Ezekiel 45:4, commentary and pictures

The holy portion of the land was set apart for the priests who draw near to minister to the Lord, giving them ground for their houses and a holy site for the sanctuary itself. It belonged to the closing prophecies of Ezekiel offering restoration from Babylon, with a new sanctuary, city, division of the land, and surpassing glory, if Israel would be ashamed of iniquity, put it away, and return to God in full obedience. Because the people would not yield, that glory was never inherited and the sanctuary described was never built, being only faintly shadowed in the lesser temple of Zerubbabel's day. It will never be built literally in the future age, for its mortal rulers and thousands of animal offerings belonged to the Mosaic time when the Levitical priesthood was in force, and to renew them now would make void the once-for-all offering of Christ and return from sunlight to shadow. What was promised will be fulfilled not in literal detail but to the true Israel in far greater measure, when God's presence makes all holy and brings life and healing in the New City and the new heavens and new earth at Christ's second coming.

Wording and Context

The holy portion of the land is set apart for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary who come near to minister to the Lord. It provides a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary itself. It is part of the plan for a city and sanctuary with priests serving there.

The word sanctuary is applied to the building shown in Ezekiel's vision. That sanctuary follows a set pattern with a set number of holy places, including a most holy place of a set size. The word sanctuary is applied to it a set number of times.

Its surrounding land provision belongs with the offerings the mortal prince was to present for himself. The chapter holds allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews. In this ordering of priests, sanctuary, houses, and land is seen that God is a God of order.

The verse belongs to the closing prophecies in Ezekiel 36 to 48 and 40 to 48. Those chapters describe in detail a new sanctuary with its offerings and its glory, and the division of the land. They set forth the city and the restoration of Israel. They give a detailed description of a grand and magnificent greater temple.

Conditional Offer to Israel

The holy portion for the priests and for the sanctuary belonged to a sanctuary offered to the house of Israel while they were captives in Babylon and away from their land. It was part of the promised restoration from Babylon after the seventy years captivity, tied to the decree of Cyrus and the calls to leave Babylon and go up. The offer promised return to their own land with a city and a temple at Jerusalem under circumstances of wonderful glory. If Israel had responded to those calls, that Jerusalem and its sanctuary would have been built.

That restoration was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities and putting them away. Fulfillment required forsaking sins, repenting, returning to God wholeheartedly, and yielding to Him in faith and obedience. Because fleshly Israel did not yield in shame and full repentance, the literal detail was forfeited.

Had the conditions been met, the arrangements including the holy portion for the priests and sanctuary would have been fulfilled literally and in fullest literal detail. That fulfillment belonged to the Mosaic dispensation, when the Levitical priesthood with its laws and offerings was in force. It was for the time before Christ when the types met their antitype, with priestly offerings still made by Levi's sons.

What was promised on those terms was establishment of the building and the bringing back of the twelve tribes. It was a peaceful kingdom to be established on earth, giving Palestine and the Jews unsurpassable and inconceivable glory. That glory included lengthened life, a true-hearted people whose character would take hold upon the animals themselves, and the constant manifest presence of God dwelling in His holy mountain where nothing would hurt or destroy.

Failure and Limited Outcome

The holy portion for the priests and for the sanctuary belonged to a vision offered to Israel on conditions, but the conditions were disregarded and the offered glory was never inherited. Because Israel was not ashamed of iniquities, did not put them away, and would not yield fully to God, the restoration described did not take place and the sanctuary described was never built. No such city or sanctuary stands today, for the people refused to turn from their iniquities and to return to God wholeheartedly. What was set forth in Ezekiel 40–48, including a new and larger city and temple and a return to their own land with a city and temple at Jerusalem under circumstances of wonderful glory, therefore was not fulfilled in its details.

Its promises were only faintly, partly, in small part, or in limited fulfillment realized. What was erected instead was the inferior temple built by Zerubbabel under Ezra, only a lesser shadow and with only a shadow of its greatness, far less great and grand than described. Because the people did not meet the conditions God set, only about forty thousand returned from captivity and the promises were not realized in their fullness. The glorious temple with its appointed portion of land for the priests who come near to minister to the Lord, with a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary, would have been far greater and grander and would have been fulfilled more fully if Israel had forsaken sins and returned to God wholeheartedly.

The failure was not because God changed His purpose, but because Israel failed to do its part. The people persisted in apostasy and refused to turn from their iniquities, so the restoration described did not take place. The Jerusalem that would have been built if Israel had responded to the calls to leave Babylon was never built for this same reason.

Impossible Future Literalism

The sanctuary shown here will never be built literally in any future age. It was offered conditionally, requiring Israel to be ashamed of iniquities, put them away, and return to God in faith and obedience. Had those conditions been met it would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail during the Mosaic dispensation, when the Levitical priesthood with its laws and offerings was in force, including the holy portion for the priests with their houses and the holy place for the sanctuary with its attendant sacrifices. Because Israel did not meet the conditions but persisted in apostasy, the glorious temple described was never built, and only a temple bearing a shadow of its greatness was erected by Zerubbabel. God's purpose toward wicked nations and toward the true Israel remains the same under varied times and environment, with true Israel redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance in the earth made new, and with Gog and Magog representing the northern nations punished in part in this world before and at Christ's coming and ultimately at the end of the 1,000 years of Revelation 20.

Its provisions do not belong to Christ's future reign, to the gospel dispensation, to the New Jerusalem, or to an immortal people prepared from all nations. The vision includes mortal rulers and Levitical rites that have no place in either Christ's reign or the gospel setting. It identifies the priests as Levites, not as an immortal people gathered from all nations, and it does not describe a future restoration of the Levitical sacrificial system.

Renewing its thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices would make the offering of Christ once for all of none effect. It would build again what was destroyed and return from sunlight to shadow, making void Christ's sacrifice and annulling God's plan. Christ's death on the cross fulfilled all sacrifices and the types to which they pointed, and His offering was once for all. The offerings belonged to the time then present before Christ, when the types met their antitype, shadowing forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ. For that reason the sanctuary and its old service, including sacrifices and the priests' ministry with the place set apart for them, cannot be built again to fulfill God's design, and the literal temple with its holy division of the land will never be built, though that division faintly foreshadows what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth.

The temple service assigned priestly ministry to the Levites, placing the ministering priests in a holy portion of the land for their homes and for the sanctuary. Christ's death and ascension changed the priesthood. Christ became the everlasting priest after the order of Melchisedek, and the Levitical priesthood no longer serves as the priesthood.

Rejected Future Readings

Some expect the outlined city and sanctuary to be constructed in a future age, with priests serving there upon a consecrated tract set apart for the ministers of the sanctuary and for their houses. The closing chapters of the prophecy are appealed to for a return of the Jews, for an earthly reign of Christ, and for an earthly inheritance of the saints, but they do not teach those things. The saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ, at which time the earth is left desolate. In the Christian dispensation the Lord has no special work for the literal Jews.

Greater Spiritual Fulfillment

Because Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly, the temple arrangement with its holy portion for the priests who minister in the sanctuary, with room for their houses and for the sanctuary itself, was never built in its details and now stands as a spiritual prophecy of greater things God will do for His people through Christ. Though unfulfilled in detail, it faintly typifies God's general promises for His people at the second coming.

The promise will be fulfilled not by its literal details but according to later revelation to the true Israel in the future glory when the faithful receive the fullness of the immortal inheritance in fullest measure. Its purposes will be realized in the New City and in what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth. That fulfillment will be more glorious in the new earth, belonging to the glory of Christ's second coming and related events rather than to the local conditions of Ezekiel's day. The peaceful kingdom once offered will thus be established with far greater glory than the shadow erected by Zerubbabel.

It will come under far greater conditions with more or less of the former detail eliminated, leaving for the new earth state absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures. God's purpose toward wicked nations and the true Israel remains the same under varied times and environment, with true Israel redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance and the earth made new. Gog and Magog represent the northern nations punished in part in this world before and at Christ's coming and ultimately at the end of the 1,000 years of Revelation 20. The vision of restored Jerusalem and temple teaches that God's presence makes a place holy and brings life and healing.