Ezekiel's Millennial Kingdom vision continues...
Ezekiel is taken from the altar in the Spirit back by the outer gate and he finds the east gate shut.
The Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. The MacArthur Bible Commentary states that this might also mean the King is promising not to exit out of that gate again. Maybe like the rainbow promise?
As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the porch of the gate and shall go out by the same way.” Ezekiel 44:3
It's quite interesting. Because Jesus came in through the east gate, as promised, that gate is now closed. There is no longer a need for it.
Some human prince can eat before the Lord, but he will not come and go through this gate.
Ezekiel is next brought to the north gate where the glory of the Lord. Ezekiel falls on his face. Ezekiel is commanded to mark well what he saw, and heard, and the statues and gate access that he learned. Ezekiel is supposed to communicate these things to a rebellious Israel, including bringing in unbelieving gentile into His sanctuary, as well s their own sins. Also, letting foreigners be in charge of holy things.
- The uncircumcised are not allowed in the sanctuary.
- The Levites are going to be punished for becoming far from the Lord.
- Then they will be returned to ministering in the Temple, at the gate and in the sanctuary.
- They will slaughter the sacrifices and offerings.
- And they will do menial work that they had handed off to foreigners; but they will not get to minister to the King.
- As part of their punishment, they will be shamed and not allowed to minister to the Lord or be allowed to touch anything holy.
There was one family line that did remain faithful, the sons of Zadok.
- They will personally minister to the Lord.
- They will be able to come into the sanctuary and minister to the King.
- They will wear linen not wool.
- That includes linen turbans and undergarments.
- Nothing that would make them sweat.
But when these sons of Zadok leave the presence of the King, they have to change out of their linens so that they will not transmit holiness to the people. That is interesting! I have not idea what scholars think of this, but it's good to remember that this is the Millennial kingdom, not eternity. People are still supposed to be using their free will to choose God. And if I understand correctly, the Christians will be gone, along with the presence of the Holy Spirit. So, somehow, that holiness, as it did with Moses, will infuse on those who are in the sanctuary with the glory of the Lord. I'll be curious what the commentaries say.
More on the sons of Zadok.
- no shaved heads, but no long hair. Just trimmed.
- no drinking wine in the inner court
- they can only marry virgins or widows of priests; not divorcees or other widows
- they are to teach the people holy, profane, unclean, and clean
- they will perform the duties of judging disputes, uphold laws and statutes in feasts and Sabbaths
- they will not defile themselves by attending to the dead, except close family members (the daughter has to be a virgin to be included on the list)
- cleansing rituals if they do attend one of these relatives in death
- they will receive no inheritance from Israel; this gift is their inheritance. Jesus will be their inheritance.
Ryrie states that the hair cut standards and the attending to the dead standards are all meant as prohibitions on mourning. I can see that there should be no mourning in the presence of the glory of the Lord.
The chapter ends with their dietary requirements.
- no birds or beasts that died of natural causes or that was ripped apart
- they will eat all of the grain, sin, and other offers devoted to the Lord
- they will receive the first fruits and first rising dough each day
Two insights from me about this passage.
First, I think the restrictions on their inheritance and the provision through the regular offers is a way to prevent the corruption that happened with the rest of the Levites previously. The church has such a strong influence that it can extort from the people and it has done it through the whole history of the organized church. The Catholic church was basically the mafia for hundreds of years. In this final age, this very narrow family of priests will belong to God alone and will be limited in their temptation to capitalize on their position.
Second, and this seems like a big revelation to me, if I am correct. The more details given here the more Jewish this kingdom sounds. There is way more about the sacrifices than can be attributed to a metaphor about Christ as the sacrifice. It seems to be referring to the old laws, statutes, and sacrifices. It also refers to the feasts and Sabbath, other things Christians can observe but are not required to. Why so historically Jewish. And then my comment above floated through my head...the Christians and the Holy Spirit have departed in the rapture (presumably). Those who are left are going to have to manage the Old Testament way, by the law. Which makes sense. If they refuse the sacrificial work of Jesus on the Cross, they get one more attempt through the old mechanism. It also makes sense that a big portion of their job was modeling God's law and teaching the people. Again, the church is gone. Someone has to instruct and train.
I'll be very curious to see if anyone else has come to this conclusion.
- MacArthur makes a similar comment for part of my point. He says that the minutia about sweat, cloth, food, etc., is too specific to be considered symbolic. It calls for a literal interpretation, which leads to the next question, "Why?"
- Warren Wiersbe, in Be Reverent, on page 219 states, "...the literal interpretation of this vision yields the best understanding and application of the word that God gave Ezekiel."
- Wiersbe goes on to comment on the sacrifices as memorials to the sacrifice of Jesus, like we do with communion. He does seem to acknowledge these are Jewish practices from the Old Testament, but seem to be saying that the people will have both the Old testament and New Testament and know that what they are doing is symbolic. Wiresbe and his team are infinity smart than I, but I still disagree. If that was true, there would be some New Testament items included. Everything on this list is an Old Testament artifact.
- Wiersbe also comments on the fact that a.) There is no high priest, because Jesus will be High Priest and King and b.) All of Israel was called a priestly nation (and Christians are now God's priestly nation); but in the Millennial kingdom, it seems there is just one narrow family of priests. Again, I think this blusters my point; we've reverted back now that the church and Holy Spirit are not present for the instruction of the people.
Come, Lord Jesus, Come.
Amen