Preached October 2nd & 9th, 2016
I am continuing my message looking at Revelation chapter 10. It has been the hub of this message as we look at the many different scriptures that relate to Revelation 10. I want to continue on with that, but first I wanted to share with you about the trip we took last week.
Trip To See Bro. Jonathan Cahn
Several of us took a trip to New Jersey to see Bro. Jonathan Cahn and hear his message. His message left an impression on me. Especially at the end, when he blew the shofar. He used three different shofars. He went from one small one to another medium sized one, then finally to the big one, which was about thirty inches longs. That makes a kind of a chilling sound. It lets you know what it would have been like in the day when Israel crossed the Red Sea. It was a sound that was loud but did not penetrate your ears, as far as being hurtful. It was just a sound that reached out. The reason they blew the shofars was for of their celebration of Rosh Hashanah and the feast of the trumpets. Bro. Cahn talked a lot about the trumpets and about Baal worship. In September there was a memorial to Baal unveiled in New York City. We showed you the video where he went to that unveiling to condemn it. Shortly after he had done that, his son fell and broke his chin. Then Bro. Cahn got sick so that he could not minister. He felt that was an attack of the devil, which I believe it was. But he has recovered and was able to preach when we went to visit him last week. He preached on the Elijah spirit and how that it went even into this day. As hedid, I thought he brought out some great illustrations about the ministry of Elijah. You really do not see much preaching by Elijah in the bible because he just appears. Ahab was king, but when Elijah came along, he really took over the nation. When he prophesied, that changed the whole scene, and the whole setting. I like that because it is showing that God has rule over man and he can take over the picture whenever he likes. I like that, I believe that. I believe that when the time comes for those two prophets, Moses and Elijah, their ministry will overpower the Jewish Knesset because they are going to have rule. They really are. I remember Bro. William Branham said that God liked that Elijah spirit so much that He was going to send it five times. We know that four have already come. Bro. Cahn read from the 17th chapter of 1st Kings. It is unusual. A man that you have never heard of just appears. That has been the way it has been each time that Elijah anointing came. It just suddenly takes over. I remember Bro. William Branham talking about his calling. He warned everybody up and down the Ohio River, all the businesses and everything. He said there is a flood coming, prepare yourself. He told them how deep it would be on Spring Street near the Wilcox Motor Company that sold Chevrolets. He said it would be 22 feet deep on the electric pole. I remember that marker, it is probably gone by now. There was a little silver marker there to measure where the water came to, it was 22 feet. But they did not listen to his warning, they did not take heed. Let us look here at the verses Bro. Cahn read. Because we too are expecting another Elijah to come on the scene.
Elijah Appears
There is no introduction to Elijah, he is just there. Elijah has no background. He just appears on the scene. “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, (That is his introduction. There is no background given. He is just there. But he has the word of the Lord, but no one believed him. When Elijah had first spoken that there would be no rain, nobody believed it. Just like the people up and down the Ohio River, they did not believe the warning of the flood because that was just a little man that grew up in the woods. If you ever heard his life story, you know that. The little cabin in Burkesville Kentucky where he was born was just a little one room shack with a dirt floor. He was born in poverty. His dad had to leave the state because of something he had done, so the family moved to Indiana. He had a vision when he was three years old that he would be in Indiana in a place near New Albany. That is all he knew. It was actually Jeffersonville, but I guess it was too much for a little boy to remember and say that. But when it did happen, he moved to Jeffersonville. A lot of his early ministry was in New Albany. Elijah the Tishbite: that was not a familiar name to people either. In the Methodist Church, more preachers of the early ministry came out of Cumberland County than most any county in Kentucky. I remember a story of a man. They had not had any rain down there for some time. So, they were praying for rain. They would all gather and pray for rain. One day this man went out with his water bucket and a rain coat. They made fun of him. He said, well if we are going to pray for rain, let us believe it is going to rain. Before they got home, they got wet. But he did not get wet because he was prepared. See? God is a God of miracles. When we shut Him out, we shut out the miracles. All these big preachers: God is not in what they are doing. It is just a farce. Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead. That is not much of an introduction, but that is all we learn about his background, where he came from.) said unto Ahab.” That is his first message. God had probably dealt with him from childhood on up. As he lived his life he could see the fallacy of what Israel was going through. The rulership of the kingdom was not supposed to be in Samaria. The nation was not supposed to be worshiping Baal. Rulership was supposed to be in Jerusalem and they should have been worshipping God, but the northern tribes broke away because of Judah. Judah was God’s warring tribe, but it ended up that population of Judah was almost as much as all the other tribes together. But Solomon raised taxes very high, because he had a big government, just like it is now. He surrounded himself with women who he had to keep up. He had many marriages. He began to bring other women in from other countries. He had a woman from Egypt that became his queen, and he built a great mansion for her right there in Jerusalem. God looks at that, he sees when unbelievers are mixed in. I was asked the question, when God gets this temple going and working in Israel, will it just be for Jews? I said yes, because God is not going to have a mixed congregation. Just like it is here at Faith Assembly, we cannot accept the foolishness and religious feelings of the world. With God’s people there is no compromise. It is all shut out, there is nothing we can compromise with because we have something we cannot let go of. It is the best that God has in this hour that we are growing into. We may seem strange sometimes in our preaching, but it is just to get people ready. When I see Faith Assembly among another group, it makes me proud. It makes me feel good. You can make a circle around them and separate them.
Bro. Cahn’s message was great. He was comparing Elijah’s ministry to our day. I want to go further a little further with this. “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, (A man that could strike off Elijah’s head, if it were not for God protecting him. As Bro. William Branham always said, God and one is a majority. Elijah did not stick around after delivering his message. He preached his message and left.) As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” It was an answer from God. As the Bible says in Amos, God will do nothing until He shows His servants the prophets. That was the Old Testament prophets. Today God has a five-fold ministry. The people are not going to get ahead of them. The only ones who did that in ancient times were the false prophets. They had them in Elijah’s day. False prophets told Ahab to go to battle at Ramoth-Gilead. But Jehoshaphat did not trust the false prophets. “Are there any prophets of the Lord here,” he asked. Ahab said “There is one, but I hate him, he does not speak good about me.” But he spoke truth. When Micaiah came he said, “Go ahead, go on to battle, the Lord is giving you the battle, go right ahead.” Ahab knew he was not telling him the truth. He said “I want to hear the word of the Lord.” Micaiah told him, “I see your army scattered by the enemy.” “Put him in jail, put him in prison until I return,” said Ahab. “If you return, God has not spoken it to me,” said Micaiah. My, that is scary. “And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, (God is going to take care of Elijah during the famine. I have said before, in case of some kind of catastrophe, have should a little food on hand. But we do not need to make preparation to store up years’ worth of supplies: that shows a lack of faith. God has a way. He has ravens. There was not just one raven. Every morning and every night, here comes a raven. God will provide.) Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So, he went, and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the book Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.” God is not just going to keep you on a special diet, but He will provide. He is Jehovah-Jireh, He will provide.
The Menorah and Two Olive Trees
| This menorah is located near the Temple Mount and has been prepared for the third temple by the Temple Institute. Two Olive trees have been planted next to it. |
Now I want to go to the 4th chapter of Zechariah. We have a picture here of the candlestick, which is a menorah. This is what Zechariah is looking at in these verses. This represents the church and its seven ages, according to Revelation 1:20. And these two Olive trees, they represent the two prophets, according to Revelation 11:4. See how they are connected? See how close they are together? The two olive trees, which is the two prophets, and the church and its seven ages represented by the Menorah. “And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof.” Seven pipes, with the lights on top of them. It is a Menorah. In the next verse we see what feeds them their oil. “And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So, I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who are thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” So, what does he see here? He sees the church ages, but he does not understand what he is seeing. He sees the two olive trees. The angel is not giving much of an answer to his question. Instead of an answer, the angel’s words are for Zerubbabel, which is really a different subject. Why would Zechariah see this? These two trees, and this menorah? Because it all works into something at the endtime. These two trees do not appear until the endtime, because their ministry is at the end. Let us go to Revelation 11 now to see that. “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.” He is not going to measure people, he is going to count them. “But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” (I will examine this verse later and bring in Ezekiel’s vision of the temple. We are going to look at it in that fashion. Let us read on to the next verse.) “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.” Zechariah saw the olive trees and the menorah. Now, I wonder why John does not see the menorah, but he does see the two trees? This is the answer: he does not see the menorah because it leaves in the beginning of the week. This verse in Revelation is after the rapture has already happened. John just sees the olive trees. Do you see that? The church is gone, but the two prophets are still there. So, we see a connection here between the trees and the menorah. We see a connection in Zechariah, but then the connection is gone when John sees it. John is not seeing the seven pipes and so on. John does see the two candlesticks. The two candlesticks and the two olive trees are the same thing: the two prophets. This should make us happy. We see how God is working in the endtime to bring about a complete picture. He is opening up things that are way beyond me. There is no way I could study and get these things because I have been over it for years. If I could get it by study, I would have already seen it. It takes God to reveal his word to us. God is wanting to teach His people something in this endtime.
Two Prophets vs The World
These two prophets will be in Israel during the time of their prophecy. The first four trumpets are part of their ministry, and the fifth trumpet begins to happen at the time of their death and resurrection. If their ministry is represented by trumpets then it is going to be a sound. These trumpets are going to sound. God ordained that we are not going to be here when the trumpets begin to sound. I do not know how far into the week of Daniel we will be here. In Daniel 9:27 there is an agreement that is signed between Israel and the beast. Remember, the beast is not the Catholic Church. The papacy rides the beast. That Catholic system is the Great Whore. The papacy is not the one that signs the covenant, it is the beast. Then the Pope takes over. He is not an elected official, no, he has more power than that. They talk about the most powerful person in the world being the President of the United States, but I tell you, there is one that trumps that, and I am not talking about Donald Trump: it is the pope. The world is looking at him. He is the most popular person in the world. It is looking to him. Daniel 9:27, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: (many nations. They will intend for it to last longer than one week, but that is what is determined by God. He will not let it last longer than that. Earlier in Daniel we find that one day equals one year. So one week would be seven days, which will be seven years.) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” The midst of the week, that is halfway into this seven year period. This tells the story, but not the whole story. Chapter 11 of Revelation gives you the full picture of what the middle of the week is like. That is when the three woes begin. That is when the two prophets are killed, that brings on the woes. All of this occurs in a very short period of time. As I said before, I will say again, the woman of Revelation 12 is already where she is supposed to be when that time comes because it said she will be fed for one thousand two hundred and three score days. Let’s get the story straight. Get it in our mind and in our heart. The Bride of Jesus Christ are the only ones who will ever understand these scriptures until these two prophets come on the scene. Then they will know what they have missed here. I would advise anybody, if you are ever around Jonathan Cahn, do not try to preach to him. If he is to be one of these two prophets, God will open his understanding. I believe as Bro. Charles dream was, we are going to be able to sit down and talk together before the end comes. But do not hurry anything. God is not in a hurry.
When these two prophets come on the scene. It will start out minor. We see that with Elijah, it started minor. They paid him no attention at first. But then the drought started to take its toll, then they went looking for him, to kill him. These two prophets will bring plagues on the world and Israel. Gradually the world will be forced to take notice. The opposition will build against them. The more the opposition builds, you will see, they will call fire down from heaven. They are untouchable for three and a half years. They are over the government. They are telling the government, shut up Prime Minister, shut up Knesset. John the Baptist did it. Herod was just like Ahab, one of the most evil kings that Israel had. John said to him, “You have a wife that does not belong to you. You have your brother Philip’s wife. That is wrong.” They might have just been living together. This is not right. The only thing we can do today is to say, our nation is not living right. Our government is not doing right, you have brought in abortion and you have brought in gay marriage. It is a filthy adulterous generation of people that has no morals. You have authority in this world, but you do not have authority over the word of God. God will defend His word, and God will defend his two prophets until they accomplish their purpose. “In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, (The anti-Christ will say “Get rid of that religious bunch.” But every day he will be getting closer to his doom. For three and a half years he rapes and pillages the country of Israel, all because the nation was sold out by a bunch of politicians. Those two prophets will stand up and condemn the leadership for what they had done. Think about John the Baptist when he stood in the face of Herod saying, “You are wrong!”
You might say I do not have any authority, but I am using it anyway, because our government is wrong. You have opened up gay marriage. There is no such thing. No gay couple has ever had children. You may adopt them, but you are filthy. As it was in the days of Sodom, it is here today. It is in America. They just could not wait to pass something like that. America: You are wrong! One Supreme Court Justice tried to do things right: Justice Scalia. Do you know what? The coroner did not even go out to see him, he pronounced him dead over the phone. Is there some reason he died suddenly after trying to do the right thing? Did they not want an examiner? You might think I am putting something in the hearts of the people. People need to know what goes on. If they can find dirt to bring against a person, that is what they will dwell on. They punch and probe and do whatever they can. People will vote. Twenty percent of the people in America right now do not know yet how they are going to vote. It is so fickle. They hear something, they change their mind. They hear something else and go the other way. Why can we not make up our mind as saints of God and stick to it? Stay the course. There will be no straddlers on the fence. If you sit on the fence you are going to fall off. Sitting on the fence can get tiresome sometimes.
For the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate…) even until the consummation, (That is the pope, who is the anti-Christ. He is the one doing this. When the middle of the week of Daniel comes, he comes out and says, “I am boss, I am God.” Read Daniel 11. Then it is up to God to show him who is boss.) and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Upon the desolater. It is already determined. His fate is already in the book. What is determined will happen. Let us get our house in order. Let us get our lives in order. Let us make up our mind once and for all. As Joshua said when he talked to the children of Israel, “You cannot serve the Lord, He is a holy God.” Joshua was trying to get them to make up their mind. Elijah was doing the same thing with the contest and Mt. Carmel. “Bring all those unbelievers in, I will stand against them all,” he said. “Bring all the worshippers of Baal in.” That was not good enough for Jezebel, she had to have her own social party. Her four hundred prophets had to come, too. There are eight hundred and fifty false prophets standing there against one little man. He knew what would happen. We know what is going to happen. We are just waiting for the time. We are just biding our time until it happens, but we are using the time, we are not wasting the time. Come on Elijah! At the sixth hour he gets up. He goes over and taunts them a little bit. “Where is Baal at? Maybe he has gone on a journey? Maybe he is on a holiday? Maybe he is asleep?” Then he goes back to wait until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, which is three o’clock in the day. “Go ahead,” he said. By this time, they are cutting themselves and their blood is gushing out. “Oh Baal, hear us,” they cried.
There was a fellow in Burkesville named Danny Wells, a preacher down there who was on fire for the Lord. He was on the road all the time traveling. He went to a place in New York. As the custom was, he came up on the front row and sat down. Ushers came and got him and took him to the back row because he was not dressed like the rest of the people. He offered them ten dollars to let him preach. That was a lot of money back then. They would not do it. His wife and two sons shut him out of the house because he was living right and they did not want to. He told some of those churches down there, this place is not big enough for me, then he would go outside and preach. He would walk up and down and preach. Throughout time there have had righteous ones that stood out, and when the saints go marching in, they will be in that number. It has not always been easy for people, but it has been good. These two prophets are going to be outnumbers and standing against the world. They will be hated by many. But they will stand until their job is completed.
Temple Construction Interrupted
Let’s go to Ezekiel 38. These verses fit into a time just before the week of Daniel begins. “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog; the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” Which is a man. This could be Vladimir Putin. Time will tell. Putin gets out there and struts on the back of a horse without a shirt. That made Obama shakes in his boots with fear. If Putin is Gog, and he looks like it, God is going to show him who is boss. “And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: (Which is Russia. Meshech is Moscow.) And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, (When he says that, I will turn thee back and put hooks in his jaws, what is he saying? It is going to be a forced thing. Russia is going to be drug into this against their own will. Netanyahu and Putin are getting to be chummy fellows. But Putin is deceitful. What he is doing is trying to keep Israel from going across the border and attacking Lebanon and Syria. When God gets ready, when Zechariah 12 happens, there is nothing going to stand in Israel’s way. What I am reading are the events that happen right before the week of Daniel begins. None of this goes into the week, except the part where Israel is burying the dead bodies and cleaning up all the wreckage. When this happens, then Israel’s commerce comes back for a short time because you have passengers, people who are passing through will see a dead bone and put a marker up.) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet.” I will not go into all of this at this time, but there is one thing I want to look at beginning verse 9. “Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: (Now it will tell us what his evil thought is.) And thou shalt say, (See? He is speaking to himself. God knows what his thought is.) I will go up (Everything is up. When it is talking about Jerusalem, everything is up. You do not read in the scripture where it says, I will go down to Jerusalem. It is the mountain of the Lord. I will go up…) to the land of unwalled villages; (Now we are getting into what has just happened before this attack by Russia and her allies.) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.” See? Israel has already reached a time peace when this happens. They have torn down their walls and torn down their fences. As you go near the Dead Sea there is a fence, all electric. It is a different type of electric fence than what we have here. It tells where somebody is getting ready to cross. They have an outpost that monitor for it. When someone comes close to the fence, it tells them. But things are different when this attack by Gog comes against them. They are dwelling without walls, without bars or gates. Why? Because Samaria is theirs, Judaea is theirs. Those Arabs that have caused them trouble are far removed. “To take a spoil, and to take a prey; (That is what he came for.) to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, (occupied) and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. (Now this is what I want to look at.) Sheba, and Dedan, (which are sons of Abraham. Saudi Arabia) and the merchants of Tarshish… We have a map here. Here is Iran (which is Persia), Turkey (which is Gomer), Ethiopia, and Libya. Then Sheba and Dedan (which is Saudi Arabia). The very bottom part of Russia (which is Magog) is on here. These are nations mentioned here in Ezekiel 38. Tarshish is all the way over in Spain, which is not on this map. This is where many Jews went to live after Jerusalem was destroyed.
Bro. Jackson was there years ago because he wanted to see Toledo Spain since that is where many of the Jews went to. Because it looked so much like Israel. Look at the map. Gog has come to take a spoil from these countries like Saudi Arabia. At this time, Israel is at peace with her neighbors. Saudi Arabia is no longer an enemy of Israel, they are now friends. This is where Gog attacks first. Saudi Arabia and Iran do not get along. Iran is wanting to take over Saudi Arabia now at this time. If it was not for Israel they would do it. Right now, Israel is protecting Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Iran knows Saudi Arabia is a rich country and they want it for themselves because of the richness. The only export Russia has is oil and natural gas. That is why they would like the oil fields of different countries.) with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? To carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” So, we can see they hit this first because Saudi Arabia asks the question, “What have you come here for?” Saudi Arabia does not have an army to fight against it. There was a miracle war that happened before this according to Zechariah 12, and it brought Israel peace. That is why they are living in unwalled villages. Since the time of that miracle war and up until the time Russia and these other nations attack, Israel has been building the temple. This attack comes before the temple is fully completed. Because of this attack Israel does not have time to finish it before the week of Daniel begins. It could possibly be a year of time between the miracle war, and the start of the week of Daniel. It will not take many years of work to build the temple. It took seven years for Israel to build their temple in ancient times, and they did not have cranes and advanced machinery. In this modern age, it could be built much faster. Maybe a year to a year and half. All the time God is getting two men ready. Why? Isaiah 52:8, they shall see eye to eye when He brings again Zion. The ministry has got to get ready. We are looking at scripture right. We know we have a short time. We have to get ready, and quickly. Israel could fool, fumble, and plan all they want to, but until that time comes, until Israel gets her land back there will be no temple. In 1968 Bro. Jackson went to Israel with some other men. He got to talk to a rabbi. He asked the rabbi, “I do not quite understand when reading Ezekiel 46. I do not quite understand the dimensions and all of this, which is complicated.” That rabbi told Bro. Jackson, “When that time comes we will know.” They will. There are just some things we understand, we know there is going to be a temple. But there are some things that God has reserved. “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?” God is hitting Gog on the head now, can you not understand? “And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, (come up) as a cloud to cover the land; (the cloud is talking about a great armada of planes. You can just see them as they come in flying formations: it is a sneak attack on Israel. You can imagine that coming, their helicopters and planes dropping all kinds of things along with men. They come as a cloud to cover the land.) it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their (television) eyes.” I guess it would be the cell phone and internet now. They claim television is losing a lot of viewership. I could go on with that this, but I hope you have an understanding of something that is going to take place before that temple is completely finished, and understand why it is not completely finished before the week of Daniel begins. This lets you better understand Revelation 11, and the state of the temple when the two prophets are there prophesying.
The Temple and the Two Prophets
I am looking at Revelation 11, verses 1 and 2 now. Jerusalem and the temple is going to be the place where these two prophets do their prophesying. Here it gives the introduction to them in these two verses. It gives the introduction and the ending. These two verses have a lot in them. “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod… (Do you know what a rod is? Is it a stick? No, it’s not. A reed like unto a rod. A rod is a measurement tool. When we look into the book of Ezekiel, it says a rod is nine feet. I do not know if they do it that way now, but that is the way they used to measure land when a surveyor came along, by rods. Because that was easier than measuring in feet. It talks about the temple ground in Ezekiel. When the temple is built, then the temple ground is going to be square. It is rectangular now, but it is going to be square then because it is going to be five hundred rods one way, five hundred another, north, south, east, and west. It is going to be five hundred rods, each one. Five hundred rods is it between forty-five hundred and five thousand feet. That is a big area for the temple ground. Why would He make it so big? Because of worship. There are going to be people there that will worship at the temple. Many Jews will be there. The Gentiles will not be overrunning it when the millennium comes. The city of Jerusalem is going to be a big city. All the measurements are in the book of Ezekial. So when it says reed, it is not talking about some reed you get along a river bank. It is talking about a measuring rod, like a big yard stick. A reed like unto a rod…) and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God… (That reed is what he is going to measure it with. It is measured by cubits. Then when you get the big measurement, it is measured in rods. A rod is six cubits according to the scripture. Measure the temple of God: this is all something future. None of this has come to pass yet. The second temple had already been destroyed when John had this vision. The third temple has not been built yet. No one has yet fulfilled this vision. But this will be fulfilled in the time of the two prophets. Here are instructions being given. First measure the temple of God, and then what?) and the altar… (The altar is in front of the temple door. You can find all these measurements and the layout in the Book of Ezekiel, beginning in the 40th chapter. The altar is in front of the temple and the front of the temple is toward the eastern gate. That is where the prince will sit. I am going to say prince for right now because that is the word used in the King James Version. That is where he will sit and will eat. God has unusual places to do things. He will eat his bread right in that gate. He will sit in the eastern gate, which overlooks the Mt of Olives. It is going to be a magnificent thing. It is not going to lack anything. The directions and blueprint of how to build it are already there in Ezekiel. The materials that are to be used are in Isaiah 60. I looked in Haggai and it said the silver is mine and the gold is mine. So, it does not belong to China. It does not belong to Ft. Knox. It belongs to God and whatever and how much is needed, God knows where it is, and He is going to put it in some willing hearts to do something concerning the temple ground. Some of the Jews here in the United States are wealthy, especially some working around Wall Street, because God has blessed them. They have a lot of money. Some of them are going to contribute from their fortunes to help build that temple. Measure the temple of God and the altar…) and them that worship therein.” The measurement is for the temple and the altar and the counting of those therein. God is not going to measure each one, oh, you are six foot two inches, and the next one is five foot. No. He has a check list. There is a certain number he needs to count up to. God has a check list. He is precise. When He said the temple area would be square, it is going to be square because God is not rectangle. God is not oblong. When I say that, God speaks as a cube, complete. That is what He is looking for: perfection. “But the court which is without… (That is talking about the outer court. There is an inner court and an outer court. They are different. When you come to the inner court, who is there? It is not the regular run of the mill people. This is the worshippers and the priests. I will go more into that later. But for now, just understand that is who is on the inside being counted. The court which is without…) the temple, leave out… (He is not ready to have it measured, because it is not time. It is going to take a little time to build the temple. We will see that in Isaiah 60.) The inner court is where the priests offer the sacrifices. God looks back in time, and He sees and remembers. He remembers the sons of Zadok, when the Levites walked away from God and began to offer strange offerings to strange gods. One man’s family resisted that: Zadok. He had some sons and they did not stray from the will of God. God remembers. When the temple is restored, the priests who are descended from those who strayed will not be allowed to come to near the temple. They will have jobs out away from the main building. Their jobs are on the outer fringes of the inner court because they transgressed against God. God still lets them be priests, but they have lesser jobs to do. When He goes to choose 144,000, He chooses out of every tribe. He knows which ones are which. God is not some old man sitting on a throne some place. God is kind of like your mind. When we get to be seventy or eighty years old, your mind is still thinking. When you get that age you still feel like you can do things like you did when you were young. But it does not work that way. But your mind is still working that way. You remember when you were a boy. You remember when you were a teenager and it seemed like just a little while ago. But in years it could be a long while. Your body shows your age, but your mind does not. The body lets the mind see its limitations. Let me read on here, but the court which is without the temple, leave out…) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles… (That happens at the middle of the week of Daniel. Not the first half of the week. The Gentiles dare not enter into there as long as those two prophets are there. God may strike them dead by the two prophets. Those prophets will stand up to everyone, no matter who they are. Remember King David. There is no telling how many people he slew because he was trying to bring Israel out of its stupor, which he did. When he did wrong with Bathsheba and killed her husband, the prophet Nathan came and told him a story about a visitor who had a little lamb he thought so much of. A great man had flocks, he had everything a man could want. Then the visitor came, and the great man coveted the visitor’s lamb. So he killed the visitor and took his lamb. David was angry, he said “Let me get that man, I will kill him.” Nathan looked at him and said, “You are the man.” David knew he was, he knew what he was talking about. It shows. As the old saying goes, a little bird told me. The Bible said, be sure, your sins will find you out. What did David do? Read the 51st Psalm. He cried out, God, restore to me thy salvation. So we can see how God’s prophets will stand up against even the mightiest kings. The court which is without the temple leave out, measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles… that is the middle of the week. We know that because it goes on here.) and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. Which is the second half of the week of Daniel. God uses different ways to express the same thing, he will say “time, times and half a time.” Then when He was talking about the two prophets He would say “twelve hundred and sixty days.” Here it says “forty and two months.” God is not complicated. We just need to understand Him. Those are all three the exact same length of time: three and a half years. And when you add three and a half with three and a half, you get seven. Seven years.
The Completion of the Two Prophets Message
Let’s look at Daniel 9:27. It is the middle of the week of Daniel when the pope will take over the temple and force the sacrifice to stop. Let us read it. “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” Many what? Many nations. Revelation 11:1-2 fits into this space of time. Those two prophets fit in that space of time. Israel’s hope, and Israel’s demise is in two men. Because God said in the book of Amos He would do nothing except He would show His servants the prophets. That is how God speaks to Israel. For speaking to his church, God has a fivefold ministry in this hour. Do not start picking them, saying I like this one, I do not like that one. No, it is all for your benefit. He would not have chosen a fivefold ministry if it was not for the benefit of the church because He chose it to bring perfection. It says, till we all come to that perfection. How many is all? Everyone. If you stick around you are going to be perfected. If I stick around I am going to be perfected. God has the last word. Some things may be contrary some people’s emotions. Emotions are a dangerous thing. It can be a good thing, but emotions, if in the wrong place, can cause dire circumstances. He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. God already has that week in mind, he knows exactly when it will start. As He talks in Revelation 9, a certain year, a certain month, a certain day and a certain hour. He is precise. “And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice (That is the middle of the week. This happens at the temple. The temple is where they are offering sacrifices. They are not working on building the temple in the first half of the week. It was already built before the week started. Nothing is going on in the first half of the week except those two prophets and their message. Some might say, well I thought they would still be building it. No, that outer court is not built. The court which is without leave out. It is not manicured, it is not finished, because there are two men dressed in sackcloth who have taken over the scene. Oh, they are going to look odd. Elijah looked odd, dressed in camel hair. John the Baptist was the same way. I would say it had some hair on his leather girdle. It was an odd sight out there. But it was not showing off his naked body, he knew how to dress. He was covered up. So was Elijah. What did Elijah tell Ahab? “I hear the sound of abundance of rain.” Then Elijah took off and gathered up his garment, so he could run. That lets you know it was a long garment he was wearing. It went down below his knees. Cause the sacrifice…) and oblation to cease, (The old pope has done took all he is going to take from those two prophets. They have been embarrassing and angering him for three and half years by this point. He is angry. He has in his mind that he is god now. That is what it says in Daniel 11. He outgrew his dress, or his bathrobe, whatever it is, and now he thinks he is god. He is going to take over that temple and force them to stop offering sacrifices, and kill those two prophets.) and for the overspreading of abominations (The abominations will be going on in the temple area. Once the pope takes it over, he begins committing abominations there. God moves out of the way and lets the pope have his way because this is the last stab the devil is going to have toward mankind before the Millennium. It will get so bad that, in the 16th chapter of Revelation, people from the Middle East will want a little piece of the action.) he shall make it desolate, (In other words, he pushes the Jewish worshippers out of there.) even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” The pope is the desolate, the one who desolated it. He is the desolator. The judgement will be poured out on him. God has his number. I have went over these things to let you see where Revelation 10:11 finally stops. It stops at the middle of the week of Daniel. The message of the two prophets finally ends at that point as the pope takes over.
God is Protecting and Blessing Israel
Shimon Perez died on the 28th of September 2016. That marks something. In 1992 Shimon Perez made a peace accord with the Palestinians, it was called the Oslo Accords, because it was negotiated in Oslo. There were two of them. He agreed to give away land. That was on the 13th of September and on the 28th of September, he made the second Oslo Accord. I heard Jews talking about this. He had his stroke on the 13th of September and he died on the 28th of September. So, God remembers, and he shows he remembers. He remembers what has been done. There has been a lot of praise for Perez these past few days. Barack Obama went to his funeral. What did he do when he went to the funeral? He pushed for a new peace initiative when he was talking. His peace initiative is to take place before the 20th of January, 2017, which will be his last day in office. So, he is really pushing the peace initiative among world leadership and at the U.N., to force a settlement on Israel. His plan is to take the land, half of Jerusalem, Judaea, and Samaria. That is his plan to make a Palestinian state. There was someone in the church world that had a vision, whether it is right or not is up to God. The vision was that if they succeed in dividing Israel, then God will divide this land right down the Mississippi River. East and west would be cut off from one another, if this vision be right. So today Israel is prospering more than she has ever prospered. 97 percent of tomato seed the world over, comes from Israel. That is 97 percent. There are many statistics like that which we could cite. We have a Silicon Valley in California. They are working together on projects with Israel that the world is seeking after. Different parts of the world have a boycott against Israel, saying they do not want to receive Jewish goods. That is outwardly, but inwardly they secretly want their goods, and they are receiving them. So, the economic growth of Israel from 2015 to 2016 has increased a hundred percent because God’s blessings are upon Israel. I heard this in the news listening to Jay Sekulow and a Jewish leader. This is not just coming from some religious idea. These are facts. We are dealing in facts. I believe the saints of God are able to know what is going on in Israel and recognizing God’s blessings upon it. But Obama wants to split Jerusalem. He will not recognize Jerusalem as the capital. He wants to force the Jews out of Samaria and Judaea, he wants to force them out. Do you remember what happened when this was tried before? How Prime Minster Ariel Sharon had a stroke thirty days later after he gave away Gush Katif, which was would be on the Gaza Strip. He never did recover. There was a certain length of time, which was a biblical length of time, and then he died. So, God has everything marked. He has time marked. God is precise. He knows what He is doing. We just need to follow Him and His word, because His word trumps everything.
Obama went to Israel the 30th of September, which was on a Saturday, for the funeral ceremony of Perez. This is when he made the statement defying Israel. He never had anything good to say about Netanyahu because he would not yield to him, but God keeps blessing Israel. The U.S. economy keeps going lower and lower, sinking deeper and deeper. What happened? Hurricane Matthew comes in. Look what it has done. Look at the devastation. The last count was forty some dead, twenty-six in North Carolina, and the water still covers three towns. Be sure your sins will find you out. Obama gets up there and brags about what he is doing, but he does not have any legacy. This insurance thing, this Obamacare thing is getting ready to tank. The premiums after 2017 will skyrocket. He said you could keep your doctors and keep your insurance. It is headed for a one payer system and the government is going to be over it. That is what they are headed for. Why is it that people come from Canada to healthcare here in the United States? Obama wants to copy Canada’s system of healthcare. But in Canada if you need to see a doctor, you are put on a waiting list. If you are Canadian, you know that. You cannot get waited on there in a timely manner. You cannot see your doctor when you want to. If you get an operation, you are lucky or you had to wait months or years. I do not like to use the word lucky, but that is the way it is.
The Bride is Making Herself Ready
Everything that man is seeking to do, God’s word has already told about it. It is just a matter of getting in there and studying. The Bible said to study and make yourself approved, to show yourself approved. That is what we are doing in this time, we are studying the time which He gives us. As it was in the days of Noah, we see it. Violence fills the earth. And then in the days of Lot, Jesus said in the 17th chapter of Luke, as it was in the days of Lot. Look at it. Look what the decision was from the Supreme Court. This nation now has the arch of Baal in New York City, which is close to the center where the two towers were. Everything that man is doing is a mockery of the law of God. They are taking the power away from the police. This is all planned. Everything you see going on is planned, something in the making where they can have a police state if necessary. I am not saying there will be a police state, but if certain things happen it is in the making so that it could be ruled, and you will be told what you can do. Some have plans to tell you what you can preach and what you cannot preach. I pray those people never rule this nation. It happened in Israel when the Jews began to preach Christ. That same thing that happened then is going on again today because if you preach Christ, this world condemns you. Many of the churches are taking their crosses down. They have just become social halls. You do not have to go far to see that, and to see people that do not even care about God. It is in people’s minds to do whatever they want to. They just go to church and feel it is all right to live any old way. The preachers do not preach anything about sin, they do not preach anything about righteousness. It is just a social gospel. But God said that Jesus Christ would have a Bride. This was all in the making. This was planned out. As we live here in the endtime, the plan is working. We are seeing the Bride being brought out, not of their denominations, but out of their stupor, out of things that have gone on for years that many times we overlooked. Many times, we knew, but we overlooked it because it was something we did not really feel like was that important. But the way my brothers are preaching here, Bro. Kevin and Bro. Charles, you better listen. We are in that time, you just cannot pass it up. It is so important that we get our lives in order and straighten ourselves up for the last day because He is coming back after someone that has been made ready. According to Revelation 19, it said the Bride hath, that is past tense. I am not talking about in the 1950’s, or the 1960’s, but in the time we are living in now, the Bride is making herself ready.
The last two messages Bro. Jackson preached was “Darkness is setting in.” He walked back the aisle to a certain pew and stood right beside some of the people, he had even talked about calling out certain names. He did not call their names, but he had planned on it because he had told Bro. Bud and me that he might. He walked right back there and said, “Could it be that there be tares in our midst?” He stood right next to the people he was talking about, he put his hand on the bench they were sitting in. You see what happened to the very ones he had mentioned, they left shortly after that. These were the last two messages he preached. It was on Sunday night that he did that. Of course, people want to look at it now and say it is a new thing to preach hard against sin and wickedness. Bro. Jackson preached it just as strong, and he went right down to the people he was talking about. You may think it is not really that important because it is not Bro. Jackson preaching. But it does not make any difference, the message is still the same, just the one preaching has changed. That is the only difference because the Holy Ghost does not change. The Holy Ghost is not a smart aleck. I have seen Bro. Kevin preach pretty hard, but he will tell you, it is because he loves you. I believe that. I believe I know his heart, I know I do. I praise the Lord for that.
The Third Temple
This next part of my message may seem a little unusual, but it is something I have been asked questions about and it goes along with the message we have been on. This is something that takes quite a bit of understanding, and it takes time to go over it. I have spent more time looking at this during the past week than anything else in a long time. I want to give praise to the Lord because there is a lot here to know and understand and be able to grasp. I have already looked into Ezekiel 38 and Isaiah 60 to talk about the conditions in the world at the time of building of the temple. Now I want to look at the building itself. We read in Revelation 11 what was spoken there concerning the measurement of the temple, but the measurements are not spoken of there. Really the dimensions are in Ezekiel 40, 41 and 42, and into 43. All these visions, as I have been over, are connected and related. These prophets were all looking at the same picture, some were just shown more in some areas than others. After Ezekiel records the dimensions, he then explains in the later chapters how the worship will be done in the temple, the way it is and will be in the Millennium. The sanctuary building of the temple, let me put it that way, will be built before the week of Daniel starts, because after the week starts there will not be any building on it. We see in Revelation 11, that sanctuary is already there when the week begins. The construction works stops when those two prophets begin to prophesy, then judgment of God begins to come to Israel and parts of the Middle East, and even affects Europe. It shows you how far the impact of their prophecy really goes. This is going to anger the European system because it is the European system that is so much against Israel in this time.
Let us go to Revelation chapter 11. He gives John a reed to measure the temple, but we get no dimensions. “And there was given me a reed.” As I said before, a reed is a measurement. It is six cubits and a span. A cubit is about eighteen inches. A span is the width of a hand. So that would made a reed to be about nine feet plus a few inches. In Ezekiel we find the temple mount is five hundred reeds on the width and the length: it is square. So that would be between forty-five hundred and five thousand feet. So, you are looking at almost a mile square, and that is the temple ground. I wondered why they did not rebuild in Jerusalem, I wondered that ever since the first time I went over there because it is just old buildings, churches, and all this stuff. It is all going to be torn down. It will eventually. It will be torn down and leveled. Much of that will happen during the Millennium. That is the reason why it talks here like it does here in Revelation 11. That has to come later because there is not going to be time for it before the week of Daniel begins. But the temple area will be almost a mile square, which the old city of Jerusalem covered a mile. That is going to be the temple ground. There are thirty-five acres there now, but that is a small place compared to what we see in Ezekiel. Why is it going to be so big? Because during the Millennium people will be coming there from everywhere. Gentiles will not be allowed into the inner temple area, but they will be on the outskirts. Really the only ones that are around the temple building are the Levites, which are the sons of Zadok. You see there what God does. The sons of Zadok were priests that did not turn to idol worship when Israel went astray. They kept things straight. Most of Levites compromised themselves and went astray to worship false gods. But the sons of Zadok stayed true to God. The descendants of the Levites who went astray are still going to be priests, but they are going to be on the outside. There is going to be a noticeable difference between the sons of Zadok and the other priests. One noticeable difference will be in their dress. God remembers what happened in the book of Kings, all the way back to what happened in the book of Judges. He remembers what they did, how they led the children of Israel astray to worship Baal. Baal is the god of Molech, which is the same thing. The Israelites began to flirt with him very early on. It begins in the book of Judges and it gradually gets worse. Maybe that does not make any difference to you, but it does to me. It shows that God remembers. He said, be sure, your sins will find you out. We do not want that. We do not want to come up in the last day and here all this stuff comes upon us. It is better to confess it to Him and get it out of the way, then to go on to live a life that will be pleasing unto Him. I believe in dressing holy and modestly. The thing about it is, you may dress right, but how is your heart? The inside needs a dressing. That is what is going to be important in Revelation 19. The Bride hath made herself ready, what is it? She has on a white linen robe, something that cannot be whiter. Fine linen it is not a man-made material. It is silk like material. You can put cotton, wool, or whatever you want to beside it, but it is just not the same. It has a shine to it. If you take that shine away, then you have something else. This is what is important in this hour, to get out the worldliness, all thoughts of some kind of ambition we might have that is not really of God, and our plans, whether we plan to build a house or whatever we plan to do, we should put that in the hands of God. We should say, “Not my will, but your will.” Let Him help you plan. Let Him help you plan the future. Let Him help you plan your bank account. I have a charge card, I am not speaking against that. But it is unwise to let the balance linger. It is a lot easier for me to go to a gas station and get gas with a card. It is a lot easier for me to do that, just put the gas in and go. But then pay it off at the end of the month. That way you do not get in trouble with a big debt. There is a great penalty if you let it go over a month. I am not talking about charge cards, but I am talking about getting ready, getting ready for this last day.
11th chapter of Revelation. “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: (As I said before, this is like a yard stick.) and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.” That is all there is to measure at this point of time, which is the start of the week of Daniel. He does not have the grounds and the out building to measure. He just has the sanctuary area and altar to measure. None of the outer parts are there yet, so there is nothing there to measure, because all that will not be built until the Millennium. But the inner part, which is the main part, is there. Of course, God recognizes the whole area because He is going to keep that holy. That is why I say this temple will be built before the week starts. And the altar, why the altar? Because they are going to be offering sacrifices. They will be offering sacrifices because there are Jews that are going to catch on to this all the way up until the middle of the week. Because Daniel 9:27 said in the midst of the week he will cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. Just like Antiochus Epiphanes, that is the same thing he did. He is recognized as being the type of the antichrist. People preach him as being the antichrist, which if they would read history they would know he was not. Some of the prophecy preachers preach that Antiochus is that antichrist, because he fulfilled parts of Daniel chapter 10. But it already happened twenty-five hundred years ago. They got it all messed up. History does not mess it up, it is right in the margin of the Scofield Bible. It will give you a list of these things and tell you who Antiochus was. Because he is the one that took over the temple and offered a sow on the altar. He was a forerunner of the antichrist. But the antichrist is going to take over this third temple in the middle of the week of Daniel. He is going to proclaim himself as god. As you look at the scripture in Ezekiel, you will see how they spend so much time cleansing that altar and cleansing the Holy of Holies when the Millennium begins. Why do they do that? Because the antichrist will have desecrated it. Here I have a picture of the temple area. This comes from a replica of what Herod’s temple looked like. The temple faces the eastern gate, it looks toward the Mount of Olives. I did not know where the entrance was at first because I had not studied enough. But the main entrance is from the eastern gate because the eastern gate is the gate God’s presence entered by, in the 3rd chapter of Ezekiel. There are three levels in this temple, each one a little higher than the other. The most holy place is one of the first things to be built, and it is on the highest level. That is the sanctuary, this main large building. When Bro. Jackson went to Israel in 1968 he talked to a rabbi and told him, I have looked over Ezekiel and I do not understand the layout of the temple. Ezekiel goes back and forth. When you go back and forth looking at it you can find many of the answers because it repeats itself. Some things are repeated three or four times as you look at it in Ezekiel. Really the Holy of Holies is the first thing to be built. Because that is the most important thing in the whole building. When I preached on this before is where I got criticism, because in looking at this I called that prince the high priest. That is on the list of what I preached wrong, according to those who have left us. I apologized for it at the time because inside of me, I apologized for something I was not sure of. Because I did not want to cause problems. But if you go look in the Lamsa translation it does not say prince. It says high priest. If you go to King James, one place will call him a prince, and another places calls him a priest. If the bible calls him a priest, that is good enough for me. I am not apologizing today. I might as well get myself in trouble, not to be disagreeable, but to be true. Because there has never been a prince to offer sacrifice in the Holy of Holies. Princes do not offer sacrifices in the Holy of Holies: high priests do. You can take that and do whatever you want to with it because I have scripture.
“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.” Who is “them that worship there?” It is the sons of Zadok. That is not the Gentiles. Only Jews are allowed in this part. Because God is honoring what He promised to Abraham. “But the court which is without.” See? That is the outer court which is not a part of this. It is outside the inner court. You have an inner court and an outer court. The worshippers are in the inner court. We will see that as it goes on into Ezekiel. That is where all the sacrifices take place and that is where all the singers are at. What are they singing? I know what they are singing. I know where they are singing from, from the book of Psalms. This is what they begin to sing. Remember those steps we went up when we were in Jerusalem? They were called the studying steps. When you get to those steps you are supposed to be obedient. Because this is where the singers began to worship and go into the temple area. They walked slowly. They take their time because Psalms 73 is where they start. I am not going to read them all. This was a song they sang as they marched up to the temple. “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” This is the beginning of their worship service. They sing this while they are walking into the temple. What is it? A psalm of Asaph. Psalms 74, Psalms 75, Psalms 76, 77, 78, that is a long one. Psalms 79, 80, 81, 82, and 83. There are 11 psalms there that are sang. That is a long song service. It would probably take a couple of hours to sing it all. Imagine the music, no wonder when David came back he was so happy he started dancing before the Lord. So the singers march up the steps, then they enter into the inner court and they keep up singing. That is their part of the service. What is going on inside while they sing? The sons of Zadok are worshiping God by killing animals. You animal rights people, this is going to go on in the Millennium, but you are not going to be there to see it. The best of the lambs brought out of the fat pastures of Israel, the best of the beef, the best of the rams, of the goats. What is a goat? It is a sin offering. You have others that are listed as sin offerings, but they are also listed as offerings to God, but the goat is always a sin offering. During the Millennium it is just one goat offered at a time. In the Old Testament times when they were offering sin offerings in Israel, they would take one goat and slay it, then put the blood on the other goat, take it out and turn it loose. One was going to bear the sin of the other with the blood upon it. It represented Jesus. Jesus became our sin. He took upon Him the sins of the world because He was the Lamb of God. Then his blood went upon us, and we went free. When Jesus died, He became our sin offering. But what He did, He went all the way to hell and preached to those imprisoned spirits. Then He rose again on the third day to do what? To take his sacrifice to heaven. “Do not touch me, I am not yet ascended,” he said to Mary when he first arose. He could not let her touch him and defile the sacrifice. After he sees Mary, He goes to heaven and there He presents his blood, God’s sacrifice. That is why you see it in Revelation 5, when the seals are opened. Jesus come forth, not as a lion, but as a bloodied lamb. The Jews will pay honor to that in the millennium. You have that in the temple. The face of a man and the face of a lion on one being, they are looking different directions. Why? Jesus lived that first role of man when he was on earth. In the Millennium He becomes a lion and he rules as king. You have both faces there. The children of Israel will recognize Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But they will also have to see the man part, where He died. Let us begin reading, this will show the things I have already been speaking of.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Third Temple
Ezekiel 40, verse 1. “In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, (In the beginning of the year, that would be either March or April.) in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.” He is seeing Jerusalem. In the Millennium, Jerusalem is going to be a very big city. Twenty-five thousand reeds long. Ten thousand reeds wide. This is the holy place of the city. This is for the priests, for their dwellings during the Millennium reign. There are going to be many people there. Then outside that there are another five thousand reeds, plus twenty-five thousand long, which is the city for the rest of Jerusalem’s people who are not priests. It calls their part of the city the profane place because it was not the most holy place, the holy city. That is why you can look at it and see what a big enormous place it is where the walls will be built for the temple ground. “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.” This is the same one that was measuring there in Revelation 11. Ezekiel sees the same scene. You can see how these things fit together into a unified picture. “And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee; for the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel. And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed of six cubits
| The Eastern Gate as it appears today. This gate was built in 520 AD by the Roman government. |
long by the cubit and a hand breadth: so, he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad; and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad.” He is talking about the eastern gate there. “He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed. Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits, and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward.” See? The eastern gate has a porch on it. Ezekiel is starting outside the temple area, and he is going towards to the temple sanctuary starting at the eastern gate. I tell you, reading this, even the gate of the place is going to be beautiful. Everything is beauty. In Isaiah 60 you see the beauty of the temple, everything is upgraded from what it was in Solomon’s time, which at that time was the most beautiful city there was. They talk about the price of the materials that went into the building of the temple, if it were in our days, it would be billions of dollars. The beauty of it is going to be amazing. God is not cheap. He said all the silver is mine, all the gold is mind. China, you do not have it. The sons of strangers will build up thy walls. What we see in Revelation 11 is all you got before the Millennium starts. You have the temple and the altar, and that is all. But as the Millennium gets underway, all the rest of this will be built. “And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side. And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.” This is all coming together. Ezekiel is giving a perfect measure of what it is going to be. I do not know if this is interesting to you or not, but we are going to go through it. “The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side: and the little chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.” Let me go on down to the 17th verse. “Then brought he me into the outward court, (When the temple is built, the outer court is not finished before the week of Daniel begins. It is just the temple area and inner court. Why? The inner court is where God’s worshippers are at. I am talking about the singers. I am talking about the priests. I am talking about the high priest. I do not say these things to be different. I say them to be true.) and, lo, there were chambers, and a pavement made for the court round about: thirty chambers were upon the pavement.” See? The building is different than all these chambers here. It says there are three stories. This is the art, the beauty of the whole thing. But everything else is built to last. God has a way of making things last. The children of Israel when they crossed the Red Sea, their shoes, and clothes lasted forty years. If you have shoes forty years old, it is because you have set them in a closet and have not worn them. But we see God can keep things from ever aging. “And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates was the lower pavement. Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, a hundred cubits eastward and northward.” I will stop here and we will continue this in the next time.
Continued in the next edition…