Please turn to Ezekiel 44.
And He brought me back the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.
Then said the Lord unto me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.
As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.Then He brought me the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell upon my face.
And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.
And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, in that ye have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to profane it, even My house, when ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken My covenant, besides all your abominations.
And ye have not kept the charge of My holy things; but ye have set keepers of My charge in My sanctuary for yourselves.
Thus saith the Lord God, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, of any foreigner that is among the children of Israel.
But the Levites that went far from Me, when Israel went astray, that went astray from Me after their idols, they shall even bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and doing the service of the house.
But they shall not come near unto Me, to execute the office of priest unto Me, nor to come near to any of My holy things, unto the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.
But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister unto Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God.
They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, to minister unto Me, and they shall keep My charge.
And it shall come to pass, that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat.
And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, that they sanctify not the people with their garments.
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
And in a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to My ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep My laws and My statutes in all Mine appointed feasts; and they shall hallow My sabbaths.
And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.
And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God.
And they shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.
They shall eat the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.
And the first of all the first-fruits of every thing, and every oblation of everything, of all your oblations, shall be for the priests: ye shall also give unto the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thine house.
The priests shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or beast.
Ezekiel 45:7:
And the prince shall have his portion on the one side and on the other side of the holy oblation and of the possession of the city, over against the holy oblation, and over against the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward; and in length answerable unto one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border.
In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and My princes shall no more oppress My people; but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
Thus saith the Lord God: Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; take away your exactions from My people, saith the Lord God.
Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
Ezekiel 45:17:
And it shall be the prince’s part to give the burnt offerings, and the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meal offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.
Our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee for Thy written Word. We ask at this moment that the Spirit of God will breathe upon Thy Word and make it living and operative in each of our lives.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee, because Thy Word is living. Thy Word is even life and spirit to us. So we look to Thee to release Thy Word and release us for Thy Word. Oh, that we may see Thy glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
The prophet Ezekiel was in the land of captivity. At the beginning of the book of Ezekiel, he was thirty years old. This was the time when, as a priest, he should have entered into the holy temple to serve the Lord.
But his situation was just impossible. He was not in the land of Israel. He was in Babylon. He was not able to go to the temple in Jerusalem. He was by the river Chebar. He was not able to enter into the temple to serve as a priest unto God.
He was a slave labourer among the captives by the river Chebar, and there was no prospect for him to return to Jerusalem and do the work for which he had been trained all his life—not only trained, but work which he loved from the very bottom of his heart.
You can understand the despair, the disappointment, the emptiness, the frustration—the very sentence of death upon that person.
But thank God, it was at this most unusual time, under the most unusual circumstances, that the heavens were opened to him and he saw the visions of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, when this happened to him, it transformed his life. It gave meaning to his life. It gave him a mission to fulfil. He was called to be a prophet—a prophet-priest.
Even though he was not able to serve in Jerusalem in the temple built by Solomon, yet he was called to serve among the captives in Babylon. Life became real, living, meaningful, purposeful. All his problems were solved, because he now lived under an open heaven.
He saw the glory of the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, is it not that this is what we need? We need to live under an open heaven. We need to see the visions of God.
Oh, if only the glory of the Lord would appear to us, all our frustrations, all our despair, all our problems, all our emptiness—we would find ourselves, as it were, absorbed into that glory of the Lord.
And we would find ourselves not only in union, but in cooperation, with God.
When the glory of the Lord appeared, the call came to Ezekiel. He was called to be a prophet. He was to tell the children of Israel what he saw and what he heard.
He was called to be a watchman, standing on a high place to warn the people of what was coming, that perhaps he might be able to save some from destruction.
Dear brothers and sisters, if it should please the Lord to give you an open heaven, to give you the vision of God, and if the glory of the Lord should appear to you, remember: you have a call. You have a responsibility.
You ought to tell the children of God what you have seen and heard. You are to warn the people, and maybe by the grace of God some may be rescued.
We find that even when the glory of the Lord departed from the temple, even when the judgment of God came upon that city, some were saved. A remnant was saved.
How we look to the Lord that, even today, as the church is going through judgment—for we believe that the house of God is already in judgment—a remnant might be saved.
Oh, would to God that we may be among that remnant, not because we are better than anybody else. We have sinned, and sinned terribly, just like the rest; but only because, somehow, by His mercy, we cry and we mourn over the abominations that we have committed. In other words, we repent.
Because we have repented, God shows mercy to us in the time of judgment.
We mentioned yesterday morning that in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity, by the time Ezekiel was fifty years old, God gave him such mercy that, in the Spirit, he was lifted up and transported into Jerusalem again.
While he was there, instead of seeing a city in ruin, instead of seeing the holy temple completely destroyed, he was brought back to the land of Israel. He saw a very high mountain, and on that mountain he saw a house, like a city.
And the glory of the Lord entered into that house and filled the house.
Dear brothers and sisters, we do believe that it is the will of God that, in spite of what has happened on earth, in spite of change and decay all around us, in spite of the falling away, in spite of the love among God’s people growing cold, and in spite of our becoming lukewarm and leaving our first love, God has His house.
Ichabod—the glory of the Lord has departed. Yet, dear brothers and sisters, in the very midst of it, God intends to show us that He has His house.
God intends to show us what a house it is. God intends to show us that His glory shall fill that house. God intends to tell us that this is the place of His throne, the place of the soles of His feet, His dwelling place among His people forever.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is a vision that we must have. If we do not see this vision, we give up. If we do not see this vision, there is no meaning for our existence upon this earth.
If we do not have this vision, we may struggle and strive, but no matter what we do, it will not come out as God wants.
But thank God, in the midst of all this depression and despair, disappointment and ruin, falling away and growing cold, God will give us a vision: the vision of the house of God.
That house has been in God’s mind from eternity. Even before God created the heavens and the earth, in eternity past, before time began, God had in His heart that house—a dwelling place for Him, a home, an eternal home where He could rest Himself among His people.
Dear brothers and sisters, it has never changed. He remains the same from the beginning to the end, from eternity past, through time, into eternity to come. It is always there before God.
It is completed, and the glory of God fills the house. That is, God is fully satisfied with that house.
Brothers and sisters, we need that vision. Without that vision, we perish. Without that vision, we cast off all restraint. Without that vision, we disintegrate—and that is what you find today among God’s people. We are being disintegrated.
That vision will unite us together. That vision will give us a goal. That vision will give us direction. That vision will give us strength to press on.
Brothers and sisters, do we see that house? It is heavenly. Everything in the house measures up to the full measure of Christ. The border all around is most holy. Nothing is common.
It is separated with walls and protected. There are gates which enter into that place, speaking of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. There is fellowship.
There you find that not only can you enjoy Christ; you can minister to God’s people, and you can even minister to the Lord. We need to have that vision.
This morning, we would like to continue and conclude. In Ezekiel 44 through Ezekiel 48, after God showed Ezekiel that completed house, the glory of the Lord entered from the east gate and filled the house. That is to say, God took possession of His house. God now rested in His house.
Then, from Ezekiel 44, you find again that Ezekiel was brought back toward the outer gate of the sanctuary which looked toward the east. He was brought back to the east gate, and he found that the gate was shut.
Why? Because that was the gate through which the glory of the Lord entered into that house. After the glory of the Lord entered into the house, the gate was shut again. No one was to enter in or go out except the prince.
Then Ezekiel was brought into the court through the north gate. When he came into the court, what did he see? “Behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; and I fell upon my face.”
Once again, he saw the glory of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, whenever one sees the glory of the Lord, invariably he falls upon his face. This is what Ezekiel did. He fell upon his face, and then he heard God speak.
God spoke to him that he might speak to the house of Israel.
The restoration of the house of God is not complete if priesthood and kingship are not fully restored. In other words, priesthood and kingship are part of the house of God.
Here you find the glory of the Lord dealing with this matter of the restoration of priesthood and kingship, in order to complete the restoration of the house of God.
The glory of the Lord was to measure priesthood and measure kingship. The glory of the Lord was to bring priesthood into what it ought to be, and the glory of the Lord would bring kingship into what it was ordained to be.
So God was calling His people to return to priesthood and kingship as He ordained them to be.
You remember Revelation 1:5-6:
Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood; and He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Here is a declaration. It is to Him who loves us. Oh, to God who loves us! Because He loves us, He does something to us: He has washed us from our sins in His blood.
Thank God that our sins were all washed clean. He has washed us from our sins by His precious blood. We cannot thank God enough for what He has done for us. He has forgiven our sins. He has washed our sins away—not merely covered them, but washed them away. He not only forgives, but forgets. It is all gone. We are clean before God.
Now, how we thank God for what He has done. But, dear brothers and sisters, that is only the beginning.
He has not only washed us from our sins in His blood, but He has made us a kingdom—or, you may put it another way, He has made us kings and priests unto His God and Father.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know that you are not merely saved? You are saved to be priests and kings unto God.
Again, in Revelation 5:9-10, when the living creatures and the elders fell before the Lamb, they began to sing a new song:
Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.
Oh, how glorious it is that the blood of our Lord Jesus has brought us unto God from every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation. He has not only purchased us by His blood; He has made us kings and priests unto God, that we shall reign with Him over the earth.
In 1 Peter 2:5, it is said that, as we come to Christ, we become living stones, built up together into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, we who are redeemed of the Lord are living stones. These living stones are to be built up together into a spiritual house.
It is not the will of God that these living stones should be scattered all around. That is ruin. Neither is it the will of God that these living stones should merely be piled upon one another.
You know, this is what we are doing. We say that these living stones should not be scattered, so we pile them together into piles and piles of living stones. But God cannot live in these piles.
These living stones must be built up together. There must be an organic work going on.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have seen much mechanical work going on, but very little organic work. We have seen many human efforts herding people together, but we see very little of the work of the Holy Spirit in building His people, knitting His people, joining His people, uniting His people, connecting His people, and helping everyone find his place.
Oh, brothers and sisters, this is what our Lord is doing: “I will build My church.” Nobody can do it. He alone can do it. He does it by the power of the Holy Spirit, but He needs your cooperation.
If you resist, if you refuse, He will not force you. If you flee, if you escape, He has to wait until you are willing to come back and put yourself under His hand.
We are being built up together into a spiritual house. But, dear brothers and sisters, what will that house be if there is not a holy priesthood?
You remember, when Moses finished building the tabernacle and set it up—the curtains, the furniture, everything was ready—there was no movement until the priests entered into the temple and began to serve.
Then you find that the whole house is living, and God is glorified.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are not only a holy temple, the house of God; at the same time, we are a holy priesthood. Remember: every believer is a priest.
Even during the time of the Reformation, Martin Luther preached the universal priesthood of believers. But it was not accepted.
Brothers and sisters, the glory of the Lord will recover the priesthood. If priesthood is not recovered, God will never be satisfied.
That is the reason why the glory of the Lord appeared and the call came to God’s people. God said, “I want to see My priesthood recovered, and recovered to the fullest.”
In the beginning, when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt unto Mount Sinai, in Exodus 19 God said:
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself.
Now therefore, if ye will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own possession from among all peoples: for all the earth is Mine:
And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.
This was God’s original purpose. The whole nation of Israel was to be a nation of priests. All the men, all the women, all the children—everyone born into the house of Israel—was a priest. A priest was one who served God.
But unfortunately, while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments on the top of the mountain, the children of Israel sinned against God. Because they sinned, they disqualified themselves from the service of God.
As an emergency measure, God took one house, the house of Aaron, and one tribe, the tribe of Levi, to be priests for the house of Israel.
If any child of Israel wanted to worship God, to draw near to God, to offer sacrifice, or even to offer gifts, they could not do it themselves. They had to go through the priests. There was an intermediary between them and God.
But that was not God’s original purpose.
Our Lord Jesus has completed the work of redemption. He has brought us back to the beginning. He has brought us back to the very purpose of God for the redeemed: that every redeemed child of God is a priest.
Dear brothers and sisters, you are a priest. You are a priest by birth. You are a priest by vocation. Your life is to serve God. Your life is to serve God’s purpose. This is what you are: the universal priesthood of believers.
But when God spoke to the house of Israel through Ezekiel, He said:
Say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, in that ye have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to profane it, even My house, when ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken My covenant, besides all your abominations.
And ye have not kept the charge of My holy things; but ye have set keepers of My charge in My sanctuary for yourselves.
In other words, God was telling them what they had done before. God said, “You have brought in strangers, uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, to profane My sanctuary.”
Maybe outwardly and physically, the children of Israel never did that. You remember that even in the time of Paul, when Paul was suspected of bringing a Gentile into the house of God, immediately there was a riot.
Why? Because there was a sign upon the wall saying that no Gentile could cross this place. If anyone should cross this wall, he should die.
Outwardly, the children of Israel were very strict in not allowing any stranger, any uncircumcised person, to enter into the house of God. But they themselves were strangers to God. They themselves were uncircumcised in heart. They themselves were uncircumcised in flesh. They were those who profaned the house of God.
When the children of Israel went away from God, the Levites went away with them. The Levites, who were supposed to serve in the house of God, were serving the idols that the people wanted.
Possibly, the Levites even led the people into idol worship. Oh, what a falling away!
When there was a falling away, when the house of God was profaned by the people of God, when they worshipped the idols of their imaginations, even the Levites were led away.
In their eagerness to serve the people, they followed the people. They catered to the wishes of the people. Whatever the people wanted, they would do it.
You may think that this would not happen. It happened. Remember when the people told Aaron, “Make us a god. Moses has disappeared. The God of Moses, we cannot see Him. We want something tangible, something we can see and hold. Make us a god.”
And Aaron made the golden calf for them and proclaimed a day, a holy day.
Brothers and sisters, do you not know that this is happening even today? We are Levites. We are a people who offer God service. But how often we listen to what people say. We want to please men instead of pleasing God.
Because of that, in the restoration of the priesthood, God said that their iniquity was upon them. Yes, they could enter into the court. They could serve the people. They could help in killing the sacrifices. They could do all the services of the house. But they could not serve as priests in the inner court.
They could minister to the house of God, but they could not minister to God.
In the beginning, there was no distinction between ministering unto the house and ministering unto God. Priests were called to minister to the people of God and to minister to God.
There was no distinction between these two parts of priestly function. But because of failure, when there was a falling away and the Levites fell away, they could only minister to the house of God. They could not minister unto God Himself.
Only the house of Zadok stood. When the children of Israel fell away, and even the Levites were led away, the house of Zadok stood faithful to the charge of the Lord.
They were the minority. They were only a few. They stood against the tide. They were unpopular. Probably they bore much shame and reproach. They were considered outcasts. But they stood firm, faithful to God.
God said, “In My house, the house of Zadok, they shall be priests. They shall enter into My sanctuary and minister unto Me.”
Brothers and sisters, what is the difference between ministering unto the house of God and ministering unto the God of the house?
What is the house of God today? The house of God is God’s people. Certainly, we should minister to God’s people. But when we minister to God’s people, we are often people-oriented, and our ministry is motivated or governed by needs.
We see needs here. We see needs there. We see needs among God’s people, and because we see all these needs, we rush here and rush there in order to supply those needs and help those people.
Now, this is good. When an Israelite came to offer a sacrifice, he needed help. He himself was not able to bind the bull, nor was he able to kill the bull. He needed help.
So the Levites would come and help him bind the bull, help kill the bull, and do all the things necessary to prepare for the sacrifice. Certainly, that service was necessary and very much needed.
But, dear brothers and sisters, ministering unto the house of God is people-oriented, and it is governed by needs. How much of the so-called service unto the Lord is people-oriented today?
Not because we hear God, but because we hear people. Not because God says, “You go,” but because people say, “Here is the need.”
Of course, needs should be met. Of course, the people should be served. But, my dear brothers and sisters, if we only minister to the house of God because of the needs, the result will be that we help them in the energy of our flesh.
There is no need to wait upon the Lord. There is no need to seek the mind of the Lord. There is no need to cast yourself upon the power from on high.
You simply minister to what you see, and you minister with what you have—your talents, your ability, your cleverness, your experience. You can do it. You do not need God.
Oftentimes, when you are doing that, you will probably be troubled. There is no rest in your soul. Like Martha, she was so busy that she was troubled. She complained to the Lord. She was unhappy with her sister.
Dear brothers and sisters, is it not true?
Oh, that we may not only minister to the house of God. Certainly, we should. But we should also minister unto the Lord Himself.
How much ministry today is merely a horizontal relationship, from people to people? We need our service to be vertical. We have to go up and come down.
We need to minister unto the Lord first, and then, out of that ministry, comes the ministry unto the house of God.
You remember Acts 13. In Antioch, in the church there, you find prophets and teachers together. I love this: it says that they ministered unto the Lord.
These were prophets and teachers. Prophets ought to speak to the people. Teachers ought to instruct the people. Certainly, they should be people-oriented. But they ministered unto the Lord.
If they did not minister unto the Lord, what could they speak to the people? Out of their own imagination? Out of their own research?
Oh, that all our ministries may begin with ministering unto the Lord.
In the full restoration of the priesthood, you find that not only will the people be ministered to, but even God will be ministered to. That is priesthood.
What is ministering unto the Lord? Here you find several things.
They shall come near unto Me to minister unto Me, and they shall stand before Me.
To minister unto the Lord, the first thing is to stand. We think ministry means that we have to run. We have to run hither and thither. Oh, the needs are so great.
Brothers and sisters, you may burn yourself out, and you still cannot meet all the needs. You may run until you drop dead. The mortality of ministry is very high.
Oh, that we may learn how to stand—to stand before the Lord. “Be still, and know that I am God.”
To stand as a servant is not to stand idle. To stand is not to be passive. To stand is actively passive.
Why? Because a servant, as he stands before his master, has his eyes upon his master. He is waiting on his master.
Maybe his master will only wave his hand, and he knows. Maybe his master will only glance with his eyes, and the servant catches the eyes of his master and knows what his master wants.
In other words, there he is, waiting with expectancy. He will not move until the master speaks.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is hard for the flesh to stand still. May we stand before God, wait upon Him, until we receive word from Him—either with a distinct word, or with a wave of the hand, or even with a sure eye.
That is ministry unto the Lord. Before you go to the people, do you first wait upon Him?
To minister unto the Lord is to offer the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God.
The priests were to offer the fat of the sacrifice and the blood of the sacrifice unto the Lord. Now, what is the blood? We think of the blood as the atoning death of our Lord Jesus.
Thank God, when our Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross and His blood was shed, the blood had atoning power. The blood washes our sins away. The blood cleanses us.
What is the fat? The fat is the life, the abundance of life, of the sacrifice. When you have more than you need to sustain you through the day, what is left over becomes fat. It speaks of abundance of life.
We may not like that today, but in the Scriptures you find that it speaks of abundant life.
Here again, you find that we need the atoning death of our Lord Jesus—the blood. But the death of our Lord Jesus has another aspect. It is not only for the cleansing of sin, but it is to give life, and to give life abundantly.
That is the reason why, when the soldier thrust the spear into His side, out of His heart came water and blood: blood to cleanse our sins, water to give us life.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we think of the blood and the fat as all for ourselves. Remember: the blood and the fat are primarily for God. They are the food of God, God’s bread. God feeds upon that.
Why? Because the blood satisfies God’s righteousness, and the fat satisfies God’s holiness.
As a matter of fact, you find that the blood and the fat are primarily for God, not for us. They are only secondary for us.
Oftentimes we think of the blood and the fat only for us. Christ is for us. But do you know that Christ is for God?
How we claim the blood upon us. How we claim the fat for us. But do we ever present the blood and the fat to God as His bread? That is priesthood.
A holy priesthood offers spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Do you not know that we should be a people who worship God in spirit and in truth?
What do we bring to God? We bring to God the Christ whom He has given to us. We bring to God the blood. We bring to God the fat. We bring to God the Christ that we know.
As we bring back to God the Christ that we know, remember: God feeds upon Christ. This is our worship. This is our ministering unto God.
Whenever we come to the Lord, when we come to God, we thank Him for the blood. We thank Him for the fat. We thank Him for Christ Jesus.
As we come to God and bring Christ back to Him, saying, “Oh, God, how we appreciate Thy Son,” the Father is satisfied. He feeds upon that. That is our worship.
Do we minister unto the Lord?
They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, to minister unto Me.
We mentioned yesterday morning that in the house of God in Ezekiel’s vision, he saw only the table. This is the table of the Lord. Yet, in the preceding verse, it is called an altar made of wood.
In other words, that table is a combination of the golden altar of incense and the golden table of shewbread. These two are joined together.
It is the privilege of the priest to minister unto God by the table.
First of all, a table speaks of communion. When we break bread together, we commune with one another. We share Christ together. So, as we approach the table, we commune with God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, there is nothing that pleases God more than communion.
As parents, how you love your children to approach you, just to be near you. Sometimes with looks, sometimes with words, and sometimes even without words. Even when they are just sleeping near you, how satisfying that is to parents.
It is more satisfying than if your children were to give you a gold bar.
Brothers and sisters, how often we think that God is a hard master. We think He simply wants to work us to death. He wants work.
No. He wants you. Oh, if only you would draw near to the table, just to be with Him, to look up to Him—with words sometimes, and sometimes with no words.
That is ministering unto the Lord.
Of course, that table is also an altar. It is the golden altar of incense. In communion with Him, He will bear His heart to you. As He bears His heart to you, you take up His burden and you begin to pray. You offer incense.
You remember Revelation 5 and Revelation 8. You find incense burning, the prayers of the saints. The prayers of the saints are like incense to God—of course, mingled with the merits of Christ, in His name.
But what kind of prayer is that? Is it merely praying, “God, give us this and give us that. I need this. I need that”? Your heavenly Father knows what you need.
If you read Revelation 5, you find the prayer of the saints as incense. It is praise. It is worship.
Prayer takes the form of praise and worship. Oh, how we need to worship and praise Him.
This is the prayer of our hearts: not to ask Him for anything, but to thank Him for what He has done and to praise Him for what He is.
Who can do that? The priest.
In Revelation 8, what is the prayer there? You find that God is going to do something upon this earth, but He withholds that until He hears His children asking for it.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Then God begins to do. That is the kind of prayer.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we praying such prayers? Such prayer is a ministry unto the Lord because it prepares and opens the way for the will of God to be done upon this earth.
What a privilege! God has brought us into this secret counsel, revealed to us His heart and His burden, and then we stand with Him and say, “Lord, this is what we want because this is what You want.”
Then God says, “All right, I will do it.”
Ministering unto the Lord is also keeping His charge.
The Levites who went astray during the falling away of the children of Israel could keep the charge of the house. They could guard the gates, but they could not keep the charge of God.
Only the house of Zadok was given this charge: “They shall keep My charge.” What does it mean? It means that they were to preserve the testimony of God.
Only those who are faithful can maintain the testimony of Jesus today. What a privilege.
There are certain things of which the priests must be careful when they enter into the sanctuary and minister unto the Lord.
First, they should wear linen garments. Everything is linen, from the head to the bottom. They should not wear anything made of wool.
Why? Because, in ministering unto the Lord, they should never sweat.
Linen comes from a plant. Linen speaks of that which is pure, bright, white, and shining. In Revelation, it speaks of the righteous acts of the saints.
In ministry unto the Lord, you can only minister in the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit. You do not sweat.
But wool comes from an animal. If you put wool on, you sweat. Sweat is the result of the curse.
When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, even though they went from one tree to another to tend the trees, they never sweated. But after they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, they had to sweat in order to make a bare living. What a difference.
If you are ministering unto the Lord, you never sweat. There is rest in your spirit.
But if you try to do things in your own power, in the power of the flesh, oh, how you sweat. Sweating is exhausting.
No. In ministering unto the Lord, it is only in the power of the Holy Spirit—never sweating.
Second, a priest shall not shave his head, nor allow his locks to grow long, but he shall poll his head.
Shaving the head exposes the head. It was considered a shame and was a sign of mourning. When people mourned, they shaved their heads.
A priest should not shave his head. In other words, he must have his head covered. A priest is under the authority of God.
Neither can he allow his locks to grow long. Long hair is the glory of a woman. If you are a Nazarite, you have to let your hair grow long, but remember: this is not a Nazarite; this is a priest.
So a priest should neither shave his head nor allow his hair to grow long, but he should have his hair properly cut.
What does that mean? It means that, on the one hand, a priest is under the authority of God. On the other hand, he is to represent God’s authority.
There is a balance—neither shaving nor growing long, but properly cut. That is the divine order.
Anyone who ministers as a priest is under the authority of God. If you are not under the authority of God, you have no authority whatsoever.
But, dear brothers and sisters, do not go from one extreme to the other. Some people are not under the authority of God, yet they want to make themselves the authority. They shave their heads. It is shameful.
Other people go to the other extreme. They let their hair grow long. Even though God gives them a certain measure of authority, and with that measure of authority they can serve in proportion to that measure, they do not do it. That is false humility.
Neither false humility nor pride should enter into the picture. On the one hand, you are under the authority of God. On the other hand, you are willing to represent God’s authority. This is how you can serve as priests.
Third, a priest, when he enters into the sanctuary, shall never drink wine. He shall never be intoxicated or have his mind confused, because he is to separate the clean from the unclean, the holy from the profane.
You remember what happened in the book of Leviticus. Two sons of Aaron became intoxicated. They entered into the house to burn incense with strange fire. Fire came out from the holiest place and burned them to death.
From that day on, God said that no priest could drink wine when he was on active duty.
Brothers and sisters, if we want to serve, we must be separated from the world. If we are not separated from the world, we will be confused. We cannot see the difference between clean and unclean, holy and profane. We will offer strange fire, and our service will not be accepted.
We do not have time to go on, but let me say: what is their reward? Their reward is this: the Lord said, “I am their inheritance. I am their possession.”
Whatever the Lord has is theirs. Can there be any reward greater than this?
Dear brothers and sisters, oh, that priesthood may be recovered. Not only that all God’s people may function as priests—that is one thing which needs to be recovered—but even when all God’s people function as priests, remember that we are not only ministering to the house. We must minister unto the Lord.
Unto the Lord first, and then unto the house.
Of course, there is another side: kingship. You find in the chapters concerning the prince that the prince signifies Christ.
Why is He called a prince instead of a king? Because God is King over His people. Even though our Lord was born King, throughout His life He acted as a prince rather than a king.
In other words, He is King unto God, not unto Himself. He never took upon Himself His own rights. He always submitted Himself to the Father.
Brothers and sisters, we are all princes. We are to rule and reign with Christ.
This speaks of leadership and spiritual authority—not lording it over the people, but giving the land to the people.
Kingship is the ability to subdue the enemy, to bring in that land, and to give the land to the children of God. That is the work of kings.
Oh, that we will subdue our enemy, experience the unsearchable riches of Christ, and then give the unsearchable riches of Christ to God’s people. That is kingship.
May the Lord see priesthood and kingship restored, and the glory of the Lord will rest forever.
Our heavenly Father, may Thy glory fill the house. May Thou be glorified through the priesthood and the kingship.
Forbid that we fail as Thy house, that we fail as the priesthood and the kingship. Have mercy upon us, that Thou wilt consider us faithful and commit Thyself to us, that we may serve Thee to Thy glory.
May God be glorified in the church in Christ Jesus. Amen.