Ezekiel 43-45

In chapter 43 the glory of the Lord enters into His temple through the eastern gate, and highlights the alter of sacrifice in the holy place. He describes the cleansing of the alter and temple, where He will dwell among His people forever more. It is a difficulty for commentators to explain the purpose of the sin offerings, given that this occurs in the kingdom age, however some teach that these are not for atonement or forgiveness, but rather for remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice, someone like the we remember His body and blood when we celebrate the Lord’s table.

In chapter 44 the Lord describes the ministry of the priests in the future temple, and their requirements for remaining sanctified for His service.

In chapter 45 the Lord ordains that a district of land within Israel will be set aside specifically for the temple, and for the Levites and priests who will serve the Lord there. Later in Ezekiel, in the last chapter we will see the remainder of this new division of the land, where each tribe will receive equal portions of land in strips that run east to west, and are stacked from north to south. This distribution is substantially different than the allotments made to the tribes by Joshua.