Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall be their possession by inheritance. But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them. Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession (verses 16-18).
Here we read that the Prince has sons, natural descendants, and whatever gifts he bestows upon them shall be their possession by inheritance. This is conclusive that the Prince of these last chapters of Ezekiel is not Christ. The Prince has sons and servants. As the entire final vision of this book deals with the earthly conditions of the coming age, and reveals nothing of the heavenly side of things, these sons and servants cannot mean the church-saints, who are with Christ in the New Jerusalem. As to a gift to one of the Prince's servants, it is to revert to his sons when the year of liberty or jubilee is celebrated. The jubilee year will therefore be observed during the coming age.
IV. Additional Description of Temple Buildings.
After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward. Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meal offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people. Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court. In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one measure. And there was a row of buildings round about them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about. Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people (verses 19-24).
Again the prophet is brought by the northern gate to the side where the holy chambers of the priests are located. There he saw a place on the two sides westward. The use of this place is made known in verse 20. The final description of buildings round about the court needs no further comment.
THE VISION CONCERNING THE LAND.
Chapter xlvii.
The preceding chapters of this final section of the Book of Ezekiel contain the vision of the Temple and its worship. The last two chapters give a vision of Israel's land as it will be during the coming age.
I. The Temple Stream and its Healing Waters.
Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house was the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, from the south of the altar. Then brought he me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the outer gate toward the gate that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man went forth eastward, he had a line in his hand, and he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. But the marshes thereof and the pools thereof shall not be healed: they shall be given to salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine (verses 1-12).
This great vision of the Temple stream has been variously interpreted. The critical school has treated it only as an imagery of the prophet and speaks of the physical impossibility that such a stream could ever be in existence.[56] Others have spiritualized the vision. A leading annotator states, "Messiah is the temple and the door; from His pierced side flow the living waters, ever increasing, both in the individual believer and in the heart." In this spiritualizing method the waters are also applied to the reading and study of the Word of God. The same commentator says "some things in the Bible are easy to understand, as the water up to the ankles; others more difficult, which require deeper search, as the waters up to the knees and the loins; and others beyond our reach." Such applications can be made in different ways. The stream which Ezekiel saw is more than typical of the blessings which the land and all the earth will enjoy in the coming age. It is a literal stream. There will be a great outpouring of the Spirit of God for the age to come, and spiritual blessings will abound everywhere. But the stream Ezekiel beholds tells of the physical blessings which are in store for the earth in that coming day of the restoration of all things. We do not need to trouble ourselves about the manner in which the temple stream is to flow forth, nor do we need to solve the physical difficulties. When the Lord of Creation was on earth in humiliation, and walked among men garbed in servant's form, nature acknowledged Him and He manifested the Creator's power. What will it be when He comes again, not as a servant to die, but as the King and Lord of all! Omnipotence will then be displayed to the full. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? (Jere. xxxii:27). He who bore the thorns on His brow, the symbol of the curse which on account of man's sin rests upon Creation, will remove that curse in the day of His power. He paid for it on the cross.