be studied together with it. It describes a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem after exile and that would ultimately become the house of prayer for all nations. Ezekiel 45 does not teach a special future work for the literal Jews in the Christian dispensation, nor an age-to-come city where first-covenant offerings are carried on. Those offerings belonged to the first covenant and pointed to Christ, whose sacrifice was offered once for all, and the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated, and that taking to heaven and desolation overthrow the return-of-the-Jews theory and the other theories connected with it.

Scripture Links and Spiritual Lessons

The cleansing set forth for the first day of the first month was wrought with blood and belonged to the regular service of the earthly sanctuary, and it is distinct from the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary at the end of the 2300 days, for the earthly sanctuary had already been destroyed before that period closed. The rite stands within the offer made while the Hebrews were captive in Babylon to restore them to their own land and give them again a city and a temple under circumstances of wonderful glory set forth in Ezekiel 40-48, an offer conditional upon Ezekiel 43:7-11 which was disregarded so that the offered glory was never inherited by them. Within that same offer are several allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews, including those in Ezekiel 44:24 and Ezekiel 45:17 and Ezekiel 46:1, 3, 4, 12.

Like the wilderness sanctuary and Solomon's temple, the pattern of the glorious temple as the center of a restored Jerusalem where Jehovah is there teaches that the only holy and worthy thing is that in which God dwells, to lead man to yield himself as dwelling-place and temple and sanctuary of God. The sanctuary vision was meant to lead the people to recognize their sin and turn back to God, but Jerusalem was never thus restored because Israel would not yield all to God. God could not come in and dwell among a half-hearted people to dishonor His name, and He could not build His temple for them for them to dishonor. His presence in that restored Jerusalem would have healed all barren land and all salt marshes and all impure waters and given life to all, yet that temple was never built and never will be built. The temple built at the restoration from Babylon fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom the temple-keepers rejected, while God's promises will be fulfilled for His people in Christ in the new heaven and new earth and the New Jerusalem.