Ezekiel 45:22, commentary and pictures

Upon that day the prince prepares a bullock for a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land, with other offerings for himself as well, as part of the sanctuary service in the pattern shown to Israel with its holy places including a most holy place expressly called the sanctuary. Because he must make an offering for his own sin, he is a sinful mortal ruler needing atonement, having sons and subject to rebuke and limits against oppression, and is therefore not Jesus Christ, who is sinless, needs no offering for himself, and is himself the sin offering for the world. The offering belongs to the Levitical sacrificial system of the first covenant in force in the Mosaic dispensation, when animal offerings were offered and the sons of Levi served as priests, pointing to Christ the great sin offering, and its feasts, offerings, and ordinances were for the time then present and were done away at the cross when the types met their antitype. The whole offer in Ezekiel 36 to 48 of a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem was conditional on Israel becoming ashamed for iniquities and returning wholeheartedly to God, but because Israel did not truly repent and only about forty thousand answered the call to leave Babylon, the offered glory was never inherited and the temple was never built as described. The literal details will never be fulfilled or built in the present age or the world to come, for the priesthood changed when Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchizedek and renewing thousands of animal sin offerings would make His offering once for all of none effect, so the chapters stand as a prophecy fulfilled only in broad outline in greater things the Lord will do for the true Israel, grandly realized in the New City and the earth made new.

The Prince's Sin Offering

Upon that day the prince is to prepare a bullock as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. He is commanded to prepare other kinds of offerings for himself as well, as part of the sanctuary service in the sanctuary shown to Israel. That service belongs to the worship envisioned for Israel's restored land on the appointed day. It is part of another sanctuary pattern given to offer to Israel, a building with holy places including a most holy place of specified size expressly called the sanctuary. That sanctuary and its worship belonged to the promised restoration, which depended on Israel's obedience, and because Israel failed to meet the conditions the promises received only a feeble fulfillment.

Because the prince must make an offering for his own sin, he is a sinful mortal ruler needing atonement for himself. He has sons and is subject to the vision's other duties, limits, rebuke, and prohibition of oppression. He is therefore not Jesus Christ, who is sinless, needs no offering for himself, is himself the sin offering for the world, and has done away with such offerings. To apply this prince to Christ is wrong, for Christ needs no offering for Himself and has done away with such offerings for Himself. Hence the prophecy does not describe the future reign of Christ and His saints in the world to come, where those accounted worthy neither marry nor die, nor the age to come when Christ is Prince and Shepherd and death is unknown.

The offering belongs to the Levitical sacrificial system of the first covenant in force in the Mosaic dispensation, when animal offerings were offered and the sons of Levi served as priests. Its feasts, offerings, and ordinances were for the time then present, instructions for Israel's feasts and offerings that would have been in force if the twelve tribes had accepted the offered blessings. They pointed to Christ the great sin offering, and the temple sacrifices belong to the period before Christ when the types met their antitype. They were done away at the cross and do not describe a future restoration of that system after Christ's atonement and heavenly ministry have ended, nor provide a basis for renewed sin offerings after Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. Since the blood of bulls and goats is no longer acceptable even as a type, the prophecy cannot be fulfilled in the future through animal sacrifices.

Conditional Promise to Israel

Ezekiel 45:22 belongs to the sanctuary, city, land, temple, offerings, glory, and division of the land set forth in Ezekiel 36 to 48. It is part of another sanctuary pattern offered to the house of Israel in exile after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, while captive in Babylon, as an offer to restore them to their own land and to their land's mountains with a city and temple under circumstances of wonderful glory. The building has holy places including a most holy place of specified size and is expressly called the sanctuary, and its provision that the prince prepare a bullock for a sin offering for himself and the people shows it included animal sin offerings for a time when those sacrifices were in force. It was a pattern for a glorious, grand and magnificent temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem, ultimately meant to become a house of prayer for all nations, teaching that Jehovah is there to heal barren land, salt marshes, and impure waters and give life.

The whole offer was conditional, and would have been literally fulfilled if Israel had met God's conditions. It depended on Israel's faithfulness, on becoming ashamed for iniquities, repenting, turning from iniquity, returning wholeheartedly and obediently to God, putting aside sins, yielding fully to God, and coming up to the full measure of children of God. Whether they became ashamed determined the outcome, and the test came when the decree of Cyrus for restoration gave all who chose the opportunity to go up. Since they were unwilling, the chapters stand as a prophecy, in their spiritual aspect, of greater things the Lord will do for His people through Christ.

If Israel had complied, God would have gathered all the scattered people from the nations, restored them to the mountains of Israel, dwelt among them with glory never before seen, and manifested His glory in them before the nations. He would have built a new and far greater sanctuary including its sin-offering service, given them victory over enemies, and given unsurpassable glory to restored Palestine. That glory included lengthened life and a true-hearted people whose character would affect even the animals, and the manifest presence of God constantly dwelling among them so that nothing would hurt or destroy in His holy mountain. The chapters of that offer contain several allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews.

Because Israel was not ashamed, did not truly and fully repent, disregarded the conditions, continued in apostasy, and failed to do its part and answer the calls to leave Babylon, the offered glory was never inherited. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, so the promises in their fullness were not realized and the temple was never built or erected as described. It received only a feeble, limited, small-part fulfillment in the lesser temple built by Zerubbabel, a lesser shadow far short of Ezekiel's pattern in which the temple vision dwindled to the smaller temple. That temple never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom its keepers rejected.

No Future Literal Fulfillment

No such city or sanctuary stands today, and the commanded bullock for a sin offering has never been literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled as described. The offering is therefore not to be read as a prediction of a sanctuary to be constructed later, and the prophecy does not belong to the present age or to the future reign of Christ and His saints in the world to come where those accounted worthy neither marry nor die. It does not describe the age to come, when Christ is Prince and Shepherd and death is unknown, but concerned conditions in the past Mosaic dispensation when animal offerings and the Levitical priesthood were in force. That this prince must offer for his own sin as well as for the people shows him to be a mortal ruler needing atonement for himself, subject to other duties, limits and rebuke, and not Jesus in an immortal reign, who is Himself the sin offering for the world. The whole prophecy of Ezekiel 36 to 48 was given to Israel then and there for fulfillment in the restoration from captivity at the end of the seventy years in Babylon if Israel had yielded fully to God, and because God's people were not ashamed and did not truly and fully repent, its literal details will never be fulfilled. Its promises will be fulfilled to the true Israel not according to those literal details or local conditions but only in broad outline according to later revelations, with future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance given to the faithful in the fullest measure.

The temple of Ezekiel 40 to 48 is not to be built in any period after the opening of the Christian dispensation. That temple requires Levites and sons of Levi to serve as priests, but when Christ was crucified and ascended the law of the priesthood changed, Levi ended as priest, and Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. His priesthood is unchangeable and does not pass from one to another, and it lasts as long as probation lasts, contemporary with the everlasting gospel of which Christ as great High Priest is the center, so that restoring the service would be preaching another gospel. Christ's death fulfilled all sacrifices, and the blood of bulls and goats is no longer acceptable even as a type. The described sanctuary was never built because Israel did not yield to God's plan and did not repent and turn from iniquity, receiving only a lesser, feeble realization in the temple erected by Zerubbabel, and it will never be built since Christ's sacrifice fulfilled the typical sacrifices it described.

Renewing the sacrifices of thousands of sheep and oxen would make the offering of Christ once for all of none effect, void, ineffective and annulled. It would be building again things destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow. The very fact that the envisioned temple prescribes animal sin offerings for prince and people shows it is not a future sanctuary God would ordain again, and offering sacrifices now would annul Christ's offering. This offering belonged to the sacrificial system of the first covenant for the time then present, shadowing forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ the great sin offering, and it provides no basis for renewed sin offerings after His once-for-all sacrifice. The sanctuary and its sacrifices belonged to a provisional, conditional promise to Israel that was never fulfilled because they continued in apostasy, so the prescribed offering does not describe a sanctuary to be built in the future and cannot be restored as a substitute for Christ's sacrifice.

Broader Spiritual Fulfillment

Ezekiel 45:22 belongs to the description of a conditional temple with its ceremonies and offerings, promised to Israel if they returned wholeheartedly from the Babylonian captivity and yielded fully to God at the end of the seventy years. Since they were unwilling and were not ashamed of their sins and did not truly and fully repent, the temple was never rebuilt as described and the literal details of Ezekiel 36 to 48 will never be fulfilled. In their spiritual aspect those chapters stand as a prophecy of greater things the Lord will do for His people through Christ. Their promises are fulfilled only in broad outline in God's final work for the true Israel, not according to literal details or every detail but according to later revelations, with future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance given to the faithful in the fullest measure.

Wherein the prophecy failed for old earthly Jerusalem then, it will be grandly realized in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God. The vision from Ezekiel 40 onward covers the same period and represents the same purposes of God toward Jerusalem as Zechariah 2, is its counterpart, and should be studied together with it. The unsurpassable glory once offered to restored Palestine, with lengthened life, a true-hearted people whose character would affect even the animals, and the manifest presence of God dwelling constantly among them so that nothing would hurt or destroy in His holy mountain, was conditional and was not fulfilled then because Israel did not accept the conditions. It will be fulfilled under far greater conditions with much of the former detail eliminated, leaving for the new earth state absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures. The temple vision dwindled for that time to the smaller temple built by Zerubbabel, and the promised kingdom was not fulfilled in the earth's present condition, but its peace will be realized more gloriously in the earth made new and in the glory of Christ's second coming, though not through the local conditions described in Ezekiel's day.