The Four Kitchens of the Kingdom Text: Ezekiel 46:21-24
Introduction: Reading the Blueprint of the Church
We come now to the end of chapter 46 in Ezekiel's glorious and perplexing vision. For many modern evangelicals, particularly those with elaborate charts and timelines, these final chapters of Ezekiel are a blueprint for a future millennial kingdom, where a physical temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and the Levitical sacrifices will be reinstated. This is a profound misreading of the text, and it is a misreading that actually diminishes the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is an attempt to read the Old Covenant with Old Covenant eyes, after the cross has already happened. It is to prefer the shadow over the substance.
The New Testament is our inspired commentary on the Old. And the New Testament is abundantly clear: the true Temple of God is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and by extension, His body, the Church (John 2:19-21; 1 Cor. 3:16). The entire sacrificial system, with its priests and altars and boiling places, was a magnificent, God-ordained picture that pointed forward to the one, final, perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God. To imagine that God would reinstitute the pictures after the reality has come is like a married man continuing to carry around his fiancee's photograph in his wallet instead of walking with his actual wife. It is an insult to the fulfillment. One scholar has rightly said that the book of Revelation is a Christian rewrite of Ezekiel. We are the Temple that Ezekiel saw.
So when we come to these detailed architectural descriptions, we are not being given instructions for future stonemasons in Israel. We are being given a theological vision of the New Covenant people of God. Every cubit, every gate, every chamber has a meaning that finds its fulfillment in the Church. These are not dead blueprints; they are living symbols. God is showing Ezekiel, and us, the shape of the Kingdom. In our text today, we are taken to the four corners of the outer court to be shown the kitchens, the boiling places of the Temple. And what we find there is a glorious picture of the universal fellowship and nourishment of the people of God.
The Text
Then he brought me out into the outer court and had me pass through to the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a small court. In the four corners of the court there were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were the same size. Now there was a row of masonry round about in them, around the four of them, and boiling places were made under the rows round about. Then he said to me, “These are the boiling places where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”
(Ezekiel 46:21-24 LSB)
The Four Corners of the World (v. 21-22)
The tour guide, the divine messenger, brings Ezekiel out into the outer court for this final detail.
"Then he brought me out into the outer court and had me pass through to the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a small court. In the four corners of the court there were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were the same size." (Ezekiel 46:21-22)
The first thing that ought to jump out at us is the number four. The angel makes a point of taking Ezekiel to the four corners of the court. And in each corner, there is an identical court. The number four in Scripture consistently points to the earth, to the whole world. We speak of the four corners of the earth, the four winds of heaven. This is not accidental. The vision is deliberately pushing the boundaries of the Temple outward to the four cardinal directions.
The old temple in Jerusalem was for one nation, in one place. But the Temple that Ezekiel sees, the Church of Jesus Christ, is for all nations. This is the Great Commission in architectural form. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). The gospel is not a provincial message; it is a global one. The Church is not a local club; it is a universal assembly. From the north, south, east, and west, God is gathering His people.
Notice also that these courts are in the "outer court." This is the area accessible to the people. The inner court was for the priests, but the outer court was for the congregation of Israel. In this vision, the preparation of the holy food is happening right where the people are. This is a picture of the priesthood of all believers. In the New Covenant, every believer has direct access to God through Christ. We are all "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), and we all partake of the one sacrifice.
The fact that these four courts are identical in size, forty by thirty cubits, speaks to the beautiful equity of the gospel. There is no first-class and second-class seating in the kingdom of God. The promise is the same for the believer in Moscow, Idaho, as it is for the believer in a mud hut in Africa. The dimensions of our salvation, purchased by Christ, are the same for all. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, and the feast is the same for everyone who comes to the table.
The Holy Kitchens (v. 23-24)
Now we get to the function of these corner courts. What happens here?
"Now there was a row of masonry round about in them, around the four of them, and boiling places were made under the rows round about. Then he said to me, 'These are the boiling places where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people.'" (Ezekiel 46:23-24 LSB)
These are the temple kitchens. The "boiling places" were for cooking the portions of the peace offerings and grain offerings that were to be eaten by the worshippers and the priests. The sacrifices were not just about atonement for sin; many of them concluded with a communal meal, a feast of fellowship between God and His people.
But Christ has been sacrificed once for all (Heb. 10:10). So what does this mean for the Church? It means that the central activity of the people of God is to feast upon the benefits of that one sacrifice. These boiling places are a picture of the constant preparation and serving of spiritual food to the people of God. The "ministers of the house," who in the New Covenant are the elders and deacons and ultimately the entire priesthood of believers, are tasked with preparing this meal.
What is this meal? It is the Word of God, preached and taught. It is the gospel, which is the good news of Christ's finished work. The work of the minister is to take the raw material of Scripture, the sacrifice of the people which is their offering of praise and their very lives (Rom. 12:1), and by the fire of the Holy Spirit, prepare it in such a way that it becomes hot, nourishing food for the souls of the saints. Cold doctrine is of no use to anyone. It must be boiled. It must be made savory and hot and digestible through faithful preaching and teaching.
This is also a beautiful picture of the Lord's Supper. At the communion table, we feast together on the body and blood of our Lord, sacramentally. We are nourished and strengthened by remembering and partaking of His sacrifice. The boiling places of Ezekiel's temple point directly to the communion tables in our churches. They are places of holy feasting, where the benefits of Christ's death are served up to His people.
Conclusion: A Well-Fed Church
This vision of the four kitchens in the four corners of the Temple court is a profound encouragement. It tells us that God intends for His Church to be a well-fed Church. He has made provision for our spiritual nourishment, and He has designed it to reach the ends of the earth.
The sacrifice has been made. The Lamb has been slain. Our task now is not to offer more sacrifices, but to boil the one that has been given. Our task is to cook, serve, and eat. The life of the Christian is a life of feasting. We feast on the Word. We feast at the Table. We feast in fellowship with one another. And we do this in the sure and certain hope that this weekly meal is but a foretaste of that great wedding supper of the Lamb, when we will feast with Him forever.
The world is starving. It is trying to sustain itself on a diet of gravel and ashes. It is dying from spiritual malnutrition. And here, in the four corners of the Church, God has set up His kitchens. He has commanded His ministers to boil the sacrifice of the people, which is Christ offered for them and their lives offered back to Him in praise. The aroma is to go out to the four corners of the earth.
Therefore, let us be a church that takes this seriously. Let us be diligent ministers, faithfully preparing the meal. And let us be hungry worshippers, coming to the feast with great expectation. For in these holy kitchens, God Himself prepares the food that gives eternal life.