Ezekiel 40-48 • Vision of The New Temple

[Music] ezekiel chapter 40 believe it or not we're actually going to finish the book of ezekiel tonight because this last section contains a lot of a lot of information that probably isn't a worth of us reading through necessarily verse by verse because it does cover a lot of just measurements of the temple because what is going to be happening here in these last chapters of ezekiel is that god is going to be speaking to ezekiel about the restoration of the temple but more than that he's going to be speaking to ezekiel about the restoration of his presence among his people and here's why that's significant in the very beginning of the book of ezekiel when when god was confronting the nation of israel with their disobedience and their sin he essentially told them that he was going to withdraw his presence from them that he would no longer be among his people and that that he had he had left them his presence had left them and that he was going to abandon them for a time to their enemies to overrun them their enemies would overtake them they would destroy the city they would demolish the temple and then in 70 years God would bring them back to the land the destruction of Jerusalem has already taken place in terms of the time frame that we're looking at here and now God has spoken in the last few chapters that we looked at here about the judgment of the nation's who have come against Israel and who will come against Israel and we found out that as we were studying those last few chapters that God was even prophesying about the final battle that's going to take place when the nations of the world essentially led by kind of a Russian Iranian Turkish you know Confederacy come and attack Israel for the very last time and the and this will be at the conclusion of the Tribulation Period and then the Lord will return will fight for the nation of Israel will put down the enemies of Israel and restore his nation at that time that of course uh sure's in that period of time we refer to as the Millennial Kingdom the Bible tells us that there will be a period of time lasting 1,000 years when Jesus himself will reign upon the earth and will bring in a time of prosperity and righteousness upon the earth and we're going to see here the reason I'm bringing I'm tying these things together is because when God speaks to the nation of Israel even even back at this time and tells them that he's going to restore them to their land it becomes a type it becomes a pointer if you will of what God is going to do through his his redemptive program into the future when he restores Israel to not only to the land which he's already begun to do but when he when he actually uh sure's in that time of righteousness we're going to see that some of these chapters actually deal with the Millennial Kingdom which of course obviously hasn't happened yet so if you'll look with me here in Ezekiel chapter 40 we're gonna take a look at this and what the what the Lord is gonna do here in these chapters is he's going to take Ezekiel through kind of a a tour of the new temple that's going to be built eventually and he does it in in a spiritual fashion in other words God is going to take Ezekiel in the spirit to see the new temple even before it's built and he's gonna tell him to write down the dimensions so that when they build it they build it according to the dimensions the Lord has given here's how it goes it says in the twenty-fifth year of our exile the beginning of the year on the 10th of the month in the 14th year after the fall of the city so you can do the math and you can see how long Ezekiel has been in the Babylonian Empire and how long it's been since they destroyed Jerusalem ok meaning the Babylonians so he's dating this for us he says on that very day the hand of the Lord was upon me and he took me there now remember physically Ezekiel is in Babylon but he's saying that in the spirit that the Lord took him to Jerusalem took him back to the holy city and he's gonna see some things which he has never laid eyes upon before in terms of their physical realities because the Lord is going to show him what is yet to come and it says in verse 2 in the visions or rather in visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and sent me on a very high mountain on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city he took me there and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze he was standing in the Gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand now this is an angel and this angelic messenger is going to kind of be Ezekiel's tour guide if you will as they walk through the temple and he measures these these dimensions of the new building of the temple by the way as as Ezekiel is seeing this of course the temples in ruins spiritually however the Lord is showing him a rebuilt temple and it says in verse 4 that the man said to me son of man look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I'm going to show you for that is why you've been brought here tell the house of Israel everything you see and then as the rest of the chapter goes on it is going to cover specific measurements of for the outer court areas including the quarters of the priests and their they'll get into the inner part of the temple in just a little bit so I'm gonna have you skip now to chapter 41 in chapter 41 really just continues on the this angel is going to continue to bring Ezekiel into the the the the the temple area and and and measure for him these these areas and it goes on in chapter 41 to deal with the the inside and it's interesting I we won't take time to read it but there's an interesting little note here about when the angel actually gets to the Holy of Holies to measure the Holy of Holies which you'll remember only the priest could enter only the high priest could enter only once a year Ezekiel even though he's in the spirit even though he's seen this in a vision he doesn't follow he doesn't go into the Holy of Holies I just find that kind of an interesting sort of a comment chapter 42 is going to cover the chambers of the outer court as well as the exterior measurements of the of the temple so we're going to pick it up in chapter 43 chapter 43 it says then the man brought me to the gate facing east and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east his voice was like the roar of rushing waters and the land was radiant with his glory stopped there for just a moment this is kind of a climactic statement for the Book of Ezekiel because remember at the beginning of this book God is confronting the nation with her sin and he is essentially leaving them and letting their enemies overtake them but now that the temple has been seen at least in the spirit and isn't it interesting that God sees things before they're finished okay think about that for a little while even as it pertains to your own life but what now that the temple has been gone through this angelic host that is there with Ezekiel Ezekiel begins this chapter by seeing the glory of the Lord returning to the land and this is a really wonderful and rather exciting kind of a statement he says I I see the glory of the Lord and his voice is like the sound of rushing waters which is you know kind of an exciting thought in and of itself and he says that the whole land appeared to just be radiant with the presence of God the glory of the Lord and and he says the vision that I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I'd seen by the keyboar if ur and I fell face down and the glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east interesting sort of a deal you know the Bible talks about how as lightning goes from the east to the west so as the coming of the Lord and and it will be seen by all and there's always been kind of this idea to keep your eye on the east as the Lord as the Lord comes it's interesting here that he says the glory of the Lord begins to fill the temple coming through that eastern gate and and he says in verse 5 then the spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court and the glory of the Lord filled the temple so so Ezekiel is just is is just lifted up in the spirit and moved into the inner areas of the temple and there he sees the Shekinah glory of the Lord the presence of God the awesomeness of that presence in you and I you know we're left here grasping even for words to describe what it is that Ezekiel is witnessing here let alone to come up with any kind of a mental image or picture the glory of the Lord what is it like to see the glory of the Lord but he says it just fills the temple and in verse six while the man was standing beside me I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple and this is the Lord as we're going to see in the next verse and he said son of man this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet in other words the kind of that place of rest this is where I will live among the Israelites forever the house of Israel will never again defile my Holy Name neither they nor their kings by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places when they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts with only a wall between me and them they defiled my Holy Name by their detestable practices so I destroyed them in my anger now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings and I will live among them forever stop there for just a moment this is an interesting sort of a picture that the Lord is giving and he's saying he's basically reiterating some of the things that we read through when we've been reading through the books of of kings and chronicles and so forth and we find out that many of the kings gave into the prostitution of idolatry and even began to worship at the other gods and brought the idols of those gods into the temple put them right there in the temple so here you have this temple that is built and dedicated to the Lord God who created all things and suddenly these other idols are coming in and inhabiting the same locality and they're there can you imagine walking into the temple at that time and you're walking through the various rooms and you and you get to you know the the the courts and then into the the area of the sanctuary the outer court and or rather the holy place and toward the most holy and and God says that that literally where where where the the the Ark of the Covenant resided and so forth you know I was I was just a wall separating me and all of these idols and and pagan images and so forth and God tells him right there so I I was angry with them and I I allowed them to be destroyed and so forth and it's kind of an interesting picture isn't it because you see the temple of the Old Testament is a picture of you plant out it's a picture of you the Bible tells us in the New Testament that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit in fact Paul even goes as far as to say do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit not the temple a temple you're not the only temple but you're certainly one of them and because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us comes to dwell in us when we accept Jesus as our Savior you become in a very true sense of the word a temple and that's why sometimes when you hear people sometimes you hear Christians talking about you know eating right exercising that sort of thing they'll call it temple maintenance and it's probably not a bad term frankly you know to think about that sort of a thing but but it's it goes far deeper than what we eat and how little or how much we exercise it really goes on to what we worship and what we are putting in the temple along with the presence of the Lord God Almighty do you think that the Holy Spirit could say to us today that here you are a temple of the Holy Spirit my presence is with you and yet there is us there's a thin wall between my presence and some idolatrous thing some aspect of life or some person or something in your life that you worship as you should worship me and there's this close proximity and what happens is the temple becomes defiled and that is using an Old Testament word but I think we can understand because the temple was meant to be set apart for the use of the Lord for the presence of the Lord for the glory of the Lord that is what the temple you know if you and I were to walk into a beautiful gorgeous temple that literally had gold you know walls and an ivory and all the beauty that was involved in the making of the original temple and we went in there and we saw you know pagan idols set up to Bale and other other pagan gods we'd be incensed what if you know some people wrongly think that the the the building that we that we worship in that there's something kind of sacred about it which you know I don't I don't think there is this is just this is a building like any other building but even so even you know I mean we are the temple of the holy spirit not not this room but even so if you came here tonight and we had had plastered all kinds of pictures idolatrous pictures on the walls and instead of these I am statements that that that that come around the room if we if it said something else that was blasphemous wouldn't you consider that to be wrong I mean wouldn't you walk in and just go oh I mean it would take your breath away wouldn't it even though the the building that we meet and really there's nothing special about it biblically you know this is not the house of the Lord by the way you are the house of the Lord okay make no mistake about that this is a building and that's it and you don't have to have a building for the church to come together and meet even in the New Testament they met house to house the point is you would be upset if we took even this building that isn't sacred and filled it will have with-with-with pagan idolatrous things now imagine your own heart which is sacred like I said this room isn't sacred you are you are set apart you are but you belong to the Lord that's why the Bible says that's why Paul writes in first Corinthians you are not your own you've been bought with a price you don't belong to yourself anymore you belong to him and and and and the things that you see with your eyes remember Jesus said that the eyes are the window to the soul and and what we look at with our eyes the movies or the images or whatever that we're looking at and and those things that go into our hearts we can defile the temple it's it's it's if you know what here's the best image I could probably give you it's like going into a church building where people are worshiping the Lord and showing a pornographic movie what would you how would you feel about that how would you feel if a church group suddenly said you know we're gonna have our services this coming Sunday we're gonna instead we're gonna show a pornographic movie come on in and enjoy it you would be absolutely incensed and you know it and yet how many times have we exposed our own hearts to the very same thing and and our hearts truly are sacred truly are the presence of the Lord God Almighty it really gives you a reason to pause doesn't it I mean to think about what am i putting in my heart what am i allowing in through my eyes what am i allowing course through my mind so what does the Lord say to them once again in verse nine look at it look with me again he says now let them put away from me their prostitution and their lifeless idols of their kings and I will live among them forever and that is and that is what the Lord says to you and I today put those things away put those things away get rid of them Jesus put it this way if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away if your right eye causes you to sin gouge it out and throw it away wow that's pretty gruesome talk isn't it I mean good grief does Jesus really expect us to mutilate our bodies no that's not what he's saying remember Jesus what I would say to the people from time to time the words I speak to you our spirit and they are truth the spiritual reality behind what he's telling us to do is to separate ourselves even if it hurts from a situation that is causing you to fall repeatedly into sin sometimes you have to just get those things away from you you know some of the most wonderful stories in the Old Testament are when like some of the kings would just become zealous for the Lord and they'd ride throughout the land just cutting down a sheer up holes and throwing them in the fire and burning them and and and you know Josiah when he came of age and went into the temple and said what is all this garbage doing in here and here was a here was a young man who came to the Lord even without the Word of God and and then once the word of God you know was was found and it was read to him he just became he became full of zeal and energy and he went into the temple and just cleansed it it was like get this garbage out here those are wonderful stories I love reading those in the Bible when they just clean house you know they go throughout the land and and they send the king will send his people out into the land to the high places and wherever you see some idolatrous Ashera poll you cut it down and burn it you know carry it off to the Kidron Valley and set it on fire and let it burn and let the smoke be a testimony of the evil that we've engaged in and how we now desire to be cleansed there's that there's that need from time to time just a clean house you know and that what God is telling that the people through Ezekiel hear is tell the people to put these things away from them and my presence will be among them and that's a key right there you know I I i I won't pretend to tell you that I understand everything about the presence of the Lord but I do know that when we are playing games with God and we're wanting to live the Christian life and yet we're also wanting to dabble in the world we put ourselves at arm's length from his presence in us in a sense I'm not saying that God is you know gonna take his Holy Spirit and by the way that the whole thing of taking the Holy Spirit that's an Old Testament concept the Spirit of God is a gift from God and the Bible says the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable meaning they won't be withdrawn however when we allow things in our lives that we know aren't right we know we shouldn't be allowing we're going to we're going to put a distance between us and the Lord I don't understand the dynamics of how that works how you can have the Holy Spirit living within you as a believer and still put him at arm's length I don't I don't I don't pretend to understand to the point of being able to explain that I only know that it's true and even as Christians we can feel very very distant from the Lord and we have to be careful of that because when there's distance the natural result is hardening our hearts begin to become hard and then it goes down from there because when our hearts get hard we find it increasingly difficult to hear that still small voice of the Holy Spirit and so sometimes sometimes you have to do just what God is telling the nation of Israel to do here and that is to put these things away get get rid of them destroy them whatever it may be the difficult part about that see is that the things many times the things that cause us to sin are the things that we care about the most so yeah it makes it very very hard verse 10 goes on it says son of man described the temple to the people of Israel remember he just took him through a whole tour of it with all of the dimensions that they may be ashamed of their sins let them consider the plan and I'm assuming the shame comes from the fact that that now they know and understand that the the previous temple was in fact destroyed because of their unfaithfulness but that God is willing and telling them that he is going to rebuild the temple and it's going to be an act of mercy in an act of grace and that would be something that would would make them feel ashamed of their sin and he says in verse 11 and if they are ashamed of all they have done make known to them the design of the temple its arrangement its exits its entrances its whole design and all its regulations and laws and write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations this is the law of the temple all the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy such is the law of the temple and so he tells Ezekiel to be faithful to pass along the things that he has been given in terms of the dimensions and so forth of the temple and and and so that the the nation of Israel when they go to rebuild will be faithful to that design and follow that that guideline now let me throw something in here that's kind of it's it's related but slightly aside and it might you know we'll see how the Holy Spirit connects this but you know when they finally did rebuild the temple there were people that were old enough you know member 70 years in Babylon 70 years there were people who witnessed the rebuilding of the temple who were old enough to have seen the original temple they remembered it I mean they actually had enough memory that they understood the difference between the original temple that had been built and then the restored temple that is is built at that time during the time of Ezra Nehemiah and and and while there were great shouts of joy that were going up in the rebuilding or after the temple had been built there was also wails of sorrow and the Bible says that that you could hardly tell the two apart but there were people who were literally wailing crying because they knew that this next temple didn't hold a candle to the first one and they were wailing not just because it wasn't as pretty of a building they were wailing because something had been irreparably lost in in the glory that this had once known and the temple that had been built by Solomon and and it was it was kind of a it was a reminder if you will of what they lost you know and you know I've said this many times that when we when we give in to sin when sin begins to that time of ruling in our lives something is always lost and and and I'm not you know you know how we feel in terms of salvation you know I don't I don't think you can send yourself out of the kingdom by the same token the Bible says that the wages of sin is death and though for you and I thus the eternal wages have been paid for through Jesus Christ our Lord and we know that and it is finished done paid for and that's and that's finished still death takes place and I've seen too many times in my own life and in the lives of others I've seen marriage relationships and business opportunities and and just plain old relationships hearts for the Lord zeal that was that once existed and and and many many many things I've seen them go by the wayside so one of the things that we have to be careful of as Christians is that we don't just is is is is not to take sin and soft-pedal it simply because Jesus died on the cross for us and to start to think that sin doesn't have the same punch that it used to you know we're Christians we're covered you know so you know you take that and then you pretty much kind of follow the idea that well it really doesn't matter if I sin you know because I'm forgiven I'm cleansed I'm washed I'm covered right I'm a Christian well you know the fact of the matter is in Christ we are forgiven for all of our sins past present and future but that doesn't mean they still don't have consequences in this life and if I gave you the opportunity many of you probably would be willing to stand up right where you are I won't ask you to do it but and you could you could give testimony sad though it may be of things that maybe you even fritter it away in your life or things that are no longer there opportunities that are lost or whatever because of because of sin so I praise God I do I praise God that that you and I will not experience the eternal ramifications of being judged for our sin but that doesn't mean that sin doesn't still can't still bite us and bite hard and do a terrible work between our relationship with the Lord chapter 44 I guess I should say that the the rest of the chapter and 43 kind of goes on and talks about it just it kind of gives a description of the altar and the regulations for dedicating it chapter 44 after the the temple is dedicated Ezekiel as then given instructions concerning its daily operation and he's telling them here in this chapter you know how to do that it says then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary the one facing east and it was shut the Lord said to me this gate is to remain shut it must not be opened let no one excuse me no one may enter through it it is to remain shut before the Lord the God of Israel has entered through it the prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the Gateway to eat in the presence of the Lord he is to enter by way of the portico of the Gateway and go out the same then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple I looked and saw the glory of the Lord filling the temple of the Lord and I fell face down the Lord said to me son of man look carefully listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations regarding the temple of the Lord give attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary say to the rebellious house of Israel this is what the sovereign Lord says enough of your detestable practices o house of Israel in addition to all your other detestable practices you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into my sanctuary desecrating my temple while you offered me food fat and blood and you broke my covenant instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things you put others in charge of my sanctuary and essentially it just the whole thing just broke down over a period of time and the the hierarchy of the priesthood the Levitical priesthood the arianna priests and so forth no longer took care of the temple the way they were supposed to and it was just anybody's sort of a deal and God says that it was defiled verse 9 this is what the sovereign Lord says no foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin they may serve in my sanctuary having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them but they because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin declares the sovereign Lord they are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings they must bear the shame of their detestable practices yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that has to be done in it and so the some of the priests who strayed in their obedience to the Lord were punished by no longer being able to do some of the responsibilities that they originally been given but he says in verse 15 the priests who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray for me are to come near to minister before me they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood declares the sovereign Lord they alone are to enter my sanctuary they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service when they enter the gates of the inner Court they are to wear linen clothes they must not wear any woollen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple and we'll see here a he'll he'll say why they are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists they must not wear anything that makes them perspire when they go out into the outer Court where the people are there to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and to are to leave them in the sacred rooms and put on other clothes so that they do not consecrate the people by means of their garments they must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long but there to keep the hair of their heads trimmed no priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner Court they must not marry widows or divorced people they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests they are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the clean and the unclean something that obviously Israel had lost over the years in a tea dispute the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances they're to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts and they are to keep my Sabbath's holy a priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person however if the dead person was his father or mother son or daughter brother or unmarried sister then he made to file himself after he is cleansed he must wait seven days on the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary he is to offer a sin offering for himself declares the sovereign Lord I am to be the only inheritance the priests have you are to give them no possession in Israel I will be their possession they will eat the grain offerings the sin offerings and the guilt offerings and everything in Israel devoted to the Lord will belong to them the best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests you are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household the priest must not eat anything bird or animal found dead or torn by wild animals you might notice that some of these passages here sound a bit like we're going back to the Book of Leviticus or even Deuteronomy in some respects and that's because the nation of Israel has been seventy years in the Babylonian Empire even before that there were generations of unfaithfulness and God is now bringing them back and instructing them through Ezekiel about how to do things properly related to the law the workings of the priests and so forth chapter 45 we're not going to read through it the first part of this chapter merely covers the inheritance of the land for those who are priests and that goes through verse 12 and remember when I say inheritance of the land they didn't receive an inheritance of the land that means that he's telling them where they're going to live within the inheritance of other tribal groups then verse 13 through the end covers special offerings and holy days some more instructions related to those things chapter 46 in this chapter Ezekiel is going to provide them with information on the daily aspect of their worship before the Lord he's going to include regulations for the Sabbath and new moon sacrifices and for the conduct and the offerings of the people in the temple area what they should do what they shouldn't do and so forth and then we're going to go to chapter 47 now we are in the last two chapters of Ezekiel at this point and it is considered by most Bible scholars and teachers that these final two chapters of Ezekiel cover the period of the Millennial Kingdom and speak of how God is going to bless Israel during the time of the Millennial Kingdom and you might ask the question well why do we believe that it's about the Millennial Kingdom and the reason is is because there are prophecies or elements of the prophecies that are given here in these chapters that have not been fulfilled and cannot be fulfilled until righteousness rules upon the earth so chapter 47 we're gonna belen begin this portion right here and it goes back to the angel he says the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east for the temple faced east the water was coming down from under the south side of the temple south of the altar he then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east and the water was flowing from the south side as the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand he measured off a thousand cubits which for you and I is 1,500 feet 1500 feet he then led me through water that was ankle-deep he measured off another thousand cubits or 1500 feet and led me through water that was knee-deep he measured off another thousand and he led me through water that was up to the waist he measured off another thousand but now it was a river that I could not cross because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in a river that no one in fact he says could cross and he asked me son of man do you see this and then he led me back to the bank of the river I want you to stop there for just a moment this is sort of an interesting passage and there have been a lot of interesting and speculative comments about what it means the the fact that the water begins ankle-deep and then he gets in a little bit farther and deeper and deeper as it goes and by the way have you ever have you ever seen a spring or something that comes out and gets deeper as it goes that's kind of contrary to nature but what were what we're simply seeing here you guys is something that will take place during the Millennial Kingdom and will continue on in the New Jerusalem after the Millennial Kingdom is over and that is this perpetual spring of water this perpetual river of water if you will that literally flows out from the presence of the Lord I want to show you a passage on the screen from the book of Joel chapter 3 that talks about this as well check out this passage he says then you will know that I the Lord your God dwell in Zion my holy hill Jerusalem will be holy never again will foreigners invade her in that day look at this the mountains will drip new wine and the hills will flow with milk all the ravines of Judah will run with water and then check out this last sentence a fountain will flow out of the Lord's house and will water the valley of a Katia's now this is this is simply a passage where Joel is getting this picture if you will of this river of water that flows out from the presence of the Lord and it is actually mentioned to us in several places in fact if we go on and look at another passage in the book of Revelation which we'll put up on the screen here for you it says here that then the angel showed me the river of the water of life as clear as crystal flowing where from the throne of God and of the lamb down the middle of the Great Street of the city on each side of the river stood the Tree of Life burying 12 crops of fruit yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nation's so we see this repeated in the scriptures that when God establishes his kingdom is starting with the millennial period that 1000 year reign there will be a river of life that flows from the presence of the Lord outward and as Ezekiel sees this in a vision it gets deeper as it goes isn't that interesting it gets deeper as it goes and becomes a mighty river that that no one can cross but obviously the the river of the Lord the river of life if you will is is a life-giving water that flows from the Lord to his people so it's really a kind of a powerful reference verse 7 goes on and he says when I arrived there meaning back at the bank of the river I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river and you'll so you know we we've seen this in some other prophecies there are trees these various trees of life that that are on the banks of the river and Ezekiel is seeing these same things he said to me the water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah where it enters the sea when it empties into the sea the water there becomes fresh swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows there will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh so where the river flows everything will live isn't that interesting it will actually make the water fresh fishermen will stand along the shore from an getty to n egg lame there will be places for spreading nets the fish will be of many kinds like the fish of the great sea but the swamps and marshes will not become fresh they will be left for salt fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail every month they will bear because the water from the sanctuary flows to them their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing which is exactly what John tells us in Revelation so we have an absolute agreement in those prophetic passages now verse 13 through the end of the chapter the Lord gives Ezekiel just the boundaries of the land of Israel at that time skip down to verse 21 if you would please verse 21 of the same chapter he says you aren't to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel you are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children you were to consider them as native-born Israelites along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel in whatever tribe the alien settles there you are to give him an inheritance declares the sovereign Lord now remember people this is Ezekiel's vision is for how Israel is going to be getting along in the Millennial Kingdom the church is not in view here we're going to be there in what form were not even sure but again Ezekiel is prophesying about how Israel will be existing and living during that time of the Millennial Kingdom chapter xlviii gives us a listing of the tribes during the Millennial Kingdom and it ends this way these are the tribes listed by name the northern frontier Dan will have one portion and by the way there's the the tribe of Dan remember he was missing in our study of Revelation and we were talking about how people have made this such a big deal of the fact that Dan is missing and so forth well this is this isn't the Millennial Kingdom now and he's back so not to worry he didn't get lost it says it will follow the Heflin road to libo Hamas has re nan in the northern border of Damascus next to him off will be part of its border from the east side to the west side as you will have one portion it will border the territory of Dan from east to west NAFTA Li will have one portion it will border the territory of azure from east to west Manasseh will have one portion it will border the territory of naturally from east to west you can see these as kind of like strips if you will Ephraim will have one portion it will border the territory of Manasseh from east to west Reuben will have one portion it will border the territory of Ephraim from east to west Judah will have one portion it will border the territory of Reuben from east to west and so we have seven tribes so far that are listed there who will possess the northern part of what is essentially the land of Canaan if you will or Palestine whatever you want to call it and the land east of the Jordan bordering the territory of Judah from east to west will be the portion you were to present as a special gift it will be twenty five thousand cubits wide and its length from east to west will equal one of the tribal portions the sanctuary will be in the center of it and this the special portion you are to offer to the Lord will be twenty five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide this will be the sacred portion for the priests it will be twenty five thousand cubits long on the north side ten thousand cubits wide on the west side ten thousand on the east and twenty-five thousand cubits long on the south side and then it says in the center of it will be the sanctuary of the Lord so God is explaining how the nation's during the Millennial Kingdom will be set and where the sanctuary will be and we're going to see here as the rest of the tribes are made mention of that God will be in the middle in the center and you know it's interesting in the wilderness they had a similar sort of a set up if you've ever seen a map of when they would camp during the wilderness the tabernacle would be in the center with the priests around it and then the the tribes would have a very specific pattern around the Lord but the Lord would be in the center of his people and in the Millennial Kingdom we find that that comes to fruition or to fulfillment in the sense of how they are placed ok verse 11 this will be for the consecrated priests the Zeta kites who were faithful in serving me and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray it will be a special gift to them from the sacred portion of the land a most holy portion bordering the territory of the Levites alongside the territory of the priests the Levites will have an allotment of twenty five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide its total length will be twenty five thousand cubits and its width 10 thousand cubits they must not sell or exchange any of it this is the best of the land and must not pass into other hands because it is holy to the Lord the remaining area five thousand cubits wide and twenty five thousand cubits long will be for the common use of the city for houses and for pasture land the city will be in the center of it and we'll have these measurements and then he goes through and gives the specific measurements for the city the pasture land and verse 17 and then the areas that remain and so forth he says in verse 19 that the workers from the city who farm it will come from all the tribes of Israel the entire portion will be a square 25,000 Cuba's on each side has a special gift you will set aside the sacred portion along the property of the city so you can see here now that the city and its surrounding area are going to occupy a large space that is going to surround the Lord's portion and here the people are going to live and they're even going to farm the land there you know those of you that love gardening this is like this is probably your greatest you know dream because the the the land is going to be so blessed at that time so fertile and and and so forth then it's just going to be a wonderful place and the people are going to farm that land right around the presence of the Lord during the Millennial Kingdom verse 21 what remains on both sides of the land formed by the sacred portion and the city property will belong to the Prince and I believe as we've seen before in Ezekiel that we're talking about David remember David is going to be resurrected and he will actually be Prince over the people of Israel for that land and so there's even going to be a portion for him which is kind of cool and he says it will extend eastward from the twenty-five thousand cubits of the sacred portion to the eastern border and westward from the twenty-five thousand cubits to the western border both these areas running the length of the tribal portions will belong to the Prince and the sacred portion with the temple sanctuary will be in the center of them so the property of the Levites and the property of the city will lie in the center of the area that belongs to the Prince the area belonging to the Prince will lie between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin as for the rest of the tribes Benjamin will have one portion it will extend from the east side to the west side Simeon will have one portion it will border the territory of Benjamin from the east to west Issachar having one portion bordering the territory of Simeon from east to west Zebulon will have one portion it will border the territory of Issachar from east to west GAD will have one portion it will border the territory of Zebulun from east to west the southern boundary of GAD will run south from Tamar to the waters of mara baka desh then along the way of Egypt to the Great Sea this is the land you are to a lot as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel and these will be their portions declares the sovereign Lord these will be the exits of the city beginning on the north side which is 4,500 cubits long the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel the three gates on the north side will be the gate of Reuben the gate of Judah and the gate of Levi on the east side which is 4,500 cubits long will be three gates the gate of Joseph of Benjamin and of Dan on the south side which measures the same 4,500 cubits will be three gates the gates of Simeon the gates of Issachar the gate of Zebulun on the west side which is 4,500 cubits long there will be three gates the gate of gad the gate of azure and the gate of Naphtali the distance all around will be 18,000 cubits and look at this and the name of the city from that time on will be the Lord is there because that's where God is and with that we end our study of the Book of Ezekiel very happily ending on a high note if you will with the presence of the Lord and God prophesying about the Millennial Kingdom you might have mentioned that I rather you might remember that I mentioned that there are aspects of these prophecies which have not yet come to pass and particularly when it speaks of the fact that they will be blessed they will be in this arrangement obviously that hasn't happened and that no enemies will ever encroach upon their land again that certainly hasn't happened but it will it will happen God has a plan for the nation of Israel the nation of Israel has not slipped outside of God's attention and the church has not become the nation of Israel the church is not spiritual Israel God still has a plan for Israel and once the church is gone once the church is and the end of the church age is upon us then God's plan for the nation of Israel will commence beginning with the tribulation following by the Millennial Kingdom

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 10,170

Rating: 4.7831326 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament

Id: wolLCjLzn2o

Length: 56min 46sec (3406 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 25 2019