Ezekiel 44:4 - Meaning and Application

This is very much the same as what we saw at the start of chapter 43. The prophet had to look again at what he had already seen, and he had to hear again what he had already been told. Here, as before, he sees the house filled with the glory of the Lord, and that fills him with awe. So he falls face down, the humblest posture of worship and a sign of holy reverence: "I fell on my face" (Ezekiel 44:4). The more we see of God's glory, the lower we will think of ourselves.

God then charges the prophet to pay very close attention to everything he sees and hears (Ezekiel 44:5). He must look carefully at the entrance to the house and every way out of it, every doorway and passage of the sanctuary. These details mattered, and he was to remember them well. When we learn divine things, we should not only think about them in the abstract. We should also learn the plain, appointed way to walk with God, so we can come in and go out and find pasture.

He also sends the prophet back to the people, to the rebellious house of Israel (Ezekiel 44:6). It is sad that a people in covenant with God should be called rebels by the One who knows them perfectly. If the house of Israel are rebels, who can be called loyal subjects? Yet this shows God's rich mercy. Even though they had been rebellious, he does not cast them off. He sends a messenger to them, to call them back to loyalty, something he would not do if he meant to destroy them. The whole human race shares this rebellious character, but our Lord Jesus, when he went up on high, received gifts for people, even for the rebellious, so that the Lord God might dwell among them (Psalm 68:18).

The prophet must first tell them their fault and expose their rebellions. He must show the house of Jacob their sins. Those who are sent to comfort God's people must first convince them of their sin, so they are ready for comfort. "Enough of all your abominations," he must say (Ezekiel 44:6). People who have gone on long in sin should count it long enough, even too long, and begin to turn back while they still can. They should think, as Scripture says, that the past time of life should be enough for such things (1 Peter 4:3). By now they should have grown tired of their sins and sick of them.

One charge against them was that they allowed people into the privileges of the sanctuary who had no right to be there. God had said that the foreigner who came near was to be put to death, but they not only ignored that rule, they brought such people in themselves (Ezekiel 44:7). These were uncircumcised in flesh, which meant they were not under the sign of the covenant and had no lawful right to enter the sanctuary. In doing this, they broke the covenant of circumcision and tore down the wall that marked Israel off from the nations. If these outsiders had been devout and sincere, the offense would not have been as great. But they were also uncircumcised in heart, stubborn, unchanged, and strangers to God and to goodness. When they came to offer sacrifice, these leaders brought them along to feast with them on the sacrifice, because they liked their company. That was one of their abominations, and it polluted God's sanctuary. It was like giving what is holy to dogs (Matthew 7:6).

It is a great offense to admit people who are openly wicked and ungodly to special acts of worship. That kind of carelessness pollutes God's sanctuary and provokes him. Another charge was that they put the wrong people in charge of the sanctuary's service. Only priests and Levites were to minister there, though not every priest or Levite would serve in the same way or at the same time. The best qualified men should have been chosen, those who were wise, serious, conscientious, and careful with holy things. Instead, they chose for themselves, not for God's honor. They appointed keepers of God's charge in his sanctuary for their own benefit, men they liked, men they could profit from, or men who would go along with their wishes and ignore the rules of the sanctuary to please them. In that way, they did not keep charge of God's holy things.

He must also tell them what they should have done. No stranger was to enter God's sanctuary unless he had first submitted to its laws (Ezekiel 44:9). This does not shut out penitent Gentiles who believe, because the stranger here is one who is uncircumcised in heart, one who does not truly agree to the covenant or put away sin. Believing Gentiles are circumcised in a spiritual sense, with a circumcision made without hands (Colossians 2:11). That inward circumcision, by the Spirit rather than by the letter, was something unbelieving Jews themselves ignored, even while they were eager to keep uncircumcised Gentiles out of the sanctuary. We see that same spirit in their rage against Paul when they thought he had brought Greeks into the temple (Acts 21:28).