The Hand of the Lord
In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south. Eze 40:2
In the visions... The visions of Ezekiel 40-48 concern things in the Millennium immediately following the regathering of Israel (Eze. 37:1-28), and the battle of Armageddon (Ezekiel 38-39). These millennial conditions will continue in the New Earth period and throughout all eternity.
Seven Visions of Eternal Things:
1. The future and eternal capital of all the earth—Jerusalem (Eze. 40:2; 48:30-35)
2. Rebuilt eternal temple (Eze. 40:5-43:12):
(1) The outer and inner courts and the gates (Eze. 40:5-43)
(2) The priests’ rooms (Eze. 40:44-46; 42:1-14)
(3) The altar court (Eze. 40:47)
(4) The temple itself (Eze. 40:48-41:26)
(5) The outer wall—4 sides (Eze. 42:15-20)
(6) The returning glory and restored monarchy (Eze. 43:1-12)
(7) The sacrificial altar (Eze. 43:13-17)
(8) Ordinances of the altar—reorganized services (Eze. 43:18-44:8)
(9) The restored priesthood (Eze. 44:9-21)
3. The holy oblation and new division of the land (Eze. 45:1-8)
4. The new civil and religious laws (Eze. 45:9-46:24)
5. The millennial river (Eze. 47:1-12)
6. New division of the land (Eze. 47:13-48:7, 48:23-29)
7. The holy oblation—including the temple and city sites (Eze. 48:8-21, 48:30-35)
a very high...
Visions of Ezekiel and John
Here Ezekiel saw the future and eternal promised land, earthly Jerusalem, the temple, and the eternal worship (Eze. 40:5-48:35). He saw this from a very high mountain. Compare the vision of John on a great and high mountain when he saw the new earth, new heaven, the New Jerusalem, and other eternal things (Rev. 21:10). Ezekiel saw things as they will be from the beginning of the Millennium into eternity; John saw things beginning with the new earth into eternity. Ezekiel saw the eternal heavenly Jerusalem. Ezekiel saw Christ and His eternal reign (Eze. 43:7); John saw God and Christ and their eternal joint reigns after the putting down of all rebellion on earth by Christ (1Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 11:15; 20:4-10; 21:3-7; 22:5).
frame of a... This city was the earthly Jerusalem that will be built by Christ at His second coming (Eze. 45:6-7; 48:15-35).
We must remember that Ezekiel had been in Babylon. This vision is in Jerusalem, or nearby. The mountain, spoken of, is speaking, possibly, of one of the mountains in the Jerusalem area and could be Mt. Zion which is approximately 3280 feet tall.
This area is about 2000 feet above the Mediterranean Sea. It is even higher than that, above the Dead Sea, which is the lowest place on earth. The frame of the city seemed to be south of where Ezekiel was looking. An angel conducted a tour of all the details shown to the prophet, appearing in the form of a man appearing like bright, gleaming bronze.
The date was sometime in 573 b.c. The phrase “the beginning of the year” poses some problems. The Israelite religious new year began in Nisan (April-May) and was established at the time of the Exodus (Exo. 12:1-2). However, in Israel’s later history the seventh month, Tishri (October-November), became established as the first month of Israel’s civil or regnal year. So the date would be either April 28, 573 b.c. or October 22, 573 b.c. The October date was also the Day of Atonement (cf. Lev. 23:27).
On that very day… God… took Ezekiel back to Jerusalem in a vision (cf. Eze. 8:1-3). Jerusalem was then vastly different from what it was before.
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