Context No. 4268 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 43:18-27: in context

18He said to me, “Son of man, the Lord GOD says: ‘These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they make it, to offer burnt offerings on it, and to sprinkle blood on it. 19You shall give to the Levitical priests who are of the offspring of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘a young bull for a sin offering. 20You shall take of its blood and put it on its four horns, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around. You shall cleanse it and make atonement for it that way. 21You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside of the sanctuary. 22“On the second day you shall offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull. 23When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without defect and a ram out of the flock without defect. 24You shall bring them near to the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to the LORD. 25“Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering. They shall also prepare a young bull and a ram out of the flock, without defect. 26Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it. So shall they consecrate it. 27When they have accomplished the days, it shall be that on the eighth day and onward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings on the altar and your peace offerings. Then I will accept you,’ says the Lord GOD.”

In the vision of the restored temple, God gives detailed instructions for consecrating the altar: over seven days, sin offerings are made, blood is applied, the altar is cleansed and purified and made holy. And the whole elaborate process moves toward a single promise at the end: when they have completed these days, God says, then I will accept you. All the cleansing and consecration aimed at this, that God would accept his people and their worship.

What stands out is the goal of it all: acceptance. The careful, costly process of cleansing was not an end in itself but the way to a relationship, that God would receive his people and their offerings. Sin had to be dealt with, the altar purified, before there could be acceptance; but acceptance was the aim, the promise held out at the end: then I will accept you.

What the elaborate temple ritual pointed toward, that sin must be cleansed before God can accept us, has been accomplished once for all in Christ. He is our sacrifice, our cleansing; through him we are made clean and accepted by God. The promise the altar ritual moved toward, then I will accept you, is fulfilled for all who come through Christ, accepted in him rather than through their own endless effort.

Do I rest in the acceptance God promised at the end of all the cleansing, then I will accept you, knowing it is fulfilled for me in Christ, who has made me clean and accepted before God, rather than laboring to make myself acceptable by my own endless effort?

Sources

Ezekiel 43:27: "When they have accomplished the days... I will accept you, says the Lord GOD."
Ezekiel 43:26: "Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it. So shall they consecrate it."
Ephesians 1:6: "To the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved."