Ezekiel 43:22

Ezekiel 43:22 says, And 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.  The second day, a young goat without blemish was to be offered as a further sin offering.  The blood of this kid goat was to be used the same way as the blood of the bull had been to further cleanse the altar.  The blood of Jesus alone is all that can cleanse us today as we present ourselves as a living sacrifice to Him.  

Verse twenty-three adds, When 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.  After the altar was purified, the priest was then to offer a young bull and a ram, both without a blemish to be set aside for an offering.   Jesus Christ is the only One Who can be presented as a sacrifice without blemish.  

Verse twenty-four continues, And 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.  God said the people were to offer these animals as a sacrifice to Him, and that the priests were to put salt on them before they were offered.  Salt is seen as a preserving and purifying agent, so they were to purify the sacrifices.  They weren’t to be preserved for long though, since they were to be burned on the altar.  As followers of Christ, our life should be made pure for God, not by salt, but by the blood of Jesus Christ and He will preserve our soul forever, even as we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to Hm. 

Verse twenty-five states, Seven 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.  This sin sacrifice was to be offered every day for a week.  Though we are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice every day to God, Jesus Christ offered the one time offering for our sins when He died on the cross.  

Verse twenty-six adds, Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.  The altar was also to be purified everyday and the people were to consecrate themselves to God as they did this.  Though the blood of Jesus Christ is the only acceptable offering for sin, if we accept this offer we need to purify our lives everyday as we serve and worship Him.   

Verse twenty-seven continues, And 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.  After the seven days passed, the priests were to offer the sacrifices for the rest of the people.  After the death of Jesus Christ for our sins, He is the only sacrifice that is acceptable for forgiveness for our sins, and this was given once and forever.  Now, we should just live our lives in accordance with the will of God if we are a follower of Christ.  We cannot offer an acceptable sacrifice for our sins, no matter how often we may try to do so.

Ezekiel 43:18

Ezekiel 43:18 says, And 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.  God then gave Ezekiel the ordnances or laws concerning the altar and the how sacrifices were to be presented on it.  Today, Jesus Christ is the altar that we offer ourselves on, and by God’s law it can only be done by putting our faith in Him.  

Verse nineteen adds, And 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.  God specified that the Levites, the sons of Zadok, were the ones who could present the sin offering of a bull for the people.  Zadok was a direct descendent of Aaron, the first priest.  Today, all our sin offering is Jesus Christ, Who presented Himself as such.  To be forgiven of our sins, we must accept His sacrifice for them.  

Verse twenty continues, And 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.  God then specified where the blood of the bullock was to be placed to purify the altar, and it was to cover the horns, the four corners at the bottom and the border.  This would be enough to purify the whole altar.  Jesus Christ’s shed blood is enough to purify all who put their faith in Him. 

Verse twenty-one concludes, Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.   The bull itself was to be burned outside the sanctuary.  All this was to be done on the first day that the offering was brought.

Ezekiel 43:13

Ezekiel 43:13 says, And 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.  God now began to show Ezekiel the size of the altar starting from the top.  It was to be six yards square at the top and seven yards square at the bottom according to Matthew Henry. This would be where people brought their sacrifices to God, and today the sacrifice that we have to bring to God is ourselves and it is not a physical place but a spiritual surrender of our lives to Him.  

Verse fourteen adds, And 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.  This verse and the next three continue to give the size and layout of the altar.  This verse speaks of the bottom of the altar as I understand it.  

Verse fifteen continues, So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns.  God then gave Ezekiel the height of the altar.  

Verse sixteen states, And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.  The altar was to be square, the same on all sides, and when we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God today through putting our faith in Jesus Christ, He is the same to all people.  

Verse seventeen adds, And 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.  The settle, or bottom, of the altar was to be larger than the top, which would give it more stabilitym, and the stairs were to face the east.  Our altar today is the at the feet of Jesus and He will always be stable in His love and forgiveness to us.    

Ezekiel 43:6

Ezekiel 43:6 says, And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.   Ezekiel said he heard God speaking to him out of the house as the man of brass stood next to him.  The voice of God came from the temple with Jesus Christ, if we accept the fact that He was the man of brass, standing by Ezekiel's side.  We must have Jesus Christ by our side if we are going to hear the voice of God in any way other than to call us to salvation or to send us away to everlasting punishment if we do not accept Him as our Savior and Lord.  I believe it could also represent God moving out of the man-made temple and into the heart of each believer. 

Verse seven adds, 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. God said that none of the children of Israel would any longer defile the place of His throne or anywhere His feet touched or His holy name.  I believe this was not a statement that the people of Isreal, God’s chosen people, would be incapable of disobeying God, but that those who really returned to their covenant relationship with Him would no longer defile His name.  As Christians, we should always attempt to live up to our covenant relationship with God established by our putting our faith in Jesus Christ, but it does not mean that we are incapable of failing Him.  This would apply to all the people, from the rulers on down.   

Verse eight continues, In 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.  God said that when the people of Israel began to set their standards as equal to His standards that they defiled His holy name by the abominations that they committed.  If we begin to put manmade standards equal to or above God’s standards, we defile His name.  God said that He had destroyed them because of this, and if we do not accept God’s gift of salvation one day we will be sent away to everlasting destruction.  

Verse nine states, Now 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.  God told Ezekiel to call on the people to put away their whoredoms, or their worship of idols and ignoring His laws and He would live in their midst forever.  When we confess our sins and put our faith in Jesus Christ, we should remove all the things that dishonor God from our lives, and we will live in the presence of God forever.  This doesn’t mean that we won’t fail at times, but that we should strive to always be obedient to God by the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  

Verse ten adds, Thou 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.  God said that Ezekiel was to show the people of God their iniquities.  We as Christians are called on to point out sins to people today, not in a judgmental or superior way but so that they might repent and turn to God for salvation.  He was to show them the pattern of salvation, which was by faith in God alone.  We must come to God by His way, which is the only way to salvation.  

Verse eleven continues, And 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. God told Ezekiel that if the people were ashamed of what they had done then he could show them everything about the temple and His laws.  I believe that this implies that they had repented when they were ashamed.  We cannot see God’s kingdom if we do not repent of our sins and accept the forgiveness that faith in Jesus Christ alone can provide.  It is not enough to just be ashamed of our sins if we don’t repent and ask God for forgiveness.   

Verse twelve concludes, This 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.  God said that the law of the house would be that from the top of the mountain and the whole area around it would be holy.  Wherever we go as Christians today should be considered holy ground, because the Holy Spirit indwells us.