Ezekiel Chapter 43 Vs. 18-27

The altar of burnt offering

Ezekiel 43:18-27


A seven-day ritual will be employed by the priests… of Zadok (cf. Eze. 40:46) to set the altar apart to the Lord. This consecration service will be similar in some ways to the services followed by Moses (Exo. 40:10, 40:29) and Solomon (2Ch. 7:8-9) to sanctify their houses of worship to God. After seven days of offering bulls, goats, and rams the priests will present the people’s burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar.

These Israelites, who had been in captivity, had lost all contact with the ordinances of the temple and the altar. The sprinkling of blood was an important part of the worship. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. It was the shed blood of Jesus Christ which atoned for our sins.

“Seed of Zadok”: See 40:46 and 44:10.

“A young bullock for a sin offering”: Exact offerings, in language just as definitive as the literal descriptions in Moses’ day, are also just as literal here. They are of a memorial nature; they are not efficacious any more than Old Testament sacrifices were.

As Old Testament sacrifices pointed forward to Christ’s death, so these are tangible expressions, not competing with, but pointing back to the value of Christ’s completely effective sacrifice, once for all, Heb. 9:28; 10:10.

God at that time endorsed Old Testament offerings as tokens of forgiving and cleansing worshipers on the basis and credit of the great Lamb they pointed to, who alone could take away sins, John 1:29.

The tangible expressions of worship, which the Israelites for so long failed to offer validly, Isaiah 1:11-15, will at last be offered acceptably, then with full understanding about the Lamb of God to whom they point. The bread and the cup, which believers today find meaningful, do not compete with Christ’s cross but are tangible memorials of its glory. So will these sacrifices be.

The individual brought the sacrificial animal to the priest to be sacrificed. Zadoc, is mentioned because they all remember him and his ancestry. This is saying, leave the ministry in the temple to the family God had chosen out to do it.

This spreading of the blood on the horns is a cleansing for the altar."Horns" signify strength.

This is the same thing as the sin offering being burned completely up without the camp. This symbolizes the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus being outside the city wall. He was our sin offering, if we are Christians.

All of the preparations would be the same for this offering, as for the bullock. The he-goat was an offering for a ruler who sinned. The earthly priests and high priest in the temple had to sacrifice for their own sins, as well as for the people's sin. Jesus, our High Priest was without sin. His crucifixion was not for His own sin, but for ours.



There must, next, be a burnt offering dedicated to God. All of these offerings are following the laws in Leviticus. Notice, all these offerings must be without blemish. This burning, as we said earlier, is for purging, or cleansing.

As the sin offering is a part of future millennial worship, v.19, so there are other offerings also, Lev. 1-7. The burnt offering, denoting full consecration to God is one; the peace offering expressing gratitude for peace with God in covenant bonds is another, v.27.

"Salt" is a preservative. It symbolizes the saving of the relationship with God. The priests actually do the fundamental work of sacrifice for the people.

These seven days speak of spiritual completeness. The eighth day would speak of a new beginning, old sins gone, and starting all over again in right standing with God.

“Without blemish”: Commemorative of Christ’s unblemished perfection.

These seven days symbolizes a separation from the world to the duties God would have them do. It is a time of preparation. When this time is over, the altar will be purified. More than that, they will be purged of their sins, and dedicated to the work God has for them to do.

The most beautiful statement here is that God will accept them. When they were living in spiritual adultery, just before their capture by Babylon, God had refused their offerings. They offered, but He refused. Now, they have been restored to fellowship with God.

When they have come to this eighth day of new beginnings, God will accept their offerings again. He will be their God. He has forgiven them, and allowed them to begin again.

This process will mark the full resumption of God’s fellowship with His people, as then God will accept them. These sacrifices will point Israelites to Christ who will have given them access to the Father (Heb. 10:19-25).