Ezekiel 48:15, commentary and pictures

The five thousand left in width alongside the twenty-five thousand was set apart as ordinary ground for the city, for homes and for open land, with the city standing in its middle.
It was part of a conditional promise of restoration after Babylon that depended on Israel turning from sin and meeting God in faith and obedience, but because they did not comply it was never built as described and will never be built as described.
What was raised under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only a weak shadow falling far short of the pattern, never seeing its promised glory except in the person of Jesus Christ.
It does not foretell a future temple with restored animal sacrifices, for those offerings were fulfilled and ended at the cross, though those who held it to be literal looked for it to be built on earth during the thousand-year reign of Christ.
In its spiritual aspect it is a faint type of the restoration God will bring in the new heavens and new earth, when the true Israel receives a lasting inheritance around the New City.

Wording and Vision Setting

The five thousand left in breadth over against the twenty-five thousand is set apart as common, non-sacred ground for the city, for dwelling and for suburbs, with the city in the midst thereof. That remaining strip beside the larger allotment is ordinary land for the residents and its surrounding areas, not holy ground, and the city is placed at its center. It belongs to the division of the restored land and to the city plan for Jerusalem that would have been built.

The verse belongs to the pattern of another city and sanctuary shown in Ezekiel 40-48, given in B.C. 574 fourteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary in B.C. 588, to show to the house of Israel a remarkable sanctuary. It is part of the promised restoration after seventy years in Babylon involving return to the land, rebuilding the temple, a city plan for Jerusalem, and division of the land among the twelve tribes. What was shown in vision in chapters 40-48 is that sanctuary vision and city plan.

As promised, the city would have been the center of a restored nation with worship offered there and God's glory and manifest presence dwelling among the people in overpowering glory. The pattern is for a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem whose name means Jehovah is there, or Jehovah-shammah. That glory was beyond imagining, with life-giving water from the rebuilt temple, restored life affecting even the animals, Israel becoming a light to the world, and the temple ultimately to be a house of prayer for all nations. The restored life and the people's character would affect even the animals, and the presence would heal barren land, salt marshes, deserts and impure waters and give life to all.

It has been claimed as a literal city to be built on this sin-cursed earth in a future age during the thousand-year reign of Christ, with offerings and sacrifices carried on. On that claim it revives ancient Jerusalem from its ruins to take the place of the heavenly Jerusalem which is above and free and the city which has foundations, giving an undeveloped class a chance in a less glorious state and returning to the ordinances of the first covenant which pointed to Christ.

Although the chapter seems to predict the building of a greater temple, it does not reveal how the work would be carried out, and the historical circumstances of its construction are secondary to the prophecy.

Conditional Promise Unfulfilled

Ezekiel 48:15 belongs to a conditional prophecy of a new division of the land, sanctuary, city and temple shown in Ezekiel 40-48, whose promised restoration after the seventy years in Babylon depended on Israel being ashamed of iniquities, turning from wickedness and sin, putting away iniquities, being cleansed and confounded for their ways, returning from captivity wholeheartedly, yielding to God, meeting His conditions in faith and obedience, living up to the full measure of His children, and answering the calls to leave Babylon. The pattern was given in B.C. 574, fourteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary in B.C. 588, to show to the house of Israel and to captive Israel the offer of possession of a very remarkable sanctuary if they complied. If they had met His conditions the promises and figures in these chapters would have been literally fulfilled on this present earth as the Messiah's kingdom was gradually established.

Because Israel did not comply and continued in apostasy, the sanctuary with its city, dwellings and suburbs, the temple and the land arrangement were never erected or built as described, the promised glory was never inherited, the promise was forfeited, and the arrangement will never be fulfilled or built as described. The city and its surrounding land were part of that conditional promise that would have been built if Israel had been faithful to God and had repented, but that promised restoration was not fulfilled as described. When the decree of Cyrus went forth the ten tribes slighted it and only Judah and Benjamin with a portion of Levi and a few others went up, with only about forty thousand returning from captivity, so the house of Israel rejected the offer and slighted the promised blessings.

What was built at the restoration from Babylon under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only a weak realization, shadow, small part or mere shadow of the envisioned sanctuary, falling far short of the pattern and never seeing the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom the temple-keepers rejected. Because the people refused to heed the prophecy and would not yield all to God, God could not come in and dwell among them nor build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor, so only a mere shadow of the envisioned temple with its life-giving water and God's glory was built. If Israel had been faithful God would have brought them back upon the mountains of Israel, done better to them than at their beginnings, made them great, brought about the resurrection shown in Ezekiel 37, destroyed the enemies coming from the north shown in Ezekiel 38 and 39 by plagues, then enabled Israel to build the marvelous sanctuary and city, and His presence would have dwelt among them in overpowering glory with the name of the city being Jehovah Is There.

Since they did not truly repent and yield to God, the details of the restored land and city will not all be fulfilled as described and its local conditions will not apply under greater conditions with some former details omitted, though the vision also points to a greater fulfillment connected with Christ's second coming. The faithful will receive the promised future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance through the later revelations. The vision was designed to be fulfilled in the past dispensation under circumcision, permission of divorce, distinction of clean and unclean meats, animal sacrifices and offerings of bulls and goats, feasts and Jubilee, the Levitical priesthood, and distinction between the seed of the house of Israel and the stranger, and it does not describe the gospel dispensation, the New Jerusalem, a future restoration of the Jewish people with Levitical sacrifices, or the future immortal state. For in the glorified state there is only one Prince and King over Israel while this vision shows a frail mortal prince who must offer a sin offering and other offerings for himself, must remove exactions, has sons and servants to whom he may give inheritance, and is forbidden to oppress the people, all of which were abolished at the first advent and the cross and superseded by the priesthood of Melchizedek.

The plan is not a prediction of a sanctuary or temple to be built in the future, since its prescribed old sacrificial service cannot be continued without making void Christ's sacrifice offered once for all, annulling His offering, and God would not ordain sacrifices again because Christ fulfilled the sacrificial types to which they pointed. The instructions include the sanctuary and the old sacrificial service within the surrounding arrangements for Jerusalem and its land, which can never be built to fill the place God designed for it. To set up that sanctuary now with its animal sacrifices would make of none effect the offering made once for all by Jesus Christ.

Future Type and Application

The land division belongs to a conditional promise of restoration after Babylon, with return to the land, rebuilding of the temple, and division among the twelve tribes, which depended on turning from wickedness, putting away iniquities, being ashamed of iniquities, returning wholeheartedly and living up to the full measure of God's children. Because Israel was unwilling and did not meet the conditions, the temple and land arrangement were not realized as described but were fulfilled only in small part in Zerubbabel's work. In its spiritual aspect the prophecy stands as a faint, general type of greater things God will do for His people through Christ and at the second coming, namely the restoration He will bring in the new heavens and the new earth. Its promised purpose will be realized in the New City for the true Israel of God, yet its details are not a literal description of that future fulfillment, for local conditions will not apply and some former details will be omitted under greater conditions.

God's purpose did not change when that city plan with its remaining five thousand in breadth set apart as common ground for the city, for its residents and dwelling, and for its suburbs, with the city in the midst, was never built because Israel did not yield to God and answer the calls to leave Babylon. He prepared a holy city in heaven that will descend to earth. Through it the faithful will receive the promised future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance made known through the later revelations, though the details of the restored land and city will not all be fulfilled as described.

The pattern of a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem meaning Jehovah is there teaches that only what God dwells in is holy and worthy, to lead man to yield himself as a dwelling-place, temple and sanctuary of God. Where God dwells His presence heals barren land, salt marshes, deserts and impure waters and gives life to all, with the water of life making wild beasts mild so that infants are safe and restored life affecting even the animals. Because God's people would not yield all to God He could not come in and dwell among them nor build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor, so that Jerusalem was never thus restored and that temple was never built and never will be built, and what was built at the restoration fell far short of the pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ. What was thus left unfulfilled then will be fulfilled more gloriously in the earth made new where absolute peace presides over all nature.

The allotment set apart around the city with the city centered in it helps show that the promised inheritance points beyond a temporary possession to the future world. With Jerusalem as the city at its center, it is connected with the future apportionment of the promised land among the redeemed families as part of God's purpose for their lasting home, where each person's inheritance will be lasting.