Ezekiel 45:21, commentary and pictures

In its plain sense it appoints the Passover for the fourteenth day of the first month and orders a seven-day feast in which only unleavened bread is eaten. It belongs to the pattern of city, sanctuary, offerings and division of the land held out to Israel while in Babylonian captivity. That restoration was conditional on repentance and obedience, but Israel did not turn from sin and only about forty thousand returned, so the city and sanctuary described were never erected. The Levitical rites and Passover were types and shadows pointing forward to Christ's atonement, and were nailed to the cross and are no longer in force. To restore that sanctuary and offer its sacrifices again would make Christ's once-for-all sacrifice void, while what failed for earthly Jerusalem will be more gloriously realized to the true Israel of God in the new heaven and new earth.

Passover Ordinance and Context

Ezekiel 45:21 fixes the Passover to the fourteenth day of the first month and appoints a seven-day feast during which unleavened bread is eaten. That seven-day observance is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, set within the sanctuary order alongside the other appointed feasts of verses 21-25.

The verse belongs to the vision and pattern of the city, sanctuary, offerings, and division of the land in Ezekiel 36 to 48, especially Ezekiel 40 to 48. It is part of the new sanctuary with its glory, its offerings, and its service, including Levites serving as priests. That whole vision was given as God's offer to Israel while in Babylonian captivity, proposing restoration to their own land with a city and temple under circumstances of wonderful glory.

The vision beginning in Ezekiel 40 covers the same period and represents the same purposes of God toward Jerusalem as Zechariah 2, and the two are counterparts to be studied together.

Its setting is a proposed restoration involving literal Israel and the Levitical sacrificial system under the Mosaic and ceremonial dispensation then in force. It does not belong to the immortal state or to the gospel dispensation, but to the time then present before Christ came, when the types met their antitype. The Passover and seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread prescribed there belonged to the ordinances in force then for the sanctuary's appointed time.

The verse is one of several allusions in that offer to the festivals of the Hebrews, standing alongside allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord.

Conditional Promise Not Fulfilled

The restoration offered in Ezekiel 36 to 48, including the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month with seven days of unleavened bread, was conditional on Israel repenting, putting away wickedness and sin, becoming ashamed of iniquities, yielding to God in faith and obedience, returning wholeheartedly from Babylonian captivity, and coming up to the full measure of children of God. It was a temple prophecy with its ceremonies, rites, offerings, city, sanctuary, and division of the land that would have been fulfilled literally and in fullest detail during the Mosaic dispensation and in the restoration from captivity after the seventy years in Babylon if those conditions had been met. In a spiritual sense it also stood as a prophecy of greater things God would do for His people through Christ.

Israel did not meet the conditions, did not turn from sins, was not ashamed of iniquities, would not yield all to God, and did not fulfill what was required when the decree for restoration went forth. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, so the city and sanctuary described were never erected, the promised restoration was not fulfilled as described, and the offered glory was never inherited. Because fleshly Israel did not yield in shame and full repentance, God could not come in and dwell among them and could not build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor.

What was built after Babylon was only a feeble, lesser shadow of the pattern, only a small fulfillment after the return, with only the broad general promises fulfilled and not the details. The temple erected by Zerubbabel had only a shadow of the greatness described by Ezekiel and fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern, never seeing the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ. The greater fulfillment is connected with Christ's second coming and surrounding events without requiring the local conditions of Ezekiel's time.

The detailed prescriptions, including the sanctuary with its appointed Passover feast, its attendant sacrifices and feasts, and its Levite priests, were never built in any period after the opening of the Christian dispensation and will never be fulfilled literally in those details. No such city or sanctuary stands today, and a literal Passover feast with animal sacrifices can never be renewed. The ordinances have been proposed as future practices during Christ's reign and the future reign of Christ and his saints as a return to the first covenant's ordinances, but the prophecy does not belong to that future.

In its fullness the offer would have gathered all scattered people, brought them back to the mountains of Israel, dwelt among them with surpassing glory, built a new and far greater sanctuary, given a new division of the land, manifested glory among the nations in their sight, given victory and subjection of enemies, resurrection of the righteous dead, and healing power upon the land. The promised presence declaring Jehovah is there would have healed all barren land, deserts, salt marshes and salt lands, and impure waters by the water of life and given life to all. The peaceful condition of the Messiah's kingdom thus established gradually on this earth in its present condition would have included lengthened life, wild beasts made mild under righteousness, character taking hold upon the animals themselves, the smallest infant safe on the hole of the basilisk or adder, and absolute peace and harmony among all creatures with nothing to hurt or destroy in the holy mountain.

Shadows Ended in Christ

The Levitical rites with the Passover and its other offerings belonged only to the time then present as types and shadows pointing forward to Christ's atonement. They met their antitype before Christ came, when the one sufficient offering for sins was made and did not need to be repeated. After the reality has been fulfilled God cannot return to those typical sacrifices that pointed to Jesus in His suffering.

Those ordinances belonged to the dispensation in which the sanctuary was offered, to the Mosaic dispensation and the sanctuary order that would have been realized if Israel had accepted the offer. They were among the ordinances then in force for the sanctuary's appointed times, including the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month with the seven-day feast of unleavened bread. They were later nailed to the cross and are no longer in force.

When Christ was crucified and ascended the law of the priesthood changed, so Levi is no longer priest. Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchisedec, with an unchangeable priesthood that does not pass from one to another. He is the great High Priest, and His priesthood and the everlasting gospel which is His gospel are contemporary. When His priesthood ends there is no more probation, so no other gospel with a different priesthood can be accepted.

The sanctuary and its sacrifices cannot now be restored or offered again. To renew a literal Passover feast with animal sacrifices would make Christ's once-for-all offering void and of no effect, build again the things destroyed, and return from sunlight to shadow. The blood of bulls and goats is no longer acceptable even as a type, and offering sacrifices again would annul Christ's offering by dying upon the cross. The prescribed sacrifices show this is not a sanctuary God would ordain again, so that temple never will be built.

What failed for old earthly Jerusalem will be grandly and more gloriously realized to the true Israel of God in Christ. Since fleshly Israel was unwilling and did not yield, the detailed prescriptions will never be fulfilled literally in those details, with former details eliminated, but the broad general promises and the greater things God would do for His people through Christ stand in a spiritual sense. Their greater fulfillment is connected with Christ's second coming and the events surrounding it and does not require the local conditions of Ezekiel's time. God will fulfill His promises to His people in Christ in the new heaven and new earth and the New City that awaits the true Israel, with future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance given to the faithful in fullest measure according to later revelations.