KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord whom ye seek, shall SUDDENLY COME TO HIS TEMPLE, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for HE IS LIKE A REFINER'S FIRE, and like fuller's soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall PURIFY THE SONS OF LEVI, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness" (Mal. 3:1-3).

The Lord, whom ye seek, SHALL COME! Such was the promise of the inspired prophet. He who will come is the Lord, "the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire," the long expected, oft-promised Redeemer. The Messiah had been long called HE THAT SHOULD COME, NOW SHORTLY HE WILL COME. He will come in a personal way and will reveal Himself to His people in His holy temple.

The book of Malachi comes to us as the closing message of the Old Testament. It is the connecting link between the Old and the New, and in its contents it looks back over the centuries to the messages of such prophets as Moses and Isaiah, and it also looks forward to the coming of Him who was to be greater than either of these, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord. He is the messenger of the New Covenant, whom they desired. Of this messenger and of this covenant the prophets had spoken. With one voice they had predicted and promised His coming to redeem Israel and to bring about a righteous judgment upon Israel's enemies. Always the Coming One was represented as a divine messenger, frequently as God Himself; and we do not hesitate a moment in seeing the fulfillment of the prediction-promise in Jehovah-Jesus. For as Peter said to the Jews on Pentecost, "Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified."

"The Lord, whom ye seek, shall SUDDENLY COME TO HIS TEMPLE..." (Mal. 3:1). Would God that all the saints might see that God's purpose from the foundation of the world has been the building of a spiritual house, a holy temple, an eternal abiding place in which He can be at home, and in which place He and His creation can meet. More than three thousand years ago Solomon built a magnificent temple of stone and precious materials. He overlaid it with gold and adorned it with silver. Silently it seemed to grow out of the top of Mount Moriah, as if drawn from the very mountain by some huge hand. There was no sound of hammer or chisel or saw, but only the soft blowing of the wind, for all of the stones and every part had been carefully made and cut far away, down in Solomon's quarry. And now this magnificent temple with its mammoth stones was rising into the sky. The pillars reflected the light of the Judean hills; the great Corinthian brass door shown in the sunlight. Inside was the huge thick blue, crimson and purple veil which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. And within the Holy of Holies was the gold covered mercy seat with the cherubim facing each other on either side. In the center over that mercy seat when the temple was completed and prayer was offered, suddenly there appeared right there in the presence of men the visible evidence of God's presence: the Shekinah Glory...and God dwelt among His people in His temple. The brilliant blinding light of His Shekinah Glory dwelt in the Most Holy Place. So wonderful was it that the Queen of Sheba stood transfixed at the sight. But the temple built by Solomon was only a fleeting foreshadow of the living temple which Christ would build by the Spirit - a temple not made with hands.

When Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 587 B.C., the great temple of Solomon along with the rest of the city was destroyed and its valuable contents carried to Babylon. Seventy years later a remnant of Israel returned from the Babylonian exile and soon thereafter, the community began to rebuild the temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel. When the foundation was laid, the old men, who had seen the "first house" (Solomon's temple), wept for sorrow (Hag. 2:3), but the young men, who had been born in exile shouted for joy (Ezra 3:12). Like most of the reconstruction in that era immediately following the exile, the temple of Zerubbabel must have been modest indeed. Five long centuries further down the spectrum of time king Herod the Great, who was a usurper, an Idumean prince who had usurped the throne in Jerusalem, announced to the people assembled at the Passover, just twenty years before the birth of Jesus, his intention of restoring the temple which was quite dilapidated by that time. Herod was an indefatigable builder. Many cities and heathen temples had been rebuilt by him and it was natural that he should wish to show his own grandeur by making the modest restoration temple larger, more complex, and much more beautiful. Other motives also moved him, especially his desire to ingratiate himself with the more religious Jews, who resented his Idumean origin and friendliness with the Romans. Herod's temple in some respects exceeded both the temple of Solomon and the temple of Zerubbabel. It is minutely described by the historian Josephus, and the New Testament has made us familiar with the pride of the Jews in its magnificence during the days of Jesus and His apostles.

When Jesus came to earth in the long ago, He did not come to His temple except in figure and shadow. The beautiful temple in Jerusalem was but a fading type which was to be left "with not one stone upon another that would not be thrown down." Prophetically, and in beautiful symbol Jesus did appear suddenly in Herod's temple in old Jerusalem. The disciples watched their Master with curiosity and astonishment. They had never seen the kind and compassionate Jesus like this before. He had come over the hill from Bethany, and on the way to the city He saw its fair towers and palaces from the top of Mount Olivet; and pausing as He looked at it, He wept, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

Jesus descended into the Kidron valley and climbed the steep paths of Mount Moriah with His disciples in great anticipation. They approached the house of God, the temple of the Most High, and the Spirit of God that rested upon Him quickened His pulse as they came near to this great symbolic structure. As Jesus strode into the temple, suddenly something in Him erupted. Profound disappointment smote Him mercilessly in His breast as He surveyed the scene of confusion that rose before His astonished eyes. Oxen were bawling, sheep were bleating, doves were flying wildly through the temple, and the stench of manure was nauseating. Men were arguing violently over money, tempers flared, and coarse words were flying back and forth. Here and there pious pilgrims vainly sought a quiet place in which to pray. The temple priests, oblivious to the confusion, were making a great show of religious form in their long robes and broad phylacteries. Proud Pharisees stood where they could be easily seen and loudly prayed their long and eloquent prayers. To the undiscerning eye, it looked almost like a religious revival the bustling crowds were there; it was a scene of feverish religious activity; the prosperous multitudes were flocking to the tables - they were buying and selling. The baskets were bulging with money; the ministers of the temple were exuberant; never had God been so popular - never had religion been more acceptable!

The Rabbis had passed a law that no money could be received in payment of tithes or in offerings to God unless it was Jewish money. If it was money that had the Roman eagle upon it, or money that bore any heathen emblem, they would not take it, and these scoundrels of Rabbis were behind the money-changers, who paid them large sums of money to exchange the money from Athens, from Rome, from Ephesus, from Corinth, from Egypt, and from all parts of the world. They had a fore-court, a court of the Gentiles where the Gentiles could worship if they liked, and it was in that very fore-court of the temple that they had put their money-changers' tables, amd their sellers of doves, and their merchandise sellers, and their traffickers. Who could worship amidst that braying of asses and lowing of oxen, and overwhelmed by the stench of dung?

That was the trouble. These miserable, narrow-minded bigots had divided the temple! God had never made a temple of that kind. He had made a temple where "all the nations" should come and worship before Him, and they put Gentiles in the outer court amid the asses and the oxen, and all the other animals; then there was an inner court, which they had divided again so that the women should be just a little lower than these sainted hypocrites. There they were! They had divided up the temple of the Almighty, and Jesus reminded them that God had established that temple and that it should be A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS; but they had made it a den of robbers. Jesus beheld that sordid scene. He saw the money changers and the thieves who were stealing from the poor people who came to give their tithes and offerings. He saw the religious pretenders, the vain hypocrites who had turned the forecourt of the temple into a house of merchandise; from a place which had been a place of prayer into a continuous noisy, wrangling mart for thieves, money-changers, and merchants.

He stood in the great door of the temple, feet spread apart, with furrowed brow and set jaw, anger flashing from His countenance, drops of sweat standing out on His forehead, fire blazing in His eyes. Nearby He saw a pile of small cords that had been used with the dove crates. Picking them up, He began to braid them into a whip until He had a good sized scourge. He made a loop on the end of the scourge and fastened it around His wrist, took a firm grip on it and stepped forward. Into that robbers den Jesus strode - like'a rushing stream, driven by the wind of God! What a commotion! The whip cracked - the tables were overturned, and piles of coins, both foreign and Jewish, scattered across the temple floor; the doves were squaking, the lambs were loosed from their pens, the oxen trampled over the money boxes, and wielding the scourge Jesus drove the merchants toward the main entrance of the temple. "Out! Out! Enough! This is My Father's house! This is a house of prayer for all the nations! You robbers! You thieves! Get out! Don't come back!" That whip did not stop crackling until the last sheep was gone, the last ox, the last dove, and all the merchants, and all the religious thugs. The temple had never before seen such a day as this.

Can we now open the eyes of our understanding to behold the wondrous truth Jesus proclaimed? It was not many days thence that we read, "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down" (Mat. 24:1-2). The King had come to His own, and they had not received Him. After three and one half years of ministry among the people to whom He had been sent, Jesus had now closed His last public discourse (Mat. 23), and had left the temple for the last time. "Jesus went out, and departed from the temple," never again to re-enter or open His mouth in public teaching. With this act ended His public ministry. The last supper and Calvary were to follow immediately.

But the disciples, still concerned with the natural, had other thoughts. The Master had just made the statement, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Mat. 23:38). But these men, in their then unspiritual state, could not be expected to understand that declaration fully. That the Christ had come to completely destroy and bring to an end an old order and would establish in the earth an entirely new order was yet foreign to their minds. They were more concerned about the passing than the permanent. But the Master was now completing the work He had been given to do. The time had come for the greatest event of the ages to be enacted. So He had little interest now in that which represented a fallen order devoid of God's presence and power and majesty. And while our Authorized version reads, "See ye not all these things?" yet it is apparent that this is a mistranslation. The Greek really says, "And the Jesus said to them; Not you regard (or look to, or take heed to) all these." Most certainly He was saying in essence, "Now we are through with all that is natural. This has all been only a type and shadow of the greater reality and glory to come. DON'T CLING TO T-H-I-S! We have matters of much greater import to attend to. So, get your eyes off this which is passing, for, verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." The account in Lk. 21:6 reads, "As for these things which ye behold." "Behold" here carries the meaning of earnest and continued inspection: that is, they were prone to continue looking in fondness on the natural magnificence."As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

This was a new revelation, a shocking blow to the inborn hope which still held a prominent place in the hearts of these men. They had been brought up to believe that their Messiah was to come and restore Israel to her lost heritage of world dominion. But little by little they had come to know that other events must transpire first: that the King whom they had truly found and followed was not to reign immediately, but must die. Now they learn that the grandeur of the edifice which was the idol of every Jewish heart is to be destroyed instead of being preserved to remain the abode of the God of Israel. And now they are commanded to no longer cherish or cling to this earthly and material temple, but to turn away from it once and for all in order to lay hold upon a far greater glory!

And my earnest prayer to God is for all who read these words, that God may help us, as sons of God in these momentous days, to look not, as do those in the church system, for the re-establishing of that which God has forever destroyed and abolished. Many sincere but yet carnal Christians are looking for an earthly temple to be built by the Jews in Israel in this end time. But in spite of all teachings to the contrary, no temple made with hands will ever again be built in Jerusalem, and, should those unbelieving Jews who now possess the land stretch forth their hands to build a temple for the Lord, He will neither own it, accept it, nor dwell in it. It is my firm conviction, and I believe that I have the Spirit of God, that God in His wisdom and immutable purpose will never permit such a temple to be built. The temple of stone was only the SHADOW of better things to come; merely the natural type of the SPIRITUAL REALITY which Moses saw in the mount.

The temple in Jerusalem never did constitute the TRUE TEMPLE of God. This is made plain in Heb. 8:1-2, "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary and of the TRUE TABERNACLE which the LORD PITCHED, and not man!" Jesus is now a minister of the TRUE TABERNACLE. Concerning the old tabernacle and temple with its priestly ministry the apostle says, "Who serve unto the example and shadow of HEAVENLY THINGS, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, saith He, See that thou make all things according to the PATTERN showed thee in the mount" (Heb. 8:5).

The tabernacle of old was made as a physical, material COPY of the TRUE TABERNACLE which Moses saw in the mount. And what Moses saw in the mount was heavenly, or spiritual. This truth is further amplified in Heb. 9:8-11 in these graphic words, "By this the Holy Spirit points out that the way into the true Holy of Holies is not yet thrown open as long as the former tabernacle remains a recognized institution and is still standing. Seeing that first tabernacle was a parable - a visible symbol or type or picture of the present age. In it gifts or sacrifices are offered, and yet are incapable of perfecting the conscience or of cleansing or renewing the inner man of the worshipper. For the ceremonies deal only with clean and unclean meats and drinks and different washings, mere external rules and regulations for the body imposed to tide the worshippers over until the time of SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT - of reformation, of the complete new order when Christ, the Messiah, shall establish the REALITY of what these things foreshadow, abetter covenant" (Amplified Bible).

All types and shadows are forever done away when Christ, the reality, comes. The Lord dwells not in temples made with hands. They are but shadowy figures of the true. "What temple will ye build Me," saith the Lord. So wherever we see a reference to a temple of the present or the future, it MUST refer to "the true sanctuary, and the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man" (Heb. 8:2). Furthermore, there is only one such tabernacle, or temple. The Word nowhere tells of two, or three, or one hundred; one away off somewhere in space where Jesus is ministering, another in Jerusalem built by the Jews, and another spiritual one composed of living stones. There is but ONE temple, ONE great High Priest, and ONE royal priesthood. So when the priests of old served it unto the example and shadow of heavenly (spiritual) things," those heavenly things were the same that Moses saw in the mount, and the same heavenly and spiritual things to which we have now come, for, We "ARE COME unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the HEAVENLY JERUSALEM" (Heb. 12:22). None of these are a future reality to be entered into after we die, or after Jesus returns. We ARE COME. Let us never foret that fact!

Now let us identify this heavenly temple unto which we are come. Listen to the words of Peter as he presses this golden truth home to the understanding hearts of the saints. "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a LIVING STONE, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, YE ALSO, as LIVELY STONES, are built up a SPIRITUAL HOUSE, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a CHIEF CORNER STONE, elect, precious: and he that believeth in Him shall not be confounded" (I Pet. 2:3-6). The apostle Peter draws a striking metaphor of the construction by God of a remarkable spiritual house of which Jesus Christ is the most remarkable corner stone. He is remarkable as the corner stone because not only is Christ the sure foundation in the midst of a world where the pillars are trembling and the foundations are shaken, but He remains ever sure and ever stable and gives His stability to the entire structure. More than that, He is the living stone that communicates that stability to all the other stones that are joined to Him. Praise God that in the midst of all the pressures and testings there is that INNER STABILITY of the Christ! So, we see painted before our eyes a magnificent structure, the living cathedral of Christ rising up into the sky, made of living stones. This superb gem of revelation vividly reveals just what the temple of God really is. Not a temple of dead stones, but of living stones, each stone a spiritually living person. Not covered with glittering gold, but overshadowed by God. Not adorned with silver, but founded on redemption. Not fashioned with glittering, precious stones, but with the eternal jewels of His own nature, glory, and power! Paul wrote of it thus: "The temple of God is holy, which temple YE ARE" (I Cor. 3:17). "Know ye not that YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST which is IN YOU?" (I Cor. 6:19). "For YE ARE THE TEMPLE of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them" (II Cor. 6:16). And, hear it! my beloved, this spiritual temple which YOU ARE is that same spiritual temple in which Christ sits at the right hand of God and ministers as the High Priest of the sanctuary.

This human heavenly temple is the one not made with (men's) hands. The true temple is the body of Christ. The temple of the Lord is that vast family of God's sons who are coming to maturity in the image of Christ. This is the temple to which our blessed Lord and Christ SUDDENLY COMES. It distresses me to hear preachers constantly proclaiming as fact the old wives' fables that the temple of God must be rebuilt in Jerusalem by the Jews. I repeat again the truth that God's temple is the body of Christ and no temple of God, made from stones and mortar and ornamented with silver and gold, will ever be rebuilt in Jerusalem. The notion of a rebuilt temple is a lie that would be humorous were it not so ridiculous and blasphemous. The temple that God builds is the temple of which Jesus spoke to the poor, sinful woman at the well of Sychar. She was quibbling, and He said, "Neither in this mountain, NOR IN JERUSALEM, shall ye worship the Father... the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit (in their own spirits) and in truth" (Jn. 4:21-24).

In the cleansing of the temple of old, our Lord Jesus Christ made it perfectly plain that He was cleansing the temple to show them that He, who in the Temple of His own Body had come to redeem them, was so mighty that He would cleanse the whole Temple of Humanity. He would cleanse the Earthly Temples of the sorrowing and the sick and the poor and the sinful and the dying who came to Him; as He would, because of His purity, raise that same Earthly Sanctuary which He wore, that Temple of His Body, in three days when His three and one half years of ministry was fulfilled. That was clearly the thing as you can plainly see by considering the scripture passages in Jn. 2:13-22.

Sometimes I have tried to get it clear in my soul that God is in me. I have meditated upon the indwelling influence and power of that pure, sweet, living Spirit of the eternal God. I have come to continually live in the conscious awareness of His presence in my spirit, in my soul, in my body, in my person, in my being - the habitation of God, God preparing me to minister to the world, equipping my spirit, soul and body to live forever in harmony with the mind of God. All the God-like qualities of your life are due to the fact that God by His Spirit dwells in you. You are the temple of God! This is the wonder of the indwelling Spirit. It is not a work of grace; it is God possessing you. Oh, your heart may have been as sinful as the heart of man was ever sinful. But Christ comes to your spirit. That spirit of darkness that possessed you goes and in its stead, a new spirit comes to your spirit, your spirit is quickened by HIS SPIRIT, and Christ LIVES IN YOU! The knowledge of this sublime truth will make you holy. No one can ever thus see his place in God and yet remain in carnality. Should one claim to see these truths and yet remain as he was before, then he has not seen by the Spirit, but by the natural mind only.

For two thousand years this temple has been rising upon the only foundation that can be laid, which is Jesus the Christ, and the flaming words of the prophet Malachi are even now being fulfilled: "THE LORD, WHOM YE SEEK, SHALL SUDDENLY COME TO HIS TEMPLE. Behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a REFINER'S FIRE, and like fuller's soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall PURIFY the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Praise God!

We are members of His bones and of His flesh. We are His temple. This is the visitation of the Lord to His body, to His church, to His people, to the overcomers, to His sons, to those who are looking for Him, to those who are seeking His face! Do we want the Lord to come to our temple in mighty power? Do we really want Him to invade us through and through, to thoroughly touch every area of our lives until we cry, Away with all sin and pride! Away with all self-seeking, self-indulgence, and self-promotion! Away with every vestige of the carnal mind, and every claim of the fleshly nature! Away with all the foolishness of religion! Away with the MAN OF SIN who usurps the place of Christ in the temple of God! For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap! When you know His coming in this manner you are thrust into the Day of the Lord and your world will be set on fire; all that is wood, hay and stubble will be burned up. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. Where? In His temple. Everything that is in the Kingdom of Heaven that offends will be consumed (Mat. 13:41). Where is the Kingdom of Heaven, my beloved? Is it not within you? Everything that defiles in the Kingdom of Heaven, He comes to burn. He comes to purify the sons of Levi, that they might offer unto Him an offering in righteousness.

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave perhaps the greatest parable of His ministry when He cleansed the temple and then spoke to the people about the temple of His body. He said what He meant: His body was a pure body, and He stood there to let them know that the fore-court of the temple was a symbol of the body of the believer. There were three courts in the temple: the fore-court, the inner court, and the Holy of Holies. The Lord meant them to understand by that purification that the outer court of man's temple, the body, had to be cleansed. There are three courts in this temple of man's being. Your bodies, as the apostle Paul declares, are the temple of God. He also said, "The temple of God is holy." "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." The man who defiles his body is a sinner; you cannot sin with impunity; when you defile your body you defile the temple of God just as surely as did Antiochus when he offered a pig upon the altar of the temple in Jerusalem.

Redemption demands that a man shall be restored SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY to that sphere of life and purity and incorruptibleness and glory which was his in that first blessed moment when he came forth from the bosom of God. There are three courts in the temple which constitutes a man. The first is the outer court of the body; the next is the inner court of the soul; and the next is the innermost court of all, the spirit, which God Himself has given. But God demands that every part of the temple shall be cleansed and restored and embued with the incorruptible nature of God. There is the true temple. And the purification of the temple begins in the spirit. Would you worship God?

If you are to worship God in a holy temple, let Him cleanse your spirit, let Him cleanse your soul, let Him cleanse your body, and worship God in the temple of your own Being. God wants that. Therefore it is that God sent His Son, not merely to cleanse the outer court, but through His death, through His resurrection, through His life, and in the power of His Spirit, to cleanse man FROM THE CENTER TO THE CIRCUMFERENCE. Hence it is that the purification of the Temple of Humanity must begin in your spirit and mine. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the FLESH AND SPIRIT, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (IICor. 7:1).

I know no definition of God more sublime, outside of the scripture, than this definition of a philosopher of France, who said, "I conceive God to be Him whose CENTER IS EVERYWHERE, and whose CIRCUMFERENCE IS NOWHERE." The spirit, soul and body of a purified being is a center of omnipotent God. That God in whom we live, and move, and have our being, and who by His mercy sustains our being, I want you to know, my brother, my sister, no matter how carnal you may have been, desires to make your spirit a CENTER WHICH SHALL HAVE NO CIRCUMFERENCE. He wants to make your spirit pure, to make your soul pure, to make your body pure, and to cause the River of all Purity to flow out to all around you, and into unborn generations before you, and unto the vast multitudes of hopeless men and women who came before you; so that you shall be a CENTER for an omnipotent and omnipresent and a holy God; that is the object of the purification of the temple.

You will see then that the Lord Jesus Christ, when He purified the fore-court of the temple, determined to show His people that even this temple of the body which God has given man should no longer be the prey of foul disease, and of filthy, sensual passion, and of putrefying death. He showed them that the body should be purified, that the soul should be purified, that the spirit should be purified, and that He had come to pour out His Spirit, not only upon the spirits and souls of men, but upon all FLESH, and that all FLESH should rejoice in the advent of One who was not only the Saviour, but the Healer of mankind, the Cleanser of the outer court of the temple, the body, the giver of immortality so that even this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality, and even this vile body shall be changed, to be fashioned like unto His body of glory.

"He is like a REFINER'S FIRE ... and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver..." (Mal. 3:2-3).

One of God's promises concerning the Lord who comes to His temple to sit as a refiner's fire is that He shall "purify the sons of Levi." The "sons of Levi" in the days when the prophecy was written, were the priests and ministers of God. The "sons of Levi" in these days of the spiritual temple of living stones are likewise the priests and ministers of God. Prophetically speaking, "the sons of Levi" refer to all who have received the call to the Royal Priesthood of Christ after the Order of Melchizedek. "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house (temple), an HOLY PRIESTHOOD, to offer up SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. But ye are a chosen generation, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (I Pet. 2:5,9).

Even the word "sons" is significant. Becoming a son is the result of intense discipline, as we read in Heb. 12:5-11. The Lord comes to those who long to be His Priesthood, not with visible blessings and manifestations which inflate the ego, but as a refiner's fire and as fuller's soap to purify and refine them, even as gold and silver is refined. In olden times, the refiner of gold and silver would sit over the burning crucible until the dross and impurities in these metals were completely consumed. Not until he could see his face mirrored in the molten metals did he declare them to be pure. So too with us. The Holy Spirit brings to light and deals with every aspect of our lives, consuming all that is alien and opposed to God's nature and character, until the image of His Son Jesus is formed and mirrored in us. Only then will we be able to offer Him those offerings and render Him that service which is pleasing and acceptable in His sight. The Lord never removes or destroys something without replacing it with something greater and better. He sets us apart, like the sons of Levi, and subjects us to an instance discipline of inner and outer sanctification that we might become HIS ROYAL PRIESTHOOD.

To be HIS PRIESTS we must be changed from our carnality and selfhood into HIS DIVINE NATURE. No divine change can be wrought on God's elect, saving by "passing through the waters and through the fires" which are appointed for us, waters and fires as real, though not of this world, as those which moved in the laver of the temple, or burnt on the altar of old. Our Lord can no more spare our nature than the ram was spared by Moses. This is that "spirit of judgment and burning" promised by the prophet, with which the Lord shall "purify the sons of Levi, as gold and silver are purged."

The sons have to be cleansed and purified of the carnal mind that is contrary to God and is an enemy of His, filled with all unrighteousness and evil and is not subject to the will of God and never can be. As William Law said, "SELF is the whole root, branch and tree of sin." So for us to be His Priesthood, showing forth His virtues, His life and light and love, His righteousness and glory and power, this thing, that stands in the way of the priestly nature and ministry, must be destroyed and taken out of the way. We must be emptied of self and everything that pertains to the earthly nature so that we can put on the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of His divine nature to manifest Him in all His wondrous beauty and majesty. All carnality must go through the fire. None can escape it. There is no detour around this lake of fire if you wish to arrive finally at the safe harbor of perfection in God. The sons of Levi of this day have felt that purifying fire. Its burning has roused them from their lethargic ease as they have drifted along the stream of peace with the world, its clear flame has lit up the dark recesses of their own carnal minds and the deceitfulness of the heart of man, revealing in stark reality the man of sin sitting in the temple of God, and its blasting flame has separated them from the fleshly follies of the religious systems and the so-called church. In many of them the fire is effectually doing its purifying work. They have begun to fulfill the prophecy and to "offer unto the Lord offerings in righteousness," praise His name!

Do you think God does not love you When you're passing 'neath the rod?

Do you grow a bit discouraged; Think the road is most too hard?

Oh, my brother, do you not know That our Father has a plan

By which to purge and purify And perfect this race of man?

"Think it not strange," said brother Peter, When comes the fiery trial;

It may come in fierce temptations That will call forth self-denial.

It may be in deepest sorrow Sad bereavement, or in pain.

Your friends may all forsake you; God will work it for your gain.

The trial of your faith, said he, Is of value more than gold.

His fire is burning out the dross From His chosen and His called.

Let us stay right in the furnace Though the flames seem hard to take;

God ordained their raging fury That He a perfect vessel make.

He is calling out His remnant, Seed with which to plant again;

He must test and try each vessel, Those to find who will remain.

Would you like for Him to use you? Would you like to add your voice

To this new day trumpet sounding? Then the fire must be your choice.

Should any dross or stain remain, Then the gold cannot be pure.

It will not reflect His image And you never will endure.

Go through, as faithful Abraham, For he proved his love by test;

Climbing up old Mount Moriah, On God's altar laid His best.

Think of those three Hebrew children; They loved God with all their hearts;

Yet each was tested by the fire, Nor from its pain refused a part.

God saw He could count them faithful In what'er their lot might be.

He wants to prove the same of you, So from His testing do not flee!

Words penned by another inspired writer, our dear friend and brother, Elwin Roach, are so pertinent at this point that I must share a portion with my reader. He writes: "When we receive a pure word of God, we should never think that this is the end of the matter, and that all we have to do after hearing a wonderful truth is to just bask in its glory. Listen to what has been recorded in the Psalms: 'The words of the Lord are PURE words: AS SILVER TRIED IN A FURNACE OF EARTH, PURIFIED SEVEN TIMES' (Ps. 12:6). We know now why things get so hot when we begin to truly hear from the Lord - HIS WORDS HAVE TO BE PURIFIED in us! The dross of false doctrine and our own thoughts have to be removed. We have all kinds of words coming into our minds, and whether they are the pure words of God or nonsensical trash, we can count on them being tested sooner or later in the 'FURNACE OF EARTH' that we are. If we are of a submissive spirit, and have been called to be vessels of honor, then the testing fires will come early. It is at this time that the redemptive silver of God will be purified, while that of no worth is consumed or removed. But for those who are called to be the vessels of dishonor, the fires are held back until the purpose of their dishonor has been fulfilled. (See I Cor. 11:19 concerning the necessity of heresies).

'And He shall sit as a REFINER and PURIFIER of SILVER: and He shall PURIFY THE SONS OF LEVI, and purge them as GOLD and SILVER, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness' (Mal. 3:1-3). The sons of Levi, the ones called to offer the bread of the Lord, are the GOLD and SILVER that is being FIRED IN THE FURNACE OF EARTH. It is not just the words that they have heard, but now it is THEMSELVES who are being consumed - they are the WORD PURIFIED SEVEN TIMES! And then, when the purging has done its work, they are the PURIFIED GOLD and SILVER to be brought into the storehouse of God, which is the OFFERING UNTO THE LORD.

"The fire that comes to the Firstfruits, the House of God, is one of the most essential ingredients with which we can possibly be afflicted (blessed). John the Baptist said not in vain that there would be One coming after him, who should baptize us in the Holy Ghost and (even) FIRE. When the Holy Spirit and Word first comes to us, it comes as a cool, refreshing RAIN - we are 'born of water.' But there will be a time when His Spirit will be a purging fire. It is then that His Word will be in our hearts as a FIREBRAND SHUT UP IN OUR BONES, even as it was with Jeremiah (Jer. 20:9). Oh, but praise God! For when that HOLY FLAME is fanned by His hand, not only are we delivered from our wicked ways, but as we are consumed by the fire of God - we then BECOME THAT FLAME OF FIRE! Do you think not? Think again; for it is recorded in Ps. 104:1-4, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty ... who walketh upon the wings of the wind: who maketh His angels spirits; HIS MINISTERS A  F-L-A-M-I-N-G  F-I-R-E.'  Yes,  'GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE' (Heb. 12:29), and '...AS HE IS, SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD' (I Jn. 4:17). And as we go forth from God, AS HE IS, AS HIS WORD, not only will He make HIS WORDS IN OUR MOUTHS F-I-R-E that will devour rebellion (Jer. 5:14), but WE WILL BE THE WORDS OF FIRE THAT GOD SPEAKS INTO THE WORLD OF WOOD, HAY AND STUBBLE" end quote.

A remarkable prophecy given in the year 1619 contains some wonderful truths and predictions of the raising up of a firstfruits people, among whom "certain head powers" shall bear "the first office" and will be among the first to be commissioned as priests the glory of an endless life; but only after the order of Melchizedek, to partake of after being refined and purified by the most intense "spirit of burning." We quote only a portion of that prophecy:

"A prophet, and the most prophetical generation, will the Most High raise up who shall deliver His people by a force of spiritual arms; for which there must be raised certain head powers to bear the first office, who are to be persons in favor with God, whose dread and fear shall fall on all nations, visible and invisible, because of the mighty acting power of the Holy Spirit which shall rest upon them; for CHRIST WILL APPEAR IN SOME CHOSEN VEGSELS to bring into the Promised Land, the new creation state. None shall stand under God but those who have become 'tried' stones after the pattern and similitude of Christ. This will be a fiery trial through which a very few will be able to pass or bear up in it; whereby the waiters for this visible breaking forth are strictly charged to hold fast, and wait together in the unity of Pure Love. This trial will be of absolute necessity to all for the clearing away of all remaining infirmities of the natural mind, and the burning of all hay, wood, and stubble, for nothing must remain in the fire, for as a refiner shall He purify the sons of the Kingdom. There will be some who will be fully redeemed, being clothed upon with a priestly garment after the Melchizedek order. This will qualify them for governing authority. Therefore, it is required on their part to suffer the SPIRIT OF BURNING, and the fanning of the FIERY BREATH SEARCHING EVERY PART WITHIN THEM UNTIL THEY ARRIVE A FIXED BODY from whence the wonders are to flow out. Therefore, there should be a holy emulation and ambition stirred up among the bands of believers that they may be of the firstfruits unto Him that is risen from the dead, and so be made principal agents for Him and with Him, that they may be, if possible, of the number of the First-born, of the New Jerusalem mother. All true waiters of His Kingdom in Spirit, under whatsoever profession they may be, ought to be numbered among the VIRGIN SPIRITS, to whom this message appertains. Be watchful and quicken your pace..." -end quote.

What a burning, what a burning, As all goes up in smoke and flame;

Everything of Adam's nature Must bow the knee to Jesus' name.

Next to Part 32                         

Table of Contents

If you would like to receive these studies write to:

J. Preston Eby
P.O. Box 371240
    El Paso TX 79937-1240

All  writings are distributed on a free-will basis.

(Brother Eby does not have e-mail service)