God
spoke through
Hosea to tell us how He had spoken to the prophets, saying, “And
I gave numerous visions, And through the prophets I gave
parables”
(Hosea
Ezekiel
was a priest and a descendant of the
family of Aaron. As he sees his vision in chapter 1, he is in
the land of the
Chaldeans, the
His first vision, described in chapter 1, is a very confusing vision of living beings and their whirling wheels. He sees how "a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire". He sees four living beings with human form within it. They had human form except that they each had four faces and four wings. They went in different directions without turning as they went, "wherever the spirit was about to go".
He
also tells us that
"In
the midst of
the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of
fire,
like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire
was
bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire. And the living beings
ran to
and fro like bolts of lightning".
The living beings
went about without turning and at times they would stand still.
He tells us
that the sound of their wings was
"like
the sound
of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a
sound of
tumult like the sound of an army camp".
If
there was ever a
confusing vision, this is it. It sounds like a weird dream or
meaningless
ramblings except for one thing. Jesus is the one who is
speaking through
Ezekiel. John tells us that He (Jesus) is the Word from the
beginning and that
He was with God and He was God (John 1:1). Peter writes that
when the prophets
spoke of the Christ to come, "the
Spirit of
Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of
Christ and
the glories to follow"
(1
Peter
Much of what we read from Ezekiel has reference to the cross to come or of the glories that were to follow. Jesus is speaking through Ezekiel and Jesus does not ramble on about meaningless things. When we remember that Jesus is speaking, then we may be able to see a connection to what was to come with Him.
We can
begin to see
something when we hear Him speak through Ezekiel in this vision and say
"And
there came a voice from above the expanse that was over
their heads"
and
"Now
above the expanse that was over their heads there was something
resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which
resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man".
He tells us that,
"As
the
appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the
appearance
of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of
the
glory of the LORD".
Regarding
his vision in chapter 1, Ezekiel is
not seeing a flying saucer or UFO as some have suggested. As
we hear Jesus
speak through Ezekiel and remember that Jesus was concerned with
getting out
the message of the kingdom of heaven, we might wonder if there is a
connection.
With that in mind, let us see if it could be referring to the
cross of Jesus or
the glory that would come from the cross.
If
Ezekiel is seeing
one coming in a storm wind and it included living beings and a great
cloud with
fire flashing fourth, could he be seeing Jesus returning in a cloud of glory?
Is the
likeness of the glory of the LORD that he sees the same thing that
Jesus will
speak of in the gospels? When Ezekiel said he saw above the
expanse something
resembling a throne and then adds, "Such
was the
appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD",
was he seeing the LORD'S throne in the cloud?
When
Jesus returns
in glory, will it be in the same way, with a storm wind and great
cloud? Jesus
once said, "Then
they will see THE SON OF M A N COMING
IN A CLOUD with power and great glory" (Luke
Was
Jesus speaking through Ezekiel to tell us how He will be returning?
When
Ezekiel saw,
"living
beings ran to and fro like
bolts of lightning",
could it be like Jesus saying,
"then
He will send forth the angels, and will gather together
His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to
the
farthest end of heaven"
(Mark
13:27)?
When Ezekiel said that he saw the likeness of the glory of the LORD, he saw it in the cloud, "As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance". Remember, the rainbow in the cloud was given to man as a sign that God would never again destroy all flesh in a flood.
Did it have anything to do with the sign that Jesus spoke of in Matthew, chapter 24? Jesus said that when He comes, "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory".
Ezekiel said it would be like the
appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. When
Jesus said that His
sign will appear in the sky, was He saying that it will be as the
appearance of
the rainbow in the clouds?
After the flood God told Noah the rainbow in the clouds was to be a sign of the covenant between God and all flesh that He would never again destroy all flesh in the waters of a flood. He told him, "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it , to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on earth" (Genesis 9:16).
The true everlasting covenant is the covenant of salvation. Salvation is only promised to believers. Unbelievers in the days of Noah died in the flood. Unbelievers will die in fire when Jesus comes. When Jesus returns on the clouds of the sky, man will see His sign. Later, He will destroy the earth and its works in flaming fire. It will happen when Jesus comes in clouds of glory.
Remember,
Jesus is the true high priest. Our
high priest serves in the true Holy of Holies, in heaven. Remember, the
old
holy of holies was located just beyond the temple inner veil.
It was a veil of
many colors, like the colors of the rainbow. He has promised
to return back
through the veil some day for His people. Will the sign that Jesus
spoke of
when He returns be like the sign of the rainbow in the clouds when we
see Him
coming back out through the veil?
Ezekiel
will see and record many other visions
of God in his book but none have generated more interest than his
temple
vision. He will receive that vision after the temple in
Do you suppose that the Jews who were there with
him were very
interested in His temple vision and of its design and how soon that
temple
would be rebuilt?
His temple vision included the worship (Including animal sacrifices) that would occur there. The temple was described such that we can see that it was not the temple that would later replace Solomon's temple nor was it any other temple of God that has ever been built on earth. Ezekiel's temple has never been built as an earthly structure.
If
the
temple (As seen by Ezekiel) would not be built before the cross, then
it would
never be built as an earthly structure because the true temple of the
new covenant is a spiritual temple. It is the temple found in the
body of Christ. The sacrifices that Ezekiel describes must
be
symbolic of
the spiritual.
The new covenant temple and its sacrifices are the worship now in place and they are spiritual (Jesus told the woman at the well that the time had come for worship not to be done in Jerusalem and that worship was to be done in spirit and truth - John, chapter 4). There will never again be animal sacrifices accepted by God because the sacrifice that Jesus made ended forever God's requirement of animal sacrifices from His people.
Was
Ezekiel seeing an earthly copy of the spiritual temple to come?
Remember, Jesus
is speaking through the prophet, Ezekiel. God speaks through
the prophets in
visions and parables. Is He speaking through Ezekiel in a
manner like He spoke
when He came to earth? Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables
(Matthew
When
he sees that
vision, Ezekiel will be instructed to see and hear and pay attention to
what he
would be shown (Ezekiel 40:4) and to "Declare
to the
house of
After he has been
shown
some of the temple details, he will hear God speak from within that
temple and
tell him "this
is the place of My throne and the
place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of
There
is no forever
earthly temple. This is not an earthly temple; what Ezekiel
saw was God's
spiritual temple. God does not dwell in temples made with
hands (Acts
Peter
tells us about that temple when he writes to the church and says that "you
also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual
house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ" (1
Peter 2:5). God
will dwell forever within the temple of the spiritual Body of Christ,
the
church. The house of
Our
High Priest (Jesus) has taken His seat at
the right hand of the Father in the true tabernacle built by God
(Hebrews
8:1-2). The holy place made with hands was a "mere
copy"
of the heavenly one
(Hebrews
The new
house of God on
earth is found in the body of Jesus, the church. That is the
true outer room of
God's tabernacle. Jesus is in heaven, the inner room where the Father
is
enthroned.
What Ezekiel wrote was foretelling what was to come with the sacrifice of Jesus and the new spiritual temple. Jesus did, however, make His sacrifice outside that earthly city near the earthly temple and some of what he is saying may have application to that city and temple. It was both earthly because it was near that earthly city that He made His sacrifice and spiritual because it created that spiritual city and temple for us.
We know the
Prince that Ezekiel spoke of is Jesus. His sacrificial
worship was His offering
at the cross. Was that what Ezekiel was saying when he said the Prince
would
sit and eat bread before the LORD in the outer east gate (Ezekiel 44:3)?
Remember,
His body
is the bread of heaven that we must partake of if we are to have
eternal life
(John
Paul
once made reference
to the bread and the cup that we share and asked if we were not sharing
in the
body of Christ when we break the bread (1 Corinthians
The body of Christ is the one body and it is
the bread that we partake of but we are His body. When we
partake of the bread
we are partaking of His body and, therefore, we are symbolically
partaking of
each other.
In chapter 46, Ezekiel describes how the Prince will worship and make His offerings. Verse 1 had said the inner east gate would be closed except on the Sabbath day and the day of the new moon but it will be opened for the Prince. Ezekiel said the Prince would "stand by the post of the gate" and "shall worship at the threshold of the gate" as the priests provide His burnt offering.
Was
the inner gate opened when Jesus offered His sacrifice outside
the outer gate? He suffered outside the camp and outside the
city gate. Was it
outside the east gate? Is the scripture saying He would stand
by the post of
the east gate that was the post of the cross and the bread (His body)
would be
consumed there? Did the first century Jewish priests offer His
sacrifice as He
stood by the post of the gate? The east gate is the gate
where He would sit and
eat bread before the LORD.
When the Prince sat in the gate and ate bread, did His body assume a sitting-like position as He hung from those nails? When He stood by the post to worship, did He frequently stand against the nails to catch His breath before sitting again to distribute the pain?
Ezekiel
tells us
that the entire mountaintop area was most holy (Ezekiel 43:12).
Something
happened on that temple mountaintop that made it most holy. Could it
have been a
truly holy sacrifice being slain there?
Ezekiel
46:8 tells us that the Prince will
come and go by way of the porch of the east gate. Did He come
and go on that
road to and from the temple (from the
The
most holy place on earth is found in His
body, the church, but the most holy place from an earthly prospective
is where
His blood fell to earth. Did the cross stand on the threshold
outside the outer
east gate before the LORD? Was He crucified on that ledge
just before the
valley that served from ancient times as a graveyard (place of a skull)?
We
read where
Ezekiel heard the voice of God coming from within His house and
speaking of
that house being the place for His throne and His dwelling place among
the sons
of
Just previous to hearing the voice of God speak of His forever dwelling place, Ezekiel had seen God's glory fill His house. If we listen carefully to his words we will hear something interesting.
Ezekiel tells how he was led to the
gate facing toward
the east "and
behold, the glory of the God of
He
is seeing the
glory of God fill the spiritual house of God found in the body of
Jesus.
Remember, just before He was arrested Jesus said,
"The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified"
(John
Jesus
was glorified because He suffered in our place. Jesus is
speaking through
Ezekiel. He is telling us of His sufferings to come and the
glories to follow
(1 Peter
If Jesus was glorified at the cross and that glory came by way of the east gate, it sounds like the cross stood outside the east gate and east of the temple doorway. That sounds like something the Hebrew writer said.
The Hebrew
writer tells us that
just as "those
animals whose blood is brought into
the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned
outside
the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the
people through
His own blood, suffered outside the gate"
(Hebrews
In chapter 47, he saw water flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east but it was also flowing down from under the right side of the house and from south of the altar. When he was brought to the outer east gate, water was trickling from the south side of the gate.
The body of Jesus is the spiritual house and the way
into God's temple.
Water flowing from the right side of the house could be water
coming forth from
a Roman spear into His right side bringing forth blood and water.
If He was pierced on the right side and it was the south side, could it mean the cross stood outside the east gate and faced eastward? Verse 1 says that the house faced east. His body is the true house of God. Did both the old and new houses face toward the east as His sacrifice was offered?
Water trickled down from the south side (His right
side) and from
south of the altar (The cross) and flowed eastward. Did those old covenant priests use water to
wash the altar blood eastward into the nearby Kidron valley.
It was only a short distance from the altar to the descent into that valley. Were they serving
a copy and shadow? Did His blood and water wash into that
valley also?
Ezekiel later said the trickle became a river and where it flowed, everything will live. He said the trees on each side of that river would bear fruit every month and their leaves would be for healing.
What Ezekiel saw sounds like heaven and
the tree of life
by the river of life coming from the throne of God and the Lamb. John
described
it in Revelations, chapter 22, saying,
"On
either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing
twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves
of the
tree were for the healing of the nations".
Was the river that Ezekiel saw coming from the temple by way of the altar and east gate symbolic of the gift of the Spirit that was to come through Jesus by way of the cross?
John quoted how Christ spoke of the Spirit and
how rivers of living water would come through believers and said, "He
who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, `From his innermost being will flow
rivers of living water.' "But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who
believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:38-39).
Did it symbolize the river of life coming from the temple of His body and the cross? Those rivers of living water began to flow after Jesus was glorified at the cross. When water flowed from His side did it provide a way to start that river flowing?
When
Ezekiel saw
water trickling from the south side of the gate, was he seeing it
coming from
the true gate? Jesus once said
"I
am the way ,
and the truth , and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me"
(John 14:6). Jesus is the door and the gate to
heaven. The gate
is closed to all but the LORD God of
Remember,
no one
but the high priest can enter through the veil into the Holy of
Holies. Jesus
is the gateway in and His body is the veil (Hebrews
Was not Paul telling us about that when he
wrote, "For you are all sons of God through faith
in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have
clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all
one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's
descendants, heirs according to promise."
(Galatians 3:26-29)
The covenant promise is that heavenly home with God. It only promised to God's sons, those who have believed the Firstborn Son and have become clothed with Him. Male or female, if we have become clothed with Him, we are Abraham's descendants, sons of God and heirs according to the promise. We will be allowed to enter through that gate because of our beautiful high priestly garment.
Based
on what we heard about that water coming from the right side of the
house and from south of the altar, we reasoned that the cross faced
toward the east.
The
altar of the
cross facing to the east would be consistent with what he wrote in
Ezekiel
43:17, when he described the altar (The cross). He said, "its
steps shall face the east".
If the altar steps faced to the east and it was referring to
the
cross, the cross would have faced eastward. If he was
referring to an earthly
altar, that would create a problem. The old Law forbade God's
priests from
ascending by steps to the altar "so
that your
nakedness will not be exposed on it" (Exodus
Under
no circumstances were steps to be used by those old earthly priests to
ascend up to God's old covenant altars because their nakedness
could be
exposed when they went up onto the altar.
Was the shame of the cross not just because He died like a common criminal? Were the altar steps spiritual steps to the cross? Did our new High Priest expose His nakedness as He ascended the altar steps to make His sacrifice?
When we read
how the
crucifixion took place, we see how the soldiers divided His outer
garments into
four parts and kept them for themselves (John
For
the joy set
before us, we should accept His shame (Hebrews 12:2) and praise Him for
taking
our place. Because
He endured the shame, we can now purchase white garments
to hide our nakedness and not be put to shame forever (Revelation
3:18). We
must not lose our white garments because His shameful sacrifice was the
true
price and we would be crucifying and putting Him to open shame again
(Hebrews
6:6). Anyone who has not obtained that white garment will be put to
shame
forever.
When Ezekiel tells us about seeing water coming from the right side of the house (Ezekiel 47:1) but then he was led out to the east gate to see water coming from the south side of the gate, he said something interesting. He tells us how he was brought out by way of the north gate and led around on the outside to the outer east gate.
When Ezekiel said
that he was led around on the outside from a north gate to the outer
east gate,
was Jesus speaking through him and telling how He would be led around
from a
north gate where the Roman court was held to the east gate with the
cross?
The
Roman Praetorium (Where the local Roman
army unit was housed and where the governor sat in judgment), was
located at
the northwest corner of the temple wall. If Jesus was tried
in that structure
and taken from there to the east gate to be crucified, He would have
been led
around on the outside from a north gate to the outer east gate.
Until He died, the old temple was still God's house and the veil had not been torn asunder. While He was offering His sacrifice the Law was still in effect that required God's people to offer their sacrifices before that house. Did He not remain perfect under the Law and burn there?
The Law required the sin offering lamb to be slain on the side
of the
altar northward before the LORD (Leviticus
Was Ezekiel's vision an earthly description of the true temple? Did it see the cross? Did He burn where the Law commanded that special sin offering body to burn (At the clean place where the ashes are poured out)? Was the clean place for ashes (From the old altar) just outside the east gate?
Did the cross stand just outside and north of
the east gate and
high atop a mound of useless ashes from ten centuries of useless
sacrifices
that could never remove sin? Did God cause the old temple
with its altar and
sacrifices to come about on that mountaintop to foretell the place
where the
blood of Jesus would fall? Did His blood make that ash heap a
truly clean
place?
Think
about the fact that the cross was the
most important event in the history of the world. We know the
physical location
on a number of other important scriptural events because of what the
scriptures
tell us and what reliable history had recorded. Why not tell us where
that most
important event of all time took place. Is it just possible
that God has been
telling us all along but we have not been listening?
This book looks at the vision temple and altar as God's spiritual temple and altar. We know that the old earthly holy place and earthly house of God was only an earthly copy. God took away the copy and shadow when the reality came into being. We need to remember that when the prophets speak of God's dwelling, Jesus is the one speaking. He spoke through the prophets in visions and parables. We need to listen to Jesus. When we do that, we can see some of the details of what really happened on that mountaintop and we can see the cross.
Seeing
where the cross
stood physically is not something that is necessary for our salvation. Seeing
its spiritual location is necessary. Seeing where it stood physically, however, can be faith-building.
I am not from one of the schools of theology. I am a retired engineer and have been a Christian most of my life. If you ask why an ex-chief engineer is involved in searching the scriptures for answers, the answer is obvious. Engineers like to find answers that will bring us something useful. They go to the books for answers. There is only one set of books that give the true answers and that is the set written by the one who designed and created it all; the books of the Bible.
I have used the New American Standard translation for the copied scriptures in this introduction and in the book. You may wish to also read the same scriptures from the translation that you normally use.
Johnny Rogers 10/28/03
Revised 1/2/10
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05-08-10&k=Cross+at+Sunset
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