Ezekiel 43:12

Something noticeable about the following verses is all of the animal sacrifices that were required just for one week as part of consecrating and cleansing the altar. The Bible says in Ezekiel 43:12-27, “This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.[13] And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.[14] And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.[15] So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns.[16] And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.[17] And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.[18] And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.[19] And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering.[20] And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.[21] Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.[22] And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.[23] When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.[24] And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the LORD.[25] Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.[26] Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.[27] And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord GOD.” The word “offering” is used eight times in these verses. Every day for seven days they were told to offer a goat, a bullock, and a ram each day. That is a lot of killing and a lot of blood. Things were cleansed by the shedding of blood. The same is true about the entire Old Testament: the constant shedding of blood of the innocent animals. The New Testament has the shedding of blood only one time. The Innocent One, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed once for all. It says in Hebrews 10:10-21, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.[11] And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:[12] But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;[13] From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.[14] For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.[15] Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,[16] This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;[17] And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.[18] Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.[19] Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,[20] By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;[21] And having an high priest over the house of God;” All of those sacrifices and all of the work of the priests in the Old Testament only symbolized what Jesus would do once for all when He died on the cross of Calvary. That is why under the New Covenant in the time in which we live there are no priests and there are no sacrifices.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 44:1-4, “Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.[2] Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.[3] It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.[4] Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.” At the end of verse two is an interesting phrase. It says, “no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.” It is a good verse to show the difference between the law and grace. Mankind could not approach unto God under the law. Because of man’s failures, the law only condemned. By the deeds of the law no flesh was justified, and therefore no flesh could stand before God. And so God made a plan of salvation whereby we are justified entirely by putting our faith in Christ. And then the righteousness of Christ becomes credited to our account. Salvation is a free gift. Man proved that he is unable to earn God’s presence through the law, but God provided a better mechanism: grace instead of law. Grace refers to a gift. God gives salvation as a free gift because Jesus paid it all. Jesus purchased your salvation with His blood on the cross of Calvary, and now you can come boldly into the presence of God. You have every right to be in the presence of God because you have the righteousness of Christ.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 44:5, “And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.” The “laws” and the “ordinances” refer to the Old Testament teachings. They refer to the written Word of God. Notice the word “all” in these verses: “all that I say,” “all the ordinances,” and “all the laws.” God does not want us to read and study just part of His Word. He wants us to read and study all of it. Every word comes from God and was given for us. One day we will all answer the question: The same message is given in the New Testament. It says in Second Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” One of my personal goals is to teach every word of the Bible. It took me ten years to preach through every word of the New Testament, and I have now spent over ten years going through the Old Testament, taking one book at a time. (I am also on my second time through the New Testament.) I remember many years ago when I started following one of the Bible reading schedules to read through the entire Bible in one year. And then by the grace of God I was able to follow that plan for many years. That would be a good goal for every Christian to follow such a plan. Have you read every word of the Bible? God gave you His words. Have you read them all?

The Bible says in Ezekiel 44:6-10, “And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,[7] In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.[8] And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.[9] Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.[10] And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.” God uses a word to describe Israel in verse 6 that explains a lot of things. God called them “rebellious.” Rebellion is worse than witchcraft. Human beings have a very strong will, and in order to follow the Lord, we must surrender our will to Him. You cannot get saved unless your surrender to Jesus. If you willingly accept someone as your Lord, that means you are ready and willing to follow His directions and leading. Notice the prescription in Romans 10:13 for salvation, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The name of the Lord is Jesus. Just notice carefully that you must call Him “Lord” to be saved. Jesus Himself had this attitude of submission to the Father during Jesus’ life on the earth. Jesus said before He was crucified in Mark 14:36, “Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” Also, Jesus told us to pray in what is called the Lord’s prayer, “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven...”

At the end of Ezekiel 44:6 God spoke of the Israelite “abominations.” What did they do that was so bad? They brought into the temple “strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary.” God had given them very specific requirements of who could come into the temple and when, and how they had to be cleansed with water before coming into the temple. Of course, all of this was symbolic of the fact that God is holy and no sin can enter into His presence. Every person must be cleansed of their sins by putting their faith in Jesus, or there will be no entrance allowed into God’s heaven. Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Once we do repent and turn to Jesus, we are given the righteousness of Christ. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.” And Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” It is an imperative. Once you repent, and turn to Jesus, and call upon His name, and are born again, the benefits are extraordinary and everlasting. It says in Romans 4:3-8. “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.[4] Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.[5] But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.[6] Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,[7] Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.[8] Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

In verse 9 of Ezekiel 44 God said, “No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.” This is of course consistent with all other teachings of the Bible that only those who get saved will be allowed to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus said in John 10:1-10, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.[2] But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.[3] To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.[4] And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.[5] And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.[6] This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.[7] Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.[8] All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.[9] I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.[10] The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” If you do not know Jesus, today is your day to call upon the name of Christ for salvation.

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