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Eze 46:1 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.
The Sabbath of rest is reinstituted during the Millennial reign of Jesus
Christ. Worship is opened up on the Sabbath day.
Eze 46:2 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.
Eze 46:3 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.
Eze 46:4 And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the LORD in
the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without
blemish.
Eze 46:5 And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and
the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and a hin of
oil to an ephah.
Eze 46:6 And in the day of the new moon it shall be a
young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be
without blemish.
Eze 46:7 And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah
for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his
hand shall attain unto, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
Eze 46:8 And when
the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate,
and he shall go forth by the way thereof.
Eze 46:9 But when the people
of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that
entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way
of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall
go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the
gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.
Eze 46:10
And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when
they go forth, shall go forth.
Eze 46:11 And in the feasts and in the
solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah
to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an
ephah.
Eze 46:12 Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt
offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, one shall then open
him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt
offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he
shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.
Eze
46:13 Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the LORD of a lamb of
the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.
Eze
46:14 And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth
part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to temper with the
fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the
LORD.
Eze 46:15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering,
and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.
Eze 46:16
Thus saith the Lord GOD; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the
inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall be their possession by
inheritance.
Eze 46:17 But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one
of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall
return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them.
Eze 46:18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by
oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his
sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered
every man from his possession.
Eze 46:19 After he brought me through the
entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the
priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on
the two sides westward.
Eze 46:20 Then said he unto me, This is the
place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin
offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not
out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.
Eze 46:21 Then he
brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four
corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a
court.
Eze 46:22 In the four corners of the court there were courts
joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one
measure.
Eze 46:23 And there was a row of building round about in them,
round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows
round about.
Eze 46:24 Then said he unto me, These are the places of
them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of
the people.
This chapter in Ezekiel continues to describe the
worship during the time after the future tribulation when Christ is here in
person ruling the earth. He sets up worship similar to what was required
under the law of Moses.
Perhaps all these things show them what it
should have been like in the days of the Old Testament and how they could
have had peace and perfect worship if they would have wholly followed the
Lord instead of turning aside and followed the ways of the heathen.
It would seem as if the prince who some believe is the Messiah was leading
them in the worship of God. Sabbath worship is restored as we see. This all
occurs for as least 1000 years until the rebellion occurs and Satan is let
loose for a season to try to deceive all that he can.
Unfortunately
many will follow Satan and will be destroyed in the end.
During the
1000 year reign of Christ it seems that there are natural people who are not
yet what we call saved or born again so perhaps that is why this type of
worship is set up since Jesus Christ is here ruling. Perhaps also it is a
memorial to remember the sacrifice for sins that Jesus paid for when He came
the first time similar to what occurs when we observe the Lord's supper as a
memorial of His death on the cross.
One thing we know for sure, God
always has a reason for doing what He does. It may serve as a reminder too
that sin is a serious thing and there has to be a sacrifice for sin for the
law says that the soul that sins shall die.
At this time Jesus is in
His glorified state and will not die again for sins so perhaps this is a
remembrance so that people do not forget that sin separates us from God and
they must repent of sin and desire to be free from sin in order to be
reconciled to God and be saved.
When other nations and people
observe this worship they probably will be showing that they believe and are
doing their part to observe and recognize that God is God and whatever is
required to worship God, they do.
Israel at this time has been
restored all the land that they have been promised since the days of
Abraham.
No doubt Abraham is one of them ruling in this new kingdom.
This time in the future of mankind is one that is showing the world
what the earth will be like under the reign of the perfect one, Jesus
Christ.
Those who formerly accepted Jesus, believed in Him for their
salvation and accepted the free gift of eternal life, are in their new
bodies. They cannot be tempted neither are they in any danger of losing
their souls because when they were in their natural bodies they made their
decision to follow Christ. They no doubt will be leaders and reign with
Christ over the natural people living on the earth at that time.
This is a time of testing to show the world what it is like to have a
perfect leader. Satan is bound during this time and cannot deceive so all
will be taught the truth of God's word.
We will understand this more
as this time approaches and God reveals to us the meaning of these things
and why this type of government is set up.
The prince mentioned here
may believe is Christ but another explanation is that he is an earthly ruler
appointed to set up and lead in worship. He has sons so we see he is a
natural man and not one who has been resurrected like the saints of God will
be. This type of worship seems to be only for those that are living in their
natural bodies and not the ones that have been resurrected.
We do
know in studying the book of Revelation that this type of government and
worship system will only be in place for 1000 years. After the rebellion and
final end, God Himself comes to live among His creation.
Rev 20:6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the
second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Chapter 21 of Revelation
goes on to explain the New Heaven and New Earth that will have no need of a
temple. The lamb of God, Jesus Christ and God the Father will be there
instead of a temple, instead of the sun or the moon. It is going to be a
glorious day.
We see then that this worship we read of in Ezekiel is
not eternal.
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