January 8, 2007

• Ezekiel cont. By Pastor Don

  The antidote for physical and spiritual problems is Jesus Christ.

  Ezekiel 40 describes the Temple. Pastor Don pointed out that because of the description of the temple we can see that it was not the Temple rebuilt by Nehemiah. This temple has not been built yet. Some Biblical theologians claim that this temple was built, just not completely to specification. But when you take all things into consideration to accept this view of the theologians takes a large stretch of the imagination.

  The spiritual things that are mentioned in Ezekiel did not happen during Herod’s life, and in A.D. 70 Herod’s temple was destroyed. This temple will be rebuilt during the period of tribulation. Right now the Israelites are making the artifacts that will be used in this new temple. Pastor Don believes that when Jesus comes to rule and reign He will be in a temple that is built to the specifications of Ezekiel’s temple.

  The covenants that God made will be fulfilled, which means that the Jews will be judged by the Old Covenant unless they have accepted Jeshua (Jesus) as their Lord and Savior, in which case they would be under the New Covenant. Jesus came to establish a new and better covenant with the people, but that does not nullify the old covenant with Israel based on the covenant and the 10 Commandments. Before Jesus came, the Jews met with God for forgiveness of sin at the Mercy Seat, but we meet with God in Grace.

  We do not know how the Israelites will be brought into the New Covenant or what happens, it is a mystery. Paul states that it is a mystery, but those under the Old Covenant will be saved. It is hard for the church to say, “I don’t know,” but we don’t know. We just know that God is a just God. God promised to save Israel and God does not lie or go back on his covenants.

  A bit of a recap.

  Ezekiel 40:4 And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel, everything you see.

  Then there are details about the gates, the outer court, northern Gateway, Southern Gateway, and the Inner court.

  Ezekiel 40:38-43 There was a chamber and its entrance by the gateposts of the gateway, where they washed the burnt offering.  In the vestibule of the gateway were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which to slay the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. At the outer side of the vestibule, as one goes up to the entrance of the northern gateway, were two tables; and on the other side of the vestibule of the gateway were two tables.  Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side, by the side of the gateway, eight tables on which they slaughtered the sacrifices. There were also four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, one cubit and a half long, one cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high; on these they laid the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt offering and the sacrifice. Inside were hooks, a handbreadth wide, fastened all around; and the flesh of the sacrifices was on the tables. 

  This has not happened yet, since the death of Jesus and the destruction of the Temple, there have not been sacrifices in a temple. The sons of Zodok are from the sons of Levi, from Levi’s blood. The antichrist will again allow animal sacrifices for a period of time, and then stop the sacrifices.

  We then looked back at Ezekiel Chapter’s 37-39 point out how much God fought for the Israelites even though they turned back to idols. God does not abandon the fleshly Jew. But we know that the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. The traditions of men stink in the nostrils of God. God gave Ezekiel a temple pattern of how God wants the temple built. God blinded the Jews eyes because of their hardened hearts, disobedience, and rejection of Jesus. But one day He will open their eyes. There is a spiritual temple in these passages but there will also be a temple in actual reality.

  Ezekiel Chapter 41:16-19 ..their doorposts and the beveled window frames. And the galleries all around their three stories opposite the threshold were paneled with wood from the ground to the windows–the windows were covered–from the space above the door, even to the inner room, as well as outside, and on every wall all around, inside and outside by measure. And it was made with cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Each cherub had two faces, so that the face of a man was toward a palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion toward a palm tree on the other side; thus it was made throughout the temple all around.

  I am going to try and get the CD of Pastor Don’s sermon several years ago, “Palms of Praise” to see what he is talking about, but he did a major study on palms. I was not there, but the ending was when we lift our hands to God we lift up palms of praise.

  Ezekiel Chapter 42 speaks of the Chambers for the Priests

  Ezekiel 43:1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east.

  This eastern gate that Christ will come through as priest and king has been sealed by the Muslims, and to further prevent it’s use by a priest or Jesus, the Muslims have made the ground outside the gate to be a cemetery. It is their hope, that since priests cannot be near dead bodies, that this would prevent Jesus from walking through that gate. But they don’t know our Jesus, by the time He walks through that gate there will be no dead bodies, for He will have raised them from the dead.

  Ezekiel 43:2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.

  In Revelation it is explained that many waters is a symbol of many nations. This is what is mentioned in Revelation about the second coming of Christ.

  Ezekiel 43:3-5 It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw–like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar, and I fell on my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the innercourt; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

  Notice something different from the old temple constructs. No longer do the people have to come through the outercourt, they go directly to the innercourt. Because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for us, we do not have to go to the altar where the sin sacrifices were made, for He has covered our sins with His shed blood, there is nothing that keeps us from the innercourt. We go right to the main court and the presence of God.

  Ezekiel 43:6-9 Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the mist of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places. When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed, therefore, I have consumed them in My anger. Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

  This is not yet heaven on earth, there are still opportunities for idolatry and sin.

  Ezekiel 43:10 And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

  All of us, as we mature in Christ and walk in love, get to a place in our relationship with Him that we don’t want to do wrong, commit error,

  When we are saved and have a relationship with God, we do not want to hurt Daddy, there will be something about Ezekiel’s temple that will instill holiness, purity, and the presence of God. Those who enter will be ashamed of their sins.

  Pastor Don mentioned the pattern of the Bible is so holy. It is beyond our earthly perceptions.

  Ezekiel gives a bigger picture of the Kingdom of God.

  Ezekiel 43:11 And they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight so that they may keep its whole design and all the ordinances and perform them.

  Why ordinances? If there wasn’t a physical building, there wouldn’t need to be ordinances.

  Ezekiel 43:12 This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

  Spiritually they have to expand. When people are born again, people begin to see more things as holy, and they get a bigger expanse of what is holy.

  For example, a new born again person who had a problem with cursing, would not curse when at the altar, but may in the sanctuary. As God continues cleaning the person, then the area of not cursing will expand to the sanctuary, later on the parking lot, then driving to and from church. At some point, as the person continues to grow in Spirit, they begin to realize that everywhere they are God is and that God is aware of what they are doing. Pastor Don said that we get to a point where everything we do, we do consciously. We should do in our homes things that we wouldn’t mind Jesus observing as he is sitting at our kitchen table. How far have you expanded?

  The law of the temple, is that anything that the temple is sitting on also becomes holy.

  Then God gives dimensions of the Altar.

  Ezekiel 43:18-20 And He said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: ‘These are the ordinances for the altar on the day when it is made, for sacrificing  burnt offerings on it, and for sprinkling blood on it. You shall give a young bull for a sin offering to the priests, the Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who approach Me to minister to Me,’ says the Lord GOD. You shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim around it; thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it.

  They will be observing temple sacrifice.

  Ezekiel 43:27 When these days are over it shall be on the eighth day and thereafter, that the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar, and I will accept you,’ says the Lord GOD.

  Pastor Don pointed out that this verse mentions the 8th day, for the Jews. It is a new beginning, providing the opportunity to comply with the Mosaic law and covenant, the way God intended. It will bring the family (Jews and Gentiles) together. In the process of completing the Old Covenant, they will then see the New Covenant.

  Ezekiel 44:1-3 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered by it, therefore it shall be shut. As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before the lORD; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.

  Only Jesus will come to the East gate.

  Ezekiel 44:4-6 Also He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, so I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD, and I fell on my face. And the LORD said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD and all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary. Now say to the rebellious in the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God: “O house of Israel, let Us have no more of all your abominations.

  Notice that it says let “Us.” For that implies the Great I AM. Us is a plural, by accord, single but multiplicity, Father, Son, Holy Ghost.

  Ezekiel 44:7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it–My house–and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations.

  Uncircumcised in heart –

  Ezekiel 44:8-9 And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you. Thus says the Lord GOD; “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.

  We are considered the circumcision – by heart.

  Revelation 21:27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of Life.

  Once Ezekiel’s Temple is built, only those who will not defile the temple will enter in.

  Ezekiel 44:10-11 And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

  There is no mention of a High Priest in the above, this is a different kind of worship. There is no need for a High Priest to go into the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifice for the sins of the people, for Jesus did the perfect sacrifice.

  Ezekiel 44:15-18 But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord GOD. They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge. And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on linen garments: no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house. They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.

  All the atmosphere of worship is not works oriented, not with sweat. The previous attempts at worship were unclean and unacceptable to God, and God is giving the Levites a do over under the Covenant. They haven’t fulfilled their Covenant with God so He is giving them a second chance. They have to do the sacrifice right.

  Ezekiel 44:23-24 And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.

  Notice that sabbaths is plural, something that makes it hard for those who want to reassign when the sabbath is. Every day is a sabbath.

  Ezekiel 44:25 They shall not defile themselves by coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves.

  Ezekiel 44:30 The best of all firstfruits of any kind and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest’s; also you shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.

  Pastor Don pointed out that it is a sacrifice of any kind – under Messianic law there were a whole lot of kinds that were not acceptable.

  Ezekiel 44:31 The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, that died naturally or was torn by wild beasts.

  The temple of Ezekiel on earth is a transitional temple. Jesus will rule and reign 1000 years from this temple. The rebuilt Temple will have spiritual and physical properties. It is modified to permit a new way of worship, different roles for the priests. All kinds of first fruits.

  There was a lot to this study, but we went over the material so quickly, I don’t feel I have the kind of grasp I would like to have for the material, but know that it is worth sharing. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

  Heather

  • 2:29 pm
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