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
The Spirit of Christ was speaking through
Ezekiel. Much of what we read from
Ezekiel has reference to the cross to come or of the glories that were to
follow. The Spirit of Christ is speaking
through Ezekiel and Christ does not ramble on about meaningless things. Knowing
that Christ is speaking through Ezekiel we may be able to see a connection to
what was to come with Him and of His glory.
We can begin to see something when we hear Him
speak through Ezekiel in this first vision (In Chapter 1) and say "And there came a
voice from above the expanse that was over their heads". He also said that above the expanse was
something that resembled a throne and on it was a figure that had the appearance of a
man.
He says 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. Christ is speaking
through Ezekiel and He was foretelling of what was to come with of the kingdom
of heaven and the glory that it would bring. With that in mind, let us
see if it could be referring to the glory that would be shown when He returns
on the clouds of the sky.
When Ezekiel saw something that looked like
burning coals of fire like torches darting back and forth among living beings
and lightning flashing from the fire and living beings running to and fro like
bolts of lightning, could that be like what Christ told His disciples about His
return in the clouds of heaven?
Jesus told His disciples that when He returns,
"Then the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they
will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and
they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31)
In another place Jesus tells us, "For just
like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the
other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day" (Luke 17:24).
If He will send forth
His angels and they will be gathering together all of the elect from the four
winds, there will be a great amount of action taking place when it happens. It will need to happen very fast, like bolts
of lightning. The trumpet will sound and
it will likely seem much like the sound of an army camp that Ezekiel spoke
of.
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 on
the clouds of the sky the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. 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 on a rainy day?
The rainbow was given as a sign of God’s covenant after the flood. 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 Noah, "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).
God said that it was a sign of the everlasting
covenant between God and all flesh. 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 of our time 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. He said that His sign will appear in the sky. Will not His sign be the sign of God’s
everlasting covenant with all flesh?
Will it be like the sign of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy
day?
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 the inner
room that was located just beyond the temple inner veil. It was a veil of
many colors, like the colors of the rainbow.
When Jesus returns on the clouds of the sky He
will be returning back through the spiritual veil. Will the spiritual veil be like the rainbow
that was the sign of God’s everlasting covenant with man? 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 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
According to some scholars, 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).
God will never again accept animal sacrifices from His people because the sacrifice that Jesus made ended forever God's requirement of animal sacrifices. They were only the earthly copy of what was to come in Christ's sacrifice, anyway.
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
Jesus did not enter through the old copy into the Holy of Holies, He has entered into heaven by having gone through His body that had lived on earth. He had gone through the outer room holy place before He entered into the inner room.
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 Christ. 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
Is that what Ezekiel was saying when he said that the Prince
would sit and eat bread in the outer east gate? He also said
that gate was to
be shut and no one else can enter there because the
LORD God of
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 that he will 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
Would the
threshold of the gate (Where He worshipped) be that ledge of the temple
mount
extending just a short distance out before it descended into 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 Christ. Just before He went to the cross Jesus told
His disciples that the hour had come for Him to be glorified (John
The Hebrew writer tells us about that when
he referred to Christ’s death, saying, "because of the suffering of death
crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death
for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9).
Jesus was glorified because He suffered in our
place and paid our debt for sin. Christ
is speaking through Ezekiel. He is telling us of His sufferings to come
and the glories to follow. The body of Christ has become the true
That house was glorified when Christ
went through His death, burial and resurrection. The glory of God "came into the house by
the way of the gate facing toward the east".
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. He said that he who believes in Me, “as the Scripture said, `From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”
John said that He
spoke of the Spirit that would be given to those who believe in Christ, “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
The way in has been closed to all but the high priest so anyone else who wishes to enter must have been made one with and be clothed with Him to enter.
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.” (Galatians 3:26-27) He said that (Whether male or female) we are all
one in Christ Jesus and if we belong to Christ “then you are Abraham's
descendants, heirs according to promise."
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
When we look at the Greek word from which "tunic"
was
translated, we
find the word "chiton". That was an item worn next to the
skin. Did
they take the last garment He had, even down to His skin?
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
If the post of the east gate that
the Prince stood by
was the post of the cross and it was located outside and north of the
east
gate, He met the conditions of the Law because He was slain on the side of the altar (The cross) northward
before the
house of God (Before the LORD).
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, Christ is the one speaking. He spoke through the prophets in visions and parables. We need to listen to Christ. 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 4/25/11
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05-08-10&k=Cross+at+Sunset
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