Christian's Handbook 4

Handbook 4 highlights God's appointed times and appointed works while emphasizing their importance and urgency for His people throughout their generations.

God's House and God's Kingdom

Handbook 4: Article 22 - Part 3: An Appointed Time, an Appointed Work: Restoring God's House!

"He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' And Simon Peter... answered and said, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you... because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

And I also say to you that you are Peter (Gr. Petros, a stone) and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and what ever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.'"

Matthew 16:15-19

And how is God's House and the kingdom to be expressed on the earth, now that there is no longer the physical presence of God's House, no longer a physical kingdom for the people, no longer a visible priesthood?

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, 'Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?'

Jesus answered... 'If anyone loves Me he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.'"

John 14:21-23

"But he who takes refuge in Me shall inherit the land,
And possess My holy mountain.

And it shall be said,
'Build up, build up, prepare the way,
Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.'

For thus says the high and exalted One
Who dwells in eternity, whose name is holy,
'I dwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite.'"

Isaiah 57:13-15

"Heaven is My throne and earth is My footstool...
But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word."

Isaiah 66:1, 2

"And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me... I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands one like the Son of Man... the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands..."

Revelation 1:12, 13; 2:1

"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst."

Matthew 18:20

Consider:

"And He was king in Israel, when the heads of the people were gathered, the tribes of Israel together."

Deuteronomy 33:5

"Arise and stand into the midst!"

Luke 6:8


Jesus speaks of God's house:

"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, you may be also."

John 14:1-3


Consider Jesus and the "House" He is preparing:

"...consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house...

Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later, but Christ was as a Son over His house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end."

Hebrews 3:1-3, 5, 6


Jesus speaks of God's house and God's kingdom in the same parable:

"For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it...

Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'

Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does them, will be compared to a wise man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the rivers came and the winds blew and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the rivers came and the winds blew and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall."

Matthew 7:14, 21-27


Ponder this Scripture:

"Yes it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and rule on His throne. Thus He will be a priest on the throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices."

Zechariah 6: 13

The House of God has a High Priest sharing the throne with the King?

The kingdom of God has a King sharing the throne with the High priest?


Jesus Changes for All Time the Meaning of the Word "Temple"

Interchangeable words: house, temple, sanctuary, tabernacle, dwelling, abode.

After Jesus drives the money-changers out of the temple the Jews ask Him, "What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?"

"Jesus answered... 'Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.' The Jews replied, 'It took forty-six years to build this sanctuary, and you will raise it up in three days?' But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture."

John 2:18-22


Jesus Changes for All Time the "Place" of Worship

Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman at the well:

"'...Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.'

Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father... But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.'"

John 4:19-24


Here in Lies Wisdom

"We have come to Mt. Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem... and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant..."

Hebrews 12:22, 24

"Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle (or sacred tent) prepared, the first one, in which were the lamp stand and the sacred bread (Lit. loaves of presentation); this is called the holy place. And behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar (or censer) 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; but of these things we cannot speak in detail.

Now when these things have been thus prepared, the priests continually enter the first (outer) tabernacle, performing the divine worship, but into the second only the high priest enters, once a year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been, while the first (outer) tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the time then 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 washing, regulations for flesh imposed until a time of reformation.

(Hebrews 7:12 For when the priesthood is changed...)

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation... through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, obtaining eternal redemption... And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant..."

Hebrews 9:1-15

"For now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

For if the 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:
'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 everyone His fellow citizen,
And everyone His brother,
Saying, "Know the Lord,"
For all shall know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
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 8:6-13


Do not let your eyes glaze over, your ears close, your heart grow weary because God's Word concerning the restoration of His House is difficult to understand. If your heart has been stirred, your spirit lifted up, step into the "midst of the years."

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth."

2 Timothy 2:15

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you."

John 16:13, 14

"...see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and give attention to all that I am going to show you; for you have been brought here in order to show it to you..."

Ezekiel 40:4

"...set your heart on what you see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the statutes of the house of the Lord and concerning all its laws; and set your heart on the entrance of the house, with all exits of the sanctuary."

Ezekiel 44:5

"...describe (Lit. declare) the house to the house of Israel... and let them measure the pattern (or perfection)... make known to them the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its forms, all its statutes, all its laws. And write it in their sight, so that they may observe its whole form, and all its statutes, and do them.

This is the law for the house: its entire border on the top of the mountain shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law (or instruction) of the house."

Ezekiel 43:10-12

"Take to your heart all the words that I command you this day... For it is not an idle word for you, indeed it is your life..."

Deuteronomy 32:46, 47

"How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace and brings new of good,
Who announces salvation, and says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, they shout joyfully together;
For they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion."

Isaiah 52:7, 8

"...Be strong and courageous and act; do not fear nor be dismayed for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished."

1 Chronicles 8:20


Ezekiel's Vision of God's House

"In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck, on the same day the hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me there. In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel, and set me on a very high mountain; and on it to the south, a structure like a city. So He brought me there; and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax, and a measuring rod in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway.

And the man said to me, 'Son of man, see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and give attention to all that I am going to show you; for you have been brought here in order to show it to you. Declare to the house of Israel all that you see...'"

Ezekiel 40:1-4

"Then He led me to the gate facing toward the east; and behold the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate facing toward the east. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner courts; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.

Then I heard one speaking to me from the house, while a man was standing beside me. And He said to me, 'Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the monuments of their kings in their high places (or when they die), by setting their threshold by My threshold, and their door post beside My doorpost, with only the wall between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger. Now let them put away their harlotry and the corpses of their kings far from Me; and I will dwell among them forever.

(Ezekiel was then given instructions.)

As for you, son of man, declare the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities and let them measure the perfection (or pattern). And if they are ashamed of all they have done make known to them the form of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws.'"

Ezekiel 43:1-12


The Perfection

"The Mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken,
And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth."

Psalm 50:1, 2

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
In the city of our God, His holy mountain;
Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion in the far north,
The city of the great King.
God in her palaces Has made Himself known as a stronghold...

God is our refuge and strength.
Abundantly available for help in tight places.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
And the mountains slip into the heart of the seas;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride."

Psalm 46:1-3

"We have thought on Thy lovingkindness, O God,
In the midst of Thy temple.
As is Thy name, O God,
So is Thy praise to the ends of the earth;
Thy right hand is full of righteousness...

Walk around Zion, and go around her;
Count her towers; Consider her ramparts;
Go through her palaces;
That you may tell it to the next generation.
For such is God, our God forever and ever;
He will guide us upon death."

Psalm 48: 1-3, 9-14


« LastNext »

  1. Zerubbabel's House of God
  2. The Word of the Lord to Haggai and Zechariah
  3. Herod's Temple
  4. God's House and God's Kingdom
  5. Walk Around Zion, Measure the Perfection!
  6. The Forms of the House
  7. Set Your Heart of the Entrance of the House
  8. Set Your Heart on the Exits of the Sanctuary
  9. Set Your Heart on the Statutes of the House

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