Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, languages, that dwell in all the earth;

He is addressing everybody. This is Nebuchadnezzar speaking, folks where ever you are, spread abroad around the world.

Peace be multiplied unto you.

It is interesting that a similar salutation is used by Peter at the beginning of his epistles and also by Jude, as they add peace and mercy, or peace, mercy and grace be multiplied unto you, but it is a similar salutation. You would almost think that one of the New Testament writers was opening this salutation as the wish for peace to all of you.

I thought it good to show the signs and the wonders that the high God had wrought toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.

Here is Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, making this marvelous declaration concerning God. Now, in his first dream that was interpreted by Daniel, where he saw this image with the head of gold and chest of silver, stomach of brass, the interpretation of that dream was that though he was the head of gold his kingdom was to be replaced by an inferior kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. And, after a succession of world dominating empires, God would ultimately establish a kingdom that would never end, the glorious reign of Jesus Christ. And, he saw this in the vision. And, it was interpreted for him by Daniel. And, yet though he acknowledge that there was no God like the God of Daniel that was able to reveal secrets and to tell dreams and so forth, yet it seemed that he did not truly in his heart submit to the interpretation of the dream because he wanted to feel that his kingdom was an everlasting kingdom. That his dominion was over all. So, he built that huge image of gold, all gold, in a declaration that his kingdom would be an everlasting kingdom, but now God has shown to him some signs and some wonders, and how great are His signs, how mighty are His wonders. And, the signs and the wonders that God has shown to him, cause him to understand and to acknowledge that his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, not mine, but His. And, His dominion is from generation to generation.

So, now he tells the story. That was the introduction. The salutation, the greetings as he writes a universal letter, to everyone in the world. And, this now is my testimony. This is my experience. These are the signs and the wonders that God showed to me to make me cognoscente of the fact that His kingdom is the everlasting kingdom.

I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house;

This probably dates the time of this chapter towards the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Nebuchadnezzar was tireless in his efforts first of all of establishing the Babylonian kingdom as the world dominating empire conquering first the Assyrians and then the Egyptians, the Syrians, then Jerusalem, and finally into Moab and Ammon, and he conquered the world. Having then conquered the world, then having sacked the world, looted the world, he brought the gold and the silver back from Jerusalem. He brought the brass pillars that were at the porch of Solomon’s Temple. He cut them up and brought them back. Having looted the world he had sufficient gold and silver and precious gems to make Babylon a glorious city, plus he brought back slaves from all of these nations. The Jews were brought back as slaves, and made slave laborers within Babylon. And, so he set his genius to the building of this mammoth city of Babylon, which no doubt was the greatest city in the ancient world.

The walls were sixty miles in circumference, fifteen miles square in each direction, three hundred feet high, eighty-seven feet thick, a hundred brass gates, towers along the walls, gorgeous palaces, the hanging gardens of Babylon, all of these marvelous architectural feats. By the number of temples that were built in the city of Babylon, it is estimated that the population in the city of Babylon was into the millions. And, now it is finished, this glorious city, and he is resting. He is sitting back and sort of enjoying all of these marvelous accomplishments.

Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace; I saw a dream which made me afraid,

God interrupted his rest. God gave to him a dream and it struck fear into his heart.

and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

This night vision, this dream, it troubled him.

Therefore I made a decree to bring in all of the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers; and I told them the dream, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation.

Now you wonder why he would call these fellows who had failed in the interpreting of his earlier dream. In the earlier dream where he saw this great image, he had forgotten that dream. And, so he demanded that they tell him what he dreamed and what it meant, and they said that it was impossible. No one could do that.

Now he remembers this dream and explains the dream, but they do not tell him the interpretation. Some of the commentators suggested that they knew the interpretation, but were afraid to tell him knowing that he was a short tempered kind of a guy and would order their execution if he did not like their performance. The Bible does not indicate that, that is just the thought of some commentators. It does declare that they did not make known unto him the interpretation.

But at last Daniel came in before me

Now, why didn’t he call him first, because Daniel was the one who was able to tell him the dream and give him the interpretation. And, Daniel was sort of the head over the counselors. So, you wonder why he was not called first.

But at last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god,

Now, there are those who claim that Nebuchadnezzar was converted and that this is a testimony of his conversion. That is possible, however, I find it difficult in that he is still referring to Bel as his god or Marduk. And, he had given the name of Belteshazzar to Daniel, named after his god. But, he acknowledges that in Daniel is the Spirit of the holy God.

Now, we just assume always that gods are holy, don’t we? Because our God is so holy. One of the main characteristics of God is His holiness, but that is not so of pagan gods. Pagans gods were not holy at all. Read of the Greek gods and all and there was nothing holy about those gods. They were lecherous old gods. They were licentious. They were always lusting after different women and different things. So, the idea of a holy God is rather exclusive to Judaism and the Christianity. And, you do not find that as a characteristic of pagan gods, but often times the pagan gods are pictures as quite licentious and lascivious.

So, the holy gods, in the spirit of the holy gods, manifests itself no doubt in that holy living of Daniel. Daniel was a man of God, and he lived a holy life. A life of prayer, a life of commitment unto the Lord. He lived such a clean good life, that when some men were conspiring to get him, looking for some kind of flaw so that they might accuse him before the king, they realize they can not find anything in this fellow Daniel. He is such a pure man. In him is the Spirit of the holy God. And so they said the only way we are going to get him is we are going to have to get him some how in regards to his commitment and his worship of God.

So you remember they came in and flattered the king, Darius, and said you know you are so important people do not realize how great and wonderful and important you are, so to help the people realize we have made up this decree about the greatness of Darius the king and no one should offer a prayer to any god or anyone for a period of time except to you, then the world will realize just how great and marvelous you are. The king was flattered by it and signed the decree, and these fellows knew that Daniel was faithful in prayer and they knew that they had Daniel, that Daniel would not actually bow to the decree because it involved his owe spiritual convictions.

When is it proper for a Christian to violate the law? When the laws violate my Christian convictions. When to obey that law would be to violate my Christian convictions. When Peter as commanded by the rulers not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus. He said, “Whether it is right in your sight to obey God or obey man, you can judge, but as for us, we can not but speak the things that we have seen and heard.” In other words, we are not going to obey your edict, because that violates my commitment unto God. And, so my convictions and my commitments to God are the top priority in my life. And, should laws be established that would violate my convictions towards God, then I must obey God rather than man, and in that case it is right for the Christian to be disorderly as far as the worldly government is concerned, because of the violation of my commitment to the Lord and convictions.

So, he acknowledges that in Daniel is the Spirit of the holy God. And he said to Daniel,

no secret troubles you, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.

And, so he explains to Daniel now this visions that he had in the night. The visions on his bed that troubled his head.

Thus were the visions of my head in my bed; I saw and behold there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and the heighth of it was great. The tree grew and it was strong, and the height reached into heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth;

It was a tree that just became tall and it could be seen by the ends of the earth. It was a world kind of a dominating sight.

The leaves thereof were fair (Beautiful), and the fruit thereof much(plentiful), in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the branches, and all flesh was fed of it.

It was a nourishing kingdom. It was a world wide kingdom.

I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and , behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;

This speaks about us as being surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses, encompassed about. And of course that is a reference to these men of faith in the Old Testament. But, there is a truth that the angels desire to look into the marvels of God’s grace unto people especially through our salvation. Angels are curious about you. Angels are watching. The Bible says He shall give His angels charge over thee in all thy ways, to bear you up lest at any time you dash your foot against the stone. Speaking of angels, it says that they are ministering spirits that have been sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation.

We are living in a material world, but we are surrounded by a spiritual world that is just as real as is the material world, this spiritual world of angelic beings.

I can imagine that as Jesus was being mocked that God had to restrain the angels from just really tearing up humanity. You remember when Peter drew his sword to defend the Lord and began to swing and cut off the servants ear, Jesus said to him to put away his sword, didn’t he realize that if He wanted to He could call for ten legions of angels to deliver Him. They would be more than happy to step in and stop the whole thing.

In the New Testament, we read how the angels of the Lord were ministering unto the disciples, the apostles, on various occasions. We remember when Peter was in prison and the angel of the Lord came and told Peter to put his sandals on and to follow him and the doors of the prison opened and he lead Peter out of the prison. We read of Paul, how he speaks about fourteen days on the stormy sea and the angel of the Lord stood by him and assured him that not a person would be lost. These are the ministry of angels.

I imagine that sometimes when they see you do some of your stupid things, they say, “Look.. oh no don’t look.. Oh my…Can you believe that?”

The watcher and the holy one came down from heaven. Here is this vast marvelous tree, filled with fruit, nourishing the world, and these watchers and the holy one came down from heaven;

He cried aloud, and said thus, cut down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit, and let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches; nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth; let his heart be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven time pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent (purpose of it all) that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom so ever he wills, and sets up over it the basest of men. This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen .

The great tree prominent in the earth, nourishing the earth, and now it is ordered to be cut down to be given the heart of a beast until seven times have pass over him.

Now in the book of Daniel, time is used to describe a year. He speaks of a time, times and a half time. Time, a year, times, two years and half time, as six months, and he gives it to you as forty two months, and you have time equaling twelve months or a year. There are some commentators that say it was not a period of the seven years, but it was actually seven weeks or a seven something times being a loose and free kind of a interpretation. It could be days or months. And there have been those that have said until seven times or seven seasons have passed over it. And thus they interpret it as being a year and three quarters, as you would have summer, fall, winter, spring, summer, fall, winter, until seven times or seven seasons have passed over it. But, if you uses the scripture to interpret the scripture, it is hard to exact anything but actually a period of seven years and to take it as literal years, that the beasts heart would be given to him and he would be changed and have his portion with the beasts in the grass of the earth.

So, he than commands Daniel,

Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation, forasmuch as all of the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation;

Now this would take away from the idea that they did not know but were afraid to give the interpretation. He said they are not able to give it.

But thou are able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in you. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for one hour,

It could be that Daniel realized the implications of this vision, that he was actually hesitant to tell the king exactly what it meant. Daniel’s thoughts troubled him. Daniel was a loyal subject to Nebuchadnezzar. There was no doubt a bond between them. Daniel was a faithful servant, even serving the pagan kingdom. The Bible tells us that what ever we do in word in deed, we should do all for the glory of God. We should serve in our places as unto the Lord. God has put me here. My life will be a witness for God here. And, I think that we as Christians have an obligation to maintain our Christian witness in the market place, in the area of business. I think it is important and vital that we maintain that Christian testimony where ever we might be, that we would be that most diligent, the most faithful of all of the employees as a testimony and as a witness for Jesus Christ. Daniel was such!

and his thought troubled him. The king spoke, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream; or the interpretation, trouble you. Belteshazzar answered and said, my lord, the dream be to them that hate thee,

Your enemies are going to like the interpretation. It is not good. It is not pleasant for you.

The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached into heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beast of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of heaven had their habitation: It is thou, O king,

Now it is interesting that in the vision of the image, thou, O Nebuchadnezzar, are the head of gold. He saw himself in the first dream. Now, in the second dream the tree, Nebuchadnezzar, is you.

Thou art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown, and reaches unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. (You have really conquered the civilized world of that day.) And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Cut the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; This is the interpretation , O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king:

This is God’s decree concerning you, and he acknowledges his submission to the authority of Nebuchadnezzar, my lord the king.

That they (the spirits that have been watching them) shall drive you from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

Now, remember that was the intent of the dream that he might know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever He wills and sets over it even the basest of men.

And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.

In other words, you will be restored. The kingdom will be maintained for you during this period of time until you come to this acknowledgment that the heavens do rule.

Now Daniel speaks to him out of his heart. He is going to give him just good friendly advice, and Godly counsel.

Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness,

One of the worst sins is that of pride. It is one of those that is spoken of as one of the deadly sins. That is the origin of sin. It originates with pride. When Satan lifted up himself against the rule of God, it was pride. I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven. I will sit in the congregations in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the stars. I will be like the most high. Pride is the root of most sin. So, he says to put away your sin and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.

Now most of these marvelous buildings in Babylon and all were built by slave labor, and it was not very merciful. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar was very severe against the Jews, and Isaiah tells us that the reason why God allowed the Babylonian kingdom to fall was of their ill treatment of the Jews. So, Daniel is telling him to be good, have mercy on the poor, and it may be that he could lengthen his time of peace. He was at rest in his palace. And, maybe he could lengthen this time of rest and prosperity that he was enjoying.

Now, this is what happened to Nebuchadnezzar, verse 29:

At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon

The Hebrew for in the palace is on the palace. He was probably walking on the palace roof looking over the great city of Babylon, its splendor, its fortifications, its temples, its brass gates, and its marvelous commerce.

The king spoke, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?

Aren’t I great? Haven’t I done this by my power, and for the glory of my majesty? Pride.

While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass like the oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

God reigns! God is sovereign! I get comfort in this, because as I look at the worlds conditions tonight, I get very upset. I am disturbed. I have little grandchildren growing up and I read of the things that are being taught the children in the schools today. I look at the social trends. I look at the world in which we are living, a world that has no conscience of evil. I look at the sexual promiscuity and all of the resultant devastation, plagues that have come from sexual promiscuity. I read of the abortions, and our President declaring that he is going to push federal actions to guarantee a woman’s right for abortions, so that states will not be able to enact laws that would in any wise restrict the woman’s right for abortions. I read how the President declares that he is going to be helping to promote laws that will give favored positions to the homosexual communities, giving them privileges that we, normal people, do not have, protecting them in jobs and housing and all. These things trouble me. The rise of the worship of Satan is alarming. And these things are being promoted by the rock groups, by television, and these things concern me.

The only comfort that I have is that I know that God rules, and that God is in control and that He allows even the basis of men to get positions of authority and power in order that he might manifest His righteous judgment. But, when He judges it will be righteous. And, thus He will not judge the righteous with the wicked, that was the whole issue with Abraham, when the angels were going down to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham’s question was shall not the Lord of the earth be just, would you destroy the righteous with the wicked. There are fifty righteous people in that city. Would you destroy the righteous with the wicked? Would that be fair? And the Lord assured him if he could find fifty righteous they would spare the city. Finally, he worked it down to ten righteous. And, when he came down to the city of Sodom they could not find ten righteous. There was only that righteous man Lot, who was vexed. His righteous spirit was vexed by the things that were going on in Sodom, just like your righteous spirit gets vexed when you see the television promoting the gay pride parades around the country. It vexes my righteous spirit.

But, it was comforting to realize that the angel said to Lot, “get out of here. We can’t destroy this place until you are gone.” And as I see the same conditions that existed in Sodom, existing here. And, I see this flood tide of evil taking over, my comfort is that God rules and God is just and that He will deliver the righteous before his judgment falls. And, I can not believe that we are very far away from that day of God’s righteous judgment. And, I do believe the only reason why the Lord has not already begun is that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And, He is leaving open the door a few more days in order that those who are ordained to salvation might come in. And, I rejoice that in the midst of a world that is on the fast track down, where sin abounds, grace overflows. And, we are seeing that marvelous work of God’s grace, and what a contrast we are in the world today. I have never seen so many people come to Christ, and on the other hand, I have never seen conditions worst. But, God rules, that I know. I have comfort in that.

until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as the oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair was grown like eagles’ feathers(like filthy matted hair), and his nails like birds’ claws.

I was interested as I read this. I saw a picture of Howard Hughes before he died. A man who really had just about everything that the world could offer, but I saw a picture of him and his scraggly matted hair, his long talon like finger nails, and that paranoia that he had, not wanting to see people, not wanting people to see him. He wore gloves trying to be so sanitary, afraid to touch anything. And, with everything he had, he was imprisoned in his own mind and by his own mind and by his own surroundings. I thought of all those people that wanted to be like Howard Hughes, and you think, oh.my.

Here he was Nebuchadnezzar bereft of his senses, living out in the field like an animal, at night his body covered with the dew of heaven, eating grass.

And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me,

As suddenly as he went insane, just so suddenly his sanity returned. He has lifted up his eyes to heaven. He has learned the lesson that god wanted him to know, that it is God’s kingdom, that is the everlasting kingdom and that the Lord rules over the kingdom’s of man.

I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored him that lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

Praising God. Worshipping God. Acknowledging God.

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;

All the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing before God, like dust in the balances.

Now, in Biblical days, they used the balances for commerce, weighing out your produce, they put them in these balances. So, the Bible speaks about just weights. You do not use one set of weights that you sell by and one that you buy by. And, they would do that, but they would always try to impress you with their honesty. So, before they would weigh things in the balances, they would blow the dust out. They were so honest they did not want to charge you for dust. But, the nations before God are like the dust of the balances. They can be blown away. The inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.

and he does according to his will in the army of heaven,

In the vast kingdom of heaven, is hundreds of millions of angelic beings, actually ten thousands times ten thousands, plus thousands of thousands. So, that is a hundred million, plus millions of angels.

and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand,

You can not stop the plan of God, nor the purposes of God from taking place, that which He has purposed for this world. You can not stop it.

or say unto him, What doest thou?

Now, Paul the apostle, likens God unto a potter and us as clay. Clay in the Potter’s hand, speaking of the absolute sovereign power of the Potter over the clay to make of it what ever kind of vessel He wishes. God can do whatever He wants in your life. It is by the mercies of God that we are not consumed. And Paul said the clay does not have any right to say to the Potter, why are you making me like this? God’s absolute power over man. That would terrify me, if I did not know if the Potter loved me supremely. A lot of things have happened in my life that I did not understand. The Potter put a lot of wrinkles in this vessel that I could not rationalize. I was wanting to ask, “What are you doing?” But, I know that the Potter loves me and that His purpose and plan for my life is better than anything I could devise. And, I also know that the only way that I can discover what is in the mind of the Potter is by yielding to His touch, and allowing Him to form and shape me according to His will. And, I know that His will is the best thing that could ever happen to me.

So, he speaks of the sovereignty of God over man.

At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me;

When God restored him, He restored him completely. He had learned his lesson. It was a bitter lesson to learn. He learned it the hard way, but he learned it, and that is what is vital. He now acknowledges the sovereignty of God over his life. He now submits himself to that one that rules over the earth. And, with that recognition, there comes a restoration of the kingdom, of the place of power and glory and prominence that he had once experienced. The honor, the brightness returned.

and my counselors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me.

God even gave him more. Oh, the grace of God and the goodness of God, though we may fail, and we have to go through a period of chastisement and we suffer because of our own follies, yet as God restores, he is not satisfied in just bringing us back to an equal position, but he adds His grace, His love, and His mercy. And, so the excellent majesty was added unto me.

Now, the proclamation,

Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the king of heaven,

That is what God was wanting. That is what God desires from you that you will praise, extol and honor the king of the universe.

all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

The Bible tells us that we should humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift us up. The Bible tells us that pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. The Bible tells us that he that exalts himself shall be abased, but he that humbles himself shall be exalted. These are vital important lessons. The prophet says he has shown you, O man, what is good, God has shown you the good way, and what does the Lord require of you; that you do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God. The man who is proud is the man who has not yet had a personal encounter with God. Once you have a real vital, personal encounter with God, where you realize the greatness, the awesomeness of God, you can no longer again ever be proud, for the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing to Him. So the proper attitude in coming to the realization of the greatness of God is seeing also the nothingness of myself and thus I praise and extol and honor the king of heaven. To God be the glory, great things He has done! And, God forbid that I should glory in anything save the cross of Jesus Christ, and that work that He has wrought for me upon the cross. All praise, glory and honor be unto our King forever and ever, our glorious Lord and Savior!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 Rob Robinson

Praying But Not Believing

When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.” (Acts 12:14-15)

You can say prayers in your mind but doubt in your heart. At times God will answer such prayers as He did when Peter was in prison, scheduled for execution. The believers in Jerusalem were powerless to free him, so they prayed. When God released Peter, their reaction revealed the doubt in their hearts. They argued that Peter could not possibly be free, even as he stood outside knocking on the door!

Is it possible to be a person of prayer and yet not have faith? Is it possible to fool yourself into believing that because you ask God for help, you have faith in His ability to meet your needs? Is your faith so weak that you are surprised when God answers your prayer? As a child of God, you ought to expect God to answer your prayers. Do you ask God to do something without adjusting your life to what you are praying? If you are praying for revival, how are you preparing for its coming? If you are praying for forgiveness, are you still living with guilt? If you have asked God to provide for your needs, do you remain worried and anxious?

Ask God to increase your faith and then begin living a life that reflects absolute trust in Him. Out of His grace, God may choose to respond to your requests despite your lack of faith, but you will miss the joy of praying in faith.

Between chapters 2 and 3, there is probably an interval of time. Some commentators suggest as short as two years. Others suggest a time of maybe about eleven. About ten years after Nebuchadnezzar came into power there was a revolt against his reign, which he put down personally. And some believe that this event may have followed that revolt in that he was trying to reestablish himself as that power and that authority over the people, and thus this great celebration with this giant image of gold.

There are some commentators that suggest there is as much as twenty-one years intervening between chapters 2 and 3. It is quite possible that the eleven year figure is the right one. You are closer to the truth probably when you are in the middle. You get in the extreme and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. It is possible that by the time this happened, he had gone back and conquered Jerusalem, had totally destroyed the city and left it in shambles, and had brought Zedekiah as a captive back to Babylon.

They usually attributed their victories to their gods. And, thus the strong god was the one that gave victory in battle. And, if your god could not defend you in battle, then he was a lesser or weaker god.

Now, you remember after Daniel had interpreted the vision, Nebuchadnezzar made the proclamation concerning the God of Daniel, “There is no other God, like the God of Daniel.” However, history shows us that Nebuchadnezzar was a great devotee of Mark, the Babylonian god. And, many believe that this great idol that he had constructed in the plains of Dour was an image of Mark, the Babylonian god of war, who Nebuchadnezzar had confessed tremendous devotion towards in some of the Babylonian records.

Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits (or ninety feet, if you are using an eighteen inch cubit, or one hundred and eleven feet if you are using a twenty-two inch cubit); and of six cubits breadth ;

The number sixty and the number six, does that give you any clues to anything? Six is the number of man, and we know that there is a man of sin that is going to come and he is going make an image of himself that they will put in the Holy of Holies of the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. And, all of the world will be commanded to worship this image and if anyone refuses to worship the image he will be put to death. Now, the number of the man, “let him that have wisdom understand, the number is the number of a man; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six.” So, in this sixty and six, surely the Spirit is pointing us toward the future. So, this image that Nebuchadnezzar made and demanded that everyone bow down to it with the threat of death for refusing to do so, is a type of the image that will be made in the tribulation period, the abomination of desolation, that Daniel speaks about, when they set this image of the anti-christ in the Holy of Holies.

In Matthew 24, Jesus said, “And when you see the abomination of desolation, that was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then flee into the wilderness.” If you are on the housetop, do not even stop to get your jacket. So, this is a type. Nebuchadnezzar becomes the type of the anti-christ. The image becomes the type of the image that will be out in the temple in the later days that when it is established will provoke the judgment of God, the great tribulation period upon the earth. It is the abomination which causes the desolation of the earth in the great tribulation period.

Now, he set this up in the plains of Dour, which is about twelve miles outside of the city of Babylon. It was probably a wooden frame covered by gold. And, could you imagine it ninety feet high and nine feet wide. It must have been a colossus out there. It would have been about nine stories high out there on that flat plain. You would have been able to see it for miles, the shining gold of this great image that was there.

It is possible that this image represents a defiance of God on the part of Nebuchadnezzar, and the dream that was interpreted by Daniel. You remember that in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he saw this great colossus, this great image, that had a head of gold, chest of silver, stomach of brass, legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay. And, the interpretation of that dream was that Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, but his kingdom was going to be replaced by the Medo-Persian, the chest of silver, which will fall to the Grecian or the governments that will rule over man. And, this could be a statement by Nebuchadnezzar saying Babylon will never fall. The fact that he made it of all gold, from head to toe, could be a defiance of the interpretation of his dream. And that he is in essence saying by this image that the Babylonian kingdom will last forever.

As we move into the next chapter, we will see that God had to deal with the pride of Nebuchadnezzar. And in dealing with the pride of Nebuchadnezzar in allowing him this madness, the purpose was the madness would continue until he knew that it was God who established the kingdoms and set over the kingdoms those whom He would. So, it would appear from the fact that it is of all gold that this is a defiance of God’s declaration that the Babylonian kingdom was going to fall.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to gather together the princes, the governors ,and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriff, and all the rulers of the province, to come to the dedication of the image, which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

So all the important people of the kingdom were to come. This is a governmental extravaganza, and all the important people within the government were there.

Then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication of this image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

So you can see this great multitude of people around this image that stands tall there in the plain above everyone.

Then the herald cried, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, backbit, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music,

Now, among these instruments there are three of them with Greek names, thus some of the Bible critics say that it was written at a later period, during the Grecian period, because of the three Greek names of the instruments. But, so often when an instrument is taken from one nation to another it maintains its original name. We have a lot of words that we have in English that come from other languages, but they are borrowed from the other language because the product came from there. Cocoa is not an English word, but we use it, and we know what it means, but it came from where cocoa came from. So, it is true of a lot of different products that we have. Cinnamon is not really an English word, but it is a Malaysian word, I believe, that is because it comes from Malaysia, thus we take the name of the product and use it. So with this, three of the instruments probably originated in Greece and maintained there names.

You know that people that want to criticize the Bible will pick on the most ridiculous things, and try an build a big case against the Bible. But, when you really begin to examine it with any kind of common sense, the whole thing just breaks down.

Now, at the sound of all of this music it was ordered that they were to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. If the image was of Marduk, his god, then he is demanding that they all worship his god, Marduk.

And who so falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace..

So, you really do not have much of a choice. You either worship or you are placed in the burning fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar was not to be messed with. You remember in the previous chapter, he had the dream and he ordered the fellows to interpret it, and the threat was either you interpret it or you are going to be killed. And, here either you worship or you are going to be thrown into the burning fiery furnace. He is just not a fellow to be messed with.

Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

What a glorious moment for Nebuchadnezzar. Here he has made this great golden image and this multitude of people all over, there in the plains of Dura, bowing at the sound, worship accompanied by glorious music. Aesthetically it was probably a very moving experience.

You know you can have soulish experiences, in worshipping God, that people often misinterpret it as spiritual experiences. They touch your psyche. They touch your soul. It is moving. We must be careful about psychic experiences and misinterpreting them as spiritual experiences. There is something that is very awesome about a great cathedral and the chanting choirs, and the candles and the rustling robes and the incense. It touches our senses. You can have a very sense of reverence, and worship, and awe, but it can be purely in the area of the senses, rather than the area of the spirit. In the same token the Pentecostals can have all kinds of emotions, the releasing of emotions through shouting or waving their hands or through beat, and you can get into a real worked up emotional state that they interpret as a spiritual experience. “Oh, the Lord was in the place tonight it was so glorious. They didn’t get a chance to preach. It was just wonderful. Everyone was just so excited.” But, it can be a purely soulish experience rather than a spiritual experience. It has touched you in a sensual or soulish way rather than in a spiritual way. And, this often times happen and people misinterpret these soulish experiences for spiritual experiences.

Now, the Word of God is alive and powerful and it is sharper than a two edged sword, and it is able to divide asunder between the bone and the morrow and the soul and the spirit. Now, there is a very close tie between the soul and the spirit, between your emotions and your spirit. And, many times it is difficult to discern between what is soulish and what is truly spiritual. The Word of God has that capacity. And, the Word of God will feed your spirit. That is why it is so important to have the Word of God, because that is what ministers to the spirit, and it is able to divide asunder between what is soulish and what is spiritual.

And, so this was no doubt a very soulish experience. I mean the beautiful music and all of these people bowing down to this colossal image, there was no doubt, it was moving and touching. Soulishly it was very moving and exciting. But, something went wrong to spoil the total effect.

His reaction pointed to the fact that it was soulish. You know a lot of people that have pseudo-spiritual experiences, or they do things on a pseudo-spiritual level as “we are so spiritual, you know, we are going to do this.” And, on a pseudo-spiritual thing they excuse a lot of soulish activities, a lot of things that are totally devilish and wrong, attitudes that are wrong, but they excuse them on the base that they are setting spiritual standards. Then they do these things that are absolutely wrong, and soulish and the reaction that a person has really reveals the spirit of the person. Here he is the great leader of the worship of Marduk demanding the world to worship his god, but now these three Hebrew boys have violated his commandment.

Wherefore at that time there were certain Chaldeans that came near, and accused the Jews. They spoke and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. You king, have made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image; and whoever does not fall down and worship that he should be cast into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon,

You remember that when Daniel was promoted to this position of honor that he requested that Nebuchadnezzar also set these fellows over the provinces, and Nebuchadnezzar acceded to Daniel’s request.

There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not regarded you, and they do not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you are ready that at what time you hear the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, that you fall down and worship the image that I have made; well;

He was going to give them a second chance and let the musicians play again, and if they would bow down and worship then fine. It is O.K.

but if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; (then the challenge)and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

In the end of the last chapter, Nebuchadnezzar had acknowledged the God of Daniel, that He is a God of gods, a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, but now he is challenging and saying, “who is that God who shall deliver you out of my hands?”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said unto the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful (or hesitant) to answer you in this matter. If it be so, (in response to your challenge) our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace,

In Romans 4, Paul gives to us the four keys to Abraham’s faith. First of all he considers not his own body. He was about one hundred years old, nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb. In other words, the first step to faith is not looking at the human difficulties. Secondly, he staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief. Many times we find ourselves staggering at the promises of God. And, because we stagger at the promises of God, we decide to take things into our own hands. “We better do something about this, because I do not know if God is able to defend me.” And, thus I better build up my own defense. I have found that if I determine to defend myself the Lord lets me and that is not good. It is better that He defends me. The third step, being strong in the faith, he gave glory to God. In other words, he started thanking the Lord for the son, by faith, though there was no evidence yet that he was going to have a son.

I always like to sort of put myself in the picture to just find out how I would react and respond. And, I like to see myself walking from Hebron to Beersheba, seeing a tent out there and all kinds of herds and flocks being attended by servants on the hillsides. And, this is quite an elaborate tent. And, sitting out under an oak is an old man. And, as I pass by he calls me over to come rest a bit. And, as I sit down he calls in, “Sarah, fix some tea and cookies, honey, we have some guests.” And, so I talk to this old man. He seems to be a fascinating old man, but as I am talking with him all of a sudden he seems oblivious to my being there, and he just starts worshipping the Lord. “Oh Lord, you are so good. Oh, thank you, thank you, Lord! You are so wonderful!” And, then he talks to me some more and pretty soon he gets lost in this business of praising God again, until finally my curiosity gets the best of me and I say, “Oh man, you seem to be awfully happy about something. What is going on?”

“Oh, it is wonderful. I am going to have a son.”

“You are going to have a son? You are pretty old aren’t you?”

“Oh ya, I am about one hundred.”

“Well, how old is your wife,”

“About ninety.”

“You are going to have a son? Wow, I can see why you are excited. That is unusual. How long have you been married?”

“About seventy-five years or more.”

“Well, how many children do you have?”

“Oh, we do not have any children. She has not been able to have any children yet, but we are going to have a son now.”

“Oh, I can understand. That is glorious! You mean that God has given you a son. That’s marvelous. How long has she been pregnant?”

“Oh, she is not pregnant, yet.”

“Wait a minute.”

As we continue our journey towards Beersheba we say, “Well, leave him alone. He is happy, you know.”

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and being strong in the faith, he gave glory to God. But, here is the key now, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able to perform. That is what these young fellows are saying, “Our God is able to deliver us from your burning fiery furnace.” You see that is the key to the faith. We know that our God is able. And, secondly, He will deliver us from you. It may be by the fire, but we will be free from you. And, even if he does not deliver us, we are still not going to bow to your image. Now that is commitment. And, that is what we need. That total complete commitment to what is right, to the path of the Lord. I am going to walk this path, no matter what the cost. I am not going to compromise. I am not going to bow to the gods of the world. I am not going to bow to the fashions of the world. I am going to keep my heart steadfast towards God. How do you stop men like that? You don’t!

When Paul was in Lystra and they stoned him and drug him out of town, they thought he was dead. And his companions were weeping, this great warrior for Jesus Christ, this fellow that had such a capacity to persuade people concerning the truth, here he is lying there limp. And, pretty soon Paul shakes himself and says let’s go back into town, I didn’t finish my sermon fellows.

Here are the disciples. They have been threatened by the rulers, “Do not preach any more in the name of Jesus.” And, they have been very strictly threatened. So, they are released and they come back to their company and they gathered together and prayed. What did they pray? God give us the boldness to just continue to preach in the name of Jesus. Give us the boldness to do the thing that got us into trouble. When they commanded them not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus, they said, “Whether we are to obey God, or man, that is for you to judge, but as for us we must obey God.”

That is the kind of commitment that these fellows had. We are not going to bow. It does not matter. You can throw us in your furnace. Do what you want. We are not going to bow. Our God is able to deliver us out of your burning fiery furnace, and we know that He is going to deliver us from you, but if He does not deliver us, we are still not going to bow. Commitment! Oh, how we need it.

Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his face was changed (no longer kind, no longer sweet and understanding)…So he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont (or used)to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach. and Abed-Nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. And these men were bound in their coats, with their hose, and their hats, and their other garments, and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spoke, and said to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto him, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt;

Our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.

they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the son of God.

Isaiah, in predicting the future difficulties that they were going to be facing as a nation, there being taken captive and all into the land of Babylon, the Lord is speaking to the people and He tells them that when they pass through the water it will not over throw them, and the fire will not destroy them. And, here we find the fulfillment of that promise.

In Hebrews, it talks about those men of faith who quenched the fires, or survived the fires. No doubt a reference to these three Hebrew children.

You know it is an interesting thing that again those Bible critics who try to place the writing of Daniel sometime in the period of the Macabeans, during the period of the Grecian Empire, because he predicts the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persians, and the fall of the Medo-Persians to Greece, they say that it is impossible that he could have done that. It was written by some other fellow who wrote the book and put the name Daniel to it. The problem with this kind of pseudo-scholarship, critical of the inspiration of the scriptures and of the divine authorship, is that you can not tamper with one part of the book without tampering with the whole, because the whole is one book. And, so if you say that Daniel was written by some spurious Hebrew during the time of the Macabeans and he put the name Daniel to it, and wrote that these events had already taken place, then he is actually writing history. If you take that tact, then what do you do with the words of Jesus, when Jesus attributes this to Daniel, when he talks about, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken about by Daniel the prophet, and Jesus attributes it to Daniel? Well, then you have to say that Jesus did not know about this fellow that we discovered.

So, the Bible stands as a whole. You can not tamper with parts of it without disrupting the whole. So, here again the three Hebrew children, the reference to the quenching of the fire in the book of Hebrews, it stands as a whole.

To me the important lesson here is that the Lord was with them in the fire and the Lord will be with you in the fire. As Christians we are not promised that we will not have persecution. In fact, we are sort of promised that we will have it. In this world, you will suffer tribulation. I hate that promise. But, you will never suffer anything, but what the Lord will be with you to share, and to shield, and to protect. He is with you in the fire. It is important that we become cognoscente of that. So often we feel that we are alone. Satan likes to throw that trip on us that you are fighting this alone. Everybody is against you. It makes you feel like you are just all alone. Never! Never! The Lord is with you. He will not forsake you, and when you go through the fire. He will be there.

and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

One of the theophanies of the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord there with them in the fire. We will find it again when Daniel is in the Lion’s den, the Lord is with him in that experience.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, he spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, ye servants of the most high God,

Oh, he is learning. What God is it that is able? There is one, the most high God.

come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came forth from the midst of the fire. And the princes, and the governors, and the captains, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was there a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

The Lord does a thorough job when He watches over us and keeps us. Oh, how I love it. I love this story. I have loved it from the time I was a little kid.

Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke, and said, Blessed (another proclamation from the king) be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego,

You see God had intended that the nation of Israel be His witnesses to the gentiles, to the world. They were to be a light unto the gentiles. The nation has now fallen. The witness of God to the gentile world, has been conquered by the gentile world, but God will not leave Himself without a witness. And, though the nation now is not a witness, God will bear witness of Himself to all of these people. Remember that they had all the chief people from around the world there to see this witness of God, to see how God will stand for those who will stand for Him, to see how God is able to deliver them from the most adverse circumstances. And, they all came up to look. These fellows were an amazement to everybody. They were looking. They were smelling, not even the smell of smoke, not even a hair of their head singed. What a witness God gave of Himself, and Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges Him. He says,

Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego who has sent His angel and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, and changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

He is acknowledging that this is right. These men stood for what was right and they changed the king’s order.

Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, language, which speak any thing amiss against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, shall be cut in pieces,

Now, that is not really God’s purpose to destroy everyone that does not believe in Him. God is more gracious than the king, but this is just the character of Nebuchadnezzar. You have to know the guy. This is just his character. He is going to force them.

Their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Then the king promotes Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, in the province of Babylon.

Now, the Bible tells us that there is a day of God’s fiery judgment that is going to come upon the earth. God destroyed the earth once by a flood, but He gave a covenant that He would not destroy by a flood again. But, He is going to destroy the earth by fire. And, the book of Revelation describes the events of the great tribulation period, this burning mountain of fire and this fiery judgment of God that is going to come upon the earth. When this great tribulation period comes and the judgment of God during this period, God is going to seal one hundred and forty-four thousand people from Israel that He will preserve through the fire. So the three Hebrew children being preserved in this fire are a type of the one hundred and forty-four thousand that God seals to take safely through the great tribulation period. So, it is one of those types in the Old Testament of things to come. They are a type of the one hundred and forty-four thousand God seals and takes through the fire of the great tribulation period.

Question? Where was Daniel when all of this took place? Do you believe that Daniel bowed to the image? Not the Daniel I know. Not the Daniel who had purposed in his heart that he was not going to defile his body with the king’s meat. Now, the Bible does not tell us where Daniel was. He was probably in a far off province taking care of the king’s matters, but you can be for certain that he was not there when this event took place.

Daniel becomes a beautiful type of the church that when the great tribulation takes place upon the earth will be removed. It will not have to go through the fire of the great tribulation, but will actually be with the Lord in Heaven. The Lord is going to catch us up to be with Him there in Heaven and so shall we ever be with the Lord. When He comes back to the earth, behold, we will be coming back with Him. He comes with ten thousands of His saints. But, Daniel becomes a type of the church who escapes the great burning fiery furnace by being removed from the area at the time. So it becomes a type of the great tribulation period.

The image, which the world is ordered to worship, is the image that is established by the anti-christ. God seals the one hundred and forty-four thousands of the Jews, and takes them through the fire of the great tribulation. Daniel is a type of the church who is taken out to escape this fiery judgement of God. And, then he appears back in the scene again later on, as we will come back to reign with the Lord over the earth.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 Rob Robinson

A Way that Seems Right

There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 16:25)

Things are not always what they seem. Proverbs warns that we can be deceived into believing we are going down the right path and yet be heading toward death, the opposite direction from God’s will. People do not naturally seek God or pursue righteousness (Rom. 3:10-18). Only as the Spirit awakens our hearts to the Person of Christ are we able to desire God’s will. If we make decisions apart from the guidance of the Spirit of God, we will be like a ship trying to sail without a compass. We will do what makes the most sense, based on our own wisdom. But what looks attractive may actually lead to sin, ultimately destroying what is precious to us, for our most profound human thinking is mere foolishness to God (1 Cor. 1:18-20). Only God knows the way that leads to life, and He wants to lead us to walk in it (Matt. 7:13-14).

Don’t assume every opportunity that arises is from God. Satan will disguise himself as an angel of light, and his invitations will seem to be in your best interest (2 Cor. 11:14). Yet his way leads only to death (John 8:44). The word of God will be like a light to your path, guiding you in the ways of righteousness (Ps. 119:105). It can be perilous to follow a path that seems right without first consulting the Holy Spirit for guidance_(John 16:13). Take time to seek the Holy Spirit’s direction when you face decisions. He knows the full ramifications of your choices. The Holy Spirit will assist you to understand truth and to experience abundant life. Trust Him as He leads you.

Chapter 1 was written in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. Chapter 2 was written in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar began his reign as king in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. So, chapter 2 would be written some three years after chapter 1.

You remember that in chapter 1, Daniel was brought to Babylon as a captive, one of the princes of Israel, and he went through a three year grooming process to prepare him to be one of the king’s counselors. So, in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar the king it would mean that Daniel had now finished the preparation and was counted as one of the counselors or wise men in the court of Babylon. So, initiated now into his job, and it was quite an initiation at that.

And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep broke from him.

One of those kind of things in the evening where you have a thought, a dream and in his case a dream, and when you wake up from it your mind starts to work so that you can not go back to sleep. That was the case with Nebuchadnezzar. He was unable to go back to sleep. He was troubled in his mind, because of this dream.

So the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.

So, he could not sleep. He was troubled, and so he called for the wise men to come in that they might show him his dreams.

And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

He felt that there was some kind of a spiritual implication to that dream and he wanted to know it.

Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Syriack,

Now, at this point in verse 4 of chapter 2, the book of Daniel is written in the Aramaic language. It was the language that was common in Babylon. And, until the end of chapter 7, the book is written in Aramaic. Beginning with chapter 8, it goes back to the Hebrew language. There are some three Greek words in the book of Daniel, and there are some fifteen Persian words.

Now, Daniel, you remember, was in the court, and in fact after interpreting of the dream for Nebuchadnezzar, he was placed as one of the top men in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. So, it would only be natural that he would receive emissaries from the foreign countries. He would pick up a part of the Persian language. He would also pick up some Greek. Of course, his native tongue was Hebrew, but he was taught in Aramaic for the three years. He was a brilliant fellow and no doubt picked up the language well. So, that portion of the book that deals with the Gentile powers that will be reigning through history is written in the gentile language, the Aramaic. But, when he talks about the place of Israel in the future he then goes back to the Hebrew language. So, beginning here in verse 4 until the end of chapter 7, the book is written in Aramaic.

So, the wise men that were brought into the king said:

O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will shew you the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, I have forgotten it; if you will not make known to me the dream, with the interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.

He was not to be messed with. He was a rather tough guy.

Now, this does indicate the tremendous authority and power that he had. You remember when the Medo-Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire, and Darius the king was tricked into making a decree that no one could offer a petition or prayer to anyone except the king for a period of thirty days, and how that Daniel knowing that the decree had been signed went to his home and with windows opened kneeled towards Jerusalem and prayed unto God. And it was reported to Darius that Daniel had disobeyed the decree. It tells us that the king sought to try to rescind the decree, but even though he was the king, the law of the Medes and the Persian was such that once a decree had been made and sealed there could be no changing of the decree. And, though he was king, yet he was bound by the laws. Yet, Nebuchadnezzar was a law to himself. So, he did not give them many options. They either had to tell him the dream, make me to know the interpretation or they would be cut in pieces and their houses would be made dunghills.

But if you shew the dream, and the interpretation, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor; therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.

So, he actually commands them, show it to me.

They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.

They repeat the thing. Tell us and we will tell you.

The king answered and said, I know of certainty that you would gain the time, because you see the thing is gone from me. But if you will not make know unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you; for you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed; therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can shew me the interpretation thereof.

Now there are those who believe that the king actually had not forgotten the dream, but he was trying to prove them to find out how good they really were. They were being paid to be wise. They were being paid to counsel the king. And, thus in order to really prove them, he was feigning to forget. Now, that is a possibility. The scripture is not indicating that, but it is a possibility. But, they answered:

There is not a man on the earth that can shew the king’s matter; therefore there is no king, lord , nor ruler, that asked such things at any magicians, astrologers, or Chaldeans.

This is unprecedented. No one has ever done this before.

It is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men in Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.

They had just been introduced into this council and now the order goes out for them to be slain.

Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, (The one who was commanded to go out and kill the wise men.) which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.

Then Arioch told Daniel what had happened. These guys mouthed off to Nebuchadnezzar. They made him mad, so this is what happened.

So Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, promising that he would shew the king the interpretation.

So, he evidently received this time from Nebuchadnezzar, and then he went to his buddies, the three Hebrew children, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah that they might have a prayer meeting. He said fellows we have got to pray, and we have got to pray quick. We have got just so much time to hear from the Lord to find out the king’s dream and the interpretation.

They sought mercies of God concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.

Now, in the Old Testament and New Testament times, God often through dreams and He also spoke through visions. The king had a dream, which had spiritual significance. God was speaking to him. Daniel through a night vision received the dream and the interpretation. We find that in the New Testament the Lord also spoke through dreams. Joseph was warned by the Lord in a dream to take the child and flee to Egypt because Herod was going to try to kill him. The Lord spoke through visions, sometimes night visions. “This night the angel of the Lord stood by me,” Paul said.

There is that school that declares that once we had the full canon of scripture God no longer spoke through dreams and visions. However, in the prophecy of Joel, where he promised that in the last days God would pour out His spirit on all flesh. He said, “your sons and daughters shall prophecy and your young men shall dream dreams and your old men shall see visions; and I will pour out in that day, the Lord promised of His Spirit. Then the prophecy of Joel goes into the tribulation period, blood and fire, vapor of smoke, moon turn to blood and the sun into darkness before the great notable day of the Lord come.”

I must confess that I have never had a dream to my knowledge that had any spiritual implications, nor have I had any visions with spiritual implications, but the door is not closed in my mind to these things. That is not to say that God can not speak, or God would not speak to me. And, I am open if God would want to speak to me in a dream, I would find that very fascinating. If God would want to give me a vision, I would find that very fascinating. I am open to it. But, I have never had what I would consider a spiritual dream. Now, I have had some interesting dreams, and I have had an interesting vision, but they are not really spiritual in nature.

My younger brother who was killed in a plane crash, he and I were very close. He was quite a bit younger than I and as a result he sort of looked up to me, his big brother and I was sort of a hero. But, we got into boating together. He was a master mechanic. And, we started water skiing and boating. We had this one motor on our boat and we would always repair it when it would go bad. So, after he was killed in the plane crash, the water pump quite on it. It was a Mercury 55E engine. So, I dropped the lower unit and as I thought the impeller was chewed up in there. It had been run dry. So, I replaced the impeller. So, by the time I was getting the whole thing together it was about midnight, and I got the call from the house, that Kay said, “Get in here right now! Go to bed. I can not go to sleep until you come in.” So I could tell by the tone of voice that it was all over for tonight. But, I had just tightened up the last bolt. So, I said, “O.K. honey, coming right in.” And, I flipped the motor on. I had it in water and I wanted to see that little stream of water come out that would indicate that the water pump was working, and it did not come out. All of this time and it did not work. So, I shut the thing off, went into the house, went to bed and I dreamed that my brother was with me working on the engine. And as I put the impeller in he said, “No Chuck, you have it backwards. Turn it around so that the impeller goes the other way.” Well, I woke up and I could not go back to sleep. I wanted to get back out and drop the unit to see if it was right. I started going in my mind the rotation of the engine and I thought, yes, that has got to be it. So, in the morning I went out and dropped the unit and turned it around, fired it up and it worked great.

Now explain it? I can’t. You see it is not spiritual. It is mechanical. And that was a kind of a vision I had too one time. When I was out in Corona we had started a church out there. And, because it was a new church and really could not pay an adequate salary, I was building a motel/office complex up in Idywild. And, I would drive home on the nights that I would have the Bible study and then get up early in the morning and drive on up to Idywild to work on this motel/office complex that I was building up there.

Well, I had a radio broadcast in Corona in the morning, and I would listen to my own broadcast so I could critique it. It helped pass the time. It was a half hour broadcast, which got me from the area of March Field all the way up to the base of the mountain. The car that I had was going to pieces slowly, and the speakers had already gone out in the front end of the radio, so I just listened to it from the rear speakers that still worked. But, it started getting so static like that I could not hear it clearly. And, I can remember very clearly that I was getting near the area of Perris Lake and I can remember exactly where I was on the road. And, I said, “Lord, it is tough driving up every morning after the Bible studies to work up here all day in the mountains. It is just something I have to do, but it is so nice if I can listen to the radio while I am going. What is wrong with this crazy thing?” I was just talking to the Lord, just thinking out loud. And, in my mind I saw a connection in the trunk and I saw it in my mind just dangling. So, I pulled off the road , and threw on the brakes. I was so excited. And, I climbed into the trunk and sure enough as I saw in my mind this picture,(and I have never been back in the trunk to look at connections before for the speakers) but there it was tangling. I pushed it together, got in and it was clear as a bell.

It was a vision, but no spiritual significance, and I feel sort of bad about that. I can’t explain it to you, but only on mechanical things do I get dreams and visions, not in spiritual issues, but I am open. And, I would find it quite exciting if the Lord should choose to reveal something by a dream or by a vision. Of course, I guess I am beyond the age of visions, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. So, I would settle for a dream, if the Lord would so want to speak to me.

We do find that God in the scriptures, and has in the scriptures, spoken to people through visions and through dreams.

Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

Now in this sort of a Psalm, a blessing of God, Daniel quotes no less then fifteen different portions of the scriptures. He quotes out of Genesis, out of Exodus, out of II Chronicles, out of Job two or three times, out of the Psalms several times, and even out of Isaiah, showing first of all that he had a tremendous working knowledge of the scriptures. And, that already many of the scriptures had been canonized, and were accepted as God’s Word and studied as the Word of God, some fifteen different quotations. And, we know later on in the ninth chapter, that he was familiar with the writings of Jeremiah, knowing from the scriptures that Jeremiah had predicted the seventy years of Babylonian captivity, knowing that time was just about up. So, he had a tremendous working knowledge of the scriptures.

He was a man of prayer. He was a man of commitment. He had purposed in his heart not to defile himself. And, now he demonstrates the fact that he is a man of the Word. No wonder he stands out in the scriptures as such an outstanding character. No wonder God used him. The man that God uses is a man of commitment. He is a man of prayer. He is a man of the Word.

Daniel answered blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are His; And He changeth the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; (Recognizing that God ordains who is to rule.) He gives wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding. He reveals the deep and the secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.(Psalm 139) I thank thee and praise thou God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee; for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.

So, God has showed it to Daniel, and now Daniel rejoices. He praises God, and gives thanks to God for revealing to him these things.

Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation. Then Arioch brought Daniel before the king in haste, and said unto him, (and notice how he tries to take credit for it.) I have found a man of the captives of Judah that will make known unto the king the interpretation. (I came through for you king.) The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men and the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. (It is a dream that has prophetic significance.) Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into your mind upon your bed, what should come to pass hereafter;

That was the thought of the king as he was going to sleep. I wonder what the future holds? He had just entered into the kingdom. He was only a year on the throne, but he started wondering about the future. What does the future hold?

and He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.

The Lord has let you know what the future holds. He has let you know what is going to come to pass.

But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any other living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, that thou mayest know the thoughts of thy heart.

Now the next characteristic that we know about Daniel, or we observe here, is that he is also a man who is not taking credit or ready to receive glory for something that God has done. He is not really taking credit for himself. The king says, I understand, you can tell me. And, he says, no, there is a God who reveals it. He points the king to God, rather then seeking to get glory for himself for what God has done.

I think that this is an extremely important characteristic necessary for any man who is going to be used by God in any kind of continuing work. And, that is an extremely important characteristic necessary for those who are seeking to serve the Lord in any capacity. Because if God begins to use you, than the danger is always when people come to praise you for what the Lord has done, accepting that praise rather then turning them to the Lord. So, Daniel wisely does not accept the credit, but gives the glory to God for what God has revealed.

Now, he speaks concerning the dream. And, he speaks with such confidence. Earlier he said, “I will shew unto the king the interpretation.” When God spoke to him, He than spoke the Word of God with great confidence. And, I think that it is important that we speak God’s Word with great confidence, and great assurance. That is one characteristics that the Pharisees did not have, or the scribes in the days of Jesus. They were like bureaucrats today. No one wanted to take responsibility for anything. That is why it is so hard to get anything done. No one wants to accept responsibility. They always will pass you onto the next guy, the next guy, the next guy, and no one can make decisions. Daniel speaks very confidently.

The rabbis, in Jesus’ day would quote, Rabbi so and so, he says this. That is the way commentaries are. No one says this is the way it is. That is the way they would teach in Jesus’ day, but when Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount, they marveled because He spoke as one who had authority. And, Daniel as he speaks the Word of God, speaks with authority. And, we need to have that kind of conviction about God’s Word. We should be speaking God’s Word with real authority.

Thou, O king, saw and you beheld a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form of it was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms were silver, his belly and his thighs were brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation to you. For you, O king, are a king of king’s. For the God of heaven has given to you a kingdom, and power, and strength, and glory;

You are there because He has appointed you to be there. God rules over the affairs of man. In Jeremiah 27, God speaking of Nebuchadnezzar declared that he was God’s servant to be used of God to accomplish God’s purposes. He was there because he was ordained by God to reign.

Now, as we move on into the story of Daniel, we will find that Nebuchadnezzar comes to realize that God does establish on the throne those whom he will, and those who He wishes to exalt, He can exalt, and those He wishes to abase, He can abase.

And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into your hand, and hath made you a ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

So the vastness of this Babylon Empire covering that civilized portion of the world in the Middle East area.

And after thee shall arise another kingdom that is inferior to thee.

Now, Daniel does not speak anymore about the Medo-Persian Empire than that. Of course, he told us that there was a chest and arms of silver. The Medo-Persian Empire, of course, the two arms representing the Medes and the Persians. With the two legs you have the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. But nothing more is said that there shall arise after you another kingdom inferior to you. And, in 538 B.C., which was about sixty five years from the date of this dream, the Babylonian kingdom did fall to the Medo-Persian Empire. And, then another third kingdom, which would be the stomach of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth, is a reference to the Grecian kingdom. And in the year 330B.C., the Medo-Persian Empire fell to Alexander the Great and the Grecian kingdom.

Now, as we move into the book of Daniel, Daniel has in chapter 7 a vision of the world governing empires that corresponds to this dream of Nebuchadnezzar. But, in Daniel’s vision he does name the Medo-Persian Empire as the second beast, the bear that conquers over the lion. Then in a further prophecy, he prophecies of the Grecian Empire that is to destroy the Medo-Persian Empire. So, he takes us all the way to the Grecian Empire. And in 330 B.C., the Grecian Empire conquered the Medo-Persian Empire.

And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that breaks all these ,shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas you saw the feet and the toes,

Now, the fourth kingdom was the Roman Empire and in 63 B.C. Rome conquered Greece. And, the beginning of the Roman Empire was in 63 B.C.

Now, after the Roman Empire we move out to the end. After the Roman Empire there has not been a world dominating empire. There have been nations, powerful nations, but not anything that would in anywise be likened unto a world dominating empire.

Whereas you saw the feet and the toes, that were part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou saw the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly weak (or broken, brittle). And whereas you saw the iron mixed with the miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

So, the ten toes of the iron and clay feet represent ten nations or kingdoms that will be federated together as a final world dominating kind of a kingdom or empire. Part iron, would relate it to the Roman Empire. The part clay would speak of more or less democratic states or nations. In Europe today with the formation of the European Community that all began with what was known as the Treaty of Rome. And, it has gone through several changes of names and even as stated goals and purposes. It was called the Common Market. The idea was for economic strength for these nations of Europe to join together as one common market, combining their buying power and their selling powers. Removing the tariffs between the nations of Europe, allowing a free trade between the nations, a free exchange of goods without adding taxes or tariffs. And, it would form the largest economic powers in the world, exceeding the GMP of the United States many times over.

And so we have found that this program has been moving steadily onward, and at the present time there are twelve nations that have joined together by these economic treaties who are moving forward in the development of the European Community. Already they have, of course, the Euro Card, which is like our Master Card. Already they have the Euro passports. Instead of a British passport or a German passport, you have a Euro passport. And, with a Euro passport you can go to any of the nations of the European Community. From now on, after the first of the year, when you fly to Europe, at the port of entry, you will go through customs, but when you go to any other nation within the European Community you will not have to go through customs again. You will have entered into the European Community than you can freely go from one nation to another after the first of the year, without having to go through the custom checks, and without having to go through the searches that they some times require when crossing a border check. They will be removing the border guards from the nations of the European Community as of Thursday night of this week.

And, so we see this federation of nations, but also even as clay does not cleave to the iron, we see that there are many problems that have arisen in this attempt to bring the nations together. They are working towards a common currency. This is where the real problem exists right now, and they realize there is a lot of issues to be ironed out, but they are hoping by the year 1999 to have a common currency among these nations. Now, you go to England, you get your pounds, but then you go to Italy and you have to exchange the pounds for lira. Than you go back to Germany and you get your marks, and in Switzerland you get your francs. But, once the currency is unified they will have a common European currency, and this they are pressing for the year 1999 to get this inaugurated. But, there is a lot of problems with that yet. The iron is just not cleaving to the clay. Thus, as Daniel prophesied, it is not going to be an easy kind of blending of all of these issues together, as they are discovering, as this federation of nations develops, they have run into a lot of problems and are facing many at the present time, but are working to get them resolved.

Now, in Daniel’s vision where he sees not as a man, but as beast, the fourth beast, the Roman Empire, is a fearsome looking beast, that he does not or can not describe. It is just awesome looking. And, it has ten horns. The ten horns would be equivalent to the ten toes. The ten horns rise out of the fourth beast. And, then there comes an eleventh horn which is the anti-christ who takes control over this federation of ten kingdoms. So, it is out of this revived Roman Empire that the anti-christ will come to establish his rule over the earth.

The exciting thing to me is that in the days of these kings, that is when these nations have federated together, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. Now, we have been looking for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his disciples to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

When you look at the world today you do not see the world that God created. You see a world that is suffering from sin and from the curse that resulted from sin. When you see man, you do not see man as God created him or intended him to be, you see fallen man. And, thus God’s intentions are veiled. And we look at the world today, we see the strife, we see the pain, we see death, we see violence, this is not what God intended. The Bible tells us what God intended, man to live together in fellowship with God in sweet communion, in harmony with God. A world that is filled with peace, righteousness, justice and this is the world that shall be when God puts an end to the human worldly governments of man and establishes His government and His kingdom over the earth.

It is so manifestly wrong for men to blame God for the tragedies that exist in our earth today. They try to blame God for the sufferings, the wars, the famines, for starving children. In reality our world is in total rebellion against God and we are suffering the results of that rebellion. This is not the world God intended, but God gave man freedom to do what he wished, and man has been in rebellion against God’s rule and against God’s laws. And, as a result of that rebellion, there are tragedies. There is suffering. But, thank God when the kingdom of Christ shall come, these things will be done away with, and He will reign in righteousness, justice and peace.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and shall consume all of these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

In contrast to the kingdoms of man, which are like the chaff blown away in the summer wind, when it comes down to it finally, the Lord establishes His kingdom which will stand forever.

Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands,

That stone of course is Jesus Christ. He is the precious cornerstone that God promises through Isaiah, that He would lay in Zion. Peter picks that up quoting from Isaiah. Peter also picked up Psalm 118, He is the stone which was said of not or rejected by the builders, but God has caused it to become the chief cornerstone. So, Jesus Christ comes again to establish God’s kingdom.

and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter;

Remember he was wondering what was going to happen in the future. God has shown it to him, and these kingdoms that would rule. Then Daniel affirms:

and the dream is certain, and the interpretation of it is sure.

You can be sure this is going to happen. And, up to this point it has been very sure and very certain. At this very hour they are in the process of dismantling the borders in Europe, so by the end of this week the borders will be down. It is certain, the dream is sure. God is keeping his word and he is right on schedule.

Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and he worshipped Daniel,

This is so typical of man, in worshipping the instrument that God has used. It is wrong. But, it is so typical of man. We so often get enamored by God’s instruments, rather than by God.

and commanded that they should offer and oblation and sweet odors unto him. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets,

You sort of saw the tri-unity of God, a God of gods, the Father; a Lord of kings, King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ; and the revealer of secrets, the Holy Spirit, who searches the deep things of God.

seeing that you could reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him a ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.

Now, remember the kid is still probably in his late teens, but what a position of authority, power is given unto him. Either in late teens or just early twenties, and all of this has been given now to him.

But then Daniel looks out for his buddies too, and I like this.

He requested of the king that he set Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

So, he got good positions for his friends also, though Daniel was right there with the king in the gate of the king.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 Rob Robinson

Abba Father

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

The word father conjures up different images for everyone. To some it brings the picture of love, laughter, respect, and acceptance. Unfortunately, others associate the term father with fear, rejection, and disappointment. That is why it is so important not to take your understanding of your heavenly Father from your experience. Take it from Scripture. You undoubtedly had an imperfect earthly father, perhaps even one who brought you harm. But, as in all of your Christian life, the key is not to understand the Bible based on your experience, but to understand your experience in light of the Bible. God is your model of a father in the truest sense of the word.

Your heavenly Father was willing to pay any price in order to save you (Rom. 8:32). Your heavenly Father is always ready to meet your needs (Luke 11:11-13). Your heavenly Father loves you so much that He is willing to discipline you to bring you to Christian maturity (Prov. 3:11-12; Heb. 12:5-10). Even when you rebel against Him and reject His love, your Father continues to do what is best for you (Rom. 5:8). He does not make His love for you conditional upon your love for Him. He loves you even when you are not loving Him (1 John 4:19). He has made you His heirs and reserves a home for you in heaven (Rom. 8:15-17).

This is what a father is like biblically. If this has not been your experience, it can be now. There is One who has adopted you and who wants to love you in a way you have never experienced. Take comfort and strength from Him your heavenly Father.

The book of Daniel is one of the most exciting books of the Old Testament to me. I love the book of Daniel. We are going to go slow. We are just going to take one chapter at a time so you can fully absorb the marvelous prophecies of this book of Daniel. Like me, I trust that you will fall in love with this man of God who lived such a beautiful and exemplary life. I have come to just love Daniel as a person. He is one of those that I am looking forward to meeting when I get to heaven. I want to know what his feelings were when he was in the lion’s den. He is just an exciting, exciting man of God.

Now the book of Daniel has given tremendous fits to the critics of the Bible, those who seek to deny that the Bible is divinely inspired of God. Probably one of the books that is really the thorn in their side more than any other is the book of Daniel, because Daniel predicted events that were going to transpire during the time of the Greeks, Salutes, the Talamies and all. They were so exact, speaking of Cleopatra and others, and he was so exact in his prophecies, so precise that critics of the Bible and those who do not believe that the Bible is the inspired of God, have had great difficulty with Daniel and they finally found the solution that Daniel was not written by Daniel. They believe that some fellow later on, after the events took place, wrote the book of Daniel and signed it as Daniel, but that he was really a forger, because it would be impossible to write with such exactness of the events of the future unless you were there after they had taken place. So, to discredit the book of Daniel, they have the late date authorship theory. By this way they have sought to discredit it. But, there are so many holes in that theory it is not even worthwhile looking at it. But, if you say nothing else, this should suffice, but with those kind of people nothing suffices.

Jesus made reference to the book of Daniel and He ascribed the authorship to Daniel. That should be sufficient to answer any criticism or any kind of a late date fraud kind of a thing that could have been going on, because Jesus would not have endorsed a fraud.

I am not going to go into the argument. It is not even worth it. I think that too many times people try to fight the darkness. They are always trying to drive off darkness. That can be just a tremendous expenditure of energy and time. Rather than drive out darkness, just turn on the light, and the light will dispel the darkness. I do not like to major in the minors, or into the negative things, but to just rejoice in the glorious light that God has given to us.

Now Daniel begins the book,

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it.

Now, in the third year of Jehoiakim, it is thought that Jehoiakim began to reign in about 607 B.C. So, the third year of his reign would be about 604 B.C. There is no direct record in history of Babylon attacking Jerusalem in 604 B.C., and thus the dating has been brought into question. But, if you turn to II Kings 24, where we read of the reign of Jehoiakim, it says:

In his days Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years.

Now Jehoiakim was more or less set on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar. He was a vassal to Babylon. Actually, he was set on the throne by Pharaoh Necho, but the Pharaoh was conquered by Babylon. Now, in the third year he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.

And the Lord set against him bands of the Chaldees (or the Babylonians), and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon.

This would be the third year after. But notice:

And he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servants the prophets. Surely the commandment of the Lord came upon Judah to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did.

Thus in the third year, they came against Jerusalem. It was probably at this time that they took certain of the vessels from the house of God and these captives of the kings descendants back to Babylon.

Daniel 1:2:

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand, with part of the vessels (not all of them at this time) of the house of God; which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. And the king spoke to Ashpenaz the master of the eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes;

They brought some of the choice young men. Again, let us go back to II Kings 20:18. We have a prophecy here of Isaiah that he is giving to Hezekiah the king. And the occasion was that Hezekiah almost died, but recovered from his illness. You remember the story that the prophet came to him and said set your house in order because you are going to die and not live. And Hezekiah prayed all night long and begged God. So, the Lord gave him another ten years. So, in recovering from this illness certain emissaries came from Babylon to congratulate him on the recovery from this illness. And as a gracious host, Hezekiah took them through all of the treasures that were in the house of the Lord and he showed them everything that he had. So, when they left, the prophet Isaiah came to him and he asked if the fellows came from Babylon, and Hezekiah answered yes. Then he asked him what he showed them. And Hezekiah said that he showed them everything, all the treasures and all that are here. So Isaiah said unto him, verse 16:

Hear the word of the Lord, behold the days will come when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have laid up in store (all of the treasures) shall be carried into Babylon; and nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons (that is the kings sons, his descendants) that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, they shall take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Now this is a prophecy one hundred years before. Now this prophecy is being fulfilled when Daniel and other of the princes were taken to Babylon.

Daniel 1:4:

Children (and notice it says children) in whom was no blemish, but well favored (or good looking), and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, whom they might teach the learning and the language of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat.

So, these young men were taken as captives. They were descendants of Hezekiah and thus they were of the royal seed. Daniel was of the royal seed from the tribe of Judah, a descendent of David.

And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank; so nourishing them three years, that at the end that they might stand before the king.

So, they were being groomed. They were being taught in all of the learning of Babylon. Taught the Chaldean language. The provision of the kings fare, the king’s meat and so forth was set before them. And, they were to be prepared to stand before the king as a counselor in the foreign affairs department, especially dealing with the nation of Judah.

Now, the interesting thing is that Daniel and his three friends were probably around fourteen years old at this time.

So many times I think that our Sunday School papers give us a false impression with ages. For instances, when Abraham was commanded of the Lord to offer his son, Isaac, his son, his only son as a sacrifice to the Lord on the mount on which God would show him, we so often see the pictures of Abraham leading this little boy maybe eight to twelve years old. But, Isaac at the time could have been as much as thirty years old. So, we get false impressions.

Here, Daniel is usually pictured as a very mature young fellow, but he was probably only about fourteen years old, because he was taken in the third year of Jehoiakim as a captive and he lived through the seventy years of captivity in Babylon that was predicted by Jeremiah. And, he lived on into the reign of the Medo-Persian kings, actually unto Darius. When he was thrown into the lion’s den, no longer a young man, he was in his ninety’s. It could be that he was such a tough old critter by that time the lion’s did not have any desire for him.

It’s like listening to the radio, somehow you get a picture in your mind of what they must look like and then when you meet them it is always a shock. It is sort of fun. I will be in a restaurant some place and when I order my dinner the waiter or waitress will often take a double take. And they will say, “You’re not…could you be…oh, no…are you Chuck Smith?” And I’ll say, “Yes.” And, oh my, you can see the shock on their face. You sort of want to say what Jesus said concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” What were you expecting to see?

So, it is interesting how we conjure in our minds pictures like Daniel in the lion’s den. You think of him still as a kid, but he was a old man in his ninety’s by that time. So, he was probably about fourteen to seventeen years old when he was taken with his friends as captives to Babylon.

Among those that were taken of the children of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Now, you remember that they were taken during a time of spiritual decadence in Israel. Josiah, the good king, had died. Jehoiakim, a wicked king, was reigning in his stead. The spiritual atmosphere in Jerusalem was not good. The prophet Jeremiah was speaking out against these things that were going on, but it is very probable that Daniel as a very young boy was impressed by this prophet Jeremiah, the man of God. His heart was open to the message of Jeremiah, and sympathetic too, though the whole political scene was that of corruption. Yet, there were these four young men who were really committed to the Lord at an early age.

Now the name Daniel means God is my judge. Hananiah means beloved of the Lord. Mishael means who is as God, and Azariah means the Lord is my help. These are beautiful names that signify the depth of spirituality, perhaps of their parents, as the boys were given these names that relate to the Lord.

Now these young men were placed under the charge of the prince of the eunuchs, and he gave them Babylonian names. To Daniel, he gave the name of Belteshazzar, which is the same as Belshazzar, and the name means Bel’s princes or servant. To Hananiah, whose name meant beloved of the Lord, he gave the name Shadrach, which means illumine by Rach, who was the sun god of the Babylonians. To Mishael, whose names means who is as God, he gave the name of Meshach, which means who is as Shach. So, who is as God was changed to who is as Shach, who was thought to be the goddess Venus, or the Babylonian equivalent of the Greek god Venus. And to Azariah, whose name meant the Lord is my help, they gave the name Abed-Nego, which is servant of Nego, another of the Babylonian gods. And, so they were given by the Babylonians these pagan names.

Daniel 1:8:

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

He purposed in his heart not to defile himself. I think it is so important for people to establish in their hearts that kind of commitment and purpose that I am not going to defile my body.

Another one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament is Joseph, and he at a tender young age had a very bitter experience. His brothers turned on him and sold him to slave traders who were going to Egypt. In Egypt he was sold to a man by the name of Potiphar who was one of the chief guards to the Pharaoh. Potiphar’s wife took a liking to him and sought to seduce him into a sexual relationship. But it said that Joseph said unto her, “How can I do this great sin against god?” So, though a teenager, though in a strange country where the influences of the home are gone, the opportunity is there, yet because of that purpose in his heart he remained true to the Lord.

A lot of times people when they are away from the influences and the environment of their home get into evil. They do things there that they would not do at home, because they think that nobody knows them there. And, that is when a lot of times people get tripped up and get into mischief when they get away from the environment of home. But, here were these young fellows, and they had purposed in their hearts to be pure, not to defile themselves. How important it is for us to make that kind of purpose and determination not to defile ourselves, but to live a pure and holy life before God. To not pollute our minds or defile our bodies.

Now the king’s meat most generally was first of all sacrificed to their gods in pagan worship. After the meat was sacrificed to the gods it was then roasted and served at the king’s table. In Paul’s day, he writes concerning this practice and how that when you go to the butcher shop to buy meat he said, “Do not ask the butcher was this meat offered as a sacrifice?” Because, if the butcher says yes, then if you buy it and eat it your conscience is going to be troubled. So just do not ask. Just buy it take it home and enjoy it, and do not ask questions for your conscience sake. And, when you are invited to a friend’s house to eat who is an unbeliever, just eat what is set before you asking no questions. This is the same idea. Do not say, “Did you take this down and sacrifice it to the gods before you brought it home to serve me?” Just do not ask questions. Eat what is set before you asking no questions for your conscience sake.

Now there was no doubt that the meat that was upon the king’s table was offered first unto the gods of the Babylonians. And, because of the law of God to eat that meat would be to pollute yourself. So, Daniel purposed in his heart that he was not going to defile his body, himself, with the king’s meat or with the king’s wine. And so he requested from the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. He was a good looking, model kind of a young man. And, the man who was in charge of grooming him loved him. He was just that kind of a person. There was this special relationship. He liked Daniel very much. So, he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king,” and well might he. Nebuchadnezzar was a man who did not take no for an answer. He was a man who would order you executed for an trivial offense. So this fellow like any one else served in great fear. And so he declares:

I fear my lord the king who has appointed your meat and your drink.

The king is the one that has ordered this stuff for Daniel.

For why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.

He’ll chop off my head if you guys come in looking sickly and all, because I am in charge of you, feeding you and getting you strong and healthy and training you and all. You are putting my life in jeopardy.

Then Daniel said to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove your servants, I beseech thee, ten days.

Certain numbers have spiritual implications. The study of Biblical numerology is interesting, and numbers are symbolic in the scriptures. And, the number ten is symbolic of testing and trial.

Now, you remember when Jacob was serving his uncle Laban for his wives. Jacob said unto him, “You have changed my wages ten times(testing and trial).” When Job addressed those fellows who had come to commiserate with him in his physical afflictions. He said, “You have actually castigated me these ten times(number of testing).” You remember when Jesus wrote to the church at Smyrna in the book of Revelation. He said, “You shall be tested ten days (the number of testing and trial).”

So, Daniel said:

Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; (Give us a ten day test.) and let them give us vegetables to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee and the countenance of the children that eat of the king’s meat; and as you see, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of the ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children that did eat the portion of the king’s meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them vegetables.(a vegetarian type of a diet). As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all of the learning and wisdom.

So the knowledge came from God. They were gifted by God. Now, to me it is just fascinating to see how certain people are gifted in certain areas. Gifted musicians. You could practice the piano all their life, eight hours a day, but they will never be able to play like Mark Zeeman. It is a gift. There are people who are just gifted musically. People are gifted in linguistics. People are gifted in mathematics. There is just something in the genes. But, it is God who places it in the genes. So, these gifts actually come from God. These abilities come from God. And it is a wise person who recognizes that this is a gift from God, this capacity, this ability, and he then gives it back to God to glorify God with that gift that he has.

You see our gifts always find their highest use and expression when they are used for the glory of God, then the purposes are being fulfilled. It is a tragic thing when people prostitute those gifts and use them for their own glory or for their own enrichment rather than for the glory of God. That is always a very sad and tragic thing, but it is such a common thing. People will take those natural abilities, capacities that God has given to them and then use them for themselves.

Daniel 1:17

As for these four children, God gave to them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

His went beyond just the knowledge and understanding of the sciences and things of this nature. God gave to Daniel the spiritual dimension. I believe it is a direct correlation between these spiritual capacities with that commitment that Daniel had made and purposed in his heart that he was not going to defile himself. I am going to keep my body pure. I am going to keep my life pure. I am not going to defile myself. And, I believe there is a direct relationship between that commitment towards purity and the gifts of the spirit and the discerning and the understanding of dreams and visions, that they are tied together with that kind of a commitment unto the Lord.

Now at the end of the days (that would be the three years) the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs had brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

Now Nebuchadnezzar is an interesting person and if you go back to Jeremiah 27 beginning with verse 4, you find Jeremiah prophesying concerning Nebuchadnezzar.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the god of Israel; Thus shall you say to your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I have given it unto whom it seemed fit unto me. And now have I given all of these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; (God says)and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son .

Interestingly enough that is just how far it went, to his son and his son’s son who was Belshazzar. And of course, it was Belshazzar who parished at the hands of the Medo-Persians when the Babylonian empire fell and the Medo-Persian empire took over. Interesting prophecy, because again the exactness of it, I gave it to him to his son and to his son’s son, and that was it. That is how far she went.

until the very time of his land come; and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.

The many nations, of course, are the Medo-Persians and the kings Cyrus and Darius and so forth, they would then conquer which did happen. But, notice God said He gave it to Nebuchadnezzar, and God calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant because God used Nebuchadnezzar as his instrument of judgment. It is not because Nebuchadnezzar was a righteous man, but he became God’s instrument of judgment against the nations. So, Ezekiel prophecies the destruction of Tyre as does Jeremiah and of the other nations which were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar because God had ordained that he would be the instrument of judgment. But, after he became the instrument of judgment then Babylon also was judged. So they were brought before Nebuchadnezzar in whom god had set in his position of power and authority.

Now as we move into the book of Daniel we will find where God teaches Nebuchadnezzar the fact that it was God who placed him in that position. He began to be lifted up with pride because of the glory of the Babylonian kingdom. He began to say, “Is this not the great Babylon that I have Made?” And God said he would teach him a lesson and He did.

You know there are important things for you to know, lessons that you need to learn. And, you can learn them the easy way or you can learn them the hard way. A lot of people are stubborn and thus they have to learn the hard way. It is painful to learn those lessons, but the lessons are so important, your life depends upon you learning these lessons.

Jonah needed to learn an important lesson that God’s way is the best and the right way. That God knows best for your life. And Jonah, when God told him what he wanted him to do, thought that Jonah knew better than God. God said go to Ninevah. Jonah said I am going to Tarsus. But, he learned and important lesson the hard way. And, I have been as Jonah in certain lessons that God had to teach me.

It is not easy to learn lessons the hard way, but the lessons are so important that I must learn them. So, God in His love is going to teach me the lesson. If I am attentive and obedient I can learn lessons the easy way. And, that is great! But, if I think I know better God will teach me the lessons, but oh, it hurts. It is painful. But whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth. You see if God did not love you he would just let you go. He would let you destroy yourself. He would let you mess yourself up completely, but He loves you, and whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth. He will teach you. He will chasten you as a teaching method in order to teach you his ways.

Nebuchadnezzar learned the lesson that it was God who gave him his authority, his position. That God sets on the throne those whom He wills. He learned it, but what a hard way.

In all the matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them.

They came before him and it was sort of an inquisition. The king began to ask them questions, testing them. And, in all of the questions, that the king inquired of them,

he found them ten times better than all of the magicians and astrologers that were in all of his realm.

These guys were shining lights, just young boys. But, because of the spirit of God upon them, the anointing of God upon their lives, they were ten times better than all the rest.

Now, the Bible declares that the natural man does not understand the things of the spirit, neither does he know them for they are spiritually discerned. Thus, it is totally worthless to go to Orange Coast College or USC or any other university and take a Bible course from some Ph.D. who is not born again. Because the natural man does not understand the things of the spirit and neither can he know them. Though he may understand the Hebrew and the Greek and may all of the grammar and the tenses and the whole bit, if he is not born again he is not capable of teaching the Word of God. You would be much better off to go and listen to just some simple minister of Jesus Christ who is filled with the Spirit and maybe only has a sixth grade education, and does not know Greek from hen scratches, but walks with the Spirit and lives in fellowship with God.

I use to have a lady in my church who had only a sixth grade education, but this lady lived close to the Lord and walked in the Spirit. She called me brother Smith and she would often times come up to me and she would say, “You know I was reading here in Galatians the other day and the Lord spoke to my heart and I saw this and it was just so beautiful.” Well, it happened that I was studying Galatians and I had been using my Greek New Testament and looking at the whole Greek, and I got the same truth. It was great. I was able to get it by digging it out of the Greek. And, I thought you know it is great to have a working knowledge of the Greek language so you can get these things. And, here she comes up with the same truth. I said, “Lord, that is not fair.” All of that miserable studying. I hated Greek. I labored through Greek. And here God brings to her the same truths, reveals them by His Spirit. I used to enjoy just talking to her, because God had given to her such beautiful spiritual insights because she just walked in close fellowship with the Lord.

So, Daniel and his friends had it all over these other guys. They were ten times wiser in the matters, because of God’s Spirit, because of their hearts that were purposed that they were going to serve God. They were not going to defile themselves, but they were going to live a life of fellowship with God, pleasing unto God. A tremendous example and a lot to learn from these four young men who stood fast in the face of temptation in a foreign land, where living there they had all the opportunities to avail themselves of the glamour and favors that they could obtain by being there in the king’s court, and yet their hearts were committed to the Lord completely. And, God blessed them for it, even as God will bless you as you commit your heart completely over to him.

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The Spirit Bears Witness

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Romans 8:16-18)

It is impossible to perceive all that became ours when we were born again. There is no way we can understand all that heaven is like. How could we ever comprehend all that is ours as fellow heirs with Christ? The knowledge that we will share Christ’s inheritance with Him absolutely astounds us! Left to our own, we could not begin to understand all that we received once we became children of the King. The Holy Spirit convinces us that we are indeed children of God and helps us understand the riches of our inheritance.

Perhaps you did not have a loving father. The Spirit’s role is to teach you how to respond to a Father who relates to you only in perfect love and how to live like a child of the King. Perhaps you grew up in poverty. The Spirit will show you the inexhaustible riches available to you as a child of God.

If you were simply declared an heir and then left on your own, you could not begin to use your inheritance. But the Father has given you His Spirit to serve as your Guide and Teacher. The Holy Spirit will lead you to the magnificent promises and resources that became available when God adopted you into His family. Take time to meditate on the wonderful promises of God that are available to you. Let the Holy Spirit convince you of the reality that you are, indeed, a child of God and a fellow heir of Christ.

A Godly Influence

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. (Genesis 7:1)

The children of Noah faced a significant decision. They lived in a world where everyone blatantly disregarded God. Wickedness was the norm. No one would have condemned Noah’s sons for living evil lives like the rest of society no one except their father. In a world rampant with ungodly attitudes and every form of wicked behavior, they were fortunate to be Noah’s sons. When their father invited them to spend the next hundred years building an ark in obedience to a word from God, Noah’s sons had to choose whether to believe those around them or to trust their father. They chose to join their father. What a wonderful testimony of Noah’s godly influence in his home! How fortunate for Shem, Ham, and Japheth that their father refused to compromise his integrity, even though everyone else in his society had done so.

Your life has an influence on those around you as well. Your spouse and your children are profoundly affected by your choices. Your coworkers, your neighbors, and your friends will all be impacted by your life. As the world tries to persuade people to follow its standard, your life should stand in stark contrast as an example of a righteous person. Your life should convince those around you of the wisdom of following God. Do not underestimate the positive effect that your obedience will have upon those close to you.

We are in Ezekiel right now, chapter forty six. Ezekiel pretty much concentrates on the future glory of Israel. This is not the church. The glory that we have as the church will even exceed that of Israel, for we are the bride of Christ, and we will be ruling and reigning with Him.

Now Israel will have to go through the great tribulation. A hundred and forty four thousand of them will be sealed by God, to help their survival in the great tribulation. They will live through the tribulation in their natural bodies, and on into this new era, the true “new age”.

Now Satan has a counterfeit for almost everything God does, and he’s got his counterfeit “new age” going already. But it is a counterfeit. There is a true new age coming, and that’s the kingdom age, the age of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He comes and reigns for a thousand years over the earth.

During this thousand year reign of Jesus Christ, Satan will be bound, and in the abusso. It would seem that the curse of sin will be removed from the earth, so that again there will be longevity of life. People will live to ripe old ages of nine hundred, a thousand or so. There will not be physical impairments. You won’t have handicaps. You won’t have lame people, you won’t have blind, or deaf, that will be gone.

The desert regions will be blossoming like roses, that there’ll be a beautiful earth covered with vegetation. I’ve often kidded that I wanted, when we come to reign and rule with Christ, I had put in for Hawaii. But in reality, the whole world will be like Hawaii, so you know, you won’t need to go over there for the good weather, and the beautiful ocean. So it’s going to be a restored earth. It’s going to be glorious here on the earth. We will be ruling and reigning with Christ over this restored earth, but we will be in our new bodies.

Our, the Bible talks about these bodies as “tents”. When you think of a tent, you don’t think of something permanent. Couple weeks vacation maybe, but you know, and it’s exciting to get out in the woods, but you notice how hot tents are when the sun is on them? You get inside, and they’re not the most comfortable thing in the world. So you always look at, it’s, it’s good for awhile, but you don’t think of it as permanent. If you were told, “Well you’re gonna have to put your tent on this lot and that’s where you’re gonna live from now on”, you wouldn’t be very happy about that. So you think of something that is transient, something that is temporary, but you think of a house in a more permanent way.

So when these earthly bodies, this tent, the earthly body is dissolved, we have a building of God that’s not made with hands, that’s eternal in the heavens. Our new glorified body, and we will be in those glorified bodies, as we return with Jesus Christ, as He comes to reign over the earth.

Ezekiel’s gonna talk now a little bit about the conditions around Israel during that time. The conditions of the nation, how that the land will be allotted to the various tribes at that time. So as we have looked at the new temple that is to be built, and as we see how the plan has been apportioned out for the various groups, we have seen this ruler over the Jews who is called the prince. There is reason to believe that the prince is not Jesus Christ, because he does worship the Lord. He does offer sacrifices, and he also has sons that he apportions a part of his land to. So we will find that in chapter forty six, as we deal with the worship of the prince. That is, he’s not being worshiped, but he worships himself, there in the temple.

Thus saith the Lord God; The gate of the inner court that looks towards the east shall be shut for six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. [Special holidays or feast days, the new moon celebrated by special observances.] 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 priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate (46:1-2):

Now this is the gate of the inner court, and it is for the prince, and it is closed for six days, but on the sabbath day when he comes to worship it is open for him, and on the new moons when he comes to worship it is open for him. They prepared the offerings that he is to offer to the Lord. He leads the people in worship. Now, “the priest will prepare his burnt offerings, his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold”…

and he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. [It’ll be open all day long on the sabbath.] And likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons. And the burnt offering [Which is the offering of consecration.] that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish. [These are to be offered as consecration unto God.] The meal offering shall be a ephah [Which is about a bushel and three pints.] for the ram, and a meal offering for the lambs shall be as he is able to give, and a hin of oil [Which is about six quarts of oil.] to an ephah. [So they mix up this flour, oil mixture, and sort of bake it, and it is the offering unto the Lord.] IN the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, six lambs and a ram: and they shall be without blemish (46:2-6).

Notice the sacrifices to be offered are to be without blemish because they bespeak of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God without spot, or without blemish.

Now people wonder why offerings will be offered in this age. They will be memorial offerings. Now God knows man’s tendency to, in time, forget His mercies. Thus, God established holidays as memorials. The Passover was to remind them of God’s divine, miraculous deliverance of their fathers from Egypt. With a strong hand, marvelous miracles, God delivered them from Egypt. Thus, the Passover was to remind them, it was a memorial to bring them into remembrance. Every year when they had the Passover, it was to remind them over and over of what God had done.

God has done a wonderful thing in providing a sin offering for us, that is Jesus Christ. When the sin offerings are made in the kingdom age, they will be made as memorials. They were made before in anticipation. They did not actually put away sin, they made a Kophar, a covering for the sins, but they did not put away sins. But they were looking ahead to Jesus Christ, who, through His death would put away our sin once, and for all. So they were anticipatory, they were a shadow of things to come, the substance was Jesus.

Now as they are once again offered, they will be as memorial offerings, looking back, and remembering what Jesus has done for us. When we see the lamb being slain as a sin offering, we will be reminded of the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins, who made the sacrifice for our sins. They will of course, elicit from us just praise and thanksgiving that Jesus Christ would give Himself for us, and for our sins!

So memorial offerings as far as the sin offering is concerned. The other offerings, consecration? Yes, a renewed consecration. Peace offerings? Yes, entering into beautiful communion with God.

So the prince will offer the meal offering. And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by way of the porch of that east gate, and he shall go out by the same gate. [However] When the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that enters in by the way of the north gate to worship shall exit by way of the south gate; and he that enters by the way of the south gate shall exit by way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but he shall go forth over against it (46:7-9).

On the other side, now why? I don’t know. We’ll find out you know, when we get there, we’ll say, “Lord why did you do this arrangement?”, and we’ll find out. But really it doesn’t explain why that particular route.

The prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, he shall go forth. And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meal offerings shall be an ephah of a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, [That is of the meal, the flour, fine flour, a bushel and three pints.] and to the lambs as he is able to give, and with it a hin [Or six quarts] of oil. Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the Lord (46:10-12),

God does not demand your commitment to Him. That’s something that God allows you to make freely, your free will. God doesn’t force you to serve Him. God doesn’t force you to fellowship with Him. That’s something that God leaves to your choice. You choose whether or not to commit yourself fully to the Lord. You choose whether or not to, to fellowship with the Lord. That is the matter of choice, and God has left it that way deliberately so. Because God wants a meaningful relationship with you. If it was a forced relationship, then how would God really know that you actually did want to just fellowship with Him, or you did want to just commit yourself? So God leaves that as a matter of free will, your free will. You are free to do it, you are free not to do it. But in the exercising your freedom to do it, then it is very meaningful. Because it means you’ve done it because you’ve wanted to do it, not because you were forced to do it. So the voluntary burn offerings, or peace offerings unto the Lord.

they will open for him the gate that looks towards the east, and he will prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: and he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate. [So a special place for this prince entering, and exiting.] And thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish: and thou shalt prepare it every morning. [This is more or less, as a national kind of commitment unto the Lord.] And thou shalt prepare a meal offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and a third part of a hin of oil, to temper it with the fine flour; a meal offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord. And thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meal offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering (46:12-15).

Each morning sacrifices of dedication, and consecration going up to God. Now concerning the…

Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince shall give a gift unto any of his sons, [So he does have sons.] the inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by inheritance. [He has a portion of the land allotted to him, if he gives it to his sons, or anything, it’s theirs, it’s an inheritance, it passes to them.] But if he gives a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; and after that it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be to his sons’ for them (46:16-17).

In other words, it’s perpetual, give it to his sons, it remains with his sons and his family. But if he gives it to his servants in the year of liberty, it, probably the sixth year, or the seventh year, it comes back to the prince.

Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, [No forcing] to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons an inheritance out of his own possession: [He’s not to appropriate the property of others, but he gives that which has been appropriated to him.] that my people be not scattered every man from his possession (46:18).

It is interesting how God has placed a value upon property rights, and the desire that the property remain within the family. In the Old Testament under the law, God made special provisions, to keep the, the family inheritance from just being dissipated, broken up. If you sold your property, then you always had a reversionary clause where you could buy it back in a specified period of time. The deeds were written up and sealed. But there was always this opportunity of purchasing the property back with the specified period of time.

If you personally could not buy your property back, then one of the family could. Your, your brother or one of the members of the family, had the right to purchase the property back, in order that the property remain in the family. It seems that God was quite interested in the perpetuating of, of the family inheritance that they were given in the land. Even here, again, the, they’re not to appropriate the property of someone else, though he is the governor, or the ruler, because God wants the property to remain with the families, every man continuing in his own possession.

Now after this he brought me through the entry, that was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looks toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward (46:19).

Now you need the map we gave you the other night. These are those chambers for the priest in the area of the inner court where they killed the sacrifices and prepared the sacrifices for the offerings. They are where the priests changed their garments and all. These were holy chambers of the priests which looked towards the north. “And behold there was a place on the two sides westward.”

Then he said unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering, and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meal offerings; that they bear them not out into the outer court, to sanctify the people. [These were, these were within the inner court, they’re not to be taken to the outer court, these particular sin, and trespass offerings.] Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and he caused me to pass by the four corners of the outer court; [Those little, if you have your maps there, in the outer courts, in each corner of the courts.] in every corner of the court there was this little court, and it was forty cubits by thirty cubits: [Or forty five feet, by sixty feet.] in each corner. [These were the places where they boiled the offerings in these little chambers.] And he said unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people (46:20-24).

So when the people would bring their sacrifices, this is where the priests would prepare and boil them, in these four little chambers in the corners of the outer court.

Chapter 47

Now afterward he brought me again to the door of the house; and, behold, [That would be the east gate, “and, behold”,] 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 (47:1).

So you’re coming from the inside to the gate, and on the right-hand side, going out the south side would be this trickle of water. The Hebrew there is, is indicating a trickle of water coming out from the right side.

An when the man that had the line in his hand went forth towards the east, he measured a thousand cubits, [Or about a third of a mile.] and he brought me through the waters; and the waters were to my ankles. Then he measured another third of a mile and he took me through the waters; and it was up to my knees. And he measured down another third of a mile, and he brought me through the waters; and it was up to my loins. And afterwards he measured another third of a mile; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, and they were deep enough to swim in, a river that you just couldn’t walk across (47:3-5).

So an interesting thing, this river that comes from the throne of God and, and flows eastward!

Now it’s interesting that there are several places in the Bible where this river is mentioned. It would seem that the temple is in a way, and the city of Jerusalem that is here, in a way is sort of a replica or a model of the new Jerusalem. In the new Jerusalem there is a river that proceeds from the throne of God, this seems to proceed from the, from the Holy of Holies. It begins with just a small little trickle of water there at the gate towards the east, coming out of the south side there. But the further you go along, the deeper the water gets.

Now there are people who have difficulty with this, trying to figure out just how in the world is God going to do it. People who have difficulty with that, just have a small concept of God. Go back to Genesis one, one. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” A God who is big enough to do that is, is big enough to make a, a trickle of water increase to a river of water so deep that you have to swim across it.

You know, when the Bible talks about God doing things, I have no difficulty at all! My God can do anything! He said, “I am God, is there anything too hard for me?” Thus, you know, if you’re trying to figure out scientifically and all how, you know water, “where’s the water coming from?”, that seems to be the major issue. Well read about the flood! God opened up actually, the fountains of the deep. Who knows what’s under there!

Now we do know, we do know, that when Jesus comes again, He’s gonna set His foot on the mount of Olives, and when it, when it, when He does, it’s gonna split in the middle, half towards the north, half towards the south, forming a great valley. This indicates a tremendous geological change and upheaval! With the splitting of the Mount of Olives, it will probably open up fissures of water. The, the river will flow through the new valley on down towards the Dead Sea. But actually a part of it is going to flow towards the Mediterranean. So you’re gonna be right at the, the, the continental divide, so to speak, in that, a part of the river flows on down to the Mediterranean, and the other part of it will flow on down to the Dead sea.

Let’s turn to Zechariah, chapter fourteen, as he speaks about this same river in conjunction with Jesus splitting with the mount of Olives. Beginning with the first verse, “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall split in the middle toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley running east and west; half the mountain shall remove toward the north, half of it toward the south.”

So that’s gonna be a tremendous earthquake, splitting that thing. A great fault being created there, opening up the earth. “And you will flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: and yea, ye shall flee, like as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Him.”

So this is when Christ returns with all of His saints, sets His foot on the mount of Olives, tremendous earthquake splits that thing. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at the evening time it shall be light.” Sort of a, a twilight, sort of a lingering twilight. “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them towards the former sea, and half of them towards the hinder sea:”, the hinder sea would be the Mediterranean, “in the summer and in the winter it will flow. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.” So it speaks of this river that will, and he associates it with this splitting of the mount of Olives.

Now [We are told by Ezekiel.] when I returned to the bank of the river I noticed there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, These waters that issue out toward the east country, and go down to the desert [the plains] and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. [As these waters come into the Dead sea, the waters of the Dead sea will be healed.] And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever 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 every thing [that, every thing] shall live wherever the river comes. And it shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even to Eneglaim; and [They shall be a,] there shall be a place for the spreading of their nets; and their fish will be according to their kinds, as the fish of the Mediterranean, exceeding many (47:7-10).

So something about the water that is going to correct this high-saline content of the Dead sea, so that the Dead sea will actually become a great fishing spot. This Eneglaim they think was at the north end of the Dead sea. Engedi is about middle way down on the west bank of the Dead sea. A great place for fishing.

Now you go to the Dead sea today, and there’s no life in the Dead sea. The salt, mineral content is so great that nothing can live in it. It’s, it’s sort of weird seeing that clear water of the Dead sea, and there’s no plant life that grows in it, there are no fish, there are no living kind of organisms that you can see. It’s just clear water, but so salty that nothing can live in it. So those waters will be healed as this new river flows into it, and wherever the waters go. The plain down by the Jordan will become very fertile again, very fruitful as a result of these waters. There will be these trees on either side of the river. Verse twelve…

And by the river upon the bank thereof, on both sides, shall grow all trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade, [They won’t be deciduous, but evergreens.] neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed (47:12):

Or will not quit bearing, it won’t be deciduous where you get the apricots in the last part of June and the last part of July, your peaches a little later on in July. They won’t, but, it won’t be that there will be a time when there is not fruit on the trees. “Whose leaf shall not fade neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed”…

it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, [Every month a different kind of fruit, that’s gonna be a fascinating tree!] because of their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine (47:12).

There will be a medicinal value in the leaves of the tree. So interesting, these new trees!

Now as I say this is a sort of model of the new Jerusalem, for as you turn to Revelation, chapter twenty one, and you read of the new Jerusalem, actually chapter twenty two. Chapter twenty one we’ll come to as we read the city of Jerusalem. But in chapter twenty two, “He shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal”, I like that!, “proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the midst of the street of it, on either side of the river, was there a tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Same thing that Ezekiel saw. “And there shall be no more curse:”, upon the world, upon man, “but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. There will be no night there; no need of candle”, and it goes on and you don’t want to stop because it’s great. It’s so good! But we’re in Ezekiel, not Revelation! But the parallel, you can see the parallel. Writing of these trees, bearing twelve manner of fruit, the leaves are used for their medicinal value, a healing of the nations.

And thus saith the Lord God; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. [That is Ephraim, and Manasseh will have the portions, the sons of Joseph.] And you shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up my hand [that is to swear] I sware to give it to your fathers: [The lifting up the hands indicates a, as a taking of an oath, and it’s used different times here in Ezekiel.] and this land shall fall unto you for an inheritance. And this shall be the border of the land [He gives you the borders, and we don’t even know where these places are anymore, but we do know that they start about sixty miles north of Damascus.] The Hamath (47:13-16),

Is perhaps the area, “Hamah”, today, about sixty miles north of Damascus. Of course on the west side of the boundaries is the Mediterranean, and the eastern boundaries, there’s the mention of the Jordan river, and perhaps that will form the eastern boundary of the land that God is going to give. But again, during the great tribulation there will be tremendous cataclysmic upheavals. The geography will be changed. So we cannot really think of it in terms of the present geography. Not only that, the climactic conditions will be vastly changed during the kingdom age again, and so the whole land will be beautiful and fertile at that time.

After he gives you the various names which none of the commentators seem to really know where they are. Several of them take their guesses, but others shoot down their guesses, so why even bother?

It shall come to pass, that you will divide it by lot [or allotment] for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; and they shall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel (47:22).

In other words, it won’t be exclusively for Israel, but those that are there will share in the land. The problem with the Arabs, and West Bank and, and all of that will, will not be a problem then. The interesting thing, God will allow those born in the land to also have an inheritance and share in the land.

And it shall come to pass, that what tribe the stranger is sojourning in, there shall you give to him his inheritance, saith the Lord God (47:23).

So even the strangers will be provided for.

Chapter 48

Now here’s where your little map comes in handy, because it shows you the division of the land. The northern most part above Damascus is given to the tribe of Dan. Then just under Dan comes a portion for the tribe of Asher. Then, Naphtali, and then Manasseh, and then Ephraim, Reuben, and then Judah. Seven of the tribes inheriting the land north from that central portion which will belong, first of all, the section there for the Levites, and then the section for the priests. In the center of the section for the priests will be the sanctuary, the temple that we have been, so take that map that you had the other night, and put it right in that little black spot under the small “a”, and that’s where the temple will be. The relationship of the Levites north, the priests surrounding it, and then south of that will be the city of Jerusalem in the capital “B” there, the area of the city of Jerusalem. The outer portions of that center section of course, marked “D”, in capital “D”, is for the prince. There outside of the city of Jerusalem are the suburbs marked “B”, and “D”, and they are where they will grow the produce and all, and to take care of the people living within the city of Jerusalem.

So as you’re reading that portion of Ezekiel, he is describing what you can see on this little chart here. South of course will be Benjamin, tribe of Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun, the southern most part belonging to the tribe of Gad. In the thirtieth verse, and basically up to, you’re, you’re covering the area up to verse thirty in, in all of these descriptions here. In verse thirty…

These are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand five hundred measures. And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates on the north side; one of Reuben, and of Judah, and of Levi. And on the east side four thousand five hundred: and three gates (48:30-32);

Four thousand five hundred is the reeds, so you have, a reed is ten feet. So you have forty five thousand feet which is about four miles, the city will be about a four mile square, “and the three gates”, that is the inner city, and then the suburbs around it, the houses. The east gate four thousand five hundred, and the three gates, or, the east side of the wall, three gates…

one for Joseph one for Benjamin, and the gate of Dan. Then on the south side of the city [Again the wall] four thousand five hundred measures: and three gates; of Simeon, and Issachar, and Zebulun. And on the west side [again] the four thousand five hundred feet with their three gates; [Or forty five thousand feet, “with their three gates”.] the one from Gad, and Asher, and Naphtali. And it was round about eighteen thousand measures: [The city as you would go around it, so about eighteen thousand measures, the measure would again probably be the reed, and so you’re talking about a hundred and eighty thousand feet.] and the name of the city from that day shall be Jehovah Shammah, [or] The Lord is there (48:32-35).

Now let’s turn to Revelation, chapter twenty one, and in chapter twenty one he describes the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven. This Jerusalem will be set up more or less as a model of the new Jerusalem. But there are two different cities. You’re talking about two different cities. For the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven is a cube. It’s about a twelve hundred square mile, or, or cubed, it’s twelve hundred miles high, twelve hundred miles broad, and twelve hundred miles in, in length. So it’s a much bigger city the new city that comes down from God out of heaven.

So in verse nine of chapter twenty one, “There came to me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven plagues, last plagues, and he talked with me, saying, Come hither, and I will shew you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Carried away me, “He carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and he shewed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, it was clear as crystal; It had a wall that was great and high, it had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and the names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:”

So you see the earthly Jerusalem is just a model of the heavenly. Even as the earthly tabernacle was a model of the heavenly throne of God, so this city that will be established is a model of the new Jerusalem that will come down from God out of heaven with the names of the tribes on each of the gates, on the twelve gates of this city.

“On the east thee gates; on the north three gates; the south three gates, the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations”, now this you don’t read because you see, the church is involved in this. “And in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gate, and the wall. And the city lies foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs.”

So you’re talking about twelve hundred miles. It’s a city that goes all as far back as St. Louis, it’s, it’s a good sized city! Being in a cube. We will be in our new bodies, and no doubt will, we’ll be living in a fourth, fifth, maybe a sixth dimension. So that you won’t just be living in a you know, on flat, you’ll be living within, as well as, as on. I mean, it’ll be new dimensions. God’s got some real exciting, interesting things for you in the future. So the capacity of a city like this! The numbers of people! If you, if you would say, take and, you’ve got a twelve hundred square mile, and then you have it twelve hundred miles high, so if you took an area of, of say, a mile high, and then you take the twelve hundred miles square, and you have that twelve hundred times over, you can imagine how many square miles you would have to put people. You would have a lot of room! I mean you could have a few acres for yourself, and accommodate several billion people in a city of that size.

So it’ll be interesting you know! “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard neither has it entered in the hearts of man”, but God has revealed them unto us. But even though He’s revealed them, our minds aren’t’ able to comprehend them! You know dimensions that we don’t really comprehend or understand.

But that’s just to, to point out that there is a similarity in the gates and in the names of the twelve tribes upon the gates of this earthly Jerusalem during the kingdom age. Then that new Jerusalem that will be coming down from God out of heaven. Quite a bit larger, a cubed city, and there of course the Bible speaks of the streets of gold and the gates of pearl and all, which are not a part of this earthly city of Jerusalem. But the earthly city, when he’s, when he’s trying to tell you now the apex of the glory of this city, it is the fact that the Lord is there! What more could you want? What more could you ask? What more could you hope for than to just say, “The Lord is there”! I wish there were a city in the world today that you could say, “The Lord is there, He rules, He reigns!” I’d move!

I’m getting so sick of, of men turning their hearts against God! So sick of the court system that has an anti-Christian prejudice! There’s not justice when it comes to Christian issues! You’re going into a, a loaded situation. We are being discriminated against much worse than gays or anybody else! We are a minority, and we are under heavy discrimination, but they don’t care! You see they talk about “free speech”, free speech for anyone who wants to say any filthy, blasphemous thing! But when it comes to “free speech” talking about Jesus Christ, oh no! They have laws against that! You talk about restricting the academic freedoms and you know, whenever you’d say to the professor, “Well you know you shouldn’t talk to the kids about that stuff, that’s so filthy that’s horrible, that’s just pure pornography!” Then they throw up this, “Well academic freedoms!”

But tell me about the academic freedom of a teacher in a public school that shares with his classroom the story of Jesus Christ, and what Christmas is about! Look at John Pilosa??? down here in our own southern Orange County, who was teaching, and refused to teach that evolution was a fact. That’s the whole issue. He was commanded to teach evolution as a fact. He said, “It isn’t”, he said, “You show me the facts and I’ll teach them.” Now he’s being sued by the school board, they said that they paid him too much when they hired him, and they’re suing him for excess salary. I mean they’re harassing the man something fearful! Just, and, and yet let it be turned around! Then they’d cry, “Academic freedom!”, you know, “Persecution!” But we as Christians are being persecuted.

But that’s alright, our day is coming! Our Lord is coming and things are going to be turned around in that day, as He shall reign in righteousness, and in truth! He said that when He returned, that they would be saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. You know with every year that goes by, I find myself saying that more and more. “Oh blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Lord, hurry up! Lord, hasten your coming! Lord I don’t want my grandkids to grow up in such a totally corrupted society! Lord come quickly! Hasten your coming Lord! Even so come quickly Lord Jesus! How I long for that day when Jesus reigns. When they say, “Oh the Lord is there!” Great place to be, where the Lord is!

Shall we pray?

Father we thank You for that hope that we have in these dark days, that hope that sustains us as we see Lord the darkness enveloping our society. As we see Lord the downturn of the morals and our whole system Father, being corrupted! We see Lord the tide of evil as it seems to be as a tidal wave, moving across and destroying our nation. Lord the people seem to be so oblivious, they seem to be sleeping, they seem to be unconcerned! Sort of a lethargy Lord, of a person who is freezing to death in a blizzard, just going to sleep, not knowing that the processes of destruction are all around him. Lord help us to walk as children of the light, so that, that day will not take us by surprise. Help us Lord to walk in truth, unspoiled, unspotted by the world. Help us Lord to live lives of purity, and holiness before You. That our lives might shine as lights in this dark place. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Noah Walked With God

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. . . Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:8-9)

No matter how ungodly the environment you may be in, God will always find you and walk with you. Noah lived in perhaps the most wicked age in history. No one worshiped God. All the people worshiped idols and pursued their own sinful pleasures. Noah’s neighbors were evil; every person he associated with in the marketplace, or along the street, or in public gatherings, ridiculed the very thought of being faithful to God. Every temptation imaginable was abundantly available to Noah. How oppressive such an environment would have been to a righteous person!

The people of Noah’s day were so wicked that God planned the most complete and drastic act of judgment recorded in Scripture. Nevertheless, Noah was not lost to God in the crowd of sinners. God noticed every act of Noah’s righteousness. Noah had chosen to live uprightly before God despite what everyone around him was doing, and God had observed him. There may have been times when Noah wondered if it mattered if he lived a righteous life, since no one else was. Yet he continued, and his persistence in righteousness saved his life and the lives of his family members.

Are you constantly surrounded by evil? Do you struggle at times to live a righteous life when those you associate with each day have no concern for God? Find assurance in the life of Noah. God watches you, even as He observed Noah. God will seek you out of the crowd every time, and He wants to bless you and your family just as He blessed Noah.

Let’s turn to Ezekiel chapter forty four, as we are coming to the close of the prophecy. Ezekiel had prophesied the fall of Jerusalem, and after Jerusalem fell, and word came, then the prophesies of Ezekiel went out towards the future. So the early part of the book of Ezekiel is filled with a lot of warnings, dire warnings of the dark times, of the difficult times. But then the prophesies after those difficult times came, and Jerusalem fell. Then the prophesies turned towards the future.

God never ends the story on a dark note. Sometimes we think that the story is going to end on a dark note. We get all fearful, and filled with anxiety, and we think, “Oh my what are we going to do?” But, it’s glorious to me to realize God never ends the story on a dark note. He always points out to the bright, and glorious future.

Now as the Bible prophesied of the days in which we live, it was again, like Ezekiel’s prophesies concerning the fall of Jerusalem, they’re very dark, they’re very dismal. As you read the book of Revelation, and you read of the things that are gonna take place on the earth, during the great tribulation, they are very dark, dismal days indeed! But the book of Revelation doesn’t end with the dark, dismal days of the tribulation. But again, the book of Revelation ends in the glory of heaven.

So Ezekiel takes you through the dark days that were going to come. Once those days had been fulfilled, then Ezekiel’s prophesies turn toward the glorious future that God has for Israel. Even as the book of Revelation takes us to the glorious future that God has for the church. So the end of the story is always glorious! Sometimes you get some pretty dark chapters, and life will lead you through some pretty dark experiences. But, know this, God never ends the story in darkness, but always in glorious victory, the ultimate victory of our Lord Jesus Christ! That’s what I love about the Bible, is that it is a book that always leads us towards the light of the future, the glorious future of God’s people!

So as we are in these final chapters of Ezekiel, he is actually prophesying of the period in which Jesus Christ will be ruling and reigning over the earth for a thousand years. We are beyond the tribulation days, we’ve come into the time of, of the reign of Jesus Christ for a thousand years over the earth. Again, Israel is to be restored as God’s people. The worship will be restored in the temple. The priesthood will be restored.

Now it is important to realize that the place of the church in this kingdom age, is different from the place of Israel. You see, as we are dealing with Israel in the kingdom age, you have to realize that these Israelites are not in their glorified bodies. We will be in our glorified bodies. “This corruption will have put on incorruption, this mortal will have put on immortality. We will be in that, in that higher degree of in our new bodies. As Paul the apostle was talking to the Corinthians, he said, “We know that when this earthly body is dissolved, when it goes back to the dust, we have a building of God that’s not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”. It’s a new body, glorious new body.

We will be in our glorified body, but Israel will have survived the great tribulation period. God will have sealed a hundred and forty four thousand of them, and others will flee and be protected from the Antichrist and his fury. When the Lord comes again, there will be many of Israel who have lived through, and survived the great tribulation. But they are still in their mortal bodies. Thus, still being in their mortal bodies, their bodies will be subject unto death. So there will be those who will die during the kingdom age, because they have not yet received their glorified bodies, because they have lived through, and survived the great tribulation, and lived on into the kingdom age.

So it’s important as we read these things, we’ll be reading of, of death. You’ll say, “Well how is it that there will be no death, if Satan is bound and is in the abusso for this thousand year period of time, how is it there’ll be death?” Well, there will still be people who have lived through the tribulation into the kingdom age, who are still living in their normal physical bodies. They have not yet gone through that metamorphosis and received their new bodies. “The building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

So with that kind of a background, we’ve already looked at the, at the temple that is to be built where the worship will again be inaugurated. In chapter forty four, we are introduced to a leader who is known as the prince, who is a vice regent here upon the earth. He leads in the worship of God. He has, he’s sort of God’s man upon the earth, probably a descendant of David. But he is not the promised Messiah. Jesus, the promised Messiah, will of course be in the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven, and reigning over all. But this one is there in Israel, and he has a portion of the land given to him, very prominent place. He has a very prominent place in the leading of the people, especially in their worship.

Now as we looked at the temple diagram last week, we saw that there were gates on the north, and the south, and upon the east. The gate on the east is the one that we’ll be looking at for a little bit tonight.

He brought me back by the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east; and it was shut. Then the Lord said unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. For it is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same (44:1-3).

So it’s for the exclusive use of the prince. He enters in and goes out by the way of this gate that is toward the east. The rest of the people come in the gates from the north or from the south. As we will see tonight, if you enter into the place of worship from the north gate, you have to exit by the south. If you enter in by the south gate, you have to exit by the north.

The gate that is toward the east, toward the mount of Olives, as we mentioned last week, when Ezekiel saw the Spirit of God leaving, the Spirit of God rested over the threshold of the gate towards the east, and then on the mount of Olives, and then away. You remember that when Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem? He made it from the mount of Olives. He descended from the mount of Olives and came on into the city of Jerusalem. It is quite possible that He came in through the east gate. Because that would be the direct route into the city from the mount of Olives in those days.

So when He comes again, He will set His foot on the mount of Olives Zachariah tells us, and it will split, create a new valley. As He comes in again, no doubt the Spirit of God returning, coming from the way of the east, as Ezekiel saw Him, entering through the east gate. Again, God’s Spirit resting there in the place of His sanctuary in the midst of the people. So because the Lord enters in by this gate, it is shut. It isn’t a common gate used for everyone, but only for this prince. He enters in by the porch of the gate, and he eats there in the porch. The gate has a porch and all. It’s not just a door, but it is a room, and little sub-rooms and so forth. It’s quite an elaborate thing.

If you go to Jerusalem today, you can see the gate of Damascus. The Damascus gate there, and you’ll see that it’s, it’s, you come into the entrance, and then you make a right turn, and then you make another right turn as you, you come on into the city. In this area within the gate they have little shops. But off to the side of the gate, especially the old gate of Damascus, on down below, there’s even a large quarters for the guards down there. There was a spiral staircase that went up to the top of the wall. So the gates were, were more than just a gate itself. But there are porches and all within the gate. This is where this prince will eat, and all.

Now an interesting thing, when the present wall was built around Jerusalem, part of it was built over the top of the wall that was there at the time of Herod. As you’re in Jerusalem, you can see portions of the wall of Nehemiah’s time. It’s interesting the excavations that have been made, and the history that you can see often confirming what the Bible says of these various broad walls, and where it talks about them taking down the houses to fortify the broad wall, you can actually see the houses that have been taken down! The footings of the houses are still there. But they were used to strengthen the broad wall. They’ve uncovered all of that, and it’s quite fascinating.

But when the present wall was built by Solomon in about 465, in that area, 14 rather, 65, in that area of time, and some Moslem evidently, because it was under their control from the time that Solomon had built this, read this prophecy in Ezekiel. Not quite understanding, what Ezekiel was talking about, saw that the Lord was gonna enter by the east gate, and so they sealed up the east gate of the Solomon wall. You go there today, and you find the east gate is all sealed up. They figured that they would stop the Messiah from coming into Jerusalem by sealing up that east gate. So you go there today, and you see that east gate sealed. But that is not the gate that Ezekiel is talking about. But it does make it interesting to go to Jerusalem and see the east gate all blocked up. You can’t of course get through it because of these huge stones, by which they have blocked the east gate.

But he brought me by the way of the north gate [Now evidently they went from this east gate, they went around now to 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 upon my face (44:4).

Oh how wonderful! The glory of God returns, and is now again in the house of the Lord. It’s such an awesome thing for Ezekiel to behold this in this vision, that he falls on his face in worship of God.

And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, mark well, [Now he’s supposed to be very careful now, “mark this well”.] behold with your eyes, and hear with your ears [“Now pay close attention”, the Lord’s really putting an emphasis upon this!] of all that I say unto you concerning all of the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. [“Make careful note of these things.”] For you shall say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations. [“Let it be finished, you’ve done enough in the abominable things, now let it be sufficient.”] In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my bread and the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all of your abominations. And you have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves (44:5-8).

Now when the temple was built, they had the court of the Gentiles, where the Gentiles could come. But then there was a wall, and there were signs warning the Gentiles not to come in beyond that wall, or they would be killed. It was just for the Jews. Then of course they had the inner court which was for the priests, and then the Holy of Holies, which was just for the high priest. So the closer you got to God, the more exclusive it became. Gentiles were on the outside of the first wall, the court of the Gentiles, and then the court of the women, where the Jewish women could come in. Then the men, inner yet. Then, further on in, the priests, and then right into the Holy of Holies, where he went into the presence of God to intercede for the people, for the nation.

So when the church is taken out of the earth at the Rapture, and the Lord then begins to deal directly with Israel, the nation of Israel again, Israel will first of all be deceived by the Antichrist, who will make a covenant with them. No doubt in that covenant, make provision for them to build some sort of a temple, or a place to re-institute their worship. They will begin again daily prayers, and sacrifices. For we are told that in the midst of this seven year period, or after three and a half years, the Antichrist will come into the Holy of Holies of the rebuilt temple, and profane it. He will cause the daily sacrifices to cease, and he will set up an abomination which will bring the desolation, or the great tribulation upon the earth. The final straw of man’s insults to God, as the Antichrist comes to the temple of God, shows that he is God, and demands to be worshiped as God, and leaves the image of himself in the Holy of Holies of that temple that they will build.

Now this is probably what Ezekiel is here referring to, in that the, the “uncircumcised of heart and flesh have been allowed to come into that, into that holy place, into the sanctuary of God”. So the Lord is, is saying to Ezekiel, “Now make sure you listen to this, and warn the people, and tell the people this. The abominations are, you know, you’ve gone far enough! You’ve brought into my sanctuary, strangers, the uncircumcised in heart, and in flesh, to be in my sanctuary to pollute it, even my house, when you’ve offered my bread, and the fat and the blood…”, and so forth, “because of all your abominations. You have not kept the charge of my holy things, but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. You haven’t been diligent in watching over this house. You’ve allowed the abominations.”

It could be that some of those who will be instituted as priests in this period of time will, will sort of be in collusion with the Antichrist, allowing this to happen. Because you see, they will, many of them, be deceived, and worship him as the Messiah. He is the false Messiah, but he will be accepted by them as their Messiah.

It is interesting that the Jews today are looking for the Messiah to come. All over Israel they have banners on the buildings and all that just say, “The Messiah is Coming!” There is an anticipation among many of the Jews, and they believe that the Messiah will lead them into the rebuilding of the temple. That is how they tell you they will identify the Messiah! “How will you know that’s your Messiah?” “He’ll lead us in rebuilding the temple.”

So with this covenant made by the Antichrist with the Jews, Daniel chapter nine, they rebuild the temple, and many of them will be acclaiming him as their Messiah. So when he comes, then it’s nothing for them to allow him into the temple, and to be acclaimed there as the Messiah, polluting, polluting the holy things. So the Lord…

Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel. [Again the exclusion of those who are not God’s people.] And the Levites that are gone away from me, [Those that allowed these abominations.] that went astray from me with their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity (44:9-10).

Yet they will have a, they can be the, those who just take care of the charge of things. They oversee, they carry out the ashes, and they do the menial tasks. But they’re not allowed to offer the sacrifices.

They have charge of the gates of the house, and ministering of the house: and they do the work [of] of offering they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, they shall stand before them to minister to them. Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and they caused the house of Israel to fall in their iniquity; therefore I’ve lifted my hand against them, saith the Lord God, they will bear their iniquity. They shall not come near unto me, to do the office of the priest, [They do more the menial labors, but not exercising the office of the priest.] nor come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: [Or the Holy of Holies] but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all of the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. But the priests of the Levites, who are the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of the sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray, they will be the ones that will come in and do the priestly tasks, they will be the ones who stand before God to offer the sacrifices the fat and the blood, saith the Lord: They shall enter into my sanctuary, and come near my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge. And it shall come to pass, that when they enter into the gates of the inner court, [That is, the priests, the descendants of Zadok.] they shall be clothed with linen garments; no wool while they minister within the inner court. They will have linen bonnets and linen breeches upon their loins; they are not to wear any thing that causes sweat (44:11-18).

The Lord doesn’t want that ministry to Him to be a laborious, fleshly thing, something that causes sweat. I wonder about some of these preachers that I’ve seen.

And when they go forth into the outer court, the court of the people, they put off the holy garments that they’ve worn before the Lord (44:19);

They had this room, the chamber for the priest, and they go into the chamber and they put on the clothes that they then go into the inner chamber to minister to the Lord. But then when they come out of the inner chamber, they enter into the priests chamber, change their garments again, to their street clothes before they come out and meet the people. Now…

They’re not to shave their heads nor to allow their hair to grow long; [In other words, to just have reasonable haircuts.] but they shall poll. [Which means, they shall cut their hair, but they’re not to let it grow real long, nor are they to shave it.] Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court (44:20-21).

Now in the book of Proverbs we are told that wine is not for kings. The priests weren’t to drink wine when they were ministering unto the Lord. The Lord didn’t want any ministry that came from a false stimulant. He didn’t want anybody to worship Him with a fuzzy mind. It is interesting, in the New Testament, that as Paul lays out for Timothy the requirements for the bishops in the church, the overseers of the church, they were not to be given to wine. So if you are ministering unto the Lord, and unto the people, you’re not to be given to wine. If you have a place, and a position within the church of eldership, or bishopric, overseeing, you’re not to be given to wine. So…

Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that has been divorced: [They couldn’t marry a widow, or a divorced woman with the exception that,] if the widow as been the wife of a priest, then he could marry her, [But he was to actually take a,] one of the young maidens, a virgin from the seed of the house of Israel (44:22).

He wasn’t to marry a non-Israelite. Then the duties of the priests were first of all, verse twenty three…

To teach the people [Instructing the people] in the difference between that which was profane, and that which is holy, so that the people can discern between what is clean and unclean. [Secondly] In controversies they were to stand in judgment; they were to be judges: [They were to give the decisions concerning controversies that would arise among the people.] they will judge according to my judgments; [Again, going back to the judgments that God has established in the Mosaic law, then, thirdly,] they were to keep my laws and my statutes [They were to keep them in the sense that of, making certain that they were kept, they were more or less, in charge of seeing that the statutes and the commandments of the law were kept] in all of the assemblies [When the people would come in, to make sure that they were abiding by the rules and all, that God had established, and finally,] they were to hallow the sabbaths (44:23-24).

They were to be there to minister unto the people on these holy days.

Now here again we find out that people will be dying in this period of time, during this thousand year reign.

They shall come at no dead person (44:25),

Because under the law, to touch a dead person, you were unclean, you had to go through a certain ceremonial kind of a ritual for cleansing before you could come back into the temple, or into the tabernacle to worship God. So they were to not come to any dead person…

to defile themselves: but for their father, or for their mother, or son, or daughter, or brother, for a sister that had no husband, they may then touch those bodies. After they are cleansed, they shall then count seven days. And in that day that he goes into the sanctuary, to the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall first of all offer a sin offering, saith the Lord God. And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: [For the Lord said] I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession (44:25-28).

Now they were given places to live. There was a, there’s a certain part of the land that was allotted to the priests, and then another parts that was allotted to the Levites, just north, the area north of the sanctuary. We will see that in a little while this evening. There are twenty cities for the priests. But yet the Lord is their inheritance, and He is their possession.

They shall eat the meal offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering: and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs (44:29).

Now when the people would bring their sacrifices to the Lord, the sin offerings, or the meal offerings which were grain, sort of a bread that they would make with the oil and the flour, the priest would get a portion of that lamb, or ox, or whatever. It was for the priest. The rest would be sacrificed to the Lord.

Note, the only offering of which they do not eat is the burnt offering. Because in the burnt offering, it was totally consumed. The animal was totally consumed except for the hide on the altar. The burnt offering being the consecration. When you consecrate your life to the Lord, it should be total, it should be complete. The whole thing, you know, not, “Oh Lord I give you this day, or I’ll give you so many hours”, or, you know, and we are prone to sort of apportion out to God. “You can have this corner over here, and you can have this part over here.” But yet the real consecration is complete. It’s total.

So the burnt offering which was the offering of consecration, was to be totally consumed. Thus, the priest did not get any part of the burnt offering. But all of their meat and flour and so forth, was supplied through these offerings that the people brought. Because a certain portion then would go to the priest. That way they didn’t have to have their own fields of grain, or they didn’t have to raise their own cattle or sheep, or whatever because their, the Lord was their inheritance, and their possession. That which was brought to the Lord, they got their portion of those things as, as the payment so to speak, for their ministry unto the people, and their ministry to the Lord. The final commandment of this chapter is that…

They are not to eat anything that dies of itself (44:31),

If you find something that’s dead, they weren’t to eat of it, I don’t think I would want to either!

Chapter 45

But then…

When you will divide the land by lot (45:1),

Or by allotment, it should be, because they’re not gonna be casting lots, they did do that in Joshua’s time. But now Ezekiel prophesies that the portions of the land that are given to each tribe, and there’s no casting of lots. But, the allotment, and so it should better read, “by allotment”…

the land for the inheritance, you shall offer an oblation unto the Lord, a holy portion of the land: [So a part of the land just belongs to God.] and it shall be the length of twenty five thousand [and notice the word] reeds (45:1),

In your King James’ is in italics, which means that, that has been inserted by the translators. In the Hebrew text it doesn’t give you any measurement, reeds, cubits, or whatever. Thus, that’s all commentators need to be completely divided is for the Lord not to spell out specifically! So you have a group of commentators who say it’s cubits, and a group of commentators that say it is reeds. A reed is about ten feet. If indeed the translators are correct in inserting reeds, it would mean that this portion of the land for the Lord, in which the holy sanctuary would be in, in the central portion of the land, this portion for the Lord would be about forty seven and a half miles long, and it would be ten thousand, and again they’ve, they’ve, they have it inserted, but just…

ten thousand wide (45:1).

Again, if it’s reeds, it means it would be about eighteen miles wide, and about forty seven miles long.

Then the sanctuary within itself [the place for the sanctuary] would be five hundred (45:2),

Again, if it’s reeds, you’re talking about almost a mile square in the middle of this land. This is that land that is dedicated to the Lord, it is the place of His sanctuary.

Now just north of it would be the place for the priest, immediately north, and it would be not quite as wide, but the same width.

five thousand would be the breadth, and [again] twenty five thousand the width. [Then, north of that] The place for the Levites [Which again would be the same as this] ten thousand by twenty five thousand, [Or, again, if it’s reeds, forty seven and a half miles, by eighteen miles.] so the holy portion of the land shall be for the priests, the ministers (45:4-5).

Next week I’ll bring you a diagram of the, and we’ll pass it out like we did last week. When we get to the apportioning of the land, the tribe of Dan, Asher, Naphtali, and so forth, we will bring you a diagram, so then you can see how the whole land is to be apportioned.

Now no doubt there’s going to be tremendous geographical changes of the land before this happens. Because when you get into the tribulation period, the earth is going to be in upheaval. Islands are gonna flee, there will be whole new mountain ranges formed. Mountains will disappear, and there’s gonna be a whole cataclysmic kind of changes that will be taking place on the earth during the great tribulation period.

There was an interesting article a couple of weeks ago in Newsweek magazine. I don’t know if you saw that, it’s sort of a doomsday kind of an article in Newsweek, where it talked about all of these asteroids, and comets, and all that are out here in space. How that the earth has had a near miss with many of these asteroids. In fact, just a couple of years ago, one came within about ten million miles of the earth. The article talks about the fear that the scientists have of one day, one of these asteroids impacting the earth, say one that was the size of this building, or one that would be a mile in, in, or there are some that are up to ten miles, the one that just missed us awhile back was about five miles across. But, if one, and the thing is we didn’t even know it was coming!

We try to keep track of all of them. We know there are a lot of them out there. We’ve tracked their orbits, we know when they’ll be back towards the earth again. You know, it’s sort of like Haley’s comet, we, we know when the thing is gonna return. There are other comets that they’ve tracked their orbit, and we know when they’ll be coming back towards the earth. But, with these asteroids, we can’t always pick them up! This one that came by, the fly by, just a couple years ago, we didn’t really see it until after it was gone!

The, the scientists have actually made contingency plans if we see one, that is, it’s orbit is apt to bring it into a collision with the earth, they, they plan to send out a rocket with a atomic weapon to blow the thing up, before it can reach us here. It is a concern among the scientists that the earth could very well be destroyed by an impact. They point back to 1906, when whatever it was, asteroid, or whatever, hit up near Siberia, and created that tremendous devastation of the forest, flattening trees for hundreds of miles. The sound of the thing was heard as far away as Moscow! They, they talk about these kind of things. Of course out near Winslow, Arizona, you have that meteorite crater out there. They say that meteorite was only about the size of a car, but it created a crater that is about a mile across, and several hundred feet deep, or a couple thousand feet deep I guess. So these things are quite interesting!

In the book of Revelation, as John describes some of the things that are happening, these fireballs from heaven and so forth, it sounds like perhaps there will even be what was described in Newsweek magazine. You might get that issue. I think Newsweek has gone up too high. It’s $2.95, but it was a worthwhile article in it, if you’d like to get scared.

But, we do know that there will be during the tribulation period, tremendous cataclysmic upheavals of the whole geography of the earth, so that, just what the geography will be like in the kingdom age, we are not certain. But we do have how the land will be apportioned. We will look at the apportionment of the land next week, for all of the tribes. But this is the Lord’s portion. It has to do right there with Jerusalem. Just south of the area that’s for the Lord here, described here for the Lord, is the city of Jerusalem, and the place around the city of Jerusalem. Then, outside of this perimeter on either end, east, and west, is the place for the prince, and quite a large portion of land is allotted for this prince, who is mentioned here. So in fact we get to that in verse seven.

The portion for the prince on the side, and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portions, [So this portion we described by forty seven and a half miles, by eighteen miles or so, just on the outside perimeters east and west, the portion for the prince] Then the land shall be his in Israel: my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes. [We get that in the last chapter of Ezekiel.] Thus saith the Lord God; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: [Here’s what God’s asking them to do.] remove violence and spoil, execute judgment and justice, take away your taxations [Whew alright!] saith the Lord God (45:7-9).

I want a fair judicial system, fair court system! Get rid of the gangs and the violence! Stop the taxation, I’ll vote for that!

And you shall have just balances (45:10),

It used to be that the United States had a bureau known as the Standard Weights and Measures, to make sure that a pound, was a pound. When I was working in the market, we used to have these fellas come from the National Standard of Weights and Measures, and they would have these little weights, pounds, and five pounds, and they’d put them on the scales in the market you know. Where you check out, when they put the vegetables out there, and you’re paying $1.49 a pound for a tomato, isn’t that horrible? They’d put this little pound weight on, to make sure that the scale says one pound. They’d go around to the service stations, and they’d put a gallon of gas into the container, to make sure that what says a gallon on the, on the meter, is a true gallon of gas. The importance of maintaining a standard of weights and measures!

In England there is a case recorded where a baker took a farmer to court, and he charged the farmer with cheating him. He said that, when he first began, they, they would trade the bread, for the butter. The baker would bring him out bread, and he would trade for butter. He said when he first started this exchange, he was getting a full pound of butter. But gradually, the farmer was cutting the butter down, until now, he was only getting three quarters of a pound of butter for instead of the full pound. He was accusing the farmer of cheating him! So when the farmer got up to defend himself, he said, “Well judge”, he said, “my problem is that the only scales I have are balanced scales.” So he said, “All I did was take his pound of bread, and put it on the scale, and measured out his pound of butter with the balanced scales!” He won his case, but that’s why it is important that you have a standard for weights and measures.

That’s what God is asking here. Be exact, let you know, and it gives a list of measures. It doesn’t mean anything to you, and ephah or a bath, or a hen, or a homer or whatever. Homer means something to you, but not what it means here. So have your, make sure that they’re exact, that you have exact balances. That you are, that you’re measuring is all standardized.

Then in the offering, of the offerings, they are then to use these measurements. It goes on to give in the offering of the various offerings, that the measurements that are then used as they were standardized in verses nine and ten. Then…

For the prince, the people were to give to him one lamb out of every flock, out of every two hundred, [So out of every two hundred lambs that they have in their flock, the prince gets one.] then for the meal offering, and for the burnt offering, and for the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord God. All of the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel. And it shall be the prince’s part to give them the burnt offerings, and the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, the new moons, the sabbaths, in all the solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meal offering, the burnt offering, the peace offerings to make reconciliation for the house of Israel (45:15-17).

So you’ll find the prince here is involved in offering the sacrifices for the whole house of Israel. Now there’s nothing said concerning a high priest in this rejuvenating of the temple. It would seem that the prince more or less, has that position that the high priest once had. But Jesus is our great High Priest. There is now only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. So even in the reestablishing of the temple worship, no high priest is mentioned but this prince who does the offering of these various offerings for the people.

Then in the first day, or the first month, the first day of the month he is to offer this bullock without blemish, to cleanse the sanctuary: he is to repeat that on the seventh day to take the blood, put it on the corners, and on the horns of the altars that settle, on the horns and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. And do that on the seventh day, they do it for all those that err, and those that are simple: and so shall you reconcile the house. In the first month, in the fourteenth day, [Which would be the time of] the feast of passover, they are to celebrate the feast of passover (45:18-19),

Now there will be two feasts, the Feast of Passover, and the Feast of Tabernacles will be celebrated, but the feast of Pentecost will not be celebrated, which is interesting and I suppose people can find some spiritual significance for that. It could be that the Passover instituted the initiation of the church. The church now has a whole new position. It foreshadowed the church. The church was born on the, on the day of the feast of Pentecost. That gave birth to the church, and the church of course has a whole new position. So that feast is not celebrated, but the tabernacles, and Passover are celebrated. So it goes on to tell of the sacrifice of the bullock and so forth for the feast of the Passover.

Maybe we should take forty six next week and perhaps we can finish Ezekiel next week, and include forty six in the study next week. Because we’re running out of time. I will have the charts for you next week. So if you’ve read chapter forty six already for tonight, it’s not gonna hurt you to read it again next week. Maybe you’ll even understand it a little better after having this kind of a background this evening! So we’ll, we’ll go ahead with that portion next week.

Father, thank You again for the hope that you give us for the future. Though we might be going through dark days, the story never ends in darkness, but in that glorious work of the restoration of Your glory, and Your presence. Lord we thank You that the ultimate victory belongs to You, that You Lord, shall indeed triumph over all of those forces of darkness that are dragging our world down into the pit. Lord how we long and pray for Your kingdom to come, that Your will might be done on this earth, even as it is in heaven. Lord we see the results of, of man trying to wrest the control, and the rule from You. Lord we see the calamities that have come upon our nation, and are coming upon our nation, because we, as Israel, have turned our backs upon You. Lord as we enter into this dark period of our history, sustain us by the power of Your Holy Spirit, and that hope of the future glory of the kingdom of God, and the reign of righteousness of our glorious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So Lord may we be strengthened and directed by Your Spirit, as we walk with You in fellowship this week, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

What Comes Out of Your Mouth

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.” (Matthew 15:18)

The Bible stresses that what you say is an accurate indicator of what is in your heart. If your words bless and encourage others, they give evidence of a compassionate heart. If you often share the good news about Christ, you demonstrate a heart that is grateful for your own salvation. When others are in a crisis, do they know they will find peace and comfort in your words? Do you frequently and spontaneously offer prayers for others? Do your words and the manner in which you say them reveal a patient heart? All of these behaviors indicate a heart that is like the heart of the Father.

Or do you often regret your words? Are there people even now who are hurt or angry because of something you have said? Do you enjoy gossip? Do you tend to criticize others? Do you feel that you are not responsible for what comes out of your mouth when you are angry? Does your mouth spew grumbling and complaints? These behaviors come from a heart that is unlike God’s heart.

You may say, Oh, but that’s just the way I am! I’m always saying the wrong thing! Yet Scripture clearly states that an abusive tongue is not under the control of the Spirit (James 3:30). A sanctified mouth is a wonderful instrument for the Lord. A heart like the Father’s heart will produce only pure and loving words. Without making any excuses for your words, ask the Holy Spirit to forgive you for any words that have brought harm. Then ask Him to discipline your mouth so that every word you speak is used by God to encourage and edify others.

Let’s turn in our Bibles now to Ezekiel chapter forty. I trust that you have your diagram that was made up for you, giving you sort of a one view.

Now let me say that with all of these things there are various interpretations. This particular diagram has the gates rather broad, and narrow going in. It should be noted that there are some who believe that the gates will actually be rather deep. In other words, that they will, rather than broad, they will be deeper. So you’ll actually pass through the gate which would be quite a room. But as far as, I think to just sort of get the feeling, is that we ought to sort of come into the rebuilt temple, the new temple that will be in Jerusalem.

Now in the book of Revelation, John in chapter eleven, sees a temple and he is commanded to measure the temple even as Ezekiel measured this temple. The difference being, John was told not to measure the outer court, because it had been given to the Gentiles. So that leads to certain speculation. Is this temple in Ezekiel, the same temple that John saw in the book of Revelation, the temple that will exist, and will be built by the Jews, and will be existing during the great tribulation period.

It is quite possible that they are different, that the temple that Ezekiel sees is the future temple during the millennial kingdom age, whereas John sees the temple that was built by the Jews at the present time, or very shortly, who that will be standing in the time of the great tribulation. The temple that will be profaned by the Antichrist, who will stand in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God, and demanding to be worshiped as God. It could be that, that temple that John sees is destroyed, that this is a completely new temple in the kingdom age.

So we’ll look at this temple and the grounds, and let’s enter in through the north gate. You’re not really aloud to enter in through the east gate, that’s for the prince. He will enter in by the porch of that gate, and sit in that gate. But we will have to enter by either the north, or the south gate. But let’s enter by the north gate, which is on the right hand side of your page.

As you enter in, you have to ascend seven steps. The idea being is that, in coming to worship God, you are always ascending. The worship of God is always elevating. You’re always coming up. It’s interesting concerning the city of Jerusalem, that they always say, “Let’s go up to Jerusalem”. Now you might be on the top of mount Everest, but you’d say, “Well let’s go up to Jerusalem”. You never go down to Jerusalem. You go down to San Diego. But, you never go down to Jerusalem, it’s always, always ascending up to it, because it is the city of God. The elevating as you are coming up to worship God. The interesting thing about the worship of God, it is always elevating for man. It is always lifting you up. The worship of God is always that of lifting you up.

The worship of false gods is bringing you down. David speaks about, “The gods of the heathen are vain, they carve them out of wood, they make them out of silver, they have eyes but they can’t see, they have feet, but they can’t walk, ears but they can’t hear. They that have made them have become like unto them.”

He observes that when a man makes a god, he makes the god like himself. Eyes, because I have eyes, ears, because I have ears, he makes the god like himself. But he makes the god really less than himself. Because, though I carve eyes on the little god, the eyes can’t see, though I carve ears, it can’t hear. Though I carve a mouth, it can’t speak. Thus when I make a god, I make a god actually less than myself.

But then the observation, “they that have made them have become like the gods they have made”. The truth of the matter is that you are becoming like your god. If you’re serving a false god, a god that you’ve made, a god that is insensate, you’re becoming insensate. Thus worshiping of false gods, is always bringing a man down to a lower level.

Where worshiping the true God, is always bringing you to a higher level. Thus the idea of coming up the steps. So we come up the seven steps into the north gate. We observe these little chambers in this north gate. These chambers are for the priests who have the duty of keeping order and all and observing the order, keeping, sort of policing the whole area that is there.

As we pass into the courtyard, we find that from the gate to the inner courtyard, is a space of about one hundred yards, about the length of a football field, this outer court. This whole outer wall is about five hundred cubits, or seven hundred and fifty feet square. So the inner court is a hundred cubits, or a hundred and fifty feet. The outer courts are three hundred feet, and so it gives you the seven hundred and fifty feet total from the north gate, to the south gate.

Now incidentally, if you enter through the north gate, you have to exit through the south gate. You can’t come back out the north gate. If you enter through the south gate, you have to exit through the north gate, you cannot come back through the south gate. Why? I don’t know. There’s probably, Chuck Missler could probably find some symbolism in that. But you do not exit through the gate that you entered. It’s sort of ensures your passing through, I suppose, the whole court.

So you enter into this outer court, and you come across this courtyard, you’ll observe of course, on the right, the northwest chamber on your left, the northeast chamber. But up in the corner on right, and left, you will notice these smaller little chambers, and these smaller little chambers are where they roast, or where they cook the sacrifices, they boil the sacrifices, and they roast the sacrifices in these small little chambers at the corner. Then, these larger chambers that, as you’re looking ahead to the right and to the left, on the right side, the northwest chamber is where the priests eat the sacrifices, and where they change their garments, and it’s, it’s a place for the priests.

As we cross the courtyard, we come on into the inner court, and again we see the gate, we come up now eight steps, elevating up to the, bringing us up to the level of the inner courtyard, and the altar. Again we notice the cubicles, and then as we get inside there are the places for the priests, the little, and the places for the choir. In the center of this court, you’ll see at about seven feet high, and about uh, let’s see, twelve cubits, eighteen feet square, this altar with horns on each corner of the altar. This is the altar of sacrifice.

Then over on the right, you will see the sanctuary itself, the, the steps leading up to the sanctuary. Then there of course, are the various little chambers there. Because we are redeemed and we are priests unto God, we can enter into this and not worry about coming into the Holy of Holies, seeing that we have Jesus Christ as our great High Priest, we can enter boldly into the presence of God through Him. We are accepted in the Beloved. So why don’t we just go ahead and go on into the Holy of Holies, and enjoy just the presence of God in the Holy of Holies?

We come first into the holy place. We are in a room that is about thirty by sixty in size. As we pass through that room of course we would see the altar of incense, and the other, the menorah and so forth that was in the tabernacle, the shew bread. But then passing on into the holy place, you’re in a room that is cubed a thirty feet. This is the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s dwelling. As we exit out, in coming back into the inner courtyard, we then would have to, as I say, go to the southern gate to exit.

So we go out the southern gate of the inner courtyard, into the outer courtyard, cross the three hundred feet and into the southern gate, through the southern gate, and on out into the outer area. So basically, an area that is seven hundred and fifty square feet, or seven hundred fifty feet in each direction. It’d be more than seven hundred fifty feet, seven fifty, times seven fifty, give you the square footage of it. But and, pretty much symmetrical in design with the exception of the Holy of Holies, and the holy place, which is there on the west side. As I said, we can’t go out the eastern gate, it is closed, it’s specifically for the Prince. But that gives you sort of an overall view.

As I say, this particular diagram here, it doesn’t give you the correct dimensions of the outer courts. These walls should be extended out, because from the distance here it would look like the inner courtyard is the same distance as the outer courtyard, when in actuality the outer courtyards are about twice the size of the inner courtyard on either side. So that basically gives you the idea of what the new temple is going to look like.

So as we turn to chapter forty, this prophecy or this vision, came to Ezekiel…

In the twenty fifth year of their captivity (40:1),

So you’re talking at about 575 B.C., figuring that Ezekiel was taken captive around 600 B.C., the twenty fifth year would be 575. The interesting thing is this is about twelve years after the last prophecy. So that there was a period of, of approximately twelve years, in which there is no recorded prophecy of Ezekiel. You know, as we read this, we think sort of concurrent in time and that, here’s a guy and it’s just always there, but there are spaces of time between these.

I think that a lot of times in reading the Bible we get wrong impressions, because you have a lot of experiences over several years, sort of capsulated together. As we read it, we’re sort of thinking of it as happening concurrently, and we don’t think of the time gaps between.

In the Book of Acts, you read of all of the miracles that happened in the book of Acts, and it seemed like they were you know, experiencing a miracle a day kind of a thing! In other words, just miracles all the time, and everywhere! But if you will look carefully, the book of Acts actually covers a period of about thirty years or so. Maybe there’s fifteen miracles, that gives you one for every two years. Rather than as we’re prone to think of just you know, always, always, always, there were those lag times.

With Ezekiel now, we have a lag time of about twelve years before he gets this vision of the rebuilt temple. It was…

the hand of the Lord [He says] was upon me, and he brought me thither. In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, he set me on a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south (40:1-2).

So he was on the north of the city, on a high mountain. Perhaps Mount Scopus, where the city was sort of framed toward the south. You go up to Mount Scopus and you get a very fascinating view of Jerusalem. It’s sort of framed there on the south from Mount Scopus. You get an excellent view of the temple mount area. From there he would have an excellent view of, of this new temple that is to be built. This is in the spirit. He was, he was having a vision of this.

In the book of Revelation, as John describes how the revelation came to him, he said, “I, John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”. That, “upon the Lord’s day”, could be translated, “unto the day of the Lord”. I think that, that probably is the preferred translation. Actually, the Lord took John, by the Spirit, to a future time, to, to the time of the great tribulation. He recorded the events, “And I saw, and I saw…”, and he is watching these things, and describing these things as he saw them. Going into the dimension of the spirit, you leave the time continuum, and you are in that eternal dimension.

Ezekiel was taken through the Spirit, through time. Not just to Jerusalem, but also through time to a day that is yet future, where he saw this temple, that will no doubt, be the temple that does exist, during the kingdom age, and the reign of Jesus Christ.

So when you enter the realm of the spirit, you leave the realm of time, and you are able to see things that are spirit in nature. It’s, it’s the capacity of observing the spirit world. It’s entering into the realm of the spirit world.

Thus, John was taken by the Spirit to Jerusalem. The city is there framed in front of him, and…

The Lord told him to behold with his eyes, hear with his ears, [And set his heart upon the things that the Lord was gonna show him.] listen, watch, and set your heart now on these things (40:4),

For the purpose that he might relay them to the other captives in Babylon. The hope of the future. Things are dark, things are dismal, “You’re gonna die here in Babylon. You’re not gonna see Jerusalem again. You’re not gonna return to Jerusalem.” But yet, there is a day that is coming, in which the glory of the Lord shall return. There will be again a glorious temple, and the worship of God, there in Jerusalem. So he was to encourage the people by sharing with them this vision that he had.

So he begins to describe the future temple in verse five. We’ve already gone through this temple. He gives you the measurement of the various courts and so forth. The interesting thing is that in verse thirty nine…

In the porch of the gate there were two tables on either side, to slay the burnt offerings and the sin offerings and the trespass offering. And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, there were two tables; and on the other side, which was the porch of the gate, there were two tables (40:39-40).

So four tables, and all. There is where they killed the sacrifices. We will be reading as we go along, about the burnt offerings, about the sin offerings, the trespass offerings. It causes us to wonder why there would be sin offerings and trespass offerings in the future.

As we read in the book of Hebrews, concerning the sacrifices in the Old Testament, the sin offerings, and the trespass offerings, we read that, “they could not put away sin. It is impossible that the blood of bulls or goats could put away sin.” But, actually they were looking towards the future, to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God, by which sins would be put away. God has provided a better sacrifice for us. The blood of bulls and goats could only cover their sins.

Through the blood of Jesus Christ, our sin is put away, it is washed, cleansed. Thus the question then arises, when Jesus has offered Himself as a sin offering, once and for all, having once offered Himself, has sat down at the right hand of the Father, until His enemies are made His footstool, one sacrifice forever. Finished, complete! The Rock has been smitten, never needs to be smitten again. Then, why will there be sin offerings, trespass offerings, in the kingdom age?

The offerings of the Old Testament, did not actually put away sin. They only were foreshadowing, and looking forward to the perfect sacrifice that would be offered by Jesus Christ. So that the offerings during the millennial kingdom age will be memorial. They will put us in remembrance of that sacrifice that Jesus made for us. They will not be putting away the sin, but they will be reminders to us of that perfect sacrifice that God has offered for our sins, in giving His Only Begotten Son as the Lamb of God, who was slain without spot or blemish. So it will be in a memorial. We’ll be reminded, and surely we will rejoice in what Jesus Christ has done for us, as we see the sacrifices and we’ll realize more fully the price that He paid, in order to deliver us from the penalty of our sins.

Verse forty four speaks of these inner chambers where they have the singers in the inner court. I don’t know if they’ll have drums and electric guitars, but it’s gonna be glorious, just the singing, the music that attends the worship of God.

The chamber that is toward the south is for the priests, those who are the keepers of the charge of the house of God. Those towards the north for the priests who are in charge of the altar: and the sons of Zadok and Levi, which come near to the Lord to minister unto him (40:45-46).

Chapter 41

In chapter forty one he continues in the description of the temple, and the measurement of it. He gives us there in verse four…

The measurement of the most holy place [As we told you was] thirty by thirty (41:4),

As far as the feet are concerned, and gives you further descriptions of the buildings and all, which we’ve already passed through and looked at.

Chapter 42

In chapter forty two, he continues in the descriptions of the walls, the thicknesses of the walls, the chambers, and so forth. As you read it again with the diagram, perhaps you can get a little better feel of it.

Then he said unto me, The north chambers, and the south chambers. [Take a look at that, you have those chambers there.] which were before the separate place, shall be holy chambers where the priests that approach unto the Lord shall eat the most holy things: and there shall they lay the most holy things, the meal offerings, the sin offerings, the trespass offerings for the place is holy (42:13).

Then…

The outer walls four sides: a wall round about, five hundred [And notice the word] reeds (42:20),

There, is in italics, which means that, that was inserted by the translators, but they probably were wrong, it should read “cubits”. A reed was about ten feet long, and that would make the place a mile square. But the rest of the measurements of the temple are in the cubits, and so it probably should read “cubits”.

and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place (42:20).

Or the common place outside of the sanctuary. This is a holy place unto the Lord. Separate unto God, and there is to be a wall to separate the holy places from the profane.

Now in the temple that John saw in the book of Revelation, the temple that existed during the tribulation period, in that temple, as John measured it, as we mentioned, he was ordered not to measure the outer court, because it had been given to the Gentiles, or to the heathen. Thus, the suggestion that the temple that will be built by the Jews, for the reestablishing of their worship, which they are very intent on doing right now. You can go to Jerusalem and there in the, the temple foundation, you can see the implements, you read here of the hooks and all, you can, you can see the hooks that they are making. You can see the silver pitcher in which they will catch the blood, and carry the blood to pour it upon the altar. You can see these things that they are already making in Jerusalem, for use when the temple is rebuilt.

Now it’s interesting in Israel today, there is sort of among some of the people, and there’s sort of a rumor, and there’s a feeling among some of the people, that they are not going to actually have to build the temple. They believe that it’s going to miraculously appear. That one day when they wake up, and look at the temple mount, the Mosque will be gone, the Dome of the Rock will be gone, and Mosque, and the Aqsa Mosque, and that the temple will be there, and uh, so that they will not actually have to build it. That, that is the feeling, and it is a growing feeling among many of the Jews. I just pass that on for sake of interest. But the last time I was there, and talking to them, they were sharing with me this, this new kind of feeling that they have, that they won’t have to rebuild the temple, that it’ll just miraculously appear there on the temple mount.

But the temple that is built during the tribulation period, the first seven, first half of the seven years, will probably co-exist with the Dome of the Rock Mosque. It will be, that would be a portion of the outer court, which John did not measure, inasmuch as it was given to the Gentiles. This new one, it’ll occupy the whole territory, and in fact, it’s even a little larger than what the temple mount is. They’ll have to expand that a bit, but it’ll occupy the whole territory there. So he describes this wall that separates the sanctuary from the profane, or common place.

Chapter 43

Now after this [The description of the temple and all.] he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east (43:1).

Now this is the gate that was shut, and we will get that next week as he talks about this gate that is shut. It is shut because the Lord has entered in by that gate, and it is for the prince. He shall use that gate. Six days it will be shut, on the Sabbath day, he will, the prince will come in by that gate.

We’ll talk about the prince next week, as we get into that portion, and why it is quite possible the prince in Ezekiel here is not the Messiah. There are indications, aspects about him that would sort of, for instance, he has sons. He can give his land to his sons, and it remains theirs. He can give a portion of his land to servants, but that reverts back to him in the year of liberty. So, we’ll look at that next week. It’s an interesting facet. But, “the gate that is looking toward the east”…

And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory (43:2).

Back in chapters nine, and chapters ten, he talks about seeing the glory of the Lord upon the threshold of the, of the temple. In chapter eleven, the glory of the Lord leaves the temple, and is on the mount of Olives, and the glory of God departs from Jerusalem. This is more, or less the beginning of what the scriptures call, “the times of the Gentiles”. Up to this point, the glory of God was among the people, there in the, there was always that glory of God that, that existed among the people. But now, the glory of God departs. The Jews are scattered among the Gentiles. So we have entered into the time of the Gentiles, from the time that Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem.

Now Jesus, in referring to this, “times of the Gentiles”, said that, “Jerusalem would be trodden under foot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Jerusalem was trodden under the foot of the Gentiles until 1967, at which time Jerusalem again came under the control of the Israeli government, after the six day war. So that if Jesus is referring to that particular time, we are just really in a time gap here, just in a transition between the times of the Gentiles having been fulfilled, and God again putting His Spirit upon Israel, and dealing with them for that last seven year covenant that God has with the nation of Israel. So we’re, we’re right in that little time gap between the two, as we are transitioning from one era, into another era. The times of the Gentiles having been fulfilled, with Jerusalem back under the control, and thus, coming back into the times of Israel once more, when God will deal with them as a nation.

Now the glory of the God of Israel came by way of the east (43:4).

When Jesus comes again, He talked to the disciples about the signs of His coming. He said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall they see the sign of the Son of man, coming with clouds, and great glory”. The glory of God, His coming again. Zacharias tells us, “He shall set His foot on that day, on the mount of Olives, and it will split in the middle, a great valley will be formed. There will flow this river through the valley, that will flow on down to the area of the Jordan valley, into the Dead sea, and as the waters come into the Dead sea, the waters will be healed”.

Ezekiel will tell us a little bit about that river, as he measures the river there, right by the gate. Then, as he goes downstream a ways, and walks through again, and it’s gonna go downstream a little further. It gets so deep, he has to swim across. The increased flows of water out of this new valley that will be formed as the mount of Olives splits in the middle, dividing to the north and to the south, forming the new valley. The great valley from which no doubt, it will open up a spring of water that is under Jerusalem, and this river will begin to flow out of Jerusalem, down to the Dead sea. A great river at that, as we’ll get Ezekiel’s description of it a little further on.

So when Christ comes, He comes to the Mount of Olives, and then enters into Jerusalem from the east. So, “the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east”. His voice was like the sound of many waters. In Revelation chapter one, in the description of Jesus Christ, you have that, that very same description of Him, “and His voice being as the sound of many waters”, Revelation one, fifteen.

Then, you have also, “His feet like unto fine brass”, and here it was also a description of the brass, which we passed over. You that read carefully, got it. I didn’t cover it tonight. But verse three, of chapter forty, “There was a man whose appearance was like unto the appearance of brass, and he had a line of flax”, that is, a, a string to measure with.

You can’t really measure with a, with a straight reed. A reed was sort of like a bamboo pole, and it was ten feet long, the measuring reed. In, in those days they had the measurement of a cubit, which generally was from the elbow to the tip of the finger. Then they had what they called the enlarged cubit, which was from the elbow to the tip of the finger, plus the width of your hand. So eighteen inches plus about four inches, gives you about a twenty two inch cubit. Or, they had the eighteen inch cubit. They had the span which was about nine inches. They had the breadth of the hand which was about four inches. Then they would make these reeds out of bamboo, as a general rule. They would cut them at the various lengths, and the reed was in this case, about ten feet long, the measuring reed that he used. So those were the, the measurements.

Now in this description of Jesus in Revelation, he also describes Him that, “His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength”. His face looked like the sun shining in it’s strength. So here, in the description, “and the earth shined with His glory”. “They shall see the sign of the Son of man coming with clouds and great glory.” Zacharias tells us that at that time, “they will look on Him who they have pierced”. Interesting. “They will say unto Him, What are the meaning of these wounds in your hands?” They will of course recognize that Jesus was indeed, God’s promised Messiah.

So it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, the vision that I saw when I came to observe the destruction of the city: the earlier vision when he was there by Chebar (43:3);

When he was brought back from Jerusalem and saw the glory of God departing, it’s that same glory, only it’s returning, coming again upon Jerusalem from the east, having departed to the east, returning from the east. So he said…

I fell upon my face (43:3).

This was a common kind of response and reaction to these glorious revelations of God. Daniel was falling on his face when he would see these revelations from God, these visions. John you remember two or three times talks about falling on his face. It must be an awesome thing to have that kind of dynamic experience with God, where you are actually brought by the Spirit into this dimension and realm.

The glory of the Lord came into the house by way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. So the spirit took me up, and he brought me into the inner court; [So you can see the inner courtyard there on your diagram.] and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house (43:4-5).

The sanctuary and the holy place, and the Holy of Holies. God’s glory filled it, even as the glory of God came down upon the tabernacle, even as the glory of God came upon the temple built by Solomon, II Chronicles, chapter seven, verse one. Now the glory of God comes and fills this house, this temple that is built there in Jerusalem.

And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me (43:6).

Now too, as with John, there was a revelator, an angel, and then also the Lord Himself that was speaking to John through the book of Revelation. In some places it was the angel that was speaking to him, telling him these things, and instructing him. When John was confused, the angel would sort of explain to John some of the things. It would seem that there is a revelator here, as well as the Lord speaking to Ezekiel, much as with the case of John.

So he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, [You see, God is speaking to him here.] and the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever (43:7),

God’s covenant. He’s gonna dwell in the midst, “this is the place of my throne, the place of the soles of my feet, I’ll dwell forever”.

and my holy name, [Yahweh] shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredoms, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: wherefore I consumed them in my anger (43:7-8).

So God speaks of this new covenant, this new relationship. The kings of Israel had polluted the sanctuary of God, they had not made a distinction between the holy and the profane. They even had built an altar unto Baal in the temple area under the reign of Manasseh. Horrible, horrible abominations against the Lord. But this is all over. This is a new age, this is a new era.

Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. And thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, [That is, this temple and all] that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. [“Let them understand the measurements and all.”] And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion of it, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in, and all of the ordinances, and the forms of it, and all the laws: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them (43:9- 11).

“Show them, explain them, tell them, that they might keep them, and that they might do them.” It’s not sufficient just to know, the importance is, “be ye doers of the word”. Paul spoke of the, of the mistake that the Jews had made in, in their bragging of the law. They were always saying, “We have the law of God! God committed to us His laws!” But Paul said, “They that have the law are not justified, but they that keep the law”. They were making that mistake of just boasting in having the law of God. That doesn’t mean anything! In fact, it means greater condemnation, because you know better! But it’s in the doing, the keeping. As James says, “Be ye doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”. A lot of people are being deceived because they hear the word of God. They know the word of God, they can give you chapter and verse. But if they’re not doing it, if they’re not keeping it, then they’re only deceiving themselves. “So that they might keep and that they might do.”

For this is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house (43:12).

This is the place where the Lord will meet with His people! So we then have the description of the altar. We’ve already gone over that with you, the altar that is in the center of the inner court yard, with the horns and all. It is described for you there. The place where they will offer the burnt offerings, and to sprinkle the blood upon this altar.

The burnt offerings were the offerings of consecration. The idea was that of consecrating yourself unto God. It’s more or less saying, “Lord my old life of the flesh, burned, consumed. Not to be living after the flesh, not to be mastered by my flesh anymore. But Lord, to live for you. To live a life that is consecrated unto you.” A beautiful offering.

And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the descendants of Zadok, which approach me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a sin offering. Then you are to take the blood of it, and put it on the horns of the altar, and the four corners of the [of the] settle, [Which is the upper part of the altar.] and the border round about: and thou shalt cleanse it and purge it. Then take the blood, offer the bullock for the sin offering (43:19-21),

It tells how the whole thing is to be cleansed through these offerings for seven days. After the sin offerings for seven days, then they are to offer then the burnt offerings unto the Lord. But seven days in purging the altar, purifying it, and the priests consecrating themselves.

And when these days are over it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and from then on, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord (43:27).

Beautiful! God’s promise is, “I will accept you.” Paul the apostle tells us in Ephesians, that, “God has blessed us with all kinds of spiritual blessings in Christ, in heavenly places”. Having sort of introduced that section of the book of Ephesians by giving thanks to God for all of these spiritual blessings in Christ, he begins to list some of the spiritual blessings that God has bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus. The, the key phrases are, “in Christ”, or, “by Him”, or, “through Him”. What I have, the inheritance that I have in Christ. The relationship that I have with God through Jesus Christ. These marvelous blessings that are mine in Christ, and through Christ. One of them that Paul lists towards the top of the list is, “We have been accepted in the Beloved”. God accepts me in Christ Jesus.

Now I could not hope to have any acceptance by God, in myself. I would dare not even approach God, or think about approaching God, in my own merits! I surely would not be accepted! But in Christ Jesus, He accepts me. What a glorious blessing! God is saying here, that at that time, once the place has all been purified and set up after these sacrifices, then they can offer the burnt offerings and the peace offerings.

Peace offerings were, were communion. They were where you just fellowship with God. It’s just coming to just spend time with Him. Fellowshipping with Him. God will accept it. As we will be offering the peace offerings, and the burnt offerings in that day, consecration unto the Lord, and just the fellowship with Him, there in the temple of the future.

So interesting things to look forward to! Just what the place of the church will be, I’m not certain. This seems to be set up for Israel. The land will be a portioned to Israel again, in different sections than they had before. As we will get into our next lesson, they, they are sort of horizontally across the country from the north all the way up to Damascus, clear on down to Egypt, the places for the different tribes. But they’re set horizontally across the country. The, Dan gets the most northern portion. Then it lists the tribes, and the portions they get coming on south from the area of Damascus.

But fascinating things that I, I think that a lot of these mysteries will be solved in just a very short time. I think that we are really in time, right to this place of, of just watching things come together. The climax of the times of the Gentiles, and, and God’s covenant with Israel, and the establishing of God’s Spirit and work upon the nation of Israel, once again. So it won’t be a mystery for us very long! By the next time we go through the Bible, I’m sure that we’ll have a much better explanation! We will then understand far more clearly. As uh, well, maybe I’ll take you on a walking tour through the place, and I won’t have to use a little diagram, and we can look the whole thing over! That’ll be exciting, won’t it?

The Keys to the Kingdom

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)

The keys of the kingdom represent the access you have to the Father through your relationship to Jesus Christ. With this relationship you have access to everything that is accessible to Christ. However, this access is not given indiscriminately; Jesus gave the keys to His disciples only after they recognized that He was the Christ. Once the disciples were convinced that Jesus was the Savior, they entered into a unique and personal relationship with Him. Their relationship to Jesus gave them direct access to their heavenly Father. Likewise, your relationship with Christ opens the door of heaven for you and gives you direct access to the Father. Peter discovered that once he had keys to the kingdom, he could go to the Father in every situation. When he stood to preach before thousands on the day of Pentecost, this simple fisherman opened the door to the kingdom for three thousand people in one day (Acts 2:41). When he encountered a lame man, he used his access to God and His healing power, and the man was healed (Acts 3:6). When he was imprisoned, Peter discovered that the keys of the kingdom could open even the most secure prison door (Acts 12:6-10).

If you are a Christian you, too, have keys to the kingdom of heaven. You do not need an intermediary, for you have an unobstructed access to God. With that access come all the resources you need to face any circumstance. When you are afraid, you have access to God’s peace that surpasses comprehension (Phil. 4:6). When you have a broken relationship, you have access to the God of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-21). When you meet someone in need, you have access to God’s provision for that person. What an incredible privilege to be entrusted with keys to the kingdom of heaven!

The events of chapter thirty eight are twice declared to be in the last days. So that would preclude any historic interpretation of these passages. They are in the last days, and we will point that out as we get to those scriptures. Second, there are many who believe that the battle, and the, that is described here, is the battle of Armageddon.

I personally do not believe that it is the battle of Armageddon. These are the reasons why I do not believe that. First of all, the participants. The battle of Armageddon as I understand it, will be more or less a world wide war. The chief participants will be the Antichrist, and the western powers, versus the powers from the east that will come to fight against the Antichrist and the western powers.

As we get into Daniel, we find that the Antichrist is leading the western powers down into Africa, probably for the purpose of conquering that continent, when tidings out of the east trouble him, and out of the north. The river Euphrates is dried up to make way for the kings of the east, and as the eastern nations band together, and come to stop the power of the western expansion, they meet in the valley of Megiddo for that final conflict, which is actually halted by the return of Jesus Christ. We will get that as we move into Daniel, and then later as we move into Zechariah.

So in this battle described, it is a limited participation. The, the object of the battle is Israel itself. The aggressors will be limited in that they are more or less those Islam nations that have already threatened to try to destroy Israel. The place of the battle, of course Armageddon, tells you that it is the valley of Megiddo. Here, the corpse will be buried in the valley of the Passengers which is east of the Dead sea. So the, the placement of the battle is different.

I am not really going to try to interpret Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine. I am going to only try to identify for you some of the names of the nations that are involved. We’ll just read what the scripture has to say. We will define a few Hebrew words for you so that you can then just see what the scripture says and make up your own mind concerning it. I think that when you try to interpret things, you begin to get into the spiritualizing of it, and you can make it really meaningless. I think that it is very clear in what it declares, and so let’s just see what Ezekiel has to say about this.

Now remember, chapter thirty six dealt with the restoring of the nation, as far as agriculture. “The mountains will be covered with trees, they’ll be tilled and sown, they will produce an abundance of fruit, an abundance of corn. The land that was so barren and desolate has become like a garden of Eden.” That has happened. Chapter thirty six, for the most part, is fulfilled.

Chapter thirty seven dealt with the rebirth of the nation. That God would gather them back into the land. They had been scattered all over the world, but God would gather them back into the land, make them one nation, and that has been fulfilled, as of May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel was reborn.

Now having developed the land, having brought them back into the land, we come into chapter thirty eight.

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him (38:1-2),

Gog is the chief prince of Magog. Gog is not a, not a land or territory in this sense, but is the chief prince of Magog. Now Magog has been identified by the historians as the Scythians. They were the ones who occupied the area in the Crimea, north of the Crimea. They were of course, this time when Ezekiel was writing, a very insignificant race of semi-wild people. They dwelt mainly in that area north of the Caucuses, and between the Black sea, and the Caspian.

So that is the area that would today be the southern provinces of the former Soviet Union. These provinces have come into the news lately, because there seems to be an alliance being made between Iran, and these southern provinces of the former Soviet Union, which are, for the most part, Moslems.

So Meshech and Tubal have been thought to be the ancient Tibareni, and Moschi, which of course is more or less known as Moscow and Tobolsk. That is not for certain. You can leave that as a question mark, a possibility for sure, but a question mark. God’s word…

Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn you back, and put hooks in your jaws, and I will bring you forth, with all your army, horses, horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords (38:3-4):

So the description of the army that is coming. Of course Ezekiel is describing in words that were familiar to those days and the type of weapons that would be used.

But now the nations, and I think that it is significant, the nations that are named, but I think also is significant are the nations that are not named. Nations that we would in our own minds, be certain that would be allied with this group, because of their past history, recent history in their attempt to exterminate Israel.

But the nations that are involved in this war, along with Magog, are…

Persia (38:5),

which of course today is Iran. We know the militancy of the Iranians. We see the demonstrations. The current government has no real love for the west, for the United States, and certainly not for Israel. In fact, they are constantly rallying their troops with the goal of taking Jerusalem back for Islam. They are constantly making threats and announcing their intentions of invading Israel.

Ethiopia (38:5),

Was part of the communist block. It is very strong Muslim centered today, as is…

Libya; all of them with their shields and their helmets: [Now Ethiopia and Libya, you don’t need identification for that.] Gomer, and all of his bands (38:5-6);

Gomer was in the area sort of north of Turkey, and you can find it in your Bible maps, along with…

Togarmah (38:6),

Which is the area of Turkey. These again are Moslem nations. Thus, the nations that are allied together seem to be predominantly Moslem nations, which would indicate the possibility of sort of a announced jihad against Israel.

The interesting thing to me is that Egypt is not named. However, Ethiopia, south of Egypt, and Libya, west of Egypt is named. Egypt is not named with these nations. Now whether the omission is just an omission, or whether it is by God’s design is something that we’ll discover after the fact. Anything that we would suggest would be speculation. It is interesting to me that Syria is not mentioned, though Syria has been a perennial foe of Israel. Jordan is not mentioned.

Now it is interesting that Egypt has made a peace treaty with Israel, and because of their peace treaty with Israel, Israel of course you remember, gave them back a large portion of the Sinai to create this peace treaty. It could be, you remember the rest of the Islam nations have been angry at Egypt for making a treaty with Israel, because it recognizes it as a nation.

Syria is in the, at the very moment, negotiating a peace treaty with Israel. You read about it in the paper, and there is even talk of the Israelis returning a part of the Golan Heights to Syria in order to facilitate a peace treaty. It’s just significant to me that neither of these nations, or the three, if you want to include Jordan, plus Babylon, or Iraq is not listed, and yet, if you and I were setting up the scenario, surely we would’ve included these nations that have expressed their desire to destroy Israel. Some of them have of course even attempted to do so, since the birth of this nation. So fascinating that Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan are not mentioned as aggressors with this consortium of nations that will be joining together for the invasion. So in verse seven…

Be thou prepared, prepare for yourself, you, and all of your company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. For after many days, [The time of the battle.] thou shall be visited: in the [last days, the] latter days [is again translated, “last days”] you shall come into the land that has been brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, [Chapter thirty six was of course prophesied to the mountains of Israel, now they’re gonna come against these mountains of Israel.] which have always been waste (38:7-8):

That is, since Israel was dispersed by the Romans in 70 A.D., the mountains of Israel became wasted, wilderness area. Of course the prophecy was that they would be replanted, and fruitful again. So, “you will come against these mountains of Israel, which have been always waste”, for those almost two thousand years.

but has been brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them (38:8).

Now some of the, some people say, “Well Israel isn’t dwelling safely, has never dwelled safely since it has become a nation. They’ve already had three wars with the surrounding nations. So how can you say they are dwelling safely?” If you will look up the Hebrew word, “safely”, in your lexicon, you will find that the word literally means, “confidently”. Now they may not be safe, but they’re confident! You talk to them and you’ll find they are very confident. They are dwelling confidently, though perhaps not safely as we would think of safely. But who in the world dwells safely pray tell, in these days anywhere in the world?

Yesterday, right up here on Warner, and Broadway in Santa Ana, a young man stabbed to death, stabbed some eighteen times. There was a big rumble right at the corner of Bristol, and Warner about the same time! So you can’t really say that you’re dwelling safely! But, confidently, “and they will be dwelling confidently”.

Thou shalt ascend and come like a [Cloud, that is, or like a,] storm, and thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, [A large number of personnel involved in this invasion.] you, and all of your bands, and many people with you. [The chief aggressor will be Magog, but with all of these other nations combining with them.] Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into your mind, and you’re going to think an evil thought: You will say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell confidently, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates (38:9-11),

Now the only walled city that you’ll find in Israel today, is the old city of Jerusalem, with the walls that were built by Solomon that are still intact. You have this small section of Jerusalem, a very small section that is walled. But the major part of Jerusalem is outside of that whole walled area. So it’s just sort of decorative really, it’s a great tourist attraction because it’s interesting to see the walls of the old city of Jerusalem. But it, it, if you’d say, “Well Jerusalem is a walled city”, to a Jew, they would laugh at you because it’s such a small portion, and it’s just that portion within. But all around it for miles, and miles stretches the city of Jerusalem. When you come to the outskirts, you don’t find walls! So, “they are dwelling confidently without walls”.

And you’ve come to take a spoil, to take a prey; to turn your hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, [The land that has been recovered, and redeveloped.] and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, [As in chapter thirty seven, God would gather them out of the nations.] which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land (38:12).

Now what is one of the major problems in Russia today? Lack of food. We have been sending over food to the people. You’ve seen the pictures of them standing in line to get food. In fact they say that there in Moscow, people will be standing in line, and you go up and say, “Well what’s for sale? What are you waiting for?” “Don’t know, we’ll find out when we get there.” Because sometimes they’ll run out of one item, and so by the time they get up there, they’ve got something else. But they’ll buy whatever’s there because of the scarcity.

Here is Israel as small as it is, it’s extremely productive. It is the fourth largest exporter of produce of all of the nations of the world. So they’re coming to take of the spoil, speaks of the cattle, and of the goods.

Now here’s an interesting thing. For…

Sheba, and Dedan (38:13),

Are going to object to the invasion. Who is Sheba and Dedan? Saudi Arabia. Now can you imagine any kind of a scenario where Saudi Arabia would be speaking up for Israel? Would be objecting to an invasion? The only scenario I could imagine is that Saudi Arabia feels threatened by the invasion, and that they are perhaps a target also of the invaders, for the tremendous wealth of the oil reserves that they have. The valley of Passengers is in the area of Saudi Arabia, east and south of the Dead sea. So that, it is quite possible that this is an attempt to take over the oil reserves.

The interesting thing is that Saddam Hussein had a goal of taking Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, he was stopped by the combined forces that joined in the Desert Storm operation. Had he taken Saudi Arabia, it would be a different story today, because we are so dependent upon the oil that we are getting out of the Middle East, that we could not survive as a industrial nation, unless we have the oil that we are getting from that area. That is why we stepped in. That is why we intervened. Because if they can control the oil, they can control the world at this time. The world’s economy. They are very well aware of that. They are aware of the power of oil.

They became aware of that in 1973, with the oil embargo, and when they doubled, and quadrupled the prices of oil, and they realized what a bargaining chip they had. They’ve been using it ever since upon the western nations. They have us sort of “over a barrel”, so to speak! Because we are dependent upon their oil. They are masterfully using that as a pawn in this giant game of chess, international game of chess.

The interesting thing is that Iran has been training their troops for a land invasion from the sea. The only place that Iran could possibly think of invading would be Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. So it is possible that Iran will seek to do what Hussein failed to do, and that is to gain and control the wealth of Saudi Arabia’s oil.

Now that is the possible reason why they are objecting to this whole invasion. It could be that Saudi Arabia’s being invaded by Iran, Persia, as the troops from Russia, the north, are coming on against Israel, so that the whole thing could be just an attempt to gain world control, and world power.

the merchants of Tarshish (38:13),

There is a difference of opinion among Bible commentators of who Tarshish is. Some say, Spain, some say England. If it be England, then…

the young lions thereof, [Could possibly include the United States, as we are sort of established as an English colony, and then broke off, so, “the young lions thereof”,] shall say unto you, Are you come to take a spoil? have you gathered your company to take a prey? to carry away the silver and gold, and to take away the cattle, and the goods, and a great spoil (38:13)?

“Is this your object?” That sounds like a appeal to the U.N. to sanction these nations for invading Israel. It doesn’t say that we are going to be moving forces. It just is a verbal kind of an objection. Filing a paper with the security counsel asking them to condemn these nations for this aggression.

Now that sets up the scene of the battle.

Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people Israel dwell confidently, shall you not know it? And you shall come from your place out of the north parts (38:14-15),

Just get your map out, and look at Jerusalem, and look directly north of Jerusalem and find out what you see. Moscow’s just about due north of Jerusalem. “You come out of your north parts”…

you, and many people with you, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, a mighty army: And you shall come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the last days, and I will bring you against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes (38:15-16).

The Lord is saying, “This is it! The nations will know that I am God, when I am sanctified before their eyes!” This phrase, “sanctified before their eyes”, we’re gonna get that two or three more times, and you’ll see the importance of it. Just make a note in your mind now, we’ll be back to that.

Thus saith the Lord God; Are you he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring you against them? It shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face (38:17-18).

Now in its history, God fought for Israel. Many of the Bibles describe, or many of the biblical battles describe God’s divine intervention, destroying their enemies with hail stones, fire and brimstone coming down from heaven, destroying their enemies with plagues, driving out the inhabitants from before them. How God was with them in battle, putting to confusion their enemies. God is once again gonna manifest Himself in this battle, in a supernatural intervention. He will describe to us the supernatural events by which the invading army will be destroyed. God said, “When you do this, my fury is going to come up in my face”.

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; [Tremendous earthquakes] So that the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all of the creeping things that creep upon the earth, all of the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground (38:19-20).

A severe earthquake shaking that whole area, all of those that are in it. There is something awesome about a major earthquake. Now we’ve had some minor earthquakes, but there is something rather awesome about major earthquakes that you feel so totally helpless. You just wonder, “When’s this thing gonna quit shaking?” My thought whenever I feel the beginning of an earthquake, my thought is always, “How hard is the main jolt gonna be?” You feel it swaying, swaying, swaying, but you’re waiting for that, “snap”. You wonder how hard it’s gonna snap when it hits. This is gonna be a major earthquake.

Now you go to the area of Israel, especially down into the Jordan valley, and you see these sheer cliffs along the Jordan valley. There are many landslides down in that area, and I can imagine what it will be in a tremendous earthquake. Actually, the whole valley was formed, they believe, by an earthquake years ago. The Syro-African rift they feel was caused by a giant earthquake. So can you imagine an earthquake of say an, 8, 8.2 magnitude, what it would do in the destruction over there. The walls, most of them are, are not, they do not use the reinforced steel. They’re, in so many of the buildings they’re just rocks upon rock. Without reinforced steel, it’s gonna be devastating. So the Lord describes the whole place being shaken, the walls falling to the ground.

And I will call for a sword [The Lord said] against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother (38:21).

When this earthquake, and these cataclysmic things begin to happen, there will be such confusion that there will become, there will come actually a inner strife among these nations, and they’ll begin to fight each other, and they will begin to destroy each other. You know that of course, the area of Russia is completely divided now. There is all kinds of ethnic strife that is taking place in Russia. This will just trigger ethnic strife throughout that whole area, like we’ve not seen yet.

And I will plead [God’s intervention] against him with pestilence with blood; I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. [So God’s intervention, earthquake, hailstones, fire, and brimstone.] And thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself (38:22-23);

Now God said, “I’ll be sanctified”, and this is how, in the destruction of this overwhelming force that is coming against Israel. It seems that Israel doesn’t have a chance against these overwhelming odds. Armed with the latest type of weapons, Israel won’t seem to have a chance, and yet, God is gonna miraculously intervene, supernatural events.

Now interestingly enough, and I guess for our benefit, Newsweek magazine this week had a very fascinating article on the peril of the world being destroyed by an asteroid, or a comet. The article is very interesting reading when you, when they describe what happens when say a asteroid the size of, of a building, say the size of this building, if an asteroid would hit the earth, it would leave a giant hole, it would vaporize the dirt which would go up into the atmosphere, the rocks and all, and then they’d begin to fall back like fiery rain. Because, as they’re falling back through the atmosphere, the speed and so forth, they would turn into fire. Read it! You’d think that the scientists are reading out of Ezekiel, or Revelation, when they describe what would happen if we had a collision with an asteroid.

We have, according to the article, about ten possibilities a year, of an asteroid hitting us. They seem to be developed out there near Jupiter someplace, and then they get kicked out of orbit, and they come into orbit, and you never know when it’s gonna happen! A lot of them, well, we had one just a year or so ago, and it came within ten million miles, and we didn’t even know it, until after it was passed. But it was a close miss, ha, ha! They say that one that was, say a mile square would actually destroy mankind. We, we wouldn’t survive. So who knows what God will use! Maybe He’ll toss an asteroid over in that direction you know, and surely the article does describe the exact kind of a scenario that you read here in Ezekiel, and in Revelation. But you know, however God does it is something that’s in His domain, and we can only guess.

Chapter 39

Now he continues this same prophecy. He said…

Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but a sixth part of thee, and will cause you to come up from the north parts, and I will bring you upon the mountains of Israel (39:1-2):

God said, “I will turn you back, and leave only a sixth part”. That is, five out of six of the invading troops will be destroyed. Pretty heavy casualties!

I will smite your bow out of your left hand, and I will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand (39:3).

You might take a look at the Hebrew word, and the “arrows” are just flying missiles. So what are they? Who knows.

Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that are with you: and I will give you unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field be devoured. You will fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. [Their destruction is certain, their destruction is sure.] So I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: [Yet future, Israel has not yet really turned to God as a nation.] and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. [The Lord said,] Behold, it is come, it is done, saith the Lord (39:4-5, 7);

That’s it, it is done. It’s a done deal, it’s, it’s going to be. The Lord puts His seal to it.

this is the day whereof I have spoken (39:8).

God’s spoken of this day for Israel for a long time. God is going to again work directly with the nation of Israel.

Now as we get into Daniel, the next book we move into, when we get into the ninth chapter, we will find that there have been seventy sevens that have been determined by God, upon the nation of Israel, and the holy city of Jerusalem. To finish the transgressions, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for sin, to establish the covenant, to finish the prophesies, and to anoint the most Holy.

From the time the commandment would go forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, to the coming of the Messiah, the Prince, there would be sixty nine sevens, or four hundred and eighty three years. There were seventy sevens determined. Sixty nine were fulfilled to the coming of the Messiah. But the prophecy in Daniel goes on to say, “The Messiah would be cut off, and not received for Himself”, that is, would not receive the kingdom. Four hundred and eighty three years after the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, Jesus came, made His triumphant entry. He was crucified within the week without receiving the kingdom.

Then there was going to be a prince of the people that would come and destroy the city, and set up an abomination and all. But the seventieth seven is yet to be fulfilled. That is, God has an unfulfilled seven year covenant with the nation of Israel in which God is going to work. At the end of that seven year covenant, “your prophesies will be sealed”, or that is, completed. They will then bring in the Messiah, the reign of Jesus Christ, the second coming of our Lord to reign in power and glory.

So this event in Ezekiel thirty eight is tied with this covenant that God made with Israel. This defeat of their enemies will trigger the beginning of the last seven years. As we will move on, and we will discover Ezekiel speaking of that. So, “It is come, it is done, this is the day whereof I have spoken”. The day when God would restore His Spirit upon Israel, and work with them again. Peter makes reference to how all of the prophets spoke of the final restitution of all things, and that is the restitution of God’s work among the people of Israel, and their being restored as God’s people.

And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, the shields the bucklers, the bows the arrows, the handstaves, the spears, and they shall burn them with fire for seven years (39:9):

They will go out and take the spoils of war, the implements that have been brought in for this war. Probably the fuel and will actually have a seven year, interesting number of years, a seven year supply of fuel that they won’t really have to worry.

You know the interesting thing is, that in the previous wars how Israel has gained from the implements and weapons of war. When that had that intrusion into southern Lebanon to create this bumper zone, they discovered these caves loaded with all kinds of Russian equipment, tanks, mortars, all kinds of weapons, rifles. In fact they were three months removing all of the weapons out of these caves, in these huge semi trucks, some twenty six of them, working day and night for three months to transfer these weapons. They put them on display there in Israel for a time. All of the weapons that Russia had moved into southern Lebanon, and had stored in these caves in preparation for an invasion. So again they’re going to profit from these spoils of war.

It shall come to pass in that day, [verse eleven] that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves [God’s gonna bury him there in Israel.] the valley of passengers on the east of the sea: [And it’ll stink.] it’ll stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all of his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all of the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: and after the end of seven months shall they search (39:11-14).

In other words, they will be searching for seven months for the, the bodies that have been destroyed by the hand of God throughout the area.

Now the interesting thing to me is found in verse fifteen. Verse fourteen tells us there’ll be professional buriers. But, verse fifteen says…

And the passengers that pass through the land, when any sees a man’s bone, he will set up a sign by it, until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog (39:15).

They’ll take it across the other side, and bury it on the east side of the sea, in this valley known as the valley of passengers, or Hamon-gog. But notice the people don’t touch the bones. They set up a flag near it, so that the professionals come and handle the bones.

Turn to Zechariah, chapter fourteen, and in conjunction with this, we have an interesting verse twelve. Zechariah also speaks about the rebirth of the nation of Israel, and about how, “the enemies round about are going to seek to fight against her. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all of the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand on their feet. Their eyes will be consumed in their sockets, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth.” It sounds like death from severe radiation. I will let you to draw your own conclusions as to what that implies. But it would imply that people are afraid to touch the bones, perhaps because of radiation. They don’t touch the bones, they just set up flags, and the professionals come to bury them. It could indicate that definitely nuclear devices will be involved in this war, and in the destruction of Israel’s enemies.

And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. And, thou son of man, saith the Lord God; Speak [Speak] unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; and gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that you might eat the flesh, and drink the blood. And you shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of the rams, and lambs, and of the goats, and bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan (39:16-18).

Now this is why many people, many commentators believe that this perhaps is also the battle of Armageddon, because in chapter seventeen in Revelation, you find that the battle of Armageddon, the birds are all invited to come, and feast at the feast that God prepares. But in both battles there are gonna be plenty of bodies to feed upon for the vultures, and all. So the invitation to come.

Incidentally, a few years ago there was some tract about vultures multiplying in Israel, but no real fact to it. You know, they like, you hear these crazy rumors. They seem to spread you know like these scientists that were drilling this hole down in Siberia, or upper Russia or something, put a microphone down, and heard you know all of these groans, just, and they have, these stories that circulate you know. Madeleine O’Hare is now petitioning the FCC to cut off all Christian radio. That’s not true. But it’s just, but these petitions, they’re, they’re like chain letters, they just keep coming around. People go out and get all these things, and the FCC has pleaded, they’ve sent us letters and said, “Please tell the people don’t send any more petitions! We’ve got so many bundles and we don’t know what to do with them, and there’s nothing to it! We have no intention of, of taking Christian radio off, and all”. But these petitions they get circulated again. There’s just a lot of these you know, a couple that picked up a hitchhiker, and he sat in the back seat, and warned them Jesus was coming soon. Then, he disappeared! These stories they just have a way of recirculating. I heard that one first back in the forties! So, and I’ve heard versions of it since. Someone took a picture of a cloud, and there was Jesus standing in the formation in the cloud, you know, and all of these things. So don’t be dismayed at the stories you may hear. There are no increase of vultures in Israel.

Ye shall eat the fat till ye be full, [Talking to the birds, and vultures and all.] you’ll drink the blood till you’re drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus you will be filled at my table with horses chariots, the mighty men, with the men of war, saith the Lord God. And I will set my glory among the heathen, and the heathen shall see my judgment when I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. [“The nations will see my power.”] So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. [This marks the day, the day, the Lord said, of which He has spoken, the day in which they again turn to God.] And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity because of their iniquity: because they had trespassed against me, therefore I hid my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: and so they fell by the sword. Because of their uncleanness, and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and I have hid my face from them. [But He will no longer hide His face, He is going to again reveal Himself to them.] Therefore (39:19-25),

Paul said, “Blindness is happened in part to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles come in, but then all Israel shall saved”. So right now, they are in that national blindness, they’re blind to the Jesus Christ, to the truths of God. But there will come that day when God will work again. “Therefore”…

thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt confidently in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations (39:25-27);

Go back to verse twenty three of chapter thirty eight, when He destroys this invading army. “I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and will be known in the eyes of many nations.” So that day when He destroys these invading armies.

Then [He said] shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the nations: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. [Then, this is the key verse.] Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God (39:28-29).

Joel’s prophecy, partially fulfilled in the church. “It shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, your son’s and daughter’s shall prophesy, young men shall see visions, old men shall dream dreams. Upon my servant’s and handmaidens will I pour out my Spirit in that day, saith the Lord. And there shall be blood and fire, and vaporous smoke, moon turned into blood, the sun into darkness, before the great day that the Lord comes.” So you’re entering here then into that period, when God pours out His Spirit. The great tribulation, when God judges the world, because of the sin, and then, the glorious return of Jesus Christ, and our being gathered together unto Him.

So we’re, we’re in between chapter thirty seven, and chapter thirty eight, as far as looking at the world today. Chapter thirty six was fulfilled. It began at the turn of the century, the redevelopment of the land. Chapter thirty seven was fulfilled in May of 1948. I pray that thirty eight and thirty nine will be fulfilled before we hit the end of the century. Who knows though when God is going to work. But this is the next major event to come along.

So watch for a continued romance between the southern provinces of Russia, and Iran, as they are joining together. They need the Iranian money that Iran of course has as a result of her oil reserves. Iran desires their military equipment, which they are anxious to sell because they need the cash. So there is a marriage that is taking place now, and the development of military weapons by Iran. They have hired over five thousand of the Russian nuclear scientists. They are seeking to develop their own nuclear capability, besides having purchased nuclear weapons from Kazakstan.

So the whole thing is shaping up now before our very eyes! Keep alerted when you see articles in Newsweek, Time, and so forth on the middle east, upon Iran and so forth. Pour over them, because you’ll find that what Ezekiel said, told us about, is really shaping up now.

The thing is, it is my belief that when God puts His Spirit again upon Israel, and the Spirit of God is working among the people of Israel, that the church will have departed. I believe that right now the Spirit of God has been poured out upon the church, and upon the Gentile believers. I believe that God’s Spirit is working basically among the Gentile nations. As Paul said, “Blindness is happened in part to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles come in”. That, we as a wild branch, have been grafted in, to partake of the, of the fatness of the promises of God and all. But don’t boast against the true branch, because God is able to graft the true branch back in, which He will, and God will again work with the nation of Israel. But when He does, the church will have been removed.

We know that the Antichrist cannot be revealed until that which hinders is taken out of the way. “That which hinders shall hinder until it is removed, and then shall the Antichrist be revealed”.

I believe that, that which hinders the revelation of the Antichrist is the power of the Holy Spirit within the church, the witness of the church through the Spirit. That’s the thing that’s holding back the Antichrist today. When the church is removed, then God will no longer leave Israel in blindness, will reveal Himself to Israel, His Spirit will be poured out upon Israel, and you will enter into that final seven year scenario that is described through many places in the Bible, as God seals the hundred and forty four thousand of the Jews, to preserve them. They will be His primary witnesses here on the earth during that seven year period of time. The church? Outa here!

So it’s sort of like when you see the Santa Clauses and reindeer going up you know that Thanksgiving is getting close! Because you know that Thanksgiving comes before Christmas. When you see these signs of the return of Jesus Christ, you realize that the rapture of the church is getting very close, because it precedes the return of the Lord in glory. For when Jesus comes again, then Paul said, “When Christ, who is our life shall appear, we shall also appear with Him in glory”. Coming with Him to establish God’s kingdom upon the earth. “Behold, He cometh with ten thousands of His saints.”

So as Jesus said in Luke, “When you see these things begin to come to pass”, now do you think they have begun to come to pass? I mean can you see any hints that Iran is sort of getting chummy with Russia, at least with the southern provinces there? Can you see Libya sort of antagonistic towards Israel? You know is, has it begun to come to pass? I think so, myself. Jesus said, “Look up, and lift up your head, because your redemption is drawing nigh”.

Really, as I look at the world today, as I look at our United States today, none too soon! None too soon. I look at the moral conditions of our nation. We have a president who vows to open up the military to the homosexuals, to the gay community. We have a president who says he’s gonna enact special legislation for them. A president who said he is going to seek to get a law that will allow abortion, so that it won’t be a matter of the court, but it would become the law of the land. I’d say we’re in big trouble! I would, I would, well, let me rephrase that! I’d say the United States is in big trouble, I’d say, we’re outa here! So look up! Lift up your head, it’s getting close! Shall we pray?

Father we thank You for Your word, a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path, a map whereby we can follow. A map that leads us Lord in the right path, Your path. May we walk Lord in Your ways. May we be obedient unto Your Word, and Lord help us to so live in these days. When the enemy is going about as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour, Lord may we be steadfast, and unmovable, abounding in the work of the Lord. So Father we thank You again, for the Word of God, a guide for our lives. May we follow its precepts, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

An examination of the fruits of the Spirit can be intimidating. Working all nine of these traits into your life seems impossible, and indeed it is. But the moment you became a Christian, the Holy Spirit began a divine work to produce Christ’s character in you. Regardless of who you are, the Spirit works from the same model, Jesus Christ. The Spirit looks to Christ in order to find the blueprint for your character. The Spirit will immediately begin helping you experience and practice the same love that Jesus had when He laid down His life for His friends. The same joy He experienced will now fill you. The identical peace that guarded the heart of Jesus, even as He was being beaten and mocked, will be the peace that the Spirit works to instill in you. The patience Jesus had for His most unteachable disciple will be the patience that the Spirit now develops in you. The kindness Jesus showed toward children and sinners will soften your heart toward others. There will be a goodness about you that is only explainable by the presence of the Spirit of God. The Spirit will build the same faithfulness into you that led Jesus to be entirely obedient to His Father. The Spirit will teach you self-control so that you will have strength to do what is right and to resist temptation.

All of this is as natural as the growth of fruit on a tree. You do not have to orchestrate it on your own. It automatically begins the moment you become a believer. How quickly it happens depends upon how completely you yield yourself to the Holy Spirit’s activity.

Shall we turn to Ezekiel thirty seven, as we continue our journey through the Bible? God had predicted that when they turned away from God, and from His law, that they would be scattered in all the world, that they would lose that land that God had given to them, and that they would become a curse and a byword throughout all of the nations. They did forsake God, they did turn to idolatry, and as a consequence, the moral fiber of the nation was weakened, and they were defeated, and they were scattered into all the world. But God promised that a day would come when He would gather them again into the land, raise them, so to speak, as from the dead.

So in Ezekiel thirty seven, we have the prophesies of God’s restoration of the nation of Israel after they had been scattered, and as good as dead throughout the world. So…

The hand of the Lord was upon me, [Ezekiel said] and he carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and he set me down in the middle of a valley which was full of bones. [Now Ezekiel had a vision, and in this vision the Spirit took him to this valley that was full of bones.] And he caused me to pass by them walk around them: [Look through the valley, look at all of these bones that were there.] and, behold, there were very many lying there in the valley; [Not buried.] and they were very dry. [Parched, bleached by the sun, dead for a long time.] And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, only you know (37:1-3).

Now they cannot live apart from a divine work of God. There’s no way that these bones could be revived and live. But Ezekiel knows that with God all things are possible, so, “Lord only you know! You know, if you want to, you can do it, but only you can do it!”, is basically what Ezekiel is, is answering the Lord at this point.

Now in the previous chapter, God declares in verse twenty five that He was gonna sprinkle the people with clean water, “and you will be cleansed from all of your filthiness, and from all of your idols, you will be cleansed. And then”, the Lord said, “a new heart will I give to you, a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.” God is promising to do a work with the people and, and now this is sort of tied with this promise of God, of the reviving of the nation, a new heart in them, God’s Spirit in them.

So he sees the valley of dry bones, dry and scattered, which are representative of the nation of Israel which has been scattered throughout the world, throughout the nations of the world. It is interesting that the Jews are being spread all over the world, there were, there were, and are, pockets of Jews all over the world. South Africa community, New York, a large community! For a long time there were more Jews in New York then there were all of Israel. Throughout Europe, Russia, down in Yemen, Iraq, Iran, South Africa. Did I say that? China, India, they were scattered all over the world! In many places, persecuted. In fact, it was the persecution of the Jews back in the early part of the eighteenth century that caused the beginning of the Zionist movement. When they felt that their only hope for survival would be to establish themselves in a, a, in a homeland again. So the Lord said to Ezekiel…

Prophesy unto these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live (37:4-5):

Now in the Hebrew the word translated “breath” is “ruach”. Ruach is the word for “breath”, it is also the word translated, “spirit”. It is also the word that is translated “wind”. So when in the Hebrew you find the word “ruach”, you determine by the context if it should be translated “breath”, or “spirit”, or “wind”. There is no general rule that you can follow, it’s just the context dictates what would be the correct translation.

Now inasmuch in the previous chapter it was translated “spirit”. “And I will put my Spirit within you”, if you would translate it here, “spirit”, “Behold, I will cause my Spirit to enter into you, and ye shall live:” It would be perfectly accepted as far as a translation is concerned. The ruach, the spirit, the breath.

It is interesting that in the Greek, the word for “spirit” is “pneuma”, which is the same word for “air”. We get a lot of English words from this Greek word, “pneuma”, pneumatic, which you know, pneumatic tires and pneumatic tools, air tools. It comes from this Greek word “pneuma” which is also the word for “spirit”. So here God promises He’s going to put breath, or spirit in them, and they shall live. Then the Lord said…

I’m going to lay sinews on you, and I’m gonna bring up flesh upon you, I’m gonna cover you with skin, and put spirit [or breath] in you, and you shall live; [God’s prophecy] and you shall know then that I am the Lord (37:6).

So an interesting prophecy to a valley of dry bones! Just to speak to them is interesting enough! But to prophesy that they are going to live when God begins the work, He’s gonna, He’s gonna put flesh on them, He’s gonna put skin on them, and then He’s gonna put the spirit, or breath upon them, and they’re going to live. A prophecy of the redevelopment, and the rebirth of the nation of Israel.

Now it is true that the prophecy was partially fulfilled when the Jews were allowed to go back from the captivity in Babylon. Zerubbabel and Ezra led the remnant who went back, there was a partial fulfillment. But these prophesies of Ezekiel are obviously yet future. The full prophesies here were never fulfilled in the return from the Babylonian captivity.

But amazingly enough are being fulfilled today before our very eyes. This is one of those exciting places where God’s word comes alive! Because you can look at the things that are happening today throughout the world, as far as the Jews, and the return to Israel, the rebirth of the nation. You look at the prophesies here and it’s that exciting thing of just seeing it happen before your eyes! The confirmation of, of God’s word, and as the Lord said, “And you will know that I am the Lord!” Only the Lord could bring this to pass as Ezekiel said, “Lord thou knowest! Lord only you can do it!” So the Lord declares, “I’m going to do it!” So Ezekiel said…

I prophesied as I was commanded (37:7):

Now I’m certain that Ezekiel must’ve felt a little funny prophesying to dry bones. Yet that’s what the Lord commanded him to do. It is interesting that sometimes God calls upon us to do things that we don’t understand. Many times because we don’t understand, we have a tendency to balk, and say, “I, I’m not gonna do that! It’s ridiculous you know!”

But it is also interesting that many times if we will obey the prompting of the Spirit, we will be amazed at what God had in mind. You know, you’ll never know what God has in mind until you’re obedient. God so often leads us just one step at a time. We don’t like that! We want God to lay out the whole program, and we ask a lot of “why’s”. “But why God?” Many times, because we fail to take the first step, we never go any further. We never discover or know exactly what God had intended or purposed, and would’ve done, if we’d only been obedient!

When Philip was in Samaria taking the gospel to them, the power of the Holy Spirit working through his life, confirming the word, as was prophesied and declared in Mark’s gospel, chapter sixteen. Many people believed and were baptized, notable people. It was a great moving of the Spirit of God among the Samaritans. When the church in Jerusalem heard the Samaritans had received the gospel, they sent Peter and John up there, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet, the Holy Spirit had not come upon them.

Now from this exciting revival, many believing, many being baptized, this move of God’s Spirit, the Lord said to Philip in the midst of all of this, “Now Philip, get down to Gaza”, which is Gaza, which is desert, deserted area. “But Lord! Great revival! Lot of people are coming! You know, there’s nobody down there! Why Lord?” You see he would’ve had a good reason to challenge that prompting of the Spirit. Had he challenged it and said, “Well that, you know, there’s nobody there!” He never would’ve received step two.

So many times people say, “Oh I wish I was in the will of God! Oh I wish God would direct my life!” Well He’s still waiting for you to take step one, and He’s not gonna give you step two, until you take step one!

He went down to Gaza and there, he saw a chariot. An Ethiopian eunuch was in it and he was headed back to Ethiopia. The Lord gave him step two, “Go up to the chariot”. When he went up to the chariot, he found the fellow reading out of Isaiah. “Hey fella! Do you understand what you’re reading?” “No I wish someone could explain it to me!” “Be glad to!” He opened at the scripture where he was reading, and preached Christ unto him. Soon they came to a body of water and the guy said, “Well here’s some water! What hinders me from being baptized?” Philip said, “Well if you believe with all your heart, you can be!” He said, “I believe!” So they got off the chariot.

Now God saw one man who was hungry for God, who had come no doubt from Ethiopia to Jerusalem in order that he might find God, and was going home still empty. Had the scriptures, still searching, and God took Philip out of this exciting moving of the Spirit, the revival in Samaria, in order that he might reach this one man who, in turn, because of his position and all, reached a multitude in Ethiopia!

But logic would’ve said, “No, no, no! You don’t leave something that’s going so great and going so good, to go down to a desert area!” That’s where we get hung up! God said, “My ways are not your ways, my ways are beyond your finding out”.

Fellow came up to me today, and said that he just lost his job. He was working for a company that there was a merger with this other company. He was to maintain his job and he would get a promotion. Instead, he was let go. I said, “Well that’s exciting!” “God probably has something better for you, but you weren’t looking. You know, you were, you were settled. It was all you know, got security and everything, you’re all settled down. So God’s shaking you up a bit! Those are always exciting times!” “God’s got you looking now! God’s got you knocking! The thing is, God can now lead you to something better!”

Here’s Ezekiel, he said, “I did what the Lord told me”, and he must’ve felt rather foolish. Yet, he did as he was commanded. How important for us just to do what God tells us to do!

and as I prophesied, there was a noise, [No doubt, a rattling.] and there was a shaking, [shake, rattle, and...] the bones came together, bone to his bone. [That is, it came together in order to form a skeleton!] And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them: but there was no breath or spirit in them. Then he said unto me, Prophesy to the wind, [Or spirit] prophesy son of man, and say to the wind, [Or spirit] Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds (37:7-9),

Now the people had been scattered throughout the world. The four winds representing the north, east, south, and west, the various locations throughout the world.

O breath [Or spirit] breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, [Again obedience] and breath [Or the spirit] came into them, and they lived, and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army (37:9-10).

Number of people. Now God is going to explain the vision. That’s the vision of the, in sort of a symbolic parable form of, of what God was going to do. Now the explanation…

Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: [That is, the northern and the southern kingdoms, Israel and Judah.] behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost: [And surely that was the condition, turn of the century, no hope of a nation.] we are cut off for our part. [“We’re scattered!”] Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, [Resurrected as it were, from the dead.] And I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: and then shall you know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord (37:11-14).

“When it comes to pass, you’ll know that I have spoken it, and I have done it!” Now it has come to pass! The interesting thing is that they even revived the Hebrew language! You see these Jews that were scattered all over the world, they, they lost the Hebrew language. Those that were in Germany, spoke Yiddish. Those that came to the United States, spoke English. Those that went to China, spoke Chinese. Those that were in Mexico, South America, spoke Spanish, Portuguese. They lost the Hebrew language. But Herzl believed that if they were really going to be unified as a nation, they’d have to have a unified language, and so they revived the Hebrew language, and started to teach the people the ancient Hebrew language.

Now of course, you go over to Israel, they speak Hebrew, the papers are in Hebrew, they’ve revived the language. The people are dwelling there in the land, it is, it is a very obvious fulfillment of prophecy!

I have a set of commentaries that I was reading in preparation for tonight, and the interesting thing is that these commentaries were written about fifty years ago. The fellow, because at fifty years ago, it looked like there was no way, I guess they were written more than that, seventy years ago. But it looked like there was no way that Israel could ever be a nation again. So in his commentary, he said, “Obviously this is figurative, you know because, you know there’s no hope for Israel ever becoming a nation again.” So he just looked at it as a totally figurative kind of a thing, “it’d probably be fulfilled in the church, you know when spiritual Israel and all in the kingdom”, and he discounted because it looked so impossible at the time that the commentaries were written that such a thing could be!

What God has declared often times seems to be totally impossible! Often times, because we can’t see how God could possibly do it, we are prone to stagger at the promises of God! “How in the world can God do that?” It happened when Elisha told the king, “Tomorrow in the gate of Samaria they’ll be selling fine flour for sixty five cents for a bushel”. The man on whom the king leaned said, “If God would open the windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” He said, “You’ll see it, but you won’t eat it.” It happened in a very unusual way, but it happened!

But, staggering at the promises of God. Well let’s not stagger at the promises of God. Let us, with Abraham, know that what God has promised, He is able to perform! I found it rather amusing that this commentary, that the fellow tried to pass it off as, as purely figurative speech because, you know, “there’s no way that Israel could be revived as a nation”. But they are!

You know it’s, the New Testament in the book of Acts, when Peter and John were going in to the temple and the lame man was alms, and Peter said, “Hey I don’t have any money, but what I have, I’ll give to you in the name of Jesus, rise and walk!” The man, as Peter lifted him to his feet, he was healed and he went running through the temple, walking, leaping, praising God! Then Peter was arrested because of the miracle. He, and the lame man, and John! They spent the night in jail.

In the morning they assembled the court, the religious court. They brought Peter up, and they wanted to know, “By, by what power have you done this?” So Peter explained to them that it was done through the power of the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom those builders had set at naught, but God made Him the Chief Cornerstone, neither was there salvation in any other! So they took counsel among themselves. “What are we gonna do? You know, it is a miracle that we can’t deny!” It said, “Seeing the lame man standing there whole, they could say nothing against it.” I like that! How you gonna argue, when here’s the guy standing there? You can’t say, “Well he’s not standing! He can’t walk!” Cause the guy walked in, and what can you say? You can’t deny it!

So here, the nation of Israel is there, what can you say? You can’t deny it! You can’t say, “Well it’s not there!” Because you read about it almost every day in the newspaper. Something’s happening over there that becomes newsworthy here. So it sort of leaves you without any negative kind of an argument. God said it, God performed it. What can you say? It’s a miracle! “It can’t happen! It hasn’t happened in history. From a pure natural standpoint, it could not happen!” Yet it did, and all you can say is, “God did it”. Proof of God, and proof of the truth of God’s word. So as the Lord said, “I have spoken it, and performed it”, and so He has. Now…

The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, Take one stick, and write on it, Judah, for the children of Israel and his companions: then take another stick, and write on it, Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, for all of the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another; and they shall become one in your hand (37:15-17).

So, “Take this stick, write Judah, take another stick, write Joseph. Then, hold them in your hand”. Then the people are gonna say, “What in the world is that?”

So when the children of your people say unto you, Will you show us what in the world you mean by this? Then say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph (37:18-19),

Incidentally, the Mormons really stretched this to make it Joseph Smith, ha, ha! There is no basis for that at all! There really are quite preposterous to say that this is a reference to the book of Mormon that God gave Joseph Smith. Very obvious what it is, God says what it is! “Saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph”…

which is the hand of Ephraim (37:19),

Now Ephraim was the major tribe of the northern kingdom. Of course, Judah, the southern kingdom. But Ephraim was the major tribe of the northern kingdom, and so, “represented the northern kingdom of Israel”.

and the tribes of Israel his fellows, [The northern kingdom] and I will put them with him, even the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand (37:19).

So God said, “I’m gonna bring the two kingdoms together, the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah, they’re going to be united again”. At the death of Solomon, Rehoboam, his son, listened to the young bucks who were counseling him. Because, when Solomon died, a contingency came from the northern tribes and said, “You know, we need some tax relief!” Sound familiar? So Rehoboam sought the counselors of his father Solomon, they said, “Well it’s, you know, your dad did tax heavily, and we’ve got everything we need. Go ahead and reduce their taxes, and they will be loyal to you.” But these young guys from Arkansas said, “Nah!” “If you reduce their taxes, they’re only gonna be asking for more reductions. Raise their taxes! Go out and tell them, ‘You haven’t seen anything yet!’ Raise the taxes!” But these smart young guys weren’t so smart.

So when Rehoboam went out and talked tough about raising taxes, they said, “To your tents O Israel! What do we have to do with David and with Judah?” They rebelled, and that was the division. Jeroboam was made the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, and there came that division at that point. The breach only increased as years went by until they were warring civil wars against each other. But God said, “I’m gonna bring back, it’ll be just one stick, the two will be joined together.”

And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land (37:21):

So one nation, the nation of Israel, “and I’ll bring them from wherever they’ve been gathered back into their own land”. Again, the modern miracle of how God has brought them back into the land. Up until three years ago, there seemed absolutely no possibility that Russia would ever let the Jews go! They were very adamant in their insistence that, you know, they’re not gonna let them go. But what changes have transpired in just three years! Though the prophecy said, “I will say to those of the north, Let my people go!”. We couldn’t see how that could possibly be just three years ago! Seemed totally improbable. Now they’re coming from Russia by the thousands! Amazing, amazing prophesies! So, “I will gather them on every side, I will bring them into their own land”.

I will make them one nation in the land and upon the mountains of Israel (37:22); [Previous chapter he testified to the mountains of Israel to produce and so forth, and feed the people.] and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: [So God has brought them back and there is one nation of Israel, returned to the land.] Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and I will cleanse them: so they shall be my people, and I will be their God (37:22-23).

Now this has not yet been fulfilled. There is still in Israel a lot of agnosticism, and atheism. There is however, a beginning of spiritual awakening. After the 67 war, the six day war, the Jews were very cocky. They were taking full credit for their victory over the forces of Egypt, and Syria, and Jordan. They had the feeling of invincibility, and very proud, boastful of what their armies had done. After the Yom Kippur war, the attitude changed tremendously, because they realized that they almost lost the Yom Kippur war.

When Egypt was able to cross again the Suez, and take the Bar-Levi line that they had established, it was frightening to the Jews. When Syria marched over the Golan and came again within view of the sea of Galilee, it was shocking to the Jews. They thought they were invincible, and their forces were being turned back on the battlefield.

But when God again performed miracles, and for some unknown reason caused the Syrians to stop their advance, and for some unknown reason, caused the Egyptians to stop their advance, at the time the Egyptians stopped to regroup after taking the Bar-Levi line, there were only ninety battered tanks between the advancing Egyptian troops, and Tel-Aviv. There were only a couple of operational tanks on the Golan by the time the Syrians came there within blocks of the Golan headquarters.

But God turned back the time, and the people then began to recognize that there is something here that is supernatural. Because they were frightened. They were really frightened, because they were threatened with extermination, and they knew it.

But still for the most part, Israel is a secular nation. This turning to God is yet future. It will be precipitated by even a greater threat than the Yom Kippur war. As we get into the next two chapters, we will see the events that will bring to pass this spiritual revival in Israel, and their turning to God. So in our next weeks lesson, we’ve got some exciting things that deal with the future, and those things that will bring to pass the spiritual revival and the turning to God, and the ultimate bringing of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Servant of David, the Son of David, as the King to rule over them.

So they have not yet been cleansed. They are not yet, nor can they be considered in fellowship with God. So this portion of the chapter is yet future, which is quite obvious in verse twenty four…

David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: and they shall walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them (37:24).

Notice, they will walk in judgments, they will observe His statutes, and they will do them. Paul the apostle pointed out the error of the Jews in his day, he said, “It’s not they who have the law that are justified by the law, but they that do the things”. Now the day is coming in which the Messiah will reign, Jesus Christ, the Son of David, and He will be King over them. This is something that you find woven through the scriptures, the promise that God made to David that He would build him a house, and there would not cease to be upon the throne, one of his descendants. That he would be upon the throne forever. Isaiah picks it up in his prophesies, Jeremiah picks it up, Hosea picks it up, Amos picks it up. Of course, you’ll find it in the book of Revelation.

But we’re getting close! That’s the thing to observe. We are already in chapter thirty seven. A good portion of chapter thirty seven has already been fulfilled. Israel does exist as a nation. It happened in our lifetime! They are there now as a nation. So we’re in chapter thirty seven as far as biblical prophecy is concerned. These are things that are happening today, and are going to be happening in the near future. Cause for real excitement and joy in the heart of every believer!

They shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob [They are dwelling in the land!] the land where your fathers dwelt; they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. [“He shall reign for ever, and ever, King of kings, and Lord of lords, upon the throne of David, to order it, and to establish it in judgment and in righteousness from henceforth, even for ever.”] Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them (37:26);

That has not yet happened, and the next chapter tells of this great conflict that they are going to be faced with. In fact there’s probably two more great conflicts, the one in chapter thirty eight, and then the great battle of Armageddon which will culminate in the return of Jesus Christ. It is during the, that great battle of Armageddon of which Israel will not be necessarily a primary participant. Israel will be a primary participant in the battle that we will study next week. But the battle of Armageddon will be primarily the forces of the west under the Antichrist, facing the forces of the east, the forces from the rising sun, China, and the east who will be moving and will meet there in the valley of Megiddo, the final conflict. So after that, He will make His covenant of peace with them.

it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: I will place them and multiply them, and set my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever (37:26).

The, the world is about to face the darkest hours in the history of man. We’re, we’re on the border. We’re already beginning to see little hints, and inklings of, of what the future holds for the world, and it’s extremely bleak. But it doesn’t end there for the child of God. After the dark hours that are coming, the judgment of God upon the earth, then there is coming that glorious kingdom of God upon the earth, and the reign of Jesus Christ! This everlasting covenant, the peace covenant that God will make. “And there will be peace like a river”, the scripture said, “He will be called the Prince of peace”. God will make the covenant with their children, and their children’s children for ever. A covenant of peace. Then God said…

My tabernacle also shall be with them (37:27):

The tent, the dwellingplace, the encampment, God will dwell with His people. God Himself shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and they shall hunger no more, nor sorrow no more, there shall be no more pain, no more suffering, no more death, the former things are passed away!” There is such a glorious, and beautiful hope for the future for the child of God! It’s, it defies our imagination! The things that God has prepared for those who love Him, those who have surrendered to His authority.

I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [How beautiful!] And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore (37:27-28).

There is a segment of the church today that has written Israel off. They say that the church is Israel, and that these promises all belong to the church. That, God is through with Israel as a nation. Unfortunately, this teaching has created even within the church some anti-Semitism. To take that position is to thoroughly mess up your whole understanding of prophecy and you get so mixed up that you have to start spiritualizing so many different things that it, the Bible then doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t mean what it says at all. It’s, it’s totally left for interpretation and, and fancy spiritualization.

When you start spiritualizing the text, it’s easy to then start reading into the text, whatever you want it to say. Because all you do is make it spiritual of just what you want it to be! You can take anything and spiritualize it, and read something into it! “Oh Mother Hubbard what’s in the cupboard?” “Can you picture that poor old woman going to the cupboard? When she got there the cupboard was bare, shame! The bare cupboard represents our lives that so often they’re barren, they’re empty, there’s nothing there! People come, to receive something, we have nothing to give them!”, you know! You start spiritualizing, and you make it mean anything!

When you start spiritualizing Israel to be the church, then you’ve got God sealing a hundred and forty four thousand to be spared some of the judgments of the great tribulation. So that’s you know, the church being spared, the church being sealed, a hundred and forty four thousand, that becomes a symbolic number of course, and then twelve thousand from each tribe. Well, that’s a little more difficult to spiritualize that, but you know, twelve becomes a spiritual, it becomes a symbolic number, and tribes become symbolic. You know, you lose the meaning completely! Thus when they’ve tried to spiritualize Israel as the church.

God has yet unfinished business with the nation of Israel. God has made a covenant with Israel that He is going to keep! As God said in Jeremiah, “If you can break my covenant with day and night, so that there would not be day and night in their seasons, then you can break my covenant that I have made with Israel, and my servant David”. So don’t fall into that trap! God is yet to work among His people, the nation of Israel.

There’s a separate place for the church, and a separate work for the church, and a separate position for the church. I wouldn’t trade my position in the church for the position that Israel has! I’m the bride of Christ! I’m a son of God through Jesus Christ! If a son, then an heir, joint heir with Jesus Christ! I wouldn’t trade that for the position that Israel has! So take the position that God has given to you and enjoy it! Don’t worry about what God’s gonna do for Israel. He’s got His own program of Israel, and He’s gonna be faithful to keep His word, and His promises to them. We’ll see more of that as we move on into Ezekiel, and we look towards the future.

Next week, some exciting stuff as we, we find now just the events that were, will precipitate this whole revival spiritually, and will bring that marvelous work of God upon the nation of Israel once more, when God puts His Spirit upon them. You see the body is there and so forth, but there’s no spiritual life there yet, that’s gonna come. We see the events that bring it to pass in our lesson next week.

Shall we pray?

Father we thank You again for your marvelous word! Lord as, as we look at the world today, and we can see Lord these very things prophesied twenty five hundred years ago, and we see them! We marvel, we’re astounded! Lord it leads us just to worship You! The great God, the Creator of the universe, who knows the end from the beginning, and has declared things before they come to pass, so that when they come to pass you may know that the Lord indeed has spoken! Lord, thank You that we’re not called to blind faith, but You have given us a ground, and a basis for faith, in Your Word. Now Lord, may we go forth, in faith, to obey Your commands, to be Your people, and Your representatives to this world where we live. May our light so shine before men, that when they see our good works, they will glorify You, our Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.