When I first read this passage, I thought it implied Christ but the commentary steered me differently from this given the what would be written later. It states, "The East Gate was a special gate. The Lord had entered the temple by this gate. Only the prince could go into this gate. There he could eat bread in front of the Lord. The prince will be the leader of the people. He will not be Christ because the prince needs to make a sacrifice because of his own sins (45:22). Christ does not need such a sacrifice because he has no sin. Unlike Christ, the prince has natural children (46:16). He will not be a priest but Christ will be the chief priest. Christ will be the king. So, this man will lead the people as Christ orders him.The prince will be from the family of David. He will be a man who will be like David. The prince will love the Lord as David did. And he will serve the Lord as David did. God promised David that his family would rule his people (see 2 Samuel 7:16)." So... who is this prince???
v 4-5 again we see Ezekiel fall face down in awe, fear and respect since he is in the presence of the Glory of the Lord. As a prophet, he would see the temple and all of it's workings and he must be God's mouthpiece to the people. Foreigners and strangers could be bringing gifts and sacrifices but they could not serve in the temple. The temple that Ezekiel saw could never have foreign gods worshipped there as in their former temple. Those who enter the temple must have circumscion of the heart and body - Christians must only have the heart focus. The Levites who were the priests of God would be stripped of duties and relegated to be servants and guardians given how miserably they shirked their duties and responsiblities. Now this task falls on the sons of Zadok since they have stepped it up.
How this is much different than the way it was in the past! God is not pulling any punches and nor He should. The wakeup call is for all - Jews and Christians that God is Holy and means business!
I am grateful that a) I got to speak to GG last night and pray with him. b) I got my cable to work - it was the power outlet that got fried so when I change the new box I used the old power cable. I gave it a shot with the new one and got it to work! So I was able to cancel the repair and now I can live a normal life... what ever that means. Got 6 straight hours of sleep - so another thing to be praiseful of.
Praise for today: He is a God of second, third, fourth.... chances!
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