Bird's-eye view
In this portion of Ezekiel's vision, we are given a description of the great feasts to be observed in the restored community of God. It is crucial that we understand what we are looking at here. Ezekiel is not laying down a blueprint for a future stone-and-mortar temple to be built sometime after the return from exile, or in some far-flung millennial age. To read Ezekiel this way is to flatten the text and miss the glory. The book of Revelation, as one scholar rightly noted, is simply a Christian rewrite of the book of Ezekiel. This temple, this priesthood, and these sacrifices are prophetic pictures of the age we are living in now, the age of the new covenant established by the blood of Jesus Christ.
So when we read about the Passover, the unleavened bread, the bulls and rams, we are not being given a renewed Levitical code. We are being shown the substance of which the old covenant sacrifices were merely a shadow. These are graphic, earthy, bloody pictures of the final and perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. The sheer scale of the offerings described here is meant to overwhelm us, to show us the magnitude of the sin that needed covering and the even greater magnitude of the grace that would cover it. This is worship in the new covenant, centered on the finished work of Christ, our Prince and our Passover Lamb.
Outline
- 1. The Appointed Feasts of the New Covenant (Ezekiel 45:21-25)
- a. The Passover and Unleavened Bread (v. 21)
- b. The Prince's Provision for Atonement (v. 22)
- c. The Daily Burnt Offerings of the Feast (v. 23)
- d. The Accompanying Grain and Oil Offerings (v. 24)
- e. The Feast of the Seventh Month (v. 25)
Context In Ezekiel
Chapters 40-48 of Ezekiel contain a detailed vision of a new temple, a new priesthood, and a new system of worship for Israel. This vision was given to Ezekiel while he and the people were in exile in Babylon, with Jerusalem and its temple in ruins. The purpose of this vision was not to provide architectural plans for a literal rebuilding, but to give the people hope by painting a picture of a glorious future restoration. This restoration would be so complete that it would far surpass anything they had known before.
The details are symbolic and point to the realities of the new covenant. The temple is the Church, the people of God. The river flowing from the temple is the life-giving gospel going out to the nations. And the sacrificial system described here in chapter 45 is a picture of the all-sufficient, once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Paul tells us that Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed (1 Cor. 5:7). Ezekiel is seeing that same reality from an Old Testament vantage point, describing the perpetual remembrance of that one great event in the liturgical life of God's restored people.
Key Issues
- The Nature of Ezekiel's Temple Vision
- The Passover's Fulfillment in Christ
- The Role of "the Prince"
- Sacrifice as Gospel Picture
- The Repetition of Feasts
Clause-by-Clause Commentary
v. 21 “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.”
The calendar of worship begins, as it always did, with the Passover. This was the foundational redemptive event for Israel, their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. It was the gospel in miniature. A lamb was slain, its blood was applied, and the angel of death passed over. Here in Ezekiel's vision, the Passover remains central. This tells us that the worship of the restored people of God is grounded in a great act of redemption. For us, that act is the cross of Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The seven days of unleavened bread that follow are a picture of the sanctified life. Leaven in Scripture is consistently a symbol of sin and corruption. To eat unleavened bread is to live a life purged of the old leaven of malice and wickedness, and to live in sincerity and truth, as Paul applies it in 1 Corinthians 5. This isn't about achieving sinless perfection; it's about the direction of your life, a life consecrated to God because you have been redeemed.
v. 22 “And on that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.”
Here we are introduced to "the prince." This is not a king in the old Davidic mold, but rather a leader of the restored community. Some see this as a messianic figure, and certainly the ultimate Prince is Christ. But what is striking here is that this prince must provide a sin offering for himself, as well as for the people. This immediately tells us he is not the sinless Messiah Himself, but rather a representative of the Messiah who himself needs atonement. This is a beautiful picture of the pastor, the elder, the head of a household. Leaders in the church are not a special class of sinless Christians. They are fellow sinners, saved by the same grace, who lead the people in confessing their sin and looking to the one true sacrifice. The prince stands with his people, not above them, in their need for grace. He leads them to the cross by going there himself first.
v. 23 “And during the seven days of the feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to Yahweh seven bulls and seven rams without blemish on every day of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering.”
Now notice the sheer abundance of the sacrifice. Seven bulls and seven rams, every single day for a week. This is a staggering amount of blood and fire and smoke. The point is not the literal number, but the overwhelming picture of complete and total consecration. The burnt offering was about complete surrender to God. This is what our worship is to be, a total offering of ourselves to God as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). And notice, alongside the massive burnt offerings, there is still a daily sin offering. Every day, we need both. We need to consecrate ourselves entirely to God, and we need to confess our ongoing sin and receive fresh pardon. The Christian life is one of constant repentance and constant dedication. The perfection of the animals, "without blemish," points directly to the perfection of Christ. Only a flawless sacrifice could atone for flawed people.
v. 24 “And he shall provide as a grain offering an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and a hin of oil with an ephah.”
Sacrifices were not just about blood. They were feasts. The grain offering, mixed with oil, was a staple of their diet. It represented their life, their labor, the fruit of their hands. By offering it to God, they were acknowledging that everything they had and everything they were came from Him and belonged to Him. This is worship that encompasses all of life. The oil is a consistent symbol of the Holy Spirit, of anointing and joy. So, our life's work, our daily bread, is to be offered up to God, consecrated by the Spirit, as an act of worship. This is not separate from the blood sacrifice; it is the response to it. Because we have been atoned for by the blood of the bull and the ram (that is, Christ), we now offer our whole lives, our work and substance, back to God in gratitude.
v. 25 “In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall provide like this, seven days for the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.”
This verse describes the Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths. And the instruction is simple: do the same thing all over again. The pattern of worship established at the Passover is repeated. Why? Because the gospel is not a one-time message we hear and then move on from. It is the message we need every day of our lives. The worship of God's people is a constant, rhythmic returning to the source of our life: the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Whether at the beginning of the year (the first month) or at the great harvest festival at the end (the seventh month), the need is the same, and the provision is the same. Our sin is great, but His sacrifice is greater. And so we feast, again and again, on the riches of His grace, offering ourselves, our work, and our praise to the God who has redeemed us.
Application
The central takeaway from this passage is that true worship is relentlessly Christ-centered. Ezekiel's vision, with its overwhelming display of sacrifice, is meant to drive us to our knees in awe of the cross. We are not called to literally offer bulls and goats. That would be an insult to the finished work of Christ. Hebrews tells us plainly that these sacrifices could never take away sin. They were pictures, pointers, shadows.
We now have the substance. Our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, our lives are to be a continual feast of unleavened bread, a striving against sin out of gratitude for our deliverance. Like the prince, leaders in the church and home must lead the way in acknowledging their own need for the cross. And our corporate worship should be a rich feast, a joyful celebration of the complete atonement and total consecration we have in Jesus. We must continually return to the gospel, for it is not just the entrance to the Christian life, but the path of the Christian life itself.