Page 224 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

218 NOTES ON EZEKIEL.

consistent with the doctrine set down in that Epistle
for the “ partakers of the heavenly calling but will
they therefore be out of place and season for those
who have the earthly calling, when Jehovah again
makes choice of Jerusalem, and glory shall dwell in the
land ? This no one has proved, and few have even
essayed to argue ; but it is the real question. Entirely
do we allow the incongruity of sacrifices with our faith
in that one offering which has for ever perfected us. A
temple on earth is a practical inconsistency with the
true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man,
into the holiest of which, now that for us the veil is
rent, we are invited to come boldly. Further, the
assertion of an earthly priesthood for Christians is in
principle, if not effect, a denial not only of our nearness
to God by the blood of Christ but of the gospel itself
as we know it.
But the coming of the Lord to reign over the earth
will necessarily bring with it changes of immense im­
port and magnitude. Yet this is the great object of all
prophecy, which accordingly puts forward a new con­
dition wherein Israel stands at the head of the na­
tions under Messiah and the new covenant, the church
having entirely disappeared from the earth, and, in
fact, reigning over it with Christ, the Bridegroom of
His then glorified bride.
Now the prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi, bring to
light for that glorious day an earthly temple with sa­
crifices, priesthood, and rites appropriate to it. No
doubt it is not Christianity; but who with such an
array of inspired witnesses against him will dare to say
that such a state of things will not be according to the