The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapter 45 (Part 1 of 2)

The Holy District and the Land Allocation

The Zadokite priests, the sons of righteousness, remained faithful to God. They did not apostatize or fall away from his commandments. In the new temple, they instruct God's people in the differences between the holy and the common.

The Old Testament teaches the people of God to distinguish between the holy and the common, or holy and mundane. New temple worship and living express a distinction for God's people between the holy and the commonality of life. This distinction is enjoyable and satisfying. God regulates it, while mundane things lack value unto his glory.

A sanctification and separation exists in the people's lives, the land, and the allotments. With these concepts in mind, we now consider the city at large. We have seen the holy temple, its 500 by 500 cubit dimensions, its priests, and its sacrifices. Now we see the entirety of the land and more on new temple worship.

Ezekiel 45:1-2
"When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent. Of this, a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits for an open space around it."

This is the sanctuary we have already seen.

Ezekiel 45:3-6
"And from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, in which shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place. It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, so the priests, who are the sons of Zadok, are in view here, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. Another section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in. Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district, you shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. It shall belong to the whole house of Israel."

There is difficulty in these dimensions. Two units of measure appear: reeds and cubits. The 25,000 by 20,000 may be reeds (722.5 square miles, vastly larger than modern Jerusalem's 48 square miles) or cubits (seven by five miles). Scholars debate it, but the scale is either small or astronomically large.

Justice for the Prince and the People

Ezekiel 45:7-9
"And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the property of the city, alongside the holy district and the property of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. My prince shall no more oppress my people, but they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes, says the Lord God. Enough of you, princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people, declares the Lord God."

Leaders once extorted God's people, evicting them from property. Now equity and justice prevail. People live in peace, given according to righteousness.

Ezekiel 45:10-17
"You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina. This is the offering that you shall make: one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, and as the fixed portion of oil, measured in baths, one-tenth of a bath from each cor (the cor, like the homer, contains ten baths). And one sheep from every flock of 200, from the watering places of Israel. This is for grain offering, burnt offering, peace offerings, to make atonement for them, says the Lord God. All the people of the land shall be obliged to give this offering to the prince in Israel. It shall be the prince's duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel."

Justice includes just measures: ephah and bath, each four and a half gallons. These offerings support worship: grain from wheat and barley, oil, and sheep from every 200 for atonement.

Atonement for Error and Ignorance

Ezekiel 45:18-20
"In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and purify the sanctuary. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple."

Atonement is essential to restore fellowship with God. It covers sins of error (straying like sheep, stumbling as if drunk, not walking straight) and ignorance (naivety, easily seduced by attractive sin due to lack of experience).

Sinning in error means deviating from the standard, not thinking clearly, like being drunk with wine rather than filled with the Spirit. Ignorance means lacking wisdom to discern, pursuing what seems better without judgment.

Like an inexperienced violinist making harsh sounds or a pianist dreading lessons from lack of practice, Christians must practice righteousness. Those practicing sin do not inherit the kingdom. Proactive practice of righteousness builds spiritual defenses.

Hebrews 5:14
"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."

Discernment comes from constant practice distinguishing holy from unholy, good from evil. This enables deeper scriptural truths. Lazy believers plateau; they should teach by now, progressing from milk to meat.

Atonement covers these sins, but understanding them is the first step to avoidance.

The Feasts and Superior Worship

Ezekiel 45:21-25
"In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. And on the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish on each of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering. And he shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil to each ephah. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil."

New temple worship is defined, with the prince as the people's representative providing offerings at feasts. These surpass Old Testament Levitical quantities and quality.

Sacrifices now combine with free will offerings. Once separate—atonement first, then voluntary worship from moved hearts—now they merge. The people are "obliged" (free will) to give to the prince for offerings. With new hearts and the Spirit, sacrifices are opportunities, not burdens.

After judgment and exile, God gathers, dwells, and resumes worship. People are moved to obey.

Types Fulfilled in Christ

The prince furnishes burnt offerings (Christ, a pleasing aroma), grain offerings (food), drink offerings, feasts, new moons, Sabbaths.

Colossians 2:16-17
"Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ."

New Testament worship fulfills these in Christ. Believers rest, celebrate, and observe in him. The true Jew worships in spirit and truth through Jesus.

Ezekiel 46:1-3
"Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside and shall take his stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons."

Burnt Offerings and Grain Offerings

The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. The grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.

On the day of the new moon, he shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish, six lambs, and a ram, which shall be without blemish. As a grain offering, he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.

Entry and Worship Procedures

When the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate and he shall go out by the same way. When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate. No one shall return by the way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. When they enter, the prince shall enter with them as the representative, and when they go out, he shall go out.

At the feasts and the appointed festivals, the grain offering with the young bull shall be an ephah, and with the ram an ephah, and with the lambs as much as one is able to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah.

When the prince provides a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or a peace offering as a freewill offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him, and he shall offer his burnt offering or his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out, the gate shall be shut.

Daily Offerings

He shall provide a lamb, a year old, without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily, morning by morning. He shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, one-sixth of an ephah and one-third of a hin of oil mixed in the flour, as a grain offering to the Lord. This is a perpetual statute. Thus the lamb and the meal offering and the oil shall be provided morning by morning for a regular burnt offering.

The Prince's Inheritance

Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their property by inheritance. 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 return 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.

Priestly Kitchens and Transmitting Holiness

Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, to the north row of the holy chambers for the priests, and behold, a place was there at the extreme western end of them. He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so transmit holiness to the people.”

We didn't mention this when we covered it in chapter 44, but it's important to deal with this issue now. What it means to transmit holiness to the people. It's peculiar because he doesn't want them to transmit holiness to the people.

In the four corners of the temple area, 500 by 500, there are four places that are the priests' kitchens. They're supposed to prepare the guilt offering by boiling, the sin offering, and bake the grain offering in there, and not take them out into the outer courtyard where the people would be, because if anybody touches them or comes in contact with them, it would transmit holiness to them, and that's bad. In chapter 44, verses 19-21, they're supposed to take off their holy garments before going into the outer courtyard, because if anybody touches their holy garments, it would transmit holiness to them.

Shouldn't you be transmitting holiness to the people? The Hebrew and Greek refer to imputing holiness, giving it over to them. But it's ceremonial holiness, a ritualistic, ceremonial separation or consecration that the Zadokite priests specifically have. It coincides with their ministry within the temple and regulations to teach the people the differences between what is holy and what is common.

If they transmit that holiness to the people, it transmits the requirements of priesthood to the people as well. Zadokite priests can't go bald, they have to trim their hair, can't let it grow long, can't drink wine, can't marry a widow or divorced woman—only a virgin or widow of a priest. A person who touches consecrated things would then have these requirements applied to them. Some in the congregation may already be bald, have long hair, drink wine, or be married to a widow or divorced woman.

Transmitting holiness blurs the line between holy and common. It says these requirements are insignificant, that anybody can be a minister to God without separation. It eliminates the distinction between holy priests who draw near to God and the common people.

The Kitchens in the Outer Court

Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me around the four corners of the court. And behold, in each corner of the court there was another court. In the four corners of the court were small courts, 40 cubits long and 30 cubits broad; the four were of the same size. On the inside, each of the four courts had a row of masonry, and an oven made out at the bottom of the rows all around. Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

Principles of New Temple Worship

There are fundamental principles in new temple worship. Before God left the temple he was going to destroy, he left by the East Gate, straight ahead, then departed. In the new temple, God enters from the East Gate, straight through the outer gate, inner gate, into the sanctuary. The inner gate was to stay closed because God went through it. Entering the inner courtyard relates to holiness.

On Sabbath and new moons, that gate can be opened; the prince offers sacrifices there, people bow. But when it ends, the gate closes. From Colossians 2, your new moon is Christ, your Sabbath is Christ, your festival is Christ. In New Testament worship, the East Gate is permanently open because the Sabbath and new moons are permanent in Christ. The way God goes is open for the people of God to enter through Christ.

People enter the North Gate or South Gate, but not East. Enter North, exit South; enter South, exit North. Worshippers don't regress; they enter the inner courtyard and leave in a new direction. New temple worship changes individuals. New Testament worshipers, encountering God through the Word—not just songs but reading and exhortation—should leave changed.

Too much modern churchgoing leaves people unchanged. It could be the service's fault, but truly worshiping in spirit and truth effects change. How can you validate a message if it does nothing? If you walk in and out no more like Christ?

Marks of a New Testament Worshipper

New temple worshipers valued the sacrifices, not out of obligation but grace that restored them to fellowship. They joyously responded. As New Testament worshipers, value Christ's sacrifice, understand what it does. This requires consistent participation to discern good and evil, holy and sinful. If unaware of sin, you won't value salvation from it.

The default for new Christians is not understanding distinctions between holy and sinful. Constant engagement with God's Word brings discernment. As we understand sin and holiness, Christ's salvation becomes more valuable. Persist in growing like Christ, who had joy, purpose, mission—a life worth living. Value what Jesus did, separating and sanctifying you. His message provides discernment between good and evil. New Testament worship is ours.