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Saturday, November 22, 2014

 

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Contents|| Preface || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 ||12 ||13 || 14 ||

 

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Christ on Earth Again


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CHAPTER XI
CHRIST AND THE NEW TEMPLE


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WHEN we go with Ezekiel to one of "the high mountains of Israel", and overlook the sanctuary of Messiah the Prince's age, outspread at our feet "as the frame of a city on the South", we look upon a structure excelling all previous temples in dimensions and beauty, as shown in the architectural demonstration of Mr. H. Sulley, architect, Nottingham. Looking upon it, we are looking on the very locality that witnessed the Lord's agony and crucifixion 1900 years ago. We are looking on the very hill on which he stood and said with tears in his eyes, " Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord". We are surveying the very scene which heard his parting word, "If I go away, I will come again."
In Ezekiel's company, we are also witnesses of this promised coming again, the time having arrived for the Jews to accept him after so many ages of rejection.
The glory of the Lord enters the house by the gate "whose prospect is towards the east". Then from within, Ezekiel is addressed thus: "Son of Man, (this is) the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever" (43: 1, 7). Afterwards, he is brought back by the way of the same gate and finds it shut, and is informed, "It snall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it ... It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way
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of the porch of that gate, and he shall go out by the way of the same" (44 : 2, 3).
The apparent distinction between the God of Israel who enters the house and the Prince, who alone uses the gate by which the glory enters, has led some to suppose that the Prince is distinct from the entering glory. In a sense he is distinct, the sense, namely, affirmed by Christ when he says, " The Son of Man will come in his glory", and " the glory of his Father". But in another sense he is one with the entering glory. Their identity is obvious from the very wording of the statement concerning the eastern gate.
This proves that the Prince' is no mortal man, but Christ. Man shall not enter that gate because God has entered: the Prince may enter-shall enter. He will freely and familiarly use the gate by which God has entered. This shows that the Prince is an element of the divine glory that entered. If the Prince were a mortal man, we have a prohibitory regulation stultifying itself-enacting that no man shall enter, and then providing that a man shall enter.
Jesus, though a man in the days of his flesh, is now "the Lord, the Spirit", in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2: 9). That he should sit in the gate consecrated by the divine entrance is according to the fitness of things.
Then this " eating bread before the Lord " can only apply to Christ. That it was associated in Israel's mind with tbe immortal inheritance of the kingdom, is evident from the remark of one of Christ's hearers when he was on the earth: "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the-kingdom of God" (Luke 14: IS). That Jesus associated the act in the same way is evident from,his promise to his disciples,
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I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my
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table in my kingdom" (Luke 22: 29, 30). The character of this eating could not better be defined than by saying it is "before the LORD". Jesus calls the kingdom" My Father's Kingdom" (Matt. 26 : 29). All that is done in it is "before" him: in his presence: by his sanction, under his protection, under his auspices; and therefore having a glory and stability that never appertained before to any domestic, social, or political procedure of man.
We may learn something on the subject from a glance at Rome, where the anti-Christ has been enthroned for centuries. The false exhibits the semblance of the true, as all counterfeits do.
In Rome, the falsely so-called " Eternal City", we have a priest claiming to be the prince of the kings of the earth, and-having under him a vast body of priests scattered through the earth as the organs of his authority. We see him claiming a false infallibility, and periodically and falsely posing in the eyes of the populations as the guardian of human interests, as the father of the faithful, and the shepherd of mankind.
We see in Rome a prince-priest claiming to be "higher than the kings of the earth"; and we behold him on fitting occasion surrounded by his cardinals, taking part in the public ceremonies of the Papal religion.
In Jerusalem, the world will yet see" Messiah, the Prince", Yahweh's first born and higher than all the kings and rulers, take part with majestic condescension in the feasts and appointed times. in the service of Yahweh, surrounded by his brethren, in their very midst, exalting Yahweh's praise, recounting His mercies, and showing forth the honours of His name, When the people are gathered
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together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord" (Psa. 102: 22). The people of the land shall worship
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at the door of this gate before the Lord; on the sabbaths
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and in the new moons . . . And when the Prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof." To himself and all who are members of him, he shall say, U The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death. Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord: this gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter. I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused' is become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing : it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, 0 Lord. I beseech thee send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord" (Psa. 118: 18-26).
Those who think it incompatible with the greatness of Christ that he should perform such a lowly part are unconsciously animated by the false sentiment which, in the first century, led many to deny the reality of his sufferings, and ultimately to deny the reality of his appearing in the flesh. These thinking to honour Christ were wise above that which is written: and those who deny him his place as the Prince make a similar mistake. Their human sentiments would really mar and hide the glory of Christ in the affairs of the Kingdom as the others did in the affairs of his sufferings. Lord, this shall
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not be unto thee", is not a new form of well-meant antagonism to divine wisdom.
Christ, the prince-priest of the age to come, will certainly be great beyond compare, but his greatness will be manifested by those very acts of condescending service which are considered inconsistent with his dignity. In the days of his flesh, he washed the disciples' feet. In the days of his glory, it will be no
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true humiliation that he worship at the appointed gate and offer his sacrifices, and show himself to the people. "It shall be the Prince's part to give burnt offerings, aBd meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel" (Ezek.
45: 17). The Prince prepares these only as a king does anything, that is, by the hands of those around him, who act to his direction literally. "The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate"
(46: 2).

 


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