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Last Updated on :
Saturday, November 22, 2014

 

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Contents|| Preface || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 ||12 ||13 || 14 ||

 

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Christ on Earth Again


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CHAPTER XII
THE NEW WORSHIP


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HERE are special times for the people to take part in the worship. "The people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate (the eastern gate of the inner court) before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons" (46: 3). When they do so, they observe a particular method of coming in and going out. They enter and depart in two streams, north and south, none returning by the way he came (verse 9). By this all the confusion to which the movements of immense multitudes is liable will be avoided. By this arrangement, also, the Prince and his attendants are secured from mob embarrassment. The people use the north and south entrances exclusively. The east side is set apart for the Prince; but the people in their passage, at the appointed seasons, from north to south, or
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vice versa, pass by this east side by the inner face of the gate of the inner court, yet outside the temple proper, which encloses the most holy (circular) limits of the mountain (43: 12). This gives the point of contact between the Prince and the people. This gate is "shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened" (46: 1). When the people muster at tllese appointed times, the Prince, who is described as "in their midst"; enters the sanctuary also (verse 10), but not in the same way: " When the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof" (verse 8). By the way of the porch of what gate? Verse 1, 2, supplies the answer:
" The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east
shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath and in the day of the new moons it shall be opened: and the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without (or outside)." This is quite intelligible when we understand that the Prince on these occasions enters from without on the east side.
The outer and the inner gates require to be distinguished to prevent confusion. Both are involved in these descriptions. "The gate of the outward sanctuary that looketh toward the east "(that is, the outmost gate on the eastern side)-is never opened to the people at all. "N0 man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. It is for the Prince: he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same" (44: 1-3). The whole eastern side and the buildings and court belonging to it are in the exclusive occupation of the Prince and his companions. But he is not there at all times. He is often in " the Prince's portion ", which lies east and west of the
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holy oblation, and comprises, as before said, an ample domain of many thousands of square miles, in which he assigns special inheritance to his sons for ever (46: 16). Here he spends oft-recurring seasons of delightful communion with them in the rural delights of Paradise restored. But at the appointed seasons, he repairs to the sanctuary to lead the worship of rejoicing multitudes. How does he then enter? He enters both by the outer and the inner gate (44: 3 provides the first; 46: 1, 2, for the second). His entrance by both is necessary, for he meets the people who are in the inner court in front of the temple proper (46: to); and to meet them he must pass through both outer and inner court gates. If it be said that Christ would not need to have doors opened to him, we have to remember that while all miracle is possible, miracle is not the normal exercise of divine power. It is special for special ends, as in every case where it has been performed. The Kingdom of God is the accommodation of immortal rulers to mortal needs while the human race is in process of being brought back to union with God; during such a process, faith is, doubtless, as much a necessity for the mortal population as it now is for the saints. It is, therefore, according to the fitness of things that all should be apparently natural, and that the institutions proposed for obedience should be such as have authority only for their basis, as in the case of all kinds of sacrifice and offering. The express provision for the entry of the Prince, first by the one gate, then by the other is, therefore, in keeping with the whole institution and its objects.
Imagining him having entered by the outer gate, as provided for by 44 : 1-3, he is in the gate buildings, or, it may be, in the court among his brethren, the sons of Zadok. In this situation, we understand what happens to fulfil the description of
46: 2. He crosses the outer court and enters the
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outer porch of the inner gate opposite. This, which is shut the six working days, is now thrown open, and the Prince passing through, finds the people massed at the door of that gate on the other side, that is, the inner. He then offers the required offerings and leads the worship offered by the people (verses 2-3), in which we know glorious singing forms a part (40: 44). The gladsome stirring exercises complete, the Prince retires by the way he came, but the inner gate at which he stood is left open until evening (46: 2). The outer gate is always kept closed and used only by the Prince and his own. The change to take place at the close of the thousand years may include the removal of this restriction. We cannot be sure of details that have not been revealed; but it is likely that when all are immortal and the kingdom given up to the Father, all the barriers implying a distinction between the immortal and the mortal will be abolished. But while the thousand years continue, the whole eastern side of the sanctuary is closed, except to the Prince. The inner gate is open sometimes, and notably on the days on which the Prince has offered sacrifice in the presence of the people. It is no imagination that fancies the streaming reverent multitudes lingering a little as they pass, to contemplate the spot made holy by the Lord's actual appearance earlier in the dlay.
The sanctuary in its entirety, with all its arrangements and ordinances, is the topstone of the new political edifice that will be reared upon the earth when the God of heaven has set up the kingdom that He hath promised to them that love Him. It is the most conspicuous feature of the tabernacle of David rebuilt in the times of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His prophets since the world began.
David himself is there as one of the prophets and the fathers whom Jesus has plainly indicated as
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then present (Luke 13: 28). But THE PRINCE is David's son, for this is promised-that David's son shall. sit on David's throne in David's presence (Luke 1: 32; Acts 2: 30; 2 Sam. 7: 16; Psa.
89 : 3, 4; 34-36). The title, "Prince ", has lost some of its meaning in modern times. It has come to signify a secondary dignity, as defining the heir to the throne rather than the occupant of the throne. It was not so in ancient times; it signified the sovereign ruler, as the reader will discover in consulting all the instances of its use in the Scriptures. It is with this sense we must read it in the prophecy of the temple. Reading it thus, the identity of the Prince is settled beyond question; for who is sovereign ruler in the Kingdom of God but Christ, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the Son of David and Son of God? That he should be the .chief in things pertaining to God-that he should be the high priest as well as the sovereign ruler-is one of the exquisite beauties of the coming government, as contrasted with present governments.

 


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