The Kingdom of God

The Two Priesthoods

We find that, in the soon to begin Tabernacles age - the Kingdom Age, God will work with two priesthoods.

We have talked of the barley and wheat. We have talked about spiritual Israel and spiritual Judah. The following chart might help to organize this a bit:




And in Ezekiel 44 we see this division again between two different orders of priesthood. These are priests, so we know that they are all believers. None of these people are unbelievers. Therefore, if we determine that this passage is speaking of a future administration, then we must also conclude that it is describing two orders of believers.

Eze 44:9  Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
Eze 44:10  And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.
Eze 44:11  Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.
Eze 44:12  Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.
Eze 44:13  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.
Eze 44:14  But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
Eze 44:15  But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:
Eze 44:16  They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
Eze 44:17  And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
Eze 44:18  They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.
Eze 44:19  And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.
Eze 44:23  And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
Eze 44:24  And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

We know that God is building a temple and city out of living stones: His people.

Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.


We also know that it would be blaspheme to begin animal sacrifices again in a temple made by man.

Heb 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Heb 10:5  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Heb 10:6  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Heb 10:7  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Heb 10:8  Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Heb 10:9  Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Heb 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Therefore, let us look at what is being described by Ezekiel as future temple of the body of Christ within the Kingdom age.

What we see are two priesthoods. One - the sons of Levi, and a second - the sons of Zadok (Melchizedek). The sons of Levi are given woolen garments and can use these to keep and serve in the house of the Lord. But they may not minister to God. The sons of Zadok, however are given two garments, one linen and the other woolen. These priests may stand before the Lord and minister to Him, but they can also go out and minister in the inner court. But they must change their garments when they do so. They wear linen in the presence of the Lord and wool in the court. We also see that point was that they not sweat when in the presence of the Lord.

When do we sweat? When we work. This Shows that one of the identifiers of the Zadok priests is that they rest in the Lord. Whatever they do, is the will of God and not their own effort. They have fully completed Pentecost.

What differentiates these two priesthoods? The Levites “are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.” And, “Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; “

Idols of the heart have not been fully burned off - and - lawlessness (iniquity) - and - Bad teaching, based on their idols.

This sounds like some of our studies recently.

If we bring this into a viewable picture:

There will be two priesthoods serving in the age to come. One will come and go between heaven and earth as they “change” their garments. This would be like when Christ was able to come and go at will after His resurrection. The “change” of garments is an illustration of switching between the spiritual realm and the physical realm.

The other priesthood, will still be ministering - and their ministry will be amazing! But they will not proceed into the sanctuary and stand before the Lord until such a time as they have obtained to the Zadok priesthood.

I am not planning on dealing with the other elements of Ezekiel 44 for now, but there are other interesting items we could gain insight from. My point in this thread is to demonstrate yet another indicator of the two priesthoods.

Now - for those who still are concerned about the spiritual verses physical. My advise is not to get caught up in it. Ezekiel was prophesying about physical laws and dimensions and events. I’m not saying that he was talking about spiritual things. What I am saying is that our lesson for this day is about the spiritual fulfillment of these physical prophecies. This is what I am meaning with all my attempts to show you the spiritual side of the physical prophesies. Some of you are saying, this sure seems physical to me - it says land and city and etc…

I agree - the words of the prophecy are about physical things - and some will even have physical fulfillments.  But the spirit of the prophecy is about spiritual things. Everything in the bible also has a spiritual meaning. Every verse of the bible has more than one meaning. This is why hermeneutics prevents understanding. Of course, others would say, no - this is why you are very confused, SK. Most words simply mean what they say.

And therein lies the impasse. In the Hearing God thread, I gave you multiple examples of how God places spiritual truth within physical words. If people do not see the spiritual within the physical message. This is because they do not yet hear God in that way, so naturally, they say - it doesn't say that.  What they should say is - I can't hear that.

Most will tell you that this is saying unbelievers can't understand God.  But believers who are discerning in the natural, also won't understand the things of the Spirit. We are all guilty of this at times.  But some are guilty of it almost all the time.  That is, if they even bother to read the scriptures in the first place.

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Lord, SK is on my heart this morning. Be mindful of your servant, Lord. As he is seeking to hear from you and walk with you and share his walk with others, please draw close to him. Please keep the joy of his salvation ever-present in his heart and mind. Put courage in his heart even as these days grow more and more difficult. Allow him rest when rest is needed and perseverance when perseverance is called for. Bind us all together in love as we seek your face together, and may we see some thin spaces where the veil between our reality and your kingdom isn't quite so heavy. May these thin spaces of fellowship with you encourage us in the days ahead. Bless SK today Lord with your presence in a profound way. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The Flock of Slaughter

Zechariah 11.

This passage is difficult. Like all these passages there are traditional teachings based on this passage and like other passages, mine will go a different direction. Part of the reason this passage is difficult is because it seems to display a God who is evil. A God who does not care about people. This perception comes from the difficulty we have coming to grips with the positive nature of God’s judgement.

Remember, the reason Judah was taken captive in the first place (God’s judgment) is because they did not submit to a lighter judgment. They could have been under the wooden yoke to correct their sinful behavior, but they, like so many of us, decided they did not want God’s judgment, and so they resisted the will of God. God saw their attempt to resist His judgment and placed an iron yoke on them instead.

So now we get to this passage. The people of Judah have come back from Babylon, but they are still not free. They are still under the authority of the beast kingdom - at this point, Media Persia, and Greece is right around the corner. Israel, as we have discussed is still missing. Remnants of Israel have found their way back to Judah, but the official bulk of the 10 northern tribes are still scattered to the four winds.

In comes Zechariah. The book written by him and perhaps others, records several words from the Lord, each several chapters long. But the one we are interested in starts in chapter 9 and ends with chapter 11. I will give you my interpretation of the spiritual meaning of this passage. Once again, Zechariah was writing about physical events - I am talking about spiritual events.

We are covering the last portion of this word from God. We will see that there is a speaker in this passage that switches back and forth between God and someone else - the someone else is not Zechariah. I am going to call that someone else the Shepherd. This will distinguish him from God and from the other shepherds.

We start with destruction of the areas around Lebanon, Bashan, and the Jordan Valley. But the destruction is spoken of in regard to the trees. These areas are primarily in the northern portion of the Holy Land - near Damascus. But also the valley continues south. The fire that stuck all these areas may have been caused by something much more massive further south - say, around Jerusalem.

Zec 11:1  Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
Zec 11:2  Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
Zec 11:3  There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

The shepherds are howling. Why? Who are they? I see shepherds as spiritual leaders. They are howling because their glory is spoiled. Another translation says, their robe of honor was destroyed (YLT). Something they put their stock in, was destroyed and spoiled. Something they had been preaching about, bragging about, lifting up high - has come down.

After this destruction, God instructs the Shepherd to take care of the flock that is doomed to slaughter. Feed indicates care taking, but spiritually, it means teach the word.

Zec 11:4  Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

Why are they doomed to slaughter?

Zec 11:5  Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
Zec 11:6  For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

The possessors are the shepherds - the pastors, the rabbis, the imams who do not care for their sheep, but simply own them. Do this. Do that. They keep their flock in submission. Honor the elders, give your money, don’t hear God too much - just a little. Listen to the scholars and great men of God. Don’t use the wrong hermeneutic. Confess your sins to a priest. Say your prayers. Pray 5 times a day. Do your religion - whatever your church, temple, synagogue says it is.

We also see that these shepherds - these religions leaders - have become rich off their religion. The tithes from the flock. The book sales from the words that should be giving freely to all people, but instead, people making money off the sale of God’s word.

Mar 11:17  And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Then we also have the whole prosperity movement where our faith is supposed to make us prosperous. Well it makes the religious leaders rich, doesn’t it?

Zec 11:6  For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

The shepherds are fallen and God is personally turning His back. So He appoints the Shepherd.

Zec 11:7  And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

The first stave is agreeableness, favor, beauty, delight. The second is a bond. Something that keeps together.

Zec 11:8  Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

After the destruction of Jerusalem - the leaders of the three religions that have held her in honor will be cut off. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have all held this city as their robe of honor. When she is destroyed and the apostasy occurs. The shepherds will fall and a remnant Shepherd will be called to feed the flock that is doomed to slaughter.

Zec 11:9  Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
Zec 11:10  And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
Zec 11:11  And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

The beauty / desire / agreeableness that God once saw is broken! This is an everyone for himself situation. The plagues will be upon the flock. And when this happens we will all know that these religions have lost the favor of God.

And why? I remember, in 2014, a Christian Reverend(Clyde Lott) in the USA discovered he had raised a pure red heifer and was planning on donating this cow to Israel so that she could be used in the new temple. It turned out to have some white hairs, but he has been shipping stock to Israel since in the hope of producing the red heifer that will allow the temple instruments to be cleansed. He is working with rabbi Richman who makes this statement, “The God of Israel determined based on his wisdom that the ashes of the red heifer is the secret to restoring purity to the world.”  Is that what you believe?

Lott and Richman have even set up a way so that Christians can support the process by “gifting” a cow to the Irsaeli based side of this operation. You might think this is an isolated incident or that I am making it up, but you can google it yourself. Efforts like this have been led by many evangelical Christian shepherds. They have donated money for the building of a temple and the start of sacrifices.  They have contributed money toward bringing Jews to the "holy land" - even though many believe that many of these Jews will be killed during the "soon coming" wars.  The vast majority of Christianity is either financially, or morally supporting the idea of building this temple. Even those Christians who don’t believe they support the temple are supportive of the idea of the temple because they see it as a sign that the end / rapture is near. Getting raptured is worth whatever price they must pay - even if it means providing a sacrificial animal to "stand in the place of" Christ.

How do you believe the Lord will feel when He comes for His people and finds them funding the replacement of the temple He tore down in 70 AD? When He finds His people declaring the physical temple - the Temple of God - when He has placed His temple with them? I assume He will feel much the same way when Judas kissed Him. Judas could have used any method - but He used something very sweet and intimate. Something only a friend could do. And now we kiss Christ every time we get excited about a third temple and every time we support or fund its building.  Our spiritual response should be - horror at what will befall these people and horror at the idea of a temple sacrificing animals to "restore purity to the world."  This is something we should be ashamed of - we should be praying our repentance and for the repentance of our brothers and sisters.

And so it is only natural that Zechariah continues with this:

Zec 11:12  And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
Zec 11:13  And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

Will we betray the Lord by choosing Hagar and earthly Jerusalem over spiritual Jerusalem - will we deny Him as King - will we deny that the temple is within us - will we raise up a temple made by man and a city made of stone? Or will we look to the New Jerusalem and the Heavenly Temple within us?

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Some will go in one direction and some will go in another direction - this will mainly be based on whether or not they are hearing God or following the traditions of man.

Zec 11:14  Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

We see, once again, the division between Judah and Israel - between two priesthoods, between two groups of believers.

We conclude with the last three verses, which I believe are God’s way of demonstrating to the Shepherd, who is playing the role now as a bad Shepherd, that God will allow this all to happen by allowing blind and crippled shepherds to shepherd the people. Shepherds that don’t care about their flock and are in it for the power, the money, the fame, etc. These shepherds are blind in that they do not see God correctly. They are crippled in that they cannot properly feed their sheep. Even the shepherds who truly love the Lord and love the flock are so deceived by the teachings they have learned that they cannot properly feed the flock.

Zec 11:15  And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
Zec 11:16  For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
Zec 11:17  Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Luk 6:39  And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
Luk 6:40  The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.


I know that many serve God and love God but are not in agreement with this thread. I am not, ever, questioning their sincerity before the Lord. I am saying, that even the most earnest servant can be misinformed.  I also can be misinformed.  If you have read this thread, you are now in a situation similar to if you have read the Restoration of All Things thread; now you have been shown. Now you are accountable to this understanding.  What you do with it is between you and God. I firmly believe that people are called to different understandings and ministries.

My job is small - to issue the call. To provide guidance and to serve those who are called out. My job is not to convince or condemn. I must walk in the word of the Lord that I have heard. It is my only option. What is the Lord saying to you?

It kinda raised my heart rate in fear..and then about made me cry, if I had not been distracted by the things around me in the room as i read. One almost wants to avoid all teachings of end times to any new believer. Is it still wrong though, to believe that when we say, God is going to deal with Israel" that in a way this statement is "true" but not the way we have been taught these past few decades? Israel (modern physical nation) has become "an idol" in some respects?

BTW, a band of sheep is typically made up of 1000 sheep. Many ran 5 to 10 bands of sheep here in our valley before the cattle came.

There have been a few verses brought to my attention: Romans Ch.11 namely. Reminding about what would drive the jews to jelousy? A rapture...is the common anser. God has to remove His Chruch in order to deal with Isarel. Well, from what you are saying he is also having to deal with many a lost lamb..

Rom 11:28From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, 31so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. 32For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.

What is verse 31 saying?

babs,

I have not forgotten about you. 

I'll address this at some point, hopefully not too long from now. 

SK

gpk -  perhaps God can give you some revelation in this area of the rest of Ezekiel 44. I will also hold it up to the Lord when I get an opportunity. I have not done so to date.