Ezekiel 45:20, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the sanctuary regulations in the temple vision of Ezekiel 40-48, given after Jerusalem's sanctuary was destroyed to offer restoration with a city, a sanctuary, its offerings and glory. To reconcile the house is to cleanse the sanctuary with blood, with provision on the seventh day of the month for everyone who sins through error or ignorance. The sanctuary, city and restoration were offered to Israel on condition of shame for iniquity, repentance and wholehearted obedience, but because Israel continued in apostasy the temple described was never built and its glory was never inherited. Those animal sacrifices will never be literally renewed, for to restore a typical atonement after the actual atonement would make Christ's once-for-all offering of none effect. Wherein the promise failed for earthly Jerusalem then, it will be more gloriously realized for the true Israel of God through Christ in the new heaven and new earth and the New Jerusalem.

Wording and Setting

Ezekiel 45:20 belongs to the sanctuary regulations and temple vision of Ezekiel 40-48, the pattern for another sanctuary shown fourteen years after Jerusalem's sanctuary was destroyed while Israel was captive in Babylon and away from its land. It was an offer to the house of Israel to restore them to their own land and give them again a city and a temple under circumstances of wonderful glory, with holy places and a most holy place of stated size, its offerings, its glory, and the division of the land. That temple is described as a grand and magnificent temple which Israel might build at Jerusalem after return from captivity, ultimately to be a house of prayer for all nations. The offer was made on condition that the people become ashamed of their iniquities and put them away, with a test connected with the decree for restoration that allowed them to go up, and it does not concern the immortal state or the gospel dispensation.

To reconcile the house means to cleanse the sanctuary, proving that the atonement was a cleansing from sin for the holy sanctuary, the tabernacle of the congregation, the altar, the priests, and all the people of the congregation. The word reconcile here is the same word as reconciling in Leviticus 16:20. That cleansing of the sanctuary was performed with blood, including the cleansing in Ezekiel 45:18-20 on the seventh day of the month for everyone who sins through error or ignorance, in order to reconcile the sanctuary.

The reconciling on the seventh day of the month for the erring and simple belongs to the Levitical priestly service of that temple and its service. If Israel had repented and put away its iniquities, the prescribed offerings would still have been made by the sons of Levi. When Christ was crucified and ascended the law of the priesthood changed so that Levi is no longer priest, for Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchisedek with an unchangeable priesthood that does not pass from one to another as the great High Priest. His priesthood and the everlasting gospel, which is His gospel, are contemporary, and if an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed, and when His priesthood ends there is no more probation.

The passage specifies what was to be offered on the first day of the altar's dedication, with the offerings continuing through a seven-day period of purification for the altar in the promised temple. The verse does not refer to the eighth day of the week or to the Sabbath. It stands among several allusions in that offer to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews. The vision beginning in Ezekiel 40 and continuing onward covers the same period and the same purpose of God toward Jerusalem as Zechariah 2 and is its counterpart and should be studied together with it.

Conditional Offer to Israel

The sanctuary, city, and restoration set out in Ezekiel 36-48 were offered to Israel in captivity on condition that they become ashamed of their iniquities, put away their sins, repent, return to God wholeheartedly, and yield to Him in faith and obedience. The promised return and the establishment of the sanctuary with its ceremonies and the twelve tribes depended on that repentance, with a test connected with the decree for restoration that allowed them to go up. Since Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly, the temple vision also stands in its spiritual aspect as a prophecy of greater things God would do for His people through Christ.

If the conditions had been met the promises would have been literally fulfilled in the Mosaic dispensation before Christ, when the types would meet their antitype, and not in the future age. God would have brought back all scattered Israel to the mountains of Israel, dwelt among them with glory never seen before, built a new and far greater sanctuary, given victory over enemies, and manifested His glory among His people in the sight of the nations. That restoration would have brought unsurpassable glory with lengthened life, a true-hearted people, character taking hold upon the animals themselves, and the constant manifest presence of God in His holy mountain where nothing would hurt or destroy.

Because Israel did not meet the conditions, disregarded them, and continued in apostasy, the sanctuary described was never built and the offered glory was never inherited. The pattern for the sanctuary was given fourteen years after Jerusalem's sanctuary was destroyed for Israel in the past dispensation, not for the present or immortal state nor for the gospel dispensation. God could not build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor, for He could not come in and dwell among them unless they would yield all to Him.

The promises were therefore fulfilled only weakly, in part, and not in fullness. Because Israel failed to meet the conditions only about forty thousand returned from captivity, so the temple and sanctuary described by Ezekiel were reduced to the smaller temple built by Zerubbabel. That temple fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom its keepers rejected, and Israel's later prosperity was only a faint reflection of the promised glory.

Never Built, Never Restored

The temple and its service described in Ezekiel 40-48 belongs to the sanctuary regulations offered to Israel in the past dispensation, and it is never to be built after the opening of the Christian dispensation, not in the present, not in the gospel dispensation, and not in the immortal state. The pattern was given fourteen years after Jerusalem's sanctuary was destroyed, as an offer to Israel under conditions that the people did not fulfill, so the sanctuary described was never built because the conditions were not met. The reconciling of the house on the seventh day of the month for the erring and simple belongs to that Levitical priestly service which ended with the change of priesthood.

No such city or sanctuary is standing today, and the animal sacrifices of thousands of sheep and oxen described there will never be literally renewed, nor will the temple with its attendant sacrifices ever be built or fulfilled as originally offered. That promised temple and its sacrifices depended on ancient Israel's faith and obedience, and because Israel did not meet those conditions the fulfillment did not come then. The expectation that the city and its ordinances with offerings and sacrifices would yet be fulfilled in a future age does not stand, because Christ's once-for-all sacrifice established the better covenant that should not be set aside by reviving that system.

To restore those sacrifices would make the offering of Christ once for all of none effect, building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow. The offerings of the past were for the time then present, shadowing forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ, so a typical atonement cannot follow the actual atonement and there can be no further sacrifice without making void Christ's sacrifice. The vision belongs to a sanctuary and sacrificial system that was a conditional promise to Israel, not a description of the New Jerusalem nor a system to be restored in the future, and its intended application was before Christ when the types would meet their antitype. That restoration was forfeited through unfaithfulness, the sanctuary was never built because Israel did not yield to God and repent, and its prescribed typical sacrifices which pointed to Christ and were fulfilled by Him show that it was not a temple God would ordain again.

When Christ was crucified and ascended the law of the priesthood changed so that Levi is no longer priest. Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchisedek, with an unchangeable priesthood that does not pass from one to another, and He is the great High Priest. His priesthood and the everlasting gospel, which is His gospel, are contemporary, and if an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed, and when His priesthood ends there is no more probation.

Greater Fulfillment in Christ

Because Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly, the temple vision stands also in its spiritual aspect as prophecy of greater things to be done for the people through Christ. The promises concerning the return from Babylon and the rebuilding of the temple were not fulfilled as described because Israel did not repent, and they serve only as a general type of what will be done for the people at the second coming rather than as a detailed prediction of its events.

The vision describes the peaceful condition of the Messiah's kingdom that would have been established gradually on this present earth if the people had yielded fully so that Jehovah would be there among them. Its center is a glorious temple in a restored Jerusalem whose presence would heal all barren land, salt marshes, deserts, and impure waters and give life to all by the water of life. Under the power of righteousness the wild beasts would be made mild, so that even the smallest infant would be safe at the hole of the basilisk or adder. That temple was never built and never will be built for a half-hearted people to dishonor, so the temple built at the restoration fell far short of the pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom its keepers rejected.

Wherein the promise failed for old earthly Jerusalem then, it will be grandly and more gloriously realized for the true Israel of God. The city shown during the Babylonian captivity would have been built if all Israel had responded to the calls to leave Babylon, but because Israel failed to do its part it was never built, and God's unchanging purpose will instead provide a holy city prepared in heaven to descend to earth. The offered restoration of Palestine and the sanctuary with the division of the land would have brought unsurpassable glory with lengthened life, a true-hearted people, character taking hold upon the animals themselves, and the constant manifest presence of God in His holy mountain where nothing would hurt or destroy. Because those conditions were not met the fulfillment was only weak and in small part, reduced to the smaller temple built by Zerubbabel with only a faint reflection of the promised glory in later prosperity. It will be fulfilled under far greater conditions with much of the former local detail eliminated, in the new heaven and new earth and the New Jerusalem with events connected with Christ's second coming, leaving absolute joy and peace and harmony among all creatures. There the Spirit of absolute peace will preside over all nature so that no harm would come to the feeblest even if serpents and children were present. The future glory and immortal inheritance promised to the faithful will instead be fulfilled in the way described in later revelations.

The closing nineteen chapters have been called on to decide the reign of Christ, the inheritance of the saints, and the return of the Jews to special national favor in the Christian dispensation. The chapter has been cited as seeming to predict the building of the greater temple later restored by Herod, though the prophecy does not reveal how the work would be carried out and its circumstances are secondary to the prophecy itself.