Ezekiel 48:20, commentary and pictures

The holy oblation is one great square twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand, joining the holy portion for the sanctuary with the possession of the city beside it, the city where the Lord Himself would dwell and give life and healing. It was shown as part of a glorious temple and restored Jerusalem offered to Israel in captivity on condition of shame for sin and wholehearted return, but Israel did not repent and only a small remnant went up, so it was never built as written. That square and its temple will never be built literally, neither in this age nor in a future mortal reign, for its Levitical priesthood is superseded by Christ's Melchizedek priesthood and its bulls and goats were shadows finished by His once-for-all offering. Its promise stands for greater things through Christ, to be fulfilled to the true Israel in fullest measure in the new heavens and new earth with the New Jerusalem as capital, where the redeemed possess permanent individual inheritances and God dwells in them as His temple.

Vision Setting and Measurements

Ezekiel 48:20 belongs to the pattern of another sanctuary, city, and division of the land in Ezekiel 40-48, shown to the house of Israel in Babylonian captivity to set before them what God would do for them. It was given fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple, and the sanctuary were destroyed, in B.C. 574, fourteen years after the destruction in B.C. 588 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, while Ezekiel was himself among the captives. That is twenty-five years into the captivity, as the Jerusalem that would have been built if all Israel had left Babylon in response to the calls.

Like the tabernacle and Solomon's temple the building consisted of two holy places, and its most holy place was the same size as that in Solomon's temple. The word sanctuary is applied to this building in Ezekiel 48:8, 10, 21. It is a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem, a grand and magnificent and greater temple, ultimately to be the house of prayer for all nations, but how its construction would be carried out is not revealed because the circumstances of the building are secondary to the prophecy.

The holy oblation is a single square allotment measuring twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand, comprising the holy portion with the possession of the city alongside it. In that promised restoration the land would have been measured out as that square oblation including the city's possession, and the land would have been divided on a different plan among the twelve tribes. The city is named Jehovah-shammah, meaning Jehovah is there, declaring His continual manifest presence dwelling among them in overpowering glory as never before for blessed worship, where sacrifices were to be offered. There life would be lengthened, the people's character would affect the animals, and His presence would heal all barren land, all salt marshes, and all impure waters and give life to all, so that no creature would hurt or destroy in God's holy mountain.

The vision corresponds to Zechariah's vision of the measured city. Had the repeated conditions of faith and obedience been met, the whole prophecy from Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail, including the burning of weapons, the building of the temple with its sacrifices, and the division of the land with its sacred portion and city portion. Ezekiel 48:20 specifies what was to be offered on the first day of the altar's dedication in that vision of a larger city and temple promised if Israel returned to God. The promise was to build the sanctuary within Jerusalem when God made Jerusalem a praise in the earth after bringing back from the dead the faithful in Israel who slept and conquering all their enemies far and near, and if they had yielded they would have been brought back upon the mountains of Israel and their enemies from the north destroyed by plagues.

Conditional Promise Never Fulfilled

The whole oblation with its sanctuary, city, and division of the land was offered to the house of Israel in captivity on condition that they be ashamed of their iniquities and put them away. The blessing required yielding to God in shame and full repentance and returning wholeheartedly from captivity, under the law of conditional prophecy declared in Jeremiah 18:7-10. If they did this God would cause the building to be established and would bring the twelve tribes up to the land under the decree of Cyrus for restoration and bestow the abundant blessings then. The promises and arrangements would then have been fulfilled literally in that restoration after the seventy years in Babylon.

Israel according to the flesh did not yield, did not truly repent, remained apostate, and rejected the gracious offer. The ten tribes slighted the offer of Cyrus, and only Judah and Benjamin with a portion of Levi and a few others went up, loving Babylon more than Jerusalem. Hence the sanctuary was never erected, and the temple and arrangement of the land were not realized as described. The prophecy was fulfilled neither in detail nor as written, but only in small part and faintly in the inferior shadow built by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and others, which fell far short of the pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple.

The sanctuary had been offered to captive Israel in B.C. 574, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple, and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588, and was designed to be fulfilled in the past dispensation. The literal details of the holy oblation foursquare will never be fulfilled, and the temple never was built, never will be built, and never can be built in the present dispensation or in the future dispensation which is the immortal state. It does not belong to the future reign of Christ and His saints, nor to a literal city to be built on this sin-cursed earth during the thousand-year reign with the offerings and sacrifices carried on again, nor to a future restoration under the local conditions of Ezekiel's day. Had Israel met the repeated conditions for blessing the whole prophecy would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail, including the burning of weapons, the building of the temple with its sacrifices and altar dedication, and the division of the land with its sacred portion and city portion, but because Israel failed that literal fulfillment will now never take place.

It cannot belong to the gospel dispensation or to the future immortal state because its Levitical priesthood belongs to a system superseded by Christ's permanent Melchizedek priesthood, so the temple is not to be built after the Christian dispensation begins. Its burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats were shadows of Christ's once-for-all effective sacrifice, and to restore the old sacrificial service would annul Christ's offering and make His cross of none effect. To offer them again would require a second Messiah to expiate transgression, because the law with its yearly sacrifices can never make the comers perfect, while by one offering Christ hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. It was to be fulfilled while literal circumcision was in force, while divorce was permitted, while distinction between clean and unclean meats was recognized, and while the Levitical priesthood existed, all abolished or superseded at the first advent and cross. Its prince offers a sin-offering and all kinds of offerings for himself, must take away exactions, has sons and servants to whom he gives inheritance, and is forbidden to oppress, showing he is a poor frail mortal and not Jesus, who alone shall be King over Israel in the glorified state and whose reign has officers peace and exactors righteousness with no oppression.

Greater Fulfillment in New Earth

In its spiritual aspect the prophecy stands for greater things the Lord will do for His people through Christ. It must be read in the clearer revelation of the New Testament that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel. There there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, and no theory drawn from it can exclude God's gospel work to the whole world. It ultimately points to the house of prayer for all nations. Its greater fulfillment is connected with Christ's second coming and the events surrounding it, not with a future restoration under the local conditions of Ezekiel's day.

Because Israel did not meet the stated conditions, the temple and arrangement of the land were not realized as described, and the temple built by Zerubbabel was only a shadow of it. The promises faintly point to God's restoration of the new heavens and new earth. The literal details of the holy oblation foursquare will never be fulfilled, but the promise will be fulfilled to the true Israel, not by those details but according to later revelation. That fulfillment comes with future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance coming to the faithful in fullest measure. It is a faint type of God's future work for His people at the second coming.

God will fulfill His promises to His people in Christ, in the new heaven and new earth, with the New Jerusalem as its capital. The vision's purposes will instead be realized in the New City prepared for God's true Israel. That holy city was prepared in heaven instead and is now prepared and will descend upon the earth. God's purpose remains the same in principle, with true Israel redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new. Gog and Magog representing the northern nations are punished in part in this world and in full at Christ's coming and at the end of the thousand years. Then there will be perfect joy, peace, and harmony where no creature hurts or destroys in God's holy mountain.

The allotment of the promised land was temporary in its original setting but was designed to show God's purpose for the future world. The land's being called married points to each person's inheritance being permanent. The redeemed will possess their inheritance eternally and enjoy the work of their hands. They will receive individual, enduring inheritances in the land.

The pattern of a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem teaches that the only holy and worthy thing is that in which God dwells. Man must therefore yield himself as a dwelling-place, temple and sanctuary of God. Where God dwells He declares that Jehovah is there, and His presence would heal all barren land, all salt marshes and all impure waters and give life to all. The ancient calls to come out of Babylon are an object-lesson of the last call to come out of Babylon now sounding through the earth. Utter destruction awaits those who linger in Babylon today.