And these are the measures of the altar in cubits: The cubit is a
cubit and an hand breadth: The bottom was a cubit, and the breadth a
cubit, and its border thereof on the edge thereof round about shall
be a span: and this was the base of the altar. And from the bottom
upon the ground to the lower settle was two cubits, and the breadth
a cubit; and from the small settle to the great settle four cubits,
and the breadth a cubit. So the altar was four cubits; and from the
hearth of God and upward were four horns. And the hearth of God was
twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four sides thereof.
And the settle was fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the
four sides thereof; and the border about it half a cubit; and the
bottom thereof a cubit about; and its steps shall look toward the
east. And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah:
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. 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 Jehovah, a young bullock for a sin offering. And thou
shalt take of its blood, 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. Thou shalt take the bullock of
the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of
the house, without the sanctuary. And on the second day thou shalt
offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and
they shall purge the altar, as they did purge it with the bullock.
When thou hast made an end of purging it, thou shalt offer a young
bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.
And thou shalt offer them before Jehovah, and the priests shall cast
salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering
unto Jehovah. 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. Seven days shall they purge the altar
and purify it; and they shall consecrate it. 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 Jehovah
(verses 13-27).
The altar which is now described in its measurement, was previously
mentioned in chapter xl:47. The altar according to this description, is
composed of four square layers (probably stones) one above another,
decreasing in extent and increasing in thickness; the top is a square of
twelve cubits. This is called "the altar hearth" or "the hearth of God."
The three words translated in the authorized version by altar are not
the same in the original. In verse 13 the word is "mizbeach." This word
is used many times in the Hebrew Bible; it means "slaughter-place." In
verse 15 two words are used which are nowhere else found in connection
with an altar. The one is "_Harel_" which means "the mountain of God;"
and the other "_Ariel_" the meaning of this is different from Ariel in
Isa. xxix:1[48] when it is used for Jerusalem as "the lion of God."
Gesenius translated it "the hearth," and still better is "the hearth of
God." Upward from this hearth were four horns. The Septuagint gives the
height of these horns as one cubit each. While in Exodus xx:25 steps are
prohibited for the altar, this altar has steps which look toward the
east. This great burnt offering altar, standing in the center of the
inner court before the house, will be the central place of worship in
this future temple.
[48] The word "Ariel" as used in Ezekiel has one more letter than the
word in Isaiah xxix.
The ordinances of this burnt offering altar in that future day are given
to the prophet, the Lord Jehovah addressing Ezekiel as "Son of Man."
Burnt offerings will be brought upon it and blood sprinkled. The
priests, the Levites of the seed of Zadok[49] will minister unto the
Lord Jehovah. What is first described is a kind of consecration or
dedication of this burnt offering altar, after which the general
sacrifices begin (verse 27). First a young bullock is brought for a sin
offering and the blood is applied to the altar and the four horns. For
seven days these offerings for purging and cleansing continue and with
the eighth day the burnt offerings and peace offerings are to be made by
the people.
[49] Zadok means "just." He was the successor of Abiathar in the
priesthood--the son of Ahitub of the family of Eleazar (2 Sam. viii:17;
1 Kings ii:27, 35).
But what do these ordinances mean? Here are priests again standing
before an altar, bringing bloody sacrifices, burnt offerings, sin
offerings and peace offerings. Is this to be taken literally also? Some
expositors have stated that all this had a meaning in the past and could
only be true in connection with the second temple. Others attempt to
read into it a spiritual meaning. All, or nearly all commentators think
it inconceivable that such sacrifices could ever be brought again in a
future temple. Those expositors who combat the premillennial coming of
the Lord and the literal restoration of Israel, consider the supposed
impossibility of a satisfactory explanation of this part of Ezekiel's
visions, the collapse of the premillennial argument.
Sacrifices of bulls and goats were brought by Israel in their past
history; the Lord commanded His people to do this. Every Christian
knows that these sacrifices foreshadowed the work of Christ, His great
sacrifice on the Cross. In themselves these sacrifices Israel brought
could not take away sins, nor give rest to the conscience, nor could
they make the worshipper perfect. The Epistle to the Hebrews
demonstrates this fully.
All these sacrifices had a prospective character, looking forward to the
work of the Cross. And when the Lamb of God died, when His blessed lips
uttered the never-to-be-forgotten words, "It is finished," and God's
hand rent the veil from top to bottom, the prospective character of
these sacrifices were forever ended. The new and living way into God's
presence, into the Holiest, had been made by His blood. During this age
Israel has no temple and all their Levitical ordinances can no longer be
practised by them. As Hosea declared they are without a sacrifice (Hos.
iii:4).
God, during this age, our present age, which began with the rejection of
Christ by Israel and ends with His Return, is gathering a heavenly
people, the church. The church has for its worship no earthly place, no
temple, but worships in spirit and in truth, in a heavenly sanctuary.
There are no sacrifices, priests, altars, in connection with the true
church, the body of Christ. Christ is all. He is the sacrifice, the
priest, and the altar. That the enemy has produced upon Christian ground
a ritualism which is aped after the Jewish system and which denies as
such the Gospel and Christianity, is well known. They have invented
altars, and sacrifices and priests. This is the Judaizing of the church,
"the other Gospel which is not another," upon which the Spirit of God
has pronounced the curse of God (Gal. i). The day is coming when the
Lord will deal in judgment with the apostate church which denies His Son
and His work, while His true church will be taken to the place which He
has prepared.
When the true church is no longer on earth and the apostate church is
left behind to plunge into the great apostasy, then the Jews will
partially be restored in unbelief. When they get back to the land they
will put up another temple in which they bring again bloody sacrifices.
These will be an abomination in the sight of God. Let us hear what
Isaiah reveals about this time: "Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my
throne and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye will
build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things
hath mine hand made and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But
to this man will I look, that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and
trembleth at my word. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he
that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth
an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as
if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their
soul delighteth in their abomination" (Isaiah lxvi:1-3). The entire last
chapter of Isaiah shows that the future is in view. The Jews have
returned to their land and have resumed their ancient worship. In their
midst is also a believing remnant (verse 5) who suffer and are cast out.
The Lord looking down from heaven and beholding the sacrifices they
bring despises them, for they are an abomination in His sight, because
they reject Christ and His sacrifice. This temple worship will be made
possible by the coming prince, the little horn of Daniel vii, who will
make a covenant with the unbelieving portion of the nation. In the
middle of the last seven years (Dan. ix:26) he will break that covenant.
Then appears the beast out of the earth (Rev. xiii:11), the false
Messiah, and takes his place in that temple, demanding divine worship,
claiming to be God (2 Thess. ii).
At the end of the three and one-half years which constitute the great
tribulation, the Lord is suddenly manifested. Of this Isaiah speaks
also. The unbelieving Jews sneer at the believing remnant: "Let the Lord
be glorified!" The Spirit of God gives them the assurance, "but He shall
appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed." "A voice of noise from
the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth
recompense to His enemies" (verse 6). These words describe His
manifestation. After this comes the restoration of Israel. The apostates
who worshipped the Beast will be punished. The temple Ezekiel describes
will then be built and Israel is now at last the kingdom of priests and
a holy nation (Exod. xix:6). The new covenant promised to them will then
be ratified (Jere. xxxi:31-34).
Their great temple will be more than their place of worship; it will be
a house of prayer for all nations. Let us listen again to Isaiah's great
testimony. "The sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord,
to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants,
every one that keepeth the Sabbath[50] from polluting it, and taketh
hold of my covenant; even them (Gentiles) will I bring to my holy
mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt
offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for
mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord
God who gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others
to him, beside those that are gathered unto Him" (Is. lvi:6-8). All this
has nothing to do with the church or the present dispensation of grace.
It is a prophecy of the kingdom, the age to come, the dispensation of
the fullness of times.
[50] The sects, like Seventh Day Baptists, Adventists, etc., quote this
passage. They are utterly wrong for this has nothing whatever to do with
the present age.
So let us understand that the millennial temple will be the great center
of earthly worship during the reign of the King of Kings. In that temple
sacrifices will be brought again. The ancient worship of Israel will be
resumed and that in a way as Israel never enjoyed it in the past. To
deny the literalness of these sacrifices does violence to the Word of
God. Ezekiel is not the only prophet who tells us of this. One of the
strongest passages is found in Jeremiah. Speaking of the coming reign of
Christ, Jeremiah tells us, "In those days shall Judah be saved and
Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this is the name wherewith she shall
be called, The Lord our Righteousness. For thus saith the Lord, David
shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.
Neither shall the priests, the Levites want a man before Me to offer
burnt offerings, and to kindle meal offerings, and to do sacrifice
continually" (Jere. xxxiii:15-18). Why then should it be an impossible
thing that literal sacrifices are brought again?
But what is the meaning and the purpose of these animal sacrifices? The
answer is quite simple. While the sacrifices Israel brought once had a
prospective meaning, the sacrifices brought in the millennial temple
have a retrospective meaning. When during this age God's people worship
in the appointed way at His table, with the bread and wine as the
memorial of His love, it is a retrospect. We look back to the Cross. We
show forth His death. It is "till He comes." Then this memorial feast
ends forever. Never again will the Lord's Supper be kept after the
Saints of God have left the earth to be with the Lord in glory. The
resumed sacrifices will be the memorial of the Cross and the whole
wonderful story of the redemption for Israel and the nations of the
earth, during the kingdom reign of Christ. And what a memorial it will
be! What a meaning these sacrifices will have! They will bring to a
living remembrance everything of the past. The retrospect will produce
the greatest scene of worship, of praise and adoration this earth has
ever seen. All the Cross meant and the Cross has accomplished will be
recalled and a mighty "Hallelujah Chorus" will fill the earth and the
heavens. The sacrifices will constantly remind the peoples of the earth
of Him who died for Israel, who paid the redemption price for all
creation and whose glory now covers the earth as the waters cover the
deep. And above in the New Jerusalem, where the throne of the Lamb is,
the Saints in glory sing their Hallelujah (Ps. cxlix:5).