Ezekiel 40:46, commentary and pictures

The north-facing chamber was set apart for the altar priests, the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi who draw near to the Lord to minister to Him. Its ministers were therefore Levites under the Mosaic order, not people gathered from all nations. The sanctuary, city, land and priestly order it belongs to were offered to captive Israel on condition of shame for sin, turning to God and following the shown pattern. That Levitical priesthood of Zadok with its animal sacrifices and feasts was a shadow of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice and has been superseded at the cross by His unchanging priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, so it cannot be renewed as a literal gospel or future-reign temple. Because Israel did not repent it was never built as shown and never will be as a literal house with typical offerings, but received only the inferior house of Zerubbabel, while what failed for earthly Jerusalem will be more gloriously realized for true Israel in the New Jerusalem and the new earth.

Vision Setting and Wording

The chamber with its outlook toward the north was set apart for the priests who kept the charge of the altar, the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi who come near to the Lord to minister to Him. They were descendants of Zadok of the tribe of Levi, charged with guarding the altar and approaching the Lord in service, and their appointment belongs to the prescribed Levitical worship of symbols pointing forward to Christ's offering, a service intended for the time before His death and not for a later age. That priestly order was of the old Mosaic system of sacrifices and shadows, now superseded by the unchanging and everlasting priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, so it ceased at the cross and at Christ's death.

The naming of those priests proves the ministers of the vision were Levites, not men gathered from all nations. The verse stands in the pattern of another sanctuary shown fourteen years after the sanctuary had been destroyed, to be shown to the house of Israel where they then were in captivity. Like the tabernacle and the temple it had two holy places, and its most holy place was of the same size as Solomon's, with its holy places to be counted and the name sanctuary applied to the building. It was offered to Israel on condition that they be ashamed of their iniquities and put them away, with the promise that if they did so God would cause the building to be established and would cause the twelve tribes to return.

The prophecy was made in 574 B.C., in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity in Babylon, concerning the return to Jerusalem and the restoration of the temple and its service with detailed directions. It opens with a man having the appearance of brass, holding a line of flax and a measuring reed to measure the temple and the city. It is part of the unified vision of chapters 40-48 describing a sanctuary, city, land, and restoration of Canaan and Jerusalem after the return from Babylon, covering the same period and purpose toward Jerusalem as Zechariah 2, to be studied together as counterparts. That restoration depended on Israel turning to God, forsaking sin, being ashamed of iniquities, and following the temple pattern of Ezekiel 43:10-11, but because the return was only partial the plan was not fulfilled and Zerubbabel's building was received instead.

The temple thus described was far more glorious than Solomon's temple and much grander than what was later built, a magnificent house designed of God after the exile. It stood at the center of a restored Jerusalem teaching that Jehovah is there, whose presence would bring healing and life, and is described as a house of prayer for all nations. Israel instead built a much inferior house in weak faith with fear and complaint, later enlarged and beautified by Herod, yet honored by the personal presence of the Desire of all nations until His people rejected Him.

Conditional Offer to Israel

The sanctuary with its city and land and its ordered service of priests at the altar was held out to the house of Israel while in captivity as a conditional gift, to be shown to them and established among them if they were ashamed of their iniquities and put them away. The condition was turning to God, wholly yielding themselves to Him, repenting and forsaking sin and returning to the Lord with all the heart. The pattern was to be followed as stated in Ezekiel 43:10-11, with the promises and figures of those chapters to be fulfilled literally if the conditions were met. If faithful, Israel would have received the sanctuary described from chapter 40 onward as the place where they would worship under God's glory.

Had they met the conditions God would have caused the building to be established and would have gathered and restored the twelve tribes to live under His glory. The restoration of Canaan and Jerusalem after the return from Babylon depended on that turning, and the temple built by Zerubbabel would then have been far greater and grander. A greater sanctuary was promised, and marvelous things would have been wrought in the Holy Land, with God's children made the joy of the whole earth. Because the return was only partial and the people failed, the wonderful plan dwindled to the smaller house actually erected, with only the faintest shadow of the promised glory and prosperity.

Levitical Priesthood Superseded

The north chamber for the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi who keep the charge of the altar shows the vision belongs to the Mosaic dispensation when the Levitical priesthood and its sanctuary services were in force. It belongs to the sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-46, a pattern given fourteen years after the destruction of the sanctuary to be shown to Israel in captivity if they were ashamed of their iniquities and turned from their sins. That order with its sanctuary, priesthood and offerings and blessings was conditionally offered to the twelve tribes and would have been realized in that dispensation had they accepted it, while circumcision, divorce, clean and unclean meats, animal sacrifices, feasts, jubilees, and the middle wall of partition were still in force. It prescribes typical Levitical worship, a service of symbols and shadows pointing forward to Christ's offering, and so describes worship intended before Christ's death and not for a later age or the perfect future state.

That Levitical priesthood of Zadok keeping the altar and coming near to the Lord to minister has been superseded by the unchanging priesthood of Melchizedek which passes not to another. Christ has become the everlasting priest after the order of Melchizedek, and the earlier Levitical altar service belonging to the Mosaic order ceased at the cross and at Christ's death. Therefore the temple of Ezekiel 40-48 cannot belong to the gospel dispensation or to the future reign of Christ, but to the old mortal order of circumcision, clean and unclean meats, and bull and goat offerings.

Its sacrifices were shadows pointing to Christ's effective once-for-all sacrifice, and they cannot be renewed as literal offerings afterward without denying the sufficiency of his suffering and fulfillment of the types. The sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 with its offerings was conditional on the people being ashamed of their sins, and because they remained apostate its promises were only partly realized in the temple built by Zerubbabel, not as a prediction of a future temple where sacrifices would be offered. To restore the first covenant's sacrificial ordinances in a future age with its city and sanctuary and offerings would undermine Christ's once-for-all offering, for its prescribed sacrifices show this is not a temple God would ordain again.

Never Built, Inferior Replacement

Because Israel did not repent, turn from sin, yield wholly to God and meet the standard, the sanctuary shown in Ezekiel 40-48 was never built as promised and never will be built as a literal sanctuary with typical sacrifices. The chamber toward the north for the sons of Zadok to keep charge of the altar belonged to that conditional plan, offered to Israel in Babylonian captivity only twenty-five years after captivity began, with the city and temple to be established if all Israel responded to the calls to leave Babylon and return to the Lord. That city was never built on earth, not because God changed His mind but because Israel loved Babylon more than Jerusalem and failed to do its part, so Jerusalem was destroyed and the promise lapsed under the old covenant. Its fulfillment belonged to the Mosaic dispensation when the Levitical priesthood and its sanctuary services were in force, not to the future age, and its sacrificial system therefore cannot be renewed afterward as described.

Instead Israel received only a partial realization and an inferior house. Because the return was only partial, with only about forty thousand returning, the wonderful temple dwindled to the smaller one erected by Zerubbabel under Ezra, built in weak faith with fear and complaint and bearing only the faintest shadow of the promised glory and prosperity. That apostasy left the promises only partly realized, and what was built was a lesser shadow of the far greater and grander temple that would have made God's children the joy of the whole earth. The house so built was later enlarged by Herod and honored by Christ's presence until His people rejected Him.

The vision therefore does not predict a future temple where sacrifices would be offered after Christ's sacrifice, since to offer them would deny the sufficiency of His once-for-all sacrifice to which the bull and goat offerings pointed. The Zadokite sons of Levi keeping charge of the altar belong to the old mortal order of circumcision, clean and unclean meats, and first-covenant ordinances that ceased at the cross, now superseded by the unchanging priesthood of Melchizedek, so the temple cannot belong to the gospel dispensation or to the future reign of Christ. God's purposes for the true Israel will instead be fulfilled in a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new, and the saints taken to heaven at the second coming when the earth is desolated, which overthrows the theory of a special future earthly kingdom for literal Jews and a restored temple service built on these chapters.

Future Fulfillment and Warning

The unfulfilled temple prophecy remains only a faint type of the final deliverance of God's people at the second coming, not a blueprint to be repeated detail by detail in the antitype. Its local conditions of that day are not carried forward, so there will be no burning of weapons for seven years and no cleansing of the land by human hands in the fulfillment. The fires of the last day themselves will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. At that coming the saints are taken to heaven while the earth is left desolate, which overthrows any expectation of a future earthly Jewish kingdom built on these chapters.

What failed for old earthly Jerusalem will be grandly and more gloriously realized for the true Israel in Christ. The promises first offered after the Babylonian captivity, on condition of yielding to God, will be fulfilled to the faithful in a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new. That inheritance centers on the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as capital and the immortal home of God's people. The last nine chapters show first the possibilities before the restored kingdom of Judah had they laid hold by faith, and secondly and principally the new-earth kingdom under Him whose right it is, to which Revelation 21-22 is the complement and counterpart, even as Zechariah 2 is its counterpart for Jerusalem.

The vision was given when Israel had been in Babylonian captivity only twenty-five years, showing the city and temple as they would have been built with God as a wall of fire and glory in her midst if all Israel had answered the three calls to leave Babylon. That city was never built on earth, not because God changed His purpose but because Israel loved Babylon more than Jerusalem and failed to do their part, so Jerusalem was destroyed. Those ancient calls out of Babylon stand as an object-lesson of the last call to come out of Babylon now sounding before utter destruction falls on those who linger. God has instead prepared a holy city in heaven that will descend upon the earth for the true Israel of God.

Apart from that hope there is no further explanation of the north chamber and its altar charge, and the circumstances of how the greater temple would have been constructed are secondary. The sanctuary and land arrangement promised as a restored Palestine of glory beyond expectation was not fulfilled then because Israel rejected God's conditions, and not all its details are carried forward to the later fulfillment. The sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 is therefore not a detailed account of conditions in the new earth.