Major Prophets · Chapter 43 of 48
Ezekiel 43
The climax of the temple vision arrives: the glory of the God of Israel returns from the east, his voice like many waters, the earth shining with his glory, and fills the house. God declares this the place of his throne where he will dwell among his people forever, calling Israel to put away their defilement. He then gives the ordinances of the altar and its seven days of consecration.
What happens in Ezekiel 43
The guide brings Ezekiel to the east gate, and there the glory of the God of Israel comes from the east, his voice like the noise of many waters, the earth shining with his glory. It is the same glory Ezekiel had seen depart from the doomed city and by the river Chebar, and he falls on his face. The Spirit lifts him into the inner court, and the glory fills the house. God speaks from within, naming this the place of his throne and the soles of his feet, where he will dwell among Israel forever.
He rebukes their former defilement by idolatry and the corpses of their kings, and calls them to keep the pattern of the house. Then God gives ordinances for the altar: its measurements with horns, and a sevenday consecration with sin offerings, burnt offerings, and salt, after which, on the eighth day, the priests may offer the people's offerings and God will accept them.
Ezekiel 43 in context
This chapter is the turning point of chapters forty through forty-eight and answers the tragedy of chapters ten and eleven, where Ezekiel watched the glory of the LORD abandon the temple and city before their destruction. Now the glory returns by the same eastern route to dwell forever.
Given to exiles about 573 BC, it assures a people who feared God had left them for good that his presence would return, and it reestablishes the altar at the heart of worship.
Main themes of Ezekiel 43
Ezekiel 43 (KJV)
1Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: 2And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. 3And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. 4And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. 5So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. 6And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. 7And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. 8In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. 9Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. 10Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. 11And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. 12This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. 13And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar. 14And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit. 15So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. 16And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof. 17And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east. 18And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon. 19And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering. 20And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it. 21Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary. 22And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock. 23When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. 24And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the LORD. 25Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. 26Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves. 27And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord GOD.
Verses to carry from Ezekiel 43
“And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.”Ezekiel 43:2
“So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.”Ezekiel 43:5
“And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.”Ezekiel 43:7
Christian typology
How Ezekiel 43 points to Jesus
This chapter connects to Christ by typology of the highest order. The glory that returns to dwell among his people forever finds its answer in John's declaration that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. In Jesus the glory did not merely fill a building; it took on a body and lived among us, God pitching his tent with humanity at last. The voice like many waters reappears in Revelation as the voice of the risen Christ.
And the altar consecrated by blood before the glory can be enjoyed points to the cross, where Christ, both priest and sacrifice, made the atonement that lets a holy God dwell forever with sinners. Ezekiel's promise reaches its fulfillment in the new Jerusalem, where God dwells with his people and the Lamb is their light.
Questions about Ezekiel 43
Why does the glory's return matter so much?
Earlier in Ezekiel, the glory of the LORD had departed from the temple by the east, a devastating sign that God was leaving his people to judgment. That departure hung over the whole book. Now the same glory returns from the east to fill the house and dwell forever. The return reverses the tragedy, assuring the exiles that judgment was not the last word and that God's presence would come home to stay.
Why is an altar and atonement needed if the temple is glorious?
Even in this glorious vision, God commands a sevenday consecration of the altar with sin and burnt offerings before ordinary worship begins. God's dwelling among his people never bypasses the problem of sin. Holiness and atonement belong together, and fellowship with a holy God requires cleansing. This anticipates the cross, where Christ's once for all sacrifice makes the lasting dwelling of God with his people possible.
Reflection
The most crushing fear is that God has left for good. Ezekiel had watched the glory depart, and now he watches it return to stay forever. That is the shape of the gospel: God coming back to dwell with his people. In Christ the glory has taken flesh and made his home among us. Whatever you have lost, his presence is the promise.
A prayer from Ezekiel 43
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