1 & 2 Samuel (Program #25) – God’s Building Himself in Christ into our Being Through the Metabolic Process of Transformation

Most believers and readers of the Bible recognize that prophecy is an important component of scripture. There are great books of the Bible that have long been recognized as being important from a prophetic perspective. Books like Revelation in the New Testament and Ezekiel and Daniel in the Old Testament. But normally, we don’t think of the history books in the Old Testament as being important for prophecy. And while this may be generally true, there are notable exceptions such as 2 Samuel 7. Listen to 3 verses from this chapter and see if you can find the prophecy that Witness Lee considered one of the highest in all of scripture.

“When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, which will come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. It is he who will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he will be My son.”

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Joshua (Program #2) – God’s Commission

Whenever we look at history, we should be able to see the hidden history within history. Because the history of mankind is actually the history of God in His move to accomplish His eternal purpose. He created man for this purpose. And from that day unto the present day God has moved in, through and with man. First to redeem and then to from His redeemed into His corporate counterpart, the Church.

The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel describes this move as the move of a great wheel turning upon the earth as God moves ever closer to His ultimate goal. Even as we read the history of His people, Israel we need to see this move. As we come again today not just to the book of Ezekiel but specifically to the book of Joshua where we see His move as we’re about ready to take a major advance. more…

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Ezekiel (Program #25) – The Holy Land and the Holy City

Clearly the subject and central focus of the last section of the book of Ezekiel is the temple, the house of God. Show the house to the house, the Lord tells Ezekiel and that is exactly what he does in the final chapters. Yet, there’s a very profound postscript to Ezekiel’s vision that is found in the final chapters of the book and that is the land upon which the temple sits. In fact the land and the house are the central focus of the entire Old Testament. Recall Jehovah’s words to Joshua following the death of Moses as the children of Israel were encamped at the border of the good land in Canaan, “Moses My servant is dead; now then arise, and cross over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the children of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads I have given to you, as I promised Moses…Be strong and take courage, for you will cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.” (Joshua 1:2-3,6). Well if the temple typifies the church as the fulfillment of the house of God, what then does this land typify?

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Ezekiel (Program #24) – The River Flowing from the House

An outstanding feature that appears again and again throughout the pages of the Bible both in the Old Testament and the New is a river. The river was prominent in Genesis and the river appears in the books of history and the books of the prophets in the Old Testament. This river is still flowing in the gospels especially in the Gospel of John where the river flows out of the pierced side of the Lord Jesus. And it continues to flow right through the final chapters of Revelation where it is seen proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the New Jerusalem. In all of these mentions the river is a very positive factor, very much related to the matter of the divine eternal life. One of the more striking appearances that this river makes is in Ezekiel 47 where it’s seen flowing out of the house of God. In this chapter it becomes a deep river – too deep and too wide to be passed over. The one that we have no choice but to abandon ourselves to and swim in.

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Ezekiel (Program #23) – The Priests and the Offerings

The Lord revealed to Ezekiel that above all, He desires a place on the earth where He can put the soles of His feet that would also be the place of His throne. In other words, God desires to have a dwelling place, a place of rest and satisfaction; and, a place where He can administrate His heavenly rule and His divine move over the entire earth. This is the real significance of the house of God as revealed to Ezekiel and as revealed to us, the church, which is the reality of the house of God in the New Testament. But after we receive such a high revelation concerning the significance of God’s building, we need a further realization as to the kind of persons that are qualified to serve Him in His house.

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Ezekiel (Program #22) – The Return of God’s Glory to the House

Early in his ministry as recorded in chapters 9 and 10, the prophet Ezekiel had seen the glory of Jehovah depart from the temple and even from the earth. It was the gross sin of the people, the abominations, the whoredom, the carcasses and the degradation that caused the Lord’s glory to depart. But after receiving the vision of the completion of the building of the temple in chapter 43, Ezekiel saw another vision. This time a vision of the glory of Jehovah returning to the earth and filling the temple. This is Ezekiel 43:1-5, “Then He brought me to the gate, that is, the gate that faces toward the east. And the glory of the God of Israel was there … and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth was illuminated with His glory. And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, that is, like the vision that I had seen when He came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I had seen by the river Chebar. And I fell on my face. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house through the gate which faced toward the east. And the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court, and just then the glory of Jehovah filled the house.”

Following the vision of the glory of the Lord filling the house, the Lord had many things to say to Ezekiel as He also does to us concerning His house. Question is, do we have ears to hear and eyes to see the house of God?

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Ezekiel (Program #21) – The Building at the Back, the Walls, the Incense Altar, the Holy Chambers, and the Boiling Places

Ezekiel, a book of visions, begins in chapter 1 with the vision of God’s glory. The final vision in chapter 40 is a vision of the house of God or the building of God. Hopefully, we like Ezekiel, have seen both of these great visions in our life – a vision of God’s glory and a vision of His building. But the sad truth is that though Christians speak much concerning the glory of God, there are precious few words spoken concerning His building. Most likely, it’s because this great vision is yet to be seen by the vast majority God’s children.

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Ezekiel (Program #20) – The Temple and Side Chambers

The gospel of John gives us the unforgettable picture of Jesus coming into the temple in Jerusalem. And in the display of the most righteous anger, the sight of God’s house being turned into a place of merchandise and commerce, He cleanses the temple – overturning the tables and chasing the peddlers away. Immediately following this comes a profound exchange between the Lord Jesus and the religionists. In John 2:18-21, “The Jews then answered and said to Him, What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, This temple was built in forty-six years, and You will raise it up in three days? But He spoke of the a temple of His body.” What makes this word so meaningful is that John clearly identifies Jesus as the real temple, the real house of God. This means even as we consider the temple in the Old Testament such as in Ezekiel’s great vision in chapters 40 to 48, we must realize that this is a type of the Lord Jesus Himself and of the church, the New Testament, the enlargement of God’s house.

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Ezekiel (Program #19) – The Altar

God’s eternal purpose is to have a building and the center of that building is the altar. This is a picture of the cross of Christ – apart from which we cannot have the church.

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Ezekiel (Program #18) – The Outer and Inner Courts

In the temple in Ezekiel, there are two courts – the outer court and the inner court. Originally, we were all wandering outside the wall, in the world and apart from God’s purpose. But praise the Lord, we pass through Christ as the gate and by the mercy of the Lord, we began to enjoy Christ in the outer court of God’s temple. Eventually, we pass through Christ again into the inner court. And that’s when the service and ministry to God begins.

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