Ezekiel 48:33, commentary and pictures

The south side of the city measures four thousand and five hundred, with three gates named for Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun, completing the twelve tribal gates on the four sides. It belongs to the sanctuary and city shown to captive Israel fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed, with detailed plans for sanctuary, city and divided land. That vision was a conditional offer to fleshly Israel at the return from Babylon, that if they were ashamed of their iniquities, repented and obeyed, God would establish the pattern, restore the twelve tribes and manifest His glory and presence. Because Israel was not ashamed and rejected the offer, the temple and city as described were never built and its literal details of gates and land division will never be fulfilled in that form. What the promises faintly pointed to will be fulfilled in far greater measure through Christ for the true Israel, in the eternal city John saw coming down from heaven with the same tribal gates, whose climax is Jehovah-shammah, The Lord is there, dwelling continually with His people as their light and joy.

City Plan and Setting

The south side measures four thousand and five hundred, with three gates, one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun, completing with the north and east and west sides the twelve gates named after the twelve tribes of Israel. The measured Jerusalem belongs to the description of the new sanctuary and the division of the land, which cannot be fulfilled by restoring animal sacrifices since Christ's offering was once for all and was not to be built after the opening of the Christian dispensation. These detailed promises of sanctuary, city, and land would have been literally fulfilled if Israel had met God's conditions, but the planned division of the restored land was never fulfilled because Israel did not repent and put away sins and forfeited those privileges. What failed for earthly Jerusalem remains a general and imperfect type not to be fulfilled literally in every detail, yet what was intended if His people put away their sins will be realized in the New City for the true Israel of God, which is the same eternal city John saw coming down from God out of heaven with the same tribal gates.

It belongs to the pattern of another sanctuary and city shown to the house of Israel in captivity fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed, with specifications for sanctuary, city, and land. Like the tabernacle and the temple the building has two holy places, and its most holy place is the same size as Solomon's. The sanctuary was offered to the captives for the past dispensation on condition that they be ashamed of their iniquities and put them away, but it was never built because the people did not meet that condition.

In its original setting it describes a literal mortal arrangement with marriages, divorces, disease and death, literal circumcision, distinction between clean and unclean meats, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats, a Levitical priesthood, and a mortal prince who has sons and servants, offers sin-offering and all offerings for himself, takes away exactions, gives inheritance, and must not oppress the people. It is not a prediction of the future reign of Christ in the immortal state, where Jesus alone is King over Israel and officers are peace and exactors righteousness with no oppression, sacrifice, or death, nor a picture of the gospel dispensation, where circumcision, divorce, clean and unclean distinctions, animal offerings, and the Levitical priesthood ceased at the cross and were replaced by Christ's priesthood after Melchisedec. It was a conditional offer made on condition that Israel be ashamed of their iniquities and put them away, and it was never built because Israel did not fulfill the conditions, only a few accepting return when the decree came.

It belongs to the apportionment and division of the land among the tribes and families northward and southward and eastward and westward from the city around the portion of the prince, set in the midst of the apportioned new earth where the land is divided among the tribes. That land inheritance and allotment of the promised land was temporary in its original setting, but its division was meant to teach God's purpose for the future world, where the redeemed will have an enduring inheritance and the gates bear the names of Israel's tribes. Apart from belonging to the tribal allotments and the dispute over whether Ezekiel's city will be built in a future age, the three southern gates and tribal names receive no separate explanation. That city should not replace the heavenly Jerusalem or imply a return to the first covenant's sacrifices, for it belongs to the sanctuary and worship that would have formed part of Israel's restoration if the people had met God's conditions.

The vision reaches its joyful climax in the name Jehovah-shammah, meaning The Lord is there. In the new Jerusalem God and the Lamb are present with their people, and God's glory and the Lamb give the city its light, and God will dwell with them continually as their light and joy. The divine presence in that restored city at the center of a restored Jerusalem with a glorious temple would heal barren land, salt marshes, and impure waters and give life to all. Jerusalem was never thus restored and that temple was never built and never will be built, because Israel would not yield all to God and God could not come in and dwell among a half-hearted people to be dishonored, and the temple built after the return from Babylon fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and never knew the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom its keepers rejected.

Conditional Prophecy and Fulfillment

Ezekiel 48:33 belongs to the vision of Ezekiel 36-48, and more narrowly Ezekiel 40-48 and 37-48, which was a conditional offer and promised blessing to literal fleshly Israel under the old covenant at the restoration from the seventy years captivity in Babylon. If they were ashamed of their iniquities and put them away, turned from wickedness, returned wholeheartedly, yielded, repented, obeyed, and responded to the calls to leave Babylon, God would cause the building and sanctuary pattern to be established, bring the twelve tribes back to the divided land, manifest wonderful glory, and give lengthened life and manifest presence where nothing would hurt or destroy. The detailed sanctuary, city, and land with the southern side and its three gates named for Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun would have been literally fulfilled and built if Israel had met God's conditions and been faithful.

Because Israel did not meet those conditions, was not ashamed, rejected the offer, and remained unwilling, half-hearted, and in apostasy, the temple and restoration described were never built and never carried out. The sanctuary was offered to the captives for the past dispensation, but it was never erected, and the literal details of the city gates and land division will never be fulfilled as part of that prophecy and never will or can be built. Israel was not ashamed and rejected the offer when restoration was decreed, since the ten tribes slighted the offer and stayed while only Judah and Benjamin with a portion of Levi and a few others went up.

What followed was only a weak, partial, inferior shadow, only weakly realized in the temple built by Zerubbabel. Only a few accepted return when the decree came, with only Judah and Benjamin and a portion of Levi and a few others going up while the ten tribes slighted the offer and stayed, only about forty thousand returning. The temple built by Zerubbabel and Ezra fell far short of the pattern, much smaller, and never knew the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom its keepers rejected. Jerusalem was never thus restored, that temple was never built and never will be built, because Israel would not yield all to God, so God could not come in and dwell among them nor build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor.

The vision does not describe the New Jerusalem, the future reign of Christ and His saints in the immortal state where Jesus alone is King and officers are peace and exactors righteousness, the gospel dispensation, or a sanctuary yet to be built. Its animal sacrifices, circumcision, divorce rules, clean and unclean distinctions, and Levitical priesthood with marriages, divorces, disease and death, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats, and a mortal prince ceased at the cross and were replaced by Christ's once-for-all offering and priesthood after Melchisedec. To offer those sacrifices now would annul Christ's offering and make void His sacrifice, and ancient prophecies concerning Israel must be read with the clearer New Testament revelation that Gentiles are fellow heirs in Christ where there cannot be Greek and Jew. Its promises were conditional and were forfeited, and it was not to be built after the opening of the Christian dispensation.

The promises point faintly to what God will accomplish and be fulfilled in far greater measure through Christ for the true Israel, the faithful. The city John saw coming down from God out of heaven is the same eternal city with the same tribal gates set in the apportioned new earth, where the future glory, immortal inheritance, redemption, absolute joy and peace and harmony, and blessed worship with God's glory resting on the city will come in the new heavens and new earth and the New Jerusalem in connection with Christ's second coming, according to later revelations and not according to every literal detail or the original local conditions. Because Israel was unwilling, the temple vision stands as a spiritual prophecy and general, imperfect type of greater things God will do for His people through Christ, and God will fulfill His promises to His people in Christ. In that joyful climax Jehovah-shammah means The Lord is there, where God and the Lamb are present with their people as their light and joy and dwell with them continually.

Those who held it taught that the closing chapters predict the grand and magnificent greater temple built by Herod and to become the house of prayer for all nations. Ezekiel 48 belongs to that detailed description of a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem after the captivity, giving the fact of the building without revealing the process by which the work was to be done, and the circumstances attending the work are secondary to the prophecy.