Ezekiel 45 -48
We’re at the end of Ezekiel and I have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed Ezekiel. Its been great to read the great words of God that promise redemption from exile and slavery but also speak of his justice and righteousness. Looking at Ezekiel has reminded that it is all about God showing grace to the wicked, not because of anything that is in them but everything that is in God… (Check out Ezekiel 36:24 – 38… God’s faithfulness to his promise to Abraham)
We get to chapters 45 – 48 (even 40 – 48) and I started to wonder… “where does this all fit in? Haven’t we already looked at the architecture of the temple somewhere else in the bible?”
Also how does the prince fits into this? No longer is the king mentioned but the prince appears to have taken over as a head of state…
Reading the chapters today made me think of Revelation 21 – 22 – the New Jerusalem that was to come. What’s the name of the city? “The Lord is there.”
I am not sure how all the boundaries of the land fits into that…? I would love to hear other people’s thoughts and reflections on Ezekiel!
Hi Jasmine
Parts of Ezekiel certainly aren’t the easiest to get a handle on and to find an answer to the all-important “what has this got to do with Jesus?” question can be pretty tough to nail too!
I think the key to these latter chapters is to understand that they are describing a future restoration – a new temple in a new land for a new people. The most important thing about all of it is that God will dwell there as represented by the return of God’s glory/Spirit in chapter 43 (reversing the judgment of his departure in chapter 10).
Everything that’s described in these chapters finds its fulfillment in Jesus – both in his first coming (remember Jesus being described as “tabernacling” with us in John 1 and how he referred to his body as the temple in John 2) and also in his second – e.g. Revelation 21 & 22 as you mentioned.
So there you go – maybe you were closer to understanding it than you realised!
I’m a bit confused.
There is the temple that already exists in Ezekiels time that later gets destroyed. Does that mean the ‘literal’ temple etc. and the new land divisions that Exekiel is describing in these chapters never comes to be and/or is it purely meant to be a description of Jesus and the future restoration when Jesus returns.
The original temple was destroyed while Ezekiel was in exile. It was rebuilt again in stages and in Jesus’ time was actually quite an impressive building. But Jesus wasn’t impressed. Jesus knew that God’s kingdom wasn’t about a building but a people. Jesus became a man to live among his people – “Immanuel” (which means God with us) – and to die for his people, so that God’s Spirit could then live IN his people – the people of the new covenant. The new land of this people will be not just a nation but a whole new creation. At the moment the Bible describes as “aliens and strangers” (see 1 Peter) but we look forward to Jesus’ return and living as his people in his eternal kingdom under his good and sovereign rule.
I think the detail about the divisions of the land are helpful in that they show that the new creation will be a real physical place but I don’t think that God ever intended us to understand that there would be a literalistic fulfilment, rather something far better!