I have been reading through the Bible every year for many years now. I was encouraged to do that one afternoon by one of my mentors, Dr. Charles Feinberg. He told me that he read through the Bible every year about five or six times. And he would read it in different languages (He spoke 11). After that, I thought, “Well, I should be able to read it at least once a year in English” (consulting my Hebrew and Greek when needed). 

So that’s what I have been doing, as I said,  for many years now. 

It’s easy to read through and drive by many areas of Scripture like you are on the freeway and never take an offramp to see something you have never seen before. I should say that there are many times that I do take an offramp, and when I do I find myself exploring within the passage, the message within the chapter, within the book, within the Bible. 

I find myself approaching the text in a literal, historical manner taking into consideration the cultural, and theological contexts (my hermeneutics professor would be happy). The goal is to get a more complete  understanding of the passage I am reading through. 

I find myself studying the book of Ezekiel a lot because of world events that are taking place in these end times. As I have been reading through Ezekiel once again, there was something in particular that I was noticing from the last time I was reading through this prophetic book. So I made some notes of it back then. 

As I came to the flow of reading through it once again I noticed that Ezekiel frequently wrote words from God saying, “Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” I started highlighting those and similar phrases (You shall know, they shall know, that the nations may know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel). 

I counted that phrase used by Ezekiel 76 times between chapters 5 and 39. And I believe that it relates to a major theological theme we find throughout Ezekiel, that being the glory and sovereignty of God. It is like God’s signature related to His purpose. “They will know that I am the Lord” many times follows His judgment as He deals with the sinfulness of Israel. Other times it occurs after His promised restoration of Israel – “And they shall know that I am the Lord.”

This time, it jumped off the page at me when I was reading the last part of the book, chapters 40-48. I noticed that the phrase “And they shall know that I am the Lord” didn’t occur even once. Unlike the first 39 chapters of the book when God is dealing with Israel’s sinfulness, the last section is taking place at the time of the 1,000 year millennium. 

The kingdom that Israel was waiting for (e.g., Acts 1:6) has come. 

In chapters 40-48 there is no need to say, “And they shall know that I am the Lord” because the Lord has returned and is with them. As Jeremiah says of that day, “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying ‘know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them…” (Jeremiah 31:34). 

The promised regathering in Messiah’s earthly kingdom will be to the very same land – Israel, from which they were scattered, specifically the land given to their fathers (Ez. 36:28; Gen. 12:7).

One question I have been asked a lot is that if Israel is back in the land, why are they offering sacrifices again at the Millennial Temple? That’s a good question. Didn’t the sacrificial system end with Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross? 

In chapters 40-48, Ezekiel gives us more information about Messiah’s millennial reign than all the other prophets put together. He talks about the new Temple and the sacrificial system that is reinstituted as pointed out in 40:39-43. There will be burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. However, the sacrifices will be no more efficacious than they were in the Old Testament times. That is because no sacrifice before or after Jesus had the ability to save. They only point to Him as the one true Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. 

When we take the Lord’s supper, we do this in remembrance of His sacrifice until He comes. It is a memorial that looks back at the death and resurrection of the Messiah, but in no way diminishes what Yeshua (Jesus) accomplished in His sacrificial death as the one and only sacrifice that takes away sin. 

Many in Israel may have missed recognizing Yeshua as their Messiah the first time. However, on that day when all Israel believes in their Messiah Yeshua and is saved (Romans 11:25-26), it will be a memorial of sacrifices for 1,000 years that looks back and points to Him. 

Another interesting thing in reading Ezekiel is that we are given an account that the glory of the Lord has departed. The ark had been captured and there was written over the spiritual life of Israel the word “Ichabod” meaning “the glory has departed” (1 Samuel 4:21). In chapters 9-11 we have the account of the glory of the Lord leaving the Temple. The glory departed in several stages over a period of about 2 1⁄2 years (9:3, 10:1, 3-4; 10:18-19; 11:22-23).

However, the glory will return to Israel. This happened at the incarnation — the birth of Jesus the Messiah. The gospel accounts give us great detail of the genealogy of Jesus and of His birth. While the biblical record of the birth of the Messiah should not be diminished in any way, the thing that He spoke of consistently was His death. 

And in between His birth and His death John tells us something about the person of Yeshua: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

At the birth of Jesus, the glory of God took on humanity and dwelt with us. The infinite became finite, the eternal became subject to time, the invisible became visible. We were able to see God’s glory for a short period of time as Jesus displayed the same essential nature as the Father. 

After that short period of time He also departed. It was a similar route that was taken when the glory departed in chapters 9-11. After that last Passover, He left the Temple compound going out, probably through the eastern gate, across the Kidron valley and crossing the brook that would have been flowing with blood from all the sacrifices at the Temple and up to the Mount of Olives. The place from which the glory of the Lord ultimately departed in Ezekiel 11:23, and now has become the place where Yeshua was arrested. Rejected. And the glory who appeared in the flesh is about to depart again.

Yet, there is a time when the glory of God will return and that occurs during the millennium. The glory of the Lord returns and fills the Temple (Ez. 43:1-12). It is here in the millennial Temple that the glory of God returns to dwell. With the second coming of Messiah, Ezekiel describes the glorious entrance into the sanctuary. The glory had been in the tabernacle (Exodus  40:34-35) and it had been in the first Temple (1 Kings 8:10-11). Here, in Ezekiel 43 the Lord returns as Israel’s King. The glory departed to the east from Israel (Ez. 11:23) when God judged them. Now the glory returns from the east when He has regathered them, and is restoring their worship. 

One other interesting point that finalizes the story and differentiates chapters 40-48, the description of the millennial kingdom, from the first 39 chapters of the book, is the last verse of Ezekiel (48:35). 

Recalling the description and measurements of the millennial Temple at the time of the Kingdom, the size of the Temple is much too large for Mount Moriah. The measurements will require definite changes in the topography of Jerusalem, as Zechariah points out (14:9-11). 

Ezekiel 48:35 says, “The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.”

It is significant that the city is called “The Lord is there” (YHWH Shammah). The glory of God that departed (chapters 9-11) has returned (43:1-5), and the temple is his dwelling place, the center of the place which is given over to the Lord. 

All of the unconditional promises that God made to Israel in the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12), the Davidic Covenant (2 Sam. 7); and the New Covenant (Jer. 31) have now been fulfilled. It is a fantastic attribute of God that this final verse of Ezekiel gives us the consummation of Israel’s history — the returned presence of God.  

At this time of year, when the world celebrates the birth of the Messiah, we should hold in our remembrance as well as our expectation that not only in His birth, but in His death, resurrection, and return to Jerusalem to rule and reign, we see the glory of the Lord. And the major theological theme of Ezekiel being fulfilled, that being the glory and sovereignty of God. 

The visible fulfillment will be that Israel and the nations will know that I am the Lord.

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