Ezekiel 46:13, commentary and pictures

It commands a daily morning burnt offering to the Lord of a year-old lamb without blemish as part of ordered sanctuary worship, belonging to the temple, city and land vision of Ezekiel 40-48 offered to Israel captive in Babylon as the restoration God would have given them.
The whole promise, including this offering, was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities and returning in faith and obedience, but because they continued in apostasy the sanctuary as described was never built and what Zerubbabel built was only a weak faint shadow, and it will never be built literally after the opening of the Christian dispensation.
These animal offerings belonged to the former Mosaic and Levitical dispensation then in force, were shadows pointing forward to Christ that remitted no sin in themselves, and were ended by His once-for-all sacrifice at the cross after which they are no longer acceptable to God.
To renew or repeat them would make His offering of no effect and deny its sufficiency, for the priesthood is now changed to Christ priest forever after the order of Melchisedek, so the verse does not predict a literal restoration of the Levitical system and Jewish priesthood in a future age.
Since Israel was unwilling, the vision stands in its spiritual aspect as a prophecy of greater things God would do through Christ, to be more gloriously realized in the New City for the true Israel of God in the kingdom of Jesus Christ with absolute joy, peace and harmony in the new heavens and new earth.

Conditional Temple Vision

The daily offering commanded is a burnt offering to the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish, to be prepared every morning as part of sanctuary worship, showing God to be a God of order in the daily worship He requires. It belongs to the regular burnt offering of the temple worship, a daily lamb offering at the sanctuary prepared every morning.

The verse belongs to the temple, sanctuary, city and land vision in Ezekiel 40-48, also described as chapters 36-48, with its sanctuary offerings and division of the land. It was offered to Israel while captive in Babylon as the restoration to their own land and again a city and a temple under circumstances of wonderful glory that God would have given them, and would have been literally fulfilled if the people had met His conditions. Within that offer the verse stands with other allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews.

That vision is the counterpart to the vision in Zechariah 2, covering the same period and representing the same purposes toward Jerusalem, and should be studied together with it. It describes a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem where God's presence would bring healing and life, a pattern of unsurpassable and inconceivable glory for Palestine. It belongs to a glorious kingdom with a true-hearted people where life is lengthened, the character of the people takes hold upon the very animals themselves, and the manifest presence of God is constantly seen, so that in His holy mountain where God dwells there is no hurt nor destroying. That detailed vision is of a magnificent temple at Jerusalem, which was to become a house of prayer for all nations.

The whole promise, including this daily morning lamb burnt offering, was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities and putting them away, putting away wickedness and lewdness, returning wholeheartedly from captivity and yielding fully in faith and obedience to God to come up to the full measure of children of God. The sanctuary and city arrangements from Ezekiel 40 onward, with their rites and worship regulations, would have been built and part of that restoration after the return from Babylon if Israel had been faithful. The daily lamb burnt offerings were promised as part of a glorious new temple on those stated conditions.

Because Israel did not meet the condition but continued in apostasy and rejected the offer, the sanctuary and city as described were never built, the offered glory was never inherited, and the vision was not fulfilled in detail. What was built by Zerubbabel was only a weak, faint shadow, far less grand, a temple with only a shadow of its greatness and only a faint beginning of the promised prosperity. The city shown to Ezekiel was never built because Israel failed to do its part in answering the calls to leave Babylon.

The temple as described will never be built literally in any period after the opening of the Christian dispensation or under the local conditions of Ezekiel's day, and its attendant sacrifices will never be fulfilled as described. Its daily burnt offering belonged to a system in which Levites serve as priests, but it was unbuilt and could never be built to fulfill the purpose God intended for it. Some treatments give no separate explanation of this daily offering beyond identifying its setting as the promised larger temple and city Israel would have received, the restoration God would have brought about, and the sanctuary worship God promised Israel in the land if they fulfilled His conditions.

Sacrifices Fulfilled in Christ

The daily lamb with its bull, goat, burnt and sin offerings belonged to the former Mosaic and Levitical dispensation then in force, together with circumcision, divorce, distinction in meats, offerings of beasts, the Jubilee and the Levitical priesthood. The regular burnt offering was part of the sanctuary service described in the vision, and those sacrifices are no longer acceptable after Christ's sacrifice.

The vision itself proves it does not describe the glorified state when Christ is Prince and Shepherd over Israel, for in the age to come marriage and death are unknown, while this vision provides for marriages, divorces, widows and death and presents a poor frail mortal prince offering a sin offering for himself. These animal offerings were shadows pointing forward to Christ, whose offering alone is effective, and in themselves they remitted no sin. Christ's sacrifice ended the sacrificial offerings at the cross by his once-for-all offering of himself, after which burnt offerings and sin offerings are no longer acceptable to God.

Renewing them would make his once-for-all offering of no effect. Repeating sacrifices would deny the sufficiency of Christ's offering, imply another Messiah to atone for sins, and make void the sacrifice Christ offered, for the offerings of the first covenant pointed to Christ as the sin offering. A typical atonement in figure cannot follow after sin was already atoned for in fact and remitted, since the real atonement is made by Christ's ministration in heaven which closes before His coming, and in the gospel repentance and confession must precede remission. When Christ was crucified and ascended the law of the priesthood changed: Levi is no longer priest, and Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchisedek with an unchangeable priesthood that does not pass from one to another. That priesthood of Christ and the everlasting gospel are contemporary and last until probation ends, Christ is the great High Priest and the gospel is his gospel, and any other priesthood or gospel is accursed.

The verse therefore does not predict a literal restoration of the Levitical sacrificial system and Jewish priesthood in a future age, though it is cited as evidence for that age-to-come claim that sacrifices would continue. Had Israel yielded to God and met the conditions, the daily lamb offering it commands would still have been made by the sons of Levi after the sanctuary described there was built. Because Israel did not repent the sanctuary was never built and the offering was never restored, and the command can never in the future be fulfilled literally because the blood of bulls and goats will no longer be acceptable to the Lord even as a type.

Future Hope Foreshadowed

Ezekiel 46:13 does not describe the New Jerusalem of Revelation, nor does it predict a literal restoration of the Levitical sacrificial system and Jewish priesthood in a future age. Such a revival of types is impossible, because the Levitical blood offerings were shadows pointing forward to a future fact and remitted no sin in themselves, while the real atonement is made by Christ's ministration in heaven which closes before His coming. A typical atonement in figure cannot follow after sin was already atoned for in fact and remitted, and in the gospel repentance and confession must precede remission.

Since Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly from captivity and become ashamed of iniquities, the temple vision with its rites and daily offering stands in its spiritual aspect as a prophecy of greater things God would do for His people through Christ. It was not fulfilled in detail but remains a general, imperfect type of what God will do for His people at the second coming.

What failed for old earthly Jerusalem will be grandly and more gloriously realized in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God and in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The future glory and immortal inheritance promised to the faithful will come, but according to later revelations rather than the specific details in Ezekiel 36-48. Because Israel did not fully repent and yield to God, those details with the restored daily lamb burnt offerings will not all be fulfilled as described, and the temple built by Zerubbabel was far less grand with only a faint beginning of the promised prosperity. That temple with its sacrifices will never be built under the local conditions of Ezekiel's day, because Christ's death on the cross fulfilled all sacrifices, and the promise is only faintly typical of what God will restore in the new heavens and new earth by His mighty power. It will be fulfilled under far greater conditions with more or less of the former detail eliminated, leaving absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures in the new earth state, where life is lengthened, no hurt nor destroying is in His holy mountain, and the manifest presence of God is constantly seen.

Within that conditional offer of restoration to land, city and temple under circumstances of wonderful glory, which was forfeited because the condition was disregarded, the daily morning lamb stands with other allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews.