Ezekiel Chapter 44 Verses 1 – 2
• We had talked about before how the East Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem is shut today and was done so first in 810AD by Muslim Crusaders, reopened in 1102AD by Christian Crusaders, then walled up again by Saladin in 1187AD and finally rebuilt and sealed (as it remains today) by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1541 when Jerusalem was under Ottoman Turkish control. But I mentioned this then and I will here again, I do not believe the East Gate of Ezekiel 44 is the East Gate that we can see today. This is the to-be-built East Gate as described in chapters past.
• However, that brings up a good point, there’s been a lot of activity and resources and things done even over generations due to what? In my opinion, a misinterpretation. Or even worse, not even a misinterpretation, its more like ignorance and stupidity due to contextually related laziness! We ought to be aware of this danger in our own lives…what are we wasting our life on or even defending that we could one day wake up and realize how wrong we are/were?!
• Honestly, at least for me, I want to minimize and eliminate that totally in my life. So, whatever the situation, through God’s grace and faithfulness in my life, I default to the flesh…always will, I am a sinful man, but I consider and contemplate the spirit immediately.
• Why? Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” Do you know what “profits nothing” is? Waste, like trash! Something you will wake up on one day and say, “Man, I wish I hadn’t of been that way, done that thing, been that person.” How is it, why is it that there are so few living their todays with any thought or care towards that end? Honestly, confuses me!
• And so, Galatians 5:16, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Translation, you won’t trash your life, your witness, your character, your hopes for the relationship, the ministry, the job, etc.…you won’t amass regret, shame, nothingness…” So, whatever the situation, through God’s grace and faithfulness in my life, He is willing, able and ready to lead me through it in the Spirit…what would He have me to do? Do you think like that? It’s not only a right/wrong thing…it’s a smart/dumb thing…just being real with you.
• One other thing to point out here…notice, no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it. The way that God can enter is not the way that man can enter. What has been done in terms of the work of salvation, neither you nor I can do for ourselves. All we can do is receive it. We can’t add to it, we can’t subtract from it. It is our responsibility to come to the understanding that Jesus is the Only Way. And part of that process is to understand then who and what I am, which is humbling.
• It’s a two-part understanding…coming into a saving faith. It’s not just the acceptance that Jesus has paid the price for my sin, it’s also that I am unable to pay the price, pay the debt that I personally owe. I’m not good enough, I don’t have the power or ability, there is no worthiness here…I am at a loss and therefore I am lost without Jesus. There is a humiliation there…in a very good way. An equalization with every other person…on my way to receiving salvation by faith through grace…softens things up a bit in the heart of hearts.
• Second thing here is…anything in terms of lasting growth in character, maturity, poise, power, understanding and wisdom…do you know that those are things in your life that only Jesus can do for you? Try them in your own strength…and what you are doing is mixing pride, victim mentality and me mentality into the process. You’re introducing flaws into the architecture. And that building won’t stand.
• Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-25, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Precisely how you build all of those things I mentioned into your life and who you are…, character, maturity, poise, power, understanding and wisdom, Christian. By believing that when God speaks, He is telling the truth…and submitting your ways under His ways…all of those things then…they come as fruit…
• Show me someone who has no love, no kindness, not gentleness, no self-control, no poise, power, understanding, character or wisdom…and that is not a person that is not accomplished or not educated or not promoted, they can be all of those things…but one thing they are not is a servant of the Most-High God and they are not close to Jesus. These are doors only He can go through in your life…only things He can do for you.
Ezekiel Chapter 44 Verse 3
• Who is this prince? Did he write Purple Rain? Little Red Corvette? Ha, I don’t think so. The fact is we don’t know who this prince is. He is not the Messiah. Next chapter we will find him bringing sacrifice for himself…so this cannot be the Messiah. So, we really don’t know who this prince is…
Ezekiel Chapter 44 Verses 4 – 7
• This is the Old Testament…and yet even here we see clearly the statement of two circumcisions. First, the one of the flesh the Jews would be well acquainted with, but this circumcision of the heart they would have been introduced to as well beginning in Deuteronomy 10:12-16, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed, heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.”
• And notice which comes first in the economy of God? What’s the point and why do I bring this up? Coming to church is a good thing. Always is, always will be. But coming to church just to come to church is not what God asks of you, wants for you or desires from you. He wants you to be the church. And then this, what we call church, is the joyful and purposeful gathering of His people.
• So, you follow the Lord. You believe in God and you’re a Christian. That’s great. Have you opened your heart to Him? That’s the circumcision, the revealing and unmasking and even sacrificing in the flesh for the sake of knowing and honoring God. How do you know? Are you changing? Religion alone won’t change you. All religion can do is provide you with a veil, a mask to momentarily hide the mess…opening your heart of hearts to God…this is what works effectively in the life of the believer.
• Now, there’s more…once you have gone through this circumcision of the heart, now you must be careful to not allow the scar to set in. The healing and hardening again…the heart of flesh, softness and even a bit wounded in the sight of God…staying in the Word, walking with God, staying in fellowship and serving the Lord through serving those that He loves…your heart stays softened and maturity, growth occurs.
Ezekiel Chapter 44 Verses 8 – 9
• I have this written in my Bible and I give it to you. Ritual without reality is meaningless. Circumcision of the flesh is meaningless without circumcision of the heart. Baptism is meaningless without the human spirit being born again anew unto a life of devotion to God. Communion is meaningless without a heart humbled by the cross of Christ… Even in the Millennial Reign, the sanctuary of God will be off limits for those that walk in a meaningless faith…
Ezekiel Chapter 44 Verses 10 – 18
• This is revealing to the fact that while all sin is forgiven and is cast as far as the east is from the west in terms of impact upon salvation, there remains consequence for sin. This was 4,000 years ago. The Levites leading the nation in the worship of false idols…and yet here in the Millennial Kingdom, there remains consequence. Remember that when you are toying with the flesh…that yes you are under grace and yes through the blood of Jesus your sins are forgiven, but the consequence, you won’t escape.
• There is a difference between ministering to the people or ministering to the Lord. A HUGE difference. One sweats. For one, it is work. It is heavy. It is frustrating. It is fearful. It is restless. But to the other, its no sweat. Now, interesting, in ministering to God, you minister best to people. But ministering to people, you minister zero to God. Why do you do what you do? To love the Lord or to do what’s right and best for the people? If what you do for the Lord is the latter, you are not ministering at all to the Lord. Let everything you do be unto the Lord first…or in the economy of God, its not unto Him at all.
Ezekiel Chapter 44 Verses 19 – 20
• To shave your head or to let your hair grow long in that culture was a sign of mourning. For the priests of God, there will be none of that. Even though sorrow may last of the night, joy returns and comes afresh and anew in the morning…for those serving the Lord, not man.
Ezekiel Chapter 44 Verses 21 – 25
• Interesting, so during the Millennial Reign of Christ on earth, there will be death…
• Did you know that a fundamental duty of the priest is to teach the people how to discern wrong from right? Do you know that in order to do that, you have to have more than book knowledge? Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up…edifies. Before you can teach what is right, you must walk in what is right. And so, the implication, priests of God…you and I…fundamentally His will for our lives is to walk in His ways…
Ezekiel Chapter 44 Verses 26 – 31
• So, no roadkill, HA! But the point is that just as it was in the former times, it shall be in the latter times. As everything given to us in the Old Testament and even in the New is a shadow of something yet to come but as Paul wrote in Colossians 2:17, “The substance is of Christ.”
• And this also means that you, as a child of God, are not to be a scavenger…that whatever it is you need, God will provide. Even when there is roadkill in front of you and you are hungry…in that moment…can you say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit? That is to walk in faith.