One cannot understand the book of Revelation unless he has a good concept of the book of Ezekiel, for the spirit of Ezekiel was very much with John on the Isle of Patmos.
The imagery and the symbols of Revelation are never understood until one understands the Old Testament prophets. Even in the marvelous messages to the churches, there are many references and allusions to the Old Testament that few people understand, such as the jewels of the breastplate.
At this particular period in the restoration, the Lord is opening to us a door into something that is more than restoration, to something that has not existed in former dispensations.
He is opening the door so that everything which has been remote regarding the presence of the Lord and our ministering in His presence is now to become a reality.
Whereas we have sensed the presence of the Lord—though without the reality of the breakthrough into it—we will now know that breakthrough, so that we are literally going to worship in His presence.
In the mind of the Holy Spirit the Parousia is destined to bring those who have worshiped at one level on up into the very level of His presence. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes; yet we have not attained anything in ourselves to warrant it.
This is an apostolic revelation, definitely a truth that is related to the Kingdom: the presence of the Lord will be marvelous in the days of the Kingdom, but we’re not so concerned about that; we’re concerned about the period of His presence now, while the consummation of this age is taking place.
While the Lord is winding up things in judgment upon the earth, while He is bringing forth and manifesting His sons, while He is bringing an end to futility of all creation, His presence will hover very closely over the earth.
Chapters 40 through 48 of Ezekiel contain end-time revelation. Chapters 40 through 44 speak of the building of the new sanctuary, which is not a literal building of stone; it is the people of the Lord.
We are the sanctuary that is being built. In chapters 43 and 44 the return of the glory is pictured, as God’s glory and presence begins to come back to the Church.
In this message I am not going to talk about the Melchizedek Priesthood, this priesthood refers to our eternal priesthood, that we enter into after we are resurrected and receive glorified bodies, but we can enter into it now, just like we can enter into the powers of the age to come, but that is another message and I am in the process of waiting on the Lord, and only bits and pieces of it have been revealed to me, so I am not able to teach on it yet but hope to in the future.
The loyal priesthood of the sons of Zadok, mentioned in Ezekiel 44, is a type of the end-time remnant.
The other Levites who had departed and become apostate ministered to some extent, but they were not allowed to come in close to the very inner sanctuary and the presence of the Lord.
The sons of Zadok stood by when everyone else turned away and they received the glorious ministry typical of the remnant which is now being prepared.
They are standing by the Word of the Lord when others reject it and become apostate. The return of the glory sees that remnant established as the ministering element and the governing element, the priestly order and the ruling order, the kings and the priests.
Ezekiel 45 and 46 tell of the sacrifices being restored; however, these are not sacrifices to eliminate sin. They are sacrifices of thanksgiving and worship and are all highly symbolical.
Ezekiel 47 talks about the remnant ministering in this great spiritual temple and the living water issuing forth from the threshold of the sanctuary.
These are the waters that flow for the healing of the nations. Wherever the waters flow, life comes forth—very typical of the Kingdom.
Chapter 47 and 48 deal with the locating of the tribes and the final building of the new Jerusalem.
The book of Revelation ends similarly, with the building of the new Jerusalem and the symbolical dimensions that are given for it.
According to literal calculations in the book of Ezekiel, the new Jerusalem will be about seven and one-half miles square; however, we know it is not a literal place, but something that God is preparing.
He is first preparing a remnant that will minister in His temple and then He is preparing the waters that are going to flow to heal the nations.
Then He is going to position His people as He wants them. The Old Testament tribes were a symbolical picture of that, too. Finally he tells of the holy city in which there is nothing that defiles.
The ninth chapter of Hebrews is a revelation of everything that is recorded in the book of Ezekiel. Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. Hebrews 9:1.
The first covenant was established by God under the law of Moses: a covenant with the people, ratified by blood. The literal meaning of the Old Testament and New Testament is old covenant and new covenant.
According to the last verse of the previous chapter in Hebrews, the old covenant was passing away at the time when the book of Hebrews was written. When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Hebrews 8:13.
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord (now note carefully): I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach every one his fellow—citizen, and every one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.” Hebrews 8:7–11.
Has this ever been fulfilled? Not yet. This is speaking of the time of the Kingdom. We’ve been in the initial manifestation of the new covenant, but the full promise of it has not come.
We are still teaching our fellow-citizens and we’re still saying to our brother, “Know the Lord.” But the time is coming when this prophecy is going to prevail.
The breakthrough will come when we stand and worship so literally in His presence that it will be revelation worship—a worship in which God reveals to us directly so that the intermediary channels of ministry will not be necessary.
Although there are apostles of the Kingdom coming forth now to herald and lay down the principles of the Kingdom, I do not believe that apostles will be necessary in the Kingdom. I don’t think that prophets, as we know them, nor any of the ministries that now become a channel for God to bring revelation to His people, will be necessary, for the revelation will come directly.
The only thing the ministries are working for now is that you be no more children tossed to and fro, that you come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that you come into it yourself.
Everything should be designed to produce that spiritual maturity and the breaking down of reservations so that the people are able to break through into what God has for them.
This is a most important message, inasmuch as it is opening up a new line of truth and a new level of revelation; but even more than that, it is opening up a new step for each one of us in the area of revelation.
Once the objectives that God is working out are clear in our minds, revelation will start changing a great deal.
Worship is not only a preliminary to warm up the hearts of the people so that the Word can be received; worship is going to become the most important function. In awe we are going to sense His presence so much that it will be a direct communication and a direct ministry from the Lord.
We want to learn how to worship so that the worship removes all veils and all barriers.
When this new covenant worship is fully established, no one will teach his fellow man to know the Lord, for they shall all know Him, from the least to the greatest.
“For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Hebrews 8:12, 13.
The value of the old covenant lay in the fact that people who were afar off, who were strangers and aliens from the covenants of promise (Ephesians 2:12) could hear words that would bring them close.
The prophet would receive a word from God and say to the people, “Thus saith the Lord.”
Of all the books in the Old Testament, Ezekiel speaks the most about the people knowing the Lord. “Thus saith the Lord” is the keynote all the way through.
The prophet was telling the people, “Come on, you have to know the Lord. I have a word from God. I’m the prophet. I’m a mouthpiece for God.”
The priest, anointed and directed by God, came to the people saying, “Come on, I’ll be your mouthpiece to God.”
The prophets spoke from God to the people; the priest interceded, going from the people to God. And God has a way of bridging a gap that had not been able to be bridged before.
Through the Christian dispensation all the people were brought into a priesthood. We are all coming to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Christ has broken down the barrier. He has become the intermediary and the human intermediary is lessening.
For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place.
Revelation tells of Christ walking among the seven golden lampstands. The imagery all through the book of Revelation speaks very much of the Old Testament sanctuary.
And behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; (now notice the hindrance and check of the Holy Spirit); but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Hebrews 9:2–5.
It would appear (in fact, it has appeared to many who profess to be Bible scholars) that in spite of all his quoting of the Old Testament, the writer of the book of Hebrews was a rather stupid man who did not really know the Scriptures. He is rather vague in his quotations, and often he says, “Somewhere it is said…” But in this instance, it appears that he is completely confused. Any student of the Old Testament knows that the golden altar of incense was not in the Holy of Holies at all; it was on the other side of the curtain. It was the last thing the high priest faced before he went in to stand before the presence of the Lord.
Imagine finding a contradiction like that in the Scriptures. He gives a hint of it when he says, “We cannot now speak in detail.” In other words, “We can’t tell you much about this now.”
But doesn’t he know that he is contradicting the Old Testament? No, he knows what he’s saying. If we read on a little, we will find a key to explain why the altar of incense is now in the Holy of Holies instead of in the holy place.
Hebrews 9:6–10: Now when these things have been thus prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle( the holy place not the outer court), performing the divine worship, but into the second only the high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. this is different to willful sin which is another message.
The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing; which is a symbol for the time present, according to which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation (also called “the time of restitution,” or “the time for the establishment of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began”).
He is referring to a dispensational happening—until the time of the great establishment of all things—and when that takes place the tabernacle is pictured differently.
This all happened when Christ came and went into the Holy of Holies as the forerunner, not only to eliminate the regulations of the old covenant, but to bring the new covenant, when His law will be written in our heart and we will all know the Lord and stand in His presence.
He became the forerunner, going into the Holy of Holies to present the precious blood in our behalf, and also to open the door for us to come into the Holy of Holies.
Now the Holy of Holies contains not only the ark of the covenant, but also the altar of incense. In Old Testament times, the priest worshiped with a veil between them and the magnificent presence and glory of God. Now they move in.
At the hour of Christ’s death, this veil was ripped from top to bottom. Thus a new and a living way was made through the veil, that is His flesh, so that we can come and stand in the presence of the Lord.
Everything that God has been doing is to bring you closer. Prophecy comes to exhort you to draw closer to the Lord, to edify and build you up to be the very housing of God, to be His sanctuary.
It is all drawing you. It is all leading someplace and we had better see where it is leading. Every new step in the Lord is marked by the higher level of worship that is characteristic of that step.
The church world has known a time of sad and mournful songs. Then we came into the period where the songs were more exuberant and bouncy. We praised and we danced and we shouted.
Then we moved up again. In this walk with God, the level of singing and worship in the Spirit is so much greater than anything we have ever known. And we’ve gone on and on, continually progressing. Now God is telling us that there is another level of worship that we have not yet reached, a level where we pass through that veil which has already been removed as far as Christ’s provision is concerned.
Dispensationally it waited for the time of reformation and now we are coming to the revelation worship, where we not only worship Him, but where His beauty and His wonder are unveiled to us. We stand in His presence to worship as we had never dreamed possible.
There will be times when God will move in on the worship and it will suddenly seem to subside and in the awesome wonder of that worship. He will be so real to us that we will become as the men of God who came into His presence and fell at His feet as dead.
The book of Revelation opens by telling how John saw the Lord, whose eyes were like a flame of fire, walking up and down in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. He fell at His feet as dead.
That is exactly what the Lord is bringing us to. How we have pressed on to come into this level of revelation worship—worship that opens up revelation, not about your circumstances and your problems, but the revelation of the King Himself. Then shall we know. Let us press on to know the Lord. This is our vision. We’re pressing on to move right in there.
The writer of Hebrews was not confused after all when he pictured the golden altar of incense as being moved from the holy place where the priests stood, just one step away from the presence.
They offered up what they could. The lampstand was burning there as the symbol of the Holy Spirit illuminating Christ in the midst of the Church.
We’ve had the table and the sacred bread, symbolizing the Holy Communion, the feeding upon the Lord.
Now we take one more step from that golden altar of incense, as the precious censer of the praise and the prayers of God’s people (described in the book of Revelation) come up to the Lord. This is what God is bringing us to.
Where does a walk with God take us? It’s true, we are going to walk to the ends of the earth with this gospel of the Kingdom, but that is secondary.
This walk is into His presence. This is a Walk with God, in which day by day there is an unveiling, there’s a dropping of the distance between you and the Lord.
Now we see why we must press into worship, why it must not become a rut that stations us at a lower level of revelation, just behind some curtain or veil that God has already rent for us.
There must be a way to enter in. There must be a way to walk with God. The Lord’s revelation to our hearts is going to be very, very precious. His glory shall surely be revealed.
We thank You, Lord, that You are drawing and wooing us. You are entering into a covenant with us that You gave to Ezekiel, “My presence shall never depart out of this sanctuary.”
Oh Lord, we draw close to Thee. We yearn after Thee. We love Thee, Lord. Let the Word do whatever it must do: let it encourage and inspire us; let it disillusion us with every lesser goal. Let it draw us up, O Lord, into Thee. Amen.