Will you please turn to the book of the prophet Ezekiel?
Ezekiel 1:1-5:
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,
the word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.
And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire infolding itself, and a brightness round about it; and out of the midst thereof as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire.
And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.
Then we turn to Ezekiel 1:22-28:
And over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of a firmament, like the terrible crystal to look upon, stretched forth over their heads above.
And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two which covered on this side, and every one had two which covered on that side, their bodies.
And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of a host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
And there was a voice above the firmament that was over their heads: when they stood, they let down their wings.
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
And I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of His loins and upward; and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about Him.
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of One that spake.
Ezekiel 40:1-4:
In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me thither.
In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south.
And He brought me thither; and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.
And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall show thee; for, to the intent that I may show them unto thee, art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 43:1-7:
Afterward He brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east.
And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with His glory.
And the appearance of the vision which I saw was like the vision that I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
And I heard One speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood by me.
And He said unto me, 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.
Finally, Ezekiel 48:35:
It was round about eighteen thousand reeds: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do want to praise and thank Thee that we can gather together in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. Because of this, we know that Thy presence is here with us. We are truly standing on holy ground.
We will remove our shoes, and we will wait upon Thee. Lord, what hast Thou to say to us, Thy servants and handmaids? Speak, that we may hear, to the praise of Thy glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
The burden that we have for these meetings is this matter of recovery according to the major prophets.
We know that prophets are men of God, raised up to be God’s representatives of His heart and mind at times when His will and purpose are forgotten. That is the reason why you find the ministry of the prophets to be a ministry of recovery.
Recovery is to recover that which God has originally ordained. Recovery is for God, not just for us. Thank God that He has recovered us, but we must remember that we were lost to Him. It is He who finally recovers all that has been lost.
We know that His work of recovery can only be done by His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only means of recovery.
Then we go on to see that, in the recovery work of God, He recovers us by grace through the new covenant.
Now this morning we would like to consider together recovery according to the prophet Ezekiel.
“In the thirtieth year” is most generally understood to mean the thirtieth year of the prophet Ezekiel. In other words, at that time he was thirty years old.
Now, when he was thirty years old, he who was the son of Buzi, a priest, was in captivity. He had been taken into captivity with King Jehoiachin, and it was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity.
In other words, when Ezekiel was twenty-five years of age, when he was ready to enter the temple to serve as an apprentice priest, he was taken into captivity. He had no chance to serve in the temple in Jerusalem.
Now he was thirty years old. You know, thirty years old for a priest is a big event, because when the priest is thirty years old, he becomes a full-fledged priest. He will devote all his life to the service of God in the house of God. It was a big thing for a priest.
But here you find Ezekiel, trained from childhood as a priest, trained to serve God in the temple. He not only did not have the chance to serve as an apprentice when he was twenty-five years old; now, even when he reached thirty years old, he still did not have that chance.
As a matter of fact, if you read Jeremiah 29, you remember that when Ezekiel was in captivity at the beginning, Jeremiah sent a letter to those in captivity, telling them that the time of captivity would be long. Do not think that you will return in two years. That is a false prophecy. You will be in captivity for a long time.
So build your houses, plant vineyards, and settle down, because it will be long. Those who remained in Jerusalem, and the king on the throne of David in Jerusalem, would be taken into captivity.
In other words, all the hopes that Ezekiel might have had of returning to Jerusalem, so that when he was thirty years old he would be able to serve in the temple, were dashed to pieces. He had no hope whatsoever.
Now, brothers and sisters, think for a moment. If you are a person trained from childhood for a certain service, and yet, when you are ready to enter into that service, you find that the hope has vanished, what a tragedy it must be. How traumatic the experience must be.
So it was a crisis for Ezekiel during that year. But thank God, man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.
So far as Ezekiel was concerned, his whole life was finished. But God had His purpose in that man.
In the thirtieth year, while he was by the river Chebar—and we know the river Chebar is commonly known as the river Khabur, a river in upper Mesopotamia that runs into the Euphrates, about two hundred miles north of Babylon—he was given visions of God.
Just like Isaiah and Jeremiah, the calling of God governed their lives and ministries. The same thing is true with Ezekiel. When he was at the lowest point of disappointment, this was the time that the visions of God were given to him.
He saw a stormy wind blowing from the north, a cloud coming. It was a bright cloud, full of light. Then, in that cloud of fire, he saw cherubim—living creatures—like the appearance of man.
These cherubim formed the chariot of the throne of God. Above the cherubim there was the expanse, like crystal; and above the expanse was a throne. There was One sitting upon that throne, like the appearance of a man.
But you could not see very clearly. All you saw was like fire, burning bright, shining, glorious. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
In a sense, that vision should have been familiar to Ezekiel, because Ezekiel was a priest. He was familiar with the temple—all the arrangements in the temple and all the services in the temple.
He must have remembered that in the holiest of all, in the temple in Jerusalem, there was the ark. Above the ark was the mercy seat, and on the two sides of the mercy seat were two cherubim, serving as the cover, or the arms, of the throne of God.
The glory of God rested upon that mercy seat. When Solomon built the temple, he built two giant cherubim, and their wings extended from one end of the holiest of all to the other. They served as a background for the ark and the mercy seat.
So, in other words, in the temple in Jerusalem you had four cherubim, the throne of God, and the glory of the Lord resting upon the mercy seat.
Ezekiel was taught about that, but he himself had never seen it. Not being the high priest, and not having reached that age, he had no chance to go into the holiest of all. Only the high priest could enter once a year, with blood and incense, the smoke covering him, in a sense.
So even the high priest, when he entered the holiest of all, could see only very faintly. Other than him, nobody ever saw what was in the holiest of all. All they knew was that it was there. To them, it was a concept, a physical concept.
But, dear brothers and sisters, on that day the physical concept that Ezekiel had known became a living reality. In other words, God unveiled what was in the holiest of all.
Or, to put it another way, what was in the holiest of all was only a shadow, only a representation. But here God revealed to Ezekiel that reality, that living reality.
There was a throne—the throne of God. This throne is an everlasting throne.
Whenever we think of a throne, we think of authority, dominion, rule, and power. Dear brothers and sisters, there is a throne in this universe. It is the throne of God, and it is there forever.
No matter what happens in the universe, whether it happens in heaven or upon the earth—and we know that things did happen—no matter what happens, the throne of God is set. It is never shaken. It is always there.
There was One sitting upon that throne, and Ezekiel saw the appearance, or likeness, of a man. Think of that. The One who sits upon the throne has the likeness of a man.
That leads us immediately to 2 Corinthians 4:6. We are told there of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
How do we know the glory of the Lord? The knowledge of the glory of the Lord is known in the face of Jesus Christ. So here you find a Man sitting upon the throne. He is the One who makes the glory of the Lord known to us.
The glory of the Lord is most difficult to define.
In a sense, we know how to define the righteousness of God. We say God is righteous. What is righteousness? It is the acts of God. That is to say, whatever God does is right. He can never do wrong. He is always right in all His doings. That is the righteousness of God.
Then we think of the holiness of God. God is holy. What is holiness? It is the nature of God. We say God’s nature is holy. In other words, He is altogether different.
You cannot make Him as you are. You cannot make Him as anything else. He is unique. He is all by Himself. You cannot put anything among His rank.
Peter tried to do that on the Mount of Transfiguration, putting Moses and Elijah on the same level as Christ, the Son of God. God dismissed Moses and Elijah, and God said:
This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.
That is holiness.
But, brothers and sisters, how do we define glory—the glory of God?
In a sense, glory is the sum total of all the character and attributes of God. You may think of God in all His attributes. You may think of His righteousness and His holiness; His heavenliness, wisdom, power, and purity; His love, mercy, grace, and justice. When you put all these things together, that is glory.
That is the reason why glory is beyond description. When the glory of the Lord appears, how can you describe it? Ezekiel could only say, “I saw like fire, like burning brass.” It is beyond description.
Wherever there is the presence of God, there is glory. Wherever God appears, you have glory. Whenever God is satisfied, happy, and pleased, then the glory of the Lord is manifested.
In a sense, God Himself is glory. He said, “I will not give My glory to another.” He is all-glorious. He is the only One worthy to be worshipped. That is the glory of God.
The glory of the Lord is upon the throne. The glory of the Lord is manifested in His dominion, His power, His authority, and His rule. He is far above all.
The glory of the Lord initiates all things. All things are created by God for His glory. Things are not created for their own reasons; all things were created for His pleasure, for His happiness, for His satisfaction, and for His glory.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Everything is to glorify Him.
God governs all things by His glory. Everything is measured by the glory of God. He measures everything and judges everything by His glory.
You know what it says in Romans 3:23: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin is falling short of God’s glory. That is sin.
God measures everything with His glory. Whatever falls short of that measurement is sin.
And, of course, God restores everything according to His glory. It is because of the glory of God that He has to recover all to that glory, that He may be glorified.
So here you find Ezekiel seeing the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God: the likeness of a man. We know this is our Lord Jesus. He is the Man who declares the Father, and He is now the Man sitting upon the throne over all things.
Then you find the cherubim. Now, the cherubim are living creatures. There are different interpretations, but so far as I am concerned, I am satisfied with this interpretation: the cherubim, the living creatures—and there are four of them—represent God’s original purpose concerning creation.
Here you find the four cherubim. One has the face of a man. Man, of course, is the king of all living creatures. Then you have the face of a lion, the king of the beasts; the ox, the king of domestic animals; and the eagle, the king of the birds. In other words, the whole creation is represented.
They represent the original design, purpose, and meaning of creation. Why? Because, you remember, the first time the cherubim appear is in Genesis 3.
After man had sinned, they were driven out of the garden of Eden, because God said that lest they eat of the tree of life, they would live forever in misery. Because of that, God drove them out of the garden of Eden and put cherubim at the east gate to guard the tree of life.
That is the first mention in the Bible of cherubim. According to the principle of first mention, you begin to understand something.
Here you find that man has fallen from God’s original purpose. God’s original purpose was that man should eat of the tree of life, receive His life, be in union with God in life, and do God’s will.
But man had fallen. God said, in effect, “I have My cherubim here. I have not lost what I originally designed.”
So far as human history is concerned, we are lost. But so far as God is concerned, He has not lost anything. The cherubim are still there. He still has His creation according to His will.
Every time you find the cherubim coming forth, they represent God’s original design for creation. That is why, in the holiest of all, the cherubim are there guarding the mercy seat.
You find a veil with cherubim embroidered upon it, and nobody could enter within the veil. But thank God, when our Lord Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was rent in two.
In other words, the cherubim embroidered on the veil were rent. That which separated is now rent, and we are able to enter into the holiest of all and behold the glory of the Lord.
To put it another way, when Christ died, the whole creation died in Him—rent in Him.
So these cherubim serve as the chariot of the throne of God. They carry the throne wherever God wants to go. That is what creation is for. Creation is to carry out the will of God, that God may be glorified.
Here you find Ezekiel seeing the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. This vision, the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord, governs everything, especially in relation to the house of God.
You remember when God took the children of Israel out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness, there God gave them the Ten Commandments. But, brothers and sisters, there was something even more important, if I may put it that way, than the law.
We always remember that at Mount Sinai the law was given, but we forget that at Mount Sinai there was something even more important being given. More chapters are devoted to that matter.
Why? Because God told His people why He redeemed them and why He delivered them out of Egypt. He said, “I want to dwell in your midst.”
That is God’s purpose. God began to reveal His purpose to His people. Why were you redeemed? Why were you brought out of slavery? That you might live a life according to your own pleasure? No.
You were redeemed because God said, “I want to dwell among you. You are My dwelling place. You are My home. I want to live with you.”
But how could He? Even though the people had been delivered out of Egypt, it was a physical deliverance. So far as spiritual reality was concerned, they were far from being suitable to God. God is holy, but they were not holy yet.
So the only way for God to dwell among them was for Him to say, “Build Me a tabernacle. I will dwell in the tabernacle; indirectly, I will dwell in your midst.”
God commanded Moses to build Him a tabernacle according to the pattern on the mount. Moses, being faithful, built the tabernacle according to the pattern of the mount. He dared not deviate, alter, change, or think of improving it. He did as God had commanded him.
You know, Moses was a great engineer. For a great engineer to build a tabernacle, that was beyond ingenuity. Probably he could very well have said, “Well, I can build pyramids. Surely I can build a tabernacle. You do not need to tell me how to build it. I know how.”
When God revealed that pattern to him, Moses might have said, “Well, let me think. Here needs a little improvement, and there needs a little addition.” He was a great engineer and architect, but he was faithful.
Moses’ faithfulness was shown in his obedience, following strictly the instruction of God. He had to deny himself, no doubt.
When the tabernacle was built according to the pattern of the mount, and when you come to Exodus 40, what happened when the tabernacle was erected and all the furniture had been moved in?
The glory of the Lord came into the tabernacle. The glory of the Lord rested upon the mercy seat, and the cloud filled the tabernacle. God took up His abode in the tabernacle.
Later, when the children of Israel came into the promised land, David had the longing to build God a permanent house. The tabernacle was temporary because they moved in the wilderness. It had to be taken down and set up again and again.
After they entered the promised land and were settled, David said, “How can I dwell in a house of cedar, and God still dwell in a tabernacle, a tent?” He could not do that. So he desired to build God a permanent house.
He was not allowed to do it because he was a man of war who had shed much blood. But God gave him the pattern, and he prepared much material. It was Solomon who built the temple.
After the temple was built, if you read 1 Kings, you find that all the furniture was set in order. Then what happened? The glory of the Lord came into the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and even the priests could not serve. They had to retreat from the temple.
Why? Because the glory of the Lord was there.
I have a thought: if only the glory of the Lord would appear, nobody could talk anymore. Who would dare to speak? Everything would be quieted down. We would behold the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ. That is glory.
But unfortunately, the children of Israel rebelled against God. Their lives were contradictory to the God of glory. Because of that, God had to vindicate Himself. When God’s glory was violated, He had to vindicate Himself. He had to judge.
Most likely—I do not know, and if I am wrong, please correct me—but I feel that even before the temple was destroyed, and even before the whole nation was taken into captivity, somehow the glory of the Lord had already departed.
He could not stay there. He would not stay there, because the condition of the people was such a contradiction to Him. There was a misrepresentation. How could glory coexist with shame?
Somehow, I feel that even though the temple was there, the glory of the Lord had already departed.
That is why you find Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 7 and Jeremiah 26, warning the people. He said, “Do not think that because you have the temple, the temple of God in Jerusalem, everything is all right.”
Jeremiah said that God said, “As I did to Shiloh, I will do the same thing to Jerusalem.” In other words, you may have the temple, but if God is no longer there, your trust in the temple is superstition.
God will not protect you. God will not bless. He is not there.
But thank God, you find Ezekiel, the captive, the one who was deprived of priestly service in the temple in Jerusalem. Yet the glory of the Lord appeared to him.
Here is a spiritual principle: the glory of the Lord is not automatically with what He has originally established.
The temple was originally established by God, and His glory filled that temple. But do not be presumptuous, thinking that because the temple was of God’s will, therefore the glory of the Lord will be there forever. No.
When the temple has lost its meaning, the glory of the Lord will depart. It is not automatic. There must be spiritual suitability.
In other words, to whom will the glory of the Lord appear? To those who are pure in heart.
The glory of the Lord departed from the temple in Jerusalem, but the glory of the Lord appeared to Ezekiel. You would not expect that.
The people in Jerusalem said, “The temple, the temple is here.” But God was not there. It was an empty house. It was a hindrance instead of a help. One day the temple would be destroyed.
The glory of the Lord appeared to Ezekiel because Ezekiel had a heart for God. He had a heart for the will of God, for the purpose of God, and for the glory of God. He wanted God to be glorified. He wanted God to receive what He should have.
Because of this, the glory of the Lord appeared to him.
The temple was destroyed. After seventy years, God allowed a remnant of the children of Israel to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the house. By the grace of God, the second temple, as it were, was built.
But, dear brothers and sisters, the glory of the Lord never returned to that temple. Several things were missing from the second temple.
There was no judgment of the Lord. They did not know the will of God. The essential things were missing. Even so, God still regarded it as His house.
But, dear brothers and sisters, where is the glory of the Lord?
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.
When our Lord Jesus came into this world, He was the real temple of God. The glory of the Lord filled Him.
The heavens opened and said:
This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.
I am satisfied. I am delighted in Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, while our Lord Jesus was on earth, He was the true temple. The glory of the Lord was upon Him and in Him. He manifested the glory of God.
He said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Philip, why do you ask to see God? You have seen Me; you have seen the Father.
The knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. When we see Jesus, we see the glory of God: the glory of God’s grace, the glory of God’s love, the glory of God’s righteousness, and the glory of God’s holiness.
You see everything that is God. That is the glory of God you see in Christ Jesus. That is how we know the glory of God.
But the people at that time would rather have the physical temple than this real temple. They destroyed the temple, but in three days He raised it up.
On the day of Pentecost, because He is high and lifted up, there is a Man on the throne. The Holy Spirit came down upon the one hundred and twenty and filled that house. Brothers and sisters, the church is the house of God. It is filled with God’s glory.
But where is the glory now? When God’s people are scattered, when God’s people are fighting against one another, when God’s people are divided, when God’s people have fallen, we do not see the glory of the Lord.
Do you see the glory of the Lord in Christianity today? It seems as if the glory of the Lord has departed. But has it departed?
Thank God, wherever there are people who seek after Him with a pure heart, the glory of the Lord will be manifested.
It is no longer in official Christianity, but it is with those who seek the Lord with a pure heart—people who are concerned with God’s glory, people who do not seek the glory of man, people who seek the glory of God.
If you seek the glory of God, the glory of the Lord will come to you.
If you go back to the book of Ezekiel, you find in Ezekiel 8-11 that the glory of the Lord made a visit to the temple in Jerusalem.
He came back to visit, but that visitation was not for staying. That visitation was to judge.
The glory of the Lord saw what happened in the temple: abominations. Reluctantly, He departed again, and judgment came upon Jerusalem.
But through the prophet Ezekiel, God promised that one day the temple would be restored. From Ezekiel 40-48, there is recovery—the recovery of the house of God. It is for the recovery of the glory of the Lord.
Whether there will be a real physical temple built, as people say, in the millennial kingdom—or, as some say, even before the coming of Christ—is of no significance.
Ezekiel saw all these things in a vision. When you come to vision, you know it is symbolic. It is not the physical that is important. It is symbolic; it is representation.
In other words, through what the Lord showed Ezekiel of the house of God and of the holy city of Jerusalem, there is a spiritual representation of what the reality is.
So we do not need to be too concerned about the outward appearance of things. Whether there will be a physical temple rebuilt or not is beside the point. If it is built, fine; if it is not built, it does not matter.
The important thing is that God is going to rebuild His true house: a spiritual house, a holy habitation of God in the Spirit. He will rebuild it because His glory demands it.
He will build it to be a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. He must have it, and He will have it. His glory can fill that house.
Brothers and sisters, do you not know that the glory of the Lord is working toward that end? You may not see it with your naked eyes, but the work is going on. He is rebuilding His house.
He is purifying His church, that His church may be a glorious church, suitable for the Lord of glory. He is doing that.
If you read Ezekiel 40-48, we do not have time to go into details, but let us consider a few points.
Number one: in Ezekiel 40, Ezekiel was brought in vision back to Jerusalem, to a very high mountain.
Jerusalem today is not situated on a very high mountain, so this must be symbolic: a very high mountain, spiritual height. There he saw a great city, and in that city a holy area set apart. There was the temple, the house of God.
He saw a man whose appearance was like brass. In his hand he had two instruments: one, a line of flax; and the other, a measuring reed. He used these two to measure the whole thing.
Now, Brother Sparks helped me on this. He said that the Bible does not tell us how long the line of flax was. It gives us the length of the reed, but the flax cord has no measurement. We do not know how long it is. So he called it a measureless measure.
He said this measureless measure is to measure the big thing, and the measuring reed is to measure everyday life, the details.
In other words, everything has to be measured. But there is a measureless measure—the fullness of measure.
If you read Ephesians, you find this: “Until we all attain unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” How can you measure the fullness of Christ? It is a measureless measure.
Everything will be measured by that Man, by Christ. Brothers and sisters, everything that cannot be measured by Christ is out and will pass away. Only that which is within His measure will remain forever. That is spirituality.
The church will be filled with the fullness of God. One day the church will come into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Everything is measured.
Today it is important for us to know that we are being measured. You should not measure yourself. You should not take other people as your measurement. Christ alone is the measure.
How much do you measure? Will that be a surprise in that day? But He is working. He is doing it.
Number two: in Ezekiel 43, you find the law of the house of God, the law of the whole holy place. The law is the law of holiness.
In other words, everything is holy—holy, wholly set apart, completely separated. The problem with the garden of Eden is that there was no wall. But here you find a wall around everything: separated, separated unto God.
Number three: you find the throne there. God’s throne is there. He is in authority and in charge, not me.
Number four: you find that the sanctuary is foursquare. In Solomon’s temple and in the tabernacle, it was rectangular. But here you find that it is foursquare: universal and well-balanced.
Brother Sparks also said that if you draw diagonal lines from every corner, they intersect at one point. That point is the great altar. In other words, the cross is at the center of everything. If the cross is in the center, everything will be in order.
Then you find a river of living water. Finally, you find the holy city: “The Lord is there.”
So, brothers and sisters, God is going to recover this house, first among the overcomers—those who seek Him with a pure heart, those who are concerned with His glory—and then in the whole church.
This is the picture you see in Ezekiel, and this is the picture you see in the book of Revelation. God is doing the work of recovery.
Do not forget: it is because of His glory, and it is by His glory. To God be the glory.
Dear Heavenly Father, show us Thy glory, that we may have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We pray that Thy glory will govern our lives. Thy glory will measure us. Thy glory will judge us, and Thy glory will recover us.
Our God and our Father, our one desire is that Thou mayest be glorified, at whatever cost. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.