Lessons From Ezekiel – Lesson 35
Many times this week I have thought about that amazing river of life that comes out of the Temple during the 1,000 year reign.
Eze 47:5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
At over 1 mile wide it is now too deep to walk in. It is huge.
Eze_47:9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live:
And it splits into rivers and wherever those rivers go, it brings life. It heals. Everywhere. It could be the worst, deadest most poisoned spot on earth and it would be healed.
This is the same river that is mentioned in Revelation.
Rev 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
This river is a physical object lesson of the water of life that Jesus gives when someone gets saved.
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
The parallels between the physical river and the spiritual water of life are amazing.
Just like the river can heal and bring life everywhere it goes, the same thing spiritually with getting saved. The Gospel can bring life anywhere it goes.
Just like the river can heal the worst land there is, the worst of sinners can be healed of their sin.
Just the like river has enough for everyone. Jesus died for everyone and His sacrifice is enough for everyone.
Just like the river turns death into life. When we are saved we go from being dead in trespasses and sins to being alive in Jesus.
Just like the river is continually pouring out. It never stops. Same thing with the water of life, it is always available. And you can think of many more.
And for 1,000 years this object lesson is displayed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And people like us will be there and I have no doubt we tell the lost people Rev 22:17 Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
And Jesus will be there. The last verse of Ezekiel has a clear statement about that.
Eze 48:35 …and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.
It will be an amazing thing to see and we will all see it one day.
I don’t know how much you have enjoyed taking a good look at Ezekiel, but I have sure enjoyed it. It is an amazing book. But we can’t leave Ezekiel ignoring what will happen in the Temple for 1,000 years.
So we have to deal with that before we move on.
Some of the verse by verse only guys, would have a tough time going thru this section of scripture. Maybe that is one of the reasons that many of those guys will not preach thru Ezekiel.
You really cannot give a good answer without looking at scripture from other parts of the Bible.
So we are going to start in Hebrews chapter 10.
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Heb 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
The sacrifices that they did in the Old Testament never saved anyone. God’s Word is very clear on that. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins. It is not possible.
Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Heb 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Man is saved by the sacrifice for sins made by Jesus on the cross. Works of any kind do not save and other sacrifices do not save.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
The atonement only comes thru what Jesus did on the cross.
So how was Abraham saved? Go to Gen chapter 12
He was given a promise. A hint about the coming Jesus. A promise that thru him and his seed all the nations of the earth
Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Gen 12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
So it is obvious that Abram believed God, why? Because he went in faith. If he did not really believe it, he would have stayed where he was.
Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
And later Abram took his only son up that mountain because he believed and had faith in God. And the New Testament says that it was faith that saved Abraham.
Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
He had to have faith. Real faith will act upon what it believes. Abraham had to leave and go. He had to turn from and turn to. Really believing led to really moving.
The act of doing did not save Abraham. It was the faith that saved him. But real faith will be exercised. The trip was the way that he showed that he had faith.
Now could Abraham have left Ur and said God is powerful so I guess I better go and Abraham not believed. Yes Abraham could have made the trip but in pride or duty or some other reason and not in faith.
So Abraham could have made the trip in sin and went to hell. The trip did not save. The action did not save. It was the faith that saved. The trip was just a way to show forth that faith and the taking of Isaac up that mountain showed Abraham had real faith and faith is what saves.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
After Abraham and after Joseph God gave Moses the law at Mount Sinai. And God also gave Moses the instructions for the Tabernacle and all the instructions for the offerings.
I am only going to read 3 verses, I could read a hundred, but pay attention to how long the Jews are to do these things.
Exo_29:28 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a statute for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the LORD.
Lev_6:22 And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute for ever unto the LORD; it shall be wholly burnt.
Lev_7:34 For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel.
We have already covered from God’s Word how none of the sacrifices or offerings could save anyone. Those offerings were never about saving anyone. They could not.
Only faith saves. And a study of all of those offerings and of the Tabernacle shows that it was all about pointing forward to the coming Jesus. The one who saves.
Every sacrifice was teaching that they needed a substitutionary death to atone for sin. It was all looking forward to the coming of Jesus.
They did not have full revelation. They did not understand it all. But they did know that it all had something to do with the coming Messiah.
So they all had the same choice that Abraham had. Believe God and have real faith and therefore act upon it. And thru that faith be saved.
But instead of moving or taking your only son up a mountain like Abraham to show forth your faith, they were given sacrifices and offerings and all the other things of the Tabernacle.
So one man could believe, choose to have faith and take a sacrifice and he was saved.
Another man could refuse to believe, but because of what others might say if he did not, he would also take a sacrifice but not have faith and go to hell.
Same animal, same sacrifice, same tabernacle. One goes to heaven and the other hell. It was not the animal or the offering. It was the issue of faith.
The Tabernacle and the clothing and the furniture, and the sacrifices, and the offerings were all a picture in one way or another of the coming Jesus. Of who He is and His work on the cross.
And again all of those pictures were done as an opportunity to express faith and show forth the coming Jesus. Even though they did not understand it all.
And God said when He gave those instructions that they were a statute to the Jews forever. That of course was emphasizing that what they pictured was eternal. Jesus saves for eternity.
So as long as the Jews have a temple they are to do those sacrifices for as long as time exists. We know that after Satan in thrown in the lake of fire, and after God creates a new heaven and a new earth, that marks the ushering in of Eternity and time will be no more.
But until then, if the Jews have a temple, then they are to do all of the things that God said was a statue to the Jews forever.
So know let’s take a brief look at the end of Ezekiel and what goes on in that Temple for 1,000 years.
Eze 42:13 Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.
They pick up where they left off in 70 A.D. when they lost the Temple. The meat offerings and all of it. This goes on for the rest of chapter 42.
Eze 43:18 And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.
Eze 43:19 And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering.
Eze 43:20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.
And it continues for all of chapter 43.
Eze 44:10 And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.
Eze 44:11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.
Eze 44:29 They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.
Eze 44:30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.
And all of chapter 44
Eze_45:25 In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.
And chapter 45
Eze 46:3 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.
Eze 46:4 And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the LORD in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.
Eze 46:5 And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.
And chapter 46. You read all of it and compare it to all that God gave Moses and you will find everything being done during the 1,000 years. All of the offerings and sacrifices and oil and feast days and Sabbaths and all of it.
But none of that saves. Yep. And it all pointed to Jesus and the cross. Yep. So why start that back up during the 1,000 years.
I can think of a few reasons.
- God said forever when He gave those instructions to the Jews. God must do what He says. Those statues hold for the Jews forever. Yes what all that pictured has already been fulfilled in the life and work of Jesus. But God said to the Jew do this forever.
- All of that stuff was just a form and a shadow. Something that pictured Jesus, His nature, His life, His work and of course that man was a sinner.
What all of that stuff pictured is still true. Jesus is the same. Man’s sin is the same.
God wants those pictures showed forth again.
But of course there is now a difference. A huge difference. Where before it was all done without full revelation and without full understanding.
That will not be the case then.
So I believe that when they do one of the offerings it will be done with the full knowledge of exactly how it is a picture of Jesus, His life, His character, His work. Whatever picture it is of will be done with understanding.
And of course all of the lost heathen. Remember these are the worst of the worst that are left. Everyone who would get saved in the conditions of the Tribulation got murdered. The only ones left in their natural bodies going into the 1,000 year reign are those who would not repent of their murders.
So they get to see the rivers of life that show the power of salvation. And they get to see and learn about all of the offerings and feasts and sacrifices that all pictured Jesus and what He did.
The beginning of all of this section in chapter 43 says straight up that all of this is a form. It is a picture.
Eze 43:10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
Eze 43:11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
They all were just forms. Just pictures. Just teaching tools. Just a showing forth of the truths they represented.
Some get really upset that the pictures of the offerings and feasts will all start up again for 1,000 years.
Others will ignore it and instead ignore the book of Ezekiel.
Still others will try to twist it and say it is figurative and they really will not start that again. Or come up with some way to explain it away. None of those are correct.
The truth is Jesus will have the Jews start the offerings up again, because He made them a statute to the Jews forever. And because He wants those teaching pictures shown forth once again for all of the heathen.
But this time all of those offerings will be done with full understanding and their meaning can and I believe will be taught. It will be a way of teaching about Jesus.