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The Everlasting Gospel
The Lamb and the Temple
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(Begin quote)John 1:
29
The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. 30 This is He of whom I said, After me comes a Man which is preferred before me: for He was before me. 31 And I knew Him not [before this]: but that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water".32
And John bare record, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. 33 And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, ‘Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost’. 34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God".35
Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 and looking upon Jesus as He walked [by], he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"37
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, "What seek you?" They said to Him, "Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwell You?" [We want to spend some time with You.]39
He said to them, "Come and see". They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day: for it was about the tenth hour [in the morning].***************
(End quote)Thus it was John who identified the Son of man as the Lamb to us.
But it was the prophet/priest Ezekiel who was given the knowledge of the pattern of the sanctuary/temple and its purpose as a picture of the Son of God and His work. We can only guess at the impact his revelation must have had on the boy Jesus as He studied out His mission on earth.
At the end of Ezekiel’s vision, he was instructed that all the people of God would benefit from examining the plan and the ceremonies in detail – so let’s do that here!
It is written:
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(Begin quote)Ezekiel 43:
10
You son of man [Ezekiel], show the house [the plan of it] to the house of Israel [the people of God], that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern [Jesus Christ, that they may begin to SEE it.]11
And if they be ashamed of all that they have done [are repentant and willing to learn], show them the form of the house [again], and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof [the ways to approach God], and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof [the ceremonies], and all the laws [rules] thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them [by entering spiritually therein].***************
(End quote)That was God’s plan for the Old Testament people. Because they failed in their understanding of what they were doing, and settled for believing that their earthly works were what God wanted (even re-building an inferior copy of the original temple after the exile in Babylon), He then directed the attention of Christians to these same details when their dispensation began. Not that they were to attempt to keep them literally, but that they should SEE the kingdom of heaven, and ENTER it, by faith, here on earth.
Therefore, it was written to Christians:
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(Begin quote)1 Corinthians 5:
6
Your glorying [pride] is not good. Know you not that a little leaven [yeast] leavens the whole lump [loaf of bread]?7
[Continue to] purge out therefore the old leaven [of sinful behaviour], that you may be a new lump, as you are [now] unleavened [freed from sin’s power].
For even Christ our "Passover" is sacrificed for us [and He has set us
free].
8 Therefore let us keep the
Feast
[of Unleavened Bread, Leviticus 23:6-8,
See Appendix A, page 30], not with
old leaven [of slavery to sin], neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness [actions of sin]; but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
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(End quote)Few appreciate what the above statements really say, but if we allow the New Testament to open up the Old Testament ceremonies to our understanding, then they in turn will re-illuminate the gospel. Thus, when we teach the true gospel of Christ we have a circular system which continually expands. Unfortunately, this direction has been lost sight of for many centuries, but now the time has come again for it to be revived.
One day Jesus met a master teacher in Israel and spoke to him because he asked a question.
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(Begin quote)John 3:
3
Jesus answered and said to him, "Verily, verily, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot [even] SEE the kingdom of God [on earth]". 4 Nicodemus [thinking literally] said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"5
Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say to you, Except a man be born [baptised] of water and [baptised] of the Spirit, he cannot ENTER into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said to you, You must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it lists, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell where it comes, and whither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit". [Its effects can be seen and heard, but not the wind itself.]9
Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you a master [teacher] of Israel, and know not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say to you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness.12
"If I have told you earthly things [which you can see and experience], and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?"***************
(End quote)Sadly, it seems that today we still have teachers like Nicodemus with us. There are many professed Christians who present a confused gospel which is not well-founded on the sanctuary and its ceremonials.
Their gospel is apparently based on the above sanctuary plan, and it teaches that "justification" occurs in the courtyard, "sanctification" in the first apartment, and "glorification" in the second apartment.
This is NOT what the Bible teaches through the ceremonies, and it appears to be based on the false assumption that the offering of a continuous burnt offering on the brass altar is somehow equivalent to re-birth.
We should be aware that, spiritually speaking:
A "sinner" cannot enter the sanctuary courtyard.
Lamb’s blood is NOT used inside the sanctuary building.
Only a Christian’s sins can ever enter the sanctuary,
for only a child of God can be forgiven.
A "sinner" (a child of Satan, John 8:44) becomes a "Christian" (a child of God, Galatians 3:26), through a process which is pictured in the act of being "circumcised" and eating the Passover "lamb" IN HIS/HER TENT.
oooOooo
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