The Lord Is There

Hello, everybody! We appreciate that special music. Our choir is doing a remarkable job here at the Feast, and we really do appreciate the work that was done with regard to that. I did want to mention, by the way, that there are...

...and they far off with one another. You know, I don't know about you, but I came from a very large family, I think, that you would say. We had nine children. And I was number six, and, you know, it was sometimes it was hard to eat at the table. Because if you didn't go for the food, I mean, you were the skinny one, you know. I understand, in fact, sometimes you can have a, you know, a litter of pups. And one of them is sort of strontic. And so the reason is, he didn't get the food fast, though. And so, in our big family, oftentimes that is the case. We know family is important to God, and this is reflected by giving humans the ability to procreate. You know, God wants us to have that experience. You know, it's important to him, and God wanted a family himself. And he implanted the same desire in the human kind. And God wants to provide his children a good life as well. And that's why, in fact, God put, you know, his children in the Garden of Eden. You know, where they basically would be cared for very well. You know, parents, parents generally teach their children from birth the way that they want them to live. You know, so that they can make their lives better. It's not the way all of us feel. We want our children to maybe have a little better life than we did. You know, and, you know, I think that all of us, of course, are striving to do that. I think that probably one of the big mistakes that the baby movers made is they made it too easy, you know, for their children. And gave them maybe sometimes too much. And they maybe should have learned some of those experiences that, you know, their parents learned in the depression years and in the war time.

You know, the goal, though, for our children, brethren, is that they will be stable and that they themselves will have happy and stable lives. That's what we want for them, isn't it? You know, I know we've got three sons, two of which, you know, have their own families. We have five grandsons. And, you know, I don't know what it is about, you know, our family, but we can't have girls. I don't know how to have girls. And so my wife, you know, is, of course, and of course the daughter-in-law have a very prime piece of territory because they're the only ones, the women in the family.

But anyway, you know, we hope someday that we'll have a little girl in the future and maybe that will happen and maybe it will not. You know, but the hope is, isn't it, when you have children, that when you go over and visit them, you know, in their homes, that you feel halfway comfortable, you know, when you go there. You know, I don't think many of us would probably feel very comfortable if we went over to our, you know, our children's homes and maybe they, you know, you walked into the room and they were, you know, playing Led Zeppelin or some sort of a, you know, acid rock or some other bizarre music, you know, and they were, you know, smoking dope or, you know, they were involved in things that were outside of the realm of our experience.

You know, and we would want them, wouldn't we, to live a way of life that is acceptable to us. You know, how many of us, of course, have to cope with that kind of thing sometimes when our kids get off track? No, we want our kids to grow up and to be stable. And so that when you go and visit them, and I always told our boys, I want you to get wealthy, you know, I want you to work hard and I want you to be successful and be wealthy.

Because, you know, when you have three boys, they spend all the time in the refrigerator. And I said, and when your mother and I get old, I want you to dedicate a wing of your palace, and I'm going to be in your refrigerator 24 hours a day. I mean, the door is going to be open all the time, and I'll be fishing around there for food all the time.

So anyway, that's my plan. That's my retirement plan, by the way, for the future. But since we don't have too much of a retirement in the ministry. But anyway, when you visit your children, though, you want to feel comfortable, don't you? Well, think about this. You know, God is a parent. He's a hands-on parent. He likes to be with his kids.

You know, we look back in the Garden of Eden, and there he was. He was walking and talking with Adam and Eve, and he was talking to them face-to-face there in Eden. And we know the story about how Adam sinned and, you know, in Eve as well.

And they yielded to the temptations of the devil, and the course of human history was changed after that. They were driven from the Garden of Eden, and God did not relate to them in the same way, in the same manner. You know, in the model prayer, I find it quite interesting, by the way, that Jesus Christ taught his disciples. He said, you should pray, and this would be a daily part of your prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.

You know, why did Jesus Christ instruct his disciples about something like that, to be praying for the kingdom of God all the time? Was it just a sort of occupied time until he returned? Give him something to do to keep them focused, in other words, on the future. Is that all he was thinking about when he said that we should pray that on a regular basis? No, brethren. Jesus meant much more than that.

And we've seen that touched upon here at the Feast of Tabernacles in so many ways. You know, I often think about, when I pray, I know you probably do the same thing, I often say, God, how do you have it up in heaven? Of course, in heaven, you know, there is no sadness, maybe except the sadness that sometimes they have over what we do here upon this earth. But in heaven, there is happiness, there is joy, there is peacefulness, there's unity. You know, there is beauty surrounding God. You know, it's like the song, it never gets too hot there or too cold.

You know, and it's probably just a perfect environment to live in. Well, we know it is a perfect environment to live in. Well, why is it that way? So when we're praying for the Kingdom of God to come, and when we're talking to God about bringing heaven's way to this earth, you know, we need to think about this in relation to that part of the model prayer. Why is heaven perfect? Why is it perfect? Well, the reason is, brethren, is because God is there. God is there. And when God, of course, is in a place, His light shines, it is so brilliant that there are no shadows in heaven.

There are no shadows there, or darkness, or evil can lurk. You know, in fact, Mr. Spitzler is talking about the darkness of hell, that sometimes, you know, people do wrong things, evil things, in the dark. I think that is certainly very true about our world. People feel like they can sort of hide out. But you know, there is no hiding place in heaven. And so, consequently, we have a place, if we can call it that, in heaven, where there is perfection. There are all of these superlatives we could talk about with regard to heaven. You know, God wanted, and Christ wanted, His disciples to yearn for that time when God's presence could be upon the earth.

And He could have a home here. You know, think about that. He wants to come and visit His children. Then the fact of the matter is, here upon this planet, brethren, He doesn't feel comfortable. He doesn't like the Led Zeppelin. He doesn't like the evil and the wickedness that is in society today.

And He doesn't want to dwell among that kind of a people.

You know, God wants us to really get that point when we pray, Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven. You know, God only has a home here upon the earth in the hearts and minds of the saints.

In Your mind, my mind, our hearts, brethren.

That is His home right now.

You know, so God doesn't want to dwell around darkness. When Solomon became king, you know, he had the great task that God gave him, and David, His father gave him to build the temple.

And David, of course, worked very, very hard. He laid aside so much material you see it described, of course, in the Bible.

And Solomon spared no expense using gold and bronze and every such thing, you know, for the temple to complete the temple.

But let's go over to 2 Chronicles 6, if you would turn with me, to 2 Chronicles 6, verse 16.

Here Solomon was giving a dedication prayer. This was a spectacular day, by the way, in the history of the world.

Even more dramatic than the time of Elijah. You know, it was just utterly fantastic, you know, that the things that God did that day with the dedication, you know, of the temple. And what is so amazing, you know, they had the sacrifices that were consumed.

I don't know whether God sent down, you know, atomic fire and it just evaporated the sacrifice or not. But it was just spectacular, the things that happened that day. It's amazing that anybody could ever forget those things that occurred that day. But again, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 16, let's notice over here, again, Solomon is doing this dedication prayer.

He says, But here's a very pointed question. But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Is He going to dwell with men on the earth? Solomon asked. It says, Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. How much less the temple which I have built? You know, is God going to indeed dwell upon the earth? That's the $64,000 question, as they say. Will God dwell upon the earth? And you know, this particular question, by the way, shows the depths of Solomon's perception, his spiritual perception. You know, God gave him incredible wisdom, as we know, in the story of Solomon. But it shows how perceptive he was.

You know, will God indeed, in very deed, dwell with men upon the earth? You know, brethren, I think it was Mr. Bradford, you know, in his Bible study, was talking about this as well. But the entire purpose of all of the Bible reveals how this is going to be brought about. How God is going to dwell with man, indeed. In a literal sense, he's going to be with us, with humankind. I'm not going to go over to Leviticus 26 in verse 11 and 12 over here, but it says there, I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And again, you look at the world today, God doesn't feel very comfortable, you know, with the way the world is. And with Israel, sometimes he wasn't very comfortable with them. But going on in verse 12, he says, I will walk among you, you know, just as he walked and talked with the patriarchs of old, Adam and Eve, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. So here's this three-fold plan that Mr. Bradford talked about in his Bible study on Wednesday night. Number one, that God will be their God. Number two, that they will be my people. And number three, I will dwell among them. And this is stated many times throughout the Bible. And of course, we see also those parallels in the New Testament as well that was pointed out in the Bible study. You know, the book of Ezekiel is one of the most interesting books, I think, of the Bible and fits very much into the millennial setting. Talking about, again, what we're doing here, what this is about, the time when Jesus Christ is going to rule in rain upon the earth. You can divide, by the way, the book of Ezekiel into four parts. And I'm mainly going to touch on the last parts of it. But number one, you know, the first part is the calling of Ezekiel, the prophet. The second part deals with God judging Judah and judging the things that were done at the temple. The third part is a vision where God shows his judgment of the nations, of the world and Israel. And the fourth part of it, which we're going to dwell on a good deal of it, a glimpse of the future temple and what has done it, what's going to occur in it. Let's go to Ezekiel 39 over here. Ezekiel 39 and verse 25. You know, God is going to begin to deal with Israel. He's going to deal with Judah as well. But here we see in verse 25 how there's going to be a turnabout. In the future, of course, we know that Israel will go into captivity. You know, we don't, of course, focus that much on that here at the feast so much, but we want to focus on the fact that God's kingdom is coming. But notice again down in verse 25. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. And after they have borne their shame, and all their unhappen unfaithfulness, in which they were unfaithful to me, when they dwelled safely in their own land, and no one made them afraid. And when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of the enemy's lands, I am hollowed in them in the sight of many nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.

And I will not hide my face from them any more. For I shall have poured out my spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God. So the time, brethren, I know it seems incredible, but the time in this day that we're celebrating, the Feast of Tabernacles looks toward to this, the time of Israel's suffering, and the world's suffering, as we know it, is going to come to an end.

You know, this awful world that we live in, where there is so much tragedy, there's so much violence, and war, and death, and disease, and family breakdown, and marriages are torn to pieces. It seems that people's lives, again, are topsy-turvy and upside down in this world. The time of the suffering for Israel and mankind will end.

And the Day of Atonement, we observe, of course, signifies when Satan is going to be removed, at least for a thousand years, and God is going to pour his spirit out on mankind, and Jesus Christ is going to come as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and rule. And he's going to rule out of Jerusalem.

Let's notice over here, though, I want to show you this, that when God begins to, again, fulfill this, when it begins to occur, let's go over here to chapter 48. We'll just read one verse over here.

Of course, people are going to hear about, you know, what, in fact, you know, that Jesus Christ is doing, and they're going to want to know about what he's doing and who he is. And, of course, we'll be there to help answer those questions, and what he's trying to do, and his plan, and all he's trying to accomplish. But in chapter 48, just one verse I want you to notice here, brethren, and this is why I chose the title of this sermon today. Like I say, God has always, brethren, wanted to dwell with man. He's always wanted to. He's wanted to dwell with us. He's a good father. He's a father that doesn't dodge his responsibility.

But notice in verse 35, it talks about, of course, a description of what, in fact, Jerusalem is going to be, how it's going to be cordoned off, and how it's going to be laid out. And it says, and all the way around, shall be 18,000 cubits. But here's what I want to focus on, brethren.

And the name of the city, this of course will be Jerusalem, from that day shall be the Lord is there. You want to go to Jerusalem, you go to the Lord is there. You know, God always calls things what they are, doesn't he? The Lord is there. You want to see Jesus Christ? The Lord is there. He is there.

You ever look, go into a mall and you want to find out where you are? You know, there's got an arrow that says, you are here. Well, there's going to be an arrow, I guess, in one sense, in a figurative sense, the Lord is there. Not anywhere else, He's there. And, you know, He's going to dwell with us. He's going to be with us.

You know, the sum of the Bible is how God sees dwelling with man and how He will dwell with man in the future. You know, it seems like it's amazing. Israel is like a wayward child. It doesn't want to relate to their dad.

You know, sometimes a marriage can be broken down and maybe either the husband or the wife takes off with the kids and the, you know, one or the other doesn't even have access to their children. They love to dearly spend time with their children. Sometimes even people go to the extent of hiding out, you know, to get away from the other mate.

You know, thankfully my wife and I have never and hopefully never ever experienced anything like that. But I can only imagine if you had a yearning to be with your kids and you couldn't be. Maybe because of the choices that they've made as well.

But, you know, one of the great lessons that Israel never learned is who God is, who their God is. And that time and again we find that God, you know, says, then they shall know the Lord. Then they shall know. And in fact, it is said so many times in the Scriptures. You go and count it. You know, when God talks about Israel and something is going to happen to Israel, He says, then they shall know. Then they shall know the Lord. Because that's one of the hardest things that seemed for people to get, to understand. They seemed like they were always following after false gods and doing those things contrary to what God wanted them to do.

But God, brethren, wants us to know who He is. He is our Father. He is our parent. And, you know, God wants each of us to live a certain way of life that is pleasing to Him so that He feels comfortable around us. Again, not happening in the world.

But God's presence has been there from time to time. We know it was there in the Garden of Eden. He talked to Adam and Eve face to face. It was with Israel at Sinai when God, remember, spoke to Israel. And the mountain was on fire and burned like a furnace. And His voice shook the ground and the people were afraid.

God was there. His presence was there. And when Moses, in fact, saw God, remember, he wanted to see God, and God put him a crevice of a rock and passed by, and he saw the hind parts of God.

You know, God has been present all along with mankind, but again, He has not dwelt in the same way with man as He did in the Garden of Eden. You know, with mankind in general, I'm saying. He has done that with individuals over time.

You know, the Jewish rabbis, you know, coined a, what we would call an extra-biblical word, by the way, Shekinah, to signify God's presence. There really isn't a Hebrew word, you know, in the Bible that expresses it this way. But the word Shekinah, by the way, has to do with God dwelling with man, or dwelling, you know, in person, as He did with Abraham, as He did with Moses. He talked to Moses face-to-face. He spoke, He dealt with Israel in a, you know, in a cloud, from a cloud and a pillar of fire.

You know, when the tabernacle was built, God was present in the Holy of Holies. And He sat between the cariboum, you know, that were, remember, the wings outstretched over the mercy seat, where, in fact, the law of God, the commandments were. Later, you know, during the time of Saul, Samuel consulted with God as God sat between the cariboum.

You know, again, you see that, you know, in the Old Testament.

But God was there in the tabernacle.

And, you know, God, of course, there are many scriptures that tell us about that. One is in Psalm 99, verse 1. I'll just quote it to you. It says, The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble. He is enthroned above the cariboum.

Let the earth shake.

And there are a number of scriptures that again show that God sat between the cariboum.

And when Solomon's temple was built, a cloud of God's glory, so filled, by the way, the temple itself, that it drove the priests out.

I don't know if you've ever been in a fog that was so thick that you could almost cut it.

I've been in those kind of fogs out there, you know, in the central part of California. They call it the Thule's out there.

And sometimes it gets so foggy out there. I mean, if you're driving on the road, you've got to pull over.

I remember there was another minister and I, they were coming back home one night, and it was so foggy, I couldn't find my way home.

I could see the road, but I couldn't find my way home.

And somehow, accidentally, we got on the right roads, and well, we're here, you know.

But that day, when God's glory, when God's presence was in the temple, brethren, that glory drove out the priests of God. They just couldn't stay.

You know, the temple that Solomon built, by the way, was opulent.

Again, he spared no expense with it.

I don't know if you've seen some of the interior pictures of Solomon's temple.

But again, Solomon spent a great deal of money on that.

I don't know exactly how much money was spent on it, but it was far more than we can even imagine.

But gold filled the interior of that temple.

It would be a marvel of construction to see today. And you know, the Jews had such a great pride in the temple, and they boasted that the temple would always exist. They thought it would never, ever, you know, end.

But God, we know, did vacate the temple because of how the people lived.

And after God vacated the temple, well, the temple itself was demolished. It was destroyed.

In fact, when Judah returned from Babylon captivity, they built a temple. They thought that temple would never be destroyed.

And we know that did not come to fruition either. It was destroyed.

And then later we have what some have called Ezra's and Herod's temple.

Herod's temple, by the way, was quite impressive. You could see the white walls that were surrounding the temple mount, by the way, 25 miles away.

It was quite impressive.

And the temple of Herod, by the way, was twice as big as Solomon's temple, not as opulent, you know, of what Solomon had. But it was quite impressive.

But when, of course, the Jews did not obey God, we know the story. And they counted how the Romans came in. You know, that General Rome came in, the Spatian, and the temple was destroyed.

And today they're trying to build another temple. And every year they try to get that foundation stone up there, don't they?

They work to do it.

And maybe somewhere along the line they'll succeed in accomplishing something.

I personally don't think a temple is going to be built, though. I think we may find, in fact, that we simply will begin sacrifices up there in some way or some manner. And, of course, that's going to rile the entire world.

But let's go over to Ezekiel 8. So this temple was built in Jerusalem. People thought, again, it would always be, it would always exist.

In chapter 8, of course, we read about how, you know, they were turning to, you know, the worship of pagan gods. In fact, in chapter 8 here, we find, you know, it talks about how God says they do all of these incredible abominations.

But in Ezekiel 8 and verse 3, Ezekiel 8 and verse 3, it says, And He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by the lock of my hair, you know, here's Ezekiel, And the Spirit lifted me up between heaven and earth, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, And to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain. Now, what did Ezekiel see? Well, what he saw, brethren, he saw God's glory, God's incredible presence that had been there where the temple began to depart, it began to leave the temple.

Let's go down to chapter 10 now, chapter 10 and verse 4 over here. And it says, then, verse 4 of chapter 10 of Ezekiel, Then the glory of the Lord went up from the carob, and paused over the threshold of the temple. It's departing, you know, from the temple. And the house was filled with a cloud, and the court was full of brightness of the Lord's glory, the eternal's glory. And God's glory, His presence, was beginning to move to the temple door, and it moved toward the east gate.

Chapter 11, let's go over to, well, down to verse 18. Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple, and stood over the carob, and the carob lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. And when they went out, the wheels were beside them, and they stood at the door of the east gate, of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

This east gate, by the way, was the gate through which they, at atonement, they led the Azazel, took him down to the Kidron Valley, up to the Mount of Olives, and let him go into the wilderness of Judea. It was also the door, the gate, through which they took the red heifer that was taken to the Mount of Olives that was sacrificed, and the blood was sprinkled toward the temple, you know, for the sins of the people.

But I think there's some, actually some images there that would be interesting to explore. But God's glory moved, you know, from the threshold to the east gate, through the Kidron Valley, then, of course, to the Mount of Olives. And after this, we see again that God, in His presence, departs over in chapter 11 and verse 22. So the caribim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them.

And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city. And then the Spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaudiya, to those in captivity, in a vision I had seen went up from me. And so that is when, brethren, God's presence departed, moved from the temple, and departed from mankind.

And, in fact, it will not return again until the Kingdom of God is established. God's presence is in each of us through the Spirit of God, but His presence, indeed, that Solomon talked about, is not upon the earth. It just is not upon the earth, but it will be. It will be in the future. We know through Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ was the manifestation of the glory of God. He was the Immanuel. He was the God with us. You know, John 1 and 14 tells us about that, how the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.

And in Christ, of course, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. He was the image, the express image of the Father. But in the future, Jesus Christ, brethren, will, in fact, be the God who will dwell in the temple in Jerusalem, and will be present with humankind. And God's presence will fill the temple, and the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon mankind.

There needs to be a change of heart in people. And God's going to bring that about, just like He brought it about for you and with me. We were able to change the way we think. I know sometimes we're hard-headed, aren't we? It takes a little while for that to change. But God has a way. You don't think He can get to you? We may have some here that are resisting the call of God. They have some young people, in fact, that are holding back.

But you know, God, if He wants you in His church, and if you're here, there's a good chance He does. You can't withstand the call of God. And young people are very important to God, in every sense of the word, because the calling of God is a generational thing. I came into the church when I began to study, I think, about 16 or so.

My parents, by the way, were good Baptists. And you know, they went to church maybe once a year, though. Not so good, I guess. They were, you know, they went, at least on Christmas and Easter, which most people probably do. But anyway, they were shocked when I began to study that old Sabbath. You know, I remember I was giving, when I first started working, I was making, I think, about $40 a week. And I was working at Tucker Duck and Rubber Company.

So, very cultured, by the way, factory I worked at in Arkansas. And anyway, my first tithe was $4. My dad was upset I was sending that to Pasadena, California. I said, that is $4. And he said, well, son, charity begins at home. Well, you know, I came home and I was one of those kids that gave all my paycheck to my mother anyway. They had the money anyway, but anyway, he wasn't too happy about me going the direction I did.

But, you know, my calling would have really, although our individual calling are very important, God called me for the purpose, as he called many of you as well, that have families for the generations that come from you. And, you know, maybe there's a reason we have five grandsons, huh? Maybe there's a reason for that. And maybe there's a reason why you have five granddaughters. You know, it's the way God works it out, isn't it?

And I'm thankful for that, by the way, that God has that plan. But it's a generational thing. But if you're holding back from God, brethren, and if God wants you in the church, again, look out. Look out what you think is going to happen. My thought, when I was, you know, 16, 17 years of age, I didn't have much experience, but I concluded back then, if I don't obey God, if I don't do these things that God wants me to do, I really did believe that God would kill me. That's a strong motivator, isn't it? You know, so God wants us to do it in a generational sense, to pass it on.

And I hope we've really done that here at the Feast of Tabernacles. But God's Holy Spirit, brethren, is God's glory, God's presence in each of us today. And God's Spirit does not fill the earth. There are very few that, in fact, have God's glory, His Holy Spirit, within their temple, which is, of course, the body the Bible talks about.

As we've heard already here, of course, in the first message, we're talking about, you know, the reign of Christ and the way of life that God wants us to live, is the same way of life that, in fact, we're going to live in the world tomorrow. He wants us to do it now. But we are, in fact, as God's people, as Mr. Suckling brought out, in fact, how we are going to commence, as soon as Jesus Christ comes back, on a refurbishing program of this entire world. And every man, woman, and child is going to be needed for that monumental task. You know, that spiritual, martial plan that God has for us to refurbish this entire earth after World War III occurs. But you know, one of the first projects, brethren, we're going to do in the world tomorrow? You know what it's going to be?

We're going to build a temple, right there in Jerusalem. We already know what the name of the city is going to be, by the way, because the Lord will be there. But one of the first projects we're going to do is to build the temple in the world tomorrow. You know, I find it very interesting. When I was looking at this message for the feast, you read all of the specs that are in the book of Ezekiel.

You know what that conveys to me? That God is excited about this. He's given every last detail that you need to build this temple, as many call it, of course, Ezekiel's temple, but it is God's temple. And, you know, God, of course, is excited about it. And he commissioned Ezekiel. He said, I want you to go and tell Israel the details of this, this new temple that's going to be constructed there in Jerusalem. You know, at the beginning, you know, when I return, when my kingdom is set up. But going on, let's go to chapter 44 over here, chapter 44 of Ezekiel. We know the time is going to come when, in fact, God is going to be here.

I know that's incredible. Some of the songs, by the way, that we sing in church, when I imagine what it's going to be like, you know, I don't know about you, but it brings tears to my eyes. I'm not going to tell you which song it is, but there's, there's one particular song that we sing. I never make it through the whole thing. I mean, I just cannot sing the last, you know, three or four stanzas of, of one of the hymns, because I mean, it's just an emotional thing to me. When I think of all of the suffering that's in the world today, all the things that people go through. And just as we heard again from the very, very beginning of this feast, you know, the, the, the many things that people go through and what the hope is there, you know, for the future, it brings tears to my eyes when Jesus Christ is going to be here. He's really going to be here. But in chapter 44 of chapter of Ezekiel, I should say, in verse one, notice here, Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the Lord God said to me, this gate shall be shut and it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter it because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it. Therefore it shall be shut. So there are going to be specific doors that only God can enter by. And it says, And as for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway and go out the same way. So the prince, and this prince, by the way, is likely David here. He's going to go out and come in a certain way. And going on here in verse four, And he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, So I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Eternal, and I fell on my face. Ezekiel saw it depart the temple of Solomon, and now here he sees it in the temple that is in Jerusalem. The Lord is there. His presence is there. His Shekinah is there.

And verse eight, going on down here, and it says, And it says, And you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of my sanctuary for you. Thus says the Lord God, No foreigner, uncircumcised in the flesh, shall enter my sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel. And so God is going to be very selective about who is going to be serving in the temple. And be aware, brethren, what we do now, how we live now as God's people impacts how we will serve in the future. So what you and I are doing counts. I think Mr. Kubik's message, where he was encouraging all of us to live a pure life as God's people, we need to, again, set a high standard, a high bar in our spiritual lives, brethren. Frankly, I think we all need to be more dedicated. We need to rededicate ourselves, you know, to really, as God's people, live in a more righteous manner than we do. And that we, again, live God's way of life, that we, in fact, have it with our heart, soul, and mind. Love God with all of our heart and our soul and our mind.

But, you know, God is not going to, again, have somebody that is serving in his temple in the future. You know, and let's say they have, you know, clean hands. But notice going on down through here, verse 9 or verse 10, And the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. And then he talks about, though, they're going to be ministers in my sanctuary as gatekeepers of the house. So he's given specific responsibilities to some that are going to be utilized in the kingdom.

And so God is going to give responsibility, reward according to their works, as we know the Bible talks about, in that responsibility in the future. We know the story also about, by the way, this temple, that there is a river that will emanate from under the throne of God. It will begin, apparently, as a small stream.

And this river will, the further away from Jerusalem it gets, will broaden.

And it will be abundantly full of fish.

He talks about fishermen, you know, on the banks, you know, bringing in a big catch.

There are going to be trees that will have healing properties on either side of the river that are never going to cease to bear fruit.

And the leaves are going to be for the healing of the nations. They'll have a medicinal effect and have a healing capacity.

Now, this river, by the way, is going to get broad.

I grew up in Arkansas, and the Arkansas River in some places is a mile across.

And sometimes, I remember back in the old days, you could actually walk across it because it was very shallow, but it was very wide.

Over in Israel, by the way, the Jordan River is so narrow you can jump across some parts of it.

But this river is not going to be that. This river is going to be a broad river.

And wherever the waters go, it's going to heal, the Bible says.

Now, we want to be, by the way, in this great time, we want to be there when God's temple is established in Jerusalem.

But who is going to be there? You know, Mr. Cubitt talked about that, turning to Psalm 15, so I won't go through that with you here today.

But, you know, we know it again, as I said earlier, we have to have clean hands, brethren.

And God gives the parameters for that in many ways. He compared it, of course, to the Sermon on the Mount that is over there.

But who is going to be there? Well, because of the courage of certain individuals through history, God's going to have them.

You know, Zadok, the high priest, by the way, his sons are going to serve in the tabernacle, in the temple, in the millennium, because of the faithfulness of Zadok, the high priest.

You know, God prizes, brethren, faithfulness and loyalty. We see that in the Bible.

You know, he wants us, brethren, to learn loyalty to your family.

You know, who was it? The Godfather. You'd never go against your family.

God wants us, brethren, to be faithful to our family.

You know, you don't want to be with your family and have to watch your back, do you?

Because we're in a battle, we're in a war, and loyalty is very important, brethren.

God's going to give responsibility in the future to those like, you know, the sons of Zadok, even his children, his descendants are going to be given responsibility in the temple because God feels he can trust, you know, his children, his descendants.

And the same will be true with us, brethren.

You know, the old saying, the nut doesn't fall too far from the tree, I think is true.

You know, generally, children do turn out essentially, you know, as their parents do, but hopefully, you know, our kids inherit the good character, our good qualities that we have as God's people.

Well, David is going to be there. David the Prince is going to have a very high role in the world tomorrow.

He's going to be there and he's going to be close to Jesus Christ.

You know, Jesus Christ and David are going to be as thick as Jonathan and David were.

Who else is going to be there, brethren? The Bride of Christ. The Bride of Christ. The Church.

You know what the Bible tells us in Revelation 3 verse 12?

It talks about, it says, He who overcomes, that's what we're trying to do, isn't it? As God's people.

He who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.

And it says, He will go no more out. He will go no more out.

I want you to think about what that means. He will go no more out.

Now think about the fact that on the Day of Atonement, the high priest only went into the Holy of Holies once during the Day of Atonement.

One time a year.

But those who are going to be in the temple of God will go no more out.

Always have access to the Holy of Holies.

Of course, we're going to be with our husband, aren't we?

And we'll work in conjunction with Jesus Christ, and we'll be lords and kings, as we have heard already at this feast.

Number four, Jesus Christ is going to have around Him, brethren, people who please Him.

He's going to have around Him, people who please Him.

Are we pleasing God, brethren, as God's people?

We receive answered prayers because we keep His commandments, and we do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

And if we please God, we'll be around Jesus Christ in the future.

You know, God's going to use us to take the gospel to the world.

You know, the law shall go forth from Zion, as it says, you know, to Isaiah and elsewhere.

That law is going to go out. It's going to be carried out by you and me, those of the church of God.

We're going to carry the gospel, the good news.

And the good news, brethren, is that you can be a part of God's family.

You know, it says in the book of Psalms, it says, the Lord has made known His salvation.

His righteousness He's openly shown in the sight of the nations.

In the world of tomorrow, He's going to do that. All they're going to see, everybody's going to know God from the least and to the greatest.

I'm not going to go into this part of it, but the temple, of course, where God's presence is going to be at the outset of the millennium, we know that when New Jerusalem comes down and of heaven, that in fact, we know that Jesus Christ and the Father are going to be in that temple, and they will be the light of that temple.

And then we won't have need of a son. We'll have need of the lights, the orbs of the heavens, because in fact, God the Father in Jesus Christ will be the light of it all.

Now, tomorrow we're going to hear more about that time, you know, during the great white-prone judgment time, when God's presence is going to be incredible at that time, when all of mankind is going to have that great opportunity, you know, an incredible number of people into the billions are going to be brought up and shown God's wonderful way of life.

But, brethren, God promises us, He promises us that we will be in His presence forever.

We're not going to be on some cloud, floating around, looking into the face of God, though. We're going to be very busy for the future.

You know, brethren, where God is, there is happiness, there is joy, there is tranquility, there is every good thing.

And when Jesus Christ is King, brethren, He's King of kings and Lord of lords, Jerusalem will be called. The Lord is there.

And my hope, brethren, my prayer for all of us, brethren, is that you and I will be there in that marvelous city where the presence of God will be.