Sermon: Hebrews: Its Background (Part Ten)
#1469
John W. Ritenbaugh
Given 12-Jan-19; 60 minutes
description: The term "done away" (implying, forever destroyed or abrogated) is not synonymous with the term "no longer required" (that is, placed aside temporarily). Indeed, decades after Christ instituted His Church, the Apostle Paul, having access in his day to a sanctified altar at Jerusalem, took part in Old Covenant rituals requiring animal sacrifice (Acts 21). While it is true that God no longer requires animal sacrifices (a basic part of the Old Covenant) on the part of those embracing the New Covenant, the Scriptures show that it is wrong to conclude He will not reinstitute animal sacrifices in the future. Chapters 34 through 48 of the Book of Ezekiel describe a time following Israel's near destruction at the hands of the Edomites, when Christ returns to restore physical Israel. During this time, He will re-establish the Old Covenant. He will build again the Temple, re-establish the Levitical priesthood, and reintroduce animal sacrifices so that restored Israel of the Millennium and resurrected Israel of the White Throne Period will witness the fulfillment of all righteousness. As God's called-out ones, we must not fall prey to the Catholic/Protestant heresy that the New Testament has replaced the Old, that grace has replaced Law, that faith has replaced works or that the Old Covenant has already vanished away, never to be revived. While, as signatories to the New Covenant, we keep the Law in its spirit, we do not deny the continued existence and force of its letter. God has a specific purpose for every syllable in His Holy Word.
transcript:
With this sermon we will make our closest foray into the body of the epistle to the Hebrews. We are not going to get very far accomplishing that because there is still quite a bit of foundation laying we have to do in order to derive the most from what has been given for our growth and preparation for God's Kingdom.
Now as we begin this sermon, we will look at a technicality. It is really a refinement that came to mind as fairly important left over from a previous Hebrews background sermon. This technicality I am speaking on is given primarily because of Acts 15 and is one of those elements that is good to keep in mind when discussing doctrinal issues with others, especially those who may be arguing with you or fairly new to the program.
Though I did not say so during that previous sermon, I believe that a distinctive element of that sermon is that there is somewhat of a difference—catch the essence of this—between a doctrinal practice that people say in discussions is done away. Remember the issue in my sermon just a couple weeks ago was circumcision. Is it done away? And there is an alternative description which is no longer required of one in his faithful worship of God. I guess the issue might be here in the beginning of this sermon: is anything that God says, since His Word says His Word is forever, is there such a thing as a doctrine that is done away? That is what we are going to be considering here.
This is not a major issue, but I do believe that the term "done away" is unintentionally misleading. Remember that, unintentionally misleading. Done away implies to a seeker of God's truth that he no longer has to even pay attention to that specific practice because after all, it is done away, it is never going to hit me again. Which is exactly what many people claiming they are Christian do regarding very much of the entire Old Testament! That is a difficult thing for one of us to swallow, the whole Old Testament done away or selected portions in that person's mind are done away.
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. In fact, I opened the sermon a month or so ago quoting that very verse in the Old Testament that His word is forever.
Now to reinforce that God does not do away with things like what we are talking about, God does not remove the source and the history of a practice of a specific biblical doctrine from the Scriptures. The history and the source of circumcision is still in the Book. 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 truly be done away at all because it might prove to be useful at another time and perhaps in a different circumstance altogether.
So a so-called done away doctrine, like circumcision became called, remains part of the history of the use of that doctrine and may continue tying in with other story lines of that period, thus providing a larger and more detailed overall base of understanding of God's purpose, and indeed, they do.
I am going to give you more examples that saying "done away" may be entirely false beyond merely being misleading. We are all well aware that since Christ's sacrifice of Himself, sacrificial requirements of completing an offering at the Temple under the New Covenant is what? This is a question for you to think on for just a minute. Is it what? Is it done away or is it not required of us? There is a difference between those two. Are they no longer required of us, or are they completely done away?
Now Hebrews 10 clearly shows that they are most definitely not required of us because of Christ's sacrifice. They are not required of us, but other scriptures show that they are most definitely not done away. Now consider this biblical truth. God is eternal. We all agree on that. He does not change. But some doctrines are not eternal. Now some doctrines can seemingly rise from the dead at some future occasion. We are going to look briefly at something that is very clear and interesting, at least to me, in these regards.
Do you remember Christ's conversation in John the 4th chapter with the Samaritan woman at the well in Samaria? You might want to be turning there. We are just going to read a verse or two. Now during that conversation it is recorded in verse 21 that Jesus clearly said it. He was going to say something about a doctrine and I just said some doctrines are not eternal. They are still in the Bible, but they are not really eternal. That Jesus clearly stated to the woman that at some time in the future, some then active, that is, when He said this, worship requirements were going to change.
John 4:21 Jesus said to the woman, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father."
How about that? He directly stated to the woman that worshipping at the Temple in Jerusalem would end. Brethren, that declaration prophesied of a major doctrinal change.
Here is another intriguing example. Do you also remember reading beginning in Acts the 21st chapter and in verse 15 when the apostle Paul, who was considered a traitorous turncoat from Judaism by the Jews, he was visiting in Jerusalem. he was warmly received by James, our Lord's brother, and other church members. But what happened in Acts 21? And what did the Christians do?
Paul's arrival there created an angry stir over hearing of Paul by fellow Jews claiming that Paul was preaching against the totality of the law of Moses. Now James and his group knew very well that Paul was, in the eyes of God, not guilty. So they devised a plan they hoped would relieve Paul of that charge. Let us go back to Acts the 21st chapter. This involves an act of worship that was "done away" in the minds of people.
Acts 21:23-24 [Here is what James counseled Paul to do.] "Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them [that is, take the men who took this vow and be purified with them], pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that these things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law."
Here is one Christian telling another Christian to go and publicly keep this law at the Temple. Now what these men had done in taking the vow, there were indeed lawful commanded worship activities from within the law of Moses that, like circumcision, were no longer required of the Christians, but they were still in the Book. You understand? But they were no longer required of the Christians. But the completion of the vows required some measure of sacrificial service for the participants to be ceremonially cleansed and the vows erased.
Now James and the others clearly understood that it was not sinful for them. The law of Moses did not suddenly become sinful, but it was no longer required of a Christian that they keep them. James and others clearly understood that it was not sinful for them to perform these rituals, like circumcision, had no spiritual value under the New Covenant which they had made with God. And what the Christians did then is today similar to circumcising an eight-day-old newborn boy if the family so desires and they fully understand circumcision has no spiritual value under the New Covenant. But to make use of circumcision should the family want that, it is still there for them to do. And if they want to go so far as to do it precisely on the 8th day, it would still be alright as long as they fully understood it has no spiritual value under the New Covenant.
That is what basically Paul and the others took advantage of on that occasion. It was not sin for them to use that means to do that. And so here it was still sitting in the Bible for them to use on this occasion and publicly demonstrate that they did not consider the law of Moses evil at all. However, in Paul's case there, it did not work.
What they were doing was in a sense almost like play acting, and thus Paul and his Christian companions followed through with the completion of the vow's requirements to visibly demonstrate to the Jews that they did not despise Moses' law, and 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, and that charge was also false—but it stuck in the Jewish prosecutor's mind as being an offense against God as well. So thus the Christians made use of something neither physically nor spiritually required.
We are going to do something now that I think here is really interesting. Even more interesting along this same line is Ezekiel chapters 37 through 48, which follow after the Valley of Dry Bones vision, and then the prophecy regarding warfare that involves Gog and Magog. Now make note of this in your mind as we begin to go through this. The prophesied events in these chapters clearly take place after Christ's return. Did you hear me? These prophesied events clearly take place after Christ's return when God is regathering and then resettling Israel from the areas of the world into which He previously scattered them. And in that context we, brethren, are some of the scattered Israelites. We are at least in an Israelitish nation, and this is where God has scattered us too.
Let us go to the book of Ezekiel, and we are going to begin in Ezekiel the 34th chapter. I am going to do quite a bit of reading as we go through here. Ezekiel 34 is one of those chapters that triggers what follows for the entire rest of the book of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 34:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, . . .
The shepherds of Israel are its governing authorities all the way up and down the line, we would say, from president down to the burgess of a third rate city or whatever it might be. And what is a shepherd of goats and sheep supposed to do? They are to look out to the best interests of those flocks that they are taking care of. They are to provide for them. They are to protect them. They are to take care of them. But the shepherds of Israel are not doing that. Does it sound anything at all like what we are experiencing in the Israelitish nations today? Very much so in this nation. Every day we are hearing complaints thrown at one leader after another, and things are going from bad to worse.
Ezekiel 34:1-6 . . . prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! [There is God's complaint.] Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the beasts of the field [that is, the vicious rulers of other nations] when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill directionless. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them."
And so God begins pronouncing things, judgments, against the shepherds of Israel.
We will now go to chapter 35 and introduce another personality in this picture here. Beginning in verse 1 and we are going to read to verse 15.
Ezekiel 35:1-15 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it [Mount Seir was a prominent mountain in the nation of Edom. Edom was relative to the Israelitish nation, they shared a border for quite a long distance on Israel's east side.], and say to it, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you; I will stretch out My hand against you, and make you most desolate; I shall lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate. And then you shall know that I am the Lord." [This is a judgment that is going to come upon Edom. Verse 5 begins to tell us why.] Because you have an ancient hatred [that hatred is vented against the Israelitish nation and people.], and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end, therefore, as I live," says the Lord God, "I will prepare for you blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you.
Thus I will make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it the one who leaves and the one who returns. And I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those who are slain by the sword shall fall. I will make you perpetually desolate, and your cities shall be uninhabited; and then you shall know that I am the Lord. Because you have said, 'These two nations [that is, Israel and Judah] and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them,' although the Lord was there [that was His land], therefore, as I live," says the Lord God, "I will do according to your anger and according to the envy which you showed in your hatred against them [the Israelites]; and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, 'They are desolate; they are given to us to consume.' Thus with your mouth you have boasted against Me and multiplied your words against Me; I have heard them." 'Thus says the Lord God: "The whole earth will rejoice when I make you desolate. As you rejoiced because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, so I will do to you; you shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, as well as all the all of Edom—all of it! Then they shall know that I am the Lord."'
I did a bit of research in my own personal library trying to find out who is Edom today. Who is Edom? I could not find anybody who would positively and absolutely say this particular nation was Edom, but it is now going by another name. So I do not know who they are. But they share these vicious qualities with the Edomites and indeed may even be descendants of the Edomites. What I did find from the handbook of the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, they said Edom has disappeared. No, they have not. God knows exactly where they are, and we are reading of an end time prophecy as God prepares to take His judgment against His people Israel.
Here is some more regarding Edom.
Ezekiel 36:1-3 "And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, 'O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: "Because the enemy has said of you, 'Aha! [the enemy is Edom] The ancient heights have become our possession'"' therefore prophesy, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Because they made you desolate [Whoever Edom is, they are going to make the Israelitish countries desolate.] and swallowed you up on every side, . . .
Incidentally, that resource I used regarding the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, they said it appears that the people of Edom deliberately destroyed all of their documents. I think God probably led them to do that in order to hide them. And so now the only information that is available regarding who Edom is comes from their enemies and what their qualities and characteristics are. But we do have part of it here in the book of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 36:3-9 . . . so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations [Do you see what He is saying there? Edom attacks and then others join in on tearing apart the Israelite nations.], and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people" [that is, the Israelites are]—therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills [that is, all the separate nations of Israel], the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have become forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around—therefore thus says the Lord God: "Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country:"' "Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations." Therefore, thus says the Lord God, "I have raised My hand in an oath [God is swearing He is going to do this to Edom.] that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame. [He is saying this as a judgment] But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sowed."
God is promising that He is going to rescue Israel, but not until Israel receives a terrible, terrible, terrible beating by whoever Edom is and those who are with Edom.
Ezekiel 36:10-11 "I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the Lord."
Now from here, we are going to touch bases with Ezekiel the thirty-seventh chapter. This whole section of Ezekiel is telling a story. It is prophesied, it is going to happen. And I do not look for there to be any extension to the pain that Israel is beginning to feel everywhere (as we just heard in Martin's commentary, where the birth rate in England is only one). They are going downhill fast.
Ezekiel 37:1-4 [Ezekiel reports] 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. [Now we have the vision of the Valley of Dry 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!'
Ezekiel 37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.
Ezekiel 37:11 Then He said to me, "Son of man [notice this], these bones are the whole house of Israel."
That is quite a statement. It included everybody who was an Israelite and was now dead, through thousands of years. Are you following me, understanding that what we are reading here is going to happen after Jesus Christ returns? This is after He returns.
Ezekiel 37:11-14 "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. [We are seeing a witness of a resurrection, a huge, huge resurrection.] Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up 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.'"
The most significant thing we are looking at there in chapter 37 in the Valley of Dry Bones is the whole house of Israel, and we are looking at a resurrection. Now this circumstance is very definitely a future event, long after the events of Acts the 21st chapter. This is a key here to the rest of this sermon. It is also long after even our time as we live right now. It forecasts a total regathering of Israel and it clearly suggests, in fact said so, a resurrection.
Ezekiel 39:1-5 "And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north [That is kind of interesting. This Edom is in the far north. Not right on Israel's east side.], and bring you against the mountains [that is, the nations] of Israel. Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand [that is, their weaponry]. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken," says the Lord God.
Ezekiel 39:25 "Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name.'
There are still, even when Gog and Magog are defeated, still Israelitish people who are alive in other nations away from the land of Israel. Now He is going to regather all of them, all the Israelites, into one basic place.
Ezekiel 39:25-29 'And I will be jealous for My holy name—after they have borne their shame, and all of the unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. [What a time that is going to be!] And I will not hide My face from them any more, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,' says the Lord God."
The story is is progressing. I have not gotten to the part that I eventually want to get to yet. But I feel that the best thing I can do is show you how God has planned this all out. And it is going to lead to something very interesting that has to do with the beginning of my sermon.
Ezekiel 40:1-4 In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity [Ezekiel speaking], at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day the hand of the Lord was upon me; and He took me there. In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city. He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod 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 show you [That is the key to this next section. The angel, that is the bronze man who had the appearance of bronze, he tells Ezekiel]; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see."
So Ezekiel was specifically transported in a vision to observe a number of things. Now what did he see of everything?
Ezekiel 40:6 Then he went to the gateway which faced east [Remember he is somewhere close to Jerusalem, might even be in there in vision.]; and he measured the gateway, which was one rod wide and the other threshold was one rod wide.
Well, I will tell you what he is seeing at this point. The very first thing that he was shown is a very detailed description of a new temple. Now how detailed is all that he was shown? I will tell you right here, the detail goes on and on and on. This is only chapter 40. The detail goes on and on, and the angel continues describing until the end of the book. You think God does not have things planned out? We are skipping over a lot of detail.
Ezekiel 44:4-6 Also He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple [In those four chapters, he was describing the temple as it is going to be built after Christ returns. And the measurements are already taken. God knows exactly what He wants.]; 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 and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances [Ah, we are getting into something interesting here for this sermon.] of the house of the Lord and all its laws. 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 all your abominations."
What is He beginning to do? He is beginning to recount what got them into that pickle where they were wiped off the face of the earth, practically, by the nation of Edom and all who are joined with them and put them in this kind of a pickle.
Ezekiel 44:7-9 "And when you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile 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, you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you." 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."
We are seeing exposed what got Israel into all this trouble with God. I will not go through every detail. But what God is giving the measurements for, it is already measured out in His own mind and He has given some of it here to Ezekiel. He includes information regarding the restoration of the Levitical priesthood.
I will just stop while I ask this question: The restoration of the Levitical priesthood, was the Levitical priesthood done away for all eternity? Oh no, it was not! He is going to reinstitute them again. Not only that, Ezekiel witnessed the building and the placing of an altar. Uh oh. What does that mean? If you have an altar, you have sacrifices that are going on that altar. Are you beginning to catch hold of what I am aiming for here? Were the sacrifices of God done away? Absolutely not! They were just set aside for a while and no longer required under the New Covenant for those who make the New Covenant with God. They are not required any longer to give them. But they have not been done away.
Already I have shown you enough to show you from the book of Ezekiel, God is telling why He did what He did to Israel—because they did not obey Him in the first place. And so what is God's punishment? He not only took them away from serving Him in the Temple, now He is putting them back into it. They went through a resurrection, remember. He is putting them back into it. They are not done away. They just are not required of us now. He is going to make them do it and He is going to make them do it right. That is their part of their punishment. They are going to prove to Him that they are going to do it faithfully.
Let us go jump on to Ezekiel 44, verse 17. Notice how detailed this gets.
Ezekiel 44:17-23 "And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall put on linen garments [this is the priests]; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house. 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 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. Neither shall they 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 the virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests. And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean."
Do you see what He is doing? He is taking the whole Old Covenant sacrificial rules, and bringing them back wholesale. From everything I see, it is every one of those things He is bringing back. They are not done away. God is holding them in reserve for this occasion. And then they are going to have to do it and they are going to have to do it right because they did not do it right the first time.
I will tell you, this is really, really detailed as you can begin to see there. God is even concerned about their hair lengths and what kind of clothes they wear when they are doing their responsibilities. No clothes that will make you sweat. He does not want anything defiling His Holy Place coming from within a person, and they sweat and out goes poisons with it. You think God is not careful? He has definite reasons for everything. And what we are looking at here is not done away, it is just being held in reserve for the time that God is going to reestablish them once again.
Let us go to chapter 45. He covers just about everything that you could think of here.
Ezekiel 45:1-5 "Moreover, when you divide the land by lot into inheritance, you shall set apart a district for the Lord, a holy section of the land [He is making sure that He is going to be able to live there. He is going to have a place.]; its length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits [even the size that He wants], and the width ten thousand. It shall be holy throughout its territory all around. Of this there shall be a square plot for the sanctuary, five hundred by five hundred rods, with fifty cubits round 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 the 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; and they shall have twenty chambers as a possession."
Do you know that God has already plotted a place in the suburbs of this city, where the people who work at the city can farm for their families? It is already planned in for them to do that. They will at work in the city and do their job there, but they will also have a farm where they can work and grow food.
Ezekiel 45:17 "Then it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings [That is a very clear statement.], grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feast, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons [that is, the festivals] of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel."
And then He tells them when they are supposed to offer what? Chapter 47 and I think that I have made my point here.
Ezekiel 47:13-14 Thus says the Lord God: "These are the borders by which you shall divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. [That is kind of interesting. He gets a double portion because he was the inheritor in that sense.] You shall inherit equally with one another: for I raise My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance."
Then He begins to describe where each nation is going to be situated, each one of the Israelitish nations. So the tribal locations are already established.
My point as I began this sermon is this: Let us try to be more careful regarding what we say regarding things that are no longer required of us and make sure that we do not say that this is done away. Because you may be telling a fib. It is just set aside until God has use for it, and then He is going to use it for His advantage and the advantage, as we just saw, of the Israelitish people that He is going to resurrect and go through the traces once again to make sure that they have learned their lesson and that they will do it right.
So, things are not done away, but things are very clearly not required of us at this time.
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