
Measuring the Temple (No. 137)
(Edition 1.2 19950930-19970621)
This paper is a lengthy exposition of the measuring of the Temple of God and the prophecies involving Israel and the nations over the last phase of thirty years up to the commencement of the Millennium. The removal of the three classes of leadership, namely the Priests, Prophets and Princes is examined. The judgment of the sheep in relation to the way they treat each other is central to the last phase of the measurement. The parable of the sheep and goats is perhaps better understood from this text. The paper interrelates with the understanding of The Witnesses and The Warning of the Last Days together with the wars of the end.
Christian Churches of God
PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA
Email:
secretary@ccg.org
(Copyright ã 1995, 1997 Wade Cox)
This paper may be freely copied and distributed provided it is copied in total with no alterations or deletions. The publisher’s name and address and the copyright notice must be included. No charge may be levied on recipients of distributed copies. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles and reviews without breaching copyright.
This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
Measuring the Temple
Part 1 - Introduction
The measurement of the Temple is referred to in Revelation 11:1-2.
Revelation 11:1-2
1 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. 2 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. (KJV)This process of measuring the Temple is a specific activity of the last days prior to the activities of the two witnesses who are referred to in Revelation 11:3 f.
Revelation 11:3-4
3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. (KJV)The measurement of the Temple takes place in accordance with a sequence of activities which precede the period of 1,260 days or forty-two months. Both are the same time scale but are expressed differently. We might thus deduce that two periods are meant. It appears that we might be dealing with two varying scales of time in the texts of Revelation, one on a year for a day basis which reflects the 1,260 years of the tribulation, and the other the lesser actual period of three and one half years. The period of the witnesses is given as 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth, and this period equals the period for which the court outside of the Temple is trodden under foot, together with the holy city which is Jerusalem.
This period involves two prophets who cause rain to cease during the period of their prophecy and they prophesy clothed in sackcloth for the period of three and one half years.
Revelation 11:5-14
5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. 11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. 13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. (KJV)There are a number of propositions in this text. The first is that the witnesses cannot be killed until they have finished their task. The witnesses stand before the god of the earth who is Satan (2Cor. 4:4). Thus, they are there to witness against him and this world’s system. Those seeking to kill them are killed in similar manner. This is the power of Elijah. Elijah had the power to call fire down from heaven against the priests of false gods (1Kings 18:1-46) and those who would harm him (2Kings 1:10-15) or indeed show him disrespect as God’s appointed messenger (2Kings 2:23-24) as was the case with Elisha. Elijah had power over the waters and over rain, as did Elisha (2Kings 2:8,19-22). Heaven is shut up because of the sin of the people evidenced in the mouth of two witnesses (1Kings 8:35; cf. Lev. 26:19; Deut. 11:17).
Elijah shut the heavens according to his word.
1Kings 17:1
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, 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. (KJV)The nature of the witnesses was examined in the paper The Witnesses (No. 135). We restate the major points. Elijah was a Gileadite. Gilead was a clan or family of the territory of Gad (1Chron. 3:14) who were resident in Gilead. They were resident to the east of Jordan. They were separate residents in the midst of both Ephraim and Manasseh with whom they fought under Jephthah (Judges 11:4). The name Gilead is most probably derived from the name rugged country being adjacent to the fertile plains of Bashan. Its area was understood to be bounded by the Arnon on the south, the Jordan Valley on the west, the south-north part of the Jabok and the desert to the east, and the limit of Bashan, a few miles north of the Yarmuk, on the north. The inheritance of Gad was a country more rugged than Manasseh. The inheritance of both was outside of Israel proper being beyond the Jordan. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible holds that Gilead is evidently a tribe parallel to Reuben and Dan and equivalent to Gad. In its broadest sense, it extended further north into Bashan and even beyond the Yarmuk. As a result of this vagueness, the territory of Manasseh is sometimes mentioned as overlapping into Gilead. However, it is usually only the tribes of Reuben and Gad who were settled there. It appears that there was an independent kingdom set up in Gilead under Pekah son of Remaliah from the twenty years assigned to his reign in 2Kings 15:27. This appears to have occurred circa 750 BCE in the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II. He ruled there until 735 BCE. He killed his predecessor with the aid of the Gileadites (2Kings 15:25). He then attempted to unite all the surrounding regions against Assyria. The Assyrians defeated him and carried away all the Israelite population of Gilead (2Kings 15:29) and from that time it was no longer part of the kingdom. This concept of the dispersed birthright has application in the last days.
Elijah can thus be identified as a Gadite, coming from the areas of inheritance of Israel beyond the Jordan. This has significance for the last days if we assume that the symbolism of the inheritance outside of Israel has significance for the witnesses and the allocation of tribes, at least four of which (Reuben, Gad, Manasseh and Dan) have inheritance outside of Israel, and in conjunction with Ephraim. Simeon is also scattered among them.
From the power we see given to Elijah over drought, fire and the elements, we can see that the witnesses are thus in the power of Elijah as promised from Malachi 4:5-6.
Malachi 4:5-6
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (KJV)The power of this prophet is not only in the matter of the performance of miracles but also concerns the re-establishment of family relationships on the earth so that it might be saved.
John the Baptist was a forerunner to this prophet but he was not that prophet.
Matthew 11:12-14
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. (KJV)Thus John was Elijah, being in the spirit of Elijah, yet there would also be another who was also of the spirit of that prophet (see also Mk. 9:11-13).
Matthew 17:10-12
10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? 11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. 12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. (KJV)The restoration of all things will occur under that system of the last days. The witnesses have those powers. Elijah is either one of the witnesses and he is joined by another to stand in Jerusalem, or the witnesses exercise the same powers in the last days. The empire of the beast is allowed to kill them after they have finished their prophecy. Their bodies are left to lie in the streets for three and one half days.
These witnesses perform the same functions as Moses did to Egypt. The plagues that Moses inflicted upon Egypt were to deal with their spiritual system on a physical plane: the witnesses deal with the system of the last days. This process was also affected by Elijah who witnessed against false religion within Israel. Thus the witnesses testify against false religion both within Israel and among the nations. The sequence of their prophecy and the scope of it will be given later. These two people exercising the power of Moses and Elijah are yet to take up their positions. From the necessity of their prophecy, it is thus evident that there will be significant false religion in Israel and the nations in those days. From Jeremiah 4:15 ff, it is deduced that there is a prophet that precedes the witnesses, who warns the nations of the coming of the Messiah. The destruction of the nations is inherent in the power of the witnesses, but is not fully exercised until Messiah. The work of this prophet of the last days is carried out from Dan-Ephraim. From the non-biblical prophecies, it appears that this prophet will be referred to by the mainstream religious system as Antichrist or the Danite Antichrist. That is because this prophet condemns false Christianity and preaches the restoration of the biblical system and the coming of Messiah to rule from Jerusalem. These prophecies will be examined elsewhere.
Before that happens the sequence given in Revelation 11:1-2 has to be carried out. That sequence is developed in Old and New Testament prophecy. The measurement of the Temple precedes the measurement of the nation of Israel. The nation is represented here as the outer court which is given over to the Gentiles to be trodden under foot for three and one half years. The measurement of the Temple thus precedes the three and one half year period of the witnesses from Revelation 11:3 ff and is listed in Zechariah.
The measurement of both Judah and Joseph occurs at this time, and the shepherds of both are troubled and incur the wrath of God.
Zechariah 10:1-12
1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. 2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. 3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. 4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together. 5 And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. 6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them. 7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. 8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased. 9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. 10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them. 11 And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away. 12 And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD. (KJV)The affliction of the shepherds occurs over time as does the dispersal of Israel, both Ephraim and Judah. The passage is through the sea of affliction (see Companion Bible, n. to v. 11). This process is to establish both Judah and Israel as powers among the nations in the last days. They shall be brought to repentance and they will turn again to the Lord among the nations, and then they will be restored to Jerusalem and their inheritance. Their numbers will be increased as they have increased. The river that is dried up is the Tigris-Euphrates system. That fact denotes the destruction of the northern system and that of Egypt. That process then makes way for the kings of the east to pass over and move on Jerusalem.
This process again deals with the northern kingdom as we saw from 2Kings 19:21-28 (esp. v. 24). This is prophesied in Revelation 16:12.
Revelation 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. (KJV)This process of drying up the river does not necessarily mean prolonged drought. The same thing was done to the Red Sea as we know from Psalm 106:9.
Psalm 106:9
9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. (KJV)Thus, the way is made open for the eastern forces to move through what is now Iraq and perhaps Iran.
Before that process of bringing the nations down to judgment can happen, the nation of Israel is purged.
The three year period of trial and salvation is also found in 2Kings 19:29-30. This also refers to the Holocaust.
2Kings 19:29-30
29 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. 30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. (KJV)The measurement and the affliction of the shepherds precede that of the nation. However, Judah and Israel both fight as mighty men in the last days. How this is accomplished will be developed later.
The measurement begins with the House of God.
Ezekiel 9:1-11
1 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. 2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. 3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; 4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.The glory of the God of Israel moved from the cherub to the threshold of the House of God.
The angelic Host moves to purge the nation prior to the re-establishment of the House of God. This re-establishment or occupation occurs in stages as we might deduce from the occupation of the threshold. The Cherubim were in stages and in diverse locations (see the paper The Meaning of Ezekiel’s Vision (No. 108)).
The entry of Messiah to the threshold of the inner Temple as the prince is prefigured by the system set down from Ezekiel 45 and 46.
The prince has a series of requirements placed upon him from the text in Ezekiel 45:8-10.
Ezekiel 45:8-10
8 In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes. 9 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD. 10 Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. (KJV)The nation is levied an approximate half percent tithe to cater for the offerings which then becomes the responsibility of the administration for each Sabbath, New Moon and Holy Day. The sacrifices of reconciliation are done in the first and the seventh months. The sacrifices are at the New Moons and the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. The prince is to represent Messiah in all of the feasts. This process is to occur in the Sabbaths and the New Moons, both of which are non-working days or Sabbaths.
Ezekiel 46:1-3
1 Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2 And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 3 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons. (KJV)Thus the Sabbaths and New Moons alike are days of worship and solemn assembly under the care of the prince, and with the people. This system extends to the feasts (Ezek. 46:9-10).
There is incumbent upon the princes and the priests a duty of charge over the people and they are judged by the manner in which they exercise that responsibility. The failure of the princes, priests and prophets of the nation in the last days sees their removal.
Ezekiel 22:23-31
23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. (KJV)Thus, false prophecy is found among the priesthood. This is the case in this century especially in American Protestantism but everywhere generally. The law of God is preached as removed. There is no obedience. The priesthood likewise sin and each is a false prophet. They profane the Sabbath and teach another God. They steal and rend the sheep to the hooves.
Jeremiah 7:9-12
9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; 10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? 11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. 12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. (KJV)Here we see that God did not spare Shiloh, nor did He spare Jerusalem, either with the Babylonians or later under the Romans. Look to what God does even to His own sacred places. How much more will He rebuke the dispersion? He holds the priests, prophets and princes responsible first. He removes them and then He rebukes the nation. These are the three shepherds removed in one month.
The princes have destroyed the monarchy by their sin and men have no fear of speaking evil against the crown. The evil system in the nation must be destroyed. The destruction is commenced after the marking has taken place. Ezekiel 9 continues:
Ezekiel 9:5-11
5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: 6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. 7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city. 8 And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? 9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not. 10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. 11 And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me. (KJV)The measurement and the marking begins at the House of God. The ancient men are the Sanhedrin of the Church, the council of the elders of the physical Temple. This group is reconstructed from the ordination of the seventy [two] from Luke 10:1. The spiritual Temple also has its Sanhedrin. Thus the very height of the priesthood of the Judeo-Christian system is dealt with first. They are marked for slaughter according to their repentance. The mark is the mark of the elect. Those who have the seal of God are spared. This is the reference to Revelation 7:3. The earth cannot be harmed until these have been sealed. The reference here is not purely to Jerusalem – it refers to all Israel, both Judah and Joseph. The nations comprising Joseph include both the United States and also the British Commonwealth. Judah embraces also the nation of Israel as it now exists and the remnants in other nations. There are two harvests appointed – one for Judah and another for Ephraim, which in the generic sense includes Manasseh.
Hosea 6:1-7
1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. 4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. 5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. (KJV)The two days refer to the two days after the national repentance. The nation is punished for three years.
Hosea 6:8-11
8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. 9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. 10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. (KJV)The words by consent in the KJV is derived from the word Shekem (SHD 7926) which means the neck. It refers to the part of the body between the shoulders and, hence, means a place of burden. Figuratively, it is the spur of a hill which has the connotation of a burden by consent, or portion or shoulder. The place in Palestine Shechem, the ridge, is derived from this word shekem. It is assumed from the NKJV text, and others, that the place is meant. However, the KJV places the meaning as murder by consent. The real meaning is that the priesthood murder by willing consent, in that they commit sin and murder by example.
The priesthood are thus punished first because of their responsibility in the sin of the nation and the promulgation of false doctrine. The princes follow in their removal.
Judah also was harvested over three years. The punishment was carried through from the repentance as we saw in the Holocaust. The scattering among the nations was a punishment of both. The texts from Hosea deal with Ephraim over Chapters 7 and 8. The captivity of Israel is stated in Hosea 8:13. Israel is brought to sin through its religious system.
Hosea 8:11-14
11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin. 12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. 13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt. 14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. (KJV)The harvest of Judah was set at the last days, when the captivity of Israel was returned in the restoration. Both Ephraim and Judah are thus placed in fear of destruction and are restored through divine intervention. Judah was tried by fire in the Holocaust. Their conversion process is undertaken from the logic of the rebuke of the harvest. Judah and Israel are refined by fire before the nations are dealt with in the process we understand from Revelation and other prophecy.
The process of the removal and the replacement is found in a number of prophecies in both Old and New Testaments. We have seen the time frames involved in the process being the one month referred to in Zechariah 11:8. This removal refers to the process of dealing with Israel and its leadership prior to the re-establishment of Israel.
Zechariah 11:1-17
1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down. 3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. 4 Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. 7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty [Grace], and the other I called Bands [Union]; and I fed the flock. 8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. 10 And I took my staff, even Beauty [Grace], and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. 14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands [Union], that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 15 And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. 17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. (KJV)The reference to Beauty and Bands or Grace and Union is to Messiah and to the Union of Judah and Israel. The removal of Messiah saw the removal of the priesthood and its vesting in the Church in the dispersion. The reference to the three shepherds is to the princes, priests and prophets, or the three classes of rulers in Israel. The Soncino notes that the Talmud identifies them as Moses, Aaron and Miriam. The supporters of a pre-exilic date for this process identify them as the last three kings of Judah: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (rabbi Kimchi). The advocates of a Maccabean date think of the high priests of the period: Jason, Lysimachus and Menealus; or of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers Jonathan and Simon (rabbi Arbarbanel), who ruled the people for one month of years, that is thirty years.
Driver remarks cautiously, ‘The allusion seems to be to some incident of the time, now unknown to us.’ In one month is probably a formal term meaning a short time (cf. Hos. 5:7) (Soncino fn. to v. 8).
The identification of this period of thirty years has been the subject of rabbinical speculation over the centuries. The period from the death of Messiah in 30 CE to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, and the closure of the Temple at Heliopolis or Leontopolis in Egypt in 71 CE by order of Vespasian, saw the end of the forty year period of the sign of Jonah (see the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13)). This period of forty years was the beginning of the period of the last days. It was not the end of that phase. We saw the significance of the thirty years from the end of the period in the wilderness and the mourning for Moses. The sign of Jonah and the destruction of the Temple saw the removal of the authority of the priesthood in Judah to a nation showing the fruits of it, which was in fact Israel as the ten tribes.
The period of the thirty years is marked by the end of the time of the Gentiles which as we saw is 1914-1996 (see the paper The Fall of Egypt: The Prophecy of Pharaoh’s Broken Arms (No. 36)). The year 1997 marks the beginning of the thirty year period which ends in 2025/6. By 2025/6 all nations will be in their allotted places and the wars of the end will have been fought.
God shows what the end objective of the process is in Zechariah 12:1-14.
Zechariah 12:1-8
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. 6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them (emphasis added).Judah is saved first so that the elect do not hold precedence over the tribe of Messiah. The end objective is that the elect become elohim as Messiah or the Angel of Jehovah at their head.
Zechariah 12:9-14
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (KJV)The sequence of that process will be examined in detail in this paper. The purification of Israel is the first phase. The process, commenced by Joshua or Jesus Christ as Messiah of Aaron which saw the removal of the authority of Levi, will see the priesthood purified in Israel.
The princes, priests and prophets are removed in this one month. The princes are responsible for ensuring that the nation is governed according to God’s laws. The priesthood that does not instruct the nation in the laws of God and introduces false prophecy is eliminated, and then the kingship that allowed this process is destroyed along with the people who followed them. The nation is sent into captivity. In the last days the nation is refined in fire and the truth is established by prophets in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The final thirty years of the end encompasses the Wars of the Restoration and this is the subject of a separate paper. The phases are thus commenced from the Temple as we saw above. The priesthood is purged first. The process of dealing with God’s chosen is thus:
1. The Four Seals or Horsemen
The elect as the Church
Removal of the physical Temple and priesthood
Establishment of the Churches
Satan establishes the false system
2. The Fifth Seal
Testing of the elect as the Churches
Removal of the priests
Testing of the elect according to knowledge
3. The Time of Jacob’s Trouble
Trial of the elect as the nation
Establishing and confirming the nation in the birthright of Israel
Warning of the nation
Removal of the false priesthood
Removal of the monarchy
Purging of the nation
The next phase then begins the complete restoration.
4. Preparation for Messiah
Preparation by phases
The elect
The nation
5. Dealing with the Gentiles
Phases of the subjugation
The warning of the witnesses
Examples of the power of God
6. The Advent of Messiah
Intervention to save mankind from itself
Advent
The removal of the government systems and the false priests
The destruction of the power of the nations in the wrath of God
The issue of the law from Jerusalem
The relocation of Israel and the nations
7. Preparation for the Millennium
Implementation
The land systems implemented
The jubilee system enforced by the elect as the New Armies of God
The Messianic system established in all nations and re-education commences
The war of the rebellion
8. The Millennium
Millennial systems enforced
The administrative and judicial system developed
The Temple constructed and priesthood allotted duties
Jerusalem developed as the centre of world government under Messiah in preparation for the second resurrection and the hand over to God
War of the end of the Millennium c. 3001-3027
9. The Second Resurrection
Finalisation of the elect after the last war and the restoration of all flesh
The loyal remnant
The general or second resurrection of the dead
The judgment
(i) The demons
(ii) Mankind
(iii) Reorganisation of the Host
10. Hand over to God the Father
The preparation is completed and is ready for God to be all in all
Advent of God and New Jerusalem
God establishes the universal administration from New Jerusalem
The Host goes on to its greater potential as Elohim and Sons of God in the Universe.
Part 2 - The Temple Measured - Removing the Priests
We have seen from Ezekiel 22:17-31 that the House of Israel is measured according to its performance and, from Zechariah, we see that measurement began at the House of God.
Ezekiel 22:17-31
17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. 21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. 22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you. 23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. (KJV)The condemnation of the three classes of rulership is also found in Micah 3:1-12.
Micah 3:1-12
1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? 2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; 3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. 4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. 5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. 6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. 7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God. 8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. 9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. 10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. 12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. (KJV)The problem here is that the princes pervert judgment and equity. Indeed, they abhor judgment in that they will not be judged according to the laws of God.
The priests teach for hire and the prophets speak smooth things for the security of the people in their sin. The priests and prophets will not speak the word of the Lord fearlessly, nor is the name of God important to them as we see from Malachi. Jeremiah shows that God dealt with Israel and Judah and Jerusalem itself for these same sins.
Jeremiah 32:26-44
26 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, 27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? 28 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: 29 And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger. 30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD. 31 For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face, 32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. 34 But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. 36 And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; 37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: 39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. 41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42 For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. 43 And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD. (KJV)God delivered Israel to the Assyrians and Judah to the Babylonians, who were the successors to the Assyrians, so that they might be rebuked. Yet God promised to restore them in the last days so that they would receive the everlasting covenant. They refused to repent and were again removed and the covenant established without the nation being in control or involved, save as individuals. They will be converted in the last days in spite of their traditions and their priesthood as we will see. Jeremiah speaks of the priests and prophets and the establishment of the kingdom of the last days.
Jeremiah 23:1-4
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. 2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. (KJV)This text refers to the priesthood of Israel and Judah who have continually mishandled the sheep. It is an ongoing rebuke until the return of the Messiah. It did not cease with his resurrection.
Jeremiah 23:5-8
5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. (KJV)This prophecy has not yet occurred. It is occurring now but there is another sequence of activities yet to be completed. Before that can happen, the priesthood has to be purified by removal.
Jeremiah 23:9-22
9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. 10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. 11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. 12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. 13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. 16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. 17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. 18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. 21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. (KJV)This process of evil and the prophecy of peace is what is found among the people in these last days. The priests teach that the law of God was eliminated with Messiah. This is the very sin that occurred under the Baal system in Israel. Indeed, it is the same system extant even now.
Jeremiah 23:23-40
23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. 25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. 28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. 29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. 33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. 34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. 35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. 37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 38 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; 39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: 40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. (KJV)God’s burden is light. He speaks through the prophets and His word is true. He will deal with this false system in the last days. Zephaniah again speaks of this matter of the evil of the princes, priests and prophets. The Lord is in the midst to deal with this process and the priesthood is removed. This process is in the time of the end when the restoration is to occur and the nations are judged.
Zephaniah 3:1-7
1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! 2 She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God. 3 Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. 4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. 5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. 6 I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. 7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. (KJV)The rulership, administration and priesthood are absolutely condemned here by God. However the nation is required to wait upon God until the time of His wrath and restoration. Then they are given a pure language. The proud of Judah who are haughty or arrogant because of the chosen of Judah will be removed. The afflicted and poor people that remain shall trust in the name of the Lord. Judah and Israel are thus tried by fire prior to the restoration but none shall make them afraid.
Zephaniah 3:8-20
8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. 9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent. 10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. 11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. 12 I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. 13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. 16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. 17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. 18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. 19 Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. 20 At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD. (KJV)This is the captivity of Israel where Messiah takes captivity captive (Eph. 4:8 from Ps. 68:18) but in the last days (Rev. 13:10).
Malachi shows that the main issue and failing of the priesthood in the last days is that of the name or nature of God and His power and authority. There is no honour given to the Father and no fear to Him as God and Lord of Hosts.
Malachi 1:1-14
1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. 5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.The distinction between Jacob and Edom here is between the two covenants or systems of worship. The distinction is not between the Old and New Covenant but between the false and true. The slave and the free systems are between also the two mountains of Gerizim and Ebal.
Moses made some tribes stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people and others to stand on Mount Ebal to curse them (Deut. 27:12-13; Josh. 8:33; Judges 9:7). Those on Gerizim were Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. Those on Ebal were Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Napthali.
These divisions have a significance which will be examined elsewhere. They differ from the divisions made by Paul in Galatians 4:21-31. The Levites had specific responsibilities here (Deut. 27:14-26). These responsibilities lead directly into the blessings and the curses of Deuteronomy 28 which are inflicted on the people. Thus, the rulers and priests are held responsible for the blessings and the curses (see the paper The Blessings and the Curses (No. 75)). Mount Seir or Edom here has a perpetual hatred against the children of Israel. This problem is identified in Ezekiel 35 where the two nations of Judah and Israel are protected from destruction.
Before speaking of the nation of Edom and the attempted destruction of Judah and Israel in the last days, Ezekiel deals with the priesthood in Ezekiel 34. This is the most telling condemnation of the priesthood.
Ezekiel 34:1-9
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. 7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 8 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; 9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; (KJV)The shepherds hear without hearing. They read the Scriptures but do not understand.
Ezekiel 34:10
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. (KJV)The shepherds will not be fed by the flock in the last days and they will be forced to labour because they have not fed the flock with meat in due season. God seeks and restores His flock.
Ezekiel 34:11-16
11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. (KJV)Here we see that the shepherds are condemned and then the flock are placed against each other in judgment. The elect are judged on how they treat each other.
Ezekiel 34:17-28
17 And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. 18 Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? 19 And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. 20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. 21 Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; 22 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. 23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. 25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. 28 And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. (KJV)The restoration is to peace and freedom from fear. They are to have raised for them a plant of renown. The plant is Messiah who shall feed the flock and David will be their prince under Messiah who is his Lord.
Ezekiel 34:29-31
29 And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. 30 Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. 31 And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD. (KJV)The restoration of the first resurrection is here mentioned as David is to be set over the flock after its return and re-establishment. The covenant of peace is established on the return of Messiah the Prince of Peace. The shame of the heathen is that of the false or Babylonian system which is made to fall in the last days as we see from Revelation 18:2 ff.
The real issue between God and priesthood is the fact that they have set up a false system which does not honour God. This is the triune system which seeks to assert equality with the Father to other entities, specifically to Messiah and from this to reduce the impact of the law of God. This is evident from Malachi 1:6-14.
Malachi 1:6-14
6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? 7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. 8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. 9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. 10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. 12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. 13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD. 14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen. (KJV)There is no priest who would shut the door on the apostasy for nothing. They demand payment for teaching the word of God and profane the Scriptures and their intent by teaching for hire. God will have no respect of their persons, which was in fact their most grievous sin.
Prophets as part of the Priest System
Ezekiel 13:1-16 deals with the false prophets. These are part of the priesthood and fall with them. The churches of the last days are permeated with false prophets and false prophecy. They preach safety to a deluded congregation.
Ezekiel 13:1-9
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; 3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. 5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. 6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. 7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. 9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. (KJV)The prophets in the last days divine lies for the congregation and prophesy peace for Israel when there is no peace. The punishment for these false prophets is to be removed from the assembly of Israel nor shall they be written in the writing or records of the House of Israel.
In other words, the letters and false prophecy of the priesthood of the churches of the last days will be struck from the letters of the church, and their names from the roll of the congregation. In other words, they are consigned to the second resurrection. This applies to all false prophets and false prophecy of the church which seeks to make refuge in other than God.
Ezekiel 13:10-16
10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter: 11 Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. 12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it? 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it. 14 So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 15 Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; 16 To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD. (KJV)This false prophecy became a wall of untempered mortar and thus it could not stand. Let each servant of God take care how he builds. False construction will not stand. That is the lesson of the end of the twentieth century for the Church of God. Here priests and prophets overlap.
God is against the prophets for this spirit of false prophecy (Jer. 23:30). The false prophets are dealt with. They forfeit the protection of God and do not enter the assembly of God, being faced with the true spirit of prophecy as we see from Jeremiah 20:3-6.
Jeremiah 20:3-6
3 On the morrow, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on every side. 4 For thus says the LORD: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. 5 Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them, and seize them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity; to Babylon you shall go; and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely." (RSV)Jeremiah altered the name Pashhur, which is Aramaic, by interpreting it in Hebrew as Isaiah did in Isaiah 8:1,3. The Aramaic is based on the words pash to stay or remain and gur to wander about or sojourn in a strange land. The Aramaic is sehor; the Hebrew is sabib. Hence the text becomes thy name is not staying on, but wandering about. This is induced by terror.
The prophets and priests who do not remain faithful are given over to the whore or the false system of the Babylonian Mysteries. The intoxication of wine is both physical and spiritual.
Isaiah 28:7-13
7 These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are confused with wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in giving judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit, no place is without filthiness. 9 "Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? 10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." 11 Nay, but by men of strange lips and with an alien tongue the LORD will speak to this people, 12 to whom he has said, "This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose"; yet they would not hear. 13 Therefore the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. (RSV)The wine of the spirit of fornication is evident in the system of the Babylonian whore who is the church that is drunk on the blood of the saints.
Revelation 17:1-9
1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk." 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication; 5 and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations." 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, "Why marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition; and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel to behold the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. 9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; (RSV)This whore is the mainstream church of the Christian system and it is drunk on the blood of the saints that she has killed. These saints are they who obey the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus.
The nation is given over to destruction because of the iniquity of the priesthood.
Isaiah 56:9-12
9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour -- all you beasts in the forest. 10 His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. The shepherds also have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all. 12 "Come," they say, "let us get wine, let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure." (RSV)The priesthood are described as dumb dogs and blind guides. They have no understanding because they do not fear God or keep His commandments.
Our people are fed falsity and perish because of the priests and their system of living.
Isaiah 5:11-13
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening till wine inflames them! 12 They have lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts; but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. 13 Therefore my people go into exile for want of knowledge; their honored men are dying of hunger, and their multitude is parched with thirst. (RSV)The system goes on into the feasts and the system of worship. As the priests have forgotten the Lord and mislead His children, so will He forget their children.
Hosea 4:1-6
1 Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel; for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or kindness, and no knowledge of God in the land; 2 there is swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds and murder follows murder. 3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air; and even the fish of the sea are taken away. 4 Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest. 5 You shall stumble by day, the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother. 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (RSV)This injunction is because the priests teach against the law. They say it is no longer valid.
Isaiah 5:18-24
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, 19 who say: "Let him make haste, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!" 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right! 24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (RSV)The rejection of the law results in the fact that understanding of good and evil is lost.
Both priest and prophet are profane in the House of the Lord (Jer. 23:11-40). The prophets do not disclose the iniquity of Zion.
Lamentations 2:14
14 Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles false and misleading. (RSV)These same false prophets see no problems for the churches of the last days. However, the Lord will restore Israel as a peaceful end.
Jeremiah 29:8-14
8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream, 9 for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD. 10 "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (RSV)Moses stood between God and Israel to turn God’s wrath (Ps. 106:23), but these false priests do not stand for Israel as Moses demonstrated, or stand against evil for Israel (Ezek. 13:5).
Ezekiel 13:5
5 You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the LORD. (RSV)In fact, the false prophets say that the elect will be in a place of safety in the day of battle of the Lord. There is no man that wants to stand in the gap.
Ezekiel 22:30
30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. (RSV)From Jeremiah 23:11-40 we see that the Lord is against the false prophets (vv. 30,31,32). The comparison of these texts is seen as follows: v. 11 cf. Zeph. 3:4; v. 12 cf. Jer. 11:23; v. 13 cf. Isa. 9:16; vv. 17,22 show that the false prophets encourage evil and those who despise God and His laws.
The message of the last days will not be given in Hebrew but from strange lips and an alien tongue.
The priests who fail in the last days will be given over to the beast system and the Babylonian Mysteries. They are removed to face the terror referred to by Jeremiah. They are not written in the record of the House of Israel.
Ezra 2:59-62
59 The following were those who came up from Tel-me'lah, Tel-har'sha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, though they could not prove their fathers' houses or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: 60 the sons of Delai'ah, the sons of Tobi'ah, and the sons of Neko'da, six hundred and fifty-two. 61 Also, of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habai'ah, the sons of Hakkoz, and the sons of Barzil'lai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzil'lai the Gileadite, and was called by their name). 62 These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean; (RSV)This is restated in Nehemiah 7:5.
Nehemiah 7:5
5 Then God put it into my mind to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it: (RSV)Thus, the register is maintained for the priesthood.
The profanation of the Levitical priesthood was met with exclusion. How much more is the penalty for the Melchisedek priesthood whose only reason for entry is the purity of their calling? Thus, they are excluded altogether to the second resurrection.
God is grieved at the priests because they have destroyed the congregation and scattered the sheep.
Jeremiah 10:20-25
20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. 21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. 22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. 23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. 25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate. (KJV)The tabernacle of God is the Temple of God who are the elect. The tabernacle is unable to be set up for adequate worship. The children of God are scattered because of the shepherds.
Because of this neglect of the brethren, the pastors shall not prosper. The pastors became brutish because they had no fear of God and, hence, lost understanding and wisdom.
Psalm 111:10
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever. (KJV)The reduction of the force of the commandments by the priesthood remove them to the second resurrection. They have the dung of the feasts which in fact is the dung of the korban or the dung of the sacrifices spread on their faces. These are the victims which constitute the 144,000. One shall take the priesthood away with one of the feasts. This is an enigmatic prophecy which has application for the removal of the priesthood in both phases of the Messianic system. The first occasion was in 30/31 CE with Messiah. The second instance will be at the last days before the Second Advent when the entire ministry falls.
Malachi 2:1-9
1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. 4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law. (KJV)They are profaned because they do not fear God.
Malachi 3:5
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. (KJV)The judgment of the Lord is also against the people who fall aside through the priests and the mysteries or the sorceries. Ezekiel continues on in 13:17 ff, after the prophets are condemned, to deal directly with the female sorcerers who have been the great thorn in the side of Israel throughout its history.
Ezekiel 13:17-23
17 Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them, 18 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you? 19 And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? 20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly. 21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life: 23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. (KJV)This form of witchcraft comes from the Babylonian system and involves star-gazing and all forms of the occult. False prophetesses have long led Israel astray. The most damaging have in fact posed as angels of light in the Church of God. These are they who split the church in the last century by following the false prophetess Ellen G White.
The moral decline of the people is directly related to the lack of diligence of the priesthood and the prophets. The moral decline under Ahaz was the direct result of the laxity of the priesthood.
2Chronicles 28:19
19 For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had dealt wantonly in Judah and had been faithless to the LORD. (RSV)The NKJV says:
For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord.
This will be examined in Part 3 – Removing the Princes.
The sacrifices of the priesthood must be clean before God.
Haggai 2:11-14
11 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests to decide this question, 12 `If one carries holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and touches with his skirt bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy?'" The priests answered, "No." 13 Then said Haggai, "If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?" The priests answered, "It does become unclean." 14 Then Haggai said, "So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the LORD; and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. (RSV)The priesthood are contaminated with the Babylonian system and the triune god. What they offer is unclean and so it is with this people. God will cleanse Israel once and for all of this heresy and this system. Babylon will fall and fall permanently (Rev. 18:2 ff).
The elders are charged and given the promise of their reward. They must repent.
Peter charges the elect so that they may be found worthy to stand before Messiah.
1 Peter 5:1-4
1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. 2 Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, 3 not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory. (RSV)
Part 3 - The Temple Measured - Removing the Princes
The kingdom was established in Israel because of a failure of the judges to ensure equity on the part of their administration and the lack of faith in God among the people to establish His ruler in just judgment in the nation. They wanted a line of succession that they could pinpoint and control. They didn’t take it on faith that the Lord would raise up a judge on the death of the previous judge from among their people. They didn’t think God could discern the hearts of His people to see which judge, given His Holy Spirit, could repent, change and lead the people. That was why the kingship was established. A major fault in the judges was that they did not rule their own families. Eli was judge in Israel and he did not rule his sons. And Samuel was judge in Israel and he did not rule his sons. Both of those judges, the last two judges of Israel, contributed to the downfall of the time of the judges because their sons committed iniquity and they were not rebuked by their fathers. The kingship became a necessity in the eyes of the people because the people did not have faith that God would remove the iniquitous priests.
Even though God slew Aaron’s two sons for iniquity, Israel did not have the faith that Eli’s sons, who were also killed, would be controlled by God. They had Samuel’s sons as the third example and they did not want to trust in God to remove these other two, or to trust in God establishing a judge. When a judge was given power, his sons were used in the administration but if they did not obey God they were killed. The sons did not inherit the judgeship. That is why, when God raises up elders in the Church, their sons do not inherit the judgeship. That is why the people turned away from God and sinned and asked for a kingship. It was, however, allowed to develop into that situation by God so that Israel might learn and the kingship could then be taken by Messiah as his inheritance in Judah. Moses had provided for a kingship in the law. Even though there was no view or prospect of a kingship, Moses left a clause in the law, which provided for the establishment of a king.
1Samuel 8:1-5
1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his first-born son was Jo'el, and the name of his second, Abi'jah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations." (RSV)1Samuel 8:6-9
6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds which they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, hearken to their voice; only, you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."They did not have faith in God. They were going to put their faith in a man to whom they could talk because they were not talking to God. They didn’t have a personal relationship with God in Israel. Nobody in Israel did except Samuel.
In the days of the judges, every man did what was right in his own eyes but they were terrified of Samuel because he had the Urim and the Thummim and God spoke out of his mouth. Samuel was a prophet of God and he had the power of divination. He was a seer. Only occasionally does a priest arise in Israel with a power of the Urim and Thummim: with the power of prophecy and divination. The solemn warning to the nation was so that they would understand what it meant to reject God and to rely on human administration.
1Samuel 8:10-22
10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking a king from him. 11 He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12 and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.