Ezekiel 45:25, commentary and pictures

In its plain sense it appoints a seven-day feast beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, with sin offering, burnt offering, grain offering and oil of the same kinds as at the Passover, which is the Feast of Tabernacles under the Mosaic ordinances. It belongs to the sanctuary, city, land division, offerings and glory shown in Ezekiel 40-48 as what God was prepared to do for Israel at the restoration from captivity. That sanctuary, city, return, new temple, victory and manifest glory were offered on condition of shame for iniquity, full repentance, faith and obedience, and if met would have been literally fulfilled then with worship and offerings by the sons of Levi. Israel did not meet the conditions and only about forty thousand returned, so that temple was never built, that Jerusalem was never thus restored, and the feast ordinance as written will never be fulfilled literally. Its animal offerings belonged to the Mosaic dispensation, were nailed to the cross and only shadowed the one effectual offering of Jesus Christ, so to renew them would make His once-for-all sacrifice of none effect. What failed for old earthly Jerusalem will be grandly realized for the true Israel of God in greater spiritual things through Christ, with the holy city, new heavens and new earth, divine presence and full joy and peace.

Feast and Sanctuary Setting

Ezekiel 45:25 belongs to the temple and its service, city, land division, offerings and glory set forth in Ezekiel 40-48, shown to Israel in captivity as what God was prepared to do for the restoration. It describes sacrifices and offerings appointed for the seven-day feast of the seventh month in the sanctuary envisioned in those chapters, placing that feast and its offerings within the instructions for the old sanctuary service. That sanctuary plan with its feast offerings belonged to a system in which Levites serve as priests and to the time then present when animal offerings and the Levitical priesthood were in force.

It prescribes a seven-day feast beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, with sin offering, burnt offering, grain or meat offering and oil. The worship proposed for that sanctuary included the same kinds of offerings at this feast as at the Passover feast, and it is identified as the Feast of Tabernacles. The feast and its offerings belonged to the Mosaic ordinances and to the past dispensation.

The vision beginning in Ezekiel 40 and continuing 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 verse stands among several allusions in that offer to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews. It belongs to Ezekiel's detailed description of a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem after the exile, a temple that would ultimately be the house of prayer for all nations.

The pattern gives another sanctuary offered to Israel with holy places of stated sizes, and the word sanctuary is applied to it a stated number of times. That offer was made to the house of Israel where they then were, connected to how many of Israel could have gone up if they had chosen when the decree for Israel's restoration went forth and to the scriptures where the decree of Cyrus is found. The closing chapters predict the building of a greater temple, and the circumstances of its construction are secondary to the prophecy itself.

Conditional Promise Forfeited

The sanctuary, city, restoration from Babylon at the end of the seventy years, return of the twelve tribes and scattered people to the mountains of Israel, new temple, new division of the land, victory over enemies, and manifest glory with dwelling among them greater than ever seen were offered on condition that Israel become ashamed of iniquities, put away lewdness and wickedness, repent fully in shame and full repentance, yield in faith and obedience, return wholeheartedly, put aside sins and come up to the measure of children of God. If they had met the conditions the promises and figures of the final chapters would have been literally fulfilled then, including worship in that sanctuary and offerings by the sons of Levi with the city and sanctuary built and the appointed feast offerings and ceremonies, rites and sacrifices performed. That sanctuary plan in Ezekiel 40-48 with its seven-day feast in the seventh month was therefore provisional and conditional, belonging to the Mosaic dispensation when animal offerings and the Levitical priesthood were in force.

Israel did not meet the conditions but remained in apostasy, disregarded the offer, did not yield and truly repent, did not respond to the calls to leave Babylon and return wholeheartedly, and only about forty thousand returned from captivity, so the offered glory was never inherited by them and the privileges for old earthly Jerusalem were forfeited. The restoration prepared for after the return from Babylon, to restore them to their land and rebuild the temple, depended on their being ashamed of their iniquities, but they were not, so the promised restoration was never fulfilled in detail. Because Israel after the flesh failed to come up to that standard, what was offered to old earthly Jerusalem was forfeited, though God's plan did not change.

Therefore that temple was never built, that Jerusalem was never thus restored, and no such city or sanctuary stands today. Only a weak shadow and small-measure fulfillment was erected by Zerubbabel, which fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom the temple-keepers rejected. That Jerusalem could not be thus restored and that temple could never be built to fulfill the purpose intended, because Israel would not yield all to God, so God could not come in and dwell among a half-hearted people to dishonor His name.

The detailed feast ordinance as written will never be fulfilled literally as originally offered, and that sanctuary with its sacrifices never will be built literally in any period after the Christian dispensation began. Its detailed fulfillment depended on ancient Israel's faith and obedience, and because Israel did not meet those conditions the sacrifices described will not be fulfilled as originally offered. That sanctuary prophecy, conditional on Israel's acceptance or rejection, was never fulfilled and will never be fulfilled by building that sanctuary.

Sacrifices Ended, Hope Remains

The seven-day feast beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, with its sin offering, burnt offering, grain or meat offering and oil, belonged to the ordinances of the past Mosaic dispensation when animal offerings and the Levitical priesthood were in force. It was in force for the sanctuary Ezekiel described, with the same kinds of offerings as at the Passover feast, and it applied to the time then present before Christ when the types were to meet their antitype. That system was nailed to the cross and abolished there, and it is no longer in force in the present or future dispensation. The temple prophecy was never fulfilled and will never be fulfilled literally, because its promise was conditional on Israel's repentance and obedience which failed.

Its thousands of sheep and oxen and feast offerings only shadowed forth the one effectual offering of Jesus Christ. Types are shadows pointing to a future fact, to meet their antitype before Christ, and to renew them afterward would make Christ's once-for-all offering of none effect. Such renewal would build again what was destroyed, return from sunlight to shadow, imply another sacrifice for sin already atoned for, and make void His sacrifice. This is absurd and impossible, since He ministers in heaven and closes His ministration before His coming with atonement made in fact and remission granted, while in the gospel repentance and confession precede remission.

When Christ was crucified and ascended the law of the priesthood changed, so Levi is no longer priest and Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. He continues ever with an unchangeable priesthood that 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, for Christ is the great High Priest and the gospel is His gospel, so that though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed. If Israel had yielded to God the prescribed offerings and services would still have been performed by the sons of Levi, but Israel did not repent so that sanctuary and its sacrificial system were not established as described.

Despite points of similarity the vision does not describe the New Jerusalem of Revelation, nor the immortal state, nor the gospel dispensation. Nor is it a literal future restoration of ancient Jerusalem with a resumption of the first covenant's offerings in a future age, for that temple is never to be built as a literal temple in any period after the Christian dispensation began. Its sacrifices pointed to Christ's sacrifice offered once for all, and Christ's sacrifice ended the other sacrifices.

God's plan did not change, but what failed for old earthly Jerusalem will be grandly realized for the true Israel of God in the New City that awaits them. The conditional temple with its ceremonies, rites and offerings was promised if they returned wholeheartedly from captivity and put aside sins to come up to the full measure of children of God, yet since they were unwilling it stands as prophecy in its spiritual aspect of greater things God would do through Christ. The detailed feast ordinance will never be fulfilled literally as written, but will be fulfilled to the true Israel not according to those details but according to later revelations, with future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance given to the faithful in fullest measure. It serves as a faint type of God's general promises at the second coming, faintly typical of what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth, including resurrection of the righteous dead, subjection of enemies, healing power upon Palestine and the earth, the holy city prepared in heaven to descend to earth, healing of barren land and waters, lengthened life, mild animals, constant divine presence, and absolute joy, peace and harmony, fulfilled more gloriously with former detail eliminated.