Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezekiel 43:3

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

God returns to the temple (43:1-12)

Nineteen years earlier, Ezekiel had seen visions in which God left the temple, went out of Jerusalem to a nearby mountain, then destroyed the city and its inhabitants (see 8:1; 9:1-11; 10:19; 11:22-24). Now, with the new temple established, he sees God returning by the same route, coming to his temple and filling it with glory (43:1-5).
God then told Ezekiel that this temple was to be his earthly dwelling place. It was holy, and his people were not to defile it as their ancestors had defiled the previous temple, through worshipping idols and burying their kings there (6-9). Ezekiel was to describe the new temple to the exiles and explain to them how it was to function. His purpose was to help them understand more of God’s holiness, so that they might live obediently and avoid wrongdoing (10-12).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw 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. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house. And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood by me. 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, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door-post beside my door-post, and there was but the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their whoredom, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. Thou, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known unto them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the egresses thereof, and the entrances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and 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 ordinances thereof, and do them. 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. And these are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about a span; and this shall be the base of the altar. And from the bottom upon the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit. And the upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns. And the altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve broad, square in the four sides thereof. And the ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad in the four sides thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit round about; and the steps thereof 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. Thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that are of the seed of Zadok, who are near unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord Jehovah, a young bullock for a sin-offering. And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse it and make atonement for it. Thou shalt also take the bullock of the sin-offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary. And on the second day thou shalt offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock. 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. And thou shalt bring them near 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 make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it. And when they have accomplished the days, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt-offerings upon the altar, and your peace-offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord Jehovah."

Here is a vision of the return of God's glory to the Temple, corresponding in every way to the visions of the departing glory in Ezekiel 10-11 (Ezekiel 43:1-6). God cited the reprobacy of the priests as a hindrance and as a reason for leaving the Temple. God promised that his glory would dwell there forever (Ezekiel 43:7-12); but that promise was made to be absolutely contingent upon Israel's holiness (Ezekiel 43:9-12). We also have the detailed measurements of the altar (Ezekiel 43:13-17), certain details on animals sacrificed, the sprinkling of the blood, the choice of animals, the days when sacrifices were to be offered, etc,

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 43

Now in chapter 43:

He brought him then to the gate that looks toward the east ( Ezekiel 43:1 ):

This is at the bottom of your diagram.

And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory ( Ezekiel 43:2 ).

Here you have the return of the glory of God to Israel. Now earlier Ezekiel saw in a vision the glory of God leaving the temple, and gradually as it left the temple, it settled at the gate towards the east and then it ascended and God's glory was removed from Israel. Here we find the glory of God returning to Israel. And again, even as the glory of God departed by the gate to the east, so the glory of God returns by the gate to the east.

"And His voice was like the noise of many waters." In Revelation chapter 1, as John is describing Jesus Christ in His glory, he does declare that His voice was like the noise of many waters. I would assume that this reference here in Ezekiel is a reference to the return of Jesus Christ in glory. "Then shall they see the Son of man coming with clouds and great glory" ( Luke 21:27 ). And He shall set His foot in that day on the Mount of Olives, and it shall split in the middle and a new valley will be formed from east to west when the Mount of Olives is split in the middle.

Now, according to other passages of scripture, when Christ returns, you remember when He ascended, He went with His disciples to the Mount of Olives and when they had gone as far as Bethany, which is just over the top of the Mount of Olives, Jesus ascended up into heaven and the disciples were standing there gazing up into heaven as they watched the cloud catch Him out of their sight. And two men stood by them in shining apparel and said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing into heaven? For this same Jesus shall come again in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven" ( Acts 1:11 ). And so the coming of Jesus Christ as He went in glory up into heaven He'll come again setting His foot upon the Mount of Olives. A great cataclysmic event takes place as the Mount of Olives splits. No doubt creating what we will get to later this new stream that will issue from the southern part here... I mean from the eastern part here down in the bottom part of your page, the new stream that will issue from the temple of God which will flow down to the Dead Sea. And we'll get to that after a while. But this is all a part of this great geological structural change that will take place when the Mount of Olives splits and when the city is shaken and the preparation for the return of Jesus Christ and the establishing of His kingdom.

"And the earth shined with the glory," as Christ returns there in verse Ezekiel 43:2 .

Now as He returns, surrounded of course with the angelic beings, the cherubim. The Bible speaks about His coming with the angels; it also speaks about His coming with the church, coming with clouds and great glory. Clouds symbolically are numbers of people, throngs of people. Paul said, "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory" ( Colossians 3:4 ). Then shall they see the Son of man coming with the angels to judge the earth. And so the saints that came with Him, Revelation 19 . So Christ coming with a heavenly multitude to establish God's kingdom upon the earth.

And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, 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 my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcasses of their kings in the high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall [and so forth] my holy name they will not defile any more by their abominations which they have committed. Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcasses of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever ( Ezekiel 43:4-9 ).

And so the declaration of God's coming, the coming of the kingdom to dwell in the midst of the people. So Ezekiel is commanded to show these things to the house of Israel,

that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern [and all] ( Ezekiel 43:10 ).

Now he, in verse Ezekiel 43:13 , gives you the measure of the altar. And we have the altar there in the center of the whole building, complex. And this altar is a fairly good size altar. It has four horns on the corners of the altar and they offered the sacrifices in verse Ezekiel 43:19 through the end of the chapter. The priests make the offerings of the sacrifices and all, the various offerings: sin offering, burnt offering, and the peace offerings.

Now, here's where one of the problems arises. And that is, why would sin offerings be made in the Kingdom Age? For we know that the Old Testament sacrifices all pointed to that one sacrifice of Jesus Christ whereby our sins would be purged once and for all. And in Hebrews we are told that Christ has suffered once and for all. That He is the sin offering of which all of the Old Testament offerings were just a shadow, the substance is of Christ. Why, then, will they be offering sacrifices again in the new temple during the Kingdom Age? And many suggestions have been offered for the reason for these sacrifices. Some of them saying, "Well, this is all symbolic. They really aren't offered." I cannot accept that. Many people spiritualize them. I cannot accept that. I think that it speaks very plainly that there will be these offerings offered during the Kingdom Age.

Now, as we look at the Old Testament sacrifices that were made, we realize, number one, that they did not actually put away sins. The Lord said, "And when they make the sacrifice it shall be for a kofar," which Hebrew word is covering. And so the sins will be covered. It doesn't say they would be put away; they would be covered. Now in Hebrews we read that it is impossible that the blood of bulls or goats could put away sin. But all they could do was to speak of the better sacrifice which was to come, that is of Jesus. So the Old Testament sacrifices did not put away sin, but they testified of that sacrifice that would come by which sins would be put away once and for all. I believe that the only explanation that can be given for sacrifices here in the temple in the Kingdom Age is that these sacrifices are memorial sacrifices looking back at what Christ has done. Even as the Old Testament sacrifices looked forward, did not put away sin, but gave anticipation for the sacrifice that would be offered, even now these are offered in memorial as we look back at that sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Now you remember that Jesus took bread and broke it and gave to His disciples and said, "Take, eat, this is My body broken for you." He took also the cup after supper and He said, "Take, drink, this is the blood in the new covenant that is shed for the remission of sins. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord's death until He comes. This do," He said, "in remembrance of Me." And even as we have our communion services and we break the break the bread and we drink the cup in remembrance of what Jesus did in His death for our sins, so when sacrifices are re-instituted in the Kingdom Age, they will not be for the purpose of putting away sin, but they will be memorial offerings by which we will be reminded of that sacrifice by which the sins were put away, and we'll be looking back to the cross and the sacrifice that was made there by Jesus Christ. The sin offerings being made here in the Kingdom Age. And that is to me reading it the way it says, but in seeking to understand it, that is the only understanding that I personally can come to the reason for there being a sin offering sacrifice in those days. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The vision itself 43:1-5

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. The return of God’s glory to the temple 43:1-12

Having described the temple, God next revealed that He approved of it.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

This vision reminded Ezekiel of the vision of God that he had seen by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 1:3), when he saw God coming to judge Jerusalem (cf. Ezekiel 1:4-28; Ezekiel 9:1; Ezekiel 9:5; Ezekiel 32:18). He responded by prostrating himself before the Lord again (cf. Ezekiel 1:28; Ezekiel 3:23). [Note: See Michael Fishbane, "Through the Looking Glass: Reflections on Ezekiel 43:3, Numbers 12:8 and 1 Corinthians 13:8," Hebrew Annual Review 10 (1986):63-75.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw,.... Recorded in the first, ninth, and tenth chapters of this book; the form in which the glory of the God of Israel now appeared was like to what he then saw; in each of which visions was the likeness of a throne, and on it the appearance of the glory of God:

even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; the city of Jerusalem; not that the prophet destroyed it, or came to destroy it himself, which was to be done, and was done, by the Chaldeans; but to foretell the destruction of it; which prediction of his made it as certain as if it was done. So the Targum,

"when I prophesied to destroy the city;''

and this was, when he was bid to cause, in a visionary and prophetic manner, six men, with their destroying weapons, to draw near unto it, and smite it; at which time he saw the glory of the God of Israel go up from the cherub, Ezekiel 9:1.

And the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; the four living creatures and the wheels; the throne of sapphire stone, and the glorious appearance above it, Ezekiel 1:3 only with this difference, then he saw the glory of the God of Israel departing, especially in the last vision, but now returning:

and I fell upon my face; in reverence of such glorious majesty: affected with such a display of grace and goodness, and sensible of his own unworthiness to behold it: the clearer and fuller views saints have of the grace and glory of Christ, the more humble they are; see Isaiah 6:1.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:   2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.   3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw 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.   4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.   5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.   6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.

      After Ezekiel has patiently surveyed the temple of God, the greatest glory of this earth, he is admitted to a higher form, and honoured with a sight of the glories of the upper world; it is said to him, Come up hither. He has seen the temple, and sees it to be very spacious and splendid; but, till the glory of God comes into it, it is but like the dead bodies he had seen in vision (Ezekiel 37:1-28; Ezekiel 37:1-28), that had no breath till the Spirit of life entered into them. Here therefore he sees the house filled with God's glory.

      I. He has a vision of the glory of God (Ezekiel 43:2; Ezekiel 43:2), the glory of the God of Israel, that God who is in covenant with Israel, and whom they serve and worship. The idols of the heathen have no glory but what they owe to the goldsmith or the painter; but this is the glory of the God of Israel. This glory came from the way of the east, and therefore he was brought to the gate that leads towards the east, to expect the appearance and approach of it. Christ's star was seen in the east, and he is that other angel that ascends out of the east,Revelation 7:2. For he is the morning star, he is the sun of righteousness. Two things he observed in this appearance of the glory of God:-- 1. The power of his word which he heard: His voice was like a noise of many waters, which is heard very far, and makes impressions; the noise of purling streams is grateful, of a roaring sea dreadful, Revelation 1:15; Revelation 14:2. Christ's gospel, in the glory of which he shines, was to be proclaimed aloud, the report of it to be heard far; to some it is a savour of life, to others of death, according as they are. 2. The brightness of his appearance which he saw: The earth shone with his glory; for God is light, and none can bear the lustre of his light, none has seen nor can see it. Note, That glory of God which shines in the church shines on the world. When God appeared for David the brightness that was before him dispersed the clouds, Psalms 18:12. This appearance of the glory of God to Ezekiel he observed to be the same with the vision he saw when he first received his commission (Ezekiel 1:4; Ezekiel 1:4), according to that by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 43:3; Ezekiel 43:3); because God is the same, he was pleased to manifest himself in the same manner, for with him is no variableness. "It was the same" (says he) "as that which I saw when I came to destroy the city, that is, to foretel the city's destruction," which he did with such authority and efficacy, and the event did so certainly answer the prediction, that he might be said to destroy it. As a judge, in God's name, he passed a sentence upon it, which was soon executed. God appeared in the same manner when he sent him to speak words of terror and when he sent him to speak words of comfort; for in both God is and will be glorified. He kills and he makes alive; he wounds and he heals,Deuteronomy 32:39. To the same hand that destroyed we must look for deliverance. He has smitten, and he will bind up. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit--The same hand inflicted the wound and healed it.

      II. He has a vision of the entrance of this glory into the temple. When he saw this glory he fell upon his face (Ezekiel 43:3; Ezekiel 43:3), as not able to bear the lustre of God's glory, or rather as one willing to give him the glory of it by a humble and reverent adoration. But the Spirit took him up (Ezekiel 43:5; Ezekiel 43:5) when the glory of the Lord had come into the house (Ezekiel 43:4; Ezekiel 43:4), that he might see how the house was filled with it. He saw how the glory of the Lord in this same appearance departed from the temple, because it was profaned, to his great grief; now he shall see it return to the temple to his great satisfaction. See Ezekiel 10:18; Ezekiel 10:19; Ezekiel 11:23. Note, Though God may forsake his people for a small moment, he will return with everlasting loving-kindness. God's glory filled the house as it had filled the tabernacle which Moses set up and the temple of Solomon, Exodus 40:34; 1 Kings 8:10. Now we do not find that ever the Shechinah did in that manner take possession of the second temple, and therefore this was to have its accomplishment in that glory of the divine grace which shines so brightly in the gospel church, and fills it. Here is no mention of a cloud filling the house as formerly, for we now with open face behold the glory of the Lord, in the face of Christ, and not as of old through the cloud of types.

      III. He receives instructions more immediately from the glory of the Lord, as Moses did when God had taken possession of the tabernacle (Leviticus 1:1): I heard him speaking to me out of the house,Ezekiel 43:6; Ezekiel 43:6. God's glory shining in the church, we must thence expect to receive divine oracles. The man stood by me; we could not bear to hear the voice of God any more than to see the face of God if Jesus Christ did not stand by us as Mediator. Or, if this was a created angel, it is observable that when God began to speak to Ezekiel he stood by and gave way, having no more to say. Nay, he stood by the prophet, as a learner with him; for to the principalities and powers, to the angels themselves, who desire to look into these things, is known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,Ephesians 3:10. The man stood by him to conduct him thither where he might receive further discoveries, Ezekiel 44:1; Ezekiel 44:1.