Ezekiel 44

Ezekiel 44:1

The eastern gate of present-day Jerusalem is shutit is completely walled up. Some of my premillennial brethren feel that this is a fulfillment of these verses in Ezekiel and that the gate will not be opened again until the Messiah comes. I have two objections to this viewpoint that I would like to mention. My first point is that the prince mentioned here who is coming is not the Lord Jesus Christ. Ezekiel tells us that this prince offers a sacrifice and worships God (chs. 45-46); therefore he cannot be the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is God, and He never has and never will offer a sacrifice. It is not necessary for Him to do so, for He is still able to say, “Which of you convinceth [convicteth] me of sin? …” (Joh_8:46). This prince is not the Lord Jesus Christ. I personally feel that the prince is David. There are many fine men who do not agree that it is David, but they do agree that it is not the Lord Jesus. Many of them feel that the prince is simply another man in the line of David. My second objection is that the gate in question is obviously not the gate of the cityit is the gate of the temple. It is true that the temple is not there yet, and the temple must be built before any of this can take place. The walled-up gate to the city has nothing to do with it. He probably will come through that eastern gate of the city, but it could be the present gate, or the wall could be torn down and an entirely new wall and gate be built before then. We must remember that the wall that is there now is neither the wall that Christ knew nor that Ezekiel knewboth of those walls have long since been destroyed. Chapter 45 tells us that the Feast of the Passover will be kept: