We want to get into the study of
Ezekiel tonight and right off the top, I
would like to confess to you that of
all of the Bible and the passages in
the Bible, I understand this the least.
I do not pretend to have a full
and complete understanding of Ezekiel chapters 40 through
48.
In fact, I have greater difficulty with these
passages than I do any other section of
the Bible.
And because I do lack personally in an
understanding of this section, I do find it
extremely difficult to minister from this particular section
of the scriptures.
I can't wait till I get back and
get into the book of Daniel.
And when we return, we'll take your next
assignment will be Daniel, the first six chapters.
And I can hardly wait to get into
Daniel because that I understand.
Now, Ezekiel up to this point, I have,
I feel a pretty good grasp and understanding
of it.
But beginning tonight with chapter 40 and going
through the end, I get lost.
I don't understand it completely.
And to help an understanding because he is
describing the new temple that is to be
built now from the description of this temple,
it will be a temple that will be
built during the kingdom age.
After the return of Jesus Christ, this will
not be the temple that would be rebuilt
during, uh, the, in the very near future
under the, uh, decree that is made by
the antichrist.
But this is yet future.
Now we've passed out diagrams for you by
which we have sought to more or less
draw a diagram for you of this new
temple that it is to be built.
Notice that basically it is square and the
outer walls of this temple are 500 cubits
long and 500 cubits broad.
Now this is the, the building itself.
Outside of this, there is the wall that
is 5,000 or 500 reads.
Now to help you understand, we get into
cubits, reads, and we're into types of measurements
that are not familiar with us.
According to the definition, the cubit here is
a cubit plus a span, the cubit that
he measured with, which would be the cubit
is the length from your elbow to your
fingertips.
And the span of course, is, uh, from
your thumb to your fingertip.
So the length from your elbow to your
fingertip, about 18 inches plus the span gives
you about 24 inches.
So you're dealing with cubits of 24 inches.
Now, as you look at this diagram again,
you notice this outer, uh, wall of the
building would then be about a thousand feet,
500 cubits, which would make it about a
thousand feet, which means that that is a
fairly good size building, uh, comprising a hundred
thousand square feet within, uh, the perimeters of
the building.
Uh, so then you notice this inner court,
that inner court is a hundred cubits square,
which would mean about 200 feet square.
So again, uh, you begin to get the
size of this building.
It is quite large indeed and inner court
200 feet.
The, this building from wall to wall is
about 180 feet.
So you add another 20 feet and the
same distance back and you have the inner
court here, which is about a 200 foot
square.
Uh, so that helps you then to get
the overall, uh, idea of the overall size
of the building.
It is a quite, uh, quite a large
building, the new temple that will be built
plus the wall that goes around it at
5,000 or 500 reads a read is
five of these cubits, which would be 10
feet in length.
So the wall around the whole thing would
be almost a mile square.
Now at the present time in Jerusalem, there
is no area where this could be built,
especially on the temple Mount, the temple Mount
that was vastly enlarged by King Herod is
nowhere near a mile square.
In fact, the whole old city of Jerusalem
is just about a mile square.
So when Jesus returns and prior to the
return of Jesus Christ, there are to be
many cataclysmic events.
The book of revelation, for instance, describes a
tremendous earthquake that is going to Joel Jerusalem
so that a 10th part of the city
will be destroyed.
This plus the other cataclysmic events that are
described in the book of revelation, uh, the
present situation of Jerusalem with the earthquake.
And of course, when Christ returns, there'll be
a great cataclysmic event in that the Mount
of olives will be splitting in the middle
and a new Valley will be formed.
And no doubt with the new Valley that
is formed and this great shaking of the
earth, a new mountain will be shoved up
and this mountain will be called Mount Zion
and it will be very high in the
side of all of the earth.
According to the prophecies that are in Isaiah
and in Jeremiah, so that the new temple
will be built then upon this new Mount
Zion.
And, uh, thus, uh, the, uh, the large
area that is devoted for the temple, but
you see the diagram here of the buildings
themselves.
And thus, as you go through Ezekiel, beginning
with chapter 40, as Ezekiel is taken by
the spirit and is shown this new temple
of God, it's in the 20th year of
our captivity, which would have been the year
five 72 BC in the beginning of the
year, which would have been April the 10th
day of the month in the 14th year
after the city was smitten in the self,
same day the hand of the Lord was
upon me and brought me feather in the
visions of God.
He brought me into the land of Israel.
He set me up on a very high
mountain by which was the frame of the
city on the South.
So there is a very new high mountain
that rises up, uh, there in Israel, uh,
in the area of Jerusalem.
And he brought me feather and behold, there
was a man whose appearance was like the
appearance of brass with a line of flax
in his hand and with a majoring read,
he stood in the gate and the man
said unto me, son of man, behold with
your eyes and here with your ears and
set your heart upon all that I will
show you for to the intent that I
might show them unto the, you have been
brought here.
So he meets the man who introduces himself
and says, now, you know, pay careful attention
to all these things I'm showing you because
for this purpose, you've been brought here and
then declare all that you see to the
house of Israel.
So in these passages we are dealing in
the kingdom age and with the house of
Israel, we are not dealing with the church
and really this temple that is to be
built and it's worship is not related to
the church, but it is related to Israel
in the kingdom age.
And so it is to be really like
be related to the house of Israel.
Now, behold, there was a wall on the
outside of the house roundabout in the man's
hand, a majoring read of six cubits long.
Uh, the cubit, uh, is about 18 inches,
10 feet, uh, by the cubit and a
hand breadth about 12 feet.
He measured the breadth of the building one
read in the height one read.
Then he came to the gate, which looked
toward the east.
Now you notice on the bottom of your
diagram, we've drawn here the gate towards the
east.
We've only drawn three steps.
There are seven steps leading up into that
gate and the gate itself becomes a corridor
because on either side you have these rooms,
uh, that go along and then the area
known as the payment sort of a porch,
portico, uh, arch porch area, uh, that is
in the pavement there.
Uh, and uh, it describes the porch and
the arches and, uh, the, uh, various, uh,
carvings of the cherubim, uh, that are upon,
uh, these, uh, arches and on these posts.
Now I'm not going to try to, uh,
go through and, uh, and, and follow this
all with you.
It gets very laborious and therefore I'm going
to allow you, uh, that opportunity if you
so desire to get the thing in your
mind, uh, to take the diagram that we
have prepared for you and, uh, and, and
as best you can follow it through, read
it out and, and, and see if you
can more or less, uh, figure this whole
thing out.
Uh, you have, uh, the inner court in
verse 27 toward the south.
Now you'll notice that there are gates that
come in on three sides, both into the,
uh, outer court area here and then in
three more gates corresponding with the outer gates
into the inner court area.
Those steps coming into the outer court area
are seven steps upward coming into the inner
court.
There are eight steps.
So you are coming from a lower plane,
rising to a higher plane, and then the
temple house is yet on a higher level.
So the whole thing is ascending up, but
you have the three gates, no gate to
the west, but there are gates to the
east, to the north and to the south,
but none coming from the west.
And so you come in through these gates
into the outer chamber and then up through
the steps into the inner court.
Now, uh, only a certain, uh, group were
allowed on into the inner court.
Those that were making the sacrifices themselves, you
would find the altar of burnt offering in
the middle of the inner court.
And then on the west side, you find
the temple house itself and, uh, the holy
place, uh, within the temple house, uh, the
holy place being 20, uh, by 20 or
about a 40 foot, uh, cube area.
Now, as you go into these measurements, you'll
find that they are many of them in
multiples of 12, which I'm sure has some
significance, but just what the significance is, I
cannot tell you for sure, uh, because I
don't know.
Uh, there's a lot of things that people
can read into things.
I would rather not read things into it,
but just, uh, read it as it is.
And that which I understand, tell you that
which I don't understand, just let you know
that I don't understand it, uh, what it's
a significance or whatever, but I've noticed in
going through many multiples of 12.
So in chapter 41, he continues to describe
the temple and the post, uh, and all
he, and, uh, he measured in verse four,
you get into the temple house itself and
to the holy place, which was 20 cubits
before the temple.
This is the most holy place.
The temple house itself is 20 cubits by
40 cubits, uh, which would be about 40
by 80 feet, which is a fairly good
size, uh, room in itself.
And he describes in verses 18 and 19,
the cherubims that are carved, uh, upon the,
uh, various, uh, and the palm trees and
all, uh, on the, uh, doors of the
inner house and upon the walls and, um,
all of these carvings of, of the cherubim
and palms and the temple and the sanctuary
had two doors, verse 23, and the doors
had two leaves of peace turning leaves.
In other words, the double doors, much like
we have coming in here and the doors,
uh, opened, uh, as these doors do.
Then he brought me into the utter court
verse or chapter 42 to the north.
And he brought me into the chamber that
was against the separate place.
And, uh, as I say, I'm going to
leave you, uh, with this, uh, you may
take this, uh, diagram home and, uh, the
separate place is that area you'll notice that
surrounds the temple house itself.
Uh, and, uh, he begins to describe for
him here, this separate place that was about
the temple house, uh, verse 13 there where
the priest that approached the Lord shall eat
the most Holy things.
So you see this little chamber for the
priest and there are four of them, uh,
off of this separate place where the priest
eat, uh, before the Lord, uh, of the
portion of the sacrifices that are brought and
they shall, uh, lay the most Holy things,
the meal offerings, the sin offerings, the trespass
offerings for the places Holy.
And when the priests enter therein, then shall
they not go out of the Holy place
into the utter court, but they shall lay
their garments wherein they minister for they are
Holy.
They shall put on other garments and shall
approach those things which are for the people.
So there are special robes for the priest
when they're in this place and they're not
to be, uh, worn outside.
Now in chapter 43, he brought him then
to the gate that looks towards the East.
This is at the bottom of your diagram.
And behold, the glory of the God of
Israel came from the way of the East
and his voice was like the voice or
like the noise of many waters and the
earth shined with his glory.
Here you have the return of the glory
of God to Israel.
Now earlier Ezekiel saw in a vision the
glory of God leaving the temple and gradually
as it left the temple, it settled at
the gate towards the East and then it
ascended and God's glory was removed from Israel.
Here we find the glory of God returning
to Israel.
And again, even as the glory of God
departed by the gate to the East, so
the glory of God returns by the gate
to the East and his voice was like
the noise of many waters in revelation chapter
one, as John is describing Jesus Christ in
his glory, he does declare that his voice
was like the noise of many waters.
I would assume that this reference here in
Ezekiel is a reference to the return of
Jesus Christ in glory.
Then shall they see the son of man
coming with clouds and great glory and he
shall set his foot in that day on
the Mount of Olives and it shall split
in the middle and a new valley will
be formed from East to West when the
Mount of Olives is split in the middle.
Now according to other passages of scripture, when
Christ returns, you remember when he ascended, he
went with his disciples to the Mount of
Olives and when they had gone as far
as Bethany, which is just over the top
of the Mount of Olives, Jesus ascended up
into heaven and the disciples were standing there
gazing up into heaven as they watched the
cloud catch him out of their sight and
two men stood by them in shining apparel
and said, ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye here gazing into heaven for this same
Jesus shall come again in like manner as
you have seen him go into heaven.
And so the coming of Jesus Christ as
he went in glory up into heaven, he'll
come again setting his foot on the Mount
of Olives.
A great cataclysmic event takes place as the
Mount of Olives splits, no doubt creating what
we will get to later.
This new stream that will issue from the
Southern part here of the, I mean from
the Eastern part here down on the bottom
part of your page, the new stream that
will issue from the temple of God, which
will flow down to the Dead Sea and
we'll get to that after a while.
But a part of this, this is all
a part of this great geological structural change
that will take place when the Mount of
Olives splits and when the city is shaken
and the preparation for the return of Jesus
Christ, the establishing of his kingdom and the
earth shine with the glory as Christ returns
there in verse two.
Now, as he returns that surrounded, of course,
with the angelic beings, the cherubim, Bible speaks
about his coming with the angels.
It also speaks about his coming with the
church, coming with clouds and great glory.
Clouds symbolically are numbers of people, throngs of
people.
Paul said, when Christ who is our life
shall appear, then shall we also appear with
him in glory.
Then shall they see the Son of Man
coming with the angels to judge the earth.
Then so, uh, the saints that came with
him, revelation 19.
So Christ coming with a heavenly multitude to
establish God's kingdom upon the earth and the
glory of the Lord came into the house
by the way of the gate, whose prospect
is toward the east.
So the spirit took me up and brought
me into the inner court and behold, the
glory of the Lord filled the house and
I heard him speaking unto me out of
the house and the man stood by me
and he said unto me, son of man,
place the place of my throne and the
place of the souls of my feet, where
I will dwell in the midst of the
children of Israel forever.
And my holy name shall the house of
Israel no more defiled, neither they nor their
Kings by their Hortum, nor by the carcasses
of their Kings in the high places in
their setting of their threshold on by my
thresholds and their post by my post and
walls and so forth.
My holy name, uh, they will not defile
anymore by their abominations, which they've committed.
Now let them put away their Hortum and
the carcasses of their Kings far from me.
And I will dwell in the midst of
them forever.
And so the declaration of God's coming, uh,
the coming of the kingdom, uh, to dwell
in the midst of the people.
So Ezekiel is commanded to show these things
to the house of Israel, that they may
be ashamed of their iniquities and let them
measure the pattern and all.
Now he, in verse 13 gives you the
measure of the altar and we have the
altar there in the center of the whole
building complex.
And this altar is a fairly good size
altar.
Uh, it has four horns on the corners
of the altars and, uh, they offer the
sacrifices in verse 19 through the end of
the chapter.
The priest make the offerings, uh, of the
sacrifices and all, uh, the, the various offerings,
sin offering, burn offering, and, uh, the, um,
uh, peace offerings.
Now here's where one of the problems arises.
And that is why would sin offerings be
made in the kingdom age?
For we know that the old Testament sacrifices
all pointed to that one sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, whereby our sins would be purged once
and for all.
And in Hebrews, we are told that Christ
has suffered once and for all, that he
is the sin offering of which all of
the old Testament offerings were just a shadow.
The substance is of Christ.
Why then will they be offering sacrifices again
in the new temple during the kingdom age?
And many suggestions have been offered for the
reason for these sacrifices.
Some of them saying, well, this is all
symbolic.
They really aren't offered.
I cannot accept that.
Many people spiritualize them.
I cannot accept that.
I think that it speaks very plainly that
there will be these offerings offered during the
kingdom age.
Now, as we look at the old Testament
sacrifices that were made, we realized number one,
that they did not actually put away sins.
The Lord said, and when they make the
sacrifice, it shall be for a Kofar, which
Hebrew word is covering.
And so the sins will be covered.
It doesn't say they would be put away.
They would be covered.
Now in Hebrews, we read that it is
impossible that the blood of bulls or goats
could put away sin, but all they could
do was to speak of the better sacrifice,
which was to come.
That is of Jesus.
So the old Testament sacrifices did not put
away sin, but they testified of that sacrifice
that would come by which sins would be
put away once and for all.
I believe that the only explanation that can
be given for sacrifices here in the temple,
in the kingdom age, is that these sacrifices
are memorial sacrifices looking back at what Christ
has done.
Even as the old Testament sacrifices looked forward,
did not put away sin, but gave anticipation
for the sacrifice that would be offered.
Even now, these are offered in memorial as
we look back at that sacrifice of Jesus
Christ.
Now you remember that Jesus took bread and
broke it and gave to his disciples and
said, take, eat.
This is my body broken for you.
He took also the cup after supper and
he said, take drink.
This is the blood in the new covenant
that is shed for the remission of sins.
For as often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you do show the
Lord's death until he comes.
This do he said in remembrance of me.
And even as we have our communion services
and we break the bread and we drink
the cup in remembrance of what Jesus did
in his death for our sins.
So when sacrifice is offered sacrifices are reinstituted
in the kingdom age.
They will not be for the purpose of
putting away sin, but they will be memorial
offerings by which we will be reminded of
that sacrifice by which the sins were put
away.
And we'll be looking back to the cross
and the sacrifice that was made there by
Jesus Christ, the sin offering being made here
in the kingdom age and that is to
me reading it the way it says, but
in seeking to understand it, that is the
only understanding that I personally can come to
the reason for there being a sin offering
sacrifice in those days.
Now, as we get to chapter 44, we
come to a prophecy that is so often
misinterpreted.
And I must confess to you that I
have often misinterpreted this prophecy and as
I read it more carefully and have read
it more carefully this time, and this is
one of the problems I have with this
last portion of Ezekiel, that every time I
read it, I seem to see something else
that I didn't quite understand before.
And my whole views have to change again,
but he brought me back to the way
of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which
looks towards the East and it was shut.
Now you go over to Jerusalem today and
the East gate of the wall of Jerusalem
is shut.
It has been walled shut.
There are big stones and the gate is
shut.
And they will often point to this gate
and declare to you that this gate being
shut is actually the fulfillment of Ezekiel 44
and that this gate is shut and it's
going to be shut until the Prince comes
to enter through the gate.
But if you'll read the whole thing carefully,
you'll come to, first of all, the realization
that the Prince here is not Jesus Christ.
For as we move along a little further,
the Prince has sons who he gives his
inheritance to.
The Prince is mentioned some thirteen times here
and he will be a Prince, but not
as we so often have thought of as
Jesus Christ.
The gate that is here shut is open
for the Prince.
He uses it as an entry and as
an exit, that is the gate towards the
East, and it's only for his entrance into
the court.
Those others who come in come from the
gates to the North and the South.
But it is not the gate that is
called today the Golden Gate on the East
wall of the ancient wall of Jerusalem.
Now the reason why that gate is closed
and walled up is someone misinterpreted this prophecy
a long time ago of the Prince or
the Messiah coming in through the East gate
and they thought that they would hinder his
coming by sealing up that gate towards the
East.
But as I read this more carefully, I
find that this is the gate to the
sanctuary.
It will be in this new temple and
it is the gate into the sanctuary itself
and thus cannot be that gate towards the
East that you find blocked over there.
And I suggest that you read this again
more carefully.
Now I found this a great disappointment because
I love to point out that gate to
the people and read to them this prophecy
out of Ezekiel and show to them how
look it's sealed, it's shut, and it's going
to remain that way until you know the
Messiah, the Prince enters in.
But the Prince here is not referred to
as the Messiah nor is he referred to
as David.
Now in other places we do have the
Prince David and the reference there and the
Prince definitely there is Jesus Christ.
But this Prince is never referred to as
David here in 44th chapter onward and it
speaks much about the Prince and as I
say it speaks of his sons to whom
he gives an inheritance and his servants.
And that pretty much precludes Jesus Christ as
the Prince.
But as we read it, he brought me
back to the way of the gate of
the outward sanctuary and it looks towards the
East and it was shut.
Then said the Lord unto me, this gate
shall be shut.
It is not to be open and no
man shall enter in by it because the
Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in
by it.
Therefore it shall be shut.
The glory of the Lord entered in by
the East gate and for that reason it
was to be shut.
But it is for the Prince, the Prince
he shall sit in it to eat bread
before the Lord.
He shall enter by the way of the
porch of the gate and he shall go
out by the way of the same.
And then he brought me to the way
of the North gate before the house and
I looked and behold, the glory of the
Lord filled the house of the Lord and
I fell on my face.
So coming around to this gate to the
North as Ezekiel looked in, even as the
glory of the Lord filled the temple of
Solomon, so the glory of the Lord filled
the temple area and Ezekiel falls upon his
face.
The Lord said unto me, son of man,
mark well and behold with your eyes and
hear with your ears all that I say
concerning all of the ordinances of the house
of the Lord and all of the laws
thereof and mark well the entering in of
the house with every going forth of the
sanctuary.
So he's told now by the Lord to
make a careful account of this market.
Well, thou shalt say to the rebellious, even
to the house of Israel, thus saith the
Lord God, all ye house of Israel, let
it suffice you of all your abominations in
that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers
who were uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in
flesh.
Paul, the apostle speaks about circumcision of the
heart.
Uh, and many times people who go through
a ritual that has a symbolism soon begin
to trust in the ritual, but there is
no reality and thus it is a meaningless
ritual.
The ritual of circumcision was actually to speak
of a people who were not living after
the flesh, but living after the spirit, the
cutting off of the flesh.
And so it was the denial of the
flesh life to live the life of the
spirit.
But the right itself did not guarantee that
many people had gone through the right of
circumcision were still living after the flesh.
And so the whole ritual was totally, uh,
negated by the fact that they were living
after the flesh.
Now the ritual of baptism is to signify
that your old man was crucified and you're
living the new life after Jesus Christ.
The old man after the flesh is dead.
He's buried in the waters of baptism, and
now you have a whole new life in
the spirit.
But the ritual is totally meaningless.
If after the baptism, you are still living
after the flesh, the old life of the
flesh and after the nature of the old
man.
And I don't care how many ways or
times you've been baptized.
It's totally, it's only a ritual and it
becomes a meaningless ritual unless there is the
reality that has been carried through in your
life.
And so the important thing is not if
you've experienced the ritual, but have you experienced
the reality of which the ritual is a
symbol.
And so he speaks here of the uncircumcision
of the heart.
And Paul picks that up in the book
of Romans showing to the Jews that the
right of circumcision was totally negated by the
fact that they were still living after the
flesh for God wants the circumcision of the
heart, not of the flesh.
And it's the circumcision of the heart that
counts.
That is what has gone on within your
heart is what really matters to God, not
what you've done in outward rituals.
And this is where people today who are
trusting in rituals are in great danger because
it could be just a meaningless thing that
you have gone through.
And the church has many rituals that become
totally meaningless unless there is the corresponding reality
in your life.
The ritual means nothing apart from the reality
that has happened in your life.
So you say, well, I take communion.
So I've been baptized.
So those are marvelous rituals.
They are very meaningful rituals if the truth
has been actualized in your own experience.
But there are many people that are just
trusting in the fact that they have taken
the communion.
So my sins are washed or I've been
baptized.
So, you know, I'm a new creature, but
there's got to be a corresponding reality in
our lives.
And so God is speaking against these that
have come in before him, uncircumcised in their
hearts and in their flesh.
And so in this future temple, there will
be nothing allowed in that defiles or that
is defiled.
Now there's an interesting thing to me as
we get down to verse 17.
It shall come to pass that that is
when the priest enter in at the gates
of the inner court, they shall be clothed
with linen garments and no wool shall come
upon them while they minister in the gates
of the inner court and within.
So once they come into that inner court,
the area where the priest came to minister
to the Lord, the offering of the sacrifice
and so forth, there was to be only
linen garments worn no wool.
They shall have on linen bonnets on their
heads, linen breeches on their loins.
They shall not gird themselves with anything that
causes sweat.
Now that to me is extremely interesting.
God really doesn't want you to sweat when
you're serving him.
But perspiration is quite often a sign of
the lack of inspiration.
And when you don't have inspiration, you're quite
often you need perspiration to get through.
Now Jesus said, my yoke is easy.
My burden is light.
One thing God never wants is that man
complaining of his service or what he has
given to God.
That is why the new Testament teaches us
that you are to determine in your own
heart what you're to give.
No one should be pressuring you, pushing you,
exciting you to give, but every man should
determine in his own heart that which he
is going to give to the Lord.
And then he should give to God with
a joyful heart or with a hilarious spirit
for God loves a hilarious giver.
God wants you to be hilarious over everything
you've given to him.
He never wants you to be begrudging or
griping about what you've given.
God doesn't want any service that requires sweat.
God doesn't want any complaining over what has
been given to him.
Therefore, if you cannot give to God hilariously,
you would be better off not giving at
all.
Especially if you find yourself complaining or griping
about what you have given to God.
What an insult to God that I would
go around complaining or griping about what I
gave.
That is why we are extremely careful here
never to try to excite people to give
to God or even to encourage people to
give to God.
In fact, you notice that you were at
the third service, I think it was this
morning, when Mark was making the announcements after
he said the ushers will now come to
receive the offering.
I've told the young men, now look, we
don't take offerings from people.
We receive offerings.
We'll be glad to receive what you want
to give to God, but we're not going
to take anything from you.
We don't want to take anything from you.
If you want to give to God, we'll
receive it.
But it's completely up to you what God
has laid upon your heart.
There'll never be any pressures for pledges or
anything else, because that is something between you
and God, and when you give it to
God, you should be giving it hilariously, happily,
joyfully unto the Lord, and that the Lord
accepts and will bless you for it.
But he doesn't want you going out of
here saying, oh, you know, I don't know
what I'm going to do.
I've given so much to God.
Oh, God just can't stand that, and he
doesn't want that kind of giving, nor does
he want pressured service, where I'm under a
pressure, I'm sweating, you know, as I'm serving
God.
And so, it's very significant to me that
they are to wear only linen.
They are not to wear anything that would
cause sweat.
Now, when they go out to the people,
then they change their garments, and the garments
that they ministered in, they lay them there
in the holy chambers.
Now, neither are they to shave their heads,
nor allow their locks to grow long.
They shall only pull their heads.
Neither shall any priest drink wine when he
enters into the inner court.
Again, God does not want service under any
false stimulant.
We remember when the tabernacle was first erected
there in the wilderness, and the fire of
God came and kindled the coals on the
altar, and the sacrifice was consumed.
An exciting moment because here was spontaneous combustion.
They had set the sacrifice upon the altar.
They were ready to institute the whole thing.
When fire came from God, and the altar
was kindled, an exciting moment because the glory
of God ascended upon the tabernacle.
And all of the people fell on their
faces when they saw this, and it was
a glorious, exciting moment.
God manifested His presence in the midst of
the people.
And the two sons of Aaron grabbed their
little censers, and they put incense in them,
and they went to offer incense before the
Lord, but they lit their censers with fire
that God called strange fire.
And the fire came out from the altar,
and the two sons of Aaron were killed,
were consumed by the fire that came from
the altar.
And then the Lord, in instructing Moses, said,
Tell Aaron and his sons that they are
not to drink wine when they come, or
before they come, to offer before the Lord
the sacrifice, or when they come before the
Lord to serve, not to be drinking wine.
Because God does not want service out of
any kind of a false stimulus.
God wants your mind to be totally clear.
I know what I'm doing.
I'm not being, you know, falsely stimulated as
I am serving God.
I know that God has forgiven me, but
I am guilty of having stimulated people to
serve God with false stimulants.
I used to offer to the children bicycles
if they would bring so many to Sunday
school.
The one who brings the most will get
a free trip to Disneyland.
And I used to offer all kinds of
incentives to get the kids, you know, to
hustle their friends into Sunday school.
And these incentives that I was offering to
the children were actually false stimulants.
And I was guilty of offering these kind
of false incentives for serving God.
The only incentive that God wants you to
serve Him with is the incentive of a
heart of love.
Paul said, For the love of Christ constrains
me.
And the only real service that God will
accept from you is that service that comes
from a heart of love.
That's the only stimulant any of us should
ever need.
We sing the chorus, I will serve you
because I love you.
And that's what it's all about.
That's the stimulant for serving God.
God doesn't want you to serve Him under
any other stimulant.
He doesn't want you to serve Him in
order that you might please the pastor or
please the committee chairman or please the board
or whatever.
He wants you to serve Him only because
you love Him.
And that is why we have steered so
totally away from any kind of contest or
anything else that would create a false stimulant
for people to serve God.
That's why we never ask people to serve
God.
So many times people come up and they
say, We've been coming to Calvary for a
long time and we used to be involved
in church and we love teaching Sunday school.
How do you get to, how do you
become a Sunday school teacher here?
And we said, well, you just found out
you have to ask.
No one's going to come asking you putting
a Sunday school book in your hand and
saying, would you please, you know, teach our
second graders in the third service?
You know, if you want to serve the
Lord, there are plenty of opportunities for you
to serve Him, but no one's going to
be pressuring you or pushing you to do
it.
God's got to do that work in your
heart and you're going to serve Him out
of your love for Him.
And that way we don't have to be
kicking everybody week by week to keep them
going.
You know, we don't have to be pushing.
I went back to Lubbock, Texas and pastored
or not pastored, I ministered for a week
or so in a Southern Baptist church in
Lubbock.
And the pastor back there said something I
thought was extremely interesting.
He said, we decided to let every program
in the church die a natural death.
He said, we decided to take off the
artificial systems and let everything die that couldn't
survive on its own.
We weren't going to, you know, keep things
going with artificial support systems.
He said, we've been doing that for too
many years and they just allowed all of
the programs in the church to die that
just didn't carry with their own momentum.
I thought that was extremely wise.
Pretty much we do the same thing here.
We do not have any artificial life support
systems by which we're keeping any programs alive.
And we're very blunt and plain about it.
If God wants a thing to go, it'll
go.
He's able to make it go.
And we're not going to try and push
it when God's trying to kill it.
Let it die a natural death with dignity
and don't keep the thing going with these
artificial supports.
So, uh, the priest were not to drink
any wine when they entered into the inner
court and their wives, they were, uh, not
to take a wife who was a widow
nor her who had been divorced, but they
shall take maidens or virgins from the house
of Israel or a widow whose husband was
a priest.
And they shall teach my people the difference
between the holy and the profane.
This is something that we were talking about
this morning, how important it is for us
to discern between what is holy and what
is profane.
And that's the ministry of the priest.
They were causing the people to discern these
things in any controversies, they would stand in
judgment and judge.
According to my judgments, they shall keep my
laws and statutes and all my assemblies and
they shall howl my Sabbaths.
And it goes on to give the laws
and all respecting the priest there in the
kingdom age, they shall not receive any inheritance
for Lord is their inheritance.
Much as the priest were at the time
of Joshua, when they came into the land.
Now in chapter 45, he describes here the
length and all of the city of the
land itself.
And it is described here as being in
length, 25,000 reads and in breadth, 10
,000 reads.
And then the sanctuary 500 in length, 500
in breadth, square roundabout and 50 cubits around
that for the suburbs.
And if this measured also measure the length,
25,000, the breadth 10,000, it shall
be the sanctuary and the most holy place.
The holy portion of the land shall be
for the priest and the minister.
So this is the area that God has
set aside for those priests and those ministers
in, uh, the land, the holy place for
the sanctuary.
And you shall appoint the possession of the
city 5,000 broad five and 25,000
long over against the oblation of the holy
portion.
It shall be for the whole house of
Israel.
Now the portions for the prince verse seven,
one side of the other side of the
oblation of the holy portion, the possession of
the city before the oblation to the holy
portion and before the possession of the city
from the West side, Westward from the East
side Eastward the length.
So be over against one of the portions
in the West.
And you see why I haven't gone through
the whole thing.
I get lost in this to tell you
the truth.
And, and so there's a lot of this
that I just file and say, all right,
Lord, one day, you know, when I see
it, maybe I'll understand it, but I just
don't get it now.
And, um, that's just the way it is.
Now the Lord, the Lord commands the princes
in verse nine to remove violence and spoil
and execute judgment and justice.
Take away your exactions from my people.
Sayeth the Lord God.
In other words, quit taxing the people.
That's an interesting thing.
And you shall have just balances, a just
EFA and a bath and a bath and
a bath shall be of one major.
Now many times those, those merchants in those
days had weights to sell with and weights
to buy.
And you can see what could happen with
that one set of weights to buy from
you and another set of weights to sell
to you.
And, uh, so these measurements are the equal,
those that you buy with and those that
you sell with one.
And he goes ahead and tells the, uh,
measurements and, and the size of the measurements
and so forth.
It will be in those days, things that
we cannot really relate to.
Now the cleansing of the sanctuary is spoken
of in verse 18 with the Bullock without
blemish and how that the priesthood to take
the blood of it and put it upon
the post of the house and upon the
four corners and upon the post of the
gates in the inner court.
And now so do this the seventh day
of the month for everyone that Ereth and
for him that is simple.
So you reconcile the house and the feast
of the Passover is to be reinstituted.
And that should be extremely interesting.
Uh, when again, they have the feast of
the Passover as they had celebrated in so
many times in their history, fantastic, glorious events
in the celebration of the peace of the
Passover.
Now it describes in chapter 46, how the
prince worships in this new sanctuary.
Thus saith the Lord God, the gate of
the inner court that looks towards the east
shall be shut the six working days, but
on the Sabbath it will be opened in
the day of the new moon.
It will be open.
So this gate on the inner court that
you see here in your diagram, six days
of the week will be closed.
It will be open only on the Sabbath
day and the prince shall enter by the
way of the porch of that gate without
and shall stand by the post of the
gate and the priest shall prepare his burnt
offering and his peace offerings and he shall
worship at the threshold of the gate and
he shall go forth, but the gate shall
not be shut until the evening.
Likewise, the people of the land shall worship
at the door of this gate before the
Lord in the Sabbath and in the new
moons and the burnt offerings of the prince
shall offer unto the Lord.
So the fact that he is offering burnt
offerings under the Lord, which are consecration offerings
and all sort of precludes him being Jesus
Christ, the meal offerings, and it describes the
various offerings that he will offer.
And when the prince shall enter, he shall
go in by the way of the porch
of that gate and he shall go forth
by the way thereof.
But when the people of the land come
before the Lord in the solemn feast and
enter, they are in her by the North
gate and they leave by the South of
where they enter by the South gate.
They leave by the North and it goes
ahead and tells of the offerings and how
the offerings are to be boiled and so
forth in offering them unto the Lord.
Now in chapter 47 we find this river
that comes forth from this East gate afterward.
He brought me again into the door of
the house and behold the waters issued out
from under the threshold of the house Eastward
for the forefront of the house stood toward
the East and the waters came down from
under the right side of the house at
the South side of the altar.
Now here from the house of God, this
temple house, a spring of water bubbles out
and begins to flow toward the East.
This is also described in or spoken of
in Zechariah and it certainly has its counterpart
in Revelation chapter 22, that stream in heaven
of which many of the aspects of this
are similar to the one there.
Now it comes out from the throne there
of the temple from the South part of
the East side and he took him out
the North gate because the East gate was
only for the prince and he measured a
thousand cubits and he brought me through the
water and it was ankle deep.
So he measured another thousand and he brought
me through the water and the water was
up to my knees and again he measured
a thousand cubits and he brought me through
the waters and they were to my loins
and after he measured another thousand it was
a river that I could not pass over
for the waters were so high they were
waters to swim in, a river that you
could not just walk across.
So here is an interesting thing, this river
that begins here at the temple and begins
to flow eastward from the temple towards the
Jordan Valley, it increases as it goes.
So at a thousand cubit or two thousand
feet away approximately, it's only ankle deep.
By the time you get almost two thirds
of a mile away, three quarters of a
mile away, it's knee deep.
You go another three quarters of a mile,
two thousand feet and it's waist deep.
Go another thousand feet and it's over your
head.
And so this great river coming forth from
the area of Jerusalem, originating there at the
temple but yet picking up from other sources,
begins to flow probably through the valley that
is created when the Mount of Olives splits
in the middle and flows on down to
the Jordan plain.
And he said to me, son of man,
did you see that?
And then he brought me and caused me
to return to the bank of the river.
Now when I had returned, behold the bank
of the river, there were very many trees
on either side.
And he said unto me, these waters issue
out toward the east country.
They go down to the desert and they
go into the sea, which being brought forth
into the sea, the water shall be healed.
And it shall come to pass that everything
that lives, which moves whether so ever the
river shall come shall live.
And there shall be a very great multitude
of fish because these waters shall come thither
for they shall be healed and everything shall
live whether the water comes.
And it shall come to pass that the
fishers shall stand upon it from En Gedi
even to En Iglam and they shall be
a place to spread forth the nets.
Their fish shall be according to their kinds,
all of the kinds of the fish, even
as you find in the Mediterranean just a
great variety of fish.
So the interesting thing about this new river
that will flow into the Dead Sea originating
there at the temple in Jerusalem will bring
a healing to the waters of the Dead
Sea so that the Dead Sea will no
longer be a Dead Sea, but the waters
will support all kinds of fish and it'll
be a great fishing spa.
So you might want to go down there
and open up a worm stand or something
and you can go down there and be
a successful man in the kingdom age.
Because they'll be fishing all the way from
En Gedi on down to En Iglam.
Now there are certain portions of the miry
areas and the marshes of the Dead Sea
that will remain salty, but for the main
body of the Dead Sea the waters will
be healed.
And on these trees there flocks of fish
that will come down to the Dead Sea
and their fruit shall be for the meat
of the people.
Their leaf will not fade, neither will the
fruit thereof run out or be consumed.
It shall bring forth new fruit according to
his months because their waters they issued out
of the sanctuary and the fruit thereof will
be for meat and the leaf thereof for
medicine.
So these will be very interesting trees that
each month will have a different kind of
a fruit.
They'll bear fruit year round which will be
a very life-sustaining type of a food.
It'll be a very helpful fruit.
Sustain your life.
Good protein.
It'll be for meat.
But the leaves will be used for healing
for their medicinal value.
So these trees.
Now in Revelation you get the river that
flows from the throne of God there.
And again you find the trees on either
side bringing forth the fruit.
And so they're, you know, of course God
is able.
You say, well I don't know of any
tree like that.
Of course you don't.
God hasn't developed it yet.
But he will develop it there in the
kingdom ages.
And what's so hard for God?
To create an interesting fruit tree that has
very nutritious fruit and bears all year round.
And you'll want some of those in your
garden.
And the leaves will be good for medicinal
purposes.
And the same things are described as along
this river in heaven that is pure as
crystal flowing from the throne of God in
heaven.
So read this along with Revelation 22 and
you'll find the correlations that are there.
Now even as the tabernacle in the wilderness
was built as a model in heaven.
So this probably again is a model of
the heavenly things.
And this river is more or less a
model of that river flowing from the throne
of God in heaven described in Revelation 22.
Now the Lord gives them the borders of
the land from Damascus on the north and
down to the south and to the east
and so forth.
And then the tribes are divided into the
land.
And the northern most part of the land
is given to the tribe of Dan.
South of him would be Asher and then
Naphtali, then Manasseh, then Ephraim, and then Reuben,
and then Judah.
And then in the area of Judah of
course you have this area for the priest
and the temple and this new holy city
that will be created during that period.
And then this portion is set aside perpetually
for the Lord and for the priest not
to be sold.
And then the residue of this acreage in
there will be for the prince.
And then south from there you have the
tribe of Benjamin, further south Simeon, and then
Ishkar, Zebulun, and Gad as you're moving down
into the area of the Sinai.
So that whole area of course will be
green and lush and tillable.
Then is when the prophecy will be fulfilled.
The desert will blossom as a rose.
There will be springs in the deserts and
streams and dry places and all.
And the land restored and the world restored
really by the power of the Lord.
Now the city is going to have twelve
gates.
And the gates will be named after the
tribes of the children of Israel.
So the three gates on the north will
be for Reuben, Judah, and Levi.
On the east the gates will be named
for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan.
On the south the gates will be named
Simeon, Ishkar, and Zebulun.
And on the west Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.
And it was round about eighteen thousand majors.
And the name of the city from that
day shall be Jehovah Shammah.
The Lord is there.
The city of the Lord.
And thus it gets that beautiful name Jehovah
Shammah.
The Lord is there.
So as I've shared with you, I'm glad
we're through with this portion of Ezekiel.
I do not again pretend to have a
thorough, full understanding of these things.
In this area I know in part and
I prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come
then that which is in part will be
done away with.
But until the Lord brings us a more
complete understanding, and I don't see why He
needs to at this time.
Why should He give me a clear understanding
of this now?
When it's really for Israel, not for me
anyhow.
And the time isn't yet.
It is yet a future time in the
kingdom age.
It isn't necessary that I understand this part
of it fully right now.
I'm sure that one day I will.
When I see the whole thing, I walk
through the city and I walk through the
gates and all.
And I look over the whole thing and
I say, wow, yeah.
Well, I go back to Ezekiel now.
Man, it wasn't bad what the guy did,
you know.
It's pretty good for a description of it.
And I'll understand it more fully then.
Though right now I'm still sort of foggy
on the whole thing.
But when we get into Daniel, then we'll
cook.
Because Daniel speaks of the things that we
are seeing coming to pass now in the
world around us.
And God has given to us a better
understanding, because these are the things that relate
to us and to our times when we
get into Daniel.
Up until through chapter 39, they related to
us in our times.
Can see those clearly.
But then as we get into the future,
it isn't time yet that we should know
these things.
And thus God hasn't revealed.
And that's why you hear people who are
seeking to argue against the pre
-tribulation rapture theory.
They say it is not a theory that
was a part of the historic church doctrine.
It's something that has come along more recently.
And because it was not taught in historic
church doctrine, they sort of reject it as
having any true authority.
But to me that is not a substantial
argument at all.
For there are, first of all, things that
have been taught in historic church doctrine that
I disagree with entirely.
Origin taught baptismal regeneration.
Origin taught the baptism of infants.
I don't think the Bible teaches either, but
it was a part and is a part
of historic church doctrine.
Therefore there is historic church doctrine, which isn't
biblical.
Secondly, why should God reveal the things of
the rapture of the church to Martin Luther
when it wasn't going to happen in his
time?
Even as we don't understand fully these things
in Ezekiel because they're not for our time.
And it isn't necessary that God make them
clear to us because there are things for
a yet future time for a different people.
So because the rapture is for our time,
even as God told Daniel when he was
seeking understanding of the prophecies that he was
writing, the Lord said, seal them up there
for the time of the end.
For at that time knowledge will be increased.
In Psalm, when it was writing concerning the
future, he said, and the regathering of Israel
and all, he said, these things are written
for a generation to come.
I'm not writing you these things for those
that are living now.
These are written for a generation to come.
So God has written things that are especially
for us.
And, and now that we are living in
that day, there is a clear understanding.
And though the rapture of the church might
not be a part of historic church doctrine,
it was sure a part of Paul's theology.
And when does church history begin?
Paul surely taught it, but that it was
lost during the history of the church.
It must also be confessed that many other
beautiful and glorious truths were lost during the
history of the church.
And really the church went through the dark
ages and was actually a part of the
cause of the dark ages.
For the church was guilty, the historic church
was guilty of suppressing scientific knowledge and understanding
because they were discovering things that were contrary
to historic church doctrine.
When they began to gaze through telescopes and
discovered things about our universe that were contrary
to historic church doctrine.
The history of the church is not a
glorious, I think, you know, Stephen was talking
to the Sanhedrin and he rehearsed for them
their history.
Now these people were always boasting in their
fathers were our fathers, this, our fathers, that,
you know, and our fathers, our ancestors, and
they were always boasting this stuff and Stephen,
man, he laid them low.
He gave them their history and then he
said, which of the prophets did your fathers
not stone?
And he told them how horrible their fathers
were.
Your history is pretty black men.
It's pretty dark.
Well, let me say that.
I feel the history of the church is
very dark.
Indeed.
I have no defense for the history of
the church.
I'm ashamed of it.
So anybody comes to me and starts talking
about historic church doctrine.
I'm embarrassed over what the church has done
in its history.
Surely it hasn't been a true representative of
Jesus Christ in the world or there would
be more people converted today.
The church has been a great stumbling block
and it has hindered progress and development and
it has suppressed men and peoples.
I'm ashamed of church history.
I don't try to defend it at all.
I apologize for it, but I don't have
to make the same mistakes, nor am I
responsible for the mistakes that they made.
Now, a lot of you kids in college,
you have a problem because the professors start
bringing up things which have happened in church
history.
They start telling about the wars and how
the church has slaughtered so many people and
the horrible atrocities that have been done in
the name of Christ.
And you're defenseless.
And I found myself in university defenseless against
these things.
And I used to start to hang my
head until the Lord caused me to realize,
Hey, that's not me.
And that's not my understanding of Christianity to
me.
That isn't a true representative of Christianity.
And I began to speak up and say,
wait a minute, that's not really Christian just
because they said they were Christians, just because
they went by the church doesn't mean that
they were truly Christians.
You get a bust of great nuts.
It's not grapes.
It's not nuts.
You don't know what it is.
I don't have to answer for the mistakes
of the church fathers.
I'll have to answer for my own mistakes.
And thus I need to be seeking the
guidance of the spirit that I don't make
mistakes.
You see, for I'm going to answer for
me, but that puts a greater responsibility upon
me because it is important that I seek
God and I seek to live after the
biblical injunctions that I seek to walk after
the spirit that I seek to be led
by the spirit that I seek to love
as Christ loved and show a better example
of what the Lord intended his children to
be and to do.
Now, even as people have judged the church
by the mistakes of the past, so they
are continuing to judge the church, but you
can help rectify it by living as God
would have you to live and be a
good example so that they can point to
you and say, well, yes, but there is
a real Christian.
You know, it's interesting when we go to
Israel, we'll be talking with a group of
the Jewish people over there and they'll start
saying, well, the church, this, the church, that,
and the Christians, all the Christians are this,
that, and the other.
And we say, wait a minute, we're Christians.
You know, you're talking about Christians and here
we are.
We're Christians.
What do you mean?
Oh no, you're not Christians.
You're Calvary chapel.
You're different.
And it's interesting.
They recognize a difference all over.
They recognize that if they say you're different,
they'd really don't know where to put us
yet.
They really don't understand this yet.
We come on with so much love and
so much concern and interest and all for
them.
We're just an enigma to them at the
present time.
I can hardly wait till we get these
pastors all over there, uh, spreading love all
over Israel to these people.
And incidentally, uh, the 3rd of December we'll
be at the baptismal site on the river
Jordan that Calvary chapel purchased for Israel.
We gave money to the ministry of tourism
to put up a baptismal they've asked me
to speak at the dedication ceremonies.
And so it'll be an excellent opportunity to
speak to these people and let them know
why we love them, why we're interested in
the land, why we wanted a baptismal site
on the Jordan river and what it's all
about.
And so pray for me on the 3rd
of December, uh, because God's going to give
us a good opportunity to share this dedication.
But you are the Bible that is being
read by the world today.
And the opinion of Christianity is being created
by what you are.
Jesus said, let your light so shine before
men that when they see your good works,
they will glorify your father, which is in
heaven.
God help us that we will not be
of those of which people say, well, if
that's a Christian, I don't need any of
that.
But God help us to live in such
a way as the salt of the earth
will create a thirst in people for Jesus
Christ.
God bless you.
God keep you fill you with his spirit
and with his love.
Watch over you that we might each of
us grow into a greater apprehension of all
that God is and desires to do for
us.
And may above all, you walk in love
in Jesus name.