‘And the glory of Yahweh came into the house by way of the gate whose prospect is towards the east.'
The glory of Yahweh now entered the heavenly temple situated ‘on a very high mountain somewhere in the land' (Ezekiel 40:2), through the East Gate. It was nineteen years since Ezekiel had seen Yahweh leave the land. Now He had returned (compare Ezekiel 10:4; Ezekiel 44:4; Exodus 40:34-35 1 Kings 8:10-11; Isaiah 6:1-3), but to His own temple, not one built by man. That made Israel's future for the present secure. Again this demonstrates that this heavenly temple was an actuality at the time that Ezekiel was speaking.
Patterned on this the glory of Yahweh would also enter the second temple when it was built under Zerubbabel as a foretaste of the glory in the everlasting kingdom under the everlasting king (Haggai 2:7 with 21-23).