INTERESTING FACTS : Noah Webster, REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER; JUDGE; LEGISLATOR; EDUCATOR; "SCHOOLMASTER TO AMERICA"

 

"[T]he religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles... This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government. The moral principles and precepts found in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All the... evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible. [O]ur citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion. [T]he Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society - the best book for regulating the temporal concerns of men. [T]he Christian religion... is the basis, or rather the source, of all genuine freedom in government... I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of Christianity have not a controlling influence."

 

Daily Reading : EZEKIEL 46 - 48

 

TEXT : Eze 46:1  Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be 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. Eze 46:2  And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. Eze 46:3  Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons. Eze 46:4  And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the LORD in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish. Eze 46:5  And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

 

THEME : THE MILLENNIAL TEMPLE

 

"The last two chapters do not require any lengthened remarks. The waters that issue from the sanctuary represent the life-giving power that proceeds from the throne of God, flowing through His temple, and healing the Dead Sea, the abiding token of judgment. The waters abound in fish, the trees that grow beside them are filled with fruit, the marshes alone remain under the curse-they are "given to salt." The blessing of that day is real and abundant, but not complete. The land is divided between the tribes in a new manner, by straight lines drawn from east to west. The portion for the sanctuary and for the city, or the 25,000 square reeds, are situated next to the seventh tribe, beginning from the north. The name of the city thenceforth shall be "Jehovah is there." Compare, for the waters that flow from the temple, Joe_3:18; Zec_14:8 - passages that refer to the same period.

 

It appears that the two places pointed out to the fishermen as a boundary were the two extremities of the Dead Sea (we may compare Gen_14:7; 2Ch_20:2; and Isa_15:8). The main features in the whole passage are the re-establishment of Israel, but on new grounds and blessing, analogous to that of paradise (an image borrowed from this prophecy in the Apocalypse) [1]; but, after all, with the reserve that this blessing did not absolutely remove all evil, as will be the case in the eternal ages.

 

There is a powerful and abiding source of blessing which greatly surmounts the evil, and almost effaces it; nevertheless it is not entirely taken away. Still the name of the city, of the seat of power, that which characterises it, is "Jehovah is there"-Jehovah, that great King, the Creator of all things, and the Head of His people Israel.

 

Note #1

 

When I say "borrowed," it is not that the Spirit of God has not given us an original image in the Apocalypse: one has but to read it to be convinced of the contrary. But Old Testament imagery is constantly employed in the descriptions there given-only in such a manner as to apply it to heavenly things, a circumstance that makes it much easier to understand the book by helping us to enter into its real character through its analogy with the Old Testament." [John Darby][1]

 

TRUTH FOR TODAY : "CHRIST, OUR REDEEMER, WILL RESTORE PEACE ON EARTH."

 

When Christ, the Prince returns, He will restore peace on earth. As the suffering Messiah, He has restored Man to God. That is, He will save whosoever believes on Him saving him or her from the wrath to come. Yet, when He returns for the second time, He will rule and reign restoring peace on earth. This was in the angelic announcement declaring His birth.

 

Luk 2:11  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luk 2:12  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Luk 2:13  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Luk 2:14  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

 

Interestingly, both Ezekiel and [later] Daniel refer to Jesus as "the Prince."

 

Dan 9:25  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

 

Sir Robert Anderson, in his book - "The Coming Prince,' refers to the fulfilment of Christ's first coming as the Prince writing -

 

"That day, on which the sixty-nine weeks ended, was the fateful day on which the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9; when, for the first and only occasion in all His earthly sojourn, He was acclaimed as "Messiah the Prince the King, the Son of David."[2]

 

Further, in His Second Coming, His Glory shall come from His throne bringing healing and restoration, as we read in Ezekiel and The Revelation.

 

Eze 47:1  Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Eze 47:2  Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. Eze 47:3  And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Eze 47:4  Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Eze 47:5  Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. Eze 47:6  And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Eze 47:7  Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Eze 47:8  Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.

 

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Rev 22:3  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: Rev 22:4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. Rev 22:5  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. Rev 22:6  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

 

Even so, come LORD Jesus!