At the end of the book of Ezekiel there are two things: the holy land and the holy city. We need to see something more concerning the holy land. Apart from the land, there could be no temple. Although we may appreciate the temple very much, we have to realize that the temple is in the land, and without the land there could not be a temple. The temple depends upon the land. The temple typifies the church, and the land typifies Christ. Without the experience of Christ, there is no possibility for us to have the church. The church is the issue of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ.
Because the land, typifying Christ, is so crucial, we need to look at it once more. The land is first mentioned in Genesis 1. On the third day of the Lord's recovery of His creation, the land was recovered. The land emerged from the waters of death. Until that time all the land was under the death waters. But on the third day the Lord caused the land to rise up out of the death waters. The land in Genesis 1 typifies Christ. Christ was resurrected from the dead on the third day as the all-inclusive land. Every kind of life, whether vegetable, animal, or human, came out of that land. Apart from that land, no life can exist. All of the living things came into being out of the land. Because the land signifies Christ, it means that all the living things come out of Christ. Christ is the good land which God prepared for man.
However, man fell and became degraded, causing God to judge the earth again. During the time of Noah, the land was flooded and once more was covered by the death waters (Gen. 7:19). This means that the human race lost the land. Once again, however, the Lord brought the land out of the death waters, and the family of Noah was given the right to enjoy the land. But the descendants of Noah fell and gathered at Babel to build a tower of rebellion against God (Gen. 11). From Babel God scattered the people and called out Abraham from that fallen place and brought him into Canaan, the good land (Gen. 12). At that time God promised Abraham that the land of Canaan would belong to him and to his children. However, the descendants of Abraham also fell. Human history is a record of man's fall. They fell from the good land into Egypt. The whole house of Jacob went down into Egypt and again they lost the good land. But four hundred years later, by God's deliverance, they experienced the Passover and, passing through the Red Sea, they left Egypt (Exo. 12). After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, they passed through the Jordan into the good land. There they fought against all the inhabitants and recovered their lost land. Upon that recovered land, they built the temple, and God's glory descended and filled the temple (2 Chron. 5:14). Later, though, due to their falling away and their degradation, they were carried away from the land again. They lost the land once more.
In the midst of the captivity, Ezekiel was brought back to the land by the Spirit (8:3). Ezekiel went back by the Spirit to see the land. Many times in Ezekiel, the Lord promised that He would bring His people back to their land (Ezek. 11, 33, 34, 36 and 37). He promised to bring them back even to the top of the mountains of Israel (34:14). This indicated a real recovery of the land. Before the building can be recovered, the land must be recovered. The recovery of the land signifies the recovery of the enjoyment of Christ. Although Christ Himself can never be lost, Christ in our experience can be lost. At the time we were saved we received Christ, but not long afterward we fell away and lost Christ in our experience. The recovery of the land is the recovery of the experiences of the riches of Christ. Hallelujah! The land was recovered! Then the house was built on the land.