On earth, during the Millennium, multitudes will live!

Think of society experiencing a thousand years of peace! Not a single war, not until the end of that long period anyway. And that one will be “quick!”

Jesus will be there.

So will we, the saved people of all the ages!

And Israel, that little Nation who trusted Christ at the end of the Tribulation, when about to be decimated by the armies of the world, at Armageddon!

And as well, many citizens of far-flung nations … the few who “befriended” Israel to some degree! During her long, dark Ordeal! (Study the “Judgment of the Nations” in Matthew 25.)

On top of that, the humans (still in their natural bodies) living on earth during that era will continue functioning as normal, having children and raising families! (Plus it looks like life expectancy reverts to that of the days of Adam, people not dying until hundreds of years old!)

A veritable population “explosion!”

Back to my opening sentence today … during the Millennium, multitudes will be alive!

And they will ALL come to Jerusalem periodically and worship the King, adore the Lord Jesus!

So much so that Ezekiel 46:9 gives (in advance) instructions of how to enter and leave the Temple of God … during the Millennial Reign of Christ Jesus.

“But when the people of the land (earth) shall COME BEFORE THE LORD (to worship) in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.”

Wow!

Crowd control, I think!

Here’s Zechariah 14:6, a “proof” Text indeed! “And it shall come to pass (in the Millennium), that every one that is left of all the nations which came against JERUSALEM shall even go up from year to year TO WORSHIP THE KING, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

Wow, again!

And Isaiah 27:13 may be helpful here. “And it shall come to pass IN THAT DAY (THE MILLENNIUM), that the great trumpet shall be blown, and THEY SHALL COME which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD in the HOLY MOUNT (TEMPLE) at Jerusalem.”

Wonderful!

How thorough will be this “Revival?” Isaiah hints: “They (the multitudes) shall not hurt nor destroy (no crime) in all my holy mountain (Jerusalem and Temple): for THE EARTH SHALL BE FULL OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:9

And folks, that’s no doubt why the Holy Spirit had Ezekiel gIve “instructions” on how to enter and exit this great Millennial Temple in that grand coming Age!

Truly … every knee will bow and every tongue confess!

In Isaiah 45:23 God Himself says so! “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me EVERY KNEE shall bow, EVERY TONGUE shall swear.”

Paul thought so too, quoting Isaiah! “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee SHALL BOW to me, and every tongue SHALL CONFESS to God.” Romans 14:11

This too … “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

Praise be to God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

This last thought … maybe you’d better look at those empty church pews Sunday! (If you have none, your Church is unusually blessed.) Some day thousands upon thousands (if not millions) will be crowding around to see Jesus, to adore and worship Him! No empty spaces!

 

More than any other chapter in the Book, Ezekiel 46 talks about the person called “the prince.” In fact, 8 times I see his name (title) there.

I earlier wrote that he may be a “type” of God’s Read Prince, the Lord Jesus Christ! I still think that may be so, symbolically speaking.

But He is NOT literally the Son of God!

(However in Isaiah 9:6 the “Prince” is Jesus, the Messiah. That’s for sure! “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, THE PRINCE OF PEACE.” Amen!)

How do I know Ezekiel’s “prince” is not Jesus?

Several reasons, one being he has “sons,” literal offspring. Read with me verses 16 and 17 of our chapter, Ezekiel 46. “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. 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.” These are literal sons, physical offspring! (We are the sons of God, but spiritually, not literally.)

Another reason being that God seems to order him around a lot! Telling him many things to do, how to worship … all through the chapter. This seems to me to be a way God the Father does not treat God the Son, the Trinity is perfectly harmonious and co-equal. Read with me now verses 4-7. “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. 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 in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish. And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah.” Wow!

And a third (and most compelling) reason is that the “prince” offers a sin offering both for himself and for the people! Ezekiel 45:22 tells: “And upon that day shall the prince prepare FOR HIMSELF and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering.” Case closed!

Then, who is this “prince?”

I suspect a good (godly) administrator!

One (in a limited sense) leading the Jews during the Millennium, giving the people law and order.

At least that’s the best answer I can give to the question.

And as I write I am realizing that (even though Jesus the Messiah will be the King of all earth during this 1,000 year period) Ezekiel does not emphasize HIS PRESENCE, HIS IDENTITY as clearly as does, for example, John in the Book of Revelation! Revelation 20:6 being an example. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” Surprising!

More about this prince tomorrow, Lord willing.

When we shall still be in this same chapter.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Because … I have seen a couple of other Bible “principles” from this part of Ezekiel (chapter 46) that I’d like to share with you.

 

In reality Ezekiel chapters 45-48, the rest of the Book, discuss the “dividing” of the Land, again during the Millennium. And the unique thing about this “survey” is that it requires “Land for the Lord!” And since the “reed,” which we studied earlier, is just over 10 feet in length (10.5 is more exact) … the Lord’s “Allotment” of land measures approximately 50 miles by 20 miles! It’s in this Parcel that the “Temple” will sit.

Read verses 1-3 of Ezekiel 45 please. “Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation (gift, offering) unto the LORD, an HOLY PORTION OF THE LAND: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about. Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof. And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand: and IN IT shall be the SANCTUARY and the MOST HOLY PLACE.”

Wow!

This set of statistics begins the vast list of numbers Ezekiel shares, all measuring that future possession of Israel, of the Lord! In other words, Ezekiel’s closing chapters read (at places) like a surveyor’s “plat.”

But today, in Ezekiel chapter 45, I believe I see three of the ancient (Leviticus 23) Feasts Israel was to observe (celebrate) before the Lord, annually in fact. That automatically then means some of the ancient Feasts of Israel will no longer be observed!

Let me show you the three of which I am sure. And I have checked with some conservative, Bible-believing commentators to be sure I’m not way “out there” somewhere in my teaching.

In Ezekiel 45:21-24 certainly Passover (along with the accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread) is being taught. “In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the PASSOVER, a feast of seven days; UNLEAVENED BREAD shall be eaten. And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah.”

That’s two of the seven Israel observed, Feasts unto the Lord.

Then I believe: “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.” Ezekiel 45:25, the beginning date of the Feast of Tabernacles in Israel. Also called “Booths.” The Millennium will be a time of rejoicing!

(Here’s how Leviticus 23:39-43 describes “Tabernacles,” as inspired by the Holy Spirit. “In the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and YE SHALL REJOICE before the LORD your God seven days. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in BOOTHS seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” What a future God had planned for his people; celebrating liberty, deliverance, redemption!)

So there will be for those 1,000 years (the Millennium) a pattern of worship established, and Ezekiel has given us some of the details.

Much is yet to be learned, of course.

So the Lord willing, Monday morning, we shall wade into Ezekiel 46.

I wish I had a model of this Temple and its environs!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

The “Priests!”

Where there is a Temple (particularly of this mammoth size) there surely must be a priesthood!

And this System is approved of God, obviously.

Priestly offerings and sacrifices!

Just like the Old Testament “sacrifices” LOOKED FORWARD to Jesus’ Death on the Cross … the Millennial “sacrifices” (“offerings”) will LOOK BACK on Jesus’ Death on the Cross. They will be “memorials” of that world-changing Epochal Event!

And the Lord is very precise about the conduct of those priests!

Even about their qualifications!

Hence, our discussion today from Ezekiel chapter 44 …

“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.” Verses 15 and 16

Only the sons of Zadok (meaning “righteous”) will be able to serve directly before God, “come near” to God! This is because the other “lines” of the priesthood had become (due to one reason or another) unfaithful to God through the years. But the sons of Zadok had remained faithful, both to God and to His King, David. So … God apparently rewards them in the Millennium for their steadfastness and loyalty!

Watch this specificity continue now …

God tells these priest what to wear! “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, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.” Verses 17-19, Wow!

How to groom themselves! “Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll (clip, trim) their heads.” Verse 20

What to drink! “Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.” Verse 21, and maybe a “flashback” to the Nadab and Abihu incident of Leviticus chapter 10.

Whom to marry, or not to marry! “Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.” Verse 22, interesting.

Their main job! “And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” Verse 23, I love that word “teach!” (Ministering in the Word!)

Even rules concerning dead bodies! “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 (the priest) is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD.” Verses 25-27

Serving as “judges” too, in matters of ritual purity! “And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.” Verse 24, living the standards they espouse!

And their “income?” The Lord is their pay! “And it 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 meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be THEIRS. 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. The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.” Verses 28-31, quite sufficient!

Get that last line. “That he (the priest) may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.”

No doubt this refers to the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:22-26 … “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying: Speak unto Aaron (no longer Aaron now, but Zadok) and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them: The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: the LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”

Oh, the power God invested in these men!

Again, this is Millennial!

And these priests in no way diminish the High Priestly Honor rightfully due to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

It is called the “Eastern Gate.”

Located in Jerusalem, well known around the world, I suppose.

It is blocked, walled up, shut … and has been for a long time, since Medieval days (since the year 1630 AD).

By the way, it’s also called the “Golden Gate” at times.

This is such a famed (both historically and prophetically) location in the City that multitudes have visited, photographed and reveled in its importance.

In fact, if I ever get to personally visit Jerusalem … the Lord willing, I want to see that “Gate!”

And Ezekiel 44, today’s chapter, mentioned this very place!

Verse 1 has Ezekiel relating the story: “Then he (an angel who looks like a man but glows like bronze) brought me back the way of the GATE of the outward sanctuary which LOOKETH TOWARD THE EAST; and it was shut.” (clearly the “Eastern Gate”)

Now the Lord just prophesied that the Gate (apparently used for entering both the Temple and the City) would some day be “shut.” This verb is used (translated) in the King James Bible once as “closed!” Again, very “clear.”

Verse 2 continues: “Then said the LORD (no longer the angel) unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it.” Again, this happened a thousand years after Ezekiel wrote these words. Enemies who had conquered Jerusalem “closed” the gate, they think permanently!

But WHY?

Ezekiel verse 2 adds yet more: “Because THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.” Look what Jesus has just been called, “THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL!”

Because once (an event that would have been prophecy too Ezekiel but is history to us) … JESUS literally entered that gate!

This would have been at Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” (so-called yet today) when our Lord rode that little donkey into Jerusalem, a few days before His Crucifixion!

This is recorded in both Luke 19:28-48 and Matthew 21:1-16. From the Mount of Olives to the Temple, the route He used, would have carried Jesus right through the Eastern Gate!

Ezekiel is both a historian and a Prophet!

By the way, in our last Ezekiel chapter (yesterday’s lesson, chapter 43) we saw the Glory of God return to the temple … via the Eastern Gate!

Thrilling!

Now let me make a suggestion.

When Jesus comes again (to earth), after the Tribulation and Armageddon have ended … “His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.” Zechariah 14:4

Then this occurs … based on Malachi 3:1, I believe: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD (Jesus), whom ye seek, SHALL SUDDENLY COME TO HIS TEMPLE, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, HE SHALL COME, saith the LORD of hosts.” Wow!

And (again) the straightest route from the Mount of Olives to the Temple proper, its very heart … is right through the Eastern Gate!

Jesus will “open” that Gate some day!

And Ezekiel 44:3 may be a “hint” a “foreshadowing” or “symbol” of that grand Event! “It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.”

I know there is a lot of discussion over the identity of this “prince.” And it may (in fact, cannot) not literally be Jesus … but I am suggesting he can be a “type” of Jesus, the true Prince of God, Son of God, King of Kings!

If so … “HE SHALL ENTER IN BY WAY OF THE PORCH OF THAT GATE!”

Wow!

Is Ezekiel relevant yet today?

What a Book, God’s Word the Bible!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

The Lord willing, another “Ezekiel 44” Lesson tomorrow morning.