King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Saturday, September 11, 2021
Chapters: Ezekiel 46-48
Message: No Stranger With Christ
Hello My Friend,
There is so much that can be written through these three chapters for today, the importance of being a living sacrifice, or using our liberties in Christ to serve Him and not our flesh, or the inheritance that we will receive as saints of Christ, or the glorious day in which Christ returns as both KING and Prince, or the fountain of living water that we are given. Being a child of the KING is sure a mystery sometimes, but let me tell you, there is no better place to be. All of this is a reminder that Jesus will only reveal Himself to those who come to Him with open hearts, eyes, and ears.
[Matthew 13:12,14-16 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.]
Let me tell you, if you know Christ as your Saviour, it is because He knew you first, and He only revealed Himself to you when He knew that you were to come to Him with open eyes and ears. I do not know about you, but I do not want to be on the other side of the gate when Jesus does return, I want to be right there standing at the door of the gate, with all the other saints. Now, as we come to the end of Ezekiel, we are given a glimpse into the ordinance given regarding the weekly feast that would take place at the temple every sabbath. The prince himself, would stand by the post of the gate while the people stood at the door of the gate.
[Ezekiel 46:1-5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2 And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 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. 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. 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 the priests shall prepare his burnt offering] Remember, these are symbolical as Christ became our trespass (sin) offering. Also notice, these are not trespass or sin offerings, they are burnt offerings, which was a ram wholly burnt, to the honor of God, after the sin offering was made [Exodus 29:15-18], and peace offerings. This was done as a token of ones dedication of themselves wholly unto God and to His service, as living sacrifices, kindled with the fire and ascending that sweet savor to God. When we dedicate our lives to Christ as a living sacrifice we do the same thing, send that sweet savor up to God, [2 Corinthians 2:15-17 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.]
[Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door] Every prince or daughter to the KING must show themselves to be of David’s mind when he said, [Psalms 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.] I use say, and I still say this, that I rather be scrubbing floors in heaven than burning in the fiery pits of hell. In order for us to truly be free, we need to be humble servants. In fact, the best freedom in the world comes by our becoming a servant to Christ, [Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.]
As God continues to give Ezekiel this amazing vision, He tells him of an incredible gift that the prince has for His children. They would be given an inheritance, but it will not be forced upon them, it will be received upon all who wanted to receive it. Once they receive it it was theirs forever, [Ezekiel 46:16-18 Thus saith the Lord GOD; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by inheritance. 17 But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them. 18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.]
[the inheritance thereof shall be his sons’;] It is NO mystery, you cannot be a child of God without Jesus Christ. Those who are not of Christ may receive temporary blessing so that they might turn to Him, but they will not last unless they receive Him as their Saviour. Nevertheless, the second we receive Christ as our Saviour we are literally given an inheritance into the Kingdom of God, and here is the thing, we will never lost that. No matter how sinful we are we are not saved by our works, and therefore, this is why those who remain living in their sin will suffer great oppression, but they will never lose their inheritance. Praise God! That does not mean that we ought to remain living in sin, we will still suffer or even die in our sin if we are not repentant, [Romans 6:15-18 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.]
It really is not that difficult to be a servant of Christ, there are no rules, except that we be willing and true, and it really is not mystery at all, if you truly love God you will gladly accept Christ and if you truly believe in Christ, then you will serve Him with gladness and discover just how much freedom you do have, just be letting go of all that sin the weighed you down. Nothing we do in the name of Christ is void nor is it vain, Jesus did not die in vain, He did not die so that He could receive some great reward, He died because He honestly and truly loves us, and it was of His good pleasure to give us His inheritance imply for our faith in Him. Now, Ezekiel was led back to the door of the temple, something weird begins to happen, water comes gushing from underneath the door, the man that had the measuring line was there and began measuring how deep it was getting.
[Ezekiel 47:2-6 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. 3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. 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. 6 And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.]
[a river that could not be passed over.] This water flowed directly from the temple out into the city, and this water gives life to everything around it. The man with the measuring tape tells Ezekiel what this water is, [Ezekiel 47:8–9,11-12 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. 9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. 11 But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. 12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.]
[and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.] Jesus is that living water, the only one to whom we can come to and give us life, Through Jesus we receive not only receive the fountain of living water, we also receive the bread of life, and eternal life as well, [Revelation 21:6-8 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death]
[they shall be given to salt] No one has to die and end up in the lake of fire, it does not matter if you were fearful, unbelieving, a murderer, an idolaters, or a liar, if you repent and turn to Christ, He will salt and heal you with His blood, and none of that will ever be remembered, [1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.]
Remember, we just learned about the inheritance that the sons (and daughters) of the Prince will receive? Now, we come to the division of the land, each tribe will get when they get their land back, [Ezekiel 47:13-14,21-23 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. 14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. 21 So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. 22 And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23 And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.]
[they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.] All who receive Christ as their Saviour become joint heirs with Christ and will receive an inheritance in the Kingdom of God. What an amazing illustration of salvation, when we receive the living water (Jesus Christ), we will have part of the inheritance that Israel will receive, in fact, we will be as though we are one of them, [Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.]
All who receive Christ as their Saviour become heirs with Christ and will receive an inheritance in the Kingdom of God. Further account is given of each of the portions of land Israel, not for only the twelve tribes of Israel, including the cities in which God and His ministers will dwell.
[Ezekiel 48:8,11,21 And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. 11 It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 21 And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof.]
[And the residue shall be for the prince,] This is part of the land that is offered to God for the Prince to reside. Now, we are going to be able literally feast with Jesus and will not only feel the presence of the Almighty God Himself, He will be seen, and we will be able to fellowship with Him face to face. We can still feast and fellowship with Jesus right now, we just need to let Him in, literally give Him a room to reside in. I have not done this in a long time, but since I have a new house, it is time that I start, set a place setting for Jesus at the table, make a birthday cake for Him when we celebrate His birth, let Him be a part of our homes, and watch just how much He blesses us, [Revelation 3:20-21 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Ezekiel 46:8 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.]
Today’s Prayer: God, It is NO mystery to every believer that Your Son is the only way into Your Kingdom. Whenever we open our mouths, may the words be given to us so that we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel to those who have not heard. We thank You for those who assist us in our mission, and for those who will join us further along in our journey. We pray for our combined labors that unbelievers will open their eyes and ears to receive the Gospel and the promised inheritance awaiting them as we have awaiting us. Lord, Give us Your power, mercy, and grace, ignite our faith by letting us know that You are near. Help us to remain faithful in planting Your seed of salvation to those who have not yet received Your Son. Give us Your strength to keep going through the trials, if we fall down, help us to get back up, and let us always be inviting and welcoming to You in our own homes as we feast and fellowship with You. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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