Ezekiel 40:32

And when, through the weapons of justice, on the right and left, through glory and disgrace, through good and bad reputation, through praise and blame, we have obtained victory over this world: then palms are given to us on both sides, which neither joys have changed, nor sorrow, nor prosperity, nor adversity have overcome: and not by seven degrees, as in the region of the North, nor by seven and eight, as in the South, are we contained, but by only eight degrees do we ascend to the highest: because the number eight is sufficient for us, that is, the sacrament of the Gospel; so that we may say with the Apostle: And though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him no more, it is understood, according to the flesh.

"And he brought me into the inner court by the East gate, and he measured the gate according to the former measures, its chamber, and its front, and its vestibule as above." This also which is written concerning the South gate is narrated in the same order concerning the East gate as well. However, the Lord can also be designated by the gate of the East, Judea by the South, and the converted Gentile world by the North. We call the gate the Lord because through Him we enter to Him. We not inappropriately call the gates Judea and the Gentile world, because we have recognized that first to the Hebrews, and afterward to the fathers coming from the Gentile world, the entrance to the heavenly building was given. But in this matter a question strikes the mind: why in the earlier narration of the prophet was the Eastern gate described first, then that of the North, and afterward that of the South? And when he was narrating about the same gates in the inner court, he described first the gate of the South, then of the East, and in the third place that of the North. Why did he not maintain the same order he had begun, but changed it in the description of the gates, so that first he spoke of the gate of the East, of the North and of the South, and afterward of the South, of the East and of the North?

And he brought me into the inner court toward the east,.... Into that part of it which lay to the east, having gone through that which lay to the south: and he measured the gate according to these measures; that is, the eastern gate of the inner court; for the eastern gate that led to the outward court he measured first, Eze 40:6, and this was according to the measure of that, and of the rest.

But in this gospel-temple we meet with no altar till after the glory of the Lord has taken possession of it, for Christ is our altar, that sanctifies every gift.

The inner court and its gates. according to these measures--namely, the measures of the outer gate. The figure and proportions of the inner answered to the outer.