Ezekiel 45:2, commentary and pictures

Of this there is set apart for the sanctuary a square five hundred in length by five hundred in breadth, with fifty cubits round about for its suburbs and open space. It belongs to the sanctuary and temple plan shown to Ezekiel in captivity fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed, offered to Israel in exile on condition of becoming ashamed of iniquities and turning in repentance and obedience. Had the people yielded in shame and full repentance the promised dimensions would have been fulfilled literally in fullest detail, with the sanctuary established, the tribes restored, and God's presence among them in glory. Because Israel remained unwilling and in apostasy the sanctuary was never built in its promised fullness and greatness, and the temple built after the captivity by Zerubbabel was only a feeble, small and inferior shadow of it. Its animal sacrifices met antitype in the death and once-for-all offering of Jesus Christ, so to build it now would deny His sacrifice, yet the promise will be fulfilled in substance to the true Israel in greater spiritual things through Christ.

Sanctuary Dimensions Described

The portion set apart for the sanctuary is a square five hundred in length by five hundred in breadth, with fifty cubits round about for its suburbs, margin, or open space. The ground so measured is the sanctuary area in the proposed division of the land, the sanctuary's allotted area with its surrounding margin of open ground.

The word sanctuary is applied to the building offered through Ezekiel, part of a pattern with holy places including a most holy place of stated size and repeatedly called sanctuary. The exact measure and form given for the sanctuary and the ground around it shows God is a God of order. The bounded, square measurement restricts the sanctuary to a limited portion of land rather than identifying it with all Palestine, while still showing the Bible's view of the sanctuary.

The verse belongs to Ezekiel's description of the city and sanctuary, and some treatments cite it as part of that description without explaining its measurements further.

Vision Setting and Conditions

The verse belongs to the sanctuary and temple plan set out in Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book, especially chapters 40-46. It was shown to Ezekiel in captivity fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed. It was offered to the house of Israel in exile as God's provision for restoration from the seventy years in Babylon. That offer was to restore them to their own land and give them again a city and a temple under circumstances of wonderful glory.

The whole plan was conditional and provisional, a pattern proposed to Israel on condition of response. The condition was that Israel become ashamed for iniquities, turn from sins, repent, obey, have faith, and return wholeheartedly to yield to God and live as His children. It promised all the glory described there if Israel yielded in shame and full repentance after return from Babylon. Because the people remained unwilling and in apostasy, the conditions were not fulfilled.

Had Israel met the conditions, God would have established the sanctuary and brought back the twelve tribes. He would have divided the land, given the city and temple with its attendant ceremonies, rites, offerings and sacrifices, and accomplished the restoration He was prepared to do. He would also have given forgiveness, renewed hearts, rebuilt cities, worship under His glory, and His own presence among them. These details belonged together as one restoration of sanctuary, city, and land.

The promised dimensions were part of what Israel could have received had the people been faithful to God. As part of that description of sanctuary, city, and land, the allotment of ground for the sanctuary would have been fulfilled literally. Had Israel done so in shame and full repentance, with faith and obedience, the whole prophecy would have been fulfilled in fullest detail.

Literal Temple Never Built

Because Israel did not meet the conditions on which the sanctuary was offered, but disregarded them and remained unwilling in apostasy without becoming ashamed of iniquities and turning in full repentance, the sanctuary described was never built in its promised fullness and greatness and will not be built literally. The plan belonged to the restoration from the seventy years in Babylon offered to Israel in exile fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed, dependent on their being ashamed, yielding to God, obeying and returning wholeheartedly to live as His children. The literal details, including the sanctuary measurements of a square five hundred cubits on each side with a fifty-cubit open space around it, will never be fulfilled literally, though the promise will be fulfilled in substance to the true Israel according to later revelations without reproducing every detail. What was not realized for earthly Jerusalem in that past period remains a type of God's general promises for His people at Christ's second coming, when the faithful receive the future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance in fullest measure.

The temple actually built after the captivity by Zerubbabel under Ezra was only a feeble, small, lesser, inferior, shadow fulfillment of the glorious structure presented through Ezekiel. It was only a lesser shadow because the people remained in apostasy and did not put away wickedness and return to God wholeheartedly, so the sanctuary and its promises were realized only feebly and the temple erected was not built in its promised greatness. The sanctuary prophecy included sacrifices and Levitical rites, but Israel's failure meant it remained unbuilt in its promised fullness, and the prophecy points instead to a greater fulfillment in the glory of Christ's second coming rather than a literal restoration of local conditions. The restored temple that was never literally fulfilled in full was thus only a shadow of the glorious structure, and its prescribed sacrifices were fulfilled when type met antitype by Jesus Christ's death.

When the decree for restoration went forth only those of two tribes who chose to go up returned, so the conditions were not fulfilled. Their failure meant that the promised restoration and sanctuary received only a feeble, limited realization and the sanctuary described across Ezekiel 40-48 was not erected in its promised glory. That larger restoration would have included forgiveness, renewed hearts, rebuilt cities, worship under God's glory, and God's presence among the people in the sanctuary, with holy places including a most holy place of stated size.

The prophecy concerned the Mosaic dispensation and that past period before Christ, when its prescribed Levitical offerings and practices were in force, not the immortal state, the gospel dispensation, the age to come, or the future reign of Christ and His saints. Its service involved Levitical priests, whose priesthood was superseded by Christ's enduring priesthood after the order of Melchisedek, and its sacrifices show it applied before Christ when type met antitype. That temple was not to be built after the Christian dispensation began, for Israel did not meet the conditions so the prophecy was not fulfilled then, with its promised fulfillment in substance in the new earth.

Future Hope in Substance

Ezekiel 45:2 belongs to the vision of the future kingdom of God in chapters 40-48, presenting a provisional pattern of a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem. The defining truth taught by that dwelling is that Jehovah is there, and His presence would bring healing and life to barren land, salt marshes, and impure waters. Though the literal details, including the sanctuary measurements and local conditions, will never be fulfilled literally, the promise will be fulfilled in substance to the true Israel according to later revelations. It stands as a prophecy of greater spiritual things God would do for His people through Christ.

What was not realized for earthly Jerusalem will be realized more gloriously for God's true Israel in the New City. That greater fulfillment is the glory of Christ's second coming, not a literal restoration of the local conditions described in Ezekiel's day. Its promised fulfillment is in the new earth, in the earth made new where absolute peace presides over all nature. The future fulfillment will not reproduce every detail of the square of five hundred cubits on each side with its fifty-cubit open space around it.

Under greater conditions, with some earlier details omitted, its promises will still be fulfilled. The faithful will receive the future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance in fullest measure. God's purpose remains the same, that true Israel will be redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new. Gog and Magog, the northern nations, will be punished in part in this world and in full at the end of the 1,000 years.

God's purpose for a holy city destined ultimately to be a house of prayer for all nations was fulfilled instead by preparing a city in heaven to descend to earth. The closing prophecy predicts the building of a greater temple but does not describe the process by which the building would be carried out. Its historical circumstances are secondary to the prophecy.

Christ Ends Sacrificial System

Ezekiel 45:2 belongs to the temple plan of Ezekiel's final chapters, which provides for the old sanctuary service with Levitical priests, ceremonies, rites, offerings, and animal sacrifices. That Levitical priesthood was superseded by Christ's enduring priesthood after the order of Melchisedek, so the temple was not to be built after the Christian dispensation began. The plan gives the ground for the sanctuary as five hundred square with fifty cubits for suburbs around it, as part of the temple with its attendant sacrifices offered in Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book. That whole prophecy was conditioned on the faith, obedience, and wholehearted return of ancient Israel from captivity. Because Israel was unwilling and did not meet the conditions, the temple vision stands as a prophecy of greater spiritual things God would do for His people through Christ, while God's purpose remains that true Israel will be redeemed and given the more glorious inheritance of the earth made new.

The sanctuary described is not a literal structure to be built in the future with renewed animal sacrifices, because that would deny Christ's once-for-all offering and return from the reality to its shadow. Its prescribed sacrifices show that the prophecy applied before Christ, when type met antitype, and after Christ's offering to offer sacrifices would annul His sacrifice. For this reason the unbuilt sanctuary plan with its sanctuary precinct dimensions cannot be built to fulfill the purpose God intended for it, since its sacrifices cannot continue without making void Christ's sacrifice. The sacrifices in the temple plan were fulfilled by Jesus Christ's death. Because the people remained in apostasy and did not put away wickedness and become ashamed of iniquities, the sanctuary and its promises were realized only feebly in the temple built by Zerubbabel, which was only a shadow of its promised greatness.

The sanctuary area is square, five hundred cubits on each side, with fifty cubits around it for open ground, belonging to a temple that would have been built if the Jews had repented but was never built and will not be built. Its prescribed sacrifices show that it was not a temple God would ordain again, and its promised fulfillment is in the new earth. The prince in the same chapter, to whom Ezekiel 45:1-8 assigns offerings including offerings for himself, is thereby shown to be a mortal ruler and not Christ. Christ is Himself the great sin offering, and His death caused the offerings to cease.

For that reason the vision of the city and sanctuary in Ezekiel 40-48 cannot describe the New Jerusalem or a restored sacrificial system after Christ's atonement. It is a conditional prophecy whose promises were forfeited, contrasted with the heavenly Jerusalem and the new earth. What some expect to be built in a future age with offerings and sacrifices will therefore never be fulfilled literally in those temple details.