THE EIGHTH DAY AND ONWARDS
D.E.Burr
Ezekiel 43: 1-7 (first half), 11, 12, 25-27; 44: 1-3
It is in mind to say a word as to this expression that comes in verse 27, "the eighth day and onwards", I believe that it is a unique expression, reserved for Ezekiel, in relation to the place where God can dwell with His people. What a wonderful expression that is, beloved brethren, a timeless expression, starting with the eighth day, the eighth day and onwards! I believe we touch it; we touch it as together even at a time like this, that God has what is to be un-concluded, we might say, because it goes on, but it starts with the eighth day, "the eighth day and onwards", and He says "I will accept you". What a thing that is to be accepted by God for eternity, to be in His presence, to be sustained there, to be preserved there, to be in the enjoyment of His presence in the acceptance that He alone in His righteousness and holiness is able to sustain. He has a basis upon which men can be there eternally, happily, in the acceptance of all the requirements of God because He has found His satisfaction in Jesus.
This scene, in a sense, is an earthly one. It is a scene that bears directly upon God's dealings with His earthly people and, in its interpretation, relates to the earth. But I think we can see that it applies to us here as upon the earth at the present time, that we are to be brought into the enjoyment of the eighth day and onwards and to be accepted by Jehovah. The chapter delineates certain features that lead up to this. First of all, Ezekiel is a man that is subject and leadable, he moves as under direction; he has fulfilled his charge throughout this book, a charge that must have been very difficult and at times even objectionable to him, but he is a worthy man who fulfils what is laid upon him and sees that there is an answer. He comes through the whole of this experience, these forty-two chapters and their woes, their failures, their iniquities, but as fulfilling his responsibility to bring the prophetic word to the people of Israel. He comes back to this point as led: "he brought me unto the gate". What is God not able to do as we are leadable? As we are able to be brought, not in the exercise of our own wills or thinking out for ourselves how things ought to work out (how we would like to see them work out! but in subjection to the will of God, we accept His sovereign operations for the moment, accept the breakdown, the failure, accept that there is an answer to it and being led.
Ezekiel says "he brought me" - "he brought me unto the gate, the gate which looked toward the east". Have we then, brethren, been brought this way, brought to the gate that looks toward the east? How often we occupy ourselves, or allow ourselves to be occupied, with the other gates - the north gate and the west gate, the suggestions of the chill cold winds and the tempest and the storms, and death itself; how these things tend ofttimes to engage us! But the movement of God as leading Ezekiel is unto "the gate which looked toward the east". Well, what do you see from the east? You see the glory of a Man as out of death, a Man that has been into death but has been raised in triumph by the Father's glory. What an outlook there is then! It gives the answer to every problem here, to every sorrow, the answer to the corruption of the world with its sin, the answer to all the failure with in myself, that there is a view, an outlook towards the east. This is the way that God would lead us - in the direction of the appreciation of Christ as being raised, a glorious Man who has gained the victory. He ever lives, lives as out of death. We need to get a continual, recurring view of what the east would suggest.
And what does he see then? "The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east". What an appreciation that was, what a sight, what a view for Ezekiel! That glory that he had seen depart, that had gone he knew not for how long because of the breakdown and the sin of the people, that glory had departed; and we have seen something of that, we have seen and experienced the sense in our souls of what Ichabod means. But he is brought back to the east, the way of the rising of Jesus, and he gets this fresh view of the movements of the glory of the God of Israel. "The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like the voice of many waters; and the earth was lit up with his glory. And the appearance of the vision that I saw was according to the vision that I had seen when I came to destroy the city". There is no change in the glory of God; when we come back to the way God is moving, come back to the place where He lives and where He operates, the glory is just the same; the glory of God does not change, that wonderful glory shining in the face of Jesus. What a glory it is! And it is an unchanging, unchangeable glory that we will enjoy and experience and witness throughout all eternity.
But then this is at the present time. Ezekiel was here, a man upon the earth, a man such as ourselves, and he gets this view as he gazes towards the east, a view of the glory of the God of Israel that was according to the vision that he had seen at the first. Beloved brethren, think of those visions that you saw at the first. How often brethren go back in their minds, and even in their expressions, to days that we once enjoyed. Those that can go back to the twenties and the thirties, and saw the large gatherings of the people of God, speak about what it was then. But what is it now? That is the point. Have you a view today of that same glory, the glory that you knew as a child, the glory that you knew as a young person, the glory that you knew when those men that we loved, men of renown, men that have gone into the pages of the testimonial history addressed us? Is the glory that they conveyed gone? Brethren, the glory of the God of Israel is the same at this moment as it was at the first. And what language this is! The young people study English and are given the world's books to read (and we sympathise with them in these courses of instruction), but any trained, natural mind can appreciate the perfection of language that is presented in a chapter like this. Where can you find anything like it? Where can you find, even reading it as history, even reading it as a textbook, grander language than this? "And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like the voice of many waters; and the earth was lit up with his glory. And the appearance of the vision that I saw was according to the vision that I had seen when I came to destroy the city". What attractive language it is! What young person could write a precis of Ezekiel 43? It would be a good exercise just to try and write it down. The schools might ask you to write a precis of something, but you try compressing Ezekiel 43. Friend, it is a wonderful expression of the inditing of the Spirit that He can cause these words to words to be written.
Then it says that Ezekiel fell upon his face. "And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose front was toward the east"; that is, that God was filling the place, He was recognising it, gracing it with His presence. Here upon the earth was a place where the glory of God could dwell. Is that not so, beloved brethren, that there is a place now where the glory of God can dwell, where He can come in, come in by the way of the affections of His people, as they are occupied with this eastern aspect? And it says "the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house". What an experience to be in an area where the glory of God is filling the house! "And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house". Have we heard that? Do we get it, week by week, as we are together in our local settings with the brethren, as we read the scriptures, as we hear the prophetic word? Is there the consciousness in our hearts that there is One speaking to me? Never mind who else is there, never mind applying the word to somebody else; Ezekiel says "I heard one speaking unto me out of the house". It is an exact correspondence, really, with the book of Leviticus, that God spoke to Moses out of the tent of meeting. Here is God addressing one man, Ezekiel, out of the house, out of the place of the dwelling of His glory. This is to be something known amongst us and it is as we attune our ears, give our minds, to these things that we will hear, hear "one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man was standing by me". What a blessed expression of the Trinity we have here! The Spirit lifted him up. What a power there is in the Spirit for elevation! The Spirit would lift you up, beloved brother and sister, and bring you in and set you down in the centre of this realm, And the Man standing by - a touching allusion to the Person of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit and the Lord are operating together in view of some fresh experience of the glory of the Father. What a privilege to be in this company! What a thing to be in this place! to be led by the Spirit of God to this vision where the glory is coming back. I love to think of the glory coming back into the house.
Well, Ezekiel recognised it; he did not need anybody to tell him what it was; he recognised it. So I think we should recognise by the Spirit, by the grace of God, that these things are happening, that the glory of God is coming back. In one sense it has never departed, God has remained faithful to His people; but in our current experience we are to understand that the glory is filling the house. "And he said unto me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever". Think of God committing Himself to dwelling with His people! Because of what has been divinely arranged, God has a dwelling place, a place where He can live, where He can find satisfaction, where, as it says, He can place His throne, where He can place the soles of His feet, "where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever". What a beautiful message that is! Beloved brethren, is not God committed to this? Is He not going to see His people through? Is He not going to remain faithful to His promise? Is He not going to give them the experience of His presence, a place where He can dwell? This is His side, what He has done, what is available to be enjoyed.
But then in verse 11 it says, "And if they be confounded at all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its goings out, and its comings in, and all its forms, and all its statutes, yea, all the forms, thereof, and all the laws thereof". God is saying to Ezekiel, this is what will establish the people, this is what will bring them back and encourage and feed them, if they are confounded. If their circumstances, the outward pressures, their inward fears and failing faith, are such that they are confounded, what is the answer? Well, Scripture gives you the answer: "If they be confounded at all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house". Do not labour at what they have done. Do not tell them that they should not have done this and, if only they had done that, how much better if would have been. "Make known to them the form of the house". What a wonderful solution, beloved brethren, to our problems! "Make known to them the form of the house" - the place where God dwells, the detail of what He can enjoy as in the company of His people, where He can rest, where He can feed, where He can be served. "Make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its goings out, and its comings in". What a testimony there is to be! the going out and the coming in from this place; that is, I suppose, that from the experience on Lord's day there is a testimony carried out in our lives. We go out, we come in, we move in relation to the house of God. All our movements, all our daily course, stand related to the assembly, to the maintenance of what is due to God there, and this is the solution to the confounding. "Its goings out, and its comings in, and all its forms, and all its statutes, yea, all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof". Think of that. Does anyone object to the laws? God is saying here that if persons are confounded, one of the things that is going to establish them, to confirm them, to revive them, is the laws. God says these are the things that are the antidotes to confusion. We do not need to be afraid of the laws of the house; we need to establish them, to confirm them, to maintain them, and you will find that if there is a place where the fashion of the house is maintained, where its goings out and its comings in can be spoken about, where its statutes and its forms and its laws are maintained, where they are written down and are kept, the whole form is kept, nothing is allowed to fall away, nothing to drop out, nothing given up; "the whole form thereof", the fulness of what God has committed to His people in this present time of revival; you will find there the antidote to confusion.
What a wonderful thing then to be in the testimony, to be privileged of God to be selected to have part in the maintenance of these things, "the form of the house... and its goings out, and its comings in... and all its statutes" and its laws. In Psalm 119 there was a man who bursts out and says, "Oh how I love thy law! " (v 97). What a man that is that loves the divine authority and regulation! According to John's gospel it is the evidence of love for the Lord that you keep His commandments. They do not change, they do not need adjustment just because circumstances change around us, just because it might be easier to live and to pursue a course of things that is naturally attractive if certain little things are given up; the laws of the house, the forms and the statutes, do not change, they go on. It is these things, beloved brethren, that are the answer to confusion. When people are seeking a way out, as we trust more and more will, when persons are looking for a way out of the confusion, what are they going to find? What are they going to look for? What is going to satisfy them is a place where the form of the house and its laws and its statutes are maintained. This, beloved brethren, is the answer to confusion. How easy it is to drop into confusion, but the way out of it is the divinely appointed way, where the regulations of the house are respected and maintained.
So he says "This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain all its border round about is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house". He is reinforcing it, you see. This is the law of the house: there are certain divine requirements that have to stand, that whatever conditions may be, whatever changes the government may make and whatever their requirements, even if they bring in a closed shop or something of that nature, or if they attempt to interfere with our arrangements of service and gathering together, this is the law of the house. "Behold, this is the law of the house". There is what is unchangeable, what God has established which is immovable, and it is because "Upon the top of the mountain all its border round about is most holy". That is what has to be maintained, the place of the divine dwelling in all its holiness. This is shown to Ezekiel, this is spoken about to him; and he is a worthy man, a man that can appreciate these things, can set them down, preserve them for our day, for our instruction, and demonstrate in a living, attractive and powerful way that this is the answer to persons that are confounded.
Again we have this period of seven days within this system of things, the working of the temple: "Seven days shalt thou offer... a sin-offering; they shall also offer a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purity it, and consecrate it". This period of seven days is when persons are occupied with what they have done, with what they are and God's answer to it - the sin-offering "seven days shalt thou offer daily". But then it says "when these days are ended”. These times of engagement with what I am and what I have done, and introspection, right enough in its measure and in its place, these days are ended. "When these days are ended, it shall be that upon the eighth day and onwards" - what a thing to arrive at! We are arriving at eternal conditions where we can live together, be happy together, respond to God together and serve Him; this time not with sin-offerings; the eighth day and onwards is for the burnt-offerings and the peace-offerings, the appreciation of what Christ is to God, the appreciation of the value of that sacrifice, that sweet savour that went up to fill His nostrils. What a savour that was! And it is what goes on, not one day, not seven days, but the eighth day and onwards is going to satisfy God eternally with the savour of Christ Himself, the perfection, the glories, the beauties, the work, the effects of what He has done. "And your peace-offerings" - how good it is to be able to come into the presence of God with peace-offerings, to know that all is well with your soul, to know that peace like a river is attending your way (hymn 238), to experience something of the peace for ever flowing from God's thoughts of His own Son (hymn 390), to rest in the enjoyment of the peace that comes into your soul, peace, knowing the judgment past. What blessing that is! - to be in the enjoyment of peace with God and to bring an offering in appreciation of it.
These things go on, they go on eternally, the eighth day and onwards. And God says "I will accept you". What a position to arrive at! How blessed to be in the presence of God, in the company of the Lord, knowing that there is no disparity, no disharmony, no conflicts, no discord, that all is at rest, all is at peace, you are there having the best robe on, the wedding garment, entirely suited for the Father's presence. I will accept you on that eighth day and onwards because of the experience, typically at least, of the rest of the chapter, that you have been brought that way, to experience the coming in of the glory of God, to understand what is suited to His presence and to have part in the maintenance of what satisfies Him and to be drawn out of the confusion into the understanding of that holiness on the top of the mountain and round about. So we come this way to the eighth day and onwards. God is giving us these experiences of being restfully there, accepted, no hindrance, nothing to mar, nothing outstanding to deal with, but that God is satisfied, satisfied with the burnt-offerings and the peace-offerings. On that basis He can be with His people, He can dwell with them, and they can dwell with Him, from the eighth day and onwards.
Then Ezekiel is brought back and he has another look. It says "the outer gate of the sanctuary which looked toward the east; and it was shut. And Jehovah said unto me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter in by it: for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; and it shall be shut". What a blessed suggestion that is, beloved brethren, of the abiding presence of God, that He cannot go out! He does not want to go out, but He cannot go out, if you will allow the word. God can do everything of course, but from this presentation God has allowed the gate to be shut "and it shall be shut". It has remained shut. God is there with His people. This book concludes with that word: "Jehovah is there", chap 48: 35. He is there and the gate is shut. How lovely that is, that God is there! He is not going out, He is not going to leave His people, He is not going to depart; no more sorrow, no more sighing, no more distress, no more sin to cause Him to move, but He is there in the place of His dwelling, He is there and the gate is shut. Is that not wonderful? It is the gate by which He came in, by which the glory is now, we might say, enclosed, the fulness of the presence of God. What a fulness it is that we are intended to enjoy! not God in His glory in any partial sense, but the fulness of it there, not able, not willing, not wanting to go out because the gate is shut. How wonderful then to be sustained for ever in the presence of the glory of God! The Lord is there and the prince is going to eat bread before Jehovah. "He shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate". The Lord has glorious liberty in His movements and can go in and go out and He will eat bread before Jehovah. He is no longer alone - that glorious Man has known what it is to be alone - but now He has those with Him who are like Him, of His own order, those that He will sustain eternally in the presence of God because they are accepted in Him, taken "into favour in the Beloved", Eph 1: 6. Beloved brethren, these are very real, very precious things, that we are privileged to enter upon and enjoy. Let us do our part in maintaining circumstances in which God can dwell so that we may have the experience of being accepted and that God has the gate shut and is not going to leave it because He enjoys it. He is happy, He is restful, in the presence of His people that have been secured for His praise. May the Lord bless the word.
LONDON
19 November 1977
THE CHILDREN'S FAITH
The Lord Jesus spoke of one person as having "little faith". Strange to say this was Peter, the first of the apostles, when he had just walked on the sea to go to Jesus. He had begun to sink and we can only suppose that his faith should have enabled him to walk even on rough water. However he found help through a little prayer of only three words - perhaps the shortest prayer in the Bible - "Lord, save me". As someone has said of it; the Lord at one end, Peter at the other and salvation all the way between.
Shortly after this the Lord said to a woman "thy faith is great". Surprisingly she was not even of Israel but was sure that in the heart of God there was blessing even for a stranger such as herself. Her faith actually grew stronger as Jesus proved her with searching words and questions. She too found strength in a prayer as short as Peter's and very much like it - "Lord, help me". Her daughter was made well by Jesus so no doubt there was now another dear child who believed on him.
Incidents like these make us realise that faith grows by being used. When the apostles asked the Lord to give them more faith, he told them to use what they had even if only like a seed-grain and it would have living power. So too when the disciples asked "Lord, teach us to pray" He said "When ye pray", meaning that the first thing was to be knowingly in the presence of a divine Person.
Many things, texts of scripture and urgent words may have led us to trust the Lord for salvation but our faith rests on His Person and His work. A man running into a city of refuge would be thankful for signposts to show him the way but he would not be safe, or feel so, until at the place appointed by God for the needy sinner. You will remember that the six cities of refuge were so situated that an Israelite was never more than about thirty-five miles from one. But the "word of faith" is not even an inch away from you - it is "in thy mouth", ready to be uttered. Have you with your mouth confessed Jesus as Lord and believed in your heart that God has raised Him from among the dead? This is eternal and present salvation.
J.C.Evershed