We have now further particulars as to the public worship of the millennial day in the sanctuary; and this as affecting the prince, the people, and the priests, and with especial prominence given to the sabbaths and the new moons.
“Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened” (v. 1). The reason why these two occasions gain so marked a place now is obvious. Those who are of God are no longer entering into rest: they have gone in. The day is come. Sabbath-keeping no longer remains for the people of God. Glory dwells in the land, and Israel are there gathered out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. They had “wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in” (Psa. 107:44They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. (Psalm 107:4)). This is all past—past forever. They have been “led forth by the right way”, they are come “to a city of habitation” (Psa. 107:77And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. (Psalm 107:7)), yea to His city, for this is its true and deep and worthy boast: as we shall hear, Jehovah is there. “In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. Jehovah thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will be silent in His love, He will exult over thee with singing” (Zeph. 3:16-1716In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. 17The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. (Zephaniah 3:16‑17)). The sabbath therefore naturally is now made much of. But so is the new moon. Israel who had long waned and disappeared now renews her light, never more to withdraw herself. The new moon therefore fitly marks Israel restored now and for evermore.
“And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of [that] gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before Jehovah in the sabbaths and in the new moons” (v. 2-3). It was meet that prince and people should thus worship before Jehovah, and with this distinction between them. But even the prince does not go within, he stands by the post of the gate, he worships at the threshold. There is no drawing near as we now do in the Holy Spirit through the rent veil. It is a people blessed on earth, not in the heavenly places.
“And the burnt-offering that the prince shall offer unto Jehovah in the sabbath day [shall be] six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish. And the meat-offering [shall be] an ephah for a ram, and the meat-offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah. And in the day of the new moon [it shall be] a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish. And he shall prepare a meat-offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah. And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of [that] gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof” (vss. 4-8). Such was the order on ordinary occasions. There was this difference however, that in the solemn feasts the prince went in and went out in their midst: “But when the people of the land shall come before Jehovah in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate; he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it. And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and, when they go forth, shall go forth. And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat-offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah” (vss. 9-11). Another distinction appears when he offered a voluntary offering alone: “Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt-offering or peace-offerings voluntarily unto Jehovah, [one] shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth [one] shall shut the gate” (v. 12).
It is remarkable again that while the daily offering consisted of the burnt-offering of a lamb, as of old, it was to be prepared morning by morning, but there was no longer an evening lamb. “Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto Jehovah [of] a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning. And thou shalt prepare a meat-offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat-offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto Jehovah. Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat-offering, and the oil, every morning [for] a continual burnt-offering” (vss. 13-15). The propriety of this again seems most apparent. It was the day when the sun of Israel should go no more down. Of old, an evening lamb was in every way seasonable, and full of comfort for the people to know when awakened to the truth that God had provided for that long, long night during which they had slept alas! in their forgetfulness of Him who had died for that nation. But now that they are in the light of His day, the evening lamb disappears, while every morning it abides, as a continual burnt-offering.
Next we have care taken that the prince should not overstep his due limits, in case of a gift to his servants, so as to preserve the rights of his sons intact, as well as of every Israelite. “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: 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 only be for his sons. Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; he shall give to his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that My people be not scattered every man from his possession” (vss. 16-18). Truly judgment shall return to righteousness in that day. The jubilee is then observed in all its force.
The last regulations show special provision, not for meat-offerings only, but for those for sin, and trespass; the state of Israel on earth still demands them. “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 meat offering; that they bear [them] not out into the outer court, to sanctify the people. Then He brought me forth into the outer 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 building] round about in 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” (vss. 19-24). The millennial age differs as decidedly from the present ways of God with the church, as from the eternal state. We have here Israel blessed on earth during the kingdom, Satan bound, but sin not yet extirpated though suppressed, and in certain cases grace meeting it, where it did not demand a curse or excision.