Today's Reading:

Ezekiel 45
Ezekiel 46
Ezekiel 47
Ezekiel 48

The outer east gate is where God’s presence left and later returned after the fall of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 43:1; 44:1-2). Once God dwells there, that outer gate is to stay shut in order to honor His holiness! The inner-court east gate is different: it stays shut the six working days and is opened on the Sabbath and the new moon for the prince to worship at its threshold; it may also be opened for his freewill offering. In John 14:6, Scripture says that the way (gate) is open for all to have access to God via Jesus.

The closed outer gate reminds us that God’s presence is sacred and not to be treated casually, yet through Jesus the way to God is now open to anyone who comes by faith. Grace is seen in the contrast that what was once restricted is now freely available through Christ.

How does knowing that the way to God is open through Jesus change the way you approach Him each day?

 

Yay, you finished another long prophet book; this one was full of crazy visions! This continues the vision of the future temple and priestly duties. Under the Mosaic Law, the Levites and priests were to receive no tribal land inheritance, as God was their portion (Numbers 18:20-24, Deuteronomy 18:1-2). The Levites were given 48 cities around Israel (Joshua 21) so they could be close to the people they served. Now in Ezekiel’s vision, only the sons of Zadok could serve as priests at the altar and be close to God. They live near the temple in their houses and serve in the sanctuary. An equal-sized section next to it was for the Levites as their possession. They receive a land strip here, instead of the “sanctuary cities” from Moses’s time. They were now allowed to own land because of their demotion, and that they live a bit farther away. This keeps the sacred workers next to the temple, working continuously to keep the strict holy rules. There will be no more scattering of the priests/Levites, so there is less chance of them getting involved in idolatry, and they will be less dependent on tithes. The priests must not sell or trade that holy land (4814).

The whole country will be redistributed into equal parallel east-west strips of areas, with the holy center placed in the middle. The prince will have his own generous-sized area to not oppress the people (45:7-9). The prince is the future Davidic leader. People will bring him offerings so that he can provide sacrifices for the feasts, Sabbath, and atonement. He has privileges in the outer east gate (44:3), can worship, and can worship at the inner east gate without entering the inner court, and can even give gifts from his own inheritance to his sons forever, or to servants only until the jubilee (46:16-18). Previously, the Levites owned nothing and therefore could give nothing away; he must not take the people’s land.

 The temple sanctuary will be cleansed of sin as people continue to fail, and so it will need atonement to maintain its holiness. There are a lot of changes to the sacrifices to simplify them and protect the holiness of the future temple. These changes will protect against abuse like that which occurred there in the past, and place responsibility on only just the prince. This will create a national worship for the restored people. Here is a list of the changes in sacrifices:

• The prince provides the bull as a sin offering for himself and all of the people on Passover day (45:22).
• Daily burnt offering: one lamb every morning, with a sixth of an ephah of grain and a third of a hin of oil (46:13–15). Mosaic daily had two lambs, not bulls.
• Sabbath burnt offering: six lambs and one ram (46:4).
• New moon: one young bull, six lambs, and one ram (46:6).
• Festival burnt offerings (seven days of Unleavened Bread and the seventh-month feast): seven bulls and seven rams each day, plus a goat as a sin offering (45:23, 25). No lambs in those feasts were burnt offerings.
• Grain offering with the feast bulls and rams: a full ephah and a hin of oil per animal, larger than many Mosaic amounts.
• The seventh month festival has the same offerings as the first-month feast, instead of Mosaic Sukkot’s decreasing bulls each day. There is no eighth day offering mentioned.
• A stronger central role for the prince overall.

Lambs are not dropped from worship. They remain the daily offering and are still used on the Sabbath and new moon. What changed is the two great feasts: those burnt offerings use only bulls and rams, the same set for both feasts, so the festival list is simpler, and the animals are larger. People still bring lambs in the regular and Sabbath offerings.

The prince enters the inner east gate, stands in the doorway, and watches the priests offer his sacrifices. He worships there, then leaves the same way. He never steps into the inner court; that space is for priests only. On feast days he goes in and out with the people through the north or south gates. People enter one of those gates and must leave by the opposite one.

Kitchens in the corners cook the offerings so holy food is not carried into the outer court. Sacred and common stay separate to not accidentally sanctify (transfer holiness) to the people.

In chapter 47, the life-giving river flows from the newly restored temple in Jerusalem eastward. The water starts out as a small trickle under the temple threshold and gets deeper as it flows eastward to the Dead Sea, making the saltwater become fresh water. Fruit trees grow on both banks. The living water in Ezekiel’s temple does not just flow to one sea but offers life to anyone who is thirsty. What was once a place of departure has become the source of endless life, with fruit trees growing on both sides. Some areas will be left for salt, like the marshes, in order to keep salt available for the sacrifices as a resource and to show the limits of the healing. The earthly kingdom is not perfect. Revelation 22 says there will no longer be a curse at all.

The 12 tribes, the people of God, and the foreigners are all allotted land and inheritance. Everyone is treated as equals, even the non-Israelites who settle have accepted God and accepted His laws. They raise their families in the land and are now considered native-born. The vision describes the “holy portion” of the land that sits between Judah (N) and Benjamin (S). Within that district, the Levites get their land, and the other section is where the common people use it as farmland for the city workers. All 12 tribes will farm here. Also, within the district, there is land for the prince on each side of the holy district, on the east and the west side, like a buffer zone for protection. Carefully and orderly, God is at the heart of the area as the life, land, and leadership. Just as the name of the city declares, “The Lord Is There”, forever!

 

Today's Discussion question:

How does knowing that the way to God is open through Jesus change the way you approach Him each day?

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