The Blueprint for a Christian Polis: Ezekiel 48:15-20
Introduction: God the Urban Planner
We live in an age that thinks it can build a just and flourishing society on a foundation of sand. Our modern urban planners, our sociologists, our politicians, all operate as though God has nothing to say about how we ought to live together. They treat the city as a merely human project, a machine for living, to be engineered according to the latest secular dogmas. The results are all around us: alienation, ugliness, crime, and a profound sense of rootlessness. They have planned God out of the city, and in so doing, they have planned out peace, order, and true community.
But God is an urban planner. From the Garden, which was a sort of proto-city, to the New Jerusalem descending from Heaven, the Bible is intensely interested in how and where God's people dwell. And here, in the closing chapters of Ezekiel, we are given a stunning, detailed vision of a restored land, a new temple, and a holy city. Now, we must get our interpretive bearings straight from the outset. The dispensationalists, with their charts and timelines, want to read this as a literal blueprint for a future millennial kingdom, complete with a rebuilt temple and reinstituted sacrifices. This is a profound misreading that dishonors the finished work of Christ. The sacrifices are over because the Lamb of God has been slain once for all. The temple of brick and stone is obsolete because Christ's body is the true temple, and we, the church, are being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5).
So what are we looking at here? This is a typological vision. It is a prophecy of the new covenant age, the age of the Church, described in Old Covenant shadows and symbols. Ezekiel is showing the exiles, and us, what the kingdom of God looks like in its earthly manifestation. It is a picture of the Church's life and influence in the world. This is not about a future Jewish state; it is about the Christian order, the shape of a society that has the presence of God at its center. This is a blueprint for a Christian polis, a godly city. And in these specific verses, we see God's design for the relationship between the sacred and the secular, between worship and work, between the holy and the common.
The Text
"And the remainder, 5,000 cubits in width and 25,000 in length, shall be for common use for the city, for places of habitation, and for open spaces; and the city shall be in its midst. And these shall be its measurements: the north side 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500 cubits, the east side 4,500 cubits, and the west side 4,500 cubits. And the city shall have open spaces: on the north 250 cubits, on the south 250 cubits, on the east 250 cubits, and on the west 250 cubits. And the remainder of the length alongside the holy contribution shall be 10,000 cubits toward the east and 10,000 toward the west; and it shall be alongside the holy contribution. And its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. The workers of the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it. The whole contribution shall be 25,000 by 25,000 cubits; you shall contribute the holy contribution, a square, with the city’s possession of land."
(Ezekiel 48:15-20 LSB)
The Common and the City (v. 15-17)
We begin with the provision for the city itself.
"And the remainder, 5,000 cubits in width and 25,000 in length, shall be for common use for the city, for places of habitation, and for open spaces; and the city shall be in its midst. And these shall be its measurements: the north side 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500 cubits, the east side 4,500 cubits, and the west side 4,500 cubits. And the city shall have open spaces: on the north 250 cubits, on the south 250 cubits, on the east 250 cubits, and on the west 250 cubits." (Ezekiel 48:15-17)
Notice the first thing. After the portions for the priests and Levites, the "holy contribution," are set aside, there is a large portion designated for "common use." The Hebrew word is chol, which means profane or common, as opposed to kodesh, which is holy. But this is not "profane" in our modern sense of godless or wicked. It simply means it is not set apart for explicitly liturgical or priestly functions. This is the space for ordinary life, for houses, for families, for business. And God meticulously plans for it. This is a direct refutation of any Gnostic or pietistic worldview that would separate the "spiritual" from the "material." God is intensely interested in where His people live, work, and raise their children. He provides for "places of habitation" and for "open spaces."
The modern world has given us two terrible models for the city. First, the godless, utilitarian concrete jungle, where there is no room to breathe and no beauty to be found. Second, the sprawling, disconnected suburbia, which is a flight from true community altogether. But God's vision is different. He provides for both habitation and open space, what we might call pastureland or green belts. This is a vision of a city that is both dense and humane, a place of community that is not a cage. It is a city in the midst of a garden.
And the city itself is a perfect square: 4,500 cubits on each side. The measurements in Scripture are never accidental. The square is a symbol of divine order, stability, and perfection. Think of the Holy of Holies, a perfect cube. Think of the New Jerusalem, which "lies foursquare" (Rev. 21:16). God is communicating that the life of His people, even in its common aspects, is to be ordered, balanced, and righteous. It is to reflect His character. The city is not a place of chaos; it is a place of divinely instituted order. The open spaces surrounding the city on all four sides act as a buffer, a place for recreation and sustenance, integrating the city with the land that supports it.
Work, Food, and Worship (v. 18-19)
Next, the vision provides for the sustenance of this city.
"And the remainder of the length alongside the holy contribution shall be 10,000 cubits toward the east and 10,000 toward the west; and it shall be alongside the holy contribution. And its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. The workers of the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it." (Ezekiel 48:18-19 LSB)
Here we see the integration of work and worship. The land that provides food for the city's workers is located "alongside the holy contribution." It borders the sacred district. This is a powerful geographical statement about a theological reality. The daily labor of God's people, the work of their hands that puts food on the table, is not something separate from their worship. It is adjacent to it. It is consecrated by it. Our work is to be done in the light of God's presence. Whether you are a farmer, a craftsman, a teacher, or a software engineer, your work is done next door to the temple. It is a holy vocation. All of life is to be lived coram Deo, before the face of God.
And who are these workers? They are "out of all the tribes of Israel." This is a vision of unity. In the Old Covenant, the tribes were often divided and fractious. But in this new covenant city, the Church, all the tribes work together. Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, every tongue and tribe and nation, are united in the common project of building a civilization for the glory of God. There is no sectarianism here. There is no tribalism. The workers of the city, the members of the Church, are one people with one task. They cultivate the land together, and they eat of its produce together. This is a picture of the fellowship of the saints, working and eating and living together in unity.
The Holy Square (v. 20)
Finally, the passage summarizes the whole central district.
"The whole contribution shall be 25,000 by 25,000 cubits; you shall contribute the holy contribution, a square, with the city’s possession of land." (Ezekiel 48:20 LSB)
The entire central district, the "holy contribution" (or terumah, a sacred offering) which includes the portions for the priests, the Levites, and the common city, forms one massive square. Again, the geometry is theology. God's kingdom is a kingdom of perfect order. At its heart is the sanctuary, the place of worship. Radiating out from that are the ministers of that worship. And radiating out from them is the common life of the people, their homes and their work. But it is all one integrated, ordered, and holy whole. It is all offered up to God as a contribution.
This vision teaches us that there is no sacred/secular divide. The city and its farmlands are part of the "holy contribution" just as much as the temple district is. This is a full-orbed vision of Christian society. It is a picture of what happens when a people put God at the center of their life. Their worship, their government, their economy, their family life, their city planning, all of it becomes integrated into one holy offering to God. This is a postmillennial vision. It is a vision of the kingdom of God advancing in history, bringing every thought and every sphere of life captive to the obedience of Christ. It is a vision of what we are called to build.
Conclusion: Building the Holy City
So what does this ancient vision of cubits and squares have to do with us? Everything. We are the workers from all the tribes of Israel. We are the citizens of this holy city, which is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have been given a cultural mandate to fulfill.
We are not called to retreat into pietistic ghettos, separating ourselves from the "common" world. We are called to build a holy city, a Christian civilization. We are to bring the lordship of Christ to bear on every aspect of life. Our theology must shape our architecture. Our worship must inform our work. Our understanding of the covenant must define our communities.
This means we must be concerned with building strong families, establishing good churches, creating beautiful art, founding just businesses, and shaping wise laws. We are to take the raw materials of this fallen world and, by the grace of God, cultivate them into a garden-city that reflects the order and goodness of our Creator. The world thinks this is impossible. They believe that a city without God at the center can somehow be a city of peace and justice. They are wrong. They are building Babel, and it will always end in confusion and collapse.
But we have the blueprint. We have the vision. The name of this city, as the chapter concludes, is Yahweh-Shammah, "The Lord is There." That is the secret. When the Lord is there, at the center of our lives, our families, our churches, and our communities, then and only then will we see a city that is truly a holy contribution, a pleasing offering to God. Let us therefore be about our work, as citizens of that city, cultivating our portion of the land for His glory.