We are led to believe here that when the Temple is first built, it does not have the glory of God in or on it. It is a beautiful structure, no doubt, and a political victory for struggling Israel. At the same time, it is a place made profane by the evil one who sits there. But in this passage, the One Whose voice is like many waters, Whose glory makes the earth shine, enters His House once and for all. Malachi 3:1 talks of the One Who will “suddenly” come to His Temple.

Now, why is much made about the particular gate He enters? Perhaps I should not ask a question that I cannot answer, but there are some interesting things in the asking.

First, no other Bible writer uses the designation “east.” Over 60 times, twice as much as the entire 5-book Pentateuch mentions it.

• 8:16. The sun worshippers in the inner court of the old Temple are facing east.
• 10:19. Cherubim are seen standing still at the east gate of the old Temple, soon to leave it behind as the glory of God departs.
• 11:1. Evil men are seen at the east gate, and Ezekiel rebukes them.
• 11:23. The glory of God stands over a mountain, east of the city.
• 43:1,2,4. In the new Temple, the glory of the Lord returns from the east.
• 44:1. The outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east, is to be shut, since God Himself has entered it.
• 46:12. The gate mentioned in 44:1, shut most of the time, is opened here for the “prince.”
• 47:1, 8. Water is flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east. The house itself faces east. The waters flow to the eastern region.

Today, per Wikipedia:

“The Golden Gate, as it is called in Christian literature, is the only eastern gate of the Temple Mount and one of only two that used to offer access into the city from that side. It has been walled up since medieval times, in fulfilment of prophecy.”

Prophecy? The Ezekiel passage they reference (44:1-3) talks of the Temple gate, not a gate of the city. It would seem that the new Temple will have to be built before this prophecy can be fulfilled. Then Messiah will enter through it, and then it will be shut. The shutting of a city wall gate in the 16^th century does not seem to fill the bill. It was shut by a Muslim ruler to keep the Jewish Messiah out!

Laughable. But true.

Oh to read the Scriptures carefully! And stop running after popular fads that run through our midst and take our attention away from the truth!

2. Ezekiel 43:13-27. Back to Mosaic offerings?

Jesus is the offering once for all. As we discussed earlier, nothing changes that. Old testament sacrifices, Millennial sacrifices, none of them are efficacious, only descriptive. Like that communion service in your church. Does it take away sins or simply bring it all to your remembrance?

3. Ezekiel 44:23. To whom are the Levites of the Millennium ministering?

I hope you understand the difficulty of this question. It has to do with the nature of the persons who inherit the final Kingdom of God. Resurrected saints will reign with Christ. But the 144,000 remnant of Israel, while resurrected, evidently are not the only Jews who enter the Kingdom. As all over the earth, there will be natural people who survive the final judgment of the nations. They are the peoples who will serve the Lord and His saints. If indeed many of those persons are Jewish, it seems that the remnant Jews are here ministering to their “natural” counterparts.

It is a difficult scenario to see, but it is worlds better than blurring the text with wild fantasies of interpretation that cannot be proved by any sound hermeneutics. We seek to know what He said, pure and simple.

4. Ezekiel 45:7, 46:1-18, 48:21-22. Who is “the prince”?

One of the many unique portions of Ezekiel’s visions of the future is his description of a special administrator-type person who seems to be managing the new Israel in the name of the Lord. Heads up, though: He is not the Lord Himself. Clues:

• 45:7-8. The prince is given a sizable portion of land, but no more. The rest of the land belongs to Israel, not the prince.
• 46:4ff. The prince worships the Lord by giving offerings of various sorts, described in detail here.
• 46:12. He is the only one, it seems, permitted to enter the eastern gate, but then only to offer sacrifices.
• 46:16-18. The prince will have a family, and an inheritance to pass on to it.

Who is this prince? Consider Jeremiah , Ezekiel, Hosea, and their strong hint:

Jeremiah 30:9. “[Israel] shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.”

Ezekiel 34:23. “Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them…”

Ezekiel 37:24. “My servant David will be king over them, and they will have one shepherd… and David My servant will be their prince forever.”

Hosea 3:5. “Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king.”

I would say that in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses this matter should be established. Three prophets say that David will be the end time ruler of Israel. One of them even adds, for the sceptic, that this David will need to be resurrected, in other words, it’s the same David we know from history, coming back in a glorified body to serve as the Lord’s deputy chief over God’s remnant people.