SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/16/2015
8:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Entering the East Gate
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
44:1-3
Message of the
verses: “1 Then He brought me back
by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was
shut. 2 The LORD said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter
by it, for the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be
shut. 3 “As for the
prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before the LORD; he
shall enter by way of the porch of the gate and shall go out by the same
way."”
“The prophet is here brought to review what he had before
once surveyed; for, though we have often looked into the things of God, they
will yet bear to be looked over again, such a copiousness there is in them. The
lessons we have learned we should still repeat to ourselves. Every time we
review the sacred fabric of holy things, which we have in the scriptures, we
shall still find something new which we did not before take notice of. The
prophet is brought a third time to the east gate, and finds it shut, which
intimates that the rest of the gates were open at all times to the worshippers.
But such an account is given of this gate’s being shut as puts honor,
1. Upon the God of
Israel. It is for the honor of him that
the gate of the inner court, at which his glory entered when he took possession
of the house, was ever after kept shut, and no man was allowed to enter in by
it, #Eze 44:2. The difference ever after made between this and the other gates,
that this was shut when the others were open, was intended both to perpetuate
the remembrance of the solemn entrance of the glory of the Lord into the house
(which it would remain a traditional evidence of the truth of) and also to
possess the minds of people with a reverence for the Divine Majesty, and with very
awful thoughts of his transcendent glory, which was designed in God’s charge to
Moses at the bush, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot. God will have a way by
himself.
2. Upon the prince of
Israel, #Eze 44:3. It is an honor to him that though he may not enter in by
this gate, for no man may, yet,
(1.) He shall sit in this gate to eat his
share of the peace- offerings, that sacred food, before the Lord.
(2.) He shall enter by the way of the porch
of that gate, by some little door or wicket, either in the gate or adjoining to
it, which is called the way of the porch. This as to signify that God puts some
of his glory upon magistrates, upon the princes of his people, for he has said,
You are gods. Some by the prince here understand the high priests, or the sagan
or second priest; and that he only was allowed to enter by this gate, for he
was God’s representative. Christ is the high priest of our profession, who
entered himself into the holy place, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all
believers.” This quotation has come from
Matthew Henry’s concise commentary which I got from my online Bible program.
I remember in my study of Ezekiel years ago that there
are some who believe that the prince is actually King David as he will serve in
this capacity in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. Some, of course say that this is Christ.
Glory of the Lord:
Ezekiel 44:4-9
4 Then He brought me by way of the north gate to
the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled
the house of the LORD, and
I fell on my face. 5 The LORD said to me, "Son of man, mark well,
see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all
the statutes of the house of the LORD and concerning all its laws; and mark
well the entrance of the house, with all exits of the sanctuary. 6 “You shall
say to the rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ’Thus says the Lord GOD,
"Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel, 7 when you brought in
foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My
sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you offered My food, the fat and the
blood; for they made My covenant void-this in addition to all your
abominations. 8 “And you have not kept charge of My holy things yourselves, but
you have set foreigners to keep charge of My sanctuary." 9 ’Thus says the
Lord GOD, "No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh,
of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My
sanctuary.”
Ezekiel
see the glory of the Lord return to the temple and falls on his face before the
Lord. The Lord then talks to him about
how the Jews were doing things before the temple and the city were
destroyed. Now remember that in
prophetic books of the Bible we often see things that are true of the time in
which they are written and also true in the future. The Lord wanted Ezekiel to remind the people
of their sinfulness on how they treated the temple of God, and as we read about
how the temple will be seen in the Millennial Kingdom we see how the Lord
always planned for it to work and it will work that way during His Kingdom age.
God
is Particular of the Conduct of His Priests (Ezekiel 44:17-31)
17
"It shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they
shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they
are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. 18 "Linen turbans shall be on their heads
and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves
with anything which makes them sweat. 19
"When they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the
people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering
and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so
that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 "Also they shall not shave their heads,
yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of
their heads. 21 "Nor shall any of
the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court. 22 "And they shall not marry a widow or a
divorced woman but shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of
Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 "Moreover, they shall teach My people
the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern
between the unclean and the clean. 24
"In a dispute they shall take their stand to judge; they shall
judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My
statutes in all My appointed feasts and sanctify My Sabbaths. 25 "They shall not go to a dead person to
defile themselves; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for
brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves.
26 "After he is cleansed, seven
days shall elapse for him. 27 "On
the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in
the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering," declares the Lord GOD.
28 "And it shall be with regard to
an inheritance for them, that I am their inheritance; and you shall give them
no possession in Israel-I am their possession. 29 "They shall eat the grain offering, the
sin offering and the guilt offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be
theirs. 30 "The first of all the
first fruits of every kind and every contribution of every kind, from all your
contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the
first of your dough to cause a blessing to rest on your house. 31 "The priests shall not eat any bird or
beast that has died a natural death or has been torn to pieces.
Dr.
Wiersbe writes the following on these last verses of chapter 44: “The Lord will also be particular about the
conduct of the priests (44:17-31). He
tells them what to wear (17-19), how to groom themselves (v. 20), who not to
marry (v. 22), and at all times to show and teach the difference between clean
and unclean (v. 23), even if a relative dies (vv. 25-27). They will act as judges and see to it that
the law was honored and obeyed (v. 24).
Like Old Testament priests, the kingdom priests will not have an
inheritance of the land but will have the Lord as their inheritance and be able
to live from the temple offerings (vv. 28-31; see Num 18:20; Deut. 18:1-2;
Josh. 13:33).”
Dr.
Wiersbe adds the following informative end note from this section: “The population of the millennial kingdom
will include some people who will already have glorified bodies: the Old Testament saints who were resurrected
(Dan. 12:2, 13), New Testaments Christians (1 Thes. 4:13-18; 1 John 3:1-3), and
Tribulation martyrs (Rev. 20:4). But
believers who have survived the Tribulation, both Jews and Gentiles, will be in
mortal bodies and subject to death.
People will live long lives, but deaths will occur (Isa. 65:20). Children will be born and will be sinners
needing salvation. One would think that
the miraculously ideal conditions in the kingdom would motivate everyone to
trust in the Lord, but at the end of the Millennium, Satan will be able to
raise a large army to oppose the Lord (Rev. 20:7-10). During the thousand years, many people will
feign obedience to the Lord and yet not trust Him. But can we be sure even today that everyone
who belongs to a church is necessarily born again” (Matt. 7:21:29).”
5/16/2015 9:30 AM
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