Just look at these explainations!
January 1919 IBSA Convention Report
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SUPPLEMENT
"THE EZEKIEL TEMPLE"
By Bro. Geo. H. Fisher
At Brooklyn Tabernacle, Oct. 14, 1917, 3:00 P. M.
PART I
IT seems as though now at the close of the Age, long after the Master has knocked at the heart of each of His followers, that a multitude, many thousands, yet a little number comparatively, the remainder of the 144,000, are yet to enter the gate of Heaven, and it seems that the door of Heaven opens a little wider and the Lord gives us a little better glimpse of things beyond the vail and things beyond the trouble than we have ever had before. This is just what we might expect of one so loving and kind as our Master. We love Him, but our love for Him is not to be compared with His love for us. And so, as we stand upon the threshold of this door (the Temple door), he has opened it perhaps a little wider to let the crowd in that is coming: and as we stand before the portals prepared to go in the Master opens the door a little more and gives us this wonderful picture, which is
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perhaps a plainer vision of some things that lie beyond than we have ever had before.
One of the dear friends was up there at Scranton, — Sister Siebert. Somehow or other, because I had been over Ezekiel it got around that I knew something about Ezekiel, but I didn't. Brother Woodworth knew a great deal about Revelation. Sister Siebert said to me, "Sit down and explain Ezekiel to me." If she had asked me to do any other impossible thing I could not have started with any greater misgivings. 1 opened the back of the Bible and there something Brother Russell said opened up that first chapter and it was that comment which said the great cloud enfolding itself was the time of trouble. As often as I had looked it over I had never noticed that. At any rate, it was a suggestion and enough. I sat down and explained the chapter then as it appears in the book. Before that I had never understood it. Nothing supernatural about that. Something Brother Russell had written was enough to throw light on the whole chapter. This is the way it was all through the book.
At every point where difficulties seemed insurmountable something Brother Russell had written threw enough light on that section to make it understandable. If Brother Russell had written less than he did I notice Brother Fisher could not have understood it. So we attribute the work to Brother Russell, and I think we do so justly, because the Lord illuminated the points through Brother Russell's writings, which perhaps no other man could have explained, which threw light on the whole thing.
The way it was started was like this. Sister Siebert came to Brooklyn and told the Executive Committee that two brethren knew something about Revelation and Ezekiel and the Executive Committee requested Brother Woodworth and Brother Fisher to present such matter as they might feel able, that it might be considered with other matter. That was the commission.
Now, this chart represents the finished work of God. It also represents the steps toward that finished work.
In Ephesians 1:8-11 the Apostle speaks about "God hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the secret of His will (this is what we see before us), that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one (under one) all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven and on earth, even in Him." He speaks of the same thing in Col. 1:19, "For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of His cross (by Christ) reconciling all things to Himself, whether they be in Heaven or on earth."
This is what is pictured in Ezekiel 40:14, and our attitude of mind toward this wonderful temple is expressed by the Prophet, who was a type of our beloved Pastor Russell. "And the man said unto me." You know in prophecy in the case of the man in linen and the six others which Ezekiel saw, the man represented Pastor Russell. We know that Brother Russell saw that man was himself. "The man said unto me, Son of Man, behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears (Spiritual ears unstopped. Don't treat it lightly, don't pass it over), set thine heart upon all that I shall show you." Why are we brought this far along the Narrow Way? Why do we see the gates of Heaven throwing such a light upon our way? "It is to the intent that I might show them unto thee that thou art brought hither," thus far along the way, that they might be shown unto us, that they might be opened unto us, the vision seen of men of old time, which holy men of God desired to look into and had not been able. And as we see it, what are we to do? Shut it up in dark closets. It might get us into trouble! "Declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel (Christendom)." Everyone must have a chance to see it.
Ezek. 43:10. "Thou son of man show the great sanctuary (the plan) unto the house of Israel (tell about the great plan of God), that they may be ashamed of their iniquities," And surely there is a showdown now of Christendom's iniquities. Who ever dreamed that that book contains the denunciations it does of the house of Israel. "That they may be ashamed of their iniquities." I should think they would be ashamed, wouldn't you ? Any Christian man that realizes that he has been a partner in these practices should be ashamed, and all men having the Holy Spirit will be ashamed. "That they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the pattern." Let them take the word of God and take their measure.
Ezek. 43:11. "If they are ashamed of all that they have done, then show them the form of the house." Tell them all they will hear. "Show them the form of the house and the fashion thereof, and all the ordinances thereof and all the laws thereof and write it down in their sight." They will read that Seventh Volume. "Write it in their sight that they may keep the form and all the ordinances thereof and do them."
You see this man Ezekiel going into the temple. It shows him at the East Gate. We first see the Temple as though it was like a dream, and there is a lack of connectedness in it. It looks as though it was on the top of a mountain and on the slopes of the mountain was the frame of a city below. The city would refer to the civil government of the Age and the Temple the religious organization.
There stood the man with the measure. "Behold there was the man" — Pastor Russell — "whose appearance was like the appearance of brass," or copper, a priest justified by faith in the merit of Christ imputed to him, "with a line of flax in his hand." Flax is linen. In his power was linen to measure with, "and a reed to measure with."
In Rev. 14:1 it says, "There was given me a reed like a rod, and the angel stood saying, Rise and measure the Temple of God." This measurement of a reed six cubits long applied to any object means the full measure of the Word of God relating to that object. So we would understand. With the reed he measured the Temple, Sanctuary, and the whole building, with the flax he measured only one thing. That measurement was that of the life-giving stream that flowed out from the Temple, past the altar, through the East Gate and thence through successive depths of one thousand to four thousand cubits respectively, thence to the Dead Sea. The world lies in the valley and shadow of death. The water of life flowed into the Dead Sea for its cleansing and revivifying.
Pastor Russell said something about four, viz., the four quarters of the race course. That was it, wasn't it? The waters gave life. "He that loveth is begotten of God." So with life, there is no life without love. Where love comes in there is life. So it was plain that the first thousand cubits meant measuring up to the extreme completeness of obedience to the Lord in duty love. The second thousand cubits meant measuring to the fulness of the Divine standard with reference to love for God's glorious character. The third thousand cubits meant measuring up to the standard of love for the brethren. The fourth thousand, measuring up to the full standard of Divine love in loving our enemies.
You will notice that anyone in that stream who possessed duty love only was paddling around in the water up to his ankles. No man has fully gotten into the stream of Divine Love until he attains the Fourth Degree.
We will first compare the Temple with the Tabernacle. The Temple is simply the Tabernacle with additions. It is the Tabernacle over again. Instead of having a wall around the Tabernacle, it had a curtain, and a curtain is not made up of one, but many members, many fibres, many strings put together. When you think of it, the curtain around the Tabernacle represented Christ, Christ's righteousness, and those to whom it was imputed. Herein the Temple we find a wall around the court. It is built of stones. These walls around the Courts and around the Temple are built of large stones.
Some are going to be stones in the Temple. That is where you want to be. You all want to be stones in the Temple. You have no invitation to be a part of the Inner Court wall or of the Outer Court wall. Why try to qualify for the Great Company wall when you might as well be in the Temple? Why be living stones not cut specifically to pattern?
There is a measurement for the outer wall. It was one reed thick. That is one of the first things measured. It is called a building. "The building was six cubits high and six cubits thick." That wasn't a very large building.
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What kind of a building was it? A building is a structure, anything built. This structure here, this wall here, that which was built here, this building was six by six cubits.
How remember the reed was six cubits long. The reed is the full measure of the Word of God. It represents that this class represented in this wall measured up to the full measure of the Word of God relating to it, and stands as a wall in advance of whatever is indicated by this Outer Court plane here.
This Outer Court plane represents human perfection. It represents tentative justification for those who had not received the Holy Spirit. Those who did receive the Holy Spirit receive actual justification, i.e., the priests and the Great Company. So this Outer Court wall represents tentative justification during the millennium, during the thousand years when the hosts of mankind are struggling to rise up the seven steps to the Outer Court plane.
One class will already have qualified for it. That class is spoken of in Heb. 11, which endured incredible sufferings and trials that they might have a better resurrection, Elijah, Elisha, David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other Ancient Worthies, who were living stones cut out and laid away, waiting to be built into this Outer Court wall. In the future we hope to be the ones who will be patterns to the great hordes of twenty billions of people now in the grave.
The Temple wall is also six cubits thick. The Temple has double walls, the inner is six cubits thick. What does it mean ? It means it is to be made up of living stones, each one of which has measured to the full measure of the Word of God for that plane indicated by its location, i.e., the Divine nature. One hundred and forty-four thousand stones in that wall. One reed thick, six cubits thick, they will have measured up fully to every requirement of the Word of God before they pass beyond the vail.
How thick is the Great Company wall? Turn to Ezek. 40 to 48th chapters and find it if you can. It isn't there. It just says it is a wall. Does it say it is six cubits thick? It isn't six cubits thick. Those who go into that wall are stones cut all manner of shapes and sizes. This is the class which is spoken of in 1 Cor. 3:10-15, in which the Apostle Paul speaks of himself as the master builder, laying the foundation. Paul lays the foundation, which is Christ, and everyone who has the Holy Spirit is on that foundation. Does the Great Company measure to the full stature of Christ, or the full requirements of the Word of God? They measure all the way from (as Job says it) "getting through by the skin of their teeth," to just coming a shaving short of the six cubits of the full measure of the Word of God. So there is no measure spoken of for the Inner Court wall.
This Inner Court types those in the Tabernacle Court after the Church has passed beyond the vail. You know what class will be living there when those tentatively justified who have fled from the Court through persecutions coming upon the world, and all Christian people, in the near future. In the French Revolution if any man happened to call himself a Christian, you know what happened to him. I don't need to tell the dreadful story. When persecutions get severe, every man will say, "This is too warm for me, I am no Christian." Those who are tentatively justified and not on this strong foundation will be swept by the fire of that day and leave in there the Great Company only. They are the only ones left there after the Church is gone and they are the class that steps, as it were, from this life to the next to be on the Inner Court plane.
And so this inner place, the Most Holy, is called the Word of God, called under another word which means the same thing, — the oracle. That word has two meanings. In ancient superstitions, when Alexander was starting on his world-wide conquest he went to the Oracle of Delphi and there received the oracle of the gods. The oracle means the place, and also the message from the place. The Logos also means the word that proceeds from Him or in Him.
Our place is in the Temple. We can't stop in the Outer Court. You can stop in the Inner Court here if you want to. You would have breathing space, you think. You would be a servant! That is where you are called to the Temple itself. "Few there be that find it." You are not going to stop on these steps of the gate to the Inner Court, but you are going to stop in the "oracle" of God the great Word of God, a member of it.
The different gates have different meanings, different usages in the Temple. The East Gate is colored red, the same as the altar. Ezek. 43, "Afterward he brought me to the gate, even that gate that looks toward the east." Behold, he saw something there. Turn back to Ezekiel's first chapter, and see that wonderful vision. When first beginning to understand that we didn't see as clearly as now what that glory was. We first thought it was God Himself. No, it was not. Brother Russell threw light on that too. He made all things plain. There isn't a thing that he didn't make plain if we make a little careful application of what he said. This is the place where Pastor Russell makes this plain. Ezek. 43 :l-4, "Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east" and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like a noise of many waters and the earth shined with His glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city, and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the east."
Here is where Pastor Russell told us what it was. Ezek. 44:1, 2, "Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. Then saith the Lord unto me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, because the Lord God of Israel hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut." And Pastor Russell said the door would be shut. Isn't it plain? What it meant is that the glory of God that went in was the church, the little flock of 144,000. Small in number but great in glory. When you read the vision read this into it. Where you see the great four living attributes, Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power, each combining the others, and see the great wheels, the great plan, whirling wheels it calls them in the Hebrew, in constant operation, and see the firmament above, the gulden globe, reaching up to the throne, it represents the Christ, head and body, and so when the glory of God went in at the east gate the Christ went in; and when they have gone in, according to another picture, when the virgins have gone in the door is to be shut. So when the glory of God went through the door was shut and the Great Company could not come in that way. The only ones that can come in that way are those coming in by the blood, those that suffer with Him.
The wonderful glory of God is the Church. How harmonize it, because it doesn't say the church entered in, but that Jehovah entered in? How about the Church? You know that little Tabernacle, the small room is called the Most Holy. It is made of gold. Gold types the Divine nature. What metal is the Holy made of? Gold, too. Have you got the Divine nature? What is Divine about us? Christ had the mind of God and we have the mind of Christ. You have the mind of God. There are some things you can't understand this side the vail. It seems that God in a certain sense identifies Himself with His own word- I say His word, for anyone's mind is made up of a collection of ideas and thoughts. And so here, you speak of the mind of God and you speak of the Word of God. How beautiful it is to see clearly how those things all mean the Word of God. So when the mind of God is in us it is the same mind of God that was in the Apostles and the Lord Jesus. When God, the mind of God, in His humble children, beginning with the Lord Jesus, down to the lowest child, when the mind of God goes in — in the Church, God goes in because God identifies Himself with the Church. Christ said, "If my words abide in you. I and My Father abide in you."
"This East Gate is the same color as the altar. The gate is peculiarly made. In our land when going into a house, there is usually a simple door or gateway. In Oriental countries it was (and still is, I believe) a custom on account of the enemies and robbers, to make the door
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in the form of a corridor with dark chambers on either side and no man could pass that gate without satisfying the guards that he would fulfill the conditions necessary to pass. And so these gates represent Christ, the outer one Christ in the flesh, the one on the Inner Court, Christ as a New Creature.
There are seven chambers, and seven steps to pass, the full measure of the Word of God to be met, seven chambers to go by. A place typifies a condition. The full measure of the Word of God has to be met by those passing through this gate and this is the gate of justification by faith, being justified by the blood of Christ.
Now notice this Inner Court gate here represents the same thing on the spirit plane. Instead of seven steps there are eight steps. Seven is easy to understand. Seven is a symbol of completeness. There is nothing symbolical about eight until you think that eight is made up of one plus seven. The first step is the change from human to spiritual, of the mind, the heart, the will. You can call that, if you so desire, the resurrection. It is called a resurrection, because we are now spoken of as being raised to sit with Christ in heavenly places. That has happened. That is step number one.
You and I are going up those steps now. This puts you on the foundation of being in Christ, anointed, having the Holy Spirit. Paul says something about that foundation. He speaks about the only foundation which is laid, which is Christ, and then you are building something on it. If you are building with wood, hay and stubble you are stopping on this Inner Court plane.
There won't be much breathing space there because of the great multitude of people on it. All who haven't measured to the full measure of the Word of God after begetting are on the Inner Court plane. Here in the Temple is where the breathing space is, and here only, because there are so few in there. Like the big jobs, the fellow at the top, earning $50,000 doesn't need to worry so much as the man down the ladder earning two dollars a day.
Paul says this, "At the last day the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." (I Cor. 3:1.) The fire shall try your work and mine and before we get through everything that can be destroyed will be wiped off.
The 144,000 and one will have built with gold, silver and precious stone? Perhaps you are building with gold, silver and precious stones, then you are going up those golden steps of the Temple. How much higher? This Outer Court gate has seven steps, the inner eight. How much higher is the Temple. You will find it stated in chapters 40 to 48. You will find nothing stated about how many steps there are from the Inner Court plane to the Temple plane. Why not? Who can measure the difference between the finite and the infinite, the difference between the glory of the Great Company and the Little Flock, being of like substance with the Father. It can't be expressed in number of steps, so the number is not given. But those who progress up those steps there, many of you are doing it, are on those steps, and will be raised to the plane of the Temple.
Its height was six cubits above the Inner Court plane. That familiar old measurement, which means the full measure of the Word of God. Those on the Temple plane have measured up to the full measure of the Word of God. Can you measure perfect love? It is immeasurable.
Here is a love that is like light. Some have dark hair and some white hair. The light shines on both black and white. The Divine love from the Temple, that wonderful love light shines upon all. He gives His gospel of love to all. The love light of that Gospel shines on the just and the unjust. No difference. The 144,000 love that way. Are you one of them? That is the standard.
What steps are you on? Those steps lead to glory, honor and immortality. All who remain on those Inner Court steps get the place of servants. Do you want to be a servant when you could he a king?
"And they shall not come near unto me to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things in the most holy place, but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed." (Ezek. 44:13.) If you are going to be of the Great Company give up all idea of direct service to God, and be prepared to take a lower place.
Do you want to be ashamed to look the Lord in the face? They shall bear their shame and be on the Inner Court plane where they might have been in the Temple. "And they shall bear their shame and the abominations which they have committed."
God is good. I cannot exhort anybody too much. There is one place to which we are called. We are called to go through the gate of Justification, and up the steps of spirit begetting, and through our course of preparation, just for one purpose, that we might participate in the blood. This is all done in order that we might have something to offer. Now aren't we going to offer that which is given us to offer? It is all given to us that we might build on the foundation of Jesus Christ, gold, silver, and precious stones, that when the fire comes, and the fire is burning now, our building might not be swept away.
"THE EZEKIEL TEMPLE"
By Bro. Geo. H. Fisher
At Brooklyn Tabernacle, Oct. 14, 1917, 8:00 P. M.
PART II
THE Apostle Paul tells us in Eph. 2:18-22, "Through Him we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access by one spirit unto the Father." Think of it! Access to the Father! "Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners." Which we were — strangers. "But fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom all the building (the Sanctuary, the Temple') fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. In whom we are also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." So, friends, we will look at this great Temple tonight, which represents the habitation of God through the Spirit.
Our Saviour told us this, speaking in dark language, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again." " They knew not that He spoke of the temple of His body. We are all familiar with the idea of the temple of His body being destroyed and raised up in three thousand year days. We have seen in addition to this body of Christ a "company who are not entirely faithful, other members of His body, in a larger sense. And so in this sanctuary of God, this great sanctuary to be the dwelling place of God through the spirit, we have the ingathering of the whole family of God, all the wandering, sinful children of Adam, all gathered into this Outer Court, which represents restitution for the whole race of mankind. On a higher plane the Inner Court, tinted in blue, represents the elevation of some of the children of Adam, who leave their father's house to be on the angelic plane, and a few of them on this Temple foundation, which builded better than the others, who build not of wood, hay and stubble, but of gold, silver and precious stones, and they are represented by the Temple, tinted in gold. They are raised to the nature of God Himself. These receive the exceeding, great and precious promises whereby they are made of the nature of Jehovah, with like substance of God and of Jesus Christ. So this great Temple which Ezekiel saw in vision represents the ingathering of the whole family of God.
Up at the top here is a little building called the western building, west of the Temple. In looking up the various
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pictures of Temple built by Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod, we could find only one sketch showing a building like this and we couldn't find out the use of it. Here is a building not in line with the ransom. They do not come by the blood. It answers in some respects to the position of the angels. You know the Bible says the Church shall judge and rule the angels. We might expect to find somewhere represented the angelic hosts, those faithful and those not faithful, and thus it seems as though this western building, as it is called, may be considered as picturing the position of the angels, subject to the Temple, but not connected with the ransom.
There is a difference between the inner and outer gates. The peculiarity is that the construction is reversed. The Porch of the Outer Court is passed last on getting into the Court, and for the Inner Court it is passed first. You come by all the requirements first and the Porch last on getting into the Outer Court, and for the Inner Court you come by the Porch first and all the requirements last. The difference is the difference between being resurrected on the human, or the spirit plane, saying nothing of the Divine plane. On the human plane a human being has to make all the conditions of the Word of God before he is resurrected. That is true, isn't it? So the Porch represents resurrection. Conditions all met, first progress made, and resurrection finally attained. Now on the spirit plane God reverses things.
As one brother put it, "God reverses the process on the natural and spiritual planes. A child has no mind when it is born. Its mind comes by use of the five senses and by storing nerve centers of the brain. So in the natural world or natural birth, body comes first and mind second. In the spiritual birth, mind comes first and body afterward."
That is a wise provision. Consider something like this. There are going to be 144.000 fortunate happy beings raised to the Divine, immortal plane. One hundred and forty-four thousand and one. Suppose God gave them the immortal nature first, then developed mind in them. They might go wrong. So God reverses the process on the spirit plane, He gives them mind first, that is called spirit begetting, and body afterward — spirit birth.
There is no candlestick, or no table of shewbread in the Temple. Instead of the golden Altar for sacrifice, there is a wooden table. "This is the table before Jehovah." (Ezek. 41:22.) It is one of the privileges of the priests that they should be at God's table. It is something like what the Lord said, "Ye cannot eat at the table of the Lord and the tables of devils." It means the condition in which you eat of spiritual food. It is possible that this is the table around which the marriage feast will gather.
At any rate it looks as though those in that chamber were members of the body of the Christ, from whom will flow the word, as though this whole Temple represents them in the glorified condition, represents their minds, as it were the new mind enclosed in the Divine body. This will be the memorial of the sacrifices gone through, represented in the table, those sacrifices and that period of enlightenment at the golden candlestick and the feeding on the Word of God and offering of their best heart endeavors on the golden Altar. Everyone will remember all those things.
We might mention some things about these gates. Red represents, in a general way, the ransom, not entirely so, because the Ancient Worthies are pictured as coming from the East Gate. While not partaking of the sufferings of Christ, they had sufferings like them. Moses preferred the reproach of Christ to the treasures of Egypt. Now first you come right in to the altar. The altar is the mathematical center of the Temple. If you take the plan of the division of the land among the tribes, and the holy offering of the tribes, the altar is the center. This place is so near to the Great Pyramid that it could be called the earth's geographical center. The Ancient Worthies are partners in the sufferings of Christ. They come in at the East Gate. Others receiving the application of the ransom are pictured by the pink color. Wherever you see the pink color on this chart it represents the application of the ransom. The color we took for restitution is green. It is a good color for a chart. The Outer Court could be colored a green tint, representing the enjoyments of restitution.
As we come into the Inner Court we see two little chambers called the singers' chambers. They are intended not to show Divine nature, but that the priests, those of the Divine nature, function or do something here, as they do in the Temple and chambers. What do they do here? The ones who attain the Divine nature will be fond of singing. We learn about a song in Rev. 14:3. "And I heard as it were a new song, and no man could sing that song but the 144,000." We believe that the two chambers represent the royal priesthood singing the song of Moses and the Lamb throughout eternity, the eternal Song of the priests, singing the blessings of restitution for the people. Here they are near the Inner Court, their singing can be heard by all the people gathered in the Outer Court. This is represented by the chamber at the North Gate with its aspect toward the South. Then there will be a chamber alongside the East Gate with its aspect toward the North which represents the priests singing the song of the Lamb that came from Heaven, singing the praises of that Lamb and the praises of the Heavenly Kingdom, because the Lamb of God is spoken of as supreme in the Kingdom (Ezek. 40:44.)
We find that the Levites had land given them. On the chart in the Seventh Volume, you will find a square piece of land with the upper portion for the priests, the middle for the Levites, and the lower for the secular, or civil government, the city. The land for the priests type the condition of the Little Flock, types the same thing as the Temple plane. The land for the Levites types the Court, and the land for the city types the Outer Court. It is said that the Levites would have land for thirty chambers. Nor star differeth from star in glory. Among those raised to this plane of being we expect there will be thirty grades of glory and honor, because a place types a condition, and those chambers or villages, or places, we might expect to symbolize the thirty conditions or degrees of honor among the Great Company, because the Great Company will consist of people on the spirit plane who have been faithful all the way from just a little bit, just enough faithfulness not to be called unfaithful, up to those that just miss going up the steps of the Temple and attaining the perfection of the Divine life.
How about the priests? We find that the land given to them types the condition of the nature of God. We are told "star differeth from star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. 15:41, 42.) That resurrection is so great that the Apostle calls it "the Resurrection of the Dead." We think the priests' dwelling places type glory and honor among them. One brother might have made a greater exertion than another. All on the Divine plane will be equal as respects the attainment of Divine love, but there will be differences in other respects. I wouldn't say it would be in the use of our talents. We find that the reward is one reward for all. — "enter into the joy of the Lord." There are going to be differences. One brother could attain Divine love and another might have more Divine love than he. It might be that. It might be that is the explanation. It is the best I could offer. It is something that can only be seen darkly now.
There is an interesting class here, the Princes. They represent the Ancient Worthies. They were allowed to operate in the Outer Court. The East Door was closed because the glory of God had gone through it, yet that Gate the Princes could use. During the period when the great Kingdom of God is being established, the Princes shall sit in the East Gate and eat their food. The food the Princes will eat of, might be considered as using the Word of God relating to the blood of Christ, to be applied for the world.
Brother Russell has indicated at different times, rather obscurely, that people in this life, who lived up to their consciences fairly well, even if they did not get the Holy Spirit, would be benefitted by it in the resurrection. You know he has made such statements and teachings.
We will take for example a Roman Catholic that lived a thousand years ago. All the teachings he received were teachings, nothing about which were spiritual. He couldn't
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have a Bible, for a Bible cost a fortune. This brother, a member of the household of faith, believing that that which was taught him was the truth, did his level best to live up to it, would have an advantage in the resurrection. Should he have an advantage? 1 believe he should. Here we have it in Ezek. 46:16, referring to the land that belonged to the Princes, the Ancient Worthies, it says, "It the prince give a gift unto his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons', it shall be their possession by inheritance." A place types a condition. The land typifies the better resurrection of the Ancient Worthies. I cannot see but that it means that it will be one of the joys and pleasures of the Ancient Worthies to take those who by God's grace lived good, conscientious lives, not knowing spiritual things, and elevating them to the condition of human perfection earlier than the close of the millennium. If they have a loyal spirit and love the Ancient Worthies they will be called sons.
Ezek. 46 :17. "If he (the Prince) give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants (raised to the better resurrection) then it shall be the servant's to the year of liberty (that year when Christ shall deliver the Millennial Kingdom over to God by giving it to the children of Adam) after it shall return to the prince." If anyone has a mental attitude of a servant, to do things simply because it pays to serve, or something like that, although he may get a reward he will lose it at the end of the millennium, because there will be somebody around to see that the people are separated from everything they can be separated from. Satan will be loosed to see if some cannot be deceived. Possibly means some will have a servile attitude, not that of a son. They will lose their inheritance, they will pass into the Second Death possibly.
Our Lord in speaking of a good deed done by some Jew, said, "Thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just." He will be benefitted by his good deeds. 1 believe a heathen man who has tried as Paul says to do by nature the things contained in the law, if he try by strong effort and a resolute good will to live a good life, his conscience excusing him continually, should be benefitted in the resurrection of the dead. I believe he might be one of those, who, when he comes to a knowledge of the Son of God and the Kingdom in operation, the Ancient Worthies will be glad to honor with the same condition as themselves.
Here is the Temple, "Ye grow into an Holy Temple of the Lord." It has a double wall with a space between. The space between these double walls is not a characteristic of the Ezekiel Temple alone. If you read over carefully the description of the Temples erected by Zerubbabel and Solomon you will find it speaks in similar language that those temples have double walls. It seems as though the platform represents the plane of being, the nature, and the building represents the new mind in that nature. You know all there is that is made of us now that is being fashioned now after the fashion of Christ, is the mind. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. We think the Temple represents the mind of the New Creature on the Divine plane. That is how we can say that the Holy would typify the memorial of the things of our probationary or tentative spirit born condition in this life.
What use was made of these little chambers here? We read that between the inner and the outer walls of the Temple were little chambers or rooms. What does it mean? A place typifies a condition. Those rooms typify a condition. Those rooms were in three stories. According to the plan given us, the bottom story was four cubits, or six feet wide.
As the wall went up to the second story they made the wall thinner. It went to the third story and got still thinner, and the third was bigger than the first. The language is hard to read, but that is what it means. These side chambers were in three stories. What does that mean? A place typifies a condition. As these stories were one higher than the other, and as you know a place typifies a condition, the differences of height typifies differences of planes of being or condition. As this Court is higher than the outside ground, and the Inner Court higher than the Outer Court, and the Pavement or Platform of the Temple higher than the Inner Court, so in these chambers we have three stories or levels. It is more glorious to be in the Great Company than in the restitution class. They will see God, but not serve Him.
We read of the Levites that the people were told to love them. So, friends, if any of us happen to fall into the condition of the Great Company, while we may have a certain memory of shame to hear, yet we will have the heartfelt love of the whole world of mankind. That makes us feel better. God is good, no matter where we are.
These three chambers represent memories of the Christ, head and body, memories of the things done on the three planes of being, memories of things done on the plane of justification, on the spirit begotten plane, and on the highest, the Divine plane.
Our Lord tells that there is something better than a bank account, something better than all the money in the National Bank of New York. If we had the money in the Bank of New York we could move mountains. There is something better than treasure. The Lord says we are to lay up treasures in Heaven. I think this heathen man whom we spoke of, or the Jew of whom the Lord said "Thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just," have laid up treasure in the mind of the Lord, treasures on the human plane. The Lord will not forget it. So we read that if anyone does a good deed to a prophet he will receive the reward of a prophet. The heathen man when his conscience excuses him, is laying up treasure in the lower chamber.
Some won't reach the highest nature, yet have striven, they have just come short of perfect love. They have laid up treasure in Heaven on the second story. I know there are thousands of good men have laid a good deal of treasure in the first story and many have laid up treasure in the second story, but the greatest treasure is in the top story, treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones of character development, of true treasure in our minds and hearts, treasures of love, Divine love, represented by the gold, which typifies the love part of the Word Of God. "He that loveth is begotten of God and is in the light."
The light is the Word of God, and the Word of God is represented by the gold. So, friends, when somebody does you a bad turn in or out of the Truth, and you love them, you are like the electric light, your love is shining upon all. If, no matter what a person does to or says about you, you love them just the same, you have laid up treasures of gold. In laying up treasures like that you are developing a character jewel, maybe a diamond. It may be that God deposits a diamond and gold for you. When you learn more and more about the Truth and your mind becomes more and more filled with the transforming influence of the Word of God, the Lord lays up treasures of silver for you. Treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones. How big is your pile up there? Have you any kind of a pile up there?
Each of these stories had thirty chambers. There is that thirty again. We will know what thirty means as a symbol when we get beyond the vail. If this chart were drawn to represent those little chambers we would have little cross lines indicating thirty conditions, and little staircases leading to each floor. If you are living in a house, which rooms would you like the best, front or back? Here are the front rooms, and here are the back rooms, way back here to the West A place typifies a condition. Thirty rooms, thirty conditions, thirty planes of glory.
Why, these little chambers in the front of this great house are to be packed full of treasure, while the back ones will have just enough to let the occupant through on the Divine plane, each star differing from star in glory. Has your chamber a fulness of treasure, or is it empty? Are you going to be a front room or a back room over-comer? How are you overcoming? Are you piling the back room with a little treasure once in a while? Our Saviour will say, "Put down on the credit side one jewel for John Smith." Or are you piling them in so fast that they can hardly be counted? I want my treasure on the top floor, front. Where do you want yours? It is the same on each story, rooms on each floor.
There is a beautiful picture in Ezek. 41:16-18 of the purpose of the great sanctuary. It is the interior decora-
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tive scheme. Perhaps some of the friends have been interior decorators, so they will want to know something about the interior decorative scheme. The decorations were on each one of the gates and the posts. They were decorated with palm trees. You wouldn't call that very beautiful. Palm trees are good enough for God. "The righteous is as the palm tree." If a man have the benefits of the ransom applied to him, the picture of perfect humanity will be held before him continually. The picture is impressed upon him that the purpose of this sanctuary is for the development and preservation of perfect humanity, and so these palm trees occur so often, that wherever a man turns he will see palm trees and the lesson is that of perfect humanity. The great sanctuary is for the purpose of blessing all the families and kindreds of earth with the blessings of perfect humanity, and as they come in here inside the porch they will see the palm tree decorations. There will be palm trees at the gales; and cherubim and palm tree decorations in the Temple.
Those cherubim in Ezekiel typify qualities of God embodied in the Church, in you and in all of us, all the faithful 144,000, whether they be Methodists, Catholics, or Baptists, whatever name they were called in past ages. Some overcome without shaking off the shackles of Babylon. No doubt about that. Of course, everybody now has the chance to get out of Babylon, and it would be difficult to overcome in Babylon now.
Twenty billions, when reanimated and when consecrating themselves here to God, do not consecrate direct to God, but to the one to whom they belong. They consecrate themselves to Christ, Head and Body, and the priests receive the consecrations in the side chambers here. The Little Flock, the Christ Head and Body, receiving the consecrations of the people is pictured by the priest receiving the flesh of these sacrifices.
Now the priest wouldn't eat them raw. These buildings were called side chambers. Before the priest would eat the offering, something would be done. These corner chambers are called boiling places where the flesh was boiled. When a man offered an animal, it was taken by the priests to these boiling places. There were chimneys in them. I know this, that when Ezekiel comes back he will know how to build the Sanctuary if it is ever to be built. I think he will laugh at our plan, but it was the best we could do.
Here is a man coming from the dead. We will select some man whose name we know. We will say he has been reanimated and consecrates himself. We will say it is a man who never claimed to be a Christian, a man who could, hardly have lived a better life in many respects, and wasn't an angel either. Abraham Lincoln never professed Christianity. We will treat of him as one case. Here is the Little Flock, represented in the side chambers here. The word comes up that Lincoln is back and has consecrated himself. Won't they feel good when Abraham Lincoln comes back? That noble man, one of the noblest men that ever walked the soil of America! Or we have word that Edison is back from the dead. How useful he may be, how useful he is now. They take him and bring him in here.
Abraham Lincoln told stories that the ladies couldn't be around when he told them. Abraham Lincoln starts to tell a story. He is told, "Abraham, those stories don't go now." He starts another again, for nothing ever happened before from telling stories. Instead of being laughed at they take him up here and boil him a little bit, for the meat must be boiled before it can be eaten and assimilated. Boiling is the application of heat tempered with water. It means the application of stripes tempered with Divine love, the water of the Word of God. Each man like him coming up, not knowing the Master's will, will be boiled a little. He will have to undergo a few stripes, a little boiling.
Then out here somebody else comes up. Say it is, well, perhaps some of your neighbors that wasn't quite what he ought to have been. We all know people that are not real good. Some men steal and some cheat; women gossip and things like that. This man comes up from the dead and starts to steal. Well, you must not steal. He gets boiled a little. The Levites boil him a little this time. He is the Judas kind. The characteristic of Judas was that he took money and kept on taking what was in the bag. He was a willful thief. This man says, "I don't care if I did get hurt a little." "He that knoweth the Master's will and doeth it not shall be beaten with many stripes." The word tells that these corner places are boiling and baking places. They will bake him. He will get some pretty sharp and severe trials many stripes — baked.
You and I have experiences like that. We suffer things, we have been boiled and roasted some times. We get into hot water when we get boiled. We do something we know we should not have done, then we are baked. We have fiery trials as a correction to teach us not to do that again. We are baked too.
As Abraham Lincoln makes progress and Edison comes up and turns from making plowshares into swords, to turning battleships into mowing machines, how they will rejoice at the progress or these great men. If there is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, think of the joy when twenty-two billions repent. Do you want to be there to enjoy these feasts, to enjoy forever that great love feast? To all eternity there will be stories, they will talk over the glorious stories of consecration, not only for the thousand years, but year by year. As Brother John Edgar said, "Day by day renew your consecration, and daily seek to carry it out." Day by day people of the world will consecrate at this Temple and the priests forever will feast with joy and gladness over the billions that have repented and are making progress on this earth.
We see Heavenly things plainer now. Do you want to be up there or down here? Is there any comparison? Do you want to be there standing before God with the privileges of the whole sanctuary area? You can go anywhere if you are up there. The priests went anywhere. They can mingle with the people invisibly, as Christ did with the Apostles after His resurrection. By God's grace let us renew our consecration, and let us daily seek to carry it out and let our consecration be to the very best things. If the wealthiest man on earth offered you or sent you an invitation and you looked him up in Bradstreet's or Dun's and find out that his offer is bona fide, he invites you to live with him and he will treat you like a son, give you money, and you can live on Fifth Avenue, and you can have a country home, and fifty automobiles, would you tell him, "Mr. Jones, I think you have a beautiful, house. I like the looks of your automobiles and I know that the invitation is bona fide, but I like Child's restaurants. Child's is good enough. They make such good pies"? Why not live with the millionaire? Are your ambitions cheap or great? Will you be content, do you want to bear shame and disgrace, and at the same time be loved and blessed of the people, or do you want to have the love of the people without shame and disgrace of having everybody know just how you failed, and it wasn't necessary, because you attempted to defend human rights? Brother Russell said of himself, "I have no human rights that anybody has to respect." Are we any greater than this great teacher? Have we got to fight for rights when Pastor Russell set this example?
Let us so participate in the blood that when we pass through here we will not be putting our treasures in the second story or third story rear, but in the top story front. Let us be one of that company through whom Christ will bring back from the dead all the billions of mankind. If you want to bless your sons, your father, your mother, your brothers, your sisters, and want to be in a position to pour blessings on them all, then by God's grace renew your consecration tonight right here now, that you may lay up treasure in Heaven, that you might be in that eternal love feast of the priests! Amen!