In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of God's judgment and the need for Him to eradicate evil in the world. He emphasizes that God cannot rest until righteousness and salvation are established on earth. The preacher also mentions the importance of deep teaching and encourages the audience to continue seeking a deeper understanding of God's word. He highlights the significance of giving God glory and thanks, as failure to do so can lead to confusion and the calling of evil good. The sermon concludes with a reference to the story of the Hebrew servant who willingly chooses to remain a slave to his master, symbolizing the voluntary servitude of believers to God.

We're going tonight to a passage from Isaiah, Isaiah chapter sixty-two. I thought several years ago that it just seemed to be quickened to me as something for this hour, and since the first time we got into it, it would seem every once in a while we'd keep coming back to it. And it's God's burden for his people. For Zion's sake will I not move my feet, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that doth dance. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all things thy glory. And I shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. I shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be turned forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be turned conflict. But thou shalt be called Hezbollah, and thy land Beulah. And those names are interpreted in the next two phrases. For the Lord delighteth in thee, Hezbollah, and thy land shall be married. That's Beulah. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. We might read a little more later, but we'll just leave it for now. God is exceedingly jealous over his people. And our great high priest in the heavens, he bears upon his shoulders the concern for his people. I use that phrase because the high priest in the Old Testament, when he went into the holiest of all on the Day of Atonement, he was clothed upon with the holy garments of the priesthood. And on the shoulder pieces of the epit, there were the names of the children of Israel, which he carried in before the presence of God. For the priest in Israel was established by the Lord to carry, as it were, and to bear the problems, the sins, the iniquity of the children of Israel. As we said this morning, God's plan was that the whole nation would be a kingdom of priests. The whole nation, every Israelite, would have access into God's presence. But they failed God, and God still must have a priesthood. But he separated one of the twelve tribes to be the priestly tribe, and from the priestly tribe he chose the family of Aaron. And so Aaron and his four sons became the priests, and Aaron was the high priest, along with his four sons. And so God narrowed it down to just a very small handful. But as we said this morning, God never changes his mind. He never repents of any plan or purpose that he has. Maybe I should just digress here a little to explain that, yes, it does say God repented here and there in the Old Testament. It repented the Lord that he made man, repented the Lord concerning the flood. But we have to understand that in a different light. When God's purposes have been accomplished, when God is judged, it grieves his heart that he had to do it. And he sent Jonah up to pronounce judgment on Nineveh, and Jonah proclaimed through the streets of Nineveh, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall perish, and the people repent it, and so will God repent it. So it's something like that. God doesn't change. He has a certain attitude towards mankind. He's angry at the sins of mankind. He decrees their judgment. He declares they're going to be judged. But when man repents, because God doesn't change, because he's a God of love and mercy and forgiveness, God has to withdraw that judgment. And the prophets understood that, and Jonah understood it. That's why he didn't want to go to Nineveh. He said, If I go to Nineveh and preach repentance, it's sure as anything, they'll repent, and then you won't do what you said, and I just want you to do what you said. I want you to wipe out those Ninevites, because they were a great threat to Israel. And so Jonah was afraid, Lord, if you're sending me to Nineveh to call them to repentance, I just assume you wouldn't send me, because you could go ahead and judge them now the way it is. If you send me, I think you've got something in mind that I don't like. Because he knew that God was that kind of a God. If the people repented, then God would change his mind. And so, nevertheless, God has purposes for his people, and he will not repent. For God is not a man that he should repent, as Balaam prophesied. He's not the kind of man that he should change his mind. He's not that kind of a God. But hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not bring it to pass? He pronounced great blessing upon the nation of Israel, because he said, this is God's people, they're holy in God's sight, God looks down and he doesn't behold any iniquity in Israel. And yet, God knew that in their hearts there were many things that God must deal with. But he's not going to let the enemy come into Jews. If God has something against his people, he will deal with them righteously. But our high priest stands there in the heavens, shielding us from the condemnation that Satan would bring our way. And Satan sort of operates in a priesthood, too, but it's a priesthood in reverse. And he stands there accusing the saints of God before the throne. And so we have a high priest who rebukes him, like when Joshua, at the time of the restoration of the second temple, Joshua was the high priest of the new temple, and Zechariah and of the Lord to prophesy words of encouragement to the builders of the temple. And Joshua was a high priest, and Joshua was a priest of God and therefore clothed upon with the turban and the holy garments, the white raiment and the ephod. He was dressed like a priest, ought to be dressed, and those garments would be pure and clean and white. But God showed Joshua to Zechariah in a vision, and he says, Behold, Joshua stood before the Lord in filthy garments, because that's the way God saw him. And Satan was standing there, too, accusing Joshua because he knew that Joshua was clothed in filthy garments in the Spirit. And he accused Joshua, and the angel said, The Lord rebuked thee, O Satan. Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is not this a brand put out of the fire? The angel admitting, Yes, he deserved to be wiped out, he deserved to be burned, but God plucked him out. So the Lord rebuked you. And then God was in the process of cleansing this priesthood, because God was behind. It was God who authorized the rebuilding of the temple. It was God's burden, and these men had responded to the burden of God and had come back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. So God was for them. God was with them. He knew their faults and failures. He knew Joshua's faults and failures. He knew all about that. But he plucked him out of the fire. And he said to the angel standing before him, Take away the filthy garments from him, and clothe him with change of raiment. All this is something Joshua saw, or rather, Zechariah saw in the Spirit. I don't know what Joshua might have known about it, even. But no doubt he was recognizing his uncleanness and his unworthiness, his inability to function as he ought to function as a high priest in Israel. And all this was going on in the spiritual realm. Take away the filthy garments. And he took away the filthy garments from him. And then God gave him a promise that he would walk in his ways and that he would obey him, and that he would give him places to walk among these that stand by. And so Zechariah was able to encourage the people of God in manners like this. And there are other visions that he had. And Haggai had visions. The time had come for God to restore the temple, and therefore God was jealous over his people. He also said to Zechariah, I'm jealous over Zion with great jealousy, because the time had come to turn their captivity. They had been in captivity, and God said it would only be for a season. But their captivity had been turned, and God was jealous over his people. God's always been jealous over his people for the simple reason that he created us for his glory. And he put his image upon man, like we've been emphasizing. He put his image upon man, that that image might be a representation of God himself in the earth. And so he's concerned about man, and that's why he raises up a priesthood. His desire would be that all God's people would come in as priests before God, and that's something that has happened in this new covenant, where all God's people are constituted as priests before God, kings and priests unto God, with the emphasis on the priesthood. And don't forget that. This is the day and age when the kingdom message is heard everywhere, and the emphasis is on the kingdom and on the fact that we're kings. And because we're kings, we're supposed to just have all the power and authority in heaven and on earth to take over the governments of the world and just reign as kings. The emphasis that God gives is not on kings, but on kings who are priests. I will make you to be a kingdom of priests. Priesthood is the emphasis, but a kingdom of priests, because they have authority as priests. A kingdom of priests. That's the emphasis. And so it was with our Lord Jesus Christ. He's a king, yes, and he's a priest on the throne. And God has ordained him to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, which Paul goes into very thoroughly, that Melchizedek, being first by interpretation king of righteousness, but Melchizedek was king of Salem, which means peace. So he says this one on the throne is king of righteousness and king of peace. And God said, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Thou art a priest. He didn't say you're a king after the order of Melchizedek. Well, he is a king, but he's a king in virtue of the fact that he's a priest. In other words, he has authority with God because he's a priest. And so, by and large, the kingdom people are missing what God is saying. He wants priests, and to those priests he'll give authority in realms of righteousness and truth. Because the way we're going to overcome is not by going forth as kings with power and authority in the natural, but to go forth as priests wearing garments of the priesthood, which Paul tells us is a helmet of salvation, a breastplate of righteousness like the priest had a breastplate, the girdle of truth, your loins girt about with truth, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That's the armor that God has for us, and it's nothing less than priestly armor. It's the clothing of a priest. And we're going to discover, I believe, as God continues to work in this priesthood and raise up this priesthood in the earth, yes, I know, as children of God, we are born priests. All Christians are born priests, but it doesn't mean that all Christians are functioning in that priesthood. Some of them aren't even interested in it, and we better read our Bibles and we'll discover that there is more to a priest going into the holy place than just being a son of Aaron. He had to be sanctified, he had to be set apart, he had to be cleansed, he had to be washed of the labor, he had to be stripped of his old garments, he had to be closed upon with holy garments. God's raising up that kind of a priesthood. And they're going to have power and authority with God in virtue of the fact that they're priests, that they stand in God's presence, that they come into his presence and go out from God's presence with authority as kings to minister to the people that which they heard from God in the holiest of all. Because God has great zeal for his people. That's why God raised up a priesthood, and that's why when Israel failed as a nation to appropriate the priesthood, God still must have a priest in Israel. And so he ordained that Aaron would be the priest. And he gave them all these rituals and sacrifices that they were to be very diligent to obey because it spoke of a higher priesthood. It spoke of Christ, who is the true priest on the throne. And so God says, I cannot hold my peace, I cannot rest, until the righteousness of Zion goes forth as brightness and the salvation of the lamps that burn it. You can tell going into all the scriptures on it, it's very evident that he's speaking of the heavenly Zion. Paul says, Ye have come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. And Paul says also that the present Jerusalem and the earth is in bondage with their children, but that we're the sons and daughters of the Jerusalem which is above. She is our mother, who is the mother of us all, that heavenly Jerusalem. And God is exceedingly zealous for his people that once again the righteousness thereof would go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. We hear much about the gospel, and rightly so, and we thank the Lord for the gospel. But the gospel is more than a message, it's more than a proclamation. The gospel is the shining force of the light of God. Perhaps multitudes, millions and millions have heard the gospel in the earth. Many millions have heard it. Have they seen it? God wants the nations to see the salvation of our God. See it. So this is the day when God is beginning. I know he's already working mightily in other nations. I'm not saying he isn't working here. But those who have been deprived of the gospel, God is a true and just and holy God, and it will never be said of him, when all the facts are known, it will never be said of him that he was unfair in any way. And so God is faithfully sending forth the gospel to the ends of the earth. But we have yet to see, I believe, the full impact of the gospel of Christ amongst the nations. But it must happen before Jesus comes. I don't care what kind of calendars you come up with, what kind of calculations you come up with regarding the coming of the Lord. I don't even pay attention to stuff like that, because there are certain things that God's going to do, and there's a certain thing that he's coming for. He's coming for a glorious church, a church not having spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing. But like we said this morning, he can appear any time. He can appear, and we're looking for his appearance. I'm not saying there's two, three, four different comings, but for the sake of those who weren't here this morning, the Lord Jesus can appear any time. And all through the Old Testament, they were looking for the coming of Christ. And they had scriptures indicating he would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. But that didn't hinder Moses to say to the children of Israel, the Lord appeared to me, and God told me to sanctify yourself, because this afternoon the Lord is going to appear in your midst. He wasn't talking about the incarnation, but nevertheless he was talking about an appearing of the Lord that was very definite. God's glory coming to his temple. And he did come. He came that day. And Israel was terrified, as it were, and they shouted, and God had come into their midst. God's going to appear in the midst of his people. He's going to come to his temple. He's going to cleanse and purge and sanctify it by the fire of his presence. He's coming. And I know we desire his glory, and I know that many of the young people, I think especially, have a great longing to see the glory of God. They're going to see it. They're going to see God's glory. But let us not think, God, you're tardy. What are you waiting around about? We want to see your glory. And we want to see it quickly, I know. And God wants to reveal his glory. He wants to do it quickly. But we have to be ready for that. I really believe that if the glory of God came down, like he came that day when Moses said, The Lord will appear to you today. If the Lord of glory came down in the midst of his church, the way he did then, I believe we'd have some catastrophes. I believe people would be falling dead in the aisles of the church. Ministers would be falling dead in the pulpit. I believe that. Nadab and Abihu, just after this incident. We're not told exactly how long after. They decided, well, let's go into the temple and let's offer up some fire to the Lord. And God didn't authorize it. And they went into the temple with some kind of fire that they'd kindled that God hadn't authorized. And fire came out from the presence of God and consumed them. You say, why would he do that? Because God had very clearly told the children of Israel how they would appear before God. And they had no place whatever. There was no place for them to use their own judgment or to use their own opinion as to how they should do it. There was a very clear pattern as to how Aaron was to go in to the presence of God. It was an awesome thing. And so they did this presumptuously. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them because it was just before that that the glory of God had appeared. So he continues to long for his glory to return to his temple. But as we long for that, let us realize the awesomeness of the Lord of glory coming down and taking up his habitation in the midst of his people. It's an awesome thing. Early days of Pentecost, you read those books, Bartleman, some of them, the awesomeness of God's presence. The people of God would come in proud and haughty and harsh and they'd fall on the floor just broken before God. They couldn't stand that awesomeness of his presence. Bartleman used to say the rafters were low in that old building. There was no room for the giraffes. The rafters were low. And we long for those days, but God requires the preparation in his people for the return of those days. God provided the food for the lambs, he said, not for the giraffes. And so God wants to appear once again. He wants to appear, and the Lord's going to appear in the midst of his people. The Lord whom ye seek shall come suddenly to his temple and will refine them as silver is refined, that they might offer up unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. God wants offerings in righteousness. For the priesthood that God is raising up is a holy priesthood, a holy priesthood, and God is jealous for that. He's jealous for his people, and so he's working on his people to bring forth that holy character in his priests once again. And God says, I can't rest till it happens. I can't rest. I can't have peace till it happens. You say, why? Because, like we've been emphasizing, he made you and I for his glory. He made you and I to express his image. He made us, and he wants to conform us to the image of his Son, that once again there will be a people in the earth truly representing God as Jesus did when he was here. That just as our Lord Jesus, in him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, so that the true character and nature of God was revealed in fullness for the first time in the history of mankind when our Lord Jesus came to earth in whom dwelt all the fullness of Godhead. The fullness of Godhead was revealed there for the first time. Not to say that God did not reveal himself in many ways in the past, but for the first time here was a man in whom dwelt the fullness of the Father. Nothing lacking in God, in the Lord Jesus. Nothing about God was lacking in the Lord Jesus. And yet he lived as a man. It wasn't a case of God himself just clothing himself with flesh. He was truly a man in every sense of the word. But a man who would be totally dependent upon the Father, who would do nothing of himself, who would be less than the Father while on earth. My Father is greater than I. But in this one who is made weak for our sakes, we might have one with whom we could relate. If he just came as God Almighty, wrapped in flesh and lived as God, how would we relate to him? That used to bother me a little, believing that he was God in the flesh. Yes, until I realized that though he was God in the flesh, he did not, in his fleshly life on earth, live out from the realm of his own deity, but he lived out from the realm of obedience unto the Heavenly Father. And in that way he becomes a true pattern in type for you and I. A pattern, I should say. An example for you and I. He was just God in the flesh. We say, well, he was God, of course, so he could raise the dead and he could walk in water and he could do all these things. But he did these things as a man. He lived as a man. And so Paul brings that out very clearly in Philippians. He talks about our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though being in the form of God, thought it not robbery, a better translation of this, thought it not a thing to be grasped after, to be equal with God, but emptied himself and took unto himself the form of man. And being found in fashion as a man, notice the degrees of humility revealed in that scripture. Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider that equality with God was something that he should strive after, to attain to. But rather, he made himself of no reputation, literally emptied himself. That's a big statement. God Almighty emptied himself, become weak, become human. And having emptied himself and having taken unto himself the form of man, that was tremendous humility, tremendous humiliation. But he went further. He wasn't born in Herod's palace, but he was born a commoner. And having become a man, he became a servant. A doulos is the word, which means a bond slave, not just a servant who works for wages, but one who belongs to another. God made us to be doulos. I forget the plural of that word in the Greek. But he made us to be a doulos, a bond slave. No, we're not called to be bond slaves. We're called to be sons. But sons who truly want to obey their master voluntarily come to the place where they say, I'm your son, but I want to be your servant. I want to live as a servant. And so we're called to be sons and we're called to be priests and kings, but we voluntarily, if we truly know the way into liberty, we voluntarily become slaves. Just like that Hebrew servant in the Old Testament who having labored six years as a slave for his master, in the seventh year it was required by the law that he be set free. And so the day comes for his freedom, his master says, you're a free man. That's according to the law. But in the meantime, he comes to the place where he began to realize that he never had it so good as working for that kind of a master. And so Moses said, if he realizes that he never had it so good, he wants to stay there, he loves his master and he has a family and he wants to be that man's servant, he can do so, but he's got to make a commitment that's once for all. Take him to the doorpost, drill his ear through with an awl, and that little token of blood will be a sign that he will be that man's slave all the days of his life. He will never again go out free. He chose that. And so we come to the Lord and he sets us free and we rejoice in our freedom. But soon we begin to realize, I'm doing too many things on my own. I'm not really as free as I thought I would be. And so we come to our master and say, I want to be your servant. I just want to hear your word and none other. And so our ears, too, have to be pierced, which means that from now on, we'll only hear his voice and none other. So that's the teaching from that, I believe. And so he calls us to be sons, but sons soon recognize that they're not truly free except as they are made free by the Son and devoted to the Son of God. For whom the Son sets free is free indeed, and they're free indeed when they come to the Son and thank him and praise him for setting him free, but says, now I want to hear your voice and yours only. That man is truly free. And so I know we digressed a little there, but our high priest in the heavens has a great burden for his church because he created the church to be for his praise and honor and glory. The church is the apple of his eye. The church is that new creation that he brought forth by water and by the blood, by the blood of his cross. The greatest thing that God ever made is the church of Jesus Christ. I believe the greatest thing he ever will make is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest thing he has ever done is to bring into being the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we read Ephesians and how God has called us and chosen us in him before the foundations of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, that we should be a people who are one with the Lord Jesus. And Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they would have the revelation concerning the purpose that he has in his people, that they might know what was the hope of their calling and what is the richness of the glory of God's inheritance in us. I know there's a lot can be said about our inheritance, but Paul writing to the Ephesians, who I believe had a greater, what shall I say, a greater understanding, a greater deep within them, a greater depth within them to partake of those depths in God. There was something deeper there, so God was able to reach in. Jesus was able to minister out from his heart deeper things because there was a greater depth in them than, say, in the Corinthians, to whom Paul could only give the milk of the word. He said, I can't give you this strong meat because you're not able to receive it, because you're yet carnal. For whereas there's among you envy and strife and emulations, are you not carnal and walk as men? For when one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Cephas, another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? What kind of a church have we got on our hands today? We've got millions of Christians, and they're all divided up, saying, I'm a Presbyterian and I'm a Catholic Christian and I'm an Episcopalian Christian and I'm Lutheran and I believe in Luther and I'm Presbyterian and I believe in John Knox and we're supposed to be wise and intellectual, you know. We're supposed to be people that have come to maturity. Paul says, if we've got that kind of a thing, we're carnal. We can't receive the deeper things of God's word. We can't receive it. So Paul didn't give it to them. He had to give them the milk of the word. I know sometimes it's said, you know, that we have deep teaching, and I don't think we've gone very deep yet. Not very deep yet. I hope we're in ankle depth, at least. But let's not stop here. We must go on and on into the river of God until we literally lose our footing. We always want to keep our footing, you know. But God has great things. He's got the river for us. He's got waters to swim in for His people. We haven't gone very far yet, but God won't rest until He has His people for His glory because God requires glory. Everything He made was to redound to His praise and glory. Everything in its original state was intended of the Lord in creation to show forth His glory, His greatness. Man was the crowning work of His creation. But sun and moon and stars, presence of the psalmist, they were created to glorify God. Water, cold, frost, praise Him. You were created to show forth God's glory. Beasts of the field, cattle in the hills, praise Him. You were created to show forth God's glory. So that everything that God made in its original state of innocence was intended of the Lord to show forth certain attributes of the Creator. That's why Paul was able to say, writing to the Romans, the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead. So that there was a time when man didn't even have a Bible, didn't even have the Old Testament. They didn't need it as much as we need it today, I guess, because sin hadn't taken such a foothold in the human race as it has today. And they had a certain concept of God and they could look at creation and see aspects of God's nature and character in the things that God made. Paul said so. He said that mankind is without excuse because in the things that God has made, He has shown forth those invisible things of God, even His eternal power in Godhead. He's shown forth in the things that God has made. But great blindness came upon the human race because of man's sin and in the process of time, and we won't go through that. But apostasy set in, and it started, apostasy started in refusing to give God his glory and to give him thanks. That's how it started. Because they did not give glory to God nor give him thanks, apostasy, darkness, settled in and continued to increase in its darkness until we end up there with a humanity that didn't know the difference between good and evil. They were deprived of that moral ability to know the difference. They called good evil and evil good. They didn't know the difference right where we are today. They called evil good and good evil. And it all started because man in the beginning did not give God glory nor give him thanks. And so God must arise in judgment in the earth. But because he's long-suffering and patient and kind, he's been withholding his judgments, giving man opportunities to repent. I read something a week or two ago that struck me very forcibly. Isaiah the prophet, the same prophet. He came out with a prophecy that God was going to do a new thing. Laid out of the blue, as it were. And the prophets often do that. Suddenly the spirit of prophecy comes on them and they declare something that doesn't seem to be really relevant to what they've been saying before that. And he says, Behold, I do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall ye not know it? And then he goes on to say, Let all the earth rejoice because God is doing a new thing. Let all the earth rejoice. And then he goes on to say what that new thing is. God said, I've been holding my peace for a long time. I've been quiet. I haven't done much. I've been silent. Peter tells us why he was silent. Because God is long-suffering, not willing that men should perish. Trusting, hoping that they would come to repentance. He said, Doesn't God know? I know he knows, but those are areas there in God we can't just figure out. We know he knows all about it. But Peter says that God has given man time to repent, and therefore, in great patience and long-suffering, he hasn't yet come forth in the destruction and the judgments that he's going to bring upon the world. But he says, I've long time been quiet. I've been silent. I've held my peace. But he says, I can't hold it any longer. He says, Now I will arise and destroy at once. He says, I'm like a woman in travail. The time has come. He says, I've just got to do it. And that's pretty awesome, as we consider that this could very well be in our time. As God has said, I've been holding back my wrath and my judgment. I've been at peace. I haven't said anything, but I can't hold it in any longer. And he likens himself to a woman in travail. The time comes, and you can't stop it. God says, I'm that way. I will arise and destroy at once. That doesn't sound like a God of love. But God has to do it for the sake of mankind, for the sake of his people. He's God who eradicates the evil in the earth. And he's going to begin at his house. He tells us he must begin at his sanctuary. God says, I can't rest any longer. I just can't rest until this happens. Until the righteousness of Zion goes forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp of death. God's going to send forth a pure, clear light in the world. He's going to send a light that men will know this is the light of God. It's going to be brightness. The nations of the earth will know that there's a Lamb ruling and reigning on the throne of glory, and that he's King of all kings and Lord of all lords. I know that because in the book of Revelation, when God's wrath is in the earth, the people of the earth are going to say, the wrath of the Lamb has come. They haven't said that yet. And it might take a lot of judgment before they'll say that. Because science is there to tell you, well, yeah, we knew California was in trouble. We're going to have earthquakes. Yeah, we knew this would happen. And we can explain this scientifically. The time is coming when the people of the earth are going to say, the Lamb is angry with us. They're going to know that Jesus is ruling on the throne of glory because the Lamb will have a people in the earth who are shining forth with his glory. And it will be fulfilled what Jesus' prayer will be fulfilled when he says, Father, the glory thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The world's going to know that the Lamb was sent of God. Whether they repent or not, we don't know how many will repent because of it. But that's going to happen. They're going to know the Lamb has time with them, that he rules on the throne of glory. And so God is jealous for this. God is jealous for that. The word I understand is the same in the Hebrew. Zeal and jealousy are the same word. God is extremely concerned that his name once again be honored in the earth by a people who know him and who walk with him. He can't be honored any other way. And so Ezekiel also declares a promise, something like this. He says, I want you to know, I know God lays upon his people a certain responsibility to pray and to intercede and all that. We'll come to that a little more fully in a few minutes. But God's purposes precede that. God's declarations precede that prayer and that intercession. It's God's declaration of his intention that produces this kind of meaningful prayer. God declares his intention and those who hear his word, they find the burden of God's heart coming upon them. And that produces true intercession and prayer. When the burden of God's heart comes upon you, you can't just get down and say, I'm going to intercede for this city. I'm going to intercede for this city. I'm going to intercede unless God puts it there. Because it's the work of the Spirit. And the Spirit of God knows the mind of God. He knows what God's intention is. And so when God has a certain intention, he'll put that burden upon someone to pray concerning God's intention. God's intention is transferred to them. The priestly ministry of Christ becomes the burden of our heart only as we come into his yoke and become one with him. God said to Israel in their captivity, I will sanctify my great name which was profaned among the heathens, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathens shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. And I'm not saying there's nothing being accomplished in mission fields. But very little compared to what God wants to do. When his name is sanctified in the church of Jesus Christ, when his name is so honored and set apart as so holy in the midst of God's people, that the heathen will know that God is a holy, righteous, just God. And he says, they will know that I am the Lord when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and I will cause you to walk on my statutes. And you shall keep my judgments. He goes on. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I'll call for the corn and will increase it and lay no famine upon you. But notice verse 32. This is Ezekiel 36. Not for your sakes do I do this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confound it for your ways, O house of Israel. I'm not doing it for your sake. He says, I'm doing it for my holy name's sake which you polluted. So when God's priests, God's intercessors begin to intercede before God, they don't say, Lord, we need it. They need you, Lord. They need your power. They need your healing. They need your salvation. It's God. You need it. Your glory, your name is blasphemed. Your name is polluted. Aren't you concerned about your name? God's people who had a priestly heart would remind God of the insult that's made against his name. Joshua did it. Lord, what will you do for your name? Your people are falling before the enemy. They're defeated in battle. God, what about your name? God's concerned about the glory of his name in his creation. And I believe Lucifer was ordained of God in the beginning to occupy that very tremendous ministry in the heavens of bringing glory to almighty God because he was the anointed cherub that covereth. The anointed cherub that covereth. Just as when the tabernacle was ordained and they built the tabernacle and the furniture and the Ark of the Covenant, over that ark where God dwells there were cherubim facing each other and looking down towards the mercy seat. And God said he would appear there between the cherubim upon the mercy seat. And so it seems in the heavens this celestial being was anointed of God. Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth. And the thought is brought out by I think Dr. Strong and others a covering or a defender as a defense. He was established there to defend to defend God's glory amongst the other creatures. That all creatures he would have that ministry to see to it that all creation would give God honor and glory until iniquity was found in him. And he said I want to be like the Most High. I will ascend into the heavens. I will sit in the congregation of the north. And immediately he did that. He became darkness. I used to wonder where evil came from. Remember when I was just when I was writing one time it just came so clearly. If God is light and total light all creation has light derived from him. And you don't like this light? You say I'm going to have my own light? You cut the wires? You've got darkness. Darkness is the opposite of light. It's the absence of light. So that when Lucifer cut himself off from him who is light did God create the darkness? It was the absence of the light. A solemn warning in Lucifer for all God's people especially ministry who have a position whose ministry it is to seek to bring the people of God into a place of worship and adoration unto the Heavenly Father. A solemn warning. Make sure that the son is always honored. And the only way you can do that is by the discipline of the spirit in our lives. The son of God had to be subjected to that kind of discipline. He who knew no sin nevertheless had a will. And he was subjected to the same kind of test you might say as the first Adam was as to whether or not he would obey God or go his own way. The first Adam failed. Here was the last Adam. And when he appeared at the river Jordan to be baptized of John John was told that upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit of God descending as a dove and resting on him. This is the one. And John saw him and bear witness that this is the one that God had said would be the Messiah. And so Jesus went forth anointed of the Holy Spirit. But before he went into ministry we're told that the Spirit of God drove him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. You look up that word. It's a very strong word. Thrust him. Drove him. God would not let his son go forth in ministry until he had passed the test of this severe test of temptation by the devil. So rather than encouraging young men and women to go forth in ministry I encourage them you be sure that you qualify that you've stood the test. Because if you don't stand the test the time comes when you begin to take glory to yourself. And how do you take glory to yourself in this day and age? He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory. Oh, you say, I won't talk about myself. But that's not really what it's saying. It's saying he that speaketh out from himself seeketh his own glory. You're speaking out from yourself rather than out from the Spirit. And God's purpose in giving us the Holy Spirit is that as we've been going over the last day or two to take from the heart of Jesus all those things that pertain to Godhead because Jesus said all that the Father hath are mine and that when he the Spirit of truth is come he will glorify me because he will take of mine and show it unto you. That's how he glorifies Jesus by taking from Jesus and showing it to the people. And if he doesn't take it from Jesus and we take it out of our learning or out of some cute sermons we've come up with or some philosopher that we've read about and read his writings and study them and the church is full of it, that man is seeking his own glory. And Jesus says, I can do nothing of myself as I hear I judge and my judgment is right because I seek not the will of him that sent me. Pardon me. I seek not mine own will but the will of him that sent me. He didn't seek his own glory because he didn't speak out from himself. He spoke out from the bosom of the Father. He would not let it be said on any occasion that he was speaking from himself. I speak the words that the Father has given me to speak. I can of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is death because I seek not my own will but the will of the Father that sent me. So that's a pretty solemn thing that we're not really giving glory to Christ except as we speak out his words by the Holy Spirit. At one and the same time is it a very solemn thing and yet a very wonderful thing when we realize that God does not give us his Holy Spirit to mock us. And though we all lack that mighty presence of the Holy Spirit that we know we should have, must have, we know we haven't come to that fullness. God intends that we come to that kind of fullness where when we speak we know we're speaking out of the heart of Christ and not out from our own understanding. So may God help us because God wants his glory to shine forth and it will only shine forth when we come to that because Jesus said the glory which you have given me Father I have given them. Jesus said Father glorify thy son that thy son might glorify thee. Any glory that God puts upon you and I as he put upon his son was for the intention of God being glorified. Jesus said I have glorified thy name in the earth and I finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Now glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had received before the world was. And so in his ascension as in his ministry here on earth he glorified the Father. In his priestly ministry at the throne tonight he is glorifying the Father and God has given him all the glory. God said I will not give my glory to another for here is a man who so stood the test here on earth this test of pride and self-will and obedience. He conquered so perfectly that God was able to give him all this glory on earth and now that he has ascended he is immersed in the glory of God. He is glorified with the very presence of the Father because he was faithful as a man. As a man. When Paul goes on to say that this man humbled himself learned obedience became a bond slave then he says he was obedient even to death even the death of the cross. That was the sum total of obedience when he went to the cross. That was the last area of obedience in which the Father would try him. He had been tested all through his life by Satan, by the disciples by the mob, by the crowd trying to make him to be a king trying to put pressure on him to do things that it wasn't the Father's will to do. He was able to resist it all. But there was still one more test. Will you now go back to Jerusalem and lay down your messianic ministry? Lay it all down. And there in Gethsemane sweating great, as it were, great drops of blood in agony as they felt the pressure of the sins of mankind coming upon him. He desired that the cup might pass from him but even then he said nevertheless not my will but thine be done. But it was because of that that he was glorified. He wasn't glorified because he came to earth as the son of God but because as the son of God and son of man in the earth he was subjected to this test of obedience. He triumphed. He became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. Wherefore? For this reason for this reason God hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and every tongue should confess that he is Christ the Lord. For what cause? Wherefore? For this cause that he was obedient unto death and went to the cross. He's not ruling and reigning on the throne of glory because he was born the Messiah but because as a man he became obedient unto death. For this reason God hath exalted him and given him a name that is above every name. And so no wonder because he died for us and became our intercessor in the heavens no wonder he's got a burden for his church. He's got a burden for his church. Have you got a burden for the church? You won't have it unless you're in touch with a high priest. You'll get that burden from him if you come into his yoke. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Any other burden that you take won't be valid. But if you get into his yoke you can be sure it'll be a valid burden because then he'll be bearing it and you'll be bearing it along with him. And in that way he shares his priesthood with his people in the earth. Not a separate priesthood. As he is the king on the throne a king and priest on the throne so we are said to be kings and priests unto God in virtue of his anointing as priest on the throne. And the anointing we have as kings and priests is just the outflow of that which he has in the heavens. God has anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows. He's the head and all the oil was poured on him. All of it. The totality of the anointing. But then the psalmist began to sing about the unity of the brethren as he observed them coming to the feast. He saw such beautiful unity as they were coming together to worship the Lord in Jerusalem. And he was compelled to say behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. And then by the spirit of prophecy I mean it doesn't seem to make sense. It's like the ointment upon the head. Even Aaron's head that flowed down his beard and down to all even to the hem of his garment. Unity of brethren singing the praises of God coming to Zion is like the ointment on Aaron's head. But in prophecy you see he was speaking of the anointed king on Zion. And that holy oil pouring down as it poured on Aaron's head to all parts of his garment. So that John says we have the same anointing as Jesus has. The same anointing, not another. The same anointing. That all parts of his garment are to be saturated with that holy anointing oil. We don't have it all. He has it all. But we as members of his body have that portion that God is pleased to give you and I to be that functional member in the body of Christ. Just to be that member that God wants to function with the same anointing that Jesus has. It doesn't mean I go forth doing everything Jesus did. But that corporately the body does. The body will do everything that Jesus did and greater Jesus says. Oh how some shrink from that. You mean greater than... Not because we're greater but he's gone to a greater throne. And because he's gone to the greatest throne in the universe he's able to manifest his glory all over the earth whereas when he was here limited to one man he was confined to a little corner a little acreage there which we call Palestine. But now he's become exalted as king of all kings and lord of all lords lord of all the earth. He's got a people over all the earth to receive the same anointing that he has. And so in the anointing that God would be pleased upon his people I know we haven't got the fullness of it yet. In that anointing we'll function as co-priests with our Lord Jesus Christ. Forget about the reigning part. Function as priests unto God because of that anointing because it's the same anointing. And therefore because God's burden is that this righteousness shine forth and that's his burden that's the burden that he laid upon the shoulders of our Lord Jesus the anointed king we partake of that same anointing we partake of his burden. And so it says a little later on I have set watchmen upon thy walls O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silent and give him no rest. Well God already said I will not rest till this happens. So now that same anointing that's on the priest comes upon his people urging them to say God I'm not going to give you rest and that's what God wants because God says I don't want to rest till this happens and so God is pleased with the priestly ministry that functioning in the spirit cries unto God I will not give you rest God you must come forth you must manifest your glory unto your people. If that was just my idea I'd soon give up. But that anointing comes from the priest on the throne and it comes by the spirit the spirit of God says don't give your God any rest until he establishes and until he makes Jerusalem a place on the earth. The spirit of God says that to you and I because that's the burden of God's heart and because he gave all things to Christ he's got that burden now Jesus has got the burden now and because his anointing comes upon his people then as we partake of that anointing we have that burden we didn't originate it it comes from the throne it comes from him give him no rest until he establishes until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. I read a little there of what God said to Ezekiel God says I'm going to do this I'm going to cleanse my people I'm going to sanctify it it's not for your sake you don't deserve it you've polluted my name but my name has been polluted God doesn't want his name polluted he wants his name to be honored and so he says I'm going to do this that's final but he gives us a little exhortation at the end of that chapter I will nevertheless for all this I will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them God says I'm going to do it but it's going to happen when there's this priestly people who know the desire of God's heart and who begin inquiring of him I think a lot of prayer falls short because there's not enough inquiry in it God has said one thing have I desired of the Lord that one thing will I seek after many names it looks like three things that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple but it's really one thing he says there's only one thing I want and that's to dwell in God's house but the purpose is the reason for his desire to dwell in God's house was to see the beauty of the Lord and if the beauty of the Lord is not in God's house David would have no purpose of desiring to dwell there all the days of his life nor should you and I one thing have I desired of the Lord that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold his beauty because God's intention in causing the house of the Lord to be built is that the beauty of the Lord might shine forth that's the purpose of the house of God to show forth the beauty of the Lord to behold his beauty we're going to see the beauty of the Lord in his temple such as we've never imagined God begins to put his glory on all members of the body we've been emphasizing the insignificant members you're not left out you come up for special attention in this hour because it says God will give more abundant honor to those parts which lack that there be no chisel in the body but that the members have the same care one for another we're going to see the beauty of the Lord Jesus as we see insignificant humble, meek members of the body of Christ manifesting aspects of God's glory and God's presence and God's mercy and God's love and God's compassion we're going to see it in God's temple and it's going to be beautiful if God's people are clothed upon with those garments of meekness and garments of humility and garments of purity and garments of holiness and garments of compassion for God's priests must have compassion on the ignorant and those that are out of the way says Paul because they also are encompassed with infirmity and compassion is one of the things that's specially mentioned for those who are functionist priests they must have compassion because that's why God ordains them as priests that they might minister the glory and the salvation and the deliverance of Jesus to others and compassion will do it true heaven-born compassion how can I get that? nice to get it, wouldn't it? so that it works comes from the anointing comes from the anointing how do we get the anointing? to come in union with Jesus we'll see the beauty of the Lord in his temple behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire God made us to be an inquiring people telling God all the time what you want an old song tell him what you want if you want your healing tell him what you want never good life let's inquire what do you want, Lord? what's your desire? because I want you to look in my heart that I have the same kind of desire that you've got lead me in your way, Lord let me know what you desire give me grace to walk in your way that I might satisfy the desire of your heart may God bless this word to your heart