With this sermon, we will make our closest foray into the body of the epistle of Hebrews. But we are still not going to get very far into accomplishing that because there is still some foundation-laying to do in order to derive the most from what has been given for our growth and preparation for God's Kingdom.
In this sermon, we were are going to look at an evasive technicality. We are not going to do much exploring into the book of Acts or the book of Hebrews at all. But we are going to look at an evasive technicality that came to mind as a fairly important leftover from a previous Hebrew's background sermon that I gave. Now, this technicality that I am speaking on is often used partly because of Acts 15, or I should say the context of Acts 15, and is one of those elements that is good to keep in mind if you happen to be in a discussion regarding doctrinal issues.
Though I did not say during that sermon, I believe that a distinctive element of that sermon is that there is somewhat of a difference between a doctrinal practice that people say in discussion when they are talking about a doctrine, "Oh, that's done away!" Is that so? is what we are going to explore in this sermon.
Now, there is an alternative description I will give you and it is much better. It is: that is no longer required of one in his faithful worship of God. It is the "done away" implication that is in people's arguments that tends to be very often dead wrong. In other words, we claim that it is done away, whatever the doctrine is, but it is not done away at all. The people are just not up on what the Bible actually says.
This is not a major issue, but I do believe that the term "done away" is at the very least unintentionally misleading because "done away" implies to a seeker of God's truth to no longer pay any attention to that specific practice, which is exactly what many people claiming that they are Christians do regarding very much of the Old Testament. They look upon the Old Testament mostly as being done away. And so who pays attention to it? Well, a smart person really does.
For example, people will commonly say, since Christ died for our sins, the sacrifices are done away. Interesting, however, is that by way of contrast, God's Word clearly establishes that His Word is forever. Now, if you want to, I am going to read you an example that is out of the book of Psalms and this is just one of many. It says here in Psalm 111,
Psalm 111:7-8 The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
A precept, the term used there, is a rule prescribing a particular kind of conduct. Very interesting definition on that word, especially since we are looking at these things from a legal perception.
Now, to reinforce that, God does not remove the source and history of a practice of a specific biblical doctrine from the Scriptures. He just does not do it. It still tells us from the beginning of circumcising till circumcising is no longer required of us, and it's still in the Bible and we can be reading about it. So if God does not remove it from the Bible, there might be very sound reasons for His not removing it. And in that case, it may not be truly done away the way people say at all, because it may be useful at another time within God's purpose.
The so-called done away doctrine, like circumcision became called, remains a part of the history of the use of that doctrine and may continue tying in with other storylines of that period, thus providing a larger and more detailed overall base of understanding of God's purpose for that doctrine. Now, I am going to give you an example that saying "done away" may be entirely false beyond being merely misleading. That will come a little bit later in the sermon and I will give you one that is a little bit briefer earlier.
Now, we are all well aware that since Christ sacrifice of Himself sacrificial requirements of completing and offering at the Temple under the Covenant is what? What is it? Is it done away or is it simply no longer required of us? It is no longer required of us or is sacrificing done away? Look at it from a different angle. Hebrews 10 clearly shows that they are most definitely no longer required of us. That would be better to say. But other scriptures show that they are also most definitely not done away. That is what we are going to spend most of our time on. They are most definitely not done away.
Consider this biblical truth. God is eternal. He does not change, but some doctrines of His are not eternal. That is something we have to accept. Some doctrines can seemingly rise from the dead on some future occasion. Does not Romans 12:1-2 say that we are to be living sacrifices? I will tell you, as long as there are human beings still in the Family of God, God is going to expect them to sacrifice themselves in obedience to Him. Now, they might not be doing it on an altar, but sacrificing is most definitely not done away. Gears were shifted and it changed a little bit, but sacrificing is big in the life of a Christian. So to say that sacrificing is done away would be very definitely, absolutely wrong.
So some doctrines can seemingly rise from the dead on some future occasion. And we are going to briefly look at something that is very clear and I think you will find it interesting in this regard. Do you recall Christ's conversation in John the fourth chapter with the Samaritan woman at the well in Samaria? Now, during that conversation, it is record recorded in John 4, verse 21.
John 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews."
In verse 21, Jesus clearly stated to the woman that at some time in the future, some then-active worship requirements were going to change. And of course, the big one that He mentioned is not even worshipping in Jerusalem, at least for that woman, or if she happened to convert. He directly stated to the woman that worshipping at the Temple in Jerusalem would end. Brethren, that declaration prophesized of a major doctrinal change.
Here is another intriguing example that involved the apostle Paul and it is in Acts the 21st chapter.
Acts 21:15 And after these those days we packed up and went up to Jerusalem.
This party of people includes the apostle Paul. And it says "we" there so I imagine that Luke wrote that and that is what he said.
Acts 21:15-21 After those days, we packed and went up to Jerusalem. Also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to lodge. And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous of the law, but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs."
The apostle Paul was well received by James who was in charge of things there in Jerusalem. And of course, other brethren who were with them, that is, with James. The apostle Paul though was considered to be a traitorous turncoat from Judaism by the Jews. So during that visit to Jerusalem, though warmly received by James and the others, what happened in Acts 21? And what did the Christians do since the whole city was getting stirred up by these Jews making accusations against the apostle Paul?
Acts 21:21-28 "But they have been informed about you [that is James speaking] that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet [that is the ruling assembly in Jerusalem], for they will hear that you have come. Therefore do what we tell you [Now listen to this a ploy that they put up to the apostle Paul and he went along with it.]: We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself walk orderly and keep the law.
But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality." Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them [Do you see what he is doing? He is going through the law as it reads in the law of Moses, he is performing a ritual sacrifice.], entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them. Now, when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy temple."
Now, James, Paul, and the others clearly understood that it was not sinful for them to perform these rituals, though they, like circumcision, had no spiritual value under the New Covenant which they had made with God. But Paul went through it anyway because to him, it was not a sin. So what the Christians, Paul and the others, did then is today similar to circumcising an eight day old newborn boy if the family desires and they fully understand circumcision has no spiritual value under the New Covenant. And in this case, it is almost as if they were play acting. And thus, Paul and his Christian companions followed through with the completion of the vows requirements to visibly demonstrate to the Jews that they did not despise Moses' law.
In this case, the Christians ploy at least partially worked. But the Jews simply switched their charge against Paul to a different false accusation by charging him with bringing a Gentile into the Temple area. In other words, they abandoned one charge and trumped up another one, which was also false. So that charge was also false, but it stuck in the Jewish persecutor's minds as an offense against God.
Here is a conclusion now. Thus, the Christians made use of something neither physically nor spiritually required and yet they were without sin. They did not have to do it, but they did it and there was no sin involved in what they did. And so today, we have families, father and mother, who have a son and they want that son to be circumcised and that is fine. To circumcise, even though it is not required of a Christian under the New Covenant, is still fine. They can go ahead and do it. In this case, it might have saved the apostle Paul's life to do what he did or somebody else's life who was there traveling along with him.
Now, far more interesting is the book of Ezekiel regarding this subject and we are going to be paying a bit of attention to Ezekiel 36 through Ezekiel 48. Ezekiel 36 begins one chapter before the Valley of Dry Bones, the vision given there. And after that, the prophecy regarding warfare involving Gog and Magog. Now I want you to take note even before we begin going through this because I am going to be doing a great deal of reading, but it is necessary to do a great deal of reading in order to find out what is going on there with this thing about done away. So make note of this important fact: the prophesized events in these chapters clearly take place after Christ's return when God is regathering and then resettling Israel from the areas of the world into which He had previously scattered them.
Another thing that you are going to have to pick up is this and so I will tell you, but it becomes, I think, fairly obvious and that is that through the book of Ezekiel, there is a movement of time toward a conclusion. The movement begins to become very evident in chapter 36. That is why I began there. It actually the movement of time begins before then. But in chapter 36 it begins to become pretty obvious as we move from chapter to chapter.
So let us turn to the book of Ezekiel and go to chapter 36 and we are going to be read verses that I will tell you and I will make a few comments as we go along. I think you will be able to see the story flow actually pretty well. Remember, it has to do with this saying that people say that such and such a doctrine or such and such a practice is done away, and we are going to find out that that is not necessarily so.
Ezekiel 36:1-4 "And you, son of man prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord! [Mountain sometimes is a symbol for nation, but in this particular spot, it is not. It is talking about the mountains that people climb up to the top to or roll down.] Thus says the Lord God: "Because the enemy has said of you, 'Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession.,'"' therefore prophesy, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slanderers by the people"—therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations around. . . "
I read those verses because I wanted you to see the attitude of the nations surrounding Israel or the nations that are holding Israelites captive in it. It does not really matter which one. I just wanted to see they are mocking God that they have been able to take the land away from the Israelite people.
Now we are going to drop down all the way to verse 16 and we are going to read all the way through to verse 35 because that initial prophecy there in chapter 36 is done.
Ezekiel 36:16-22 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed in the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—hen they said to them, 'These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of his land.' But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went. Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God, "I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations, wherever you went."
Right now what He is doing very clearly, brethren, is chewing out the Israelites for their bad behavior. They had every opportunity to be a great and good people, but instead they turned their back on God and worshipped idols. So God is sanctifying Himself in what He is doing; that He has good cause in this prophecy.
Ezekiel 36:23-24 "And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord," says the Lord God, "when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. [In other words, as they become converted, God is going to be hallowed before other people.] For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land."
What is God going to do? He is going to regather the Israelites that He had previously scattered in other nations. He is going to collect them and bring them all back to Israel. Now notice what God is going to do.
Ezekiel 36:25-35 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and 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. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourself in your own sight, for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this," says the Lord God, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!" 'Thus says the Lord God: "On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.'"
That is the only prophecy that I am going to get out of that chapter. But you can see what is happening. The nations' thumbs down on the Israelites, but now God is going to change the Israelites, and He is going to do some amazing things to allow it to happen.
Chapter 37 is one of the most amazing prophecies in all the Bible. God is going to give this land and now He is going to start filling it with people. And how does He do it? He does not have people walking for hundreds of miles to get there and bang on the door. He just resurrects people. Wait until you see what He says here.
Ezekiel 37:1-7 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O Lord God, You know." Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones, "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord."'" So I prophesized as I was commanded; and as I prophesized, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.
Ezekiel 37:10 So I prophesized as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. [Hang on to that "an exceedingly great army."] Then He said to me, "Son of man [notice this], these bones are the whole house of Israel."
I do not know how many times I just passed over that word "whole" and that this was just a group of Israelites. It was a group, a big group, "an exceedingly great army," is what Ezekiel called it. And God says it is the whole house of Israel. Is He going to fill that land with people?
Ezekiel 37:10-14 They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!' Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it," says the Lord.
Now this circumstance is very definitely a future event, long after the events of Acts the 21st chapter or even the time of Christ's coming. It forecasts a total regathering of Israel and it clearly suggests a resurrection—listen carefully—from Abraham to the time of the resurrection at the return of Christ. You think that is not going to be a lot of people.
In chapter 38, we will not go through all of that, neither will we go through 39. But according to the movement of time that I mentioned to you that is shown in the book of Ezekiel, this warfare that takes place—Gog and Magog—they are going to try to come against Israel because Israel appears to be defenseless. It is a land of unwalled villages. It says there are not even any walls around the city to keep the armies out and they think it is going to be easy pickings. But God is going to go fight for Israel. It is long after chapter 39. And incidentally in chapter 39, again God says that Israel shall be restored.
Now, let us go to chapter 40.
Ezekiel 40:1-5 In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity [this is Ezekiel speaking again], at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city [Jerusalem] was captured [at the time that Ezekiel went into captivity], on the very same day the hand of the Lord was upon me; and He took me there [to Jerusalem]. In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel [But I think we are going to see very shortly that it is Israel, not as it was in Ezekiel's day. It is going to be Israel, at least a portion of Israel, when God is doing the restoring that He shows beginning in chapter 36.] and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city. [So he is at the northern edge of Israel on a very high mountain where he can look down on what is taking place on the lower portions of the nation of Israel.]
He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. [It does not say directly, but this is very likely an angel.] He had a line of flax and a measuring rod [Anybody who has ever laid any concrete or anything like that would understand why a person who was sort of looking like a builder had a line of flax, string.] in his hand, and he stood in the gateway. And the man said to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I showed you. This is the bronze man saying this to Ezekiel and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see." [Now you are hearing just a small portion of that because Ezekiel put it in the book. Here is what Ezekiel began to see.] Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple.
There was a temple, in a sense, it was in vision, but it looked as though it had already been built and the temple was in a city that Ezekiel assumed was Jerusalem because that is where the Temple would be.
Now, get this straight. We are looking at something that is going to happen who knows how long into the future. And I want you to be impressed by how detailed God already has things drawn up that is going to occur. Now, we know He has already said, "Israel, it's your own fault that you're being punished. Israel, you repent when you come up and things are going to go well for you."
Ezekiel 40:5-6 Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple. In the man's hand [that was the bronze man] was a measuring rod six cubits long, each being a cubit and a handbreadth; and he measured the width of the wall structure, one rod; and the height of one rod. Then he went to the gateway which faced east; and he went up its stairs and measured the threshold of the gateway, which was one rod wide, and another threshold was one rod wide.
The first thing that Ezekiel saw was a very detailed description of a new temple. Now, how detailed is all he has shown? We can guess at some kind of a figure but in a way we are not going to have to. It is so detailed, it goes on and on. And Ezekiel continues describing until the end of the book of Ezekiel.
Hold your finger there and we will go to Ezekiel the 48th chapter. And incidentally, Jerusalem is not named by Ezekiel in all of this that I saw, but he does give a big hint as he ends what he saw.
Ezekiel 48:35 All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE.
We will get back to that a little bit later. Back to chapter 40 again. Now Ezekiel continued describing the temple mostly up until the end of the book. He gives detailed descriptions of rooms for priests, rooms for singers, rooms for guards, gateways, one room for the cleaning of the sacrifices. He tells of steps that are within the construction and sometimes how many there were. He looks at artistic works and a wall all around the temple. He even reports in this about windows, archways, and courts and a sanctuary and the location of the temple. Very detailed.
Now, God has this all figured out already and He knows what is going to be built. And perhaps if we find ourselves in the Kingdom of God, then all of these details are going to be important for us as we supervise the making of this temple.
Ezekiel 43:1-7 Afterward he [the angel] brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. [Now he is seeing some sort of glorious vision of God approaching the temple.] His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory. It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw—like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. And the glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. [Can you imagine how God is looking forward to this? He is.] The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court [that is Ezekiel]; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. And He said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of My throne [that is already planned out, there is where His throne is going to be in that temple] and the place of the souls of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings in their high places.
So in vision, God took Ezekiel into the house, His own house.
Ezekiel 43:18-22 And He said to me, "Son of man, thus says, the Lord God: 'These are the ordinances for the altar on the day when it is made, for sacrificing burnt offerings on it, and for sprinkling blood on it. You shall give a young bull for a sin offering to the priest, the Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who approach Me to minister to Me,' says, the Lord God. 'You shall take some of the blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, and the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim around it; thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it. Then you shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and burn it in the appointed place of the temple, outside the sanctuary. On the second day you shall offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull.
I only touch on that because I want you to see that God is already preparing for the initial offerings that are going to be made within that temple and on that altar. Never forget this: He says this is My house, that temple.
Now you would think, would you not, that if there is a building this grand and a building that is pretty large if you were to measure it out, there would also be people going to work in it.
Ezekiel 44:4-10 Also He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple; so I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; and I fell on my face. And the Lord said to me, "Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances [Now we are really beginning to touch on things that has to do with the sacrifices and offerings. Are they really done away?] of the house of the Lord and all its laws. [Done away? Not on your life. Are they done away? They are going to all be used again.] Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary.
Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God" "O house of Israel, let Us have no more of your abominations. When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart, uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defy it—My house—and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you." [How about just have some substitutes? It does not matter who or what they are, just get them. That is what Israel did.] Thus says the Lord God: "No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel. And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity."
Do you see what He is saying there again? They are going to have to go through it again because they messed up the first time around and He is going to make them do it again. Are those sacrifices done away? No. He is going to make the very ones who did the sins to go through it again. "You didn't do it right the first time now, you better do it right. Because I'm right here watching what you're doing." That is basically what He is saying.
So, what are we seeing here? We are having a pretty good indication that the whole Old Covenant ordinances and requirements for worshipping God are going to be resurrected and that that temple is going to be alive with the activities of the Old Covenant once again until these people repent. And the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
Ezekiel 44:11-16 "Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, as gatekeepers in the house and ministers of the house; they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifices for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. Because they minister to them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have raised My hand in an oath against them," says the Lord God, "that they shall bear their iniquity. And they shall not come near to Me to minister Me to me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.
Nevertheless I will make them keep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it. But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood," says the Lord God. "They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge."
Are you getting the picture? To say done away is risky to say the least. Now, we will not go into it, but I got a little bit of it. I want you to see, be impressed with how detailed God is for when this temple is going to be built.
Ezekiel 44:17 "And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on their linen garments."
What I am reading this for is I want you to see how everything that is back in the Old Testament that is necessary for the priest to do in the carrying out of their responsibilities at the Temple, it has been resurrected, the regulations, and they have to do them. They are not going to get free of this until they do it and they do it right.
Ezekiel 44:18-23 "They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies. They shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat. When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shall not sanctify the people. They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, but they shall keep their hair well trimmed. No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of the priests. And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the clean and the unclean."
I think that you can see that very well.
Ezekiel 45:1-5 "Moreover, when you divide the land by lot [What is He going through? One segment of government and service to the people, one right after the other.] into inheritance, you shall set apart a district for the Lord, a holy section of the land; its length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits, its width ten thousand. It shall be holy throughout its territory all around. Of this shall be a square plot for the sanctuary five hundred by five hundred rods, with fifty cubits around it for an open space. So this is the district you shall measure: twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide; in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. It shall be a holy section of land, belonging to the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary who come near to minister to the Lord; it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. An area twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide shall belong to the Levites, the ministers of the temple; they shall have twenty chambers as a possession."
We will not go into every portion of this because it just keeps going on and on. I said, when Ezekiel started to write, he had an awful lot of writing to do.
Ezekiel 45:9-12 'Thus says the Lord God: "Enough, O princes of Israel! Remove violence and plundering, execute justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing My people says," the Lord God. "You shall have honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. [hose are all weights and measures] The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, so that the bath contains one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; their measure shall be according to the homer. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall you be your mina. This is the offering which you shall offer: you shall give one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley."
Ezekiel 45:18-25 'Thus says the Lord God: "In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gateposts of the gate of the inner court. And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make an atonement for the temple.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover [You wondered about the holy days, here they come], a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. And on that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. On the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bulls, seven rams without blemish, daily for seven days, and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. And he shall prepare a grain offering for one ephah for each bull and one ephah for each ram, together with a hin of oil for each ephah. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall do likewise for seven days, according to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil."
Well, I hope that I have almost overwhelmed you with showing you that these things are not done away. And for anybody to say "done away" is wrong unless they have absolute proof by word—in God's Word— that such and such a thing is indeed never to be done again. It is God's creation and He has every right to do as He does. And here we find in the book of Ezekiel that He is going to resurrect the law of Moses, as it were, and those people, Israelites only—get this, Israelites only—because the other people were not guilty of breaking the laws the way that Israel did. Israel was the only nation that He made a covenant with and He held them to a very, very high standard.
But now, if those people come to the feast (I think maybe they will), they are going to have to be joining in because the book of Ezekiel. Zachariah said the Feast of Tabernacles is going to be kept during that period of time.
I am not going to go into it, but God goes into it here through Ezekiel, the land is going to be divided up with the tribes once again. Now, I did not know that there was enough land to hold those billions, maybe, of Israelites who are going to be resurrected. God has that all figured, out of that I am sure.
But I think you will find that it is very clear that it is not right to just injudiciously say that something is "done away" unless you have proof from God's Word that it indeed is canceled out and God indeed has done away.
So, if you ever get into that position where you are discussing doctrines, arguing over doctrines, be careful that you do not utter those words that those things are "done away." It is better to say God just does not require them of us right now.
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