And he brought me unto the gate, the gate which looked toward the east.
Ezekiel had already watched God's glory leave the temple. Now his guide brings him to one gate — the gate facing east. What happens there answers the sorrow of everything before it.
The direction matters. One writer lines up the road out with the road back:
The glory left through the east gate. Its last appearance was on the mountain on the east side of the city. The return comes from the way of the east, and the glory of the Lord enters through the east gate.
Another writer names the road the glory took when it left this world:
If the glory left this world by way of Bethany and the Mount of Olives, then it will return by the same way. It will come in through the East Gate of the court of the Temple, and through the door of the Temple. Once more the cloud of glory will be at the centre of Israel. God will be upon the throne and Christ is the One Who will bring it all about.
The glory that comes back is the same glory that went away. One writer sets out what its leaving meant, and what its return means:
The same glory that left is the glory that returns. It is the same Lord, and He takes up His relationship with His earthly people again. When the visible glory of the Lord withdrew, His gracious presence left His people, and judgment followed. When the visible glory returns, His gracious presence returns among them, and the judgment that has lasted so long is gone for ever.
Ezekiel does not wander to this gate. His guide has been measuring the whole house, and that measuring carries its own message:
It suggests God's care and interest; everything that touches His purposes and promises matters. It may well also mean that God has risen up to take possession — He is asserting His title. Every false claim is set aside, everything wrongly seized is taken away, and all will be established by the measure of truth and righteousness.
At this gate the vision changes:
A far greater and more majestic sight now opens for the prophet. The Shechinah of Jehovah shows itself, returning to dwell among His people.
("Shechinah" is the visible glory of God's presence.)
One writer rules out two obvious candidates — the return from Babylon and the first coming of Christ:
It is the sign of God's return to Israel, whom He had left ever since the Jews were carried off to Babylon. But the return from Babylon in no way satisfies the prophecy. Neither does the mission of the Messiah… When the glory left, the Jews stopped being the recognised people of Jehovah. When God takes them up again under Messiah and the new covenant, the glory comes back. No mistake can be greater than the idea that this vision applies to the first coming of Christ in humiliation, when the Jews rejected and crucified Him.
Afterwards that gate stays shut:
So the shutting of the East Gate marks out the majesty and distinctive glory of Jehovah. That is the gate He entered His House by, and no one may go in or out by it.
And the promise that follows sets no end date:
The prophet also learns that this restored presence of Jehovah will not be temporary. It will last for ever: "Son of man, this is the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel shall no more defile My holy name" (v. 7).
- The gate remembers. The glory went out by the east and comes back by the east — God returns by the road He left on.
- The gate restores. Its departure meant judgment. Its return brings back His gracious presence, and the long judgment is over for good.
- The gate is measured. The man with the measuring reed leads him there — God taking possession and asserting His title.
- The gate waits. The return from Babylon did not fulfil this, and neither did Christ's first coming. It belongs to His return to reign.
- The gate is shut. Once He has entered, no one else uses it — the sign of a presence that will dwell among His people for ever.
And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like the voice of many waters; and the earth was lit up with his glory.
The east gate had been the exit door. Ezekiel had already watched God's glory leave the temple and the city. Now he sees it come back by the same road, with a voice like rushing water and light spilling over the earth.
The direction matters. Ezekiel stands at the east gate — the gate the glory left by.
The prophet has now seen the house and its holy areas in full. He is called to see the one thing that gives the whole its character — the entrance of the divine glory. He is brought to the east gate. In his earlier visions he had seen the glory of God leave the defiled temple by the east gate. It then took its stand on the mountain east of the city — the Mount of Olives (Ezek. 11:22-25). He who is the perfect and eternal embodiment of everything this vision of glory pictures also left the house of His day desolate. As He sat on the Mount of Olives, looking over the rejected city, He unfolded the course of future events. They run up to the day when He shall stand on that same mount on the east, bringing the glorious dawn of that day.
The verse names Him "the God of Israel." One writer says what that name will mean when the glory comes back.
Along the path it left by, the glory now returns to fill the house. It is "the glory of the God of Israel… and the glory of the LORD." Then all that those Names mean will be fully accomplished — Israel one nation, newly born in fellowship with the Eternal, under the new covenant, and in the power and blessing of the outpoured Spirit.
Commentators have read this chapter in several ways. One writer rules out two easy answers — the Jews' return from exile in Babylon, and Jesus' first coming.
It is the sign of God's return to Israel, whom He had left ever since the Jews were carried off to Babylon. But the return from Babylon in no way satisfies the prophecy. Neither does the mission of the Messiah… No mistake can be greater than the idea that this vision applies to the first coming of Christ in humiliation, when the Jews rejected and crucified Him. The prophecy needs us to believe that the glory will really be restored. It was not restored when the Jews returned by Cyrus' proclamation, any more than when the Lord Jesus was here. It will be, when He returns to reign.
The word can sound vague. One writer defines it, and names the other houses God has filled.
But what makes up the "glory"? It is the Lord's own presence. The cloud was the sign of it, both in the tabernacle and in Solomon's temple. But in the temple of the returned captives, faith alone grasps this presence, this glory. The same is true in the assembly of the saints gathered to the name of Christ. For the glory of the Lord is the display of what He is — the sum and excellence of all His attributes — whether seen with the eye or by faith. And so He fills His house with the showing of all the perfections of His own spiritual being.
The sound is not just volume. One writer says what that voice signals.
"His voice as the voice of many waters" (compare Ezek. 43:2). The grandeur, the majesty of His voice is beyond the endless roar of many waterfalls… That voice is the declared sign of His supreme sovereignty and majesty — over all the waves of human passion, and over the circumstances of a wrecked world and a ruined Church.
The earth lit up is more than scenery. One writer measures the change by setting this day beside Eden.
Long ago the cherubim stood at the closed Garden of Eden, and looked out on a cursed earth and a fallen race. But in the day of Ezekiel's vision they will carry the divine glory into its resting place on earth (v. 7). Then they will look out on an earth where the joyful song of deliverance rises from every part, every note blending and uniting in one universal Hallelujah.
The vision does not stop at a visit. It ends with a permanent address.
After watching the glory's various movements, Ezekiel saw its return to the earthly capital for blessing. "The earth shone with His glory" (43:2). And the glory of the Lord filled the house of God at Jerusalem. The name of the city from that day is JEHOVAH SHAMMAH — THE LORD IS THERE (48:35).
- Same door. The glory returns by the east gate it left by. God comes back the way He went out.
- Same delay. One writer rules out both the return from Babylon and Christ's first coming. The glory waits for His return to reign.
- Same presence. The glory is the Lord Himself on display — all His perfections filling His house. Once it was seen in cloud; now faith grasps it.
- Same voice. Like many waters: sovereign majesty above all the noise of human passion and a wrecked world.
- Same earth. Cherubim once looked out from a closed Garden on a cursed earth. Now they carry the glory to a world that sings one Hallelujah — in a city named The Lord is there.
And the appearance of the vision that I saw was according to the vision that I had seen when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar and I fell upon my face.
Ezekiel had seen this glory twice before: once by the river Chebar, and once as it left the temple before the city fell. Now he says the sight is the same one again — and he drops to the ground.
The verse points back to two earlier sights: the first chapter of the book, and the slow departure of God's glory that followed.
We must notice here especially that the vision the prophet saw was "according to the appearance of the vision" he saw before the destruction of the city. "The visions were like the visions" which he saw "by the river Chebar." This points back to the first chapter, when the heavens were first opened to Ezekiel the priest by the river Chebar, and he saw visions of God… Then he had witnessed the gradual and solemn departure of the glory of the LORD (10:18-19; 11:23).
The One who left is the One who comes back — and by the same gate.
The same glory that departed is the glory that returns. The same Lord takes up relationship again with His earthly people. When the visible glory of the Lord withdrew, His gracious presence left His people, and judgment followed. When the visible glory returns, His gracious presence returns with it, and the judgment that has lasted so long is gone forever. The glory left through the east gate, and was last seen on the mountain at the east side of the city. It returns from the way of the east, and enters through the east gate.
Older translations read the middle clause as "when I came to destroy the city." The ESV has "when he came." Either way, the glory now entering is the glory that once came to destroy. That tells us whose future this chapter describes.
Both times these living creatures appeared before, God was acting in judgment. Both times He appeared at the temple in Jerusalem… Ezekiel saw the glory leave the temple and city before Gentile rule began. Later, in the prophecy of the Messiah's reign and the restoration of Jerusalem, that same glory returns and takes its home in the rebuilt temple — "even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city" (Ezek. 43:3). So this vision reveals God's ways for Israel and the coming age — not for the Church or the present time.
Why does Ezekiel fall? One writer sets his collapse beside Isaiah's cry, as what God's glory does to a man who has no ground of his own.
The glory of God carried terror, conviction and self-judgment into the heart of a real prophet of God (Isaiah 6:5). It is as if Isaiah said: prophet and people are both exposed before Him, and I have no ground to stand on… The same happens with Ezekiel, as he tells us in chapter 1 of his prophecy. There is no sense of a title at all. He falls down on his face; he cannot stand; there is no place for him to stand on. His falling on his face expresses his moral condition.
Has this already happened? The two obvious candidates are the return from exile and the first coming of Christ.
It is the sign of God's return to Israel. He had left them ever since Babylon carried the Jews away. But the return from Babylon in no way satisfies the prophecy; nor even the mission of the Messiah… The prophecy requires us to believe that the glory will really be restored. It was not restored when the Jews returned by Cyrus' proclamation, or when the Lord Jesus was here. It will be when He returns to reign.
Once the glory fills the house, God speaks. His first word is about staying.
He speaks first of rest, and that forever, among His redeemed earthly people. What He had said to Solomon after the dedication of the first house came true in Israel's long history of shameful departure, scattering and judgment. Yet what He declared then was also true: His eyes and His heart were always on that house, the place of the soles of His feet. The returning Glory proves that He stays faithful.
- Same glory. Ezekiel sees no new vision. It is the old one — Chebar, and the departure — coming back through the gate it left by.
- Same God, new errand. The glory that once came to destroy the city now comes to fill a house. Its going meant judgment; its return means judgment is over.
- Same posture. Face to the ground is what glory does to a man; the prophet has no footing of his own, and says so with his body.
- Not yet. The return from Babylon did not restore this glory. Neither did Christ's first coming. It waits for His return to reign.
- Faithfulness proved. Israel's story was departure and scattering. Yet the returning glory proves God's heart never left that place.
And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose front was toward the east.
Ezekiel had watched the glory of God leave the temple before Jerusalem fell. Now, in a vision of a future house, he sees it come back by the east gate — the very door it went out through. (Writers below quote an older translation, which says "the house" where the ESV says "the temple.")
The way the glory comes in matters. It retraces the path of its own departure, over a hill east of the city.
The prophet has seen the house and its holy area as a whole. Now he must see the one thing that gives it all its character — the entrance of the divine glory. He is brought to the east gate. In his earlier visions he had seen the glory of God leave the defiled temple by way of the east gate. It took its stand on the mountain east of the city — the Mount of Olives (Ezek. 11:22-25). The One who perfectly and eternally embodies all that this vision of glory sets out in symbol also left the house of His day desolate. As He sat on the Mount of Olives, looking over the rejected city, He unfolded the course of future events down to the day when He will stand on that same mount on the east.
God filling His house is a pattern, not a one-off. But what is this glory?
God has always filled His house with glory. He did so in the tabernacle set up in the wilderness (Ex. 40), the temple in the kingdom (2 Chr. 5:14), the church at Pentecost (Acts 2); and the last house to be raised on earth will be no exception. But what makes up the "glory"? It is the Lord's own presence — the sign of which was the cloud, both in the tabernacle and in Solomon's temple... For the glory of the Lord is the display of what He is, of the sum and excellence of all His attributes — whether seen outwardly or by faith.
Commentators are firm that no past event has matched this.
It is the sign of God's return to Israel, whom He had left ever since the Jews were carried to Babylon. But the return from Babylon in no way satisfies the prophecy; nor even the mission of the Messiah... Some hold that this vision applies to the first coming of Christ in humiliation, when the Jews rejected and crucified Him. No mistake could be greater. The prophecy calls us to believe that the glory will really be restored. It was not restored when the Jews came back by Cyrus' proclamation, nor when the Lord Jesus was here. It will be restored when He returns to reign.
This entrance leaves a permanent mark on the gate itself.
The prophet is again brought back to the gate that looks toward the east. This time it was shut. When he saw it before, the glory of Jehovah came by this very way into the house, and filled it... "This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, and no one shall go in by it. Jehovah, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, so it shall be shut."
The glory left once. This entrance has no matching exit.
From that time to the present God has never dwelt in His house at Jerusalem. It was His house when rebuilt. The Lord acknowledged it as such, and honoured it with His presence as God's house when He entered the doomed city and temple in triumph. In time to come, as Ezekiel shows, the Lord Jehovah will return to it and never leave it again. It will be the place of His throne, and the place of the soles of His feet, where He will dwell among the children of Israel for ever. (Ezek. 43:7.)
The vision names what comes in twice over, and those names carry Israel's whole future.
Along the path of exit the glory now returns to fill the house. It is "the glory of the God of Israel… and the glory of Jehovah." Then everything those Names mean will be fully accomplished. Israel will be one nation, newborn in fellowship with the Eternal, according to the new covenant, and in the power and blessing of the outpoured Spirit.
- Glory withdrawn. It left the defiled temple by the east gate and stood on the Mount of Olives; God has not dwelt there since.
- Glory returning. It comes back along the exact road of its departure — the east, the Mount of Olives.
- Glory defined. The glory is not the cloud but the Lord's own presence, the display of all that He is.
- Glory timed. Neither the return from Babylon nor Christ's first coming fulfilled this. Commentators look to His coming to reign.
- Glory settled. The east gate is sealed because He entered by it. He stays for ever, with Israel one nation under the new covenant.
And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house.
Ezekiel has walked through the measurements of a temple he has only seen in vision. Now that house is full of the glory of the Lord. Two questions follow: what is this glory, and when does it come? The prophet had already watched that same brightness leave Jerusalem before the city fell.
Earlier, Ezekiel had watched this same glory leave by the east gate and stop on the mountain east of the city. Now it comes back by the same road.
The same glory that left is the glory that returns. It is the same Lord, and He takes up His relationship with His earthly people again. When the visible glory of the Lord withdrew, His gracious presence left His people, and judgment followed. When the visible glory returns, His gracious presence comes back to them, and the judgment, which has lasted so long, is gone forever. The glory left through the east gate, and its last appearance was on the mountain at the east side of the city. The return is from the east, and the glory of the Lord enters through the east gate.
The glory did not arrive on its own:
The glory of the Lord filled the house, but it was in the coming of Jehovah Himself that the glory came.
Another writer sets this filling in a line of earlier ones, then asks what the word means:
God has always filled His house with glory. He did so with the tabernacle set up in the wilderness, the temple in the kingdom, and the church at Pentecost. The last house built on earth will be no exception. But what makes up the "glory"? It is the Lord's own presence. The cloud was the sign of it, both in the tabernacle and in Solomon's temple… For the glory of the Lord is the display of what He is, of the sum and excellence of all His attributes, seen either outwardly or by faith.
The prophet does not walk in. The Spirit carries him into the inner court, and a voice then speaks to him.
God comes in this glory. He comes with majesty, with awe-inspiring speech, and with light that reaches the furthest ends of the earth… Brought into the inner court, he sees that the Glory fills the house. Then someone speaking in front of the house addresses him, and he finds a man standing beside him.
Nothing in Israel's later history matches this scene, starting with the temple the returning exiles built:
No such thing happened when the returned Jewish remnant had entered the temple. When the old men, who had seen Solomon's temple and knew of its glory, saw the foundation of the second temple, they wept. When the house was dedicated, no glory returned, no cloud was seen, no Shekinah filled the house. Nor is this a spiritual glory, the glory of the church, as so many seem to believe.
Some read this vision as fulfilled when Jesus came the first time. One writer sets that view aside, along with the return from Babylon:
It is the sign of God's return to Israel, whom He had left ever since the Jews were carried to Babylon. But the return from Babylon in no way satisfies the prophecy. Neither does even the mission of the Messiah… When the glory left, the Jews stopped being the recognized people of Jehovah. When they are taken up again under Messiah and the new covenant, the glory comes back. No mistake is greater than the idea that this vision applies to the first coming of Christ in humiliation, when the Jews rejected and crucified Him. The prophecy calls us to believe that the glory will really be restored. It was not restored when the Jews returned under Cyrus' order, and it was not restored when the Lord Jesus was here. It will be restored when He returns to reign.
The glory that once left could leave again. The words spoken from inside the house rule that out:
The prophet learns that this restoration of Jehovah's presence will not be temporary. It will last forever: "Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever; and the house of Israel shall no more defile My holy name."
- Departed glory. The glory that fills this house is the same glory that left Jerusalem by the east gate before judgment fell.
- Returning glory. It comes back by the same road. The long judgment is over, and His gracious presence returns with it.
- Personal glory. What fills the house is the Lord Himself — the display of everything He is.
- Future glory. Commentators say the rebuilt second temple never saw this, and Christ's first coming did not bring it. The filling waits for His return to reign.
- Permanent glory. The Lord calls this house the place of His throne, where He will dwell among Israel forever.
And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man was standing by me.
The glory of God has come back through the east gate and filled the temple, and Ezekiel stands in the inner court. Now a voice speaks to him from inside the house, while the measuring man stands at his side.
Some translations say "house" here where the ESV says "temple," and the writers quoted below follow that older wording. One writer sets out the order of events: the glory fills the house first, and only then does God speak in words a man can understand.
Brought into the inner court, he sees the Glory fill the house. Then someone speaking in front of the house addresses him directly, and he finds a man standing beside him. The Glory has entered the Sanctuary — majestic to look at, mighty in speech, far reaching in its effect — and now Jehovah gives His word in the familiar sound of human speech. He speaks first of rest, and rest forever among His redeemed people on earth.
Earlier in the book, Ezekiel watched this same glory leave the temple and the city. One writer sets the two scenes side by side, and points out who is present in the glory.
The glory that returns is the same glory that left, and the Lord who takes up His relationship with His earthly people again is the same Lord. When the visible glory of the Lord withdrew, His gracious presence left His people, and judgment followed. When the visible glory returns, His gracious presence returns among them, and the judgment that has lasted so long is gone forever... But it is not only a visible glory: the Lord Himself is in it... From verses 6 and 7 we learn that after the glory had entered the house, the Lord spoke to the prophet out of the house.
Did this happen when the exiles came home from Babylon? Did it happen when Jesus walked in the temple courts? One writer answers no to both, and gives the test: the glory itself must come back.
It is the sign that God has come back to Israel, whom He had left ever since the Jews were carried off to Babylon. But the return from Babylon does not satisfy the prophecy at all, and neither does the mission of the Messiah... No mistake could be greater than thinking that this vision applies to the first coming of Christ in lowliness, when the Jews rejected and crucified Him. The prophecy needs us to believe that the glory will really be restored. It was not restored when the Jews came back under the order of Cyrus, any more than it was when the Lord Jesus was here. It will be restored when He returns to reign.
The voice then names the place twice over, and one writer shows that the two names do different work.
If the throne points to God's government, tied to the glory that lives there, then the words "the place of the soles of My feet" bring in the thought of worship (Ps. 99:5; Ps. 132:7)... Idol worship spread through the whole land. It even reached the temple grounds and defiled the house itself. When the time of Ezekiel's vision comes, all of that will have passed away forever.
God had lived among Israel before — in the tent in the desert, and then in the temple. One writer names the condition attached to those earlier dwellings.
But in both cases the redemption was only an outward one, so His dwelling was outward too. It depended on their staying faithful to Him as witnesses of the one true God, under the responsibility of His law. The result was ruin, as it must always be where the first man is concerned.
The dwelling in Ezekiel's vision rests on someone else, and that changes how long it lasts:
God's own rule will then be set up, and it will flourish as long as the earth lasts. It will rest on Christ, not on the first man with all his failures under law. With grace as its foundation, "glory will dwell in the land," and nothing will change it from then on.
- Departure. The glory coming back is the same glory Ezekiel watched leave. Its going meant judgment. Its return means judgment is over.
- Return. God comes first in blazing glory. Then He speaks from inside the house in plain human words. Majesty arrives, then makes itself understood.
- Rest. The voice announces rest: God settling among His people for ever. He names the spot both His throne and the place of His feet — His rule and His worship in one place.
- Foundation. The earlier dwellings depended on Israel staying faithful, and they ended in ruin. This one rests on Christ and on grace, so it lasts.
- Timing. The return from Babylon did not fulfil this, and neither did Christ's first coming. The glory itself must come back, and it will when He returns to reign.
And he said unto me, Son of man, [this is] the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, they nor their kings, with their fornication, and with the carcases of their kings [in] their high places,
Ezekiel had watched God's glory leave the temple. Here, in a vision of a house still to come, the glory returns, and God speaks from inside to say what the house is for.
One writer traces the long silence that followed.
The tabernacle gave place to the temple. God had dwelt in the first, and He dwelt in the second too. Then the bright cloud of glory left the house, as Ezekiel saw in a vision (Ezekiel 10). It was unwilling to go, yet unable to stay, because of the sins of the children of Israel. From that time until now God has never dwelt in His house at Jerusalem.
No past event has matched this return.
It is the sign of God's return to Israel. He had left them ever since Babylon carried the Jews away. But the return from Babylon in no way satisfies the prophecy, and neither does the mission of the Messiah… No mistake can be greater than this idea: that the vision applies to the first coming of Christ in humiliation, when the Jews rejected and crucified Him. The prophecy calls us to believe that the glory will really be restored… and it will be, when He returns to reign.
The verse gives two images of the house, and it names who defiled God's name in the past.
If the throne suggests God's government, tied to the glory that dwells there, then the words "the place of the soles of My feet" bring in the thought of worship (Psalm 99:5; Psalm 132:7). In that day there will be no other throne-house in Israel… Israel's former kings had claimed an absolute right to the throne, and had acted in shameful disregard of Jehovah's revealed will. Instead of serving as Jehovah's deputies, they ignored His supremacy in practice, neglected or rejected His Word, and made their own will supreme. The people and the priesthood followed them down the same evil road. Idolatry spread through the land, and even invaded the temple grounds, defiling the house itself… When the time of Ezekiel's vision comes, neither the people nor their kings will defile Jehovah's holy name any more.
God had lived among Israel before. The difference lies in what that arrangement rested on.
In substance the temple was the same thing as the tabernacle. It was simply suited to Israel settled in the land… But in both cases the redemption was only outward. So God's dwelling was outward too. It depended on their faithfulness to Him as witnesses of the one true God, under the responsibility of His law. The result was, as it must always be for the first man, ruin.
The word "for ever" therefore points forward, not back:
What Ezekiel speaks of is none of these things. It is the dwelling which Jehovah will make for Himself "in the land of the children of Israel for ever."… None of it has happened yet. Why should it be thought incredible that God should dwell like this in the midst of Israel here below?
Behind the temple detail lies a bigger subject, and one thing it rests on.
The main point is God's dwelling with man. I believe this is the special blessing of man, and the highest honour God could give him… Redemption is the true ground of God's dwelling with man. He did not dwell with Adam. He did not dwell even with Abraham. But as soon as God brought Israel out of Egypt… what was the leading thought? "He is my God, and I will prepare Him a home."
Those closing words follow an older translation of Exodus 15:2.
Between the ruined temple and this future one, writers place two further dwellings:
Afterwards, in due time, came the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, the true temple of God… But the grace of God worked redemption through Him crucified. Then God formed a new dwelling in those who confessed His name, whether Jews or Gentiles, built together into a home for God by the Spirit. It is the church.
The promise comes with a demand, and the demand had a purpose for Ezekiel's own day.
Ezekiel 43:7 announces that the house is the throne and the footstool of Jehovah, and that nothing profane should defile it any more. The prophet was then to declare this: if Israel gave up their unfaithfulness, Jehovah would return to dwell there. So this responsibility rests on the people at all times.
- Departure. The glory left the temple in Ezekiel 10 because of Israel's sins, and God has not dwelt in His house at Jerusalem since.
- Return. This vision is the sign of that glory coming back. Not the return from Babylon, not Christ's first coming, but His return to reign.
- Throne and footstool. The throne speaks of God's government. The place of the soles of His feet brings in worship. No rival throne-house will stand in Israel.
- For ever. Earlier dwellings hung on Israel's faithfulness and ended in ruin. This one Jehovah makes for Himself, and it lasts.
- Now. God's dwelling runs on through Christ the true temple and through the church. And the vision came with a call to clear out defilement today.
in that they set their threshold by my threshold, and their post by my post, and [there was only] a wall between me and them, and they defiled my holy name with their abominations which they committed; and I consumed them in mine anger.
The glory has just returned to the house. The first words spoken from inside it look back, not forward. God names the sin that once drove Him out. A royal palace stood wall-to-wall with the sanctuary. Only a partition separated the king's household from God's dwelling. Why was that arrangement fatal?
The old temple in Jerusalem stood next door to the king's buildings. Commentators trace the defiling of the house to that closeness. They add that the plan of the coming sanctuary rules out a repeat.
Separation is of great importance in showing the character and name of God. This comes out in Ezekiel 43:7-12, which compares the arrangements of the first temple. Great defilement had arisen because the royal buildings stood so close to the Sanctuary. The people who often lived in the palace carried their wickedness and idolatry into the Sanctuary... Notice how past disorders are brought forward, both to show the need for the rules of the new Sanctuary and to enforce them.
Verse 7 calls the house "the place of my throne." So a second throne a wall's width away was a rival claim.
If the throne suggests God's government linked with the indwelling glory, then the phrase "the place of the soles of My feet" brings in the thought of worship (Ps. 99:5; Ps. 132:7). In that day there will be no other throne-house in Israel... They had claimed an absolute right to the throne, and had acted in shameful disregard of Jehovah's revealed will. They should have acted as Jehovah's representatives. In practice they ignored His supremacy, neglected or rejected His Word, and treated their own will as the highest authority. The people and the priesthood followed them in this evil course. Idolatry came to prevail throughout the land. It even invaded the temple precincts and defiled the house itself... When the time of Ezekiel's vision comes, all these conditions will have passed for ever. Because of their abominations His anger had consumed them. But then Israel's time of suffering will be over, and her iniquity will be pardoned, after she has received double for all her sins.
The verse ends with anger. That ending makes sense once you see the terms on which God first came to live among Israel.
The temple was the same thing in substance. It simply suited Israel's settled state in the land, unlike the tabernacle, which travelled with the Israelites up and down the wilderness. But in either case this was only an external redemption. So His dwelling was outward too, and it depended on their faithfulness to Him as witnesses of the one true God, placed under the responsibility of the law. The result was ruin, as it must always be for the first man.
Writers read the failure as a pattern, not a one-off, and apply it beyond Israel.
The evils that Jehovah rebukes had come in through unholy alliances with idolatrous neighbours... The corruption of the royal house first seeped into the sacred enclosure of the first temple. Then it flooded the temple with wickedness, as in the days of kings Ahab and Manasseh... The devil's constant effort is to bring about mixture where God's expressed mind is separation and purity. Israel mixed with the nations in her later history. That mixing ruined her, and brought the judgment of the captivities and desolation. The mixing of the world and the Church, a greater evil, has produced a correspondingly worse ruin.
Will the glory ever come back to stay? Commentators place its return in the future, not in the return from Babylon and not at the first coming of Christ. They also point to a new foundation.
When the glory left, the Jews stopped being the recognised people of Jehovah. When they are taken up again under Messiah and the new covenant, the glory comes back... The prophecy requires us to believe that the glory will actually be restored. But it was not restored when the Jews came back by Cyrus' proclamation. It was not restored when the Lord Jesus was here either. It will be restored when He returns to reign... God's rule will then rest on Christ, not on the first man with all his failures under law. With grace as its foundation, "glory will dwell in the land," and from then on it will never change.
- Nearness. The king's palace stood next to the temple, with only a wall between. That closeness carried royal wickedness into God's house.
- Rivalry. A second throne beside God's throne meant kings who claimed absolute right. They ignored His supremacy and set their own will above His Word.
- Spread. What started in the palace did not stay there. The people and the priests followed, until idolatry reached inside the temple itself.
- Fire. God's dwelling among them depended on their faithfulness under law. So the end was ruin and consuming anger, as it always is where the first man is the foundation.
- For ever. The glory returns to stay only when the house rests on Christ and grace, not on human faithfulness. Separation, not mixture, is the lesson for every age.
Now let them put away their fornication, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
Ezekiel has just watched the glory of God return to the house He had left. A voice from inside calls the place His throne, and His home among Israel forever. Verse 9 adds a condition: the idolatry and the dead kings must go far from Him before He will stay.
One writer draws a different thought from each name given to the place. He then explains why the kings carry so much of the blame.
If the throne suggests God's rule, tied to the glory that now lives there, then the words "the place of the soles of My feet" bring in the thought of worship (Ps. 99:5; Ps. 132:7). In that day there will be no other throne-house in Israel… The former kings had claimed an absolute right to the throne, and had acted in shameful disregard of Jehovah's revealed will. They were meant to act as Jehovah's deputies. Instead they ignored His supremacy in practice, neglected or rejected His Word, and made their own will supreme. The people and the priesthood followed them in this evil course. Idolatry spread across the land, and even invaded the temple area, defiling the house itself… So the cleansing of verse 9 is essential to Jehovah's dwelling among them.
The verse before names the problem: the royal palace stood right next to God's house. One writer shows what that nearness did.
Great defilement had arisen because the royal buildings stood so close to the Sanctuary. Those who often lived in the palace carried their wickedness and idolatry into the Sanctuary itself… Notice how past disorders are brought up again, both to show the need for the rules of the new Sanctuary and to enforce them… All of it is designed to impress the observer with the distinct holiness of Jehovah and His dwelling-place.
God had lived among this people before, first in the tabernacle and then in the temple. One writer compares the two and shows what that dwelling rested on.
The temple was the same thing in substance. It simply suited Israel once they were settled in the land, unlike the tabernacle that travelled with them up and down the wilderness. But in either case the redemption was only an outward one. So His dwelling was outward too. It depended on their faithfulness to Him as witnesses of the one true God, placed under the responsibility of His law. The result was ruin, as it must always be for the first man.
If the first dwelling failed because it hung on human faithfulness, a lasting one needs a different footing. The same writer names it, and dates it.
The prophecy requires us to believe that the glory will actually be restored. It was not restored when the Jews came back under Cyrus' proclamation, any more than when the Lord Jesus was here. It will be, when He returns to reign. God's rule will then be set up, and it will flourish as long as the earth lasts. For it will rest on Christ, not on the first man with all his failures under law. With grace as its foundation, "glory will dwell in the land," and it will never change again.
Some read all this as already fulfilled when the exiles came home from Babylon. The same writer answers from the chapter in front of him.
The present chapter is evidence enough; there has been no return of the glory. The Jews were then groaning under Gentile power. It applies even less since the Romans destroyed the city. Why then should men avoid the only alternative? The fulfilment is future.
His anger had already consumed them. The call to put these evils far away opens onto something else.
Moral evil and religious corruption will vanish away. All will be to the praise of the only worthy One. The people who had done harm in the earth for so long will be ashamed of their defilements and their rebellion against Jehovah. In that day they will be the witness of His mercy even more than they have been of His consuming anger.
- Nearness. The kings built their palace against the temple wall, and their evil crossed into God's house.
- Removal. God asks for distance, not regret. The idolatry and the dead kings must go far from Him before He speaks of staying.
- Foundation. The old dwelling hung on Israel's faithfulness and ended in ruin. The promised one rests on Christ and on grace, so it can last.
- Timing. The glory has not come back yet. Writers here hold that neither the return from Babylon nor Christ's first coming fulfilled this. They look for it when He reigns.
- Outcome. The nation that felt God's consuming anger becomes the witness of His mercy. Ashamed of its defilements, it has Him living in its midst at last.
Thou, son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be confounded at their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.
God shows Ezekiel a vision of a glorious temple, then tells him what it is for. He must describe it to a people living in exile because they failed to keep God's house holy. Measuring and shame belong together here. What happens in us when God shows us His own design?
The vision is glorious, yet the effect God intends is not delight in the scenery. One writer names the reason, then turns it on us.
The guide tells the prophet why God would show the house of Israel this vision of coming glory. The aim was not to excite them, but to make them ashamed. This is the effect of the disclosures that the Holy Spirit, through the Word, makes to us. They do not feed our self-satisfaction. They make us ashamed of ourselves — of our coldness, our littleness, our weak power to understand and respond. Those truly led by the Spirit of God into His deep things are always small in their own eyes.
Shame here is not vague guilt. It comes from measuring God's real plan against what the people built instead. God tells Israel to take the measurements themselves. Where the ESV says "measure the plan," older translations say "measure the pattern" — the word the writers below use.
The children of Israel were in captivity because they had failed to keep God's House holy. In those days God told the prophet Ezekiel to "show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern." Only in this way would they realize how great their departure from the pattern had been.
Measuring also has a second edge. It shows the people not only what they did, but what it cost them.
So even then the prophet is commanded to set the house before Israel in its measured pattern, that they might feel what their iniquity had deprived them of. In the days to come this vision will work deeply in them.
God gave the prophet two things to show, not one. The second waits on a condition, and everything hangs on one small word: "if."
God told the prophet to do two things. First he was to show them "the pattern of the House." Then he says in substance a second thing — "If," and please mark that If — "if these people are ashamed of the way they have departed from the pattern, you may go on and show them the law of the House."
One writer explains why with a picture of a building and the rules that govern it.
I may point to a magnificent building, and you may admire its design and say to me, "Yes, I see the pattern, but tell me on what principle is the house governed?" Now, God has His House, and He has His principles for running His House. Mark this: we cannot apply the law of God's House to a house that man has designed. You can only apply God's law to God's pattern. You cannot have a pattern of your own and then try to work that pattern on God's principles.
So where does this shame come from? One writer answers while commenting on an earlier promise of cleansing in this same book.
Grace alone produces true fear of God and true judgment of self, when the Holy Spirit applies it to the soul. "There is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared." It is this too which here leads Israel to hate and confess their past iniquities with a full heart. How glad they are to bow to the sovereignty of the God who uses it in saving mercy!
The same exercise belongs to God's people now. One writer wants readers to set the truth before them and measure their ways by it.
As we go over the truth of Christ and the assembly, we want to feel it with them before the Lord. By infinite grace a great many people have their part in the one assembly. Yet the ways of most of them do not match the pattern shown us in the Word. We want to set the truth before them so that they may measure the pattern... We know of no way by which the saints of God can be delivered from false positions and false ways and false doctrines but by the ministry of the truth.
- Pattern — God answers failure with a blueprint, not a scolding. He shows the house and lets the people measure it themselves.
- Shame — the measuring aims at shame, not excitement. The vision makes the viewer small in his own eyes.
- Loss — shame deepens when they feel not only what they did, but what their sin deprived them of.
- Condition — the law of the house waits on that shame. You can only apply God's law to God's pattern, never to a design of your own.
- Grace — such self-judgment is itself the fruit of mercy, and the people who bow under it are glad to do so.
And if they be confounded at all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its goings out, and its comings in, and all its forms, and all its statutes, yea, all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the statutes thereof, and do them.
Ezekiel is among the exiles, and the old temple lies in ruins because of the sins that drove God's glory out of it. Now God gives him a detailed vision of a house he cannot build, on one condition: the people must first be ashamed of what they have done.
The vision is not first architecture but diagnosis.
To judge how far this failure goes, we must first see the House of God clearly, as God originally planned it. The children of Israel were in captivity because they had failed to maintain the holiness of God's House. In those days God told the prophet Ezekiel to "show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern." Only in this way would they see how far they had departed from the pattern.
The vision gives them a loss they can measure, and it keeps working on them long after.
So even then God commands the prophet to set the house before Israel in its measured pattern, so that they might feel what their iniquity had taken from them. That vision will work deeply on them in the days to come.
Verse 11 hinges on one word: if. God holds back the detail — the arrangement, the exits and entrances, the statutes — until shame appears.
God gave Ezekiel a magnificent vision of the House of God, and He says, as it were, to Ezekiel, "You show the people this vision of the House so that they may see how far they have departed from My thought." God told the prophet to do two things. First he was to show them "the pattern of the House." Then He goes on to say, in substance, a second thing — "If," and please mark that If — "if these people are ashamed of the way they have departed from the pattern, you may go on and show them the law of the House."
The verse ties the laws of the house to its design. Neither works without the other.
I may point to a magnificent building, and you may admire its design and say to me, "Yes, I see the pattern, but tell me, on what principle is the house governed?" Now, God has His House, and He has His principles for the administration of His House, and mark this — we cannot apply the law of God's House to a house that man has designed. You can only apply God's law to God's pattern. So unless the people repented, the prophet had nothing more to tell them. But if they did repent, and owned that they had departed from the pattern, he could tell them the law of the House.
God tells Ezekiel to write the plan down in front of them, so they can carry it out. Writing leaves no room for improvising.
When the time came to build the permanent house in Jerusalem, "David gave to Solomon, his son, … the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit … all this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing" (1 Chronicles 28:11-19). Again, God ordered every detail in writing. In the New Testament, we have in writing the divine instructions as to the order of God's spiritual house. Do we have any more liberty to tamper with these instructions than people had of old with the instructions for the material, earthly house? Certainly not!
Among all the laws Ezekiel is to make known, one comes first and never changes.
The house of God may take different forms — a material building as in days of old, or a spiritual building made up of believers. Whatever the form, the first great and unchanging principle of God's house is holiness. As we read, "Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore" (Psalm 93:5). Ezekiel sets holiness as the great leading principle of God's house.
God's returning kindness cuts deeper than His rod.
Once God regathers them and they dwell in safety, their sense of shame and trespass will only deepen. The rod of judgment must leave a bleeding wound; but the grace that restores and blesses writes the failure we may be guilty of more deeply on the heart. So the matchless glory of His presence, and the perfect grace and kindness that put us there, will only make us read the awful meaning of sin more deeply. And all the while we raise our song before the throne: "To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood."
- Show — God sets the house before a ruined people, so they can measure how far they have drifted and feel what sin cost them.
- Shame — the vision aims at shame; everything further in the verse waits on that "if."
- Shown more — repentance unlocks the law of the house. God's law fits God's pattern only, never a design of our own.
- Written — God puts the pattern in writing so they obey it rather than adjust it. Holiness heads its laws.
- Deepened — restoring grace writes failure on the heart more deeply than the rod ever did. Shame grows as the glory returns.
This is the law of the house Upon the top of the mountain all its border round about is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
God shows Ezekiel a temple he will never live to see, then sums up the whole blueprint in one sentence. It raises the question the vision has been building toward: what rules the place where God lives?
This vision was not only about the future. It had work to do in the people who first heard it. (One note on wording: the writers quoted here use older translations, which read "house" where the ESV reads "temple.")
So even then the prophet is commanded to set the house before Israel in its measured pattern, so that they might feel what their iniquity had cost them. The vision will work deeply on them in days to come.
The law of the house comes with a condition. God gives it only to people who admit they have left His pattern. One writer explains why that order must stand.
I may point to a magnificent building. You may admire its design and say to me, "Yes, I see the pattern, but tell me on what principle is the house governed?" Now, God has His house, and He has His principles for running His house. Mark this: we cannot apply the law of God's house to a house that man has designed. You can only apply God's law to God's pattern. You cannot have a pattern of your own and then try to work that pattern on God's principles. So unless the people repented, the prophet had nothing more to tell them. But if they did repent, if they admitted they had departed from the pattern, he could tell them the law of the house.
So what is this law? It is one principle, and it holds in every house God has ever had.
God's presence will not tolerate evil, and demands holiness. The house of God may take any form — a material building as in days of old, or a spiritual building made up of believers. In every case, the first great and unchanging principle of God's house is holiness. As we read, "Holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore" (Psalm 93:5). Ezekiel sets holiness as the great leading principle of God's house.
The verse sets this holiness on a mountain top. Ezekiel saw the whole vision from a very high mountain, and commentators say which mountain that is.
The prophet's vantage ground is a very high mountain. This can be no other than the LORD's "holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel," where Israel shall serve Him (Ezekiel 20:40-44). It is that mountain of the LORD to which all the nations shall flow (Isaiah 2:2-3). It is beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth, the city of the great King (Psalm 48:1-3).
The last chapters of Ezekiel fill in the detail. A wall, gates, a river, and land measured out for every tribe — and one phrase covering all of it.
In Ezekiel 40-47 we get remarkable details of the house in its latter glory. Everything is divinely measured, from the details of the wall and the gates to the inheritance of each tribe. The wall shows that all evil will be shut out; the gates show that there is access for God's people. From the house flow the living waters for the blessing of the land... Ezekiel 43:10-12 sums up the pattern and law (or principle) for running the house in one short phrase — "most holy"! The last verse of Ezekiel states the privilege of the house — "The LORD Is There."
The same law reaches the people who gather in Christ's name today.
Holiness is the "law of the house" (Ezekiel 43:12). It follows that a company gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ knows the conditions that suit His worthy name. It also knows the need for a true atmosphere of holiness in God's house. So it may well be that a gathering cannot receive everyone into the practical fellowship it enjoys, which includes gathering to break bread, because Scripture gives reasons for exclusion.
- Shown — God set the house before Israel in its measured pattern, so they would feel what their sin had cost them.
- Shamed — God gives the law only to people who admit they have left His pattern; His principles do not fit a house of man's design.
- Sealed — that law is one word, holiness, the first and unchanging principle wherever God dwells.
- Spread — holiness covers the whole boundary round the mountain top, every part measured, every part most holy.
- Settled — the last verse names the privilege of that house: "The LORD Is There."