Ezekiel 46:2, commentary and pictures

The verse shows the prince coming in through the porch of the outer gate, standing by its post while the priests make ready his burnt offering and peace offering, bowing in worship at the threshold and then going out, with the gate left open until evening. It belongs to the temple vision of Ezekiel 40-48, which set a glorious cleansed sanctuary at the center of a restored Jerusalem to hold the presence of God called Jehovah-shammah. That sanctuary was offered to captive Israel on condition of shame for sin and turning from iniquity, and because the people did not meet it the house described was never built and never will be. Its burnt offerings and peace offerings belonged to the time when the Levitical priesthood and animal sacrifices were in force as types of Christ's atonement, and they cannot be renewed after His once-for-all sacrifice without making that sacrifice void; the prince himself, needing a sin offering for himself and living under marriage and death, was a frail mortal ruler before Messiah came, not Jesus in His future glory. The gate standing open until evening shows the day ending at sunset from which Sabbath time is reckoned, while in its spiritual aspect what failed for earthly Jerusalem will be grandly realized for the true Israel in the new heavens and new earth.

Worship at the Gate

The prince comes in by way of the porch of the outer gate and takes his place beside the post of the gate while the priests make ready his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and there at the threshold of the gate he bows in worship before going out again, with the gate left open until the evening. That prescribed entrance and service shows a ruler appointed to stand before Israel until the Messiah should come, and the whole order of sacrifices and oblations and priesthood as of old belongs to the time before the Messiah came. The sanctuary service so described was offered to Israel in the past but was never built because the people did not meet its conditions, and its sacrifices are not acceptable under the present dispensation. The prophecy seems to predict the building of a greater temple, though it does not explain how that building would be carried out.

The verse belongs to the temple vision of Ezekiel 40-48, also described as Ezekiel 36-48 and Ezekiel 40-46, setting forth a city and sanctuary with prince and priests and sacrifices, together with the division of the land and the future kingdom of God and the Messiah's peaceful kingdom on earth as it then was. Its sacrificial system was part of a conditional promise to Israel, not a system to be restored after Christ's heavenly ministry has ended, but types pointing forward to Christ's atonement. Had the conditions been met it would have been fulfilled literally in the Mosaic dispensation when circumcision and divorce and distinction in meats and offerings of beasts and the Jubilee and the Levitical priesthood were in force. It was never built and never will be built because it was offered on condition that Israel be ashamed of their iniquities and put them away, which Israel did not do, and it does not describe the future glorified state, since there Christ is Prince and Shepherd over Israel while the prince here is a poor frail mortal who must offer a sin offering for himself, and its regulations assume marriage and divorce and widowhood and death which will be unknown in the age to come.

Within the offer God made to the Hebrews while captive in Babylon to restore them to their own land and give them again a city and a temple under circumstances of wonderful glory, the verse stands among several allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews. That offered glory was never inherited by them because the condition of the offer was disregarded. It is one of three mentions of the Sabbath in Ezekiel 46, and Ezekiel and Amos are the only other Old Testament books that speak of the Sabbath.

The vision presents a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem, a new city grander than old Jerusalem with a temple finer than Solomon's, cleansed of commercialism and unholiness, to hold the Shekinah glory of God's presence. Its teaching is that Jehovah is there, whose presence would bring healing and life to barren land and salt marshes and impure waters. Jerusalem was never restored in this way and the temple was never built because Israel would not yield fully to God and put away their sins and be ashamed of all they had done, so God could not dwell among them, and the later temple built after the return from Babylon fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern. That grand temple at Jerusalem would ultimately be a house of prayer for all nations, and wherein the promise failed for old earthly Jerusalem it will be grandly realized in the New City for the true Israel of God whose name is Jehovah is there, after four hundred years without prophet or inspired record until John and the Gospel of the Son of God.

Conditional Promise to Israel

The sanctuary, city, and restoration set forth in Ezekiel 40-48 were offered to Israel while captive in Babylon on the condition that the people be ashamed of their iniquities, recognize and turn from their sins, and put them away. Because Israel did not meet that condition and continued in apostasy, the sanctuary described was never built and never will be built. The detailed plan of sanctuary, city, and land division would have been fulfilled literally if they had met his conditions. The vision was given to call Israel to repentance, but because they did not turn, the promised restoration and temple were not fulfilled for them.

Because the people failed, the promises received only a feeble, partial, lesser-shadow fulfillment in the temple built by Zerubbabel after the return from Babylon. That later temple fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and was far inferior to Solomon's temple. The return involved only about forty thousand people, fewer than fifty thousand, while their northern foes persecuted them instead of being destroyed. Jerusalem was never restored in the glorious way described, because Israel would not yield fully to God so that God could dwell among them. That partial return pointed to a greater fulfillment in the glory of Christ's second coming and related events, not to a return of the local conditions described in Ezekiel's day.

Had the conditions been met the details would have been fulfilled literally in the Mosaic dispensation when circumcision, divorce, distinction in meats, offerings of beasts, the Jubilee, and the Levitical priesthood were in force. That fulfillment would have gathered scattered Israel home to their own land with sins forgiven, new hearts given, waste cities built up, and Israel and Judah joined in one nation under the seed of David. It would have included destruction of northern foes, resurrection, subjection of enemies, healing power, lengthened life, and God's glory resting on the city called Jehovah-shammah. The promise centered in the sanctuary and division of the land was of unsurpassable and inconceivable glory for restored Palestine, with the character of a true-hearted people taking hold upon the animals and the manifest presence of God constantly seen with no hurt nor destroying in all His holy mountain.

Sacrifices Ended at Christ

The burnt offerings and peace offerings prepared by the priests for the prince, including offerings made by the sons of Levi, show that this sanctuary belonged to a time when sacrificial worship and the Levitical priesthood were in force under the first covenant and the Mosaic dispensation. Those offerings are not acceptable under the present dispensation or after Christ's sacrifice. The vision's sacrificial system was part of a conditional promise to Israel, not a system to be restored after Christ's heavenly ministry has ended. Because the people continued in apostasy its promises were only weakly realized in the temple built by Zerubbabel, and its sanctuary was never built and never will be built.

The offerings were types and shadows pointing forward to Christ's atonement and to Christ as the great sin offering and great High Priest. They cannot mean that animal sacrifices will be renewed, because Christ's offering was once for all and the earlier offerings were shadows pointing to him. To continue or renew them now would annul and make void the sacrifice Christ offered. If they were renewed, they would imply another Messiah to atone for sins after his one sacrifice, and though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed.

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 Melchisedek with an unchangeable priesthood which passes not from one to another. When his priesthood ends there is no more probation, and that priesthood and the everlasting gospel are contemporary, for Christ is the great High Priest and the gospel is his gospel. That temple with its service was therefore not to be built in any period after the opening of the Christian dispensation and is never to be built.

The prince's required offerings for himself, including a sin offering and various burnt and peace offerings, show that he is a poor frail mortal ruler, not Jesus. The sacrifices belong to a setting in which the Levitical priesthood and animal offerings were in force, not to Christ's future reign or the gospel age, and they belong to the Mosaic system that ended at Christ's death. The vision does not describe the future glorified state, for there Christ is Prince and Shepherd over Israel, while its regulations assume marriage, divorce, widowhood and death which will be unknown in the age to come. Had the conditions been met it would have been fulfilled in the Mosaic dispensation when circumcision, divorce, distinction in meats, offerings of beasts, the Jubilee and the Levitical priesthood were in force.

The prince's prescribed entrance by the way of the porch of the outer gate, standing by the post of the gate while the priests prepare his offerings, worshiping at the threshold and then going forth, show that he was to stand before Israel until the Messiah came. With its sacrifices and oblations and priesthood as of old the whole order belonged to the time before Messiah came.

Sabbath Timing and Worship

The leaving of the gate unshut until the evening shows that the Sabbath ended at evening and the working days began then. This proves that the day ends at sunset and that time is reckoned from sunset, so that the Sabbath must be begun and ended at sunset.

The chapter distinguishes the Sabbath from the six working days. The Sabbath is included in the worship of the new temple as a time for worship with prescribed offerings, with the priests preparing offerings and the prince worshiping at the gate.

Those who held it taught that the preparing by the priests of burnt offerings and peace offerings for the prince to worship with at the threshold of the gate on the seventh-day Sabbath shows that sacrifices belonged to the seventh-day Sabbath not excepted. Since all those sacrifices pointed forward to the one great sacrifice and great high priest, the seventh-day Sabbath is a shadow of things to come whose body is Christ, and like all Sabbaths made and blessed and sanctified by God it reaches to Christ the substance and then terminates. On the opposite reading, the mention of offerings made on the Sabbath does not show that the seventh-day Sabbath was ceremonial.

Future Spiritual Fulfillment

The temple arrangement with its sacrifices will never be fulfilled literally in the form described, and not every detail as written will occur. The promises concerning true Israel will still be fulfilled in the future, but according to later revelations rather than the specific details of Ezekiel 46 or Ezekiel 39, and the faithful will receive the promised immortal inheritance. That temple with its service, in which Levite priests prepare the prince's offerings, was not to be built in any period after the opening of the Christian dispensation and is never to be built. Its fulfillment in the form described depended on Israel yielding to God and meeting the conditions of faith, obedience, acceptance, repentance and shame for iniquity, and because Israel failed to repent fully it was never built. 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 Melchisedek with an unchangeable priesthood which passes not from one to another. When the priesthood of Christ ends there is no more probation, and that priesthood and the everlasting gospel are contemporary, for Christ is the great High Priest and the gospel is His gospel, and though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed.

In its spiritual aspect the vision stands as a prophecy of greater things the Lord would do for His people through Christ. It was a conditional promise of a temple with its ceremonies, rites, offerings, worship and sacrifices, a new division of the land, resurrection, subjection of enemies and healing power, offered to Israel if they returned wholeheartedly from the Babylonian captivity, put away wickedness and were ashamed of iniquities. Because Israel was unwilling, was not ashamed and did not put away iniquities, the glorious temple described was never built and the sanctuary was never rebuilt in greater glory as part of Israel's restoration. Only a temple with a shadow of its greatness was erected by Zerubbabel, a smaller temple that was only a partial fulfillment and a faint counterpart to the vision. That temple with its sacrifices never will be built, because the death of Jesus Christ on the cross fulfilled all sacrifices, whose typical offerings pointed forward to Christ.

All those promises are faintly typical of what God will restore in the new heavens and new earth by His mighty power, faintly typifying God's general promises to His people at the second coming. The prophecy points to a greater fulfillment in the glory of Christ's second coming and related events, not to a return of the local conditions described in Ezekiel's day and not in every detail. Wherein it failed for old earthly Jerusalem it will be grandly realized under far greater conditions in the New City for the true Israel of God, with more or less of the former detail eliminated. There it will leave absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures.

That promised glory was centered in the sanctuary and the division of the land, with unsurpassable and inconceivable glory for restored Palestine and the Jews. It presented a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem, teaching that Jehovah is there, with God's glory resting on the city called Jehovah-shammah and His manifest presence constantly seen with no hurt nor destroying in all His holy mountain. His presence would bring healing and life to barren land, salt marshes and impure waters, with healing power, lengthened life, and the character of a true-hearted people taking hold upon the animals themselves. It belonged to what God would have done if scattered Israel had fully complied with His conditions after being gathered home to their own land, with sins forgiven, new hearts given, waste cities built up, Israel and Judah joined in one nation under the seed of David, and northern foes destroyed. Because Israel failed and did not comply, Jerusalem was never restored in this way, the promise received only the feeblest fulfillment with fewer than fifty thousand returning and a temple far inferior to Solomon's and far short of Ezekiel's pattern, while their northern foes persecuted them instead of being destroyed.

The prophecy is cited as seeming to predict the building of a greater temple, though it does not explain how that building would be carried out. Its prophetic pattern includes a prince entering through the outer gate, standing at its post while the priests prepare offerings, worshiping at the threshold, and then departing while the gate remains open until evening.