07 July 20, 2014 Ezekiel Chapters 40-48 Hope of New Worship

HOPE OF NEW WORSHIP
EZEKIEL
CHAPTERS 40-48
JULY 20, 2014
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
USA

James 5:16-17
“Confess your trespasses to
one another, and pray for
one another, that you may be
healed. The effective, fervent
prayer of a righteous man
avails much.”

What’s the number one thing?

http://dynamiqueprofesseur.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/liftupthecross1c.jpg
The Glory of God!

1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you
eat or drink, or whatever
you do, do all to the glory
of God.

What three things are
going to Heaven from this
earth?
1) All of __________.
2) Some ______.
3) Some of _________.

earth?
1) All of God’s Word.
2) Some ______.
3) Some of _________.

earth?
2) Some people.
3) Some of _________.

earth?
2) Some people.
3) Some of our works.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15

Cathy Jeffcoats says that
her goal is to have the two
additional monitors in
E423 by August 10.
(Picture with the
president 23 years ago.)

In the lesson last week
entitled Hope of New
Life, Joe did such a great
job of conveying the
meaning of the Valley of
the Dry Bones from
Ezekiel chapter 37.

TODAY
HOPE OF NEW WORSHIP
EZEKIEL
CHAPTERS 40-48
JULY 20, 2014

Ezekiel 48:35 NKJV
35 All the way around shall
be eighteen thousand
cubits; and the name of the
city from that day shall
be: THE LORD IS THERE.

Jehovah-shammah
(SHAM-uh) is a Christian
transliteration of the
Hebrew ‫ה‬ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ש‬ ‫ָה‬‫ו‬‫ה‬ְ‫י‬ meaning
“Jehovah is there”.

Emmanuel – God with us!
He is with us no matter
what.
God is omnipresent.

Isaiah 49 NKJV
6 “I will also give You as a
light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My
salvation to the ends of
the earth.”

8 Thus says the LORD:
“In an acceptable time I have
heard You,
And in the day of salvation I
have helped You;
I will preserve you and give
you as a covenant to the
people, to restore the earth

14 But Zion said, “The
LORD has forsaken me,
and my Lord has
forgotten me.”

15 God said to Israel
again, “Can a woman
forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion
on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.

http://christfromtheheart.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/isiash-49-16.jpg
16 See, I have inscribed
you on the palms of My
hands”

23 Then you will know
that I am the LORD,
For they shall not be
ashamed who wait for
Me.”

25 But thus says the LORD:
“For I will contend with
him who contends with
you,
And I will save your
children.

26 All flesh shall know
That I, the LORD, am your
Savior,
And your Redeemer, the
Mighty One of Jacob.”
(THE LORD IS THERE)
Isaiah 49 NKJV

Psalm 139:1-10 NKJV
1 O LORD, You have searched
me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down
and my rising up;
You understand my thought
afar off.

3 You comprehend my path
and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all
my ways.
4 For there is not a word on
my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You
know it altogether

5 You have hedged me
behind and before, And
laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from Your
Spirit?
Or where can I flee from
Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven,
You are there;
If I make my bed in hell,
behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the
morning, And dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall
lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold
me.
Psalm 139:1-10 NKJV
(THE LORD IS THERE)

10 Even there Your hand
shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall
hold me.
Psalm 139:1-10 NKJV
(THE LORD IS THERE)

Psalm 139:17-18 NKJV
17 How precious also are
Your thoughts to me, O
God!
How great is the sum of
them!

18 If I should count them,
they would be more in
number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still
with You.
Psalm 139:17-18 NKJV
(THE LORD IS THERE)

No matter what we are
going through, The LORD
is There with us.
Are you going through
hard times?
THE LORD IS THERE

Is there a storm raging
outside?
THE LORD IS THERE
Are you scared and alone?
THE LORD IS THERE
Are you going through good
times?
THE LORD IS THERE

Are you facing a
mountain that seems
impossible for to climb?
You are never alone in the
endeavor;
THE LORD IS THERE

Are you surrounded by
people that do not care for
you, or for people abusing
you in some manner,
either physically,
emotionally, or mentally?
THE LORD IS THERE!

John 4:21-24 NKJV
21 Jesus said to her,
“Woman, believe Me, the
hour is coming when you
will neither on this
mountain, nor in Jerusalem,
worship the Father.

22 You worship what you
do not know; we know
what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews.

23 But the hour is coming,
and now is, when the true
worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and
truth; for the Father is
seeking such to worship
Him.

24 God is Spirit, and those
who worship Him must
worship in spirit and
truth.”
John 4:21-24 NKJV

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV
19 Do you not know that
your body is the temple of
the Holy Spirit Who is in
you, Whom you have from
God, and you are not your
own?

20 For you were bought at a
price; therefore glorify God
in your body and in your
spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV

Today’s lesson
1) The River of Life (47)
2) Ezekiel’s Temple (40-48)
3) What’s going on in
Israel right now?

http://christadelphianstudies.com/VistaII/Images/Ezekiels%20Temple%20Images/Temple-View.jpg
Ezekiel 47

EZEKIEL 47:1-6 NKJV
1 Then he brought me
back to the door of the
temple; and there was
water, flowing from under
the threshold of the
temple toward the east,

for the front of the temple
faced east; the water was
flowing from under the
right side of the temple,
south of the altar.

2 He brought me out by
way of the north gate, and
led me around on the
outside to the outer
gateway that faces east; &
there was water, running
out on the right side.

3 And when the man went
out to the east with the
line in his hand, he
measured one thousand
cubits, and he brought me
through the waters; the
water came up to my ankles.

4 Again he measured one
thousand and brought me
through the waters; the
water came up to my knees.
Again he measured one
thousand and brought me
through; the water came up to
my waist.

5 Again he measured one
thousand, and it was a
river that I could not
cross; for the water was
too deep, water in which
one must swim, a river
that could not be crossed.

6 He said to me, “Son of
man, have you seen this?”
Then he brought me and
returned me to the bank
of the river.
EZEKIEL 47:1-6 NKJV

Notice the experience of
the prophet as you read
Ezekiel 47:1-6.
He is led into this step-by-
step; three times he says,
"And He led me through."

At first he's in just ankle
deep and a lot of people
stay there in the shallow.
But then the prophet says,
"He led me through, and
it was knee deep."

Here is a man who is not
satisfied any more with
just being saved.
Have you begun to
hunger and thirst and to
pray and to seek the face
of God?

"And He led me through,"
he says, and the waters
had come up to his waist.
It is beginning to possess
him; there is less of him
now, and more of the grace
of God.

He has come to grasp the
fact that it is "not by
might, nor by power, but
by My Spirit, says the
Lord" that the child of
God is to live.
Zechariah 4:6

Then he goes one step
further and it had become
a river to swim in.
Here is someone who is
utterly committed and is
over his head.

http://hischarisisenough.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/jesusbaptism1.jpg
He is out there where he
is swept along in the
current of God's grace.

Does that remind you of
anything?
Do you read in that and
hear in that our Lord's
words recorded in John 7
when he stood at the
temple on the last day of

the feast and said, "If any
one thirst, let him come to
Me and drink...Out of his
heart shall flow rivers of
living water. Now this He
said about the Spirit,
which those who believed

in Him were to receive..."
(John 7:37-39).
John sees the same river in
Revelation 22 that Ezekiel
saw.

"Then He showed me the
river of the water of life,
bright as crystal, flowing
from the throne of
God...through the middle
of the street of the city..."
(Revelation 22:1, 2).

Have you found the river
of the Spirit yet?
It is as we learn to live in
the Spirit that the
Christian life begins to
make sense.

Until then, life is nothing
but a plodding, dogged,
difficult path; a struggle
to try to keep things
straight.

But when we begin to
experience the mighty, gushing
torrent of the rivers of living
water---the flow of the Spirit of
God right through the center of
life---everything begins to live,
and life becomes significant
and full for us.

John 10:10b NKJV
10b I have come that they
may have life, and that
they may have it more
abundantly.

http://nephilim-hunters.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/time-line-1d.jpg

http://www.jesusonmymind.com/userfiles/0/2419/images/graph_6_israel1.jpg
Sixth Biblical Tetrad

http://www.jesusonmymind.com/userfiles/0/2419/images/graph_7_jerusalem.jpg
Seventh Biblical Tetrad

http://www.jesusonmymind.com/userfiles/0/2419/images/graph_8a.jpg
Eighth Biblical Tetrad

http://makashfa.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ashampoo_snap_2013-01-31_08h18m02s_010_.jpg
Ezekiel chapters 1–24 are
about the fall of Jerusalem

In the second section,
Ezekiel chapters 25–39, we
find a series of oracles
addressed to foreign
nations and contrasted
with those foreign nations
is the restoration of Israel.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dmL9f4XCKQ0/TcKw_Amr5iI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/drO0MDRnfIg/s400/israel_1948.jpg

Here, in the third section,
chapters 40–48, Ezekiel
presents a plan for
rebuilding the Temple
and reorganizing the
restored state of Israel
(during the end times).

The theme of the book of
Ezekiel is the final
restoration of Israel.
http://www.ldsces.org/inst_manuals/ot-ssg/images/167-1.gif

http://www.westarkchurchofchrist.org/benjamin/2007/070506image2.jpg

http://trumpetandtorch.org/images/squares/Bottom_Final_Rebuilding_the_Temple.jpg

http://blondesearch.ru/img/9f/9f0/Understanding_Ezekiel_s_Temple.jpg

http://www.anewheavenandearth.com/discription%20of%20Ezekiel%20Temple.jpg

The First Temple was built
in 957 BC by King
Solomon and it was
totally destroyed by the
Babylonians in 586 BC
when they sacked the city
of Jerusalem.

http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608023217341140183&pid=1.7

According to the Book of
Ezra, construction of the
Second Temple was
authorized by Cyrus the
Great and began in 538
BC, after the fall of the
Babylonian Empire.

It was completed 23 years
later, in the sixth year of
the reign of Darius the
Great (12 March 515 BC),
and was dedicated by the
Jewish governor
Zerubbabel.

Despite the fact that the new
temple was not as extravagant
or imposing as its predecessor,
it still dominated the
Jerusalem skyline and
remained an important
structure throughout the time
of the Persians (Iranians).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Second_Temple.jpg

The sanctuary and the
Holy of Holies were
separated by a wall in the
First Temple but by two
curtains in the Second
Temple.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes
succeeded his older
brother to the Seleucid
throne and immediately
adopted his father's
previous policy of
universal Hellenisation.

When Antiochus erected a
statue of Zeus in their temple
and Hellenic priests began
sacrificing pigs (the usual
sacrifice offered to the Greek
gods in the Hellenic religion)
the Jews anger began to
spiral.

When a Greek official
ordered a Jewish priest to
perform a Hellenic
sacrifice, the priest
(Mattathias) killed him.

Mattathias

In 167 BC the Jews rose up
en masse behind
Mattathias and his five
sons to fight and win their
freedom from Seleucid
authority.

Mattathias' son, Judas
Maccabeus, now called "The
Hammer", re-dedicated the
temple in 165 BC and the
Jews celebrate this event to
this day as a major part of
the festival of Hanukkah.

Around 20 BC, the second
temple building was
renovated by Herod the
Great, and became known
as Herod's Temple.

http://www.templeinstitute.org/gallery_images/destruction_temp_2_gallery.jpg
The Second Temple was
later destroyed by the
Romans in 70 AD during
the Siege of Jerusalem.

After the Muslim conquest of
Jerusalem in the 7th century,
Umayyad Caliph Abd al-
Malik ibn Marwan ordered
the construction of an Islamic
shrine (completed 691 AD) -
the Dome of the Rock,
on the site of the Temple.

Jewish sources identify
Mount Moriah as the
place mentioned in the
Bible where Abraham
fulfilled God's test to see
if he would be willing to
sacrifice his son Isaac.

http://iamachild.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/abraham-sacrificing-isaac.jpg

Genesis 22:2 NKJV
2 Then He said, “Take now
your son, your only son
Isaac, whom you love,
and go to the land of
Moriah,

and offer him there as a
burnt offering on one of
the mountains of which I
shall tell you.”
Genesis 22:2 NKJV

Isaac carried the wood for
the sacrificial
fire just as
Jesus carried
His cross up
Mount Calvary

Genesis 22:6-8 NKJV
6 So Abraham took the
wood of the burnt offering
and laid it on Isaac his son;
and he took the fire in his
hand, and a knife, and the
two of them went together.

7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham
his father and said, “My
father!” And he said, “Here I
am, my son.” Then he said,
“Look, the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for a
burnt offering?”

8 And Abraham said, “My
son, God will provide for
Himself the lamb for a
burnt offering.”
So the two of them went
together.
Genesis 22:6-8 NKJV

Genesis 22:14 NKJV
14 And Abraham called
the name of the place,
The-LORD-Will-Provide;
as it is said to this day, “In
the Mount of the LORD it
shall be provided.”

Jehovah Jireh –
the LORD will Provide.
Pro = before
Video = to see

2 Chronicles 3:1 NKJV
1 Now Solomon began to
build the house of
the LORD at Jerusalem on
Mount Moriah,

Situated inside the Holy
of Holies, this was the
rock (Foundation Stone)
upon which the Ark of the
Covenant was placed in
the First Temple.

During the Second
Temple period when the
Ark of the Covenant was
not present, the stone was
used by the High Priest
who offered up the
incense and sprinkled the

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RGuvsaHVyXg/USH8eBoeLAI/AAAAAAAAAwA/M9zhME-oGXs/s1600/dome-rock-interior-500.jpg
blood of the sacrifices on
it during the Yom Kippur
service.

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1356204/thumbs/o-DOME-OF-THE-ROCK-900.jpg?2
The Pierced Stone
(Well of Souls)

http://islamicartdb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/salaat-tahta-qubbat-as-sakhra1.jpg

In Islam, the Foundation
Stone is thought by
commentators of the
Qur'an to be the place to
which the prophet
Muhammad traveled in
the Night Journey.

Muhammad traveled on
the steed Buraq
(boROCK)
to "the farthest mosque"
where he leads other
prophets in prayer.

Buraq (boROCK) the
legendary beast, a winged
horse with the face of a
woman and the tail of a
peacock, on which
Muhammad ascended to
heaven from this site.

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608026129325034667&w=325&h=366&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0
Buraq

The Stone is considered
the holiest site in Judaism
and the third holiest in
Islam.
Satan can’t create, he can
only counterfeit.

With the Persian (Iran) invasion
in 614 followed by the Muslim
Siege of Jerusalem in 637, the
Temple Mount area came
under Muslim control but for
some time pilgrims still were
able to come and experience
the Temple Mount area.

Increasing Muslim
violence against these
pilgrims to Jerusalem
instigated the Crusades.

The building over The
Stone was repeatedly
destroyed by earthquakes
and rebuilt, until the
reconstruction in 1033 by
the Fatimid caliph Ali az-
Zahir.

http://s2.hubimg.com/u/428597_f520.jpg
In 1099 AD the Crusaders
re-captured Jerusalem.

Between 1992 and 1994, the
Jordanian government
undertook the unprecedented
step of gilding the dome of
the Dome of the Rock,
covering it with 5000 gold
plates, and restoring and
reinforcing the structure.

The project was paid for
by King Hussein
personally, at a cost of
$8 million.

The Temple Mount, along
with the entire Old City of
Jerusalem, was captured
from Jordan by Israel in
1967 during the Six-Day
War, allowing Jews once
again to pray at the site.

Israel officially unified East
Jerusalem, including the Temple
Mount, with the rest of
Jerusalem in 1980 under the
Jerusalem Law, although United
Nations Security Council
Resolution 478 declared the
Jerusalem Law to be in violation
of international law.

The Muslim Waqf, based
in Jordan, has
administrative control of
the Temple Mount.

Today, Palestinian
authorities have begun
excavations at the Temple
Mount, damaging the
structural integrity of the
site and increasing
tensions among the Jews.

Location?
There are three theories as
to where the Temple
stood;
1) where the Dome of the
Rock is now located,

2) to the north of the
Dome of the Rock (Prof.
Asher Kaufman) and
3) to the east of the Dome
of the Rock (Professor
Joseph Patrich of the
Hebrew University)

http://www.linearconcepts.com/photos/2007-Israel/JerusalemTempleMap.gif

*Why would God allow
the Temple to be
destroyed?
*The Talmud (TALmood)
provides theological
reasons for the Temple
destruction.

The Talmud (TALmood):
Which means
"instruction, learning",
is a central text of
Rabbinic Judaism and is
over 6,200 pages long.

The Talmud contains the
teachings and opinions of
thousands of rabbis on a
variety of subjects: law,
Jewish ethics, philosophy,
lore, customs, history and
many other topics.

*Originally, Jewish scholarship
was only oral.
*Rabbis expounded and debated
the Torah (the five books of
Moses) and discussed the Jewish
Bible called Tanakh (tahNOKH)
without the benefit of written
works (other than the Biblical
books themselves).

However, this situation
changed drastically, mainly
as the result of the
destruction of the Second
Temple in the year 70 AD
and the consequent upheaval
of Jewish social and legal
norms.

As the Rabbis were required
to face a new reality—mainly
Judaism without a Temple
(to serve as the center of
teaching and study), the old
system of oral scholarship
could not be maintained.

It is during this period
that Rabbinic discourse
began to be recorded in
writing (the Talmud).

So the Talmud (Yoma 9b)
provides theological
reasons for the
destruction:
Why was the first Temple
destroyed?

Because the three cardinal
sins were rampant in
society:
1) idol worship,
2) licentiousness, and
3) murder

http://www.templeinstitute.org/gallery_images/destruction_temp_2_gallery.jpg
And why then was the
second Temple destroyed?

Because gratuitous hatred
was rampant in society.
This teaches that
gratuitous hatred is equal
in severity to the three
cardinal sins.

Last week Joe did such a
great job of covering the
meaning of the valley of
the dry bones from
Ezekiel chapter 37.

Then in chapters 38 and 39,
the prophet sees into the far
distant future to the last attack
upon Israel, when enemies of
the land will be met by
heavenly forces that will judge
them upon the mountains of
Israel and bury them there.

But before the war
prophesied in Ezekiel 38
and 39, there is another
war against Israel that
must take place according
to Psalm 83.

What is going on in Israel
today? Psalm 83 War?

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/87/fb/9a/87fb9a9ed19ac3a0b0451d89d0a224bd.jpg

http://globalsecurity.org/military/world/palestine/images/gaza-s-wst_bank_transportation.jpg
Gaza

http://www.idfblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/HamasRocketRange-640x640.jpg

http://corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-U1675867.jpg?size=67&uid=4aaabb1a-51ec-4ec2-9f29-d7a557b203cb

http://www.preceptaustin.org/SixDayWar1967.jpg

http://1389blog.com/pix/Israels-real-Iron-Dome.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_n7RltmTdk-g/TKDK8hEoRCI/AAAAAAAAWTo/0IzprrmAEVQ/s1600/Iron+Dome.jpg

http://images.derstandard.at/2014/03/14/1392793200500-iron-dome.jpg

http://www.talkradionews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Iron_dome.jpg

http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2012/11/16/1226517/966812-topshots-israel-palestinian-gaza-conflict.jpg

Psalm 83 was authored by
Asaph approximately
3000 years ago.

Looking at the present
world situation, the next
major war of Israel against
Arab nations could bring
the fulfillment of the war
of Psalm 83.

Psalm 83:1-8 NKJV
1 Do not keep silent, O
God!
Do not hold Your peace,
And do not be still, O
God!

2 For behold, Your
enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You
have lifted up their head.

3 They have taken crafty
counsel against Your
people (Israel),
And consulted together
against Your sheltered
ones.

4 They have said, “Come,
and let us cut them off
from being a nation,
That the name of Israel
may be remembered no
more.”

5 For they have consulted
together with one consent;
They form a confederacy
against You:

6 The tents of Edom
(Palestinians and Southern
Jordanians) and the
Ishmaelites (Saudis – Ishmael
is the father of the Arabs);
Moab (Palestinians and
Central Jordanians) and the
Hagrites (Egyptians);

7 Gebal (Hezbollah and North
Lebanese), Ammon
(Palestinians and North
Jordanians), and Amalek (Arabs
of the Sinai area) ; Philistia
(Hamas [Iran] of the Gaza Strip)
with the inhabitants of Tyre
(Hezbollah [Iran] and the
Southern Lebanese);

8 Assyria (Syrians and
Northern Iraqi’s) has also
joined with them;
They have helped the
children of Lot.
(Moab and Ammon)
Psalm 83:1-8 NKJV

Psalm 83:16-18 NKJV
16 Fill their faces with
shame,
That they may seek Your
name, O LORD.

17 Let them be confounded
and dismayed forever;
Yes, let them be put to
shame and perish,

18 That they may know
that You, whose name
alone is the LORD,
Are the Most High over all
the earth.
Psalm 83:16-18 NKJV

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Jordan (Ammon) and
Saudi Arabia (Sheba and
Dedan) appear to not be
part of the Ezekiel 38/39
war. (They may not have
recovered from the Psalm
83 War – nuclear?)

http://images.sodahead.com/profiles/0/0/1/7/7/9/5/9/3/Ezekiel-38-65101430275.jpeg#Ezekiel%2038

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UvcoLJxv0sc/TV9Hr3ULegI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/8LN9C2C3sbI/s400/ezekiel38.jpg

http://www.thesecondcomingofchrist.org/images/graphic-tl-ez-38b.gif

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4939299503409857&pid=1.7
Ray Stedman 1917-1992

Then, beginning in
chapter 40, the restoration
of the millennial temple is
foreseen.

In this great vision the
prophet is shown the
temple in precise detail:
the glory of God returning
to the Holy of Holies, the
Shekinah reestablishing
itself in the Holy of Holies.

The book closes with the
wonderful passage in
chapter 47 that describes
his vision of the throne of
God.

Underneath the throne
comes the river of God,
sweeping through the
temple, out to the east,
down across the land, and
into the Dead Sea to heal
its waters.

It is a marvelous picture
of the Spirit of God in the
day of the millennial
kingdom.

*That is the literal
interpretation of this
book---a prophecy of the
restoration of Israel.
*But that does not by any
means exhaust the
meaning of this book.

If we read this as referring
only to that literal
fulfillment, we will miss
much of the value and all
of the beauty of this book.

This entire story can be
applied to you as an
individual.

What God does on a large
scale in the history of the
world, He is ready to do
on a smaller scale in the
history of your life.

As He is ready to call back
out of death and to give life
to a nation that turns to Him
in the midst of its
degradation and weakness---
as He was ready to do for
Israel---so He is ready to do
with an individual.

Here, then, is a beautiful
picture of the saving grace
of Jesus Christ, making us
alive in Him, calling us
back into the glory of the
manhood and womanhood
that God intends for us.

Then follows a picture of
the enemies we face, and
how God goes before us
and destroys them one by
one as we walk by faith.

Finally, there is the
wonderful picture of the
restored temple in man.
Now what is the temple in
man?

In the New Testament.
Paul says that we are the
temple of the living God.
(2 Cor. 6:16)

16 What agreement has the
temple of God with idols?
For you are the temple of
the living God.

As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My
people.”

But what in us is the
temple in which God
dwells?

It is the human spirit.
Our spirit was made to be
a holy of holies in which
the living God dwells.

The secret, then, of a full
human experience---an
exciting life, a life of
continuing significance
and meaning---is a life in
which the resources of the
Holy Spirit are discovered.

Now this is beautifully
portrayed for us in this
picture in the forty-
seventh chapter of
Ezekiel.

This highlights the whole
emphasis of the book:
The Healing Waters
and Trees
EZEKIEL 47:1-12 NKJV

1 Then he brought me
back to the door of the
temple; and there was
water, flowing from under
the threshold of the

temple toward the east,
for the front of the temple
faced east; the water was
flowing from under the
right side of the temple,
south of the altar.

6 He said to me, “Son of
man, have you seen this?”
Then he brought me and
returned me to the bank
of the river.

7 When I returned, there,
along the bank of the
river, were very many
trees on one side and the
other.

8 Then he said to me:
“This water flows toward
the eastern region, goes
down into the valley, and
enters the sea. When it
reaches the sea, its waters
are healed.

9 And it shall be that every
living thing that moves,
wherever the rivers go, will
live. There will be a very great
multitude of fish, because these
waters go there; for they will be
healed, and everything will live
wherever the river goes.

10 It shall be that fishermen
will stand by it from En Gedi
to En Eglaim; they will
be places for spreading their
nets. Their fish will be of the
same kinds as the fish of the
Great Sea, exceedingly many.

11 But its swamps and
marshes will not be
healed; they will be given
over to salt.

12 Along the bank of the
river, on this side and
that, will grow all kinds
of trees used for food;
their leaves will not
wither, and their fruit will
not fail.

They will bear fruit every
month, because their
water flows from the
sanctuary. Their fruit will
be for food, and their
leaves for medicine.”

http://christadelphianstudies.com/VistaII/Images/Ezekiels%20Temple%20Images/Temple-View.jpg

in Him were to receive..."
(John 7:37-39).
This is the resource of the
Christian life.

Let’s look at the various
aspects of this resource.
First of all, there is the
source of the river.
Where does it come from?

Ezekiel said,
"I saw a throne and
issuing out from under
the throne came the river."

The waters of the Spirit come
from the very throne of God,
from the supremacy of His
authority, the highest point in
the universe, the place where
our Lord Jesus received the
promised gift of the Spirit on
the day of Pentecost.

As the prophet watches,
he sees that it takes its
way down past the altar,
the place of sacrifice.

And one of the great things
that we have to learn as
Christians is that we can
never drink of the river of
the Spirit unless we are
willing to do so by means
of the cross of Calvary.

It is only as we are willing to
accept the judgment of death
upon the flesh---the natural
man and his abilities,
ambitions, and desires---that
we can drink of the river of
the Spirit of God.

Then, notice the power of
this river.

It has quickly grown large
enough to swim in, yet
there is no other river
adding to it.
No tributary streams are
coming in.

It is a great, gushing,
mighty torrent of life
coming out from under
the throne of God.

As you read this, notice
the experience of the
prophet.
He is led into this step-by-
step; three times he says,
"And He led me through."

*Is God leading you
through?
*Have you ever had that
experience?
*The first step is to the
place where the waters
are ankle deep.

Isn't that a picture of a
man who has experienced
only a shallow sense of
God's grace and power in
his life?

He is a Christian but he is
what the Scriptures call a
carnal Christian---still
filled with bickerings and
fightings and inner
turmoils.

*He has not learned
anything of the peace of
God.
*He is disobedient.
*He fights against God's
grace very time he turns
around.

He's in just ankle deep.
And a lot of people stay
there.
But then the prophet says,
"He led me through, and
it was knee deep."

The waters get hold of his
knees.
Have the waters gotten
there with you yet?

*Have you begun to
hunger and thirst and to
pray and to seek the face
of God?
*Here is a man who is not
satisfied any more with
just being born again.

He is hungering after
something.
He is on his knees.
He is crying out to God,
yearning for more.

"And He led me through,"
he says, and the waters
come up to his waist.
It is beginning to possess
him.

There is less of him now,
and more of the grace of
God.

The loins are always the
symbol of power and he
has come, then, to the
place where he has begun
to grasp something of the
power of God, to grasp
the fact that it is "not by

might, nor by power, but
by my Spirit, says the
Lord" that the Christian
life is lived. (Zech 4:6)

It is not his eager desire to
do something for God, or
his consecrated zeal to
flow it through, but rather,
his quiet dependence
upon an indwelling Spirit
that is the secret.

Then he goes one step
further and says, "He led
me on and the water had
risen and it had become a
river to swim in."
Here is someone who is
utterly committed.

He is over his head.
He is out there where he
is swept along in the
current of God's grace.
And what is the effect of
this river on the land?

As the prophet is led back
along the banks he says,
"I see trees on either side
of it"---fruitfulness!
The barrenness of the land
has been healed.

The river is fertile;
everywhere the river
flows, things begin to live.

*Have you learned this
yet?
*All of this is written for
us.
John sees the same river,
in Revelation.

It flows right through the
middle of life.
Have you found the river
of the Spirit yet?

It is as we learn these
mighty truths that the
Christian life begins to
make sense.

Until then, it is nothing
but a plodding, dogged,
difficult path, a struggle
to try to keep things
straight.

C.S. LEWIS
THE FOYER = SALVATION.
DON’T GET STUCK THERE.

He closes this beautiful
book with a description of
the temple (this is a
picture of the resurrection
body which is the new
temple for God).

Look at the last verse of
the prophecy.

EZEKIEL 48:35 NKJV
35 All the way
around shall be eighteen
thousand cubits; and the
name of the city
from that day shall be: THE
LORD IS THERE.”

*That is what Ezekiel called
it.
*The disciples were first
called Christians in Antioch.
*They did not call themselves
Christians.
*They were called Christians.

Christian means
"Christ-one"---one who
belongs to Christ.

And as the people in
Antioch looked at these
peculiar people, they
called them "Christ-ones"
because the Lord was
there.

May this be our
experience, that we may
see this mighty flow of the
river of God in our lives
and, discovering its power
and its grace and its
depth, commit ourselves

to God so that there may
be healing and fertility
and escape from
barrenness in our lives.

*Thank God for this
beautiful picture and for
the truth that lies behind
it.

*Thank God that these things
can be our experience right
now through Jesus Christ our
Lord, the One Who is the
fulfillment of the image of God-
--that as we look at Him, we are
changed from glory to glory,
even into the same image.

The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
Death in this life (the first death) is 100%. Even
Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death,
died in this life to pay the penalty for our sins.
The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the
second death explained in Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable,
murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers,
idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in
the lake which burns with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.”
Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things,
and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”
Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to accept
Jesus as our Savior.

Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus and believe in your heart that God has
raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD
shall be saved.”

If you have questions or would like to know
more.
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at
601-979-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/

07 July 20, 2014 Ezekiel Chapters 40-48 Hope of New Worship

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07 July 20, 2014 Ezekiel Chapters 40-48 Hope of New Worship