And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.
In its plain setting the verse belongs to the closing vision of a new sanctuary with its offerings, a city, and a redivision of the land among the tribes, where a portion adjoining the Levites is set apart as most holy. It was a gracious and conditional offer to literal Israel under the old covenant, to be fulfilled literally after the return from Babylon if they were ashamed of their iniquities and turned to God in faith and obedience. Because they did not repent but persisted in apostasy, the sanctuary, city, and land allotments as described were never built and never will be. They cannot belong to the gospel age or to the future immortal state, for they involve a mortal prince offering sin-offerings for himself, with divorce, circumcision, clean and unclean meats, bulls and goats, and the Levitical priesthood, all abolished and superseded forever by Christ's one sacrifice and His priesthood after Melchizedek. In its spiritual aspect the unfulfilled promise points to greater things God will do through Christ at His second coming, when true Israel is redeemed to a more glorious and permanent inheritance in the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as capital, teaching that the only holy thing is that in which God dwells.
Vision Setting and Wording
Ezekiel 48:12 belongs to the closing vision of Ezekiel 36-48, especially chapters 40-48, concerning a new sanctuary with its offerings and glory, a city, and the redivision of the land among the tribes, and chapters 45-48 close the prophecy. It belongs to the remarkable sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 and to the description of a temple service in which the Levites have a designated portion of land, with the land adjoining their border called a most holy offering. In that place it is part of a temple system whose animal sacrifices and Levitical arrangement could not be built after the Christian dispensation began, because Christ's priesthood replaced the Levitical priesthood and to restore those sacrifices would return from fulfillment to shadows and make His once-for-all offering ineffective.
The vision was shown among the captives of Israel in B.C. 574, fourteen years after the sanctuary had been destroyed, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588. It was given during the Babylonian captivity to encourage the exiles and to show the pattern to the house of Israel. It was a vision of the future kingdom of God in Ezekiel 40-48, showing what Israel might have received after the captivity if the people had returned in faith.
In that vision the verse calls the land offering beside the Levites' portion a most holy offering, part of a different plan of dividing the land with a designated portion for the Levites and a sacred allocation adjoining their border. It belongs to the promised restoration of Palestine with a sanctuary and ordered division of the land, in which a glorious temple would stand among God's people at the center of a restored Jerusalem, a new and larger city and temple. It shows the peaceful condition of the Messiah's kingdom as it would have been established gradually on this present earth if the Jews had yielded to God, which would ultimately become a house of prayer for all nations. In that fulfillment the sanctuary would have been built, long life, God's constant presence and peace would have prevailed throughout the land, and marshes and deserts and salt lands would have been healed by the water of life while wild beasts grew mild under righteousness so that no harm would come.
The specific details of the verse receive no separate explanation beyond its place in that sacred allocation beside the Levites' border. The prophecy does not reveal the process by which the greater temple work would have been done, and the circumstances of its construction are secondary.
Conditional Offer Left Unbuilt
The sanctuary, city, and division of the land with its most holy oblation beside the Levites' border was a gracious offer to literal Israel under the old covenant, a conditional prophecy to be fulfilled literally at that time after the seventy years and the return from Babylon. The condition stood under the universal rule of Jeremiah 18:8-10, requiring Israel to be ashamed of iniquities, turn from wickedness, repent wholeheartedly, yield to God in faith and obedience, put away sins, and live up to its calling. The temple and land arrangement depended on that turning, and the blessings of Ezekiel 47-48 were held out on those terms.
Because the people did not repent, were not ashamed, rejected and slighted the offer, and persisted in apostasy, the promised restoration, sanctuary, city, and allotments were never built and were never fulfilled as described. That unbuilt sanctuary never was erected, never will be built, and never can be built as written. What was realized was only a weak, small-measure shadow in the inferior temple built by Zerubbabel and Ezra after only about forty thousand returned, which fell far short of the pattern and resulted in a less glorious city and temple. It never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ.
The arrangement was designed for the past dispensation, not for the present dispensation, not for the gospel dispensation, not for a literal city on this sin-cursed earth during Christ's thousand-year reign, and not for the future immortal state. It presents a mortal prince who must offer sin-offerings and all kinds of offerings for himself, take away exactions, have sons and servants to whom he may give an inheritance, be forbidden to oppress the people, while only Jesus shall be King over Israel in the glorified state where officers will be peace and exactors righteousness with no oppression. It belongs with literal circumcision, permission of divorce, distinction of clean and unclean meats, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats, and the Levitical priesthood with its ceremonies, rites, and sacrifices and its designated portion of land. Those were abolished at the first advent and ceased at the cross of Christ the great Sacrifice, superseded by Christ's priesthood after Melchizedek and His more excellent ministry as Mediator of a better covenant by one sacrifice for sins forever. To restore animal sacrifices now would make Christ's once-for-all offering ineffective and return from fulfillment to former shadows, making His reign less glorious than the present dispensation.
The vision therefore does not establish that the New Jerusalem is the city described, that the Jewish people will restore the Levitical sacrificial system, or that a literal city with first-covenant offerings will be built to take the place of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven upon the new earth.
Future Hope and Instruction
Though never built as described, the promise stands in its spiritual aspect as a type to be fulfilled in general rather than in every detail, pointing faintly to greater things God will do for His people through Christ. It belonged to a conditional offer of a new division of the land, temple, city and restoration after the return from Babylon, which depended on Israel turning from wickedness, being ashamed of sins and living up to its calling, and which was not realized for earthly Jerusalem because the people would not return wholeheartedly. What was realized was only a small measure, so the prophecy looks beyond the original local conditions to a greater fulfillment in events connected with Christ's second coming. That future fulfillment is God's restoration of the new heavens and new earth, with the New Jerusalem as its capital, the holy city prepared in heaven descending to earth for God's true Israel in the New City.
Because ancient Israel did not truly repent and yield to God in faith and obedience, the land and inheritance details of Ezekiel 36-48 will never be fulfilled in fullest literal detail, including the building of the temple with its oblation of land and attendant sacrifices. God's purpose toward wicked nations and true Israel remains the same under changed times and surroundings, and the promises to true Israel will instead be fulfilled according to later revelations under greater conditions, though some details will not remain. The true Israel will be redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, even the earth made new, and the faithful will receive future glory and full immortal inheritance. Gog and Magog, representing the northern nations, are punished in part in this world and in full at the end of the 1,000 years, while only about forty thousand returned from captivity and the fuller restoration with a new and greater sanctuary was lost through disobedience.
The allotment of the promised land was designed to teach God's people about their future inheritance and His purpose for the future world. The land given to Israel there was temporary, but the future inheritance is permanent, and the redeemed will enjoy their individual inheritance throughout eternity. The pattern of the glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem shows that Jehovah is there and that the only holy, worthy thing is that in which God dwells, to lead man to yield himself as God's dwelling-place, temple and sanctuary.
As offered, that restoration would have brought long life, God's constant presence and glory dwelling among the people in the marvelous sanctuary, and peace throughout the land. The presence described there would have healed all barren land, salt marshes, deserts and impure waters by the water of life giving life to all. Wild beasts would have grown mild under the power of righteousness so that no harm would come even to the smallest infant and the feeblest, the Spirit of absolute peace presiding over all nature. The northern enemies would have been destroyed by plagues, all enemies far and near conquered, and the faithful in Israel who slept brought back from the dead to be made great on the mountains of Israel and to make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
In its plain setting the verse belongs to the closing vision of a new sanctuary with its offerings, a city, and a redivision of the land among the tribes, where a portion adjoining the Levites is set apart as most holy. It was a gracious and conditional offer to literal Israel under the old covenant, to be fulfilled literally after the return from Babylon if they were ashamed of their iniquities and turned to God in faith and obedience. Because they did not repent but persisted in apostasy, the sanctuary, city, and land allotments as described were never built and never will be. They cannot belong to the gospel age or to the future immortal state, for they involve a mortal prince offering sin-offerings for himself, with divorce, circumcision, clean and unclean meats, bulls and goats, and the Levitical priesthood, all abolished and superseded forever by Christ's one sacrifice and His priesthood after Melchizedek. In its spiritual aspect the unfulfilled promise points to greater things God will do through Christ at His second coming, when true Israel is redeemed to a more glorious and permanent inheritance in the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as capital, teaching that the only holy thing is that in which God dwells.
Vision Setting and Wording
Ezekiel 48:12 belongs to the closing vision of Ezekiel 36-48, especially chapters 40-48, concerning a new sanctuary with its offerings and glory, a city, and the redivision of the land among the tribes, and chapters 45-48 close the prophecy. It belongs to the remarkable sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 and to the description of a temple service in which the Levites have a designated portion of land, with the land adjoining their border called a most holy offering. In that place it is part of a temple system whose animal sacrifices and Levitical arrangement could not be built after the Christian dispensation began, because Christ's priesthood replaced the Levitical priesthood and to restore those sacrifices would return from fulfillment to shadows and make His once-for-all offering ineffective.
The vision was shown among the captives of Israel in B.C. 574, fourteen years after the sanctuary had been destroyed, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588. It was given during the Babylonian captivity to encourage the exiles and to show the pattern to the house of Israel. It was a vision of the future kingdom of God in Ezekiel 40-48, showing what Israel might have received after the captivity if the people had returned in faith.
In that vision the verse calls the land offering beside the Levites' portion a most holy offering, part of a different plan of dividing the land with a designated portion for the Levites and a sacred allocation adjoining their border. It belongs to the promised restoration of Palestine with a sanctuary and ordered division of the land, in which a glorious temple would stand among God's people at the center of a restored Jerusalem, a new and larger city and temple. It shows the peaceful condition of the Messiah's kingdom as it would have been established gradually on this present earth if the Jews had yielded to God, which would ultimately become a house of prayer for all nations. In that fulfillment the sanctuary would have been built, long life, God's constant presence and peace would have prevailed throughout the land, and marshes and deserts and salt lands would have been healed by the water of life while wild beasts grew mild under righteousness so that no harm would come.
The specific details of the verse receive no separate explanation beyond its place in that sacred allocation beside the Levites' border. The prophecy does not reveal the process by which the greater temple work would have been done, and the circumstances of its construction are secondary.
Conditional Offer Left Unbuilt
The sanctuary, city, and division of the land with its most holy oblation beside the Levites' border was a gracious offer to literal Israel under the old covenant, a conditional prophecy to be fulfilled literally at that time after the seventy years and the return from Babylon. The condition stood under the universal rule of Jeremiah 18:8-10, requiring Israel to be ashamed of iniquities, turn from wickedness, repent wholeheartedly, yield to God in faith and obedience, put away sins, and live up to its calling. The temple and land arrangement depended on that turning, and the blessings of Ezekiel 47-48 were held out on those terms.
Because the people did not repent, were not ashamed, rejected and slighted the offer, and persisted in apostasy, the promised restoration, sanctuary, city, and allotments were never built and were never fulfilled as described. That unbuilt sanctuary never was erected, never will be built, and never can be built as written. What was realized was only a weak, small-measure shadow in the inferior temple built by Zerubbabel and Ezra after only about forty thousand returned, which fell far short of the pattern and resulted in a less glorious city and temple. It never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ.
The arrangement was designed for the past dispensation, not for the present dispensation, not for the gospel dispensation, not for a literal city on this sin-cursed earth during Christ's thousand-year reign, and not for the future immortal state. It presents a mortal prince who must offer sin-offerings and all kinds of offerings for himself, take away exactions, have sons and servants to whom he may give an inheritance, be forbidden to oppress the people, while only Jesus shall be King over Israel in the glorified state where officers will be peace and exactors righteousness with no oppression. It belongs with literal circumcision, permission of divorce, distinction of clean and unclean meats, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats, and the Levitical priesthood with its ceremonies, rites, and sacrifices and its designated portion of land. Those were abolished at the first advent and ceased at the cross of Christ the great Sacrifice, superseded by Christ's priesthood after Melchizedek and His more excellent ministry as Mediator of a better covenant by one sacrifice for sins forever. To restore animal sacrifices now would make Christ's once-for-all offering ineffective and return from fulfillment to former shadows, making His reign less glorious than the present dispensation.
The vision therefore does not establish that the New Jerusalem is the city described, that the Jewish people will restore the Levitical sacrificial system, or that a literal city with first-covenant offerings will be built to take the place of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven upon the new earth.
Future Hope and Instruction
Though never built as described, the promise stands in its spiritual aspect as a type to be fulfilled in general rather than in every detail, pointing faintly to greater things God will do for His people through Christ. It belonged to a conditional offer of a new division of the land, temple, city and restoration after the return from Babylon, which depended on Israel turning from wickedness, being ashamed of sins and living up to its calling, and which was not realized for earthly Jerusalem because the people would not return wholeheartedly. What was realized was only a small measure, so the prophecy looks beyond the original local conditions to a greater fulfillment in events connected with Christ's second coming. That future fulfillment is God's restoration of the new heavens and new earth, with the New Jerusalem as its capital, the holy city prepared in heaven descending to earth for God's true Israel in the New City.
Because ancient Israel did not truly repent and yield to God in faith and obedience, the land and inheritance details of Ezekiel 36-48 will never be fulfilled in fullest literal detail, including the building of the temple with its oblation of land and attendant sacrifices. God's purpose toward wicked nations and true Israel remains the same under changed times and surroundings, and the promises to true Israel will instead be fulfilled according to later revelations under greater conditions, though some details will not remain. The true Israel will be redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, even the earth made new, and the faithful will receive future glory and full immortal inheritance. Gog and Magog, representing the northern nations, are punished in part in this world and in full at the end of the 1,000 years, while only about forty thousand returned from captivity and the fuller restoration with a new and greater sanctuary was lost through disobedience.
The allotment of the promised land was designed to teach God's people about their future inheritance and His purpose for the future world. The land given to Israel there was temporary, but the future inheritance is permanent, and the redeemed will enjoy their individual inheritance throughout eternity. The pattern of the glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem shows that Jehovah is there and that the only holy, worthy thing is that in which God dwells, to lead man to yield himself as God's dwelling-place, temple and sanctuary.
As offered, that restoration would have brought long life, God's constant presence and glory dwelling among the people in the marvelous sanctuary, and peace throughout the land. The presence described there would have healed all barren land, salt marshes, deserts and impure waters by the water of life giving life to all. Wild beasts would have grown mild under the power of righteousness so that no harm would come even to the smallest infant and the feeblest, the Spirit of absolute peace presiding over all nature. The northern enemies would have been destroyed by plagues, all enemies far and near conquered, and the faithful in Israel who slept brought back from the dead to be made great on the mountains of Israel and to make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.