Ezekiel 45:23, commentary and pictures

The verse prescribes for each of the seven days of the feast seven unblemished bulls and seven unblemished rams for burnt offerings and a goat each day for a sin offering. It belongs to the temple vision shown to Israel in Babylonian captivity as a conditional offer of restoration and greater glory if they repented and put away sin. Israel failed to meet the conditions so the temple as described was never built, and what Zerubbabel built was only a faint shadow of the promised pattern. Those animal sacrifices and Levitical services belonged to the former dispensation and ended when Christ offered Himself once for all on the cross, so they do not require sacrifices to be renewed in a future age. What failed for earthly Jerusalem will be grandly realized for the true Israel of God at Christ's second coming and in the new heavens and new earth where God dwells with His people.

Words and Vision Setting

The seven days of the feast required the same daily preparation, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish for burnt offerings and a kid of the goats each day for a sin offering. Those burnt offerings with their daily sin offering belonged to the worship envisioned for the sanctuary, a system in force before Christ and shadowing the one effectual offering of Christ himself offered once for all.

The verse stands within the larger vision of Ezekiel 40-48, the description of a new sanctuary and temple with its service and offerings, its glory, its holy places, its worship arrangements, its city, and the division of the land, in which the Levites serve as priests. It is part of the pattern of a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem, whose great truth is that Jehovah is there to dwell among His people, heal barren land and salt marshes and impure waters, give life to all, give victory over enemies, and manifest His glory in sight of the nations.

That sanctuary and city were offered to Israel while in Babylonian captivity to encourage the captives with the promise of restoration and return to their own land and to the mountains of Israel, and with the promise of what God would do if they fulfilled the conditions. The offer was conditional upon their becoming ashamed for iniquities, putting them away, and returning wholeheartedly, and its meaning turns on whether they became ashamed and how many went up when the decree for restoration went forth.

In that same context the prince must offer a sin offering for himself, which marks him as a frail mortal and not Jesus Christ. In this offer the verse is one of the allusions to the Hebrew festivals, distinct from the allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord, and its regular offerings after the altar purification belong to that promised worship, not to a reference to an eighth day of the week or to the Sabbath.

Conditional Offer to Israel

The sanctuary, city, temple ceremonies, rites, offerings, and restoration promises of Ezekiel 40-48 were offered to Israel on condition that they be ashamed of their iniquities, put away wickedness and sin, repent, return wholeheartedly, and come up to the full measure of children of God. The daily offerings of seven bulls and seven rams as burnt offerings with a goat for a sin offering belong to that conditional sanctuary arrangement and its temple worship. Because Israel did not meet those conditions, that sanctuary with its prescribed offerings was never fulfilled as described and will not be fulfilled in the future as described.

If Israel had complied at the restoration from Babylon, God would have brought back all His scattered people from the nations, restored them to the mountains of Israel, dwelt among them with glory greater than ever seen, built a new and far greater sanctuary with its worship including the seven-day feast offerings, given them victory over enemies, and manifested His glory among His people in sight of the nations. The vision from Ezekiel 40 onward concerning the future of Jerusalem covers the same period and represents the same purposes of God toward Jerusalem as the vision of the man with the measuring line in Zechariah 2, and the two are counterparts to be studied together. The ordinances from Ezekiel 40 onward, including these offerings, were given on that condition of putting aside sins, and the people of that time failed to meet that standard and forfeited the privileges offered.

Israel was unwilling, did not repent or meet the conditions, and failed to respond to the calls to leave Babylon, and only about forty thousand returned, so the city and temple as described were never built. That sanctuary was provisional, intended for the people if they became ashamed of their sins, and because they did not its promises were only partly reflected in what followed. What was built at the restoration from Babylon by Zerubbabel was only a lesser shadow and faint reflection of the promised pattern, far greater than nothing but far short of its greatness and glory. That glory was seen only in the person of Jesus Christ, for the restoration temple never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in Him.

If Israel had been faithful the promises and details would have been literally fulfilled then. Though under greater conditions not every detail would remain in the fulfillment.

End of Sacrificial System

The daily burnt offerings of seven unblemished bulls and seven unblemished rams with a goat for a sin offering on each of the seven days of the feast belonged to the sanctuary system operating under the former and Mosaic dispensation, when offerings of beasts and the Levitical priesthood were in force. Those sacrificial and feast ordinances would have been observed if Israel had accepted the covenant offered to them, but they were no longer in force after Christ's death and after the cross. The sanctuary prophecy was conditional on Israel turning from iniquities, and because Israel did not meet those conditions it was never fulfilled as described and will not be fulfilled in the future. For that reason the vision does not describe the future reign of Christ or the gospel dispensation.

Its application was before Christ, when type met antitype. The sacrifices provided for that temple were fulfilled when Jesus Christ died upon the cross. Because Israel did not repent, the sanctuary and its promised restoration were not built as described, and the offerings are not rites that will be fulfilled in the future, since animal sacrifices can no longer serve even as a type. What was erected by Zerubbabel was only a temple that was a shadow of the greatness described, while all those promises are only faintly typical of what will take place in the new heavens and new earth when God restores His people by His mighty power.

The offerings of the past were for the time then present, shadowing forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ. They belong to the first covenant and point to Christ, the great sin offering, who offered himself once for all. The thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices commanded can never be renewed, because to renew them would make the once-for-all offering of Christ of none effect, make void His sacrifice, build again the things destroyed, and return from sunlight to shadow. That sanctuary was provisional for a people if they became ashamed of their sins, and was only partly reflected in the temple built by Zerubbabel; offering sacrifices now would annul Christ's offering, since Christ fulfilled the types that the sacrifices pointed forward to.

Types are shadows pointing to a future fact, Levitical blood remitted no sin, and the real atonement is made in fact by Christ's heavenly ministration which closes before His coming. A typical atonement afterward for sin already atoned for and remitted would put the figure after the fact and the thing signified after the sign, while repentance and confession must precede remission. The burnt offerings and sin offering for the seven days of the feast therefore cannot be revived after the second advent, nor do they predict the restoration of the Levitical sacrificial system. When Christ was crucified and ascended on high the law of the priesthood changed: Levi is no longer priest, but Christ became a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. His priesthood is unchangeable and does not pass from one to another, and when His priesthood ends there is no more probation; that priesthood and the everlasting gospel are contemporary, and though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed.

What It Does Not Predict

The sanctuary vision to which the seven-day feast with its daily seven unblemished bulls and seven unblemished rams for burnt offerings and its daily goat for a sin offering belongs is a conditional prophecy whose promises have been forfeited, not a description of the New Jerusalem of Revelation. It does not describe the future reign of Christ or the gospel dispensation, for its prescribed animal offerings belonged to a system in force before Christ's sacrifice caused such offerings to cease. Those burnt offerings and sin offerings cannot be revived after the second advent, because types are shadows pointing to a future fact, Levitical blood remitted no sin, and the real atonement is made in fact by Christ's heavenly ministration which closes before His coming. To institute a typical atonement afterward for sin already atoned for and remitted would put the figure after the fact and the thing signified after the sign, while repentance and confession must precede remission.

That temple in which Levites serve as priests was not to be built in any period subsequent to the opening of the Christian dispensation, and no such temple is ever to be built. No such city or sanctuary stands today, so it has not been fulfilled, and it will never be fulfilled literally or as described. When Christ was crucified and ascended on high the law of the priesthood changed, so Levi is no longer priest but Christ became a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec, His priesthood is unchangeable and does not pass from one to another, when His priesthood ends there is no more probation, that priesthood and the everlasting gospel are contemporary, and though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed. The thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices it commands can never be renewed, because to renew them would make the once-for-all offering of Christ of none effect, build again the things destroyed, and return from sunlight to shadow, since the offerings of the past were for the time then present shadowing forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ. That glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem taught that the only holy, worthy thing is that in which God dwells, to lead man to yield himself as a dwelling-place, temple, and sanctuary of God, with the great truth that Jehovah is there, whose presence would heal all barren land, all salt marshes, and all impure waters and give life to all. It was never built and never will be built, because Israel would not yield all to God so He could come in and dwell among them and He could not build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor, and what was built at the restoration from Babylon fell far short of the pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ. The sanctuary prophecy is conditional on Israel's acceptance or rejection and will never be fulfilled as a sanctuary built on earth, for it would have been built if the Jews had repented, its prescribed sacrifices show God did not intend to ordain such a temple again, and Christ fulfilled the types that the sacrifices pointed forward to.

The city and sanctuary vision is not a prediction of the restoration of the Levitical sacrificial system and of the Jewish people in a future age. Its burnt offerings and daily sin offering during the seven days of the feast belong to the first covenant and point to Christ the great sin offering, and they do not require sacrifices to be renewed in a future age because Christ offered Himself once for all. The last nineteen chapters to which the daily offerings belong have been appealed to as proof of the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ, and the inheritance of the saints on earth, a use set against the teaching that the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated.

The daily offerings belong to a detailed description of a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem after exile, which would ultimately become the house of prayer for all nations. The closing chapters are said to predict the building of a greater temple, linked generally to the temple Herod restored.

Greater Future Fulfillment

Because Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly, be ashamed of sins and forsake them, the temple ceremonies, rites and offerings of the seven-day feast were never built as described, and the prophecy in its spiritual aspect points to greater things God will do for His people through Christ. It serves as a faint type of the broad promises He will fulfill at the second coming and in the new heavens and new earth when He restores them by His mighty power. The temple and sanctuary that would have been far greater than what Zerubbabel built was realized only faintly in the restoration, and its greater fulfillment belongs to the glory of Christ's second coming and the events connected with it, not to a return to the local conditions of Ezekiel's time. The conditional promise from Ezekiel 36 onward included resurrection of the righteous dead, subjection of enemies, a new temple, a new division of the land, and the life and healing power of God upon Palestine on condition of putting away wickedness and being ashamed of iniquities.

What failed for old earthly Jerusalem will be grandly realized in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God. The ordinances from Ezekiel 40 onward were given 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 offered. Those wider promises of restoration after Babylonian captivity would have been fulfilled then if Israel had yielded to God, but because of failure the details would not all be fulfilled in that way. The future glory and immortal inheritance will instead be given to the faithful as described in later revelations.

The pattern of the glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem taught that the only holy, worthy thing is that in which God dwells, to lead man to yield himself as a dwelling-place, temple and sanctuary of God. Its great truth is Jehovah is there, whose presence would heal all barren land, salt marshes, deserts and impure waters and give life to all. That describes the Messiah's kingdom as it would have been established gradually on this present earth if the Jews had yielded, with the sanctuary actually built and the wild beasts made mild under righteousness. Because they did not meet the conditions it was not fulfilled then, but it will be fulfilled more gloriously in the earth made new where absolute peace and the Spirit of absolute peace preside over all nature.

The sanctuary and city marked by God's presence were the promised future for a restored Israel. What God would have done at the restoration from Babylon if Israel had complied included bringing back all scattered people from the nations, restoring them to the mountains of Israel, dwelling among them with glory greater than ever seen, building a new and far greater sanctuary with its worship including the seven-day feast offerings, giving victory over enemies, and manifesting His glory among His people in sight of the nations. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, the conditions were not met, and the promises in their fullness were not realized then.