God's Blueprints for Glory: The North Gate Text: Ezekiel 40:20-23
Introduction: The Grammar of a Rebuilt World
We come now to the fortieth chapter of Ezekiel, and for many modern Christians, this is where the trail goes cold. We are presented with chapter after chapter of meticulous, almost bewildering, architectural detail. We have cubits and guardrooms, pillars and porches, steps and palm trees. It can feel like reading a building code from a civilization that has long since vanished. The temptation is to skim, to glaze over, to assume this is just for the specialists, and to hurry on to what we think are the more "spiritual" parts of the Bible.
But this is a profound mistake. We must never forget that every word of God is profitable. God is not a tedious architect with no sense of narrative purpose. These chapters are not an appendix; they are a glorious climax. To understand them, we must first remember where Ezekiel and his people are. They are in exile. The holy city, Jerusalem, has been sacked. Solomon's glorious temple, the center of their worship and the dwelling place of God's manifest presence, has been reduced to a pile of rubble and ash. The glory of the Lord, as Ezekiel himself witnessed in an earlier vision, had departed. The people of God were spiritually and geographically homeless.
Into this despair, God gives Ezekiel a vision. It is a vision of a new temple, a perfect temple, described with divine precision. This is not just a message of "things will get better someday." This is a detailed, concrete, measured promise of total restoration. God is showing his people that He has not forgotten them and that His plans are not vague hopes but are as solid and fixed as a builder's blueprint. The meticulous detail is itself the point. It communicates certainty. God's future for His people is not a cloudy dream; it is a well-designed reality.
Now, we must ask the question: what is this temple? Dispensationalists, with their love for charts and timelines, want to see this as a literal blueprint for a future millennial temple, complete with a reinstated sacrificial system. But this creates a host of theological problems, not the least of which is that it flies in the face of the book of Hebrews, which tells us that Christ's sacrifice was once for all, rendering the old system obsolete. No, the New Testament gives us the interpretive key. The ultimate temple is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (John 2:19-21), and by extension, His body, the Church (1 Cor. 3:16, Eph. 2:21-22). Ezekiel's vision is a glorious Old Covenant picture of a New Covenant reality. It is a typological portrait of the Church, the dwelling place of God, in all her glory, order, and perfection. The measurements are not for a stone building, but for a spiritual house built of living stones.
The Text
As for the gate of the outer court which faced the north, he measured its length and its width. It had three guardrooms on each side; and its side pillars and its porches had the same measurement as the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five cubits. Its windows and its porches and its palm tree ornaments had the same measurements as the gate which faced toward the east; and it was reached by seven steps, and its porch was in front of them. The inner court had a gate opposite the gate on the north as well as the gate on the east; and he measured one hundred cubits from gate to gate.
(Ezekiel 40:20-23 LSB)
Symmetry and Divine Order (v. 20-22)
The vision continues its tour of the temple complex, moving from the east gate to the north gate. What is immediately striking is the repetition, the sameness.
"As for the gate of the outer court which faced the north, he measured its length and its width. It had three guardrooms on each side; and its side pillars and its porches had the same measurement as the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five cubits. Its windows and its porches and its palm tree ornaments had the same measurements as the gate which faced toward the east..." (Ezekiel 40:20-22a)
The angel measures the north gate, and we are told repeatedly that its dimensions are identical to the east gate. The length is fifty cubits, the width twenty-five. The guardrooms, pillars, windows, and porches are all the same. This is not lazy writing; it is deliberate theology. God is communicating something essential about His nature and the nature of His kingdom: He is a God of order, symmetry, and glorious, unchanging perfection. There is no randomness here. There is no "good side" and "bad side" of the temple. Access to God's presence is uniform and consistent.
This stands in stark contrast to the pagan temples of the ancient world, which were often chaotic, asymmetrical, and designed to manipulate the worshipper through fear and mystery. Here, God reveals His design openly. The symmetry tells us that God's standards are objective and universal. The way of access is the same whether you come from the east or the north. In the New Covenant, this points to the truth that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free... for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). The terms of entry into God's presence are the same for all people in all places: through the one gate, who is Christ.
The direction "north" in Scripture often has ominous overtones. It is frequently the direction from which judgment and invasion come upon Israel (Jer. 1:14, 4:6). The great enemies, Assyria and Babylon, came from the north. So, it is significant that there is a gate on the north side, and that it is just as glorious and accessible as the others. It is a picture of God's redemptive power. The very direction from which destruction came is now a regulated, measured, and beautiful point of entry into His presence. God takes the places of our greatest threat and turns them into gateways of grace. He redeems our past defeats and makes them part of the architecture of His glory.
Measured Steps to a Holy God (v. 22b)
The details of the approach to the gate are also significant.
"...and it was reached by seven steps, and its porch was in front of them." (Ezekiel 40:22b LSB)
The gate is elevated. It is not on level ground. To approach God requires an ascent. This speaks of the holiness of God and the reverence required to come into His presence. We do not saunter into worship; we are to ascend to it. The number seven is, of course, the number of perfection and completion, tied to the creation week. This ascent is a perfect, divinely appointed path. It is not a ladder we build ourselves, but a staircase that God has provided. We come to God on His terms, following the steps He has laid out.
In the New Covenant, these seven steps represent the finished work of Christ. We do not ascend by our own righteousness, but by the perfect work of our Savior who has gone before us and prepared the way. The porch being "in front of them" or "before them" signifies a place of transition, a place to prepare before entering the holy courts. It is a reminder that we are to prepare our hearts for worship, to examine ourselves before we enter into the sacred assembly.
The Measure of Holiness (v. 23)
Finally, the relationship between the outer court and the inner court is measured, establishing a crucial boundary.
"The inner court had a gate opposite the gate on the north as well as the gate on the east; and he measured one hundred cubits from gate to gate." (Ezekiel 40:23 LSB)
Between the gate of the outer court and the gate of the inner court lies a space of one hundred cubits. This is a zone of separation. It teaches us about the holiness of God. As one moves deeper into the temple complex, the level of holiness increases. The outer court was for the people, but the inner court was for the priests. Not just anyone could wander into the heart of the temple.
This is a foundational principle of biblical reality: God creates by separating. He separated light from darkness, land from sea. And here, He separates the holy from the common. Our modern world despises this. It wants to tear down every wall, erase every distinction, and declare that everything is the same. But to do so is to de-create. It is to return to the formless and void. Holiness requires distinction.
This measurement of one hundred cubits is a picture of the reverent distance and the clear distinction between the people and the immediate, fiery presence of God. Yet, it is also a measured, defined distance, not an infinite and unknowable one. In the Old Covenant, that space could only be traversed by the priests. But in the New Covenant, the good news is that through the blood of Jesus, the veil has been torn. We who were far off have been brought near (Eph. 2:13). Christ has crossed that hundred-cubit gap for us. And now, as believers, we are all made a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), granted access into the inner court, into the very presence of God.
Conclusion: Building with God's Blueprints
So what do we do with these cubits and gates? We must see them for what they are: a portrait of the Church of Jesus Christ, which He is building. This vision given to Ezekiel is being fulfilled now, in us.
The Church is to be a place of divine symmetry and order. Our worship, our doctrine, and our lives are not to be haphazard. They are to be measured by the Word of God. The standards are the same for everyone. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
The Church is the place where God redeems the "north", the places of threat and attack. We are to be a people who take the very weapons the enemy uses against us and consecrate them as instruments of worship. We are a people who ascend the seven steps, who grow in grace and holiness, approaching God with reverence and awe.
And the Church is a body that understands and honors the principle of holiness. We must maintain the distinction between the church and the world, between righteousness and unrighteousness, between light and darkness. We do not do this to be exclusive and proud, but because God is holy, and we are His dwelling place. That hundred-cubit separation is now maintained not by a physical space, but by our consecration to Christ.
Ezekiel's vision was a promise of hope to a scattered and defeated people. It was a blueprint for a glory that was to come. That glory is no longer a future vision; it is a present reality in the person of Jesus Christ and an unfolding project in His body, the Church. We are the temple. God is the architect. And His blueprints are perfect. Let us therefore build according to the pattern.