44:1-2 Ezekiel's guide next took him back to the east outer gate (cf. 40:6-16). The gate itself, on the east side of the gate complex, was shut and was to remain shut. The Lord told the prophet that this gate was shut because He had entered the temple complex through it (43:1-3). Its sealed condition guaranteed God's promise that He would never depart from the temple again (37:24-28).
"As a mark of honor to an Eastern king, no person could enter the gate by which he entered . . ."546
This is not the eastern gate of Zerubbabel's or Herod's temple; there is no evidence that either of those gates was closed. Nor is it the gate on the east side of the temple enclosure in modern Jerusalem that has been sealed for centuries. The dimensions are different. It is the east gate of the millennial temple.
"The eastern gate that overlooks the Kidron Valley today is closed as it has been since the Crusades, nearly a thousand years ago. Crusaders walled up the gate because they believed that Jesus entered the temple mount by this gate on Palm Sunday and that it should be closed until he returns to reenter the temple mount. Zechariah 14:4-5 presents the Messiah coming to the valley on the eastern side of the temple in preparation for his entry into the temple area. This has been regarded as biblical evidence that the gate should remain closed until Jesus returns.
"Today the eastern gate, also called the Golden Gate, is a significant holy site for three major world religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jews believe that when the Messiah comes he will open the east gate and enter the temple mount first and then enter the city of Jerusalem. Moslems believe that the gate is the site of final judgment and call it the gate of heaven and hell. They believe the final judgment of humanity will take place before the eastern gate and the redeemed are those who will be allowed to enter the temple mount; all others will be outcasts."547
44:3 A prince (king) who would rule over the Israelites would sit in this gate complex and eat sacrifices to the Lord there (cf. 34:24; 37:25; 46:2, 8-10).548The city gate was a place of civil and judicial business in the ancient world (cf. Ruth 4:1-11). It was where the elders of the city assembled to discuss and transact important matters. Therefore sitting in this gate pictures the prince as an administrator of the temple area. He would go in and out of the gate complex by way of the vestibule at its west end, but no one would be able to enter or exit the outer court through the gate at the east end of this structure.
This prince (Heb. nasi) is not Messiah. This becomes clear later when the writer described him as presenting a sin offering for himself, something that it is difficult imagining Jesus Christ doing (45:22; cf. Heb. 4:15; 9:22-28). Furthermore, this leader will produce natural children, another extremely unlikely action for Messiah (46:16). Third, he is not a priest and exercises no priestly rights, whereas Jesus Christ is now and ever will be our great high priest. Rather, this priest functions in an intermediate status between the priests and the people (cf. 45:13-22; 46:2, 10, 18; 48:21-22). The exact identity of this leader is presently unknown, but he will apparently function as Messiah's administrative representative in charge of certain affairs in the Millennium.549This person appears in every chapter to follow except chapter 47.
