Ezekiel 45

Ezekiel 45:1-6= THE NEW EARTH INHERITANCE, THE IDEAL ARRANGEMENT(The New Covenant perspective of Joshua 13-21 with the Elect).Verse 1 is a reminder that everything belongs to God. Whatever He gives, we give back our best portion to Him. The land is distributed by lots, which is the Old Covenant expression of God's sovereignty. This land is the ruins of the Old Covenant Jerusalem. The 144,000 survivors (the exiles from Israel and Judah) come back to rebuild the city. Remember the 7 Churches consisting of the Jews and Gentiles were wiped out of existence. The 144,000 will be drawing the nations to the rebuilt city.

 From verses 1 through 6, we can see the Holy Land as a square just like the Temple is a square. This indicates God’s perfection and approval. See Diagram 1 below. In verse 2-4, the Temple was located in the middle of the square area with land surrounding it. Our service must be Christ-centered. It belongs to the Zadok priests. They are allowed to build their homes near the sanctuary. We also notice that there is an open space to separate the houses from the Temple. This further emphasizes the Holiness of the Temple from everything around it, even the land which in itself is Holy. Verse 5 talks about the portion that belongs to the rebellious Levites. Verse 6 shows that the City belonged to the rest of the tribes (non-priests). Notice the City (Jerusalem) is outside of the sanctuary. In the OT, the city represented rebellion and wickedness (Genesis 4:17; 11:1-9). It is not worthy to hold the sanctuary. Don’t take this literally. This arrangement never existed during the post-exilic age. Remember this book is using OT language to explain the New Covenant through word pictures.  It is fulfilled in the Church.

 DIAGRAM 1

Ezekiel 45:7-25=THE PRINCE’S PORTION AND RESPONSIBILITY

In this next section in Chapter 45:7, we see that Prince Jesus owns the Heavenly country that the people will reside in. This is similar to Joshua 18:10 when Joshua distributed the land allotments. The description is to tell the reader is that Christ has authority over the entire Holy Country. In the past, Israel experienced many civil wars, stolen property, and wicked kings (See Ezekiel 34, 1 Kings 21, Numbers 36:7-9; Isaiah 5:8; Hosea 5:10, Micah 2:1-2, and Micah 6:11). We see that these wicked kings are the servants in Ezekiel 46:16-18. They will no longer have ownership of the land. It is given to Christ's people. The Prince’s Kingdom will be ruled in peace, honesty, and unity. The people will never fear losing their land or being ripped off again. In Verse 9, Jesus explains to the world about the principles of truth and fairness (Proverbs 16:11, Amos 8:4-5). A new order is coming. Due to the corruption of the past (and later with the money changers and Jesus), the people need to know how to conduct honest business transactions. This inheritance of this Holy Land came at a costly price. Because of its abundant, the people were called to give back abundantly as well. We see that Prince Jesus is imitating King Solomon's Temple dedication ceremony in 1 Kings 8:1-66 and Hezekiah's restoration ceremony in 2 Chronicles 29:3-36. 

Here in verse 13, the Prince is instructed to collect the the New Covenant census tax due to the new land distribution. See Exodus 30:11-16; Numbers 26:3-56. Everybody gave their best resources (notice the best and most healthy sheep came from the watering places) for the sacrifice regardless of their socio-economic status (Genesis 29:2-3; 30:38; Isaiah 37:25; 58:11). The Prince will be representing the people and the sacrifice on their behalf. He is the mediator between them and God (Genesis 22:8). Also, it needs to be done at the right appointed times that God has ordained (70AD-Hebrews 9:11-12, 24-28). This is clearly talking about ATONEMENT (not a memorial sacrifice). This may be a possible parallel to Revelation 15:5-8, when we see Christ commanding his seven angels to pour out the bowls of His blood combined with the martyrs (their sacrifices) just like the Prince has combined His sacrifice with the people in Ezekiel 45:16-17, 22. Christ has poured both His blood and the Martyrs' upon the guilty in Matthew 23:32-36, 27:25, and Acts 5:27-28. Remember at the Day of Atonement, the High Priest placed blood on the Mercy Seat seven times in Leviticus 16:14-19.

In Verse 15 and 17, notice that there are two categories of sacrifices: ones with drink offerings (burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings) and ones with no drink offerings (sin offerings, grain offerings, and peace offerings). The majority of holidays have a mixture of drink and no-drink offerings. This represented the Old Covenant Law of God while Ezekiel's New Covenant Holidays had no drink offerings at all. In this passage, there are 12 Holy Days: 5 modifications with the other 7 remaining unchanged at all. See Chart 1 for clarification. The number 12 represents Governmental unity between the 12 Tribes. God is using these numbers symbolically in order to show Ezekiel how He is bringing in order and peace through the New Covenant. A New Covenant requires a new Israel. We see a similar pattern with Christ's sacrifice on the Cross and the pouring of His blood on the mercy seat for the Day of Atonement. This parallels the Passover, ULB,  First Fruits, and Pentecost and then 40 years later the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths are fulfilled. The Spring Feasts are completed at Christ's first coming in 30AD while the Fall Feasts are completed at His second coming in 70AD. See Diagram 2 below.

                                                  CHART 1

                                                              DIAGRAM 2

Interestingly, in verse 18, a lot of events (not intended to be an exhaustive list) happened in the first year of the first month. Here are the following:

1.         Noah walking on dry land after the flood (Genesis 6:13) 

2.         The Instructions of the First Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12)

3.         The initial setup of the Tabernacle by Moses (Exodus 40:2) 

4.         The purification of the Temple by Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:3-36) 

5.         Ezra’s Journey to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:9)         

6.         The release of foreign wives (Ezra 10:17)

Typically, on the first day of the first month (The Jewish New Year), a sacrifice was needed to cleanse the Temple and make atonement for the sins of the past year (2 Chronicles 29:3-36; Hebrews 9:22-23). These two new days resemble the Day of Atonement ritual in Leviticus 16:16-18. It involved putting the blood of a bull on the doorposts. The blood on the Temple is placed on these same door posts and altar mentioned earlier in Ezekiel 41:21-25; Ezekiel 43:13-27. This sacrifice was to be repeated on the seventh day of the first month due to the error and ignorance of the wicked people of Israel/wicked angels of Heaven. This is because Earth and Heaven mirrored each other.  This was part of the Ceremonial Laws of Cleanliness. Interestingly, there are NO sacrifices listed for conscious sin, which we all have done (See Numbers 15:30). This points to Christ. The 14 days of cleansing shows the importance of holiness and urgency. Again, this ritual is similar to Hezekiah's restoration in 2 Chronicles 29:3.

Verse 20 is the second additional Holy Day. At the end of verse 20, you shall make atonement for the Temple refers back to Ezekiel 43:12. In verse 21, the first regular feast day is Passover and the last feast is the Feast of Booths. This does not mean the other holidays are omitted. In fact, it might indicate an inclusion from the first through the last holiday. There has been disputes about comma placement, but I believe that the Passover and the Feasts of Unleavened Bread are still separate festivals. In Verse 22 (see the connection on Ezekiel 43:18-“on that day”), Christ needs to provide for himself. The purpose is that He is relating himself to us and establishing himself as a perfect, eternal High Priest (Hebrews 4:15).  "On that day" is referring to the Passover.

Ezekiel 45:22  On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering.

Genesis 22:8  Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Ezekiel 46:17-18  But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance—it shall belong to his sons. The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be scattered from his property.”


In Verse 23, we see a lot of symbolic sevens of the bull, ram, and male goat on the Feasts of Booths-The last feast day under the Mosaic Law. See 2 Chronicles 29:21. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and The Feast of Booths have the exact same sacrifices. This is to redeem the new, Nation of Israel-The Church. The grain offering symbolized one's gratitude towards God for their work and possessions. The oil is an anointment for special use. The Prince was bringing balance into the Law. These Holy Days are “adding atonement”  in order to "fit the Gentiles" into the New Covenant-all believers from every nation, people, tribe, and tongue (Genesis 22:17-18).