CHAPTER 43

(574 B.C.)

THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLS THE TEMPLE

¹Afterward He brought me to the Gate, even the Gate that looks toward the east (this Chapter is glorious indeed, inasmuch as it heralds the return of the Holy Spirit to the Millennial Temple and, therefore, to Israel. Ezekiel saw Him leave [11:23] and now he sees Him return. Atonement, as the eternal foundation of Gods Relationship with man, is the keynote of this Chapter, which will occasion the Coming of the Spirit. As stated, this will be at the beginning of the Kingdom Age):

²And, behold, the Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and His Voice was like a noise of many waters: and the Earth shined with His Glory. (Israel rejected Him and so He left! Now Israel has been washed and cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb and, therefore, He returns.)

³And it was according to the appearance of the Vision which I saw, even according to the Vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the Visions were like the Vision that I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell upon my face. (Taking the latter phrase first, And I fell upon my face, one is left with the proper position in the Presence of the Lord of Glory. The phrase, That I saw when I came to destroy the city, does not mean that Ezekiel personally destroyed it, but that he was the announcer of this tragic event!

The idea of Ezekiels terminology is that as God, in the past, had shown Himself as One of Justice and Judgment by overturning and destroying the old, likewise, He will now exhibit Himself as a God of Grace and Mercy by condescending to establish His Abode in the new. Consequently, Ezekiel saw the destruction and the restoration, and in a manner unlike any other Prophet before or since!)

⁴And the Glory of the LORD came into the House by the way of the Gate whose prospect is toward the east (comes into the newly built Millennial Temple).

⁵So the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the Inner Court; and, behold, the Glory of the LORD filled the House. (The Lord is now entering into and taking possession of the House, as formerly He had entered into and taken possession of the Tabernacle and the Temple of old [Ex. 40:34-35; I Ki. 8:10-11].)

⁶And I heard Him speaking unto me out of the House; and the Man stood by me. (It is the Holy Spirit Who is speaking to Ezekiel. As well, the Man standing by Ezekiel is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has conducted Ezekiel through the entirety of this manifestation [40:3-4].)

⁷And He said unto me, Son of man, the place of My Throne, and the place of the soles of My Feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel for ever, and My Holy Name, shall the House of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. (The words, This is, are to be supplied before the Place of My Throne. The phrase, Where I will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel forever, goes beyond anything that had been spoken concerning either the Tabernacle of Moses or the Temple of Solomon.)

EXHORTATION TO ISRAEL

⁸In their setting of their threshold by My Thresholds, and their post by My Posts, and the wall between Me and them, they have even defiled My Holy Name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in My Anger. (The wording of their threshold, My Thresholds, their post, and My Posts refers to their idol Temple erected by the side of Gods Holy House, which, of course, occasioned their destruction.)

⁹Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from Me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. (The theology here presented harmonizes with that of the Old and New Testament writers, who invariably proclaimed purity of heart and life as a necessary condition of Gods abiding in the heart, while asserting such Divine indwelling in the heart as the only certain Creator of such purity; for one cannot create such himself [Isa. 1:16, 25; 26:12; Jn. 14:23; II Cor. 6:17; James 4:8]. The idea of this Verse is not that such sin dwelt in Israel at this particular time [the time of the Millennium], but that Gods attitude toward sin never changes. In fact, such sin will never again happen in Israel!)

¹⁰You son of man, show the House to the House of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. (This refers to iniquities of the past, and not of the present. But yet they are to be ashamed of their past, as we should be ashamed of all sin, especially personal sin.

And let them measure the pattern, concerns itself with the Great Sanctuary, which will be the dwelling-place of the Lord. Comparing this glorious Palace with the pagan and Papal Temples of idolatrous worship, the people will be ashamed of shrines, both ancient and modern, of which they are now so proud.

Similarly, a comparison between the Way of Salvation and Holiness patterned in the Scriptures and those invented by man fill the contrite heart with self-condemnation.)

¹¹And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the House, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. (The idea of this Verse is that God will not dwell in anything except that which He Himself has made. Only that which is of God, all of God and only of God, can be accepted. And this has been the problem with religious man from the beginning until now. He seeks to insert that of his own making into that which is of God, which the Lord will never tolerate. The Message always has been, and always will be, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified [I Cor. 1:23].)

¹²This is the Law of the House; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the Law of the House. (As the Holy of Holies, the Tabernacle, and the Temple of old were most holy, likewise, the entirety of that which pertains to this Sanctuary is to be considered as a Holy of Holies. In fact, the entire summit of this mountain is to be reserved for Immanuel.)

MEASUREMENTS OF THE ALTAR

¹³And these are the measures of the Altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the Altar. (As stated at the beginning of this Chapter, Atonement is the eternal foundation of Gods Relationship with man, of which the Altar is symbolic. Such symbolizes Calvary, and will forever serve as a reminder and a memorial of what Christ did in order that humanity be redeemed.)

¹⁴And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit. (The cubit is approximately 18 inches long.)

¹⁵So the Altar shall be four cubits; and from the Altar and upward shall be four horns.

¹⁶And the Altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.

¹⁷And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east. (This Altar was 18 feet long and 18 feet wide. It is approximately 10 feet high.)

ORDINANCES OF THE ALTAR

¹⁸And He said unto me, Son of man, thus says the Lord GOD; These are the Ordinances of the Altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer Burnt Offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon. (The Ordinances of the Altar, as given here, do not pertain to the regulations for the Sacrificial worship to be afterwards performed upon this Altar, for the rites to be observed at this time were for its consecration only. In other words, it was to be dedicated by a special ceremony before being brought into ordinary use. The same was done for the Tabernacle and Solomons Temple [Ex. 29:1-46; Lev. 8:11-33; I Ki. 8:63-66; II Chron. 7:4-10].)

¹⁹And you shall give to the Priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto Me, to minister unto Me, says the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a Sin Offering. (The Priests who would participate in this dedication and cleaning were to be of the seed of Zadok, Davids faithful High Priest. Hence, by the choosing of these sons of Zadok, the Holy Spirit proclaims to us the value of faithfully adhering to the Will of God, instead of the will of man.)

²⁰And you shall take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shall you cleanse and purge it. (The blood formed an integral part of every expiatory offering. It was to be placed on the four horns of the Altar, which pointed in every direction, signifying that Redemption was the same the world over. It was also to be smeared on the four corners of the settle, which formed a part of the base or foundation of the Altar. It also was to be smeared on the border, with the implication being that the blood was smeared around the entire border. Thus was the Altar cleansed and purged.

Consequently, when Christ died on Calvary, His Blood, which stained the Cross and the Earth beneath it, purged and cleansed this most vile form of death.)

²¹You shall take the bullock also of the Sin Offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the House, without the Sanctuary. (The idea is: the skin and dung of the bullock should be burned without the camp [Ex. 29:14; Lev. 4:12, 21; 9:11, 15].)

²²And on the second day you shall offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a Sin Offering; and they shall cleanse the Altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock. (The Reader must wonder as to the need for different animals, or another animal at all? Actually, there were five Levitical Offerings given in the Law of Moses, with all typifying what Christ would do at Calvary. In other words, it took five Offerings to wholly portray His One Sacrificial Offering on the Cross. They were: the Whole Burnt Offering, the Peace Offering, the Sin Offering, the Trespass Offering, and the Meat [Meal] Offering.)

²³When you have made an end of cleansing it, you shall offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

²⁴And you shall offer them before the LORD, and the Priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a Burnt Offering unto the LORD. (A comparison here with Leviticus is instructive. There, the Burnt Offering preceded the Sin Offering; here, it follows. Then Faith praised in looking forward to the Sin Offering of Calvary; in the future day, Faith will praise looking back to Calvary. Thus, the great Sin Offering of the Lamb of God stands in the midst of the ages, and is preceded and followed by praise.

Actually, there will be no Day of Atonement in Millennial Worship; for the Sacrifices then will recall the One All-Sufficing Atonement perfected at Golgotha.

The salt placed on the Offerings typifies the fact that all of this is according to the Word of God.)

²⁵Seven days shall you prepare every day a goat for a Sin Offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. (The perfection of the Atonement appears in the seven days of its action. Seven, as Gods Number, denotes perfection, completion, fulfillment, totality, and universality.)

²⁶Seven days shall they purge the Altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves. (Likewise, as this consecrated the Priests, it consecrates all who believe in the vicarious, atoning Offering of Christ at Calvary.)

²⁷And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the Priests shall make your Burnt Offerings upon the Altar, and your Peace Offerings; and I will accept you, says the Lord GOD. (As a result of Calvary, this House shall stand, whereas every other house has fallen. God can accept mankind only on the basis of the Sacrifice of Calvary, and our Faith in that Finished Work. By any way other than the Cross, acceptance is denied [Eph. 2:13-18].)