Ezekiel 46:1-15
1 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. 2 The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway from the outside, and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. 3 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the LORD on the Sabbaths and the New Moons. 4 The burnt offering that the prince offers to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish; 5 and the grain offering shall be one ephah for a ram, and the grain offering for the lambs, as much as he wants to give, as well as a hin of oil with every ephah. 6 On the day of the New Moon it shall be a young bull without blemish, six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish. 7 He shall prepare a grain offering of an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah. 8 When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.
9 "But when the people of the land come before the LORD on the appointed feast days, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate; and whoever enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he came, but shall go out through the opposite gate. 10 The prince shall then be in their midst. When they go in, he shall go in; and when they go out, he shall go out. 11 At the festivals and the appointed feast days the grain offering shall be an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah.
12 "Now when the prince makes a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offering to the LORD, the gate that faces toward the east shall then be opened for him; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out the gate shall be shut.
13 "You shall daily make a burnt offering to the LORD of a lamb of the first year without blemish; you shall prepare it every morning. 14 And you shall prepare a grain offering with it every morning, a sixth of an ephah, and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. This grain offering is a perpetual ordinance, to be made regularly to the LORD. 15 Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, as a regular burnt offering every morning."
It is interesting that when the prince enters he does not use the eastern gate itself, which is for the Lord (44:2). Rather, he enters and exits by the gate’s vestibule. However, v. 12 permits his use of the gate for free will offerings. The east is where Ezekiel saw God enter in His bright shining glory (Ezekiel 43:1-2, 4) and was His alone except when the leader of the nation came to offer a free will voluntary peace or burnt offering. Then the gate was opened to enter into God’s gate of glory which hints at our willing worship as being an invitation to enter into His gate of glory (Revelation 22:14) ourselves. The rest of the people then had to enter through the north gate and exit by the south or vice versa. They also went in when the leader entered and left when he did as well. It was a corporate worship of the lofty leader and the humble citizen as one. There were daily offerings each morning as well as a pattern for daily worship in devotional times (Mark 1:35) for us to follow by spending time in His word and prayer as living sacrifices giving the praise of our lips (Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:15). May we pattern our lives in service of worship and praise in these holy temples of our bodies and enter into God’s glory with Christ by the Holy Spirit who lives in us and gives us the words to thank and praise Him with in prayer, as well as worshipping corporately in our assembling together (Hebrews 10:24-25) in that beauty of holiness (1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 29:2)! May we enter into His presence with thanksgiving in our hearts and with praise for His indescribable gift of grace and exit from there with overflowing words of this good news to those outside to enter with us.
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