The Geography of Holiness: God's Portion Text: Ezekiel 48:8-14
Introduction: A Vision of What Is
When we come to the end of the book of Ezekiel, we are confronted with a glorious and meticulously detailed vision. It is a vision of a new temple, a new priesthood, and a new land, all laid out with a surveyor's precision. And for many modern Christians, this is where the trouble begins. We are tempted to do one of two things, both of them mistaken. The first is to treat this as a literal, architectural blueprint for a future millennial temple to be built in Jerusalem, complete with the reinstitution of animal sacrifices. This approach, common in dispensational circles, misses the forest for the trees, and more than that, it misses the Christ for the shadows. It is a step backward into the types and shadows that have already been fulfilled.
The second mistake is to dismiss these chapters as hopelessly obscure, a strange and irrelevant appendix to the real business of the Bible. We read about cubits and borders and contributions, and our eyes glaze over. But this is the Word of God, and it is not just profitable; it is essential. We must understand that Ezekiel's temple vision is a vision of the Christian Church. It is a symbolic, theological geography lesson. It is not a map of a future dirt-and-mortar kingdom; it is a map of the Kingdom of God which is, and is to come. It is a portrait of the Church, the bride of Christ, the new and living temple of the Holy Spirit. This is not about a future Jewish state; it is about the state of the Church in the new covenant age.
The prophet sees a restored Israel, but this restoration is not a return to the old ways. It is a picture of the new covenant reality, painted with old covenant colors. The land, the city, the temple, the priesthood, they are all reconfigured around a new center, a new principle of holiness. And in the passage before us today, we see the very heart of this new arrangement: the portion of land set apart for God Himself. This is not just about real estate; it is about reality. It teaches us that at the center of a rightly ordered world is the worship of the holy God. Everything else finds its proper place only when God is given His proper place.
The Text
“And beside the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the contribution which you shall contribute, 25,000 cubits in width, and in length like one of the portions, from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the middle of it. The contribution that you shall contribute to Yahweh shall be 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width. And the holy contribution shall be for these, namely for the priests, toward the north 25,000 cubits in length, toward the west 10,000 in width, toward the east 10,000 in width, and toward the south 25,000 in length; and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in its midst. It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept the responsibility given by Me, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray as the Levites went astray. And it shall be a contribution to them from the contribution of theland, a Holy of Holies, by the border of the Levites. Now alongside the border of the priests, the Levites shall have 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width. The whole length shall be 25,000 cubits and the width 10,000. Moreover, they shall not sell or exchange any of it, or let this choice portion of land pass over to another; for it is holy to Yahweh.”
(Ezekiel 48:8-14 LSB)
God's Centrality (v. 8)
We begin with the establishment of this central, holy district.
“And beside the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the contribution which you shall contribute, 25,000 cubits in width, and in length like one of the portions, from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the middle of it.” (Ezekiel 48:8)
After laying out the portions for seven of the tribes to the north, Ezekiel comes to the central band of the restored land. This is the "terumah," the contribution or the offering. This is not just another tribal allotment; this is God's slice. And notice its placement. It is right in the middle. This is a theological statement made with geographical lines. God is not an afterthought. He is not a weekend hobby. He is not a department of life, cordoned off from the rest. In a rightly ordered nation, in a rightly ordered life, God is central. The worship of God is the organizing principle for everything else.
And what is at the center of the center? "The sanctuary shall be in the middle of it." The temple, the dwelling place of God, is the heart of the holy district, which is the heart of the land. This is a picture of the new covenant reality where Christ is the center. The Church, which is His body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, is to be central to the life of a Christian society. All of life, from east to west, from commerce to culture, is to be oriented toward the worship of the living God. When a culture puts anything else at the center, whether it be the state, or the market, or the autonomous self, the result is dislocation and chaos. This vision is a blueprint for a Christ-centered civilization.
The Priests' Portion (v. 9-12)
Next, this holy contribution is divided, and the first portion is for the priests.
"The contribution that you shall contribute to Yahweh shall be 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width. And the holy contribution shall be for these, namely for the priests... and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in its midst. It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept the responsibility given by Me, who did not go astray... And it shall be a contribution to them from the contribution of the land, a Holy of Holies, by the border of the Levites." (Ezekiel 48:9-12)
The central strip of this holy district is designated for the priests, and the sanctuary is located within their portion. This signifies that those who minister directly before the Lord are to live in closest proximity to Him. Their lives are to be defined by their nearness to the holy things of God. But this is not just any group of priests. Ezekiel makes a crucial distinction. This portion is for the "sons of Zadok."
Who were the sons of Zadok? They were the line of priests who remained faithful to David and to God when the rest of the religious establishment, led by Abiathar, went astray and supported the rebellion of Adonijah (1 Kings 1). Later, during the apostasies of Israel and Judah, the Zadokite priests were marked by their faithfulness. Ezekiel is drawing a sharp line here. Proximity to God is not a matter of mere pedigree; it is a matter of faithfulness. God honors those who honor Him. Those who kept their charge, who did not wander off into idolatry and compromise when everyone else was doing it, are the ones who are given this place of honor and intimacy.
In the new covenant, this principle is magnified. The entire church is a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9). But within the church, leadership and influence are to be entrusted to those who have proven faithful. Not the innovators, not the crowd-pleasers, not the ones who trim their sails to the cultural winds, but the Zadokites. Those who have kept the charge, who have held fast to the Word of God when it was unpopular, are the ones God sets at the center of His work. This portion of land is described as a "Holy of Holies," signifying its extreme sanctity. Faithfulness is what consecrates a ministry.
The Levites' Portion and a Permanent Holiness (v. 13-14)
Adjacent to the priests, there is a portion for their assistants in the ministry, the Levites.
"Now alongside the border of the priests, the Levites shall have 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width... Moreover, they shall not sell or exchange any of it, or let this choice portion of land pass over to another; for it is holy to Yahweh." (Ezekiel 48:13-14)
The Levites, who also served in the temple, are given a portion of land next to the priests. They are also supported by the holy contribution, demonstrating that all who labor in the ministry of the gospel have a right to be supported by that gospel (1 Cor. 9:14). Their proximity to the priests shows a functional orderliness in the work of God's kingdom. There are different roles, different responsibilities, but all are part of the same holy enterprise.
But then we come to a striking prohibition in verse 14. This land, this holy portion, cannot be sold. It cannot be exchanged. It cannot be alienated. Why? "For it is holy to Yahweh." This is a crucial point. What is dedicated to God belongs to God permanently. It cannot be treated as a common commodity. It is not ours to trade or bargain with. This land represents the church's inheritance in Christ. It represents the truth of the gospel. It represents our calling to be a holy people.
And here is the application for us. The church today is constantly tempted to sell its holy portion. We are tempted to exchange the hard truths of Scripture for the more marketable platitudes of the culture. We are tempted to sell our birthright of holiness for a pot of worldly acceptance. We are tempted to treat the worship of God not as a holy convocation, but as another product to be packaged and sold to spiritual consumers. Ezekiel's vision is a stern rebuke to all such faithlessness. The things of God are not for sale. The gospel is not negotiable. The holiness of the church is not a commodity to be traded for cultural relevance. It is a choice portion, set apart by God for God, and it is to be guarded as such.
The New Covenant Geography
So what does this ancient layout of land mean for us, who are the true temple of God? It means that our lives, both individually and corporately, must be laid out according to this divine pattern. Christ must be the sanctuary at the very center. Our worship of Him is not one activity among many; it is the sun around which all the planets of our life must revolve.
The portion for the priests, the sons of Zadok, reminds us that faithfulness is the non-negotiable requirement for leadership and influence in the church. We are to honor and follow those who have "kept the charge," not those who have gone astray after the latest theological or cultural fads. And we ourselves, as a nation of priests, are called to that same Zadokite faithfulness, refusing to bow the knee to the Baals of our age.
And the permanence of this holy portion teaches us that our inheritance in Christ is secure and inalienable. But it also teaches us that we have a solemn duty to preserve the sacred things entrusted to us. We are not to sell off the truth. We are not to exchange our holy calling for the fleeting approval of the world. The church is God's terumah, His special contribution, taken out of the world for His own possession. We are holy to the Lord.
This vision in Ezekiel is not a relic of the past or a blueprint for a future earthly kingdom. It is a spiritual map for the present. It shows us what a community looks like when it is centered on the holy presence of God. It is a call to order our lives, our families, our churches, and our societies around the central, immovable reality of the sanctuary. For the sanctuary is no longer a building of stone, but a person: the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Him, we, the living stones, are built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. This is our land, this is our portion, and it is holy to the Lord.