Day #255

Sermon - Audio
Ezekiel 46-48 - Audio
Ezekiel 46-48 - Reading

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Ezekiel 46-48

These chapters continue the expectation of the full restoration of Israel.

Ezekiel 46

46.1-8 A fully restored Israel means a full reinstatement of Sabbath ritual. The mysterious “prince” once again dominates these verses. The prince was first introduced in Ezekiel 44 as the only one who may enter through the east gate and eat in the presence of the Lord. It is said that the east gate is closed to all others because it is the gate the presence of the Lord entered through. It is possible to read “prince” as “messiah.” In other words, the Messiah becomes the one who leads the Lord's people in worship and into God's presence.

46.9-12 The strange requirement that those entering from the South must exit on the North and visa versa seems to simply indicate the large masses of people. The numbers of people who come to worship will be so great that crowd flow becomes important. This is the best explanation I could find.

46.16-18 Inheritance too is restored to prescriptions laid out in the Laws of Moses. The restoration of Israel is does not simply involve “church.” It involves all things: including “economy.” The prince will respect the property rights of his people (which as I have said before: not everybody gets the same inheritance, but everybody has enough to flourish).

Ezekiel 47

47.1-12 This first half of chapter 47 is one of the most beautiful in Ezekiel. I was read this passage on a cliff overlooking the dead sea. The landscape is barren, lifeless, dead. It almost never rains there. The dead sea stinks with the harsh minerals it contains. Nothing can live there. Visualize yourself in the middle of such a land. And reread verse 8, “When it (the river) empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be a large number of fish...where the river flows everything will live.” The purpose of this river is to bring life where before there was only death.

47.12 “...Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” This same imagery is used at the end of Revelation, “The Angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” The curse of sin is reversed!

47.13-23 The land boundaries are not worth getting stuck on, but once again remember the importance of land. This is written people in exile, who have been cut off from their land. The promised land would once more be their inheritance--allotted by God's grace.

47.22 Do not miss this: “You must allot it as an inheritance among yourselves and for the foreigners who reside among you, who have fathered sons among you. You must treat them as native-born among the people of Israel; they will be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.” Gentiles become God's adopted sons, and are included in their inheritance. This would be a surprise to Israelites, living in exile among gentiles. But this is clearly part of God's purpose from the very beginning. Israel was always to be a light to the nations. For this purpose, Abraham is called. God is interested in saving all the sons and daughters of Adam. Paul elaborates in Galatians 4.4-7 “But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.”

Ezekiel 48

Not the most thrilling chapter to read. But don't miss the last verse “The name of the city from that day forward will be: ‘The Lord Is There.’” These verses again remind us the city described in Revelation: “It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There are three gates on the east side, three gates on the north side, three gates on the south side and three gates on the west side...I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ^23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp